USA > Kansas > Linn County > A centenary of Catholicity in Kansas, 1822-1922 ; the history of our cradle land (Miami and Linn Counties) ; Catholic Indian missions and missionaries of Kansas ; The pioneers on the prairies : notes on St. Mary's Mission, Sugar Creek, Linn County; Holy Trinity Church, Paola, Miami County; Holy Rosary Church, Wea; Immaculate Conception, B.V.M., Louisburg; St. Philip's Church, Osawatomie; Church of the Assumption, Edgerton, Johnson County; to which is added a short sketch of the Ursuline Academy at Paola; the diary of Father Hoecken, and old Indian records > Part 5
USA > Kansas > Miami County > A centenary of Catholicity in Kansas, 1822-1922 ; the history of our cradle land (Miami and Linn Counties) ; Catholic Indian missions and missionaries of Kansas ; The pioneers on the prairies : notes on St. Mary's Mission, Sugar Creek, Linn County; Holy Trinity Church, Paola, Miami County; Holy Rosary Church, Wea; Immaculate Conception, B.V.M., Louisburg; St. Philip's Church, Osawatomie; Church of the Assumption, Edgerton, Johnson County; to which is added a short sketch of the Ursuline Academy at Paola; the diary of Father Hoecken, and old Indian records > Part 5
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
"Mother Batees" lived in a cottage on the northeast corner of Pi- ankeshaw and East Streets at the time of her death which took place on March 4, 1883. Her funeral was held from Holy Trinity Church in a most solemn manner and her remains were interred beside those of her first husband, Christian Dagnett, in the Cashman Cemetery, some three and a half miles southeast of Louisburg.
The people of Paola mourned the death of this the last representative of her race in these parts, and it is safe to say that no other person was held in higher regard, by all who knew her, than this Indian woman who learned to love us before we understood or appreciated her true greatness. The picture we have of "Mother Batees" does not do her justice; the camera failed to catch the kindliness and beauty of her countenance -- according to those who knew her and lived as neighbors to her for many years.
MIAMI COUNTY'S FIRST CATHOLIC INDIAN SETTLERS.
This list was written by the Jesuit Missionaries in 1846.
Josue Gabriel Achauwisewa
Basile Boyer
Francois Borgia Boyer
Charles Charore
Gregoire Cipakiya
Francois Chingwakiya Agnes Entiginau Julie Kiritokwe
Joseph Kaikammansa
Victoire Kiritokwe
Jean Baptiste Kirisonsa
Paul Kichiwoinisa
Catherine Kinchitanokwe
Caroline Kinontokwe
Henricus Ignatius Kintchikonsa
Joseph Mahinambe Marie Manitokwe
Baptiste Mekositta Felix Jamison Marstchkakke
Joseph Mechiwirata
Pierre Narrakwot
Joseph Ninhotkapwe
Etienne Newapimante
Ignace Nawekosiga Henricus Pimkauwata
George Nemkwiga
Jean Evang Nipiyakinta
Marie Pinipakikamokwe Ambrose Pakangia
Francis Mekositta
Samuel Minarikote
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THE HISTORY OF OUR CRADLE LAND
Pelagie Pilarokokange
Baptiste Peorea
Josias Rapheal Pintayo
Jean Baptiste Renipinja
Pierre Rapintinta
Louis Francois Xav Tetro
Pierre Sesikwahanga
Michel Tchiswewa
Michel Tekona
Antoine Wakachata
Therese
Guillaume Wakakosiha
Henricus Wapewisia
Aloysius de Gonz Wakewita
Francois Xav Wakochinha
See Appendix No. II.
THE PRAIRIES OF KANSAS.
Previous to the advent of the white man these vast plains inspired a sense of awe and mystery which varied with the changing seasons. In winter time they resembled the Sahara Desert, in spring and sum- mer and early fall, a paradise, nature's play ground throbbing with wild life, adorned with flowers, fruits and forests which grew along its creeks and rivers. In spring, summer, and fall-a marvelous sight- vast herds of buffalo roamed over the land, and elk and deer were pres- ent in great numbers. Wild animals in great variety were in abundance and birds in thousands flocked from the north and the south in regular waves to nest and feed until the rigors of winter bid them depart.
