A history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Volume 2, Part 16

Author: Howard, Timothy Edward, 1837-1916
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 887

USA > Indiana > St Joseph County > A history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Volume 2 > Part 16

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After the Right Rev. Maurice de St. Palais became bishop of Vincennes, January 14, 1849, there was hope that the convent and academy might be located nearer to Notre Dame, as had been the original design of Father Sorin. The sisters did, indeed, con- tinue to conduct domestic affairs at "the lake," while also caring for their primary and industrial school, their convent and academy, at Bertrand, and their Indian school across

the river, at Pokagon's village, and Father Sorin, or some one in his place, did continue to come down from Notre Dame, week after week, to serve as chaplain for the little com- munity. But it was realized that there was in this too great a waste of time and labor. An attempt was made to establish a house at Mishawaka, a town nearer than Bertrand to Notre Dame, but although a building was erected and a school opened at Mishawaka, the location does not seem to have been a desirable one. Yet the sisters had many warm friends in Mishawaka, and in the reminiscences of Mrs. Van Pelt will be found pleasant refer- ences to this establishment in Mishawaka.ª

It would seem that yet another trial, some greater suffering, were needed, before the des- tined locality could be secured. In the sum- mer of 1854, as related in a preceding part of this chapter,' the cholera visited the young communities and snatched away many of those who were so sorely needed. One cause, no doubt, of this sickness, was the obstruction of the drainage of the lakes to the river. The owner of the lands to the west, reaching to the river and covering the outlet from the lakes, had all along refused either to sell the lands or to allow the improvement of the drainage. Now, however, his heart seems to have been touched, and the community pur- chased the lands all the way to the river at a very reasonable price. Here was the oppor- tunity long sought; the waters of the lakes were lowered, and the health of the com- munity assured. But an unlooked for treas- ure was found also. A reverend father" pointed out that the high grounds over the river were admirably suited for the buildings and grounds of St. Mary's Academy. All seemed in good time. The former opposition to the change had long since ceased. The severe trials at Bertrand were to be but mem- ories of trials that were past: pleasant memories, indeed, like those of which Virgil

a. See Chap. 10, Reminiscences by Mrs. Marion B. Van Pelt.

b. See Sub. 2, Sec. 5, of this chapter.

c. The Rev. Alexis Granger.

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speaks, because they were of sufferings he- roically borne.

While the community was yet at Bertrand, they received a young lady postulant who was destined to take so important a part in the future of the congregation as to be re- garded as the founder of the new St. Mary's. Early in 1853, Miss Eliza Gillespie, first cousin of James Gillespie Blaine, and nearly related also to the Ewing and Sherman fami- lies of Ohio, called at Notre Dame with her mother, on a visit to her brother, Neal H. Gillespie, afterwards Father Gillespie, who was then a student. . Miss Gillespie was on her way to Chicago to join the Sisters of Mercy. At Father Sorin's invitation, she spent a few days at the convent in Bertrand, where she was so much drawn to the heroic life there led by the sisters that she felt herself called to be a Sister of the Holy Cross, and so signi- fied her intention. She was accordingly re- ceived into the congregation as Sister Mary of St. Angela, and sent to France to make her novitiate. On her return, in. February, 1854, she was placed in charge of the school at Bertrand. Under the name of Mother Angela she became a great religious of the Sisters of the Holy Cross.

In May, 1855, the frame buildings at Mish- awaka were removed to the new site of the convent and academy, on the banks of the St. Joseph, and at the close of the school year at Bertrand the same course was taken with the buildings at that point. All the forces of the young congregation were then gathered on the banks of the St. Joseph, and on August 15, 1855, Mother Angela was given charge of the new St. Mary's.

Sec. 3 .- THE STORY OF BERTRAND .- With the withdrawal of St. Mary's convent and academy, the last hope of Bertrand passed away. It seems therefore fitting, in this place, to say a word, as if by way of farewell, to the good old town, which, though not within our borders, had yet so many historical as- sociations with the county of St. Joseph.

