Because of the large influx of Chinese into San Francisco it was natural that concern for their welfare manifested itself first there. Most were illiterate and could not speak English and the need was great for schools to teach them English. The American Home Missionary Association saw this opportunity to fill a need and so it was that the teaching of English to the Chinese went along with the teaching of the Christian religion, Chinese Sunday Schools became a fad in San Francisco among the churches, and mission schools sprang up in outlying cities and towns populated by Chinese. In San Diego, the Presbyterian Church started a Sunday School for a few Chinese children in 1870, and it was said to be the first in Southern California.17 Several years later the Baptist Church began a Sunday School for Chinese. One of the teachers at the Presbyterian Church was George W. Marston who would be a staunch supporter of the Chinese Mission the rest of his life.

The Chinese Mission School in San Diego was the inspiration of a young Chinese resident by the name of Lee Hong who had conic from San Francisco and was familiar with mission schools there. In 1885 he persuaded Dr. William C. Pond of the American Home Missionary Association, whose work was with the Chinese in California, to come to San Diego and organize a Mission School. Almost all the Chinese in San Diego were men, and the need was for a school to teach them to read, write and speak English.

Dr. Pond rented a house on the corner of 13th and F for use of the new mission school. Classes were held at night and on Sunday, and were taught by dedicated men and women who devoted their time free of charge. They not only taught English but helped in solving the many problems facing the solitary and lonely men in a strange and often hostile land. Dr. Pond visited the mission school regularly, watching its progress with interest, even after 1890 when the Congregational denomination took over the work in San Diego County. His interest continued for nearly fifty years until his death at the age of 95.18

Students at the Mission numbered as many as fifty at a time, both young and old men, who received their tutoring without charge. Religious instruction was given along with the language study. But 13th and F was too far from Chinatown, which centered along Third Street, so in 1901 the Mission moved to 663 First Street, between Market and G, on the edge of Chinatown. In 1907 it moved next door into property belonging to George W. Marston, which consisted of a one story building with a gabled roof that stood in front of a long dormitory containing tiny rooms along both sides of a corridor. The rooms were rented to Chinese men. The Mission now became a home as well as a school. Kenneth Jair, who saw the Mission for the first time in 1925, has described it as being a wooden building painted a dull green surrounded by a wooden fence with a gate in front. Inside, wooden chairs faced a low platform, or stage, covered with a rug. An old upright piano stood at one side. High against the front wall was a picture of Christ with crossed American and Chinese flags underneath. The room was lit by a few electric light bulbs which hung from the ceiling.19

One of the teachers at the Mission in 1907 was Mrs. Margaret Fanton, whose work with the Chinese would continue for more than forty years. She became Superintendent in 1911. Mrs. Fanton did far more than just teach English and Sunday School—she became Chinatown's first social worker. Chinatown, in the heart of the Stingaree, was a place avoided by "respectable people. Most of the Caucasian residents there were prostitutes, pimps, panderers and gamblers. It was also a hiding place for criminals coming in from out of town. The Chinese lived in ramshackle buildings alongside of cribs and parlor houses, and behind gambling and opium dens. Mrs. Fanton was well known to the Chinese as "Mother" Fanton. She was often seen, sometimes accompanied by her own two small children, going in and out of hovels and shanties in order to give physical or sprifitual aid to the Chinese, both men and women, young and old. Families often lived in back of a storefront which masqueraded as a legitimate business while selling opium and illegal drugs, or which actually was a gambling establishment.

Seated in front of the store would be a watchman keeping an eye out for the police. If anyone who looked like a law man came into view, word was passed to get contraband out of sight: opium, illegal drugs, lottery or gambling equipment. Mrs. Fanton would leave her children with the watchman and go inside to the dwelling quarters to see what was the family's need.20

Tong wars were not unknown in San Diego and Mrs. Fanton would be called to give aid and comfort to grieving women who had lost a husband or son in one of the conflicts. She was also called when new babies arrived, delivered at home under primitive conditions by a Chinese doctor. Mothers asked her to give their children an American name. So, there were several named Roland, Byron, William, for members of her family, and a number of girls were named Margaret in appreciation of her help.21 If any Chinese were in financial need she sought help from the Chinese Benevolent Society, churches or voluntary service agencies. The Chinese helped one another and were often too proud to seek help from outside their own community. Mrs. Fanton was a pioneer in social service work long before public agencies came into being.

