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 9
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 9
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
THE FIRST FRENCH-CANADIAN FAMILY.
John B. Charland (De Francoeur) and his wife, Marie Louise Hamel, came to the United States from St. Jean Des Chaillons, Canada, in 1870. They settled first at St. Joseph, Missouri, and came to Paola in 1888. They became active members of Holy Trinity parish and soon won the respect and esteem of the people on account of their devout Chris- tian lives and their refined and cultivated manners.
One of the splendid windows of the present church was donated by Mr. Charland and bears his name. The "pieta" together with its pedestal is erected to the memory of Mrs. Charland. This is perhaps the finest piece of art work in the church. The figures are almost life size, beauti- fully tinted and most striking in features, contour and pose. It is a copy of some great master piece which the people of Paola have learned to appreciate. There is nothing finer any where in the State. Mrs. Charland is well remembered and her name is affectionately and rever- ently spoken even to this day. She died July 13, 1896 and was laid to rest in Holy Cross Cemetery in the presence of a large concourse of people from the town and surrounding country. That Marie Louise Charland was a lovely character is the testimony of all who knew her.
Mr. Charland lived until January 11, 1917, and his remains rest beside those of his wife in our cemetery. He was a splendid type of his race, a good provider for his family in all things including education and religion. He was affectionate and domestic in habits-a faithful hus- band and a good father. There are four living children in this family : Emeline, wife of Mr. Edward MeCInskey, resides in Colorado Springs; Joseph Emil is in business in Portland, Oregon; Mary Jane is Mrs. C. W. Boone of Paola, and Mary Teresa lives in Kansas City.
THE FIRST ITALIAN FAMILY.
Secundo Balocca was born in Brusnengo, Italy, January 23, 1861, and came to America January 7, 1882, and then to Osage City, Kansas. He came to reside in Paola in 1914 and entered business. Mr. Balocca was married in his native town June 23, 1888, and is the father of seven children, namely : Rosie, Sophia, John, Adale, Joseph, Anna and Bea- trice. Mr. Balocca and his wife, Mrs. Mary Balocca, are esteemed and respected by all our people. The family is refined, industrious, and thoroughly Catholic. They fill an important place in the business life of the community.
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THE HISTORY OF OUR CRADLE LAND
IN MEMORIAM.
The following obituary notices of some of the first settlers are from the pen of the editor of the Western Spirit, Mr. B. J. Sheridan. These
B. J. SHERIDAN.
are exceedingly valuable as historical documents; the data is absolutely reliable and the story of each is given true to nature, beautifully expressed and masterful in style and sentiment.
THE DEATH OF A BELOVED WOMAN.
Mrs. Melinda A. Sheridan, wife of William D. Sheridan, died at her home on the farm near Vermillion, Marshall county, Kansas, at 8:18 p. m. on Saturday, Jan- uary 22, 1898, and was buried in the Catholic cemetery, Paola, Kansas, at 12:50 p. m. on Tuesday, the 25th inst., after mass at Holy Trinity Church by Rev. Father Francis Taton. The following named old friends of the family were the pall- bearers: F. G. Nolen, Col. Geo. H. Hume, W. T. Johnston, Major B. F. Simpson, Judge J. P. Ranney and Major J. B. Hall.
Melinda A. McLafferty was born in Clarion, Pennsylvania, February 1, 1835, and in her 17th year, on November 4, 1851, she and William Sheridan were mar- ried by Rev. Father Gray at Sugar Creek church, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania.
Three children were born there, Bernard J .. John C. and Hiram D., and in February, 1859, the family came to Lykins (now Miami) county, Kansas Territory. Here they lived till the fall of 1860, the dry year, when they moved to Wisconsin, stopping for a few months in Missouri. In the summer of 1859, June 27th, the first daughter. Ellen C .. now Mrs. Wm. Acker, was born in Osage township of
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IN MEMORIAM
this county. After living five years in Monroe county, Wisconsin, where Peter C. and William T. were born, the family went to McArthur, Vinton county, Ohio, going by way of their old home near Kittanning, Pennsylvania. There they re- sided two years where Frank M. was born.
In 1868 they returned to Kansas where Mr. Sheridan still owned 160 acres of land and here they lived for ten years and went to Marshall county, Kansas, where they have resided ever since with the exception of a few years across the State line near Wymore, Nebraska. The other children, Allen V., Sarah Ann, Mary C., and Grace E., were born in this county. All but two, Peter C. and William T., are living.