The following is the substance of a histori-

cal sketch, published a few years ago, on the occasion of the death of the last prominent survivor of the once ambitious and prosper- ous town :ª

"The death of 'Squire Higbee, the oldest resident of old Bertrand town and perhaps the oldest postmaster in the United States, has served to direct attention to the deserted village. The inhabitants of this once thriving French town have long since been dust, many of its streets have been given to the plow, houses have yielded to the corroding tooth of time or been hauled to other sites. In the weather-beaten houses that shelter the few simple people we see today the panorama of an earlier civilization. A tumbling church, guarded on all sides by many graves, an an- cient hostelry, the wing of an old convent, the tottering houses,-that is all that remains of what was once the scene of life and human activity. The following well vouched-for facts were related by the oldest inhabitant of the village, Mr. Higbee, and set forth in brief the history of old Bertrand.

"In 1812 Joseph Bertrand established a trad- ing post on the site of the village which took his name. With true French thrift, Bertrand traded everything to the Indians which sav- age tastes could covet and received from them in turn the commodities of which they had a surfeit. He also acquired real estate. His first coup d' etat was, however, to take a Pot- tawatomie woman for a wife. Mrs. Bertrand, so far as can be ascertained, was an exem- plary woman, but, although she became a con- vert to the religion of the black robes, she always wore her native dress in order, it is said, to retain more securely her rights as an heiress of the soil.

. "The St. Joseph river was not always the law-abiding and conservative stream which we are wont to consider it, for Mr. Higbee has declared, on the word of Joseph Bertrand himself, that the original house of the trader

a. From F. D. C., in the Cassopolis Democrat, Michigan; as republished, February 8, 1902, in the South Bend Times.

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stood in what is now the channel. This house was made of logs, brought from the old mis- sion church at Fort St. Joseph's, a short dis- tance below. This church was the only build- ing to escape injury at the time of the de- struction of the fort by the Spaniards in 1781. Bertrand afterwards lived at the foot of Main street, the busiest spot in town. A large tavern for the needs of the steamboat- ing public also adorned the bank and seems to have been a creditable and somewhat re- nowned hostelry. When the town went into innocuous desuetude, an attempt was made to remove the tavern to Berrien Springs. It was started down the stream in sections and the major part arrived in safety. This tavern at Berrien Springs became known as the Oronoka hotel.

"At last the time came when the relentless power of the Anglo-Saxon said to each red dweller of the Parc aux Vaches, 'Go west, young man.' According to the terms of the treaty supplementary to the Chicago treaty of 1833, the Michigan Pottawatomies ex- changed their lands in the lower peninsula for broad Kansas acres and left for their new home. And then began Bertrand's boom. The Bertrand association was organized with Daniel Guernsey in charge and a town lot was given to every citizen who agreed to im- prove it. Nine hundred acres of land were laid out with wide streets intersecting each other at regular intervals. In 1836 town lots in desirable localities brought $200. Shoppers from Niles went on horseback to buy their supplies at the well-stocked shops of the smart French town. People came up the river and down the river for the same purpose. The streets swarmed with Indians, traders, cour- eurs des bois, with a considerable sprinkling of citizens who spoke United States, the ver- nacular of what was then the frontier.

"Business blocks arose on every hand. There were nearly as many of what Ameri- cans called 'stores' as there are in Niles to- day. Other taverns sprang up. Mr. Higbee gave a grand ball to his guests in the upper

room of the house which the family still oc- cupies, and paid a negro cook from South Bend eleven dollars to superintend the ban- queting annex. The belles of the vicinity had no lack of the finery wherewith to convey dismay to each others' hearts and capture those of the sturdy young settlers with whom they danced the Virginia reel or money musk, for there were seven or eight stores in Ber- trand where dry goods were the principal sta- ple

"Bertrand was the mecca of many on pleas- ure bent, and the tavern, which is today the chief building in sight. was the scene of much revelry. Wedding parties from South Bend found it at a convenient distance, and Mrs. Egbert, of South Bend, is fond of relating that she went to Bertrand on her bridal tour. Schuyler Colfax accompanied the party.

"But amid all the bustle attendant upon the formation and management of the grow- ing town, the needs of the soul were not for- gotten, and almost coincident with the first symptoms of prosperity, a log church arose in the forest, dedicated to the good Saint Joseph, whose name has ever, within the mem- ory of white men, had so large a share in the nomenclature of this region. In 1830, Father Badin, the famous missionary, took charge of this with other missions in Michigan and In- diana.

