USA > Indiana > History of the Catholic church in Indiana, Volume II > Part 50
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As far back as 1874, about eighty Bohemian families came from Minnesota and Illinois, and colonized at North Judson, and by these the church buildings at San Pierre and North Judson were soon erected, but they were without a resident priest until the
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CATHOLIC CHURCH OF INDIANA.
coming of Father Kehellek, who has labored most zealously in their behalf, and brought about the present substantial condition of the congregation, both in a temporal and spiritual sense.
H ENRY EDWARD KELLER, M. D., one of the prominent medical men of Decatur, was born in the village of Monte- rey, Pulaski county, Ind., July 31, 1869, and is the son of John and Elizabeth Keller. John Keller was born in the year 1842 at Attica, Ohio, received his education in that town and Rochester, Ind., and married, in 1868, Elizabeth Schneyder, of Monterey, near which place he has since been engaged in agricultural pur- suits. The following are the names of the children born to John and Elizabeth Keller: Joseph, John, Charles, Mary Elizabeth, Henry Edward and George, the last named deceased. The mother died in Monterey, June 4, 1888. Dr. Keller spent his youthful years amid the active scenes of farm life, attended the schools of Monterey until his fifteenth year, later completed a com- mercial course in one of the leading business colleges of Chicago, and for some time attended a normal school at Winamac, Ind. Having decided to adopt the medical profession for his life work, the doctor, after preliminary reading, entered the Chicago Physio- medical college, which he attended two years, and then took a course at Rush Medical college, and for two years thereafter was interne in the Cook county hospital. He completed his profes- sional studies at the Indianapolis Physio-medical college, from which he was graduated in 1894, and immediately thereafter began practicing at Decatur, where he has since continued with the most encouraging success.
Doctor Keller makes specialties of acute and chronic diseases, ear and eye, head, nose and throat troubles and catarrh, also dis- eases of the bladder and kidneys. In these special lines he has achieved a creditable reputation and he stands high among his pro- fessional brethren of Decatur.
The doctor's marriage with Miss Anna C. Omlor, of Decatur, Ind., was solemnized by Father Wilkin in St. Mary's church,
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THE CLERGY AND CONGREGATIONS,
August 13, 1894, and to the union two children have been born: Lorena Elizabeth Catherine and Raymond Charles. The doctor and his estimable wife are members of St. Mary's parish.
REV. JOHN B. KELLY, rector of the Holy Trinity church New Albany, Ind., is a native of Ireland, came to America in 1863, and commenced his classical studies in the Provincial sem- inary of St. Thomas. about three miles from Bardstown, Nelson county, Ky., and completed his philosophical and theological studies at the seminary of Montreal, Canada.
After being ordained, in 1874, at Indianapolis, by Bishop de St. Palais, he was appointed pastor at Cambridge, Wayne county, Ind., where he erected St. Elizabeth's church. In 1881, he was transferred to his present charge in New Albany, where he at once began the improvement of the church interior, and within three months expended $1,000, remodeling the seats, increasing their number and re-arranging the gallery. The following year he erected the Holy Trinity school-building, at an outlay of $20,000, and at its completion superintended the erection of a home for the Sisters of Providence, the cost of which was defrayed by the Sis- ters themselves. In 1886, he replaced the shingle roof of the church with tinned iron and introduced hot-air furnaces, and has since further decorated the interior of the church at a cost of nearly $7,000. He has also had erected a comfortable dwelling for the teacher of the boys' senior class of the parochial school, and has expended over $1,000 in improving the Irish Catholic cemetery, on Green Valley road, two miles from New Albany. In 1886, Rev. Father Kelly was furnished by Bishop Chatard with an assistant in the person of Rev. J. P. Matthews, and in the spring of 1887 Father Kelly visited Ireland and then the Eternal City, where he kissed the hand of His Holiness, prayed for his people in the home of the Blessed Virgin at Loretto, and in Sep- tember returned, bearing the apostolic benediction for his congre- gation and many souvenirs blessed by Pope Leo XIII.
The labors of Father Kelly have been zealous, unceasing and
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CATHOLIC CHURCH OF INDIANA.
indefatigable for both the spiritual and temporal welfare of his congregation, as well as for the glorification of the Church of Rome and the promotion of the Holy Faith, and, being an orator by nature and thoroughly trained by education in pulpit eloquence, he has been phenomenally successful in performing the duties of his pastorate and in winning the love and admiration of his con- gregation, which adore him, not only for his scholarly accomplish- ments, but for his unfeigned piety and his many personal virtues.