Then nature itself went to sleep beneath a coverlet of russet color, to be in turn shrouded in the softest, whitest snow imaginable. Noth- ing green remained until spring began again a resurrection and a life as fresh and vigorous, as joyful and abundant as on the morning of crea- tion itself. Civilization or the puny hand of man had not yet marred this wonderful work of God. Its vastness, its variety, its ceaseless changes both in the heavens above and on the earth beneath were all enhanced by the play of the elements-the sunshine and the rain, the sleeping winds and the mighty storms, the cyclones, the tornadoes and the rolling thunders to be followed speedily by the softest, richest glow of a sunset or a sunrise that was ever seen on land or sea. This was Kansas as God made it and it is Kansas today, except where art seeks to improve on nature with such poor success; yet, outside the modicum of convenience and comfort attained by civilized man, we find such an abundance of untouched natural beauty, power and grandeur remaining, as of old, that the transformation is, as yet, scarcely noticeable. Not- withstanding all this, it is strange to say that two generations ago all the land west of the river and the state line of Missouri was regarded as unfit for the use of white men. It was known as the "Great Ameri- can Desert." and was considered a suitable dwelling place for the remnants of various tribes of Indians still to be found in many parts of the United States. It embraced a body of land covering 82,000 square miles. being the largest of the Southern states except Texas.
To give some idea of what these figures mean let us suppose that we could combine the states of Maine. Newhampshire, Vermont, Massa-
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INDIAN DAYS
chusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and the Dis- trict of Columbia in one state, Kansas could contain them all and still have room for another Rhode Island. It exceeds the two Virginias in size and is larger than Ohio and Indiana combined. Its natural resources have proven to be simply marvelous and its soil produces various and abundant harvests. It is indeed a glorious bit of God's great earth and, no doubt, is destined to fill a large place in the designs of Providence.
Our task, however, is restricted to the religious phase of Miami and Linn County history, and for that, we begin near Osawatomie. The Mission established by Father Christian Hoecken, S. J., on Pottawatomie Creek near its confluence with the Marais des Cygnes river, sometimes mentioned as the North Fork of the Osage river, or simply the Osage river, near the present site of Osawatomie, bestows on Miami County the title of "Cradle Land" of Catholicity in Kansas.
This mission has preserved its identity from 1838 to the present time, whether we view it at Pottawatomie Creek, Sugar Creek, or in all its glory beside the Kaw at St. Marys. It was the first successfully organized mission, west of the Missouri line. All others failed or became places of periodic visitation until Father Schoenmakers, S. J., established Osage Mission in 1847.
The little church at Pottawatomie Creek (22x40) was built in November, 1838, and the following year Father Hoecken selected a new site at Sugar Creek in the present Linn County, about twenty miles farther to the south and there began St. Mary's Mission. The zeal and activity of the fathers residing at that mission seem to us, today, some- thing bordering on the marvelous.
Removed from all civilization, in a country without roads or bridges, they traveled on horseback or on foot over vast expanses of territory, visiting many tribes, ministering to the white settlers at Deepwater, Missouri, while Westport Landing, seventy miles to the north was regularly visited, and Fort Scott, far to the south, claimed their attention. Sugar Creek, itself, was a bustling, busy place at this time.
All connected with the mission seemed to be happy in their primi- tive surroundings and gave themselves over, wholeheartedly, to the conversion, education, and social betterment of the various tribes around them. They were, in truth, an Apostolic body of men, refined, highly educated, and inspired with the noblest motives, as is evident from Father Hoecken's Diary.