Through all this moving and the trials of rearing a large family, Mrs. Sheri- dan bore up with courage and patience. Educated in her girlliood, she was teaching when she was married and through all the years that followed she was a student. She was a great reader, not of books alone, for she read human nature with that quick penetrating insight of the highest order known-a woman's in- tuition. In the cabin or covered wagon, on the frontier and in the parlor with scholars, she was alike at home-the same bright mind that, unconscious of its power, swayed all around it. She never began a book she didn't finish nor dropped a task till it was done. Always frail in body, yet the stoutest by her side have yielded to hardships that she bore with an endurance supernatural. Fortitude and mercy were blended in her nature.
Years ago, after she took the grippe and lung trouble set in, she went on cheerfully, holding off death with one hand while with the other she set to rights the temporal affairs of her family and at last, calling husband and children about her, directed the details of her burial. Her last whisper was to bless them all and then she closed her eyes in death without a tremor, without a struggle.
It is hard to write of one so pure, so powerful, so loved. When for the first time the realization comes that the heart that nurtured your own into life is chill and still forever, language is but a feeble instrument of the will. Words seem only to baffle the emotions that struggle for expression when memories throng the brain and grief unnerves the man. Too much has been left undone by the hand that would pen a fitting tribute to the dead. Sentences can not be woven that will make reparation to the conscience for a single disobedience or set the mind at peace that devotion never faltered to the loyal one of earth who has gone. Tears alone are the language of sorrow when the lips that gave the first kiss and the last benediction are cold forever.
The only solace is a belief that she is in heaven. Surely there is a heaven for such a soul-there must be a heaven for Mother. Else why venerate her grave? If that vital spark, that indefinable something we call life, is not im- mortal why did one so good walk the earth bearing aloft Faith, inspiring Hope and exemplifying Charity by good works? Why contemplate the mystery of birth or look with awe upon death? Heaven for the worthy, either a place or a condition, is the only answer that satisfies the mind of man. She is not here, she's surely there. All that's left to us is her sweet name to beautify an imperishable record of well-doing that will stand as a monument for her children to the remotest gen- eration to look upon and say: "Blessed woman who entwined the sacred names of Wife and Mother with every enduring grace of humanity, we revere your memory."
HIS LIFE WORK DONE.
William D. Sheridan died on Wednesday, August 7, 1901, at the home of Dr. Allen V. Sheridan, Paola, Kansas. He was in his seventy-third year and the immediate cause of his death was a second attack of the grippe last winter.
Born in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, July 15, 1829, his boyhood was spent there and there he was married in 1851 to Miss Melinda McLafferty. In
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THE HISTORY OF OUR CRADLE LAND
the winter of 1859, he came to Kansas, then a territory, with his family and the following spring took a claim in Osage township, Miami county, then Lykins, a quarter section now owned by James Dalton. He built a house, broke up about. 60 acres of the prairie sod, planted out an orchard and raised a good crop. But the next year, 1860, he raised nothing, his orchard died, the family was sick and some of his stock died with murrain, a disease prevalent in different localities that season. In December he moved to Liberty, Missouri, and got work with his oxen on the railroad, then being built, and the next spring moved to Wisconsin where his brothers, James and Bartholomew, lived, and located near Sparta, Monroe county. Here he cleared out two different farms and in the winter of 1866 returned with the family to Pennsylvania, expecting to resume his early calling, that of contracting ore and coal to the iron furnaces.
Things were changed, however, when he got back to Pennsylvania and he didn't stay, but went to Vinton county, Ohio. Here he got contracts and handled a large force of men for Vinton and Zaleski furnaces, making considerable money. But he saw no future for a large family there-no chance to get lands and homes -so in October, 1868, he again moved to Kansas, landing at Kansas City the morning before the Presidential election of that year and reaching Paola the night after. That winter the family lived in a little log house on the Mike Allen place in Osage Township and the next spring Mr. Sheridan bought land of Maj. Baptiste in Middle Creek township near where Somerset was afterward located. This he improved and sold in 1876 to buy a place northwest of Paola. After liv- ing there a few years, he sold out and moved to Marshall county, Kansas, later to Gage county, Nebraska, and finally back to Marshall county, where he im- proved the farm of 160 acres near Vermillion which he owned at the time of his death. Since the death of Mrs. Sheridan in January, 1898, he had lived with his children most of the time. He spent part of 1899 at his old home in Pennsylvania and early in 1901 came to Paola. He went to Marshall county in April and came back in June. There are eight, children living. Bernard J., Frank M., and Allen V., live here; Mrs. Wm. Acker, Mrs. Frank Gaylord and Mary in Marshall county; Hiram D. in Montana, and Mrs. George Flaherty in Wyoming. John C., Clover P. and William T. are dead.