P ETER KELLY, an efficient and popular Miami county official, and a resident of Peru, Ind., was born in county Cork, Ireland, July 5, 1846, a son of Patrick and Hanora (Twomey) Kelly, the former of whom was a scientific farmer and likewise steward for the estate of Sir George Colthrust, on which he died in 1862. Mrs. Hanora Kelly came to America in 1867, and here passed the remainder of her days, and died in 1875, like her husband, in the faith of the Catholic church.
Peter Kelly, the youngest of the six children born to his parents and of whom four are still living, was educated in one of the national or common schools of Ireland until sixteen years old, assisted his father until the latter's death and engaged in general labor in his native county until coming to America with his mother in 1867. Locating in Peru, Ind., with the rest of the family, he first engaged in contract work on public works, a business he fol- lowed until 1877, when he embarked in the grocery trade, which he conducted until 1879, when he resumed contracting, and was thus employed until 1892, when he was appointed deputy county surveyor, filled the office in a most satisfactory manner until 1896 -in fact performing, during the latter part of the term, the duties of both surveyor and deputy. In June, 1896, he was appointed city engineer for Peru, for which office he is admirably fitted, and is also a county drainage commissioner. In politics he is a stanch democrat, and is very popular with his party, in whose council his voice has a potent effect. He is a true Catholic, and is a member of St. Patrick's Total Abstinence society, believing that temperance
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THE CLERGY AND CONGREGATIONS,
is the foundation of all temporal prosperity. He has been frugal and temperate himself throughout life and owns several building lots in the city earned by his own labor and a judicious investment of his savings, and in every way has led a commendable and useful life. Generous by nature, he has been free with his means in aiding every movement for the benefit of his fellow-men when within his power, and no appeal in charity's name has passed him unnoticed.
REV. FATHER ANTHONY MICHEL, O. S. B., pastor of St. Martin's church at Siberia (Sabaria), Perry county, Ind., is a native of Dubois county, Ind., was born at St. Henry, June 10, 1865, and is the sixth in a family of seven children born to John and Magdalena (Hubert) Michel, of whom Mark is a brother at St. Meinrad's monastery.
Rev. Anthony Michel's primary education was finished in the common schools, and in 1880 he entered St. Meinrad's college, there finished the classical, philosophical and theological courses and was ordained by Bishop Chatard May 23, 1891. He had taken his profession in the Benedictine order, July 25, 1886, and took the solemn vows later. He was called to fill the chair of ancient and modern history and geography in the college of St. Meinrad during the school year of 1891-92, and was then assigned as pas- tor of the Sacred Heart parish at Schnellville during the year 1892-93, having, during his professorship, officiated as priest of this parish. He became the resident priest of St. Martin's Sep- tember 3, 1894. The old log church had an ell and sacristy, which had been erected in 1868, and was still standing. When he took charge there were about forty families, or 200 souls, and he at once undertook the erection of a new church. The preliminaries, such as quarrying the stone and burning the brick and leveling the hilly and rough grounds, were begun, and the corner-stone was laid August 15, 1896, by Rev. J. W. Book, of Cannelton. The build- ing was partially finished in 1896, but it was left until the patron saint's day, or the feast of St. Martin, November 11, 1897, when the first services were held. During the same day Abbot Schmitt
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ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH, SABARIA, IND,
CATHOLIC CHURCH OF INDIANA.
blessed the bells, two in number. The building was not really finished until June 3, 1898, when Bishop Chatard blessed the church. The entire cost of the church, including labor, donated material and cash, amounted to $7,500. The priest's home, a very modest building, was built in 1890 at a cost of $400. The entire value of the Catholic property, including church building, lands, priest's residence and the furnishings of the church, is placed at $9,000. Father Anthony Michel has performed a great and creditable task in erecting this beautiful brick church in so rough and rocky a place-a parish where the people are very poor-and- the best thing to be recorded is that the parish is out of debt. Great credit also is due the congregation for their zealous work.
D R. MATHEW KEMPF (deceased) was a native of Offenburg,. Baden, Germany, was born September 25, 1827, and died in Louisville, Ky., March 29, 1880.