Sugar Creek Mission, St. Mary's Mission, or Mission of the Immac- ulate Conception, as it was variously called, must have become very dear to the hearts of all these men; and no less so to that truly remark- able woman, Mother Duchesne, and to her band of devoted teachers. Surely the Pottawatomies were favored by God, and it must be said, to their credit, that they corresponded nobly to every grace. That
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THE HISTORY OF OUR CRADLE LAND
tribe carried with them into Kansas the traditions of Father Marquette and the memory of Father Baden, who had baptized some of their living members. At Pottawatomie Creek as well as at Sugar Creek, this tribe displayed the fervor of the early Christians.
The mission plant in 1847 was well established. There was a large church, plainly but nicely furnished by the hands of the Sisters and by contributions from distant cities. There were schools, well attended and efficiently taught. There was a priest's house, a Sisters' Convent and some work shops. There were horses, cattle, and farm implements. Hunting was still good in the locality and elk, deer, and buffalo came along in due season and, at times, fish was also plentiful. The yearly yield of maple sugar was quite an item, and nuts, berries, and wild fruit were in abundance. Father Hoecken deemed it an ideal spot for a Catholic Mission. The land was poor, 'tis true, and malaria troubled them as it did all early settlements along the creeks in Kansas, but it had other advantages which more than made up for these drawbacks. The harvest of souls was now ripening at Sugar Creek in 1847 when the clouds began to gather. Some wily agent or some secret influences were laying plans at Washington for the removal or rather the destruction of St. Mary's Mission at Sugar Creek.
The land was purchased from the Indians without much ado and the Civil government carried out its purpose in 1848, when the Potta- watomies were removed to a new reservation farther to the northwest, on the Kaw river, at a point where the town of St. Marys now stands. It was a sad and solemn moment for good Father Hoecken; neverthe- less, it is true, Father Verreydt urged him to accept the Kaw river reserve-among other reasons, "because the soil in their Osage river home was unsatisfactory and the climate unhealthy," and we may safely add, because he sought to make a virtue out of what seemed to be a foregone conclusion Indians were never interested in the quality of the soil, it was the quality of the hunting that concerned them, and as for health, the plains of Kansas were about all alike.
It is a noticeable fact that Father Hoecken is silent in regard to the motives back of this transaction. We know that the Ladies of the Sacred Heart were bewildered and sad at heart seeing that they had to go to an unknown place and begin all over again. The Indians them- selves began to scatter. "The decrease in the number of baptisms," says the Diary on its last page, "shows how the Indians were scattered in 1848. The baptisms for '46, '47, '48 were 178, 142, and 48 respec- tively. The baptisms for 10 years (1838-1848) were 1,430, of which 550 were adults."
Sugar Creek Mission is now abandoned and, as no allowance was made by the Government for the improvements created by the Mission, the whole collection of buildings were given to the flames in order to save them from desecration. The ashes are still there and a granite
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INDIAN DAYS
block. on which is carved the words "St. Mary's Mission 1839," marks the spot which lies about five and a half miles northeast of Centerville. Linn County, on the Zimmerman farm.
A pathetic but unwritten chapter of history gives play here to the imagination akin to that which inspired Longfellow to write his immor- tal poem, "Evangeline." Be this as it may, Linn County has remained a barren Catholic field to this day. No Catholic Church, no priest, no school or hospital, no Catholicity is to be found within its borders. From a Catholic point of view, it seems as if the place was abandoned by God. Every effort made in its behalf by priests and bishops has come to naught. Catholic settlers avoid that County as a plague spot, and those who ventured in a generation or two ago have, with few exceptions, lost the Faith. Who can explain the anomaly? Who can assign a cause for one of the fairest eounties of the state once blessed by the presence of Saints and Heroes, by teachers and preachers of exceptional merit, by the noblest spirits that ever trod the plains of Kansas, to be utterly abandoned by the Catholic Church ?
Well might the saintly founder of Sugar Creek Mission have repeated with our Lord as He wept over Zion: "Jerusalem ! Jerusalem ! how I would have gathered thy children as the hen gathers her young beneath her wings, but thou wouldst not, and now thou drivest Me cruelly from thy gates." One fears to continue the quotation. Good Father Hoecken would never have dared to invoke such a malediction on the land over which he wept on the day of his departure. But God reigns and His Justice remaineth forever.