"In 1832, Father Louis de Seille left Bel- gium and a high civilization to become a mis- sionary in the new world. He was young, gifted, and endowed with the lofty enthusiasm which made the priest a conspicuous figure in the development of New France. Indiana, Michigan and Illinois comprised his spiritual domain, and the five Pottawatomie villages near the Parc aux Vaches were the subject of his special care. After the death of Father de Seille the people of Bertrand were under the spiritual charge of Father Benjamin Petit, until the arrival of Father Sorin and his band of consecrated associates in 1842.

"In 1836 the brick church, now quietly dropping to pieces amid the graves, succeeded

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COLLEGIATE HALL, ST. MARY'S ACADEMY.

ST.MARY'S ACADEMY!

ST. MARY'S ACADEMY, SOUTH BEND.

CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF LORETO, ST. MARY'S ACADEMY, SOUTH BEND.

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the humble log building. Its erection was largely a labor of love. From the clay banks near by came the material for the outside walls. The woodwork was hewn and wrought after the solid and enduring fashion of the period. The style of architecture can scarcely be given a name, but there was a shadow of a gothic spirit lurking somewhere in the mind of the designer, and the windows, six below and four in the belfry, have pointed arches. The bell tower was the foundation upon which a spire, surmounted by a cross, was some day to rest. But, alas! the downfall of Bertrand began too soon. There was never a spire, except in imagination. There was a bell, how- ever, the gift of Father Sorin, which now reposes, safe from rust and vandalism, in the museum at Notre Dame. In due time the in- terior received gifts for its adorning, Mrs. Gen. Sherman furnishing the altar candle- sticks and various other articles essential in the church offices. The inscriptions upon the stations of the cross were in the French language, placed upon the walls when that was the vernacular of the region.

"The first trustees of St. Joseph's parish were Joseph Bertrand, Jr., Benjamin Ber- trand and Edward Anthony. The first re- corded baptism took place May 13, 1843. Priests from Notre Dame attended to the par- ish duties from the year 1842. In July, 1844, the sisters were first established in the town, occupying a house secured for them by Mr. Bertrand. Their chapel was blessed in June, 1849, and in January, 1851, the academy was incorporated.

"The experiences of the Sisters of the Holy Cross at Bertrand were varied. The com- munity was poor and frugality the rule. It is said that Father Sorin and Father Cointet had but one hat between them, and so never walked out together. All that survives of St. Mary's convent and academy is one yellow brick wing, now a dwelling. The larger wooden buildings long ago crossed the Indiana line and after serving as temporary quarters

at the new St. Mary's yielded to the 'tooth of time and refuse of oblivion.' "

Sec. 4 .- AT THE NEW ST. MARY'S .- Twen- ty-five sisters removed from Bertrand to St. Mary's when the new site was first occupied, in August, 1855. While at Bertrand, not- withstanding the need of sisters at the mother house, to carry on the work there and at Pokagon, Notre Dame and Mishawaka, there was yet found means to lay the foundations of many other establishments. Of these the only ones that have survived are the schools at South Bend (Lowell), Laporte and Michi- gan City. How few and weak as compared with the academies, schools and hospitals since established throughout so many states of the Union! Coming into Indiana, a new charter was necessary, and this was at once procured from the legislature through the kind offices of the Hon. Thomas S. Stanfield, who re- mained until his death the steadfast friend of Notre Dame and St. Mary's.

In 1859 the beautiful house of Loreto, con- structed after measurements and plans brought from Italy by Father Gillespie, was built near the edge of the fine bluff rising over the river in the rear of the convent and academy. The institution had so far pros- pered by the year 1862, that in that year the first brick building was constructed, long known as the main building. In 1865 the hall was built, and during the ten years then com- . pleted the grounds had already taken upon them that beauty and grace that have ever since characterized fair St. Mary's. During the same period the community more than doubled in numbers.