The life of William Sheridan was one of activity and hardship. He was a hard worker and ever restless. By days labor, by contracts on public works and by farming he made much money and spent most of it supporting his family and moving from place to place. With his own hands, helped some by his sons, he made nine different farms from the raw land, some of them in heavy timber; he owned, at one time and another, more than a dozen different homes in different states; by overland, by boat and by rail he traveled with his family nearly ten thousand miles and as many more by himself; he built houses, bridges and roads and helped to build school houses and churches. His career was one of good example in truthfulness, charity, industry, courage and honesty.
REACHED HIS EIGHTIETH YEAR.
Another honest and honorable pioneer left us last Sunday, February 26, 1899, when James B. Clark died at his home four miles northwest of Paola. He took pneumonia two weeks ago and might have recovered but that his once iron consti- tution was worn to the breaking point by toil, trouble and time. A few months more and he would have been 80 years old. He was born near the close of the year 1820, in the county of Meath, Ireland, and spent his boyhood on the "Old Sod." He was, like most other Irish lads, poor, patriotic and ambitious. After the failure of the uprising of 1848, in which he participated, he saw no future, no liberty in the dear land of his birth and he came to this country, landing in Boston in 1849.
From there he drifted to New York and then to Crawfordsville, Indiana, work-
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IN MEMORIAM
ing steadily at whatever he could turn his hand to. He was industrious but rest- less and, in 1854, went to California, going by way of the Isthmus of Panama. His career on the Pacific coast was full of adventure and, at length, he resolved to settle down for life. Returning to Crawfordsville, he married Miss Ann Mc- Cormick in 1857 and by his side she stayed until his body was laid to rest last Tuesday in the Catholic cemetery, a mile east of this city.
Four children were born to this union, John B., William D., Mary, who is now Mrs. Robt. Bittner, and Elizabeth, who is still at home. Jim Clark located in this state in 1858 and lived several years on Rock Creek. In 1867 he purchased the farm that has since been his home. He was a plain, upright man, who hadn't the least trace of sham in his make-up. Steadfast in beliefs, loyal in friendship and obliging to neighbor and wayfarer alike, every friend he made he kept to his death. His family grew up an honor to his name and he left the world better than he found it. His elder son is in business in Kansas City and doing well; William is our well known loan broker and Mrs. Bittner, with her husband, re- sides on a farm adjoining the old place, while Lizzie lives with her mother at home Rev. Father Taton conducted the burial services at the Catholic Church and at the grave.
DIED AT EIGHTY.
Mrs. Ann Clark, widow of the late James B. Clark, died at her home in Paola, Kansas, on Friday, April 10, 1903, aged eighty years. She lived a useful life and died a Christian death, mourned by daughters, sons and grandchildren who rose up to call lier blessed.
Born in Athboy Parish, County Meath, Ireland, she was 23 years of age when she landed at Utica, New York, in 1856. Later she went to Crawfordsville, In- diana, and there in 1856 she became the wife of Mr. Clark. Two years later the family came to Leavenworth, in 1859 to this county, locating on Rock Creek, in Richland township. A few years later they moved to the farm northwest of town about 4 miles, which was their permanent home till after Mr. Clark's death.
Then Mrs. Clark moved to Paola with her two daughters, Mrs. Mary Bittner and Miss Lizzie Clark. The two children, John B. and William D. are here, al- though John's place of business is in San Francisco, California.
The funeral at the Catholic Church on Easter Sunday and burial in the cem- etery east of town, was attended by a long train of friends, the largest number of carriages out this year. Services were by Father Taton.
