USA > Iowa > Jones County > History of Jones County, Iowa, past and present, Volume I > Part 23
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Popularity is a poor passport to glory. Yet it is something, that after having spent the best part of a lifetime-in life, either or both ends amount to very little-among the same people, a person does not lose respect the more he is known. The present pastor of Anamosa has no aspirations to prominence in the ranks of the church nor in the annals of church history. He has given freely of his time and labor to the welfare of St. Patrick's congregation; yet he always believed that he has done nothing more than his plain duty.
"Walk about Zion, and go round about her; and tell the towers thereof," etc. There was the invitation of the poet-king, David the Psalmist. He wanted his people to revisit the old places, where their fathers worshiped and around which so many sacred associations clung. In like manner, the old generation that is fast passing away, as many of them as revisit the place, may walk about St. Patrick's, and go round about her, and give their heart's love to the towers thereof and to the ivy-clad walls, and to the steps and stones, and trees, and to the spirits of the departed that stand in its shadow.
ST. JOSEPH'S PARISH, STONE CITY; AN OUTGROWTH OF ANAMOSA.
As elsewhere stated, Anamosa is situated at the junction of two rivers -- the Wapsipinicon and the Buffalo. Hence the place was first known as the "Forks ;" then it was named "Dartmouth ;" next "Lexington"; and lastly "Anamosa." Be- tween the rivers mentioned, from their meeting point, runs a strip of land, increas- ing in width, and rising to a considerable elevation, known familiarly as the "Ridge." This ridge is altogether a formation of magnesia limestone, with only a slight covering of earth. and in some spots by the edge of either river, cliffs are exposed which stand perpendicularly to a height of thirty or forty feet. On both sides of the ridge, that is, along the banks of each river, stone quarries were opened, beginning in 1853, from which large quantities of stone for building ma- terial, paving, and road material have been taken out, and shipped hundreds of miles in all directions. At present there are six quarries open on the Wapsie. and four on the Buffalo. They give work to a large number of men, especially in the summer season, sometimes as many as two hundred hands being employed in one quarry. These employes, it is easy to understand, toiling as they are all week at the severest kind of labor, should find it impossible to provide vehicles on Sunday morning, and no less impossible to walk a distance of eight miles, to and from Ana- mosa, the nearest place they could reach a church. In view of the circumstances,
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the difficulties and obligations to be complied with, Mr. J. A. Green, who employs the largest number of Catholics, after due advice with the ecclesiastical authorities, generously proposed to obviate matters by giving a large hall, over the postoffice, which is owned by him, for use temporarily as a chapel. The offer was of course accepted with the utmost gratitude. It was immediately and most willingly fitted up with a crude altar, forms or benches of a rather primitive make-up, but sufficient in every respect for all the purposes of Catholic services, which were held there for the first time in February, 1884. Indeed, their conditions were far and away superior to the log cabins or shanties, in which the first settlers were accustomed to worship. In heartfelt thankfulness, and in honor of the "Provider of the Holy Family," this new plantation of the gospel mustard seed was called St. Joseph's Chapel.
The employes here, as in other public works, are not usually possessed of very much means to build or beautify houses, either for God or for themselves; neither do they feel that they owe it to the present or future generation, to take any special interest in the up-building of a permanent church or parish, for the good reason that they belong to what is styled a "floating population,"-they may stay a week, or a month, or a season, and leave, possibly never to see the place more. It would be in some measure unreasonable to expect such a class of people to contribute to local church building in every place in which they may happen to spend a short time.
But there are good, strong, and stationary Catholics in Stone City, who are by no means hopeless of spiritual or temporal prosperity. The few residents who are anchored to the rocks live in anxious hope of some day seeing in their midst a temple worthy of the name "Stone" City, built, like the wise man's house, on a rock; "and the rains fell and the floods came, and the winds blew * * and it fell not, for it was built on a rock." Nature here abundantly supplies the ma- terial to raise an edifice to nature's God. Rock, eternal rock, is piled up by the hand of the Creator, in long ledges on the hillside, more than enough to build ten thousand churches. All needed is to find human hands, stout and strong; and big hearts, trusting, and courageous, and religious enough to place one rock upon another. Oh, for the "ages of faith," when Solomon builded the most magnifi- cent structure that the sun ever saw, yet humbled himself to the dust in thankful- ness that the Eternal Excellency of the Most High should condescend to fix his abode and "put His name there." In later years, the most skilled and skillful builders that the world ever knew could conceive of no nobler use to make of their workmanship than to bestow it free, gratis, in rearing temples to the honor and glory of the "Giver of every good gift."