When but three years of age he emigrated with his parents from his native land to Louisville, Ky., which was in the year 1830. He was a man of erudite knowledge and education, having received an English and German education in the schools, or col- leges of Louisville, Ky., and Vincennes, Ind. He became very proficient in the French and German languages, and began the study of medicine with Dr. Wilson, an eminent practitioner of the city of Louisville, and subsequently entered the Medical college of Louisville, and graduated from that celebrated institution in 1850. He was appointed, for his fitness, demonstrator of anatomy in the college, and in 1852 returned to his native land to enter the Heidel- burg university, to more completely prepare himself for his chosen profession. Upon his return to Louisville, he resumed his practice of medicine and surgery, and on account of his rare skill and scholarly attainments, built up a large and lucrative practice. On account of his eyesight failing him, he was advised to abandon city life, which caused his removal to Ferdinand, Ind., in 1855. In 1859 the people chose him by election as their representative in the halls of the legislature of the state of Indiana, and whilst
THE CLERGY AND CONGREGATIONS,
there, he made an attempt to procure a law to regulate the practice of medicine.
In November, 1879, he was appointed professor of surgery and clinical surgery in the Kentucky School of Medicine, but the promise of a useful career as a lecturer was cut short by death, in the Catholic faith.
Dr. Kempf was a forcible, fluent and graceful writer, was the author of an " Essay on the Surgery of Dubois County, " and of many articles in " The American Journal of the Medical Sciences," " The North American Medico-Chirurgical Review," the " Louis- ville Medical News" and the " Cincinnati Lancet and Observer." His scientific studies were extensive, but he was especially devoted to ethnology. He was author of a poem of 18,000 verses, entitled " Wandering Cainidæ," which is a study of ethnology, refuting the Darwinian theory. The preface was published in 1879. Dr. Kempf was a noted leader on this deep subject of ethnology in the medical world. He was a gentleman who was possessed of those cardinal graces of character which classed him among the best thinkers and reasoners, and in all his relations of life exhibited such noble attributes of character that he was held in the highest esteem by all who knew him. His death caused a breach in the profession, but the robe of responsibility which fell from his shoulders was ·caught up by his son, Edward J., who has with prestige and skill born it gracefully and has greatly extended the practice of medi- cine in Dubois county. Dr. Kempf had married Miss Katharine Jeglie, a native of Switzerland. She was born in 1833 and died in 1877. There were eleven children, six sons and five daughters, in the family, and six of the children are living at present.
Dr. Edward J. Kempf, the son of Dr. Mathew Kempf, and now a physician and surgeon of Jasper, Ind., is a native of Ferdi- nand, Dubois county, and was born September 30, 1858. His primary education was completed in the common schools, and in 1869 he entered St. Meinrad college and remained there as a stu- dent till 1873. In 1876 he entered the university of Louisville, and graduated in 1878, and at the completion of his medical career as a student he took up the practice of his father at Ferdinand and remained there until 1884. In 1882 he took a post-graduate course
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CATHOLIC CHURCH OF INDIANA.
at the university of Pennsylvania. In 1884 he located at Jasper, Ind., and is at present the leading physician and surgeon of the town. Dr. Kempf was wedded at Ferdinand, Ind., October 6, 1884, by Rev. Eberhardt Stadler, to Miss Caroline D. Judy, a native of Dubois county, and to this marriage have been born seven children, viz: Edward J., confirmed by Bishop Chatard; Frank P. ; Andrew G .; Marie C .; Gerald F .; Roman C. and Thomas M.
Dr. Kempf is a successful physician and surgeon and his prac- tice is extensive. Fraternally, he is a member of the Catholic Knights of America and the Y. M. 1. His social standing is an enviable one, and his many personal virtues make him esteemed by all classes of the people of Jasper and the surrounding country.
M ICHAEL H. KENNEDY, ex-postmaster at Lafayette, Ind., and also member of the firm of Spitznagel & Kennedy, wholesale dealers in saddlery and harness findings, was born in Lawrence, Mass., June 27, 1849, and was about nine years of age when brought to LaFayette.
John B. Kennedy, father of Michael H., was born in county Tipperary, Ireland, and there married Mary Hewitt, a native of the same county. Early in 1849 he brought his wife to America, and for five years he worked in a woolen mill in Lawrence, Mass., whence he went to Manchester, Mich., and for three years followed farming. In 1858 he came to LaFayette and followed teaming and contracting until about 1885, when he retired to the quiet of his own home at No. 92 South Third street, where he had the sad misfortune of losing his life-partner in November, 1887. His four children were named, in order of birth, Maggie, Emma (who died in childhood), Michael H. (our subject), and John B., Jr., the last named of whom married Mary Riley, who bore him one son, Frank. John B., Jr., was an active democrat in politics, was deputy sheriff of Tippecanoe county and later deputy city treas- urer of LaFayette, and died, an honored citizen and faithful Cath- olic, in 1892.
