USA > Indiana > History of the Catholic church in Indiana, Volume II > Part 17
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William Carson, whose name opens this biographical memoir, removed from Indianapolis to Kansas in 1878, where he was engaged in farming until 1884, when he returned to the Railroad city, and here he has since resided with the exception of two years, when he was employed on a farm in Johnson county. Until 1892 he was an emyloyee of the Indianapolis City Electric Light & Power company, and then resigned his position to accept that
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which he holds at present, which gives him the control of the yards of the Terre Haute Brewing company in Indianapolis.
Mr. Carson was united in marriage, in St. John's church, Feb- ruary 10, 1876, by Very Rev. Father Bessonies, to Miss Mary Gleason, a native of Michigan City, Ind., and a daughter of Thomas and Kate Gleason, both now deceased. To the happy union of Mr. and Mrs. Carson have been born six children, viz: Ellen, who died at the age of sixteen years; Thomas, now eighteen years old; William, aged fourteen; Edward, nine; John seven; Charles, four years, and Peter, five months. [As this memoir was approved in December, 1897, allowance for the ages of the chil- dren must be made accordingly. ]
The family are members of St. John's church, and Mr. Car- son is a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and of the Celtic club. In politics he is a democrat, and takes an active part in forwarding the interests of his party, but has never sought office as a reward for his activity in its behalf.
T HOMAS J. CAVANAUGH, a popular business man of Wash- ington, Daviess county, Ind., is a native of this county, was born October 19, 1857, and is a son of Andrew and Rosanna (Welsh) Cavanaugh, natives of county Wexford, Ireland.
Andrew Cavanaugh was about twenty years of age when he landed in America in 1849, and Rosanna Welsh was not yet seven- teen years old when she landed in New York, July 12, 1849, having been born October 19, 1832. They were married January 6, 1857, in Cincinnati, Ohio, in St. Patrick's church, by Rev. Father Wood, afterward archbishop, and soon after marriage came to Indiana and settled on their present home farm of 120 acres in Washington township, Daviess county, where they still reside, and where they have had born to them eight children, viz: Thomas James, whose name opens this paragraph; Mary Ann and Cather- ine, deceased; William, a member of the Washington, Ind., police force; James, a machinist of Cincinnati, Ohio; Michael, also a machinist: Andrew, a laborer, of St. Louis, Mo .; and Mary, (276)
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deceased. The parents belong to St. Simon's parish, and they and their children are devoted Catholics.
Thomas James Cavanaugh, our subject, attended the parochial school until eighteen years of age, then for two years attended the public school, after which he was employed in farm labor until 1884, and was then for two years clerk in the Meredith hotel, after which he was employed as delivery man for Cable & Kauff- man for three years. In 1889 he engaged in the saloon business. in partnership with Joseph Rummels, but two years later sold out his interest in this concern and opened a saloon, on his own account, at No. 322 Main street, Washington, which is now one of the most popular places of resort in the city, being finely fur- nished and kept within strict rules of respectability, and the pro- prietor being affable and genial in his treatment of patrons.
November 25, 1891, in Washington, Ind., Mr. Cavanaugh married Miss Mary Elizabeth Kretz, a native of Washington and a daughter of Joseph Kretz. Mr. Cavanaugh is a member of St. Simon's congregation and Mrs. Cavanaugh of St. Mary's, and both are dutiful Catholics. In his politics Mr. Cavanaugh is a democrat and is not a small factor in the councils of the party in local affairs, but has never sought personal preferment in the way of public office.
LEXANDER CHOMEL, publisher and printer of Indianapolis, A
Ind., was born in department de l'Allier, France, June 26, 1826. He is a son of Dennis and Lucy (Collason) Chomel, both of whom were natives of the same department with himself. Dennis and Lucy Chomel were married in that department, there reared their children, and there died. The former was an officer in the gardes du corps of Louis XVIII and Charles X. After a service in the army of about fifty years he was retired, and died in 1842, his wife having died in 1828. They were the parents of six children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the only one sur- viving, and is the only one that ever came to the United States.
Alexander Chomel obtained his education in the Catholic schools of France, which he continued to attend until he was
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twenty-one years of age. In 1848 he emigrated to the United States, landing at New Orleans, from which city he proceeded up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to New Albany, Ind., where until 1860 he was engaged in merchandizing. In this year he removed to Martin county and there engaged in newspaper work and merchandizing until 1884. removing then to Washington, Ind., and there was connected with the Advertiser until 1888, when he came to Indianapolis and purchased the New Record, a Catholic publication, changed its name to the Catholic Record, and has since then conducted it, carrying on a job printing office in con- nection therewith.