In the meantime, the many transient, and the few old-time permanent wor- shippers, in Stone City, must be content to exercise their piety, on benches without backs, as they have devoutly done for twenty-five years past.
At its formation, this was a chapel-of-ease, connected with Anamosa, whilst Father McCormick resided there. He attended both churches every Sunday, al- ternating early and late services between the two churches. Father Powers con- tinued to give the same equal religious opportunities to the combined parishes up to September, 1902, when a resident pastor was appointed to Stone City. It has been an independent parish since, with the church on Buffalo Creek, two miles
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south of Prairieburg, attached to it as an out mission. The Rev. P. J. Leddy was the first appointment to the charge. His mind failed, after a year and a half. He was removed to a hospital at Dubuque, where he still remains, without hope of ·mental improvement. His successor was Rev. J. Garland, who also resided at Stone City, giving the requisite attention to the out mission, up to October, 1905 He is now stationed at La Motte, Jackson county. The next and present incum- bent of this pastorate is the Rev. T. J. Norris. Besides Stone City and Prairie- 'burg, he holds charge at this time of a third mission, at Lisbon, Linn county.
As already remarked, the parishioners here, both in number and in name, are a variable quantity. Hence it would be little more than a waste of historical space to specify the make-up of the congregation at any particular period. A large proportion of them consists of French-Canadians, or their descendants from the northern part of New York state. Although now in the third or fourth genera- tion from the the original immigrants, they still fluently parley in the French language and retain a great many of the national habits and customs of La Belle 'France. There are also some splendid types of the German character among the quarrymen ; and a scattering few of almost every nationality in Europe.
. : It would be impossible at this day to obtain the order of sequence in which the .Catholic fixtures in the quarry region came there. Presumably, the first among them arrived in the sixties, as the stone business was operated on a very limited scale prior to that time. The following are the most prominent of those who may be regarded as having permanent residences here, without a probability of further migration : J. A. Green, John Ronen, John Walsh, Theo. Hennessy, August Pat- node, Ed. Mearns, Dunn Brothers, Betz Brothers, Sampica Brothers, Rushford Brothers, Denio Brothers, La Barge Brothers.
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THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN MONTICELLO.
. ! When this country was all a vast mission of the Catholic church occasional meetings were held wherever the priests could gather together their congregations, and often they journeyed miles from settlement to settlement on foot or horseback. Their visits were few, and it was necessary on the arrival of a priest at a certain place to send messengers to the different Catholic settlers for miles around. At that time as there were no churches, the services were held at the different houses. The few faithful that were scattered throughout the country were given the privi- lege of receiving the benefits of the church, in this manner, once a year, and that about Easter time.
The first mission station established in the county was in 1857 at Anamosa. Services were held in the courthouse. Monticello belonged to this mission. In 1854 and 1855 there were but few settlers in Monticello, but many Catholics came in 1858 and 1859, to assist in the construction of the Dubuque & Southwestern Railroad. Some of these early settlers still remain, though the greater number have gone to their reward. Prior to 1868, when Monticello was still a small town and with but few Catholics, services were held in Kinsella Hall and in what was known as Davenport's Hall on the second floor of the old Monticello State Bank building, which was torn down in the spring of 1902 to make way for a new building.
