USA > Indiana > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 43
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114
St. Gabriel's new pastor came to a growing community in 1906. How much he contributed to the healthy development of all the elements of his charge, will be a matter for superlative terms when its history comes to be written. For it is a patent fact that all interests covering the multitudinous duties due such a growing and vigorous church family are safely guarded and directed with consummate wisdom. Three hundred families is approximately the number who receive his ministrations ..
PRESENT PASTOR OF ST. GABRIEL'S.
Rev. Theodore S. Mesker, who became St. Gabriel's pastor in 1906, is still in charge of the church. He was born at Evansville, Indiana, March 20, 1862, and received his early education in St. Mary's parochial schools in his home city. In 1874 he attended the commercial college at St. Meinrad, Indiana, and after a two-year course began the study of the classics, con- tinuing his studies at St. Francis Salesianum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Then he re-entered St. Meinrad, where he completed a course in philosophy and theology. He was ordained to the priesthood by the Rt. Rev. Francis Silas Chatard at St. Meinrad on May 30, 1885. His first appointment was as assistant to the pastor of St. Mary's at Indianapolis. A year later he was made pastor of St. Bernard's church at Rockport, Indiana. At his own request he was relieved of this charge after a year of service and was appointed pastor of St. John's church, in Warrick county, serving the church
461
FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.
from Evansville, where he resided, and at the same time looking after missions at Boonville and Newburg. On August 15, 1888, he was appointed pastor of the Guardian Angel church at Cedar Grove, Franklin county, and there he labored for eighteen years. He erected a substantial brick church, one hundred by forty-eight feet, furnished the new church with altars, pews and a splendid pipe organ. He converted the former church into a school building. The Cedar Grove church is one of the most beautiful country churches in the diocese. From this place, after a successful pastorate of eighteen years, he was appointed to St. Gabriel's, taking charge of the church on July 26, 1906.
Father Mesker found the parish utilities ample for the time and in good working order ; the last one of them however, the new Sister's home, though finished, had a debt which nearly corresponded to its full cost. The many new services needed for the influx of new members soon called for a number of minor improvements, but all of these have been looked after with ability by the pastor. and the current movements of the parish seem to be unhampered by debt. In a counting up of results, it will likely be found that the greatest showing for the past decade of years consists in the excel- lent order brought into the parish's routine touching every detail of church work. There must surely be some great work before it under the plans of divine Providence, for, seemingly such perfect order in the affairs of a parish cannot do otherwise than produce fruits in abundance. The numerous lives brought into conformity with Christianity is the ordinary result; the prime purpose, in fact, for its being, still, some other and special or material evi- dence of it must be maturing, and cannot perhaps be long now in the coming. Will it be a new school building, is a question many people are asking them- selves.
The question is a reminder that while the future does not enter into the scope of this sketch of St. Gabriel's, yet the sketch would be incomplete without a reference to the parish schools of the past.
-
PARISH SCHOOLS OF ST. GABRIEL'S.
The fall of 1854 sees the first parish school assembled in the base- ment of the new building erected as a church the year previous. A teacher was found at Oldenburg in the person of a Mr. Koogler, who conducted the school till the early summer of the next year. In 1855 F. H. Browning took over the work of school teacher, and continued in this capacity till 1858. In 1861-62, George J. Held, who came here from Canton, Ohio, was teacher,
462
FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.
being followed by Joseph Peters, a younger brother of the pastor, who con- ducted school for several years. In 1867-68, a Mr. Staufer taught the school for one year and was retained also because he was an organist. The need of an organist that year arose from the fact that the congregation had bought a pipe organ in the summer of 1867, and when installed it became the means of collecting a choir notable for those days. Some of its members had fair musical talent and even semi-professional training from Europe. This organ was probably the first pipe organ brought to Fayette county. The next teacher for the school in the basement of old St. Gabriel's was Joseph Ernst, who was in charge in 1868-69, and still later, a Miss Mitchell, for a few months in the latter part of the year.
These several attempts to maintain a. school represents a large amount of individual sacrifice on the part of the few families who could support it, and the culmination of which is found in the marked success attending their efforts to do even better in the future. In 1868 a movement was started under the name of the St. Philip Neri School Society for the purpose of improving the work by putting up a separate building for school purposes.