Michael H. Kennedy was chiefly educated in a parochial
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THE CLERGY AND CONGREGATIONS,
school of LaFayette, and at the mercantile college conducted by Prof. Kennedy, after graduating from which he became a book- keeper for a grocery firm, and then for Barney Spitznagle, and ten years later, January 1, 1881, became his equal partner in his pres- ent business.
Mr. Kennedy was united in matrimony, November 29, 1887, with Miss Mary C. Daly, a native of St. Louis, Mo., and as a result has been blessed with four children, viz: Mary C., Robert Leo, Catherine F. and John T. He and family are members of St. Mary's congregation, are liberal in their support of the church in all its work for the good of its people, and are sincere and devout Catholics. In politics Mr. Kennedy is a stanch democrat and has been very active in promoting the success of his party in local elections, but was never an office seeker, his position as postmaster having been proffered to him unsought in 1893, and he having taken charge of the office on the 13th day of October in the same year, the duties of which office he faithfully and efficiently per- formed to the satisfaction of all concerned until the expiration of his term, since when he has been in a wholesale house. Frater- nally he is a member of the B. & P. O. E., the Knights of St. John, the A. O. H. and the Y. M. H. S., and socially he and family are very highly esteemed by the most respected residents of LaFayette. He owns a fine home at No. 126 North street, where his non-business hours are passed in the quiet enjoyment of domestic felicity.
M ICHAEL M. KELLEY, deceased, of Fort Wayne, was one of five children born to Thomas J. and Mary Kelley, natives of Ireland. The father was a farmer and died in Ireland, in 1851, the mother having died about 1849.
Michael M. Kelley was born in Ireland August 28, 1847, was educated in the common schools, and followed farming a great many years, and then engaged in business, and was thus engaged when he died, February 17, 1890, in Fort Wayne. He was a member of the Catholic Knights of America, the Catholic Benev- olent association and the St. Joseph Benevolent association.
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CATHOLIC CHURCH OF INDIANA.
He was married August 26, 1873, to Miss Lizzie Hamilton, a daughter of Thomas and Mary (Terian) Hamilton. Her father was from Ireland and came to the United States when he was a boy, and both parents are now deceased. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Kelley were born five children, viz: George W., Mary A., Frank A., Parnell E. and Julien B. All of these are members of the cathe- dral congregation, and stand very high in the esteem of the mem- bers of their church as well as that of the community in general.
Mrs. Kelley, January 18, 1898, married Jerome J. Otuder, a salesman in Fort Wayne and residing at No. 397 South Calhoun street.
E 'DWARD THOMAS KENNEY, representing the Aultman company, manufacturers of threshing machines, road imple- ments, etc., is a native of Ohio, born April 3, 1854, in the city of Urbana. He was educated in Mount St. Mary's seminary, Cincin- nati, and since his twenty-first year has been engaged in the implement business. His first experience in this work was as a local dealer in his native town, following which he represented his firm on the roads for three years in the state of Illinois as " general utility man." At the end of that time, he was given the manage- ment of a small territory in southern Illinois, which was subse- quently enlarged so as to embrace portions of Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. So ably did he represent his employers' interests while in the above field, that in 1890 he was sent to Indianapolis as gen- eral agent for Indiana, west half of Ohio, and southeast Illinois. Mr. Kenney has five assistants in his extensive business, the terri_ tory over which he has jurisdiction being large and the interests greatly scattered. He is necessarily on the road a considerable portion of the time, and the magnitude of business is second to that of no man similarly employed in the entire country. In addition to his regular vocation, Mr. Kenney is interested with Daniel Sul- livan in handling small implements, wagons, buggies, etc., in which his success has already been fully assured.
Mr. Kenney was married in Galesburg, Ills., April 7, 1891, to Miss Margaret Collopy, a native of that city and a student of St.
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THE CLERGY AND CONGREGATIONS,
Mary's of the Woods, Terre Haute, Ind. Mr. and Mrs. Kenney have three interesting children-John Edward, Catherine and James Henry. The family are members of St. Joseph church, active in every good work connected therewith, and highly respected in both religious and social circles of the city. Politic- ally, Mr. Kenney supports the democratic party, but prefers to vote independently in local affairs.