Thus has gone another of the revered matrons whose 40 years of toil and kindness helped to people Miami county and fill the land with fruit and grain; to spread the mantle of charity, cheer the sick and nourish the weak; to make homes the center of devotion to parents, to industry and to God. May she rest in peace. Beside immediate connection, the following were here at the funeral: Mrs. Margart Riley, Mrs. Mary Clark, Mr. and Mrs. James McCormick, Robert Miller, Patrick Murphy, and James Conner, of Kansas City, Mo., and Miss Mary Smith of Cherryvale, all relatives.
MORRIS CUNNINGHAM DEAD.
Morris Cunningham died at his home in Osage township, last Tuesday morn- ing, October 9, 1906, aged 75 years. He had been in poor health for over a year. Mrs. Cunningham, whom he married in Indiana 50 years ago, survives him as also do the following named sons and daughters: George Cunningham, Stanton town- ship; William H. Cunningham, who is on the home place; Mrs. Jolın Chamberlain (Emma) and Mrs. Joseph Chamberlain, (Catherine) who, with their husbands, live in Osawatomie; Mrs. M. Langan, (Annie) who with her husband, resides in this city.
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THE HISTORY OF OUR CRADLE LAND
Mr. Cunningham was born in the County Kerry, Ireland, in 1831, and came to America when 20 years of age. In 1857 he sought a home in Kansas and located in Osage township, where ever since he had lived till the final summons came. For 48 years he worked there to make a home for himself and family and contribute his share to the up-building of this county and State. The last year he was an invalid and couldn't work. A better and truer man never was enum- erated among the honorable and the useful men of this county. Industrious, re- liable and obliging, he did well his part, and besides a fair share of property, he gave to his family a good name.
The funeral yesterday at the Catholic Church in this city, was very large. Rev. Father Burk conducted the services and interment was in the cemetery east of Paola.
DEATH OF MICHAEL ALLEN.
Had he but lived until September, Michael Allen would have reached his one- hundredth milestone. He died last Friday, April 11th, and was buried in the Catholic graveyard, east of this city, on Monday, April 14, 1913. Requiem Mass was sung at Holy Trinity church, conducted by Rev. Father Burk, and the last rites were observed at the grave. The funeral procession was nearly a mile long.
Mrs. Allen died August 25, 1900, and the sons and daughters surviving are: Richard Allen of Hutchinson; Henry Allen, of this city; Mrs. Ella McGrath, the wife of Robert McGrath, of Coffey county, and Robert Allen, who lives on the old homestead. There are many other relatives, direct and collateral, many of whom were in attendance at the burial.
Born in the County Kerry, Ireland, about the middle of September, 1813, Michael Allen lived there until past thirty years old. Considerable difficulty was encountered in determining his age, because the English laws of that period kept the Irish from being taught to read or to write, and prohibited the parish priest from even recording births or deaths. Irish families were still paying the penalty of the unsuccessful rebellion of 1798; the tyrant's foot was still upon their necks. Only by counting back through events by family traditions; by happenings of un- usual moment such as the "big wind," the famine, the execution of Irish patriots; the "plague year," the summer of the "potato rot" were dates of birth in this era of oppression in Ireland determined upon. By such methods has many an aged Irishman had to fix the date of his coming into the world. Mr. Allen had a strong and bright intellect in which grew a memory of remarkable power. He could neither read nor write, and under the law passed by the recent Democratic Legis- lature of Kansas, he would have been disfranchised, but he knew more than many a college graduate. In the school of experience he became well informed.
"I was born, me boy, in 1813, but I didn't know just when, nor was I entirely certain of the year until I was about twenty. I put together the things told me by father and mother, and I always carried in my mind big things that happened. Yes, yes, and this is the way I got back to the year and month of me birth." Thus spoke Mr. Allen to the writer, fifty years ago.
In 1848, Michael came to America and, with a companion or two, soon after landing in New York, he set out across the country. He worked with his hands at whatever turned up to be done for wages. He was in the land of liberty, and he longed to see the wilds. From the canals in the sparsely settled localities he went westward, and in the early fifties he rounded up in Indiana, not far from what is now the town of New Castle. There he was married to Bridget Collins. This was in 1854. A few years later, in 1858, he headed an Irish colony for Kansas. These young pioneers took up homes in Osage Township. Mr. Allen pre-empted the quarter section upon which he lived and where he died.