Why this desire exists for Catholic schools must be plain to whoever knows Catholic faith and sentiment. The root idea of it all is the intimate binding of the individual with God. God is man's Maker, and his final end and reward. This primal fact of existence is so deep and all pervading that it overshadows the whole range of being, and alone furnishes a key to the problem of life. The efforts of the handful of faithful in the sixties of the last century to keep up a Catholic school in Connersville is an illustra- tion of the bravery with which the church has always faced this issue, which makes God a supreme factor in every stage of human life. When the child learns the opening lines of the catechism and grasps the great truth that he is God's creature, made to know his Maker -. to love and serve Him-he has acquired a working philosophy of life which will be as a compass on its stormy sea; and which will insure real. progress when others perish for want of this knowledge of the nature and purpose of human existence. A distinc- tive feature of the school on this account, is the large place it assigns to char- acter building. It proceeds on the theory that the value of education lies in the development of an illumined mind possessed of self-control and sup- porting enlarged sympathies and wide views. Knowledge, right conscience, firm will, these are its desiderata; and it undertakes to make them companion- able by developing them together. The merest acquaintance with the routine of the school will show the commingling of them at every point. By this means, the home, the church, the school, in childhood's estimate of things, are
463
FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.
kept in unison. Every asset. of mind and heart is made to do service in the effort to know God and to serve Him. by doing good and avoiding evil, which, after all is the sum of all wisdom .. . Consequently, looking at life as it has been lived, no small portion of local history is to be found in the painstaking labors of Catholics to maintain a school, where God and conscience are given full recognition during the period of the unfolding of childhood.
It is not surprising then, with these principles in mind, that the incon- veniences of erecting and maintaining schools, have been gladly borne by the Catholics of Connersville from the beginning. The years of 1868 and onward till 1871 were anything but propitious for their new undertaking; but by one means and another, they, managed to bring it to completion even in the face of the financial strains of the panic of the early seventies. The lot for the new school building, the present St. Gabriel's school on Ninth street, was bouglit in 1871, and the building was finished in the summer of 1873. No little enthusiasm was manifested by both parents and pupils at the prospects of the work to be done by the Sisters, who had arrived late in August, 1873. The local papers speak of it as an item of note, saying that one hundred children constitute the enrollment. The school thus inaugurated has been con- tinuously open since that date for ten months each year, in charge of the Sisters of Providence, whose mother home is at St. Mary's of the Woods, near Terre Haute, Indiana. The enrollment for the current year is two hundred and eighteen pupils, who are trained in courses from the primary to the completion of the eighth-year grades. In addition to this ordinary school work the Sisters have special music classes, numbering between forty and fifty children.
There is a local interest attaching to the self-sacrificing labors of this sisterhood, who now conduct schools as far east as Boston, because of the fact that of the number of St. Gabriel's members who have entered religious orders, all but three have chosen the work of the Sisters of Providence for their vocation, the complete list being as follows: Honora Walsh, 1862, Sister Mary Stephens, St. Mary's of the Woods; Bridget Kane, 1863, Sister Mary Ettienne, St. Mary's of the Woods; Katherine Ready, 1874, Sister Mary Edmond, St. Mary's of the Woods; Mary Nevin, 1877, Sister Mary Bertha, St. Mary's of the Woods; Mary Balle, 1878, Sister Mary of the Annunciation, Notre Dame, Cincinnati, Ohio: Mary Heinemann, 1880, Sister Mary Alexandrina, St. Mary's of the Woods: Mary Agnes Walsh, 1885, Sister Mary Berchmans, Omaha, Nebraska; Anna McCarthy, 1888, Sister Patricia. Oldenburg, Indiana ; Mary Meyer, 1889, Sister Mary Josepha, St. Mary's of the Woods; Rosa Carrol, 1902, Sister St. Rose Clare, St.
464
FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.
Mary's of the Woods; Josephine Luking, 1906, Sister Mary Gratia, St. Mary's of the Woods; Mazie Carlos, 1907, Sister Regina Clare, St. Mary's of the Woods; Dorothea Ready, 1915, novice, Poor Clare Monastery, Evans- ville, Indiana.
LOOKING HOPEFULLY TO THE FUTURE.