Mr. Chomel was married in December, 1850, in New Albany, to Miss Sabina Carrico, who was born in Kentucky in 1832. To this marriage there have been born ten children, of whom seven survive, viz: Lucy, wife of Felix Cissel; Thomas, express agent at Connersville; Catherine, wife of Anthony McGryel of Wash- ington, Ind .; Alexander, and William, both printers employed by their father; Mary C. and Anselm, both at home. Mr. Chomel and his family worship at St. John's church, and are all true and devoted Catholics. Mrs. Chomel belongs to the societies of Rosary and Altar.
C HARLES S. CLARK, M. D., was born in Madison county, Ohio, in the year 1861, and is a son of Daniel and Margaret (Driscall) Clark. His elementary education was received in the public schools of Van Wert county, Ohio, and later he attended the State Normal school at Ada three years, making substantial progress in the higher branches.
Having decided to make the healing art his profession, the doctor, after the usual preliminary reading, entered the Eclectic Medical institute, Cincinnati, from which he was graduated in the year 1891. Actuated by a laudable desire to increase his profes- sional knowledge, he subsequently took two post-graduate courses at Chicago, completing the same in the years 1892 and 1897, respectively. The doctor began the practice at Decatur, Ind., where he has since remained, his success in the profession having
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been most encouraging and fully meeting his expectations. He makes a specialty of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, in the treatment of which his reputation is much more than local. He is a member of St. Mary's church, Decatur, and finds time to devote much attention to the claims of religion.
David D. Clark. M. D., brother of the above Charles S. and a leading member of the parish of St. Mary's, is also a native of Madison county, Ohio, where his birth occurred in the year 1864. He was reared and educated in his native state, and obtained his professional training under competent instructors and in medical colleges of well-known and acknowledged reputation. He has been engaged in the general practice at Decatur for some years, and stands high among his professional brethren of the city and county. He was married at Delphos, Ohio, December 16, 1887, to Miss Mary Rocky, the ceremony being solemnized by Rev. A. I. Hoeffel, pastor of St. John's Catholic church of that city. Dr. and Mrs. Clark have an interesting family of three children, Anna, Margaret and Vera.
REV. MICHAEL J. CLARK (deceased) .- In 1843, the Rev. Michael J. Clark was assigned to LaFayette. The parish at that time consisted of eight counties-Tippecanoe, Fountain, War- ren, Montgomery, Putnam, Benton, Carroll and White. Of these counties LaFayette was then, as it has always been since, the prin- cipal city, and the number of Catholics families was at least twen- ty-five. Father Clark rented a one-story brick building on the principal thoroughfare of the town, and there assembled, with such regularity as he could, his parishioners. His calls to other por- tions of his extended parish were, however, frequent; and at such times the congregation would assemble under the lead of some mem- ber, who would read prayers and give instruction in the catechisin to the children. This little congregation was the beginning of the present St. Mary's congregation. In the next year, so prosperous and so generous were the leading members of the church, that a move was made for the purchase of ground and the building of a church-edifice. This resulted in the purchase of ground and the
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speedy completion of a building, at that time the handsomest in the city, and regarded as superior to any in northern Indiana-the church of Sts. Mary and Martha- at a cost of about $10,000.
Father Clark continued in the pastorate until 1857. During those fourteen years, we quote from one of his successors, "he saw the good seed which he had planted take root and grow, and churches arise and flourish in the counties which were under his pastoral charge, and county after county was detached, until LaFay- ette was found large enough to demand his-entire time and atten- tion. After working so long and successfully he went to Illinois and died, full of years and good works, in charge of the large and prosperous congregation at Bloomington in that state."
A LVA CLARKE, one of the oldest pioneers of Daviess county, Ind., and also one of the oldest of the laity of the Mission of Ease, an appendix at Cannelburg of St. Peter's parish, Mont- gomery, was born in Ohio October 27, 1814, and is the sixth in the family of ten children born to Augustine and Phœbe (Nelson) Clarke, natives of Maryland. In 1819 the family moved to Van- dalia, the then capital of the state of Illinois, but the father was dissatisfied with the country and returned to Ohio on a visit; he next located in Paoli, Ind., whence he moved to Mount Pleasant, Martin county, and finally settled in New Harmony, Posey county, where his wife died in 1865, and where his own death occurred in the year 1874.