A remnant of the grand old tribe of Pottawatomies is. still amongst us. Divine Providence has marked that band; its name is indelibly stamped on the face of Kansas: "Pottawatomie Creek," "Pottawatomie County," "Pottawatomie Reservation," and a street in nearly every City bears the name. The name and fame of this tribe of Indians has gone abroad in the Land. From the last issue of the Indian Sentinel we glean the following interesting account of the successful missionary work being done in the Leavenworth diocese for the Indians.
"The Pottawatomies are generous to their pastor and to their bishop and are gratefully availing themselves of the opportunities they now enjoy. Father Geinitz has placed a number of girls in the school of the Sisters of Loretto, Pawhuska, Oklahoma. One of the young ladies of the Kansas Pottawatomies made her profession as a Sister of St. Francis. There are three other religious from the Pottawatomie tribe. One of these is also a Sister of St. Francis, one a Sister of the Holy Cross and one a Sister of St. Joseph. The Pottawatomie tribe also has the distinction of giving to the Church the first Indian priest, Father Albert Negahnquet, who was born on the reservation in Kansas."
PART II OSAGE MISSION
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1247304 OSAGE MISSION. Rev. John Schoenmakers, S. J.
REV. JOHN SCHOENMAKERS, S.J.
Ten years have now passed since Father Christian Hoecken made his memorable journey from Kickapoo to Pottawatomie Creek in 1838, and the following ten years were destined to see even greater marvels emanate from Osage Mission on the distant Neosho River. Fathers Schoenmakers, Bax, and Ponziglione were the Jesuit priests most conspicuous during this period. Mother Bridget Hayden and her band of Loretto Sisters from Kentucky fig- ured largely in the educational work of that mission.
Following in the footsteps of Fathers De la Croix and Van Quickenborne, the Fathers from Sugar Creek, Linn County, visited the Osages as regularly as possible from 1839 to April, 1847.
About this time the Osages them- selves made a request to Rt. Rev. Peter Richard Kenrick of St. Louis for a school to be established amongst them. The Jesuit Fathers gladly accepted the undertaking and appointed the Reverend Fr. Schoenmakers, S. J., to that difficult task wherein he labored unceasingly for thirty-six years. He himself as well as Fathers Bax, Ponziglione and others "at- tended to the daily multiplying missionary stations. They had a very big task before them," says Father Ponziglione, "and were kept travel- ing most all the time under great difficulties. Their line of excursions beginning from the southeast corner of Cherokee County, was going as far north as to Miami County, from that point turning westward would extend as far as to Ft. Larned in Shawnee County. Next coming down to the counties along the state line, having visited these they would re- turn to St. Francis church. It was indeed a slow and laboring work, but with great courage they kept on, and deserved the honor of having been the first priests that brought the good tidings of the Gospel in thirty of the counties included in the territory just described.
"Besides they also now and then would visit the Indian Territory south of Kansas, forming missionary stations at the Indian Agencies as well as at the military posts, as far as to Ft. Sill near to the line of Texas."
Father Schoenmakers' name appears on an old record of Miami County Indian days for 1850, 1854, and 1857. On November 9th of this latter vear the last baptism of the old Jesuit Missionaries is recorded by Father Schoenmakers.
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THE HISTORY OF OUR CRADLE LAND
From St. Paul (Kas.) Journal.