In the final review of the history of Catholicity in Fayette county, only a few words are needed. For many years now, Fayette county's population has had a Catholic element. In the beginning only scattered individuals were known to be Catholics, but nearly seventy years ago, the time from which dates the organization of the parish of St. Gabriel's in Connersville, fourteen Catholic families were to be found living and loving and laboring, as others did, for their future home. At the present time they number three hundred. Through the early pioneer days and through the later industrial struggles, Catholics were interested participators; they shared the work and witnessed the progress. Consequently, now, with others they prize inesti- mably the glories of our common home. To the future they look hopefully ; and, for whatever new responsibilities arise, they have stout hearts and will- ing hands.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE PRESS OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
The history of the newspapers of Fayette county is difficult to trace, owing to the fact that complete files of the papers have not been preserved. The only way to write the history of any paper is to have access to the files of the paper in question. It is not certain when the first newspaper was established in Connersville, but it seems that the Indiana Statesman was started in the county seat some time in 1824 by Abraham Van Fleet. Van Fleet, a native of New Jersey, had come to Connersville in 1820 from Lebanon, Ohio, where he had learned to set type on the Western Star, and started a paper of his own in Connersville as soon as he felt that he had sufficient patronage to make it a profitable venture. It is not known how long the paper was issued, but it appears very evident that it disappeared before 1826.
There is a strong probability that the Indiana Statesman was followed by the Observer, which made its appearance in June, 1826 (Vol. I, No. 4, was dated July 8, 1826), under the proprietorship of the same Van Fleet and one Daniel Rench. Undoubtedly it was printed in the same shop as the Statesman and the evidence would seem to indicate that it was the latter paper under a new name. At the time of the Observer's establish- ment it was a small four-column folio. In 1828 it published the local laws of the state. Some time before 1829 Van Fleet retired from the paper in favor of John Sample, who had been sheriff of the county from 1821 to 1825. Sample and Rench issued their last number on May 8, 1830, having sold out to Samuel W. Parker.
The new owner and editor changed the name of the Observer to the Political Clarion with the issue of May 22, 1830, and made it a stanch Whig paper, a supporter of Henry Clay. Parker became one of the great- est lawyers of the county, served in the lower house of the state Legislature (1843) and in the senate ( 1840-42) and was a member of Congress from 1851 to 1855. He was a graduate of the college at Oxford, Ohio, and had taught school before assuming charge of the Political Clarion. Parker retained the paper about two years, disposing of it on May 26, 1832, to Caleb B. Smith and Matthew R. Hull, who changed its name, their first
(30)
466
FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.
issue, June 2, 1832, bearing the title of Indiana Sentinel. The paper continued its support of the Whig party. Smith soon severed his connection with it, turning over his interest to Col. Henry J. Neff. The Colonel evidently was not impressed with the possibilities of the paper, for a few months later he became identified with the Ft. Wayne Sentinel. Neff left the Sentinel to found the Winchester Patriot. After Neff left Connersville, Hull con- tinued as the sole owner of the paper for a time, just how long is not known, but at least until 1834, since in that year it had the contract for publishing the local laws of the state. Hull left Connersville and settled in Ohio, returning after several years to Fayette. county.
The successor of the Indiana Sentinel is not definitely known. The Legislature of 1832-33 selected the Argus, of Connersville, to publish the local laws enacted during that session, but when this sheet came into existence, when it disappeared, or who was responsible for its transitory career are facts that have perished along with the files of the paper itself.
OTHER PAPERS OF BRIEF CAREERS.
Another paper, a sixteen-page religious monthly, bearing the title of Christian Casket, appeared in 1832 under the management of Elder John O'Kane and Dr. Ryland T. Brown. It was laid away to rest after about a year's struggle and was supposedly given a decent Christian interment befit- ting its title.
Samuel W. Parker and D. Van Fleet issued the first number of the Watchman on May 31, 1834, a successor very likely of either the Indiana Sentinel or the Argus. Parker had formerly been connected with the Politi- cal Clarion and he became the editor of the new paper. The ownership of the Watchman underwent several changes within a few years, William Stew- art and John Sample being connected with it at one time or another before it disappeared about 1841, although Parker continued as editor during these changes. It was, of course, a Whig paper, and from all reports it was regarded as one of the most ably-edited weekly papers in the state during its career.
THE INDIANA TELEGRAPH.