Alva Clarke was educated in an old-fashioned log school- house of the most primitive description, and at the age of fourteen years began his business life as salesman in a general store at old Mount Pleasant, his salary, at the start, being $5 per month. He remained with the firm seven years, but has been located in the vicinity of Cannelburg ever since the construction of the B. & O. S. W. railway was commenced, doing business on his own account, has furnished most of the ties west of Loogootee and has sold thousands of cords of wood.
June 20, 1836, Mr. Clarke was united in marriage, by Father (280)
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Lalumiere, to Miss Susannah Wedding, who was born in Kentucky about 1817. Of the seven children that have blessed this mar- riage four are still living, viz: Lloyd, a live stock dealer and farmer of Montgomery, Ind .; Louisa, wife of William Sharum, a railroad man of Paoli; Pæbe, married to George Nolans of Can- nelburg, and Mary, wife of Isaac Cassidy, an engineer in Mont- gomery. These children were all confirmed in the Catholic faith by Bishop de St. Palais.
In politics Mr. Clarke is a sound democrat and cast his first presidential vote for Martin Van Buren. He served as township trustee of Barr township ten years, and did his duty faithfully and honestly. He settled in Daviess county when it was almost entirely a wilderness, and when deer, wild turkeys and many other varieties of game abounded, and Mrs. Clarke, now about eighty- one years of age, has lived in Martin and Daviess counties since she was a child. She remembers the Catholic missionaries who traveled between Bardstown, Ky., and Vincennes, Ind., and made her grandfather's house their stopping place; she also recollects the Indians who had their camp near her father's home. In her younger womanhood she cooked and sewed for many of the men who worked on the B. & O. railroad, and still is strong and active, and milks her cows and makes her butter. Mr. and Mrs. Clarke are very devout, and are, of course, the most venerable of the members of the Mission of Ease, and their long residence in the county causes them to be honored by all who meet them.
AMES LILLY CLARK, market gardener and dairyman of J Washington, Daviess county, Ind., is a native of Kentucky and was born in Spencer county, that state, October 5, 1858, a son of James A. and Sarah F. (Lilly) Clark.
The grandfather of subject, James A. Clark, Sr., was born in county Tipperary, Ireland, June 18, 1797, and at the age of fif- teen years came to America and found a home in Mount St. Mary, Md., where he was employed in a tannery, and where he early married Miss Sarah Head. In 1816, he removed to Spencer county,
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Ky., where his wife died in August, 1857, and where his own death took place in 1865-both dying in the faith of the Catholic church. They were the parents of seven children, of whom four grew to maturity, viz: Hamilton A., now deceased; John A., of Bullitt county, Ky., died in 1898; James A., father of subject, and Thomas A., who died December 12, 1890.
James A. Clark was born in Spencer county, Ky., February 22, 1823, was reared a farmer, and was married in Bardstown, Nelson county, Ky., November 11, 1857, to Sarah F. Lilly, a native of Fairfield, Nelson county, and to this union were born ten children, of whom seven still survive, viz: James L., our subject; Elizabeth, wife of J. C. Bachelder, of Nelson county, Ky .; Sarah B., wife of N. Pitt, of the same county; Susan, wife of Jesse W. Crume, of Taylorsville, Spencer county, Ky .; Robert E., with his mother; Charles M., of Fairfield, Nelson county, Ky., and Joseph A., with his mother, who is now a widow, residing on the old homestead, known as Riverdale farm, on the banks of the historical Salt river, in Spencer county, her husband having died October 5, 1890, a true Catholic in religion and a democrat in politics.
James Lilly Clark was prepared for college in the common schools of Spencer county, Ky., which he attended until sixteen years of age, and later attended St. Mary's college, Marion county, Ky., and St. Ignatius college at Chicago, Ill. In 1884 he engaged in reportorial work on the Catholic Advocate, of Kentucky, was a teacher in the public schools awhile, studied law in Taylorsville under Senator G. G. Gilbert and was admitted to the bar in 1888. In 1890 he went to Louisville, Ky., where he was in the insurance business about a year, then went to Chattanooga, Tenn., in 1891, and was superintendent of the Sunlight Insurance company at that point until 1894, and then came to Washington, Ind., where he represented a dozen or more of the best fire, life and accident insurance companies in the Union until January, 1898. He had married, in Washington, October 11, 1886, Miss Bridget E. Egan, a native of this city, born March 13, 1863, a daughter of Jeremiah Egan, and to this union have been born six sons, viz: Joseph B., James J., Francis (deceased), John H., Hugh M., and Lewis Gerald.