Father Schoenmakers first visited the Indians in the autumn of 1846, selected the site for his future home and returned to St. Louis for supplies. On April 28, 1847, (some authorities say April 29, 1847), he arrived here to make it his perma- nent home, and remained here until his death, July 28, 1883. He was a native of Holland, was born in the town of Waspick, November 20, 1807. He was ordained a priest in 1833, celebrating his first mass on April 16, that year. He longed for the life of a missionary, and that his longings might be realized he came to Amer- ica, landing at New York on Christmas day, 1833. He went to Georgetown where he joined the Jesuit order January 16, 1834, and in July of that year left for St. Louis. He labored in and around that city until his appointment as a missionary among the Osages which brought him to sunny Kansas, then the home of the Osages, where he laid the foundation of the present city of St. Paul and started what has developed into the grand and magnificent St. Francis church. He was accompanied by Fr. John Bax and three Jesuit brothers to assist him in his work. Travel in those days was different from what it is now. Railroads were scarce in the west, and boats navigated only the large streams. So the journey of Fr. Schoenmakers and his little band to their chosen home was far from a pleas- ant one. Leaving St. Louis they went up the Missouri river by boat to Kansas City, from which place the remainder of the journey was made overland. Instead of the fast horses driven by the people of today, Fr. Schoenmakers had two or three teams of oxen which made the trip through the then wild and uninhabited country a long and tedious one. There were no houses where he might pass the night, and when he and his litle company lay down at night for a little rest there was no shelter over them, save one, the broad canopy of heaven. After seven days travel they reached their new home and received a most cordial welcome from the Osages. The first two houses here were built for Fr. Schoenmakers by the government. In them he took up his abode and opened a manual labor school for the Indian children May 10, 1847. The school prospered from the first and new buildings had to be erected to accommodate all the children who applied. As the white settlers began to arrive their children, too, attended the school. Thus it grew until May 7, 1870, when St. Francis Institution was chartered, and which flourished until after the death of its illustrious founder.
He died full of merits for heaven on the 28th of July, 1883, having reached the 77th year of his age, and is buried in the Catholic cemetery at Osage Mission, now St. Paul.
FATHER PONZIGLIONE.
FATHER PONZIGLIONE. One of the Last of the Jesuit Missionaries to Labor in Miami County.
Paul Mary Ponziglione was born February 11, 1818, in the city of Che- rasco, in Piedmont, Italy. He was of noble descent on both sides of the house-his father, Count Felice Ferrero Ponziglione di Borgo d'Ales, and his mother, Countess Ferrero Ponziglione, nee Marchioness Ferrero Castelnuovo. But the only nobility the good father acknowledged was that he belonged to "the noble family of Adam." When ever his lineage was mentioned, he would peremptorily dismiss the subject with a quick, vigorous shaking of his
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OSAGE, MISSION
right hand, making his long, slender fingers appear like so many missiles caught in a whirlwind, and exclaiming, with an impatient turn of his head, "Vanity, vanity, vanity."
Father Paul, as he was commonly called, was christened Count Paul M. Ferrero Ponziglione di Borgo d'Ales. After his preliminary educa- tion, he entered the Royal College of Novara, and later he attended the College of Nobles at Turin, both being Jesuit institutions. The degree of bachelor of arts was conferred upon him by the University of Turin. After taking his degree at the university, he studied jurisprudence for more than a year. But there seems to have been with Father Paul an inborn manifest destiny for the priesthood. A religious instinct con- trolled him from the earliest years of his life.
On March 25, 1848, he was ordained a priest by Cardinal-Vicar Constantine Patrizi, having studied for orders at San Andrea, the famous Jesuit novitiate at Rome. Leaving Rome, he first went to Turin to settle his family affairs, thence he went to Paris, and finally to Havre, where he boarded the first vessel for New York. The voyage across the ocean was a long and perilous one and we can well imagine the unbounded pleasure with which Father Paul beheld the land of his future labors. Soon after arrival, he was appointed to missionary work in Missouri and Kentucky. He spent two years in this field, and now commenced his labors as a missionary among the Indians. Thus was the dream of his life being realized. In March, 1851, accompanied by Rt. Rev. Miege, S. J., bishop of Kansas, he left St. Louis for his far western mission. While his home was to be at Osage Mission, and his particular charge the Osages, his missionary labors extended from Kansas to Fort Sill, I. T. The principal scope of his work in Kansas extended from Cherokee County, north to Miami County, thence to Fort Larned, Pawnee County, and on through the counties along the southern state line, back to the home mission. He was the first to spread the Gospel in thirty of the counties of the state, including the circuit just mentioned. He also pen- etrated the wild regions of the Indian Territory and established mission- ary stations at the Indian agencies and military posts as far south as Fort Sill, near the Texas line. So this noble Father and his self-sacrific- ing co-workers, starting from the Mother Church at Osage Mission, within forty years, established 180 Catholic Missions, 87 of which were in southern Kansas, and 21 in the Indian Territory.