A paper which succeeded in maintaining itself for a score of years was the Indiana Telegraph, established in 1840 by Louis C. Fouts, as an exponent of the Democratic party. Fouts soon sold it to F. B. Thomas and W. A. Hotchkiss, the new owners' names appearing for the first time in the issues
467
FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.
of December, 1841. How long they had charge of the paper is not known, but before 1845 it had passed into the hands of R. T. Brown. William Stewart, who had previously owned the Watchman, secured the Telegraph from Brown prior to September 20, 1844, (Vol. 4, No. 18, dated September 20, 1844, gives William Stewart as owner and editor), and directed its waver- ing career for a short time. Stewart disposed of it to Seth W. Swiggett, who, in turn, sold it to a stock company of Democrats. Whether there was not a sufficient number of Democrats in the county to support an organ, or whether the new company found the paper a burden from other reasons, the facts are that it soon became the sole property of T. J. White. The new owner struggled with it for a short time and in 1859 relinquished it to John M. Higgs and one Smith. Two years later the paper passed into the hands of Frank Brown, and the new proprietor, hoping to improve its waning fortunes by changing its name, rechristened it as the Fayette County Union. It called itself a Democratic-Whig organ, but neither its new name nor its hyphenated party allegiance could save it, and it quietly passed away within a few months ( 1861).
FAYETTE AND UNION CHRONICLE.
In 1850 appeared a paper known as the Fayette and Union Chronicle, founder unknown, but its history is succinctly set forth in a brief notice from the White Water Valley, quoted in the Brookville American, October 4, 1850: "The Fayette and Union Chronicle is no more. It breathed its last two weeks ago at the early age of six months. We presume it died of repletion- too much patronage, if we can credit its own statements." The only addi- tional fact concerning this short-lived paper is that it was a campaign sheet, and this sufficiently explains its abbreviated career.
PAPERS ACCOMPANY TEMPERANCE WAVE.
In the early fifties a wave of temperance swept over the country and was directly responsible for the establishing of a large number of papers. One such paper was established in Connersville, the Ladies Temperance I'reath, founded by Mrs. Lavinia Brownlee and Marie Louise Chitwood, the former a resident of Connersville, and the latter of Mt. Carmel, in Franklin county. Miss Chitwood was one of the most distinguished poets of her day, but died on December 19, 1855, before she reached the age of twenty-three. The Wreath was a magazine devoted to women's interests, to the cause of tem-
468
FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.
perance, and also laid some pretensions to being a literary magazine. Its whole career seems to have been comprehended within the year 1854.
GENESIS OF THE CONNERSVILLE NEWS.
When the Indiana Telegraph became a Democrat sheet in 1849 the Whigs at once started a new organ of their own, calling it by the peculiar name of White Water Valley. The new sheet was founded by Thomas Surgery, and William S. Burrows, one of the ablest editorial writers in the state, became the editor. Some time before 1853 it changed its name to White Water Valley Times, under which name it advertised itself for sale in that year. Who bought it, if it was sold, or what became of it, has not been definitely discovered, though it appears from the best evidence that the paper was sold to a man by the name of Maker. Whether he did or did not have a partner is not known, although it is probable that J. R. Randall was his associate. The absence of files of the paper makes it impos- sible to follow the wavering career of this paper which was to become the progenitor of the present Connersville News. In 1854 J. R. Randall and W. H. Green appear as owners, Maker having sold out his interest, whatever it may have been, to Green. The new firm evidently considered the old name of the paper too heavy from a typographical and geographical viewpoint, and they proceded to drop the White Water Valley and call it by the simple name of Times.
THE CONNERSVILLE TIMES.
The history of the Times from 1854 down to the present time is filled with a series of changes in ownership, the paper having passed through sev- eral different hands during the past sixty-three years. The paper was a weekly until its consolidation with the News, a daily, in 1881, and the names are so continued till the present. The News had enjoyed an independent career for some years previous to its consolidation with the Times. The various changes in the ownership of the Times will first be considered.
On November 16, 1854, the owners became W. H. Green and J. H. McClung, the latter at that time acquiring the interest of J. R. Randall. Two years later (May 15, 1856,) Green became the sole owner and he continued in full charge of the paper until he became auditor in the fall of 1867. He disposed of the paper to Augustus M. Sinks in December, 1867, and a short time later, the same winter, George M. Sinks, a brother,
469
FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.
became associated with the new owner. In 1870 a third brother, M. R. Sinks, was added to the firm. A. M. Sinks sold out his interest to his two brothers on May 1, 1871, and joined Jeremiah Wilson in the prac- tice of law. Some time during 1873 George M. Sinks became the sole owner and editor of the Times and so continued until the summer of 1875, when he became postmaster of Connersville. The formal transfer seems to have been made on July 1, 1875, the paper at that time passing into the hands of John A. James and William F. Downs.