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In 1868 Rev. Father Cogan established and founded the parish in Monticello and was the first resident priest. He built a frame structure in the southern part of the town which was known as the Church of the Sacred Heart. The following is a partial list of the names of the heads of families who made it possible for the establishment of a permanent parish :
Michael Breen, Cornelius Brown, Henry Burrows, Andrew Burns, Patrick F. Cunningham, Patrick Cushing, John Fleming, John Farley, Daniel Kinsella, Ed- ward Kinsella, Mrs. Ella McMahon, John Mathews, Madam McCormick, John McConnell, Andrew Munday, Patrick O'Toole, Michael Quirk, Robert Shane, Mrs. Peter Young.
In 1871 Rev. Father Cogan was succeeded by Rev. Father David Welch who made his residence in Monticello for a short time, and then moved to Castle Grove, but still had charge of the parish here. The roof was blown off the little frame church, which was re-roofed by Father Welch. This church was thirty feet by sixty.
In 1872, Rev. P. O. Dowd, now of Petersville, Iowa, took charge of the par- ish of Castle Grove, with Monticello as an outside mission, and remained until the year 1878, when on October 8th the church was destroyed by a tornado that swept the southern portion of the town.
The following Sunday, with sad hearts, and hopes almost blighted, the mem- bers betook themselves to the little vacant schoolhouse in the northern part of the town, and on December 14th of the same year, Very Reverend P. J. O'Connor, now of Sioux City, a young and zealous priest came and took up the work of rebuilding the church and again Monticello had a resident priest, with Sand Spring as an outside mission. It was at this time that courage was needed for it seemed that the congregation was diminishing instead of increasing, but the pastor, a man of energy and determination, labored patiently, and erected the present edifice, and parochial residence, the corner stone of which was laid in 1880. Some of those present who were among the best helpers to promote this enterprise have gone to their reward.
From the time the church was destroyed by the tornado in 1878, until the present church was finished in the fall of 1880, services were held in the old school- house. Along with the work of building and trying to pay the debt on the church, Father O'Connor gave his earnest attention to the instruction of a large Sunday school and the children of that time will never forget the many kindnesses, care and attention bestowed on them. About the year 1884 Father O'Connor was succeeded by Rev. J. Tobin, who remained nearly four years. During his short stay he made some improvements to the church property and continued the work already begun by Father O'Connor in the Sunday school. In 1887 Father Tobin was removed to Fairbanks, Iowa, where he died in July, 1899, after a life well spent in patient toil dedicated to the services of God.
About Christmas, 1887, Rev. J. McCormick came to reside in Monticello, and has remained ever since, it being the longest pastorate of any of the English-speak- ing churches in the city. He is a man ever kind and sympathetic to those in trouble, distress and sickness. Being a progressive age improvements have con- tinued to be made on the church and property until, in all, nearly twenty thousand
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dollars have been expended, and now the church and residence are among the finest and most up-to-date church properties in the county.
Not only the Catholic people are entitled to high praise for their liberality and efforts in making the church property what it is, but non-Catholics have been kind and generous in contributing.
From the few who left the little schoolhouse to enter the new church over twenty years ago, the members have continued to increase both in number and circumstances until the large edifice is now filled. All honor to those workers who, in the beginning and since, were so faithful in helping to make the church what it is. Although some of them have passed away they are still remembered, and ever will be in the hearts of the Catholic people of Monticello, who have watched the progress of the church in all those years.
A few years ago a branch of the order of Catholic Foresters was organized here, and any eligible Catholic may join it. They also have two societies in the church known as the Rosary Society and League of the Sacred Heart.
CATHOLICITY IN CASTLE GROVE.
Castle Grove, the extreme northwestern township in Jones county, is watered by several creeks. These not only afford excellent fertility in meadow lands, and furnish ample opportunity for stock raising, but they served to give the pioneer a most desirable place of residence. Wood and water! On the edge of the tim- ber near a stream! Ah! there was the beau ideal to choose for a home-a sweet home! It was preposterous in those days to think of squatting down on the broad bleak prairie; and this for two great reasons: First, there was the foregone cer- tainty, or at least the very probable liability of being frozen to death some night, in the depths of the snow with no possible chance of finding a twig to light a fire; and the second reason was that the prairies, with their tall, waving grass, seemed so immense in their expanse there could be no more likelihood or danger of their being ever totally occupied than there was of the Sahara desert, or the Atlantic ocean. Why the only good spot in the whole world for a sound and se- cure habitation was supposed to be the edge of a growth of timber, sheltered from the storms at all seasons of the year. There you were, with plenty of logs of body wood at one side, for fuel in the big open fireplaces; and with plenty of pas- ture and hay at the other side just for the gathering. That filled the pioneer's cup of prospective happiness.