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IN MEMORIAM
Mike Allen fought the fight and kept the faith. God had given him a big mind in a strong body. He was a born leader. All the others around him sought his counsel and heeded it. Through the hardships of territorial days; through ague and famine; through war; through lean years and through all the troubles incident to early times in Kansas, Michael Allen was a courageous, cheerful, steady worker. He led the way; he laid the first stone of the new Catholic church in Miami county; he picked out and measured the first Catholic burial ground; he helped to construct the first rude ferry boat that aided travel in crossing that treacherous stream known as the Marais des Cygnes. His hand helped to shape the first log that went into the first school house of Osage town- ship, the little structure that stood on the Jimmy Williams corner, to mark the center of district number six. He was a, delegate to the first Democratic county convention ever held here. "Who sent you, who sent you?" a friend once asked. "Why, I sent myself. Sure and there was nobody to tell me to come," was his reply.
In stature Mr. Allen was about five feet, six and one-half inches high; round bodied; small hands and small feet. In his prime his hair was heavy and black. His average weight was about 165 to 170 pounds. He was active and quick, just the man who impressed his individuality on those around him in a new country. No horse was so wild that he could not tame it; no man so powerful that he could not hold his own with him. To build a house, swim a river, or to fight a bully was a simple task for Mike Allen. He was ready for either at the drop of a hat, and yet, with all his courage, he was charity personified. He loved chil- dren, and he was ever alert to help the weak. Tender-hearted as a girl and ever affectionate with his family, he was the well known man in his community for generousness, in doing good turns; in obliging all who came within his reach or touch. A prince fell when Mr. Allen died. A man among men; a leader of leaders; a person truly great in the lovable things that he did for himself and for others.
His last visit to Paola was in the summer of 1912. He walked with steady step, and spoke with a mind clear as ever. "How long will I live, ye ask? Till after the next Democratic President is put in the White House, d'ye mind that?" Sure enough, he went to the polls in Fontana last fall and called out to those around him. "Boys, I'm going to vote a straight Democratic ticket, and live to see Wilson in the big chair at Washington!" To a friend a few weeks before his death, he said: "My time is about here. I am nearly one hundred years old. I have seen the country grow from a desert to bloom in farms and fine homes.
I had no school in the old country in my day, but I helped to put schools in this country, which is my country. My children have been very good to me. Never have I wanted for friends. This is a great land, and it was a blessing upon me that I came here to live. I have done my best and am ready to go when it is God's will to take me."
Father Burk's sermon at the funeral was along the lines that have been touched upon in this obituary. Indeed, so forceful and so striking were the sentences from the lips of the priest that they could not be forgotten by anyone who listened to them. Michael Allen has gone, but his deeds will live forever in the memory of the children, and the children's children of those who knew him.
MR. JACOB KOEHLER.
Mr. Koehler was a citizen of Paola for forty-three years and the greater part of that time he was actively engaged in business.
He was born April 4, 1851 in Naurenberg Province, North Hessen Nassau, Germany, and with his brother, Frank Koehler, emigrated to America in June, 1866, locating in Kansas City, where an aunt lived. Mr. Koehler learned the baker's trade and became very proficient.
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THE HISTORY OF OUR CRADLE LAND
In 1871 he came to Paola. He was an untiring worker. Early and late, from year to year, he was constantly at his place of business, seldom taking any recre- ation and his vitality becoming weakened by over attention to business is believed to have been primarily the cause of his sudden death, which occurred May 22, 1914.
Mr. Koehler possessed a calm, deep nature, an analytical mind and a wide knowledge of affairs. He had an equable temper and a pleasing disposition as a result of which he had many real friends. During all the many years of his active business relationship with the people of this county, he dealt honestly and justly with all. He was always ready to promote any good cause and he helped by his good works, his kind words and finance; besides he was a great man in the Church; for many years a committeeman; a Knight of Colunibus and a fervent promoter of the League of the Sacred Heart.
He was largely instrumental in bringing Ursuline Academy to Paola. He was the one who made the leading move so that the Sisters would locate here and not go elsewhere.
Mr. Koehler was a real leader in the Church, was generous in all his con- tributions and was counselled in all its affairs. He was intensely religious and was a man who not only practiced his religion but one who could explain it as well as a clergyman, not in an ostentatious way but in order to enlighten and in order to do good. He had no diplomas from High Schools or Universities but he was a great reader in sacred literature and consequently well versed in all the teachings of Holy Mother Church.
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