In August, 1877, Downs sold his interest in the Times to Charles N. Sinks and the latter continued as sole owner and editor until August 24, 1880, when the paper passed into the hands of John C. Ochiltree and Wil- liam F. Downs. There appears to have been a time in 1880 or 1881 when Thomas Downs was a part owner. On March 9, 1881, Ochiltree and Downs (W. F.) bought the Connersville News from McClung & Bacon and consoli- dated it with the Times under the name of the Connersville Times and Newes. In August, 1881, Ochiltree retired from the paper and the firm at that time became McClung, Bacon & Downs. In October, 1881, the News part of the title was dropped from the title. The paper during the eighties seemed to have been handed back and forth with reckless abandon between five differ- ent men. Before the close of 1881 (November 9) A. M. Sinks and John C. Ochiltree are again at the helm. Both had had previous connection with the paper, but never as partners before. These two men maintained an unbroken partnership for nearly three years. Ochiltree severed his connection with it on July 2, 1884, leaving Sinks as sole proprietor. Sinks was one of the ablest men ever identified with the newspaper history of Connersville. For three years he handled the paper alone ( 1884-87). About this time he sold the paper. still a weekly, to J. W. Shackleford and Howard M. Gordon. Della Smith, later Mrs. J. W. Hull, secured a half interest in the paper in June, 1887, at the time the daily edition was established.
THE TIMES-NEWS COMPANY.
The first daily paper in Connersville was published by the firm of Downs & Smith, on June 9, 1887, with W. F. Downs as editor. They made such inroads on the field of the older weekly as to force consolidation. The next change brings the proprietory history of the paper to its present corporate form -- the Times-News Company. On October 20, 1892, this company was organized under the laws of the state, the members of the company being J. W. Shackleford, Della Smith and W. F. Downs, the latter serving as editor of both daily and weekly editions.
470
FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.
In 1895 J. H. Tatman bought the interest of Shackleford and six months later Tatman disposed of his interest to Downs and Miss Smith. The fol- lowing year Tatman bought out Miss Smith, and Downs and Tatman con- tinued as partners until the latter's death in March, 1904. Before that time E. W. Tatman had been a stockholder, having had a financial interest in the paper since 1897, and on the death of his father he assumed his father's interest. Downs died on March 23, 1905, and since that date E. W. Tatman, better known as Ned Tatman, has acquired practically all of the outstanding stock of the paper. Mrs. Downs, the widow of W. F. Downs and now a resident of Michigan, still controls a small share of the stock.
PRESENT STAFF OF THE NEWS.
In 1916 the company built a new building with the intention of occupy- ing it as soon as it was completed, but before it was ready for occupancy an opportunity presented itself to rent it at a favorable figure and the company decided to remain for the time being in its old quarters. The new building, erected at a cost of sixteen thousand dollars, stands immediately north of the postoffice. It was leased to Frank B. Ansted for a period of five years and is now used as a garage. The paper intends to move into the building upon the expiration of the lease. It is a handsome brick structure, with stone trimmings, and was built with a view to enlarging the facilities now enjoyed by the paper in its present quarters on Court street, north of the court house.
The managing editor of the News is E. W. Tatman, who owns practi- cally all of the stock of the Times-News Company. Earl W. Williams is the associate editor and Webb Sparks serves in a reportorial capacity. Louise Schroeder is society editor and Inez Williams is in charge of the business department. The general foreman is C. G. Chitwood, who has been con- nected with the newspapers of Connersville many years. The paper uses the services of three linotype operators, a number of typesetters and the usual complement of employees necessary to publish a daily paper in a city of this size, the total number of employees being fourteen. L. N. Boland, who for many years was actively identified with the editorial department of the News, is still connected with the paper, though only in a limited capacity. Mr. Boland is the oldest newspaper man in the city. During his early life he was prominently identified with a number of metropolitan papers. The News enjoys an unusual circulation for a city the size of Connersville, hav- ing a total circulation of three thousand one hundred, about two thousand of which is in the city. The paper is independent Republican in politics.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.