The first two white men who settled on the present site of Monticello, came in the fall of 1836. A few months later-in the summer of '37, two Catholics- James Mclaughlin and Thomas Galligan, came and settled in the same region. Not a single sod of the virgin prairie had yet been upturned. They were, as far as known, the first Catholics in Jones county. Let it be noted forever in local history. The twelve apostles, after the ascension of their Divine Master, are said to have assembled in a certain spot, (which is yet pointed out,) and after having first composed the profession of faith called the "Apostles' Creed," they divided the then known world into sections; and one was told off to one section, and another to another section, and a third to another, and so on. Well, "Jim" Mclaughlin and "Tom" Galligan were the "apostles" of the faith of St. Peter
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in this county. Sterling representatives they were of the faith which was not unworthy a Redeemer's blood. By example, instruction, advice, and the best edu- cation that Notre Dame University could give, they prepared their children to walk in their father's footsteps. When the first priest passed on his circuit through that northern tier of townships, on his way to Delhi, he found out the house of Mr. Mclaughlin. He stayed there; he celebrated mass there; the scattered Catholics of that neighborhood assembled and joined in prayer and sacrifice in that impro- vised domestic chapel. A brother of the itinerant missionary, having sometimes accompanied him, married one of Mr. McLaughlin's daughters thus adding a so- cial tie to the spiritual bond already existing between them. Well may their de- scendants be proud of those who blazed the path of civilization through the woods, and blazed the highway of Catholicity over the broad prairies. Will the mar- riage of souls, contracted by the forefathers of those far off days, with their mother church, be passed down indissoluble through the ages? Will their children, and children's children rise up and bless the names of their forebears, and renew their inherited allegiance to the old rock-rooted church which was established "to teach, govern, sanctify, and save all men?" Long live the union between the Mac's and O's and the old Apostolic church.
Castle Grove is so called from the first house of respectable dimensions built there, by a man named Beardsley, near where the road crosses Silver Creek. Ed. Moore's house stood in the same place in later days. Being the largest, if not the only residence above a log cabin, it was called a "castle;" and located as it was in the grove, the township was named from it "Castle Grove."
Among the Catholics, D. M. Hogan and Ed Troy had both been soldiers in the Mexican war. At their discharge they received each a "warrant" entitling them to a "plat" or a quarter section of land, wherever they were pleased to choose, in any part of Uncle Sam's unoccupied domain. At Monticello, getting off the stage, they passed to the western edge of the timber growth, and there they selected a spot which they decided to call home. Not much sign of a "home" vis- ible until these sons of toil made it worthy the name. Here they lived and died. Here too, their children still live, and occupy beautiful homes which the progress of time and toil developed. Quarter sections of prairie, adjoining on the west, were taken up in the early '50s, at government price-one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre-by Dennis Hogan, with his sons, Jas. P'k. M'l. and D's .; also by four Kehoe brothers, Ed. Simeon, P'k. and Wm .; by P'k. Waddick, Jas. Delay, and many others further west and north. They were nearly all of the same na- tionality, chiefly sons of Tipperary, inoculated with the faith that never dies. Like good Christians that they were, after having in the sweat of their brows provided for bodily sustenance during six days of the week, their next thought was to "Re- member the Sabbath day; to keep it holy." The Rev. Jeremiah Treacy, then sta- tioned at Garryowen, passed on his circuit, through Cascade, Monticello, and on westward through Castle Grove to Delhi. He was heartily and hospitably re- ceived by the family of James McLaughlin, whose home being on the eastern border of the settlement was first reached, and whose circumstances enabled him more than the others, to render such entertainment as befitted the occasion. Here the priest made his stopping place, here he celebrated mass, shrived the adults, baptized the children, and instructed the youth in the tenets of religion. There is
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no means at hand of ascertaining the frequency of such calls, or the duration to which each visit was prolonged.