It was during this period also, in the year 1857, that Notre Dame and St. Mary's were made happy by a visit from the Very Rev. Basil Anthony Moreau, founder and superior general of the Congregation of the Holy Cross. The impressions made upon his mind by the beauty of St. Mary's are disclosed in the following extract from a letter written by him on shipboard, while on his return to France:

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"The benedictions of heaven," says Father Moreau, "are too abundant not to acknowl- edge the protection of the august Patroness of the society of the Sisters, and to honor whom the good superior of the academy at St. Mary's [Mother Angela] prepared a beau- tiful ceremony, the remembrance of which will never leave me. It was on the evening of September the eighth that I was witness to a majestic procession composed of all the religious and the students, each bearing a wax candle like a starry light; numerous arches ornamented with taste and glittering with lights spanned our way, and at the end of a long avenue, on a little mound overhung by a tall tree, an altar had been erected and decorated to receive the statue of the Blessed Virgin, which was carried in state by the white-veiled young girls. While the proces- sion moved through the dusk, hymns were chanted. From this station we went along a path lighted by tapers to a beautiful island, which was blessed and consecrated to the im- maculate Virgin."

What processions and sacred pageants be- came in later years at St. Mary's, we see in these lines from the pen of the sweet poet, Eliza Allen Starr :

"And the processions at St. Mary's-those marking the Rogation days, Corpus Christi, the feast of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart- so unique in their beauty, so unrivalled in their picturesque surroundings! Whatever . might be their grandeur at Notre Dame, there was a tranquillity peculiar to St. Mary's, as the procession on Rogation days passed under the old blossoming boughs of the orchard, on its way to the shrine of Our Lady of Peace, in the freshness of the spring mornings; or, for Corpus Christi, or Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, just at the close of the day, when the candles in the hands of the sisters and pupils made a line of blessed light along the wind- ing banks of the St. Joseph river, pausing at Our Lady of Mount Carmel; her arbor overhanging the edge of the wooded bank, and the 'coo' of the mourning doves nested

among the firs coming like touches of pathos in the songs of praise; then, to turn into the garden walks to Trinity Arbor, overrun with the blossoming trumpet-vines, their flow- ers darting out like tongues of flame! No pupil at St. Mary's can ever forget those pro- cessions, and no sister will ever forget how faithfully the beautiful ceremonial was al- ways observed and forwarded by the beloved founder of Notre Dame and St. Mary's. In this way an aesthetic education, in its most exalted sense, has been given to every one so happy as to linger among those delightful groves and shaded ways."

Indeed, in, all lines of the training given at St. Mary's in the early days, is seen a fore- cast of the years to come. Mother Angela was, in a sense, ahead of her time in matters pertaining to the education of young women, and long before the days of "higher educa- tion," she had outlined a plan of studies for St. Mary's teaching body that had as an end the highest and best in mental and moral training. To the first ten years must we trace also the beginning of the reputation for excellence in the art of music which St. Mary's enjoys. Even in the Bertrand days this gift of music was manifest, and drew to the institution numerous pupils who in turn made the musical department famous. The records of those early days are most in- teresting also to those who see in the past the promise of today, and, viewed in such a light, there is a significance in reports of commencement exercises, when, in drama- form, arranged especially for the occasion, Fabiola, Marie Antoinette and Blanche of Castile won laurels for the fair portrayers of those historical characters.

So were the foundations of St. Mary's wise- ly laid, under the wise, kindly and firm guid- ance of Mother Angela, aided as she was at all times by the counsels of Father Sorin. The plans having been perfected and the sys- tem adopted, it was but a matter of growth and development until the congregation and the academy became what we know them to-

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day. It is not too much to say that St. Mary's is the flower and glory of all the institutions in the west for the education of young women. Here the practical and substantial in educa- tion is most happily combined with all that is fair and lovely, and the maiden goes forth from these blessed halls, these delightful sur- roundings, trained in body and mind and soul, a perfect woman as God designed her to be.

Sec. 5 .- IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION .- A distinguishing feature of the character and policy of Notre Dame and St. Mary's was a disposition at all times to adapt their con- duct to their surroundings and to the needs of the times. We have seen, in the history of Notre Dame, how strong was the patriotic impulse in Father Sorin. America was his country, and in the training of the student of the university the lessons of patriotism were as unceasingly inculcated as were those of science, literature and the arts. At St. Mary's the love of country was equally warm, as indeed it must be when we consider how close were the ties that bound Mother Angela to many of the families that were devoting their talents and even their lives to the cause of the Union. But the love of country was more than what could arise from ties of blood or mere human interest of any kind. It was a great principle. In every well ordered hu- man soul, in every institution that aims to develop all that is best in human thought and conduct, there must be deeply implanted the love of God and the love of country. Re- ligion and patriotism must form the ground- work of character in every well educated citi- zen, whether man or woman.