The Mission was far more than a place to go for language instruction or to attend church services. It was a social gathering place for Chinese of all ages and a place for the wives to meet and socialize. When a few wives wanted to learn English, classes in the daytime were started for them.

The dormitory rooms were always filled to capacity with young men, mostly newcomers to San Diego and those recently arrived from China who had no other place to go. It was an opportunity to meet other Chinese and to find employment. Some entered the country as students to study in the public schools or to learn American business practices and then returned to China. The teachers at the school were especially anxious to help the students with their school work and to see they were given good instruction in the American way of life and in the Christian religion. It was hoped this education would be taken back with them to China to be passed on to others.

Since there were few Chinese women in San Diego, young Chinese men who wanted a wife had to go to Los Angeles, San Francisco, or even to China. Many preferred a wife born in China, believing the American born Chinese girl would not be subservient enough to suit them. Many marriages were still arranged by the parents, both in China and in this country. The Chinese always married someone with a different last name in the belief this avoided intermarriage within a family. Marriage with a Caucasian was unthinkable. Divorce was practically unknown among the Chinese in America and it was not recognized in China. The first divorce case in San Diego's history, and one of the first in the United States, occurred in 1893 when Ah Duck, age twenty-eight, sought a separation from her husband, Lew Duck.22

Prior to 1924 some Chinese men who were American born went to China and married and were successful in bringing their wives to the United States. This influx of foreign brides opened a new activity at the Mission—teaching them English, to sew and cook and to generally help them adjust to their new life in strange surroundings. But the Immigration Act of 1924 took this right away from the Chinese—the only nationality discriminated against in this regard.23

The Chinese loved their fireworks and displayed them not only on the Chinese New Year but on many other special occasions. On the Fourth of July young men from the Mission would bring their supply of firecrackers and elaborate rockets to Mrs. Fanton's home on Park Boulevard where they would be shot off to the admiration of all the neighbors.24

Mrs. Fanton resigned as Superintendent of the Mission in 1919 and was succeeded by Mrs. Anna Waldo. By that time, through the efforts of the Police and Health Departments, the Red Light District had been closed and the gambling and opium dens had disappeared. The Health Department, under the direction of Walter Bellon, had systematically destroyed all the vermininfested shacks in Chinatown and so the Chinese were better housed. Some had moved into the former parlor houses and better built cribs, and some new buildings had been constructed for legitimate businesses. Mrs. Fanton did not give up her social work with the Chinese, however, and became an authority on immigration problems. She was called on to help the Chinese fill out immigration forms to bring relatives from China. The Chinese businessmen always seemed to have many "nephews" whom they wanted to come to the United States and guaranteed them employment.25 Some businessmen who went to China had difficulty getting re-entry permits. Mrs. Fanton was kept busy writing to Washington trying to untangle red tape to help with immigration problems, One day her Chinese vegetable man announced he was returning to China to get his wife whom he had married thirty-five years before. Mrs. Fanton fully expected to help him with an immigration problem. She was amazed to see him a few months later and when asked if he had brought back his wife he replied, "No. She too old and too fat."26

In 1925 Mrs. Fanton went to China, fulfilling a long time dream. She took with her a long list of families of her Mission friends to visit while there, most of whom were in the Canton area. She was accompanied by a young Chinese girl, Agnes Lee, who had been living with her and whom she treated as a daughter. Agnes was going back to China to visit her family and intended to return. However, while in China she disappeared, never to be heard from again. Mrs. Fanton was gone several months, visiting Canton, Shanghai and Hong Kong, and was appalled and saddened by the poverty she found everywhere. Upon her return she resumed work at the Mission as a teacher and social worker.27