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yours truly Fix. Giotto
ST. ANTHONY'S CHURCH, MORRIS, IND.
CATHOLIC CHURCH OF INDIANA.
In politics Mr. Clark is a republican. In religion he is a devout Catholic, he and family belonging to St. Simon's congrega- tion. He is also an ardent and energetic member of the national Catholic fraternal order, known as the Young Men's institute, being the recording secretary of Marquette council, No. 195, at Washington, Ind., and at the grand council convention, May 18, 1896, was elected to the honorable and responsible position of grand president of the Indiana and Michigan jurisdiction of the Young Men's Institute of America.
R EV. F. X. GIROLT, rector of St. Anthony's church, at Morris, Ripley county, Ind., was born in Barr, Alsace (then a province of France), September 3, 1848, a son of Anthony and Helen (Fal- ler) Girolt, the former of whom was chief forester by vocation and died in office October 20, 1881; the latter still survives.
Rev. F. X. Girolt passed the early years of his childhood on his father's forester's house, and in 1863 entered the Petit seminaire at Strasbourg, where he passed through a preparatory course of education until 1870, when he entered the Grand seminaire de Strasbourg, and continued his studies until 1872. He came to America June 21, 1872, finished his studies in theology at St. Meinrad's, Ind., and was ordained priest by Bishop Maurice de St. Palais, at Vincennes, March 29, 1874. He read his first mass at St. Mary's church, Evansville, Ind., April 12, 1874, and from May until October, 1874, acted as assistant to Father Viefhaus, of St. Mary's church at Evansville, Ind. He was next appointed pastor of St. Mary's of the Rock, in Franklin county, Ind., where he zealously labored from October 18, 1874, until June 21, 1888, and from the latter date until the present time has labored with equal zeal in his present charge-that at St. Anthony's, Morris, Ind., where his unas- suming deportment and urbane disposition have won him the deep love of his congregation, as well as the warm friendship and respect of hundreds of persons outside the pale of the Catholic church. St. Anthony's church, at Morris, Ripley county, Ind., is one of the few in the diocese of Vincennes that is almost clear of
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debt. The corner-stone of the present edifice, one of the finest in southern Indiana, was laid in 1884, and the structure, which cost nearly $25,000, was dedicated in 1885. The school-building, of stone, was begun in 1861 and completed in 1865. Rev. F. X. Girolt, the present pastor, has expended over $3,000 in beautify- ing and improving the church, and $600 in the improvement of the parsonage, among the improvements being a magnificent altar which was consecrated June 18, 1895, by Bishop Chatard. The congregation of St. Anthony's numbers about 108 families, and the school, under the direction of three Sisters of St. Francis, is attended by ninety-two pupils. Father Girolt has done much of the labor that has resulted in the release of the congregation from debt, and his spiritual work has been commensurate with his temporal.
G I EORGE EDMOND CLARKE, a prominent attorney of South Bend, St. Joseph county, Ind., was born in New Orleans, La., in 1860, a son of Matthew and Ellen Clarke, natives of Ire- land, who died while George Edmond was still quite young, leav- ing him and three younger brothers to the care of an aunt. The early education of subject was received under the Sisters of Loretto, and while yet a mere lad was selected as altar boy for Rev. Louis Aloysius Lambert. At sixteen years of age he was graduated from the high school at Cairo, Ill., and the next two years were passed in St. Vincent's college. He then took a commercial course at Cape Girardeau, after which he became a steamboat clerk on the Mississippi river, and then a clerk in the office of the Illinois Central Railroad company at Cairo, Ill. At the age of twenty years he entered Notre Dame university, St. Joseph county, Ind., taking up the classical course of study, and won a well deserved reputation as an elocutionist. For several years he was also on the editorial staff of the Scholastic, the college newspaper, or journal, and was frequently called upon to make addresses in the neighboring towns. He was graduated from Notre Dame in 1883, with the degrees of A. B. and LL. B., having won medals in
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history and oratory. During the vacation preceding his senior year, Mr. Clarke, having become an expert stenographer, was appointed private secretary to William P. Halliday, president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad company, and after graduation received an appointment from the Studebaker Brothers Manufactur- ing company, as auditor of its accounts and adjuster of its matters in litigation throughout the country-a position requiring a great deal of travel.