A chapter in "The Kansas Historical Collections" is devoted to an interesting sketch of the life and labors of Father Ponziglione. (Vol. IX. P. 19) from which the foregoing biography has been taken:
Gradually the greatness of the man is dawning on us; time will re- veal more fully his wonderful personality as well as his genuine sanctity. He was exceedingly kind and condescending to all and lived the life of the people amongst whom he moved. With the poor Indians he was very much at home, his love for those so-called savages won their con- fidence and even affection. He never tired in his labors from year to
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THE HISTORY OF OUR CRADLE LAND
year and when the white men came to settle on these lands, they found in Father Paul a polished gentleman, affable and pleasant, exceedingly friendly and as kind to non-Catholics as to those of his own Faith. He was of a quick, nervous temperament, rather slightly built, finely pro- portioned, with a splendid head and the most beautiful hands imaginable. When Father Paul visited the Peorias at this point in the summer of 1851, he seems to have been won by their manifestations of good will. They had been well instructed by Fathers Aelen and DeCoen and were baptized by the saintly Father Hoecken himself, in 1847. Thus in the first fervor of their conversion to Christianity the Peoria tribe, in the person of their chief, gave the young Blackrobe a hearty welcome, not suspecting that he, too, was a chief and a scion of one of the greatest tribes of the old world. This, of course, did not enter the mind of the young missionary, his zeal for the salvation and civilization of the red man absorbed all other considerations. He was now enjoying the fulfill- ment of his hopes so long deferred.
The Peoria tribe was still in a primitive state of civilization, living in wigwams or in huts and shacks in the surrounding woods. The place was without a name unless one wished to call it a village or the "Peoria Vil- lage." Father Paul usually rested here before turning to the West in his long circuit of Mission stations. A well founded tradition has it that Father Paul gave the name "Paola" to the Peoria village. This word is Italian, in the feminine gender, to agree with the noun "Citta" understood. The full form of expression as used in that language is "La Citta di Paola"-the city of Paul. As no other Italian ever visited these parts, it seems conclusive that the honor of giving to our city its beauti- ful name, redolent of the primitive days and unrivaled in its soft musical cadence, belongs to this Italian Noble, Paul Mary Ponziglione.
NOTE-The origin of the name "Paola" has been a subject of discussion for many years and has given rise to various conjectures. There is no record of the name being chosen by any official body of settlers or even by the original town company itself. Naming a new town was and still is an important event in every community, yet there seems to be no proof whatever that such an event ever took place in the case of Paola. It is Paola now and was Paola when the first settlers came on the scene in 1854-5. The Indians had been calling their village by that name and the few white people who arrived after the territory was opened up simply followed suit. The name was Paola and nobody questioned its source or even its meaning.
The oldest citizen, the Venerable Judge Ezra W. Robinson, who came to Paola in 1856, says that the name was in use when he arrived and that he did not know its origin or whence it came. In after years, however, people began to say that it was called after Baptiste Peoria, the Indian chief, for no reason but because there was some similarity in the sound of the two words and that the Indians, when pronouncing the word Paola, meant Peoria. It is strange that the tribe could not pronounce its own name. Moreover, why change "e" to "a" and "r" to "I" and "ia" to "a"? The trans- formation is too radical to carry conviction and doubtless was accepted by many for Want of a better explanation. One thing that it does show, however, is that the In- dians used the word first. Where did they get it?
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