The parents of the subject were John and Catherine (Hill) Kenney, both natives of county Kilkenny, Ireland; they were mar- ried in Urbana, Ohio, where the mother now lives, the father hav- ing been called from the scenes of his early life October 3, 1887, at the age of seventy-two years. John and Catherine Kenney had a large family-fourteen children-of whom seven are living at this time, Edward Thomas being the eldest. The names of the other surviving members are as follows: Anna, Thomas, James, Mary (wife of William Chew), Patrick and Nellie, all of whom, except James, who resides at Lima, Ohio, and Edward T., are residents of Urbana. They were all reared in the Catholic faith, and to their credit be it said that they have ever been true to the pure teachings of the Holy church.
M ICHAEL FRANCIS KENNEDY, deceased, was born in Cambridge City, Wayne county, Ind., October 25, 1870, a son of Martin and Mary (Dillon) Kennedy, highly respected resi- dents of the same city, but natives of county Kerry, Ireland. Michael Francis, the deceased subject of this memoir, was educated primarily in the public schools of his native city, later passed one year at St. Meinrad's college, and still later studied two years under the private tutorage of Rev. Father Spelman, and was by him so well instructed that, on entering St. Charles college at Baltimore, Md., he was assigned to the second (or sophomore). class, or, in other words, advanced one class higher than the first (or freshman) class. While pursuing his studies at St. Charles, and in his senior, or graduating class, he was called away from earth, a victim of that insidious and fell disorder, consumption, and died.
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CATHOLIC CHURCH OF INDIANA.
a true Catholic May 12, 1892. He was a bright, intelligent, moral young man, a fine scholar, a gentleman by instinct as well as training, and his untimely death was a source of great sorrow to a host of admiring young friends, as well as a severe affliction to his disconsolate family.
AMES W. KEOGH, a well-known railroad man in former J days, but now general agent at Indianapolis for the Deering Harvester company, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, July 1, 1855, a son of Thomas and Mary Keogh, natives of Ireland, and is the eldest of a family of six boys and three girls, of whom four only are now living, viz: James W., the subject of this review; Alice, seventh child, is married and resides in Chicago, Ill .; Thomas V., eighth child, resides in Indianapolis, and travels for the American Buncher company through the state of Illinois; and Mary, the ninth child, makes her home with her mother in Indianapolis.
On coming from Ireland, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Keogh made their home in Cleveland, Ohio, until 1864. then resided in Paines- ville, Ohio, until 1866, next lived in Galion, in the same state, until 1878, then in Columbus until 1883, when they finally settled in Indianapolis, Ind., and here the father passed away, in the faith of the Catholic church, in September, 1893, an honored citizen and an upright man, leaving behind, to mourn his loss, his sorrow- ing widow and the four surviving children named above.
James W. Keogh was educated in the Brothers' schools of Cleveland and Painesville and the public school at Galion, and began his business career as a messenger boy in a railroad office in the last named city, was promoted to the position of second bill clerk, and left this office to enter the train service, in which he was employed one year and eight months as brakeman, and fourteen years and two months as conductor on several roads, viz: Bee Line, east division, Union City, Ind., to Galion, Ohio; Baltimore & Ohio, Lake Erie division, Newark, Ohio, to Sandusky, Ohio; Pan- handle R. R., Columbus to Denniston, Ohio, and Bradford, Ohio, to Indianapolis, Ind .; C., H. & I., Indianapolis, Ind., to Hamil-
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THE CLERGY AND CONGREGATIONS,
ton, Ohio; I. & St. L., Indianapolis to St. Louis; Vandalia Line, Indianapolis to St. Louis.
In 1887, Mr. Keogh began traveling for the Deering Harvester company and February 1, 1892, was promoted to the general agency, at Kalamazoo, Mich., where he filled the duties of his posi- tion with great satisfaction to the company until December 23, 1893, when he was transferred to his present responsible position in Indianapolis.
The first marriage of Mr. Keogh was solemnized November 25, 1879, by Rev. Father Bessonies, with Miss May Mason, of Union City, Ind., but this lady was called away February 14, 1886, and on April 12, of the same year, was followed to the grave by her only child, Harry. The second marriage of Mr. Keogh was also solemnized by Father Bessonies February 22, 1887, to Miss Maud M. Mercer, of Terre Haute, Ind., and this union was blessed with two children, Camilla and Francis, born November 29, 1889. Mr. Keogh was called to mourn the loss of his second helpmate August 10, 1896, and he was bereaved of his daughter, Camilla, March 17, 1897-she dying at St. Mary's of the Woods, at the age of eight years, eleven months and twenty-eight days. Mr. Keogh, however, bears his bereavements with christian fortitude, and finds his solace within the pale of the church, being a devout member of St. John's congregation.
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