In May, 1887, Mr. Clarke was first united marriage with Miss Mamie Giddings, an accomplished vocal and instrumental musician, the result of the union being two children-Mary and Matthew. This marriage relation was but of short duration, being terminated, happy though it was, by the death of Mrs. Clarke in 1890. To relieve his despondency at this and event, Mr. Clarke sought solace in renewed study, and entered npon a special course in law at the university of Michigan, from which he received the degree of LL. M., and was admitted to the bar before the supreme court of Michigan two days later-in June, 1891. He then associated him- self in practice in South Bend with Hon. Lucius Hubbard, recently elected judge of the Thirteenth judicial district of Indiana. Mr. Clarke is now attorney for the Wabash Railroad company and a member of the law faculty of Notre Dame university.
Mr. Clarke has always enjoyed a high reputation as an orator, and of the hundreds of public speeches he has made it will suf- fice to name only those at Evansville, Ind., in October, 1892, when he addressed 5,000 people is commemoration of the discovery of America, which address was highly commended by the press, and that at Indianapolis, March 17. 1896, his fellow-orators being Bishop Chatard, Henry Watterson, Hon. Frank Burke, Hon. T. E. Howard, and others, and here again won universal approbation. As a republican, Mr. Clarke is a factor with his party. On the great republican day in northern Indiana, during the Mckinley campaign, he was the escort of Hon. Robert Lincoln, and, in a masterly speech, introduced to the assemblage the son of the martyred president.
The second marriage of Mr. Clarke was to Miss Mary Van- derhoof, a lady of many rare accomplishments, and her works of
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artistic skill adorn the home of herself and husband in one of the most charming residence districts of South Bend, in which home hospitality knows no bounds.
M ICHAEL F. GILL, one of the trustees of Holy Cross parish, Indianapolis, and a well-known and highly-esteemed citizen, resides at No. 36 Temple avenue. He is a native of county West- meath, Ireland, was born September 27, 1860, and is a son of William and Jane (Scott) Gill. In 1861 the family emigrated to the United States, locating at Rocky Hill, Conn., near Hartford. In December, 1866, they removed to Ohio, at the solicitation of an uncle of the subject, a brother of his mother, locating in Clarke county, and after a year's residence there removing to Plain City, Madison county, in the same state. There the heads of the family resided until 1893, when, at the solicitation of their sons, then resi- dents of Indianapolis, they removed to the last-named city, where the death of the father occurred August 10, 1896. The funeral of William Gill was the first to take place within the parish of the Holy Cross after its organization, and it was conducted by the Rev. Father McCabe. Mr. Gill was a sincere and devout Cath- olic, and a man of sterling character, and it has been said of him that he never omitted daily prayers in his family. His wife and mother of his children was a most devoted consort of her husband, and is now a lady highly esteemed by all that know her. She and her husband had a family of ten children, eight of whom still sur- vive, six sons and two daughters. The daughters, Mrs. Delia Boyhan and Mrs. Mary E. Burk, reside in New, Jersey. The sons, in the order of their birth, are Michael F., Joseph P., William H., John L., Thomas A. and Edward E., all living in Indianapolis.
Michael F. Gill, the subject of this sketch, was six years old when the family settled in Plain City, Ohio. There he lived until he was nineteen years of age, attending the public schools until thirteen. Being the eldest of the family, the duty of aiding in its support largely devolved upon him for some years. In 1880 he went to Chicago, remaining there a year, removing then to Colum- (290)
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bus, Ohio, and thence to Indianapolis. Mr. Gill has been in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railway company since 1880, and now occupies the responsible position of foreman of the fuel department of that road.
He was married in Plain City, Ohio, by the Rev. Father B. F. Mueller, of St. Joseph's church, to Miss Mary Kennedy, who was born in Columbus, Ohio. The two children born to this mar- riage died in infancy. Mr. Gill is a man who is held in high esteem by the community at large, and is implicitly trusted by the railway company for which he works. He takes great pride in promoting the best interests of the young parish of the Holy Cross, and is a charter member of council No. 272, Young Men's institute.
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