As the new settlers spread out over the prairie, the center of population, and the most convenient place of access, was found to be further west. Simeon Kehoe, a most ardent devotee of the church, and an experienced server at the altar, gladly offered the accommodations of his domicile, such as it was. This was made the meeting house for some time, and it served to all intents and purposes, for the ministrations of the church. Though the missionary was regarded as residing in Garryowen, as a matter of fact he did not enjoy the happiness of a residence any- where. There were no parishes, or parish limits in those days. The priest took with him the necessary outfit for the performance of his official functions, in his saddle-bags if riding horseback, and carried them on his own back if "riding" afoot. Setting out in search of a Catholic family or settlement, he was free to stop, wherever he willed, without "let or hindrance" from any authority higher than the spiritual needs of the people. The Rev. P. Maginnis, whose headquarters were first at Garryowen, but later at Temple Hill, also made some visitations over this circuit, and received the cordial hospitality of Mr. McLaughlin's home.
In 1853, by the advice and exertions of Rev. J. Treacy, the Catholics of the settlement in their extreme poverty, denied themselves the comforts if not the very necessities of life, in order to contribute the means sufficient to build a house which should belong to God alone, and not a part of the culinary abode of some sinful creature. The site selected was perhaps the most beautiful in all the town- ship-on the point of a knoll some short distance directly behind the present pas- toral residence. To found a permanent institution, as also to afford an abundance of space for the anticipated needs of a growing congregation-for cemetery, school and garden-but best of all as the outcome of a great big overflowing Irish heart, Patrick Mullady donated forty acres of land for the use and benefit of the church in Castle Grove. In the spring of 1854, the church was completed, to the immense pleasure, and pardonable pride of the contributors. Solomon in all his glory was not more supremely delighted after the finishing of his famous temple at Jerusa- lem. It was finally ready for the opening or dedicatory ceremony on a certain day, when by prearrangement, Father Treacy was to make his periodical visit. The Godly man came and stayed as usual at Mr. Mclaughlin's, where he was no less surprised than gratified, to learn that by extraordinary exertions they had suc- ceeded in making all preparations for the sacred ceremony of dedication the next day. In the twilight of early morning, the humble people hastened in their little crowds to the house of God, with anticipated congratulations from one another, and with hopes to receive the thanks and praise of the Almighty, through the mouth of His minister, for the success of their efforts; whilst both priest and people, as soon as the doors were opened, would walk in, and unite their voices in great gusto, praying the prayer of Solomon on a similar occasion: "Will God indeed dwell on earth? Behold: the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded." When the high-hearted expectant worshippers reached the cherished object of their anticipations, they had nothing to see but a pile of black smoldering ashes. The year was 1854, and the bitterness of the Know Nothing excitement was at its height. Some Know Nothings in the western part of the settlement (their names afterwards became public) came in
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the darkness of night-when bad men always choose to do their worst work-and set fire to the church, for no other reason than this alone-it was a Catholic church. When the minister of the all-holy God arrived on the scene, he found his poor people, no longer proud of their achievement, but shivering around the embers of their burnt hopes, and asking one another in undertones if such things could be in a free country.
There and then, partly in fierce faith, and partly in desperation, but most of all depending on the fairness eventually of the American people, these Catholics procured pen and paper and grimly signed their promissory notes to a subscription list, to build forthwith a better church than the one burned down.
The second church, which was quite large for those days, was erected during the pastoral attendance of Rev. M. Lynch, who resided in Cascade. He was in young years a man of letters, well learned not only in theology and the dead lan- guages, but also a fluent fine conversationalist in French, and later learned to speak German, whilst he lived in the basement of his church at Holy Cross. He placed the second church of Castle Grove, not on the foundation of the destroyed build- ing, but nearer the road, where the present brick structure stands. His principal employe in the work was a monk from New Melleray called Brother Matthew, (Robert Healy) who later lived for many years at Anamosa, where he died, and is buried in Holy Cross cemetery.
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