Accordingly, in the first year of the war, to the sentiment of pity for the suffering, to the charity that inflamed the heart in con- sidering the hapless condition of the wounded, sick and dying soldiers, was also added the fervor of patriotism for the coun- try that was passing through such an awful period of trial and danger. And when, at the suggestion of General Lew Wallace, Gov-

ernor Oliver P. Morton requested the aid of Sisters of the Holy Cross in the southern hospitals, the timid at once became brave and went forth, led by Mother Angela, to take their places in the military hospitals at Wash- ington, Memphis, Paducah, Louisville, Cairo and Mound City, as well as on the hospital boats that bore the suffering soldiers from the fields of strife to where they might receive medical attention and the care which they needed. The first band arrived at Cairo on October 24, 1861, where they were presented to Grant, before proceeding to take charge of the hospital at Paducah. From this date until the close of the war, the war records show that nearly fourscore Sisters of the Holy Cross devoted themselves as army nurses to the care of the stricken soldiers. The Grand Army of the Republic has recently remem- bered with bronze medals the little band of survivors of those heroic nurses. In the peaceful campus before the doors of St. Mary's Academy are placed several broken cannon captured from the Confederates and presented to Mother Angela in memory of the services of the sisters. It was her intention to have this broken metal cast into a statue to be dedicated to Our Lady of Peace. Her death came before the beautiful idea could be carried into execution; but the fragments of those old guns remain as reminders at the same time of the dreadful civil war and of the heroism of the good women, the angels in human form, who strove to assuage some of its horrors.

Sec. 6 .- DAYS OF PEACE AND GROWTH .- The formative period, the time of struggle and suffering, closely followed as it was by the war period, has been succeeded by days of peace, growth and development. Until her death in 1887, Mother Angela continued to take part in this happy progress, as also did Father Sorin until his death six years later. In the providence of God, the institution to which they had given so much of their lives was secure in its establishment and in

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the carrying out of the designs of its blessed founders.

In 1869 the Sisters of the Holy Cross in America were recognized at Rome as a dis- tinct order, with St. Mary's as the mother house. Father Sorin continued for a time as the general superior; but finally the congre- gation was placed under care of the bishop of the diocese.

The number of sisters has grown to about one thousand, who have charge of educational and charitable institutions in many parts of the United States, all subject to the mother house at St. Mary's. Fifteen of these insti- tutions are in Indiana; included with them are two complete modern hospitals, one at South Bend and one at Anderson. There are six houses in Illinois, among them St. Angela's Academy at Morris. Mount Carmel Hospital, at Columbus, Ohio, is under charge of the sisters. In the east, there are several schools at Baltimore, an orphan asylum at

Washington, two academies and several schools in Washington, and one academy at Alexandria; three schools in Pennsylvania; one in New York, two schools in Texas, one in Iowa, eight institutions in Utah, including an academy and a hospital in Salt Lake City and an academy in Ogden, all of the highest standards; an academy, school and a hospital in Idaho, and three schools in California.

The mother house, at St. Mary's, has de- veloped in a wonderful manner, and now embraces not only the convent and academy, but also a higher or collegiate department, in which a full college course is pursued, such as is followed only in the highest educational institutions for women.

The buildings are all located on the fine bluff overlooking the beautiful St. Joseph. They comprise the chapel, the collegiate hall, the academy, the conservatory of music, the gymnasium and the infirmary.

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CHAPTER XIII.

TEMPERANCE AND PROHIBITION.

In one form or another, there has been in her hands and proudly wore it as the emblem St. Joseph county a persistent movement of a renewed life. against the liquor traffic, ever since the or- It was about the year 1872 that the Cru- sade Movement first set in, and in time spread like wildfire over the whole country. Messrs. Hughes and Ward were among the most ac- tive and successful of the Crusaders. ganization of the county. On the first day of January, 1832, the first temperance so- ciety was organized in South Bend. Horatio Chapin was president of this society. In 1834 a similar society was organized in Mish- awaka. In the same year there was much feeling caused in Mishawaka by the estab- lishment of a saloon just outside the cor- poration limits, by one Nichols.

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A history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Volume 2, Part 16

Author: Howard, Timothy Edward, 1837-1916 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 887

Author: Howard, Timothy Edward, 1837-1916
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 887