USA > Kentucky > Historical sketches of Kentucky : embracing its history, antiquities, and natural curiosities, geographical, statistical, and geological descriptions with anecdotes of pioneer life, and more than one hundred biographical sketches of distinguished pioneers, soldiers, statesmen, jurists, lawyers, divines, etc. > Part 19
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Jn 1822. he was chaplain of the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States. Fr 1928, ho-settled-in Lexington, Ky., as pastor of the Mc- Chord church of that place. In 1826, he removed to the city of Baltimore. as co-pastor of the late Rev. Dr. Glendy ; and afterwards, as sole pastor of the sec- ond Presbyterian church in that city. In 1831, he removed to the city of Phila- delphia, as secretary and general agent of the board of education of the Pres- byterian church. In 1836. the general assembly of that church elected him a professor in the theological seminary at Princeton. New Jersey, to which place he then removed. Upon the organization of the board of foreign missions by the Presbyterian church, he was elected its secretary and general agent, and contin- ved at the head of the operations of that board from about 1838 to 1840. At the period of his death, he was the pastor elect of the Presbyterian church in the city of New Orleans, and president elect of the university of Oglethorpe, in Georgia.
He was a man of extraordinary gifts. To great gentleness and refinement of manners and feelings, he added remarkable correctness and vigor of purpose and force of will. Ardent and intrepid. as ever man was. he was also patient of labor, calm and wary in the formation of his designs, and indomitable in the resolution with which he pursued his objects. His success in life was, of necessity, striking and universal ; and at the period of his death, though he had scarcely attained the meridian of life, he was probably as universally known, and as universally admired and loved. as any minister of the gospel in America had ever been. A more generous, disinterested and benevolent man, never lived. His talents were of a high order ; and in the midst of a life of incessant activity, he acquired very extensive learning in his immediate profession, and was justly and highly dis- tinguished for the compass and elegance of his general attainments. As a pub- lic speaker, and especially as a pulpit crater, few of his generation equalled him-and taken for all in all, hardly one excelled him. So greatly was he ad- mired and loved, and so high was the public confidence in him, that calls and in- vitations to churches, colleges, and every sort of public employment, suitable to
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huis calling as a christian minister, were continually pressed upon him from every six'tion of the United States. His connection with the great movements and controversies of his age, so far as they bore a moral or religious aspect, was else and constant. A few hours before his death, and almost as his last words, he ittered these sublime words : " I am a poor sinner, who have worked hard, and had constantly before my mind one great object-THE CONVERSION OF THE WORLD." It was a true and an honest synopsis of his life and labors.
One of the most extraordinary and scandalous events that ever occurred, was the attempt made five years after the death of this good and great man, by cer- tain Roman Catholics of St. Louis and elsewhere, to prove that he had died a romvert to their religion-a religion which he spent many years of his life in the must ardent efforts to confute and expose-and in regard to which, the evidence was perfectly conclusive that, to the end of his life, he thought the worse of it, as he more and more examined it.
Ia personal appearance, he was a man of the middle stature-lightly, but Enely and elegantly made-and possessed of great strength and activity. His features wore an habitual aspect of mingled gentleness, sadness, and almost severity. His eyes and hair were light hazle. "He was twice married-the first time, to a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Miller, of New Jersey ; the second time, to a daughter of Colonel Babcock, of Connecticut. His second wife, and three children by the first, and one by the second marriage, survive him.
HISTORICAL SKETCH
OF THE
EARLY ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, IN KENTUCKY;
WITH BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF THE PRINCIPAL CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES, WHO HAVE SUCCESSIVELY LABORED IN THIS STATE.
THE glowing accounts of the surpassing beauty and fertility of Kentucky, fur- nished by the early pioneers on their return to the bosom of their families in North Carolina and Virginia, created a deep sensation throughout the western borders of these states, and awakened a spirit of adventure, which soon extended ( Maryland and other adjoining states. Large bodies of emigrants began to pour into the newly discovered and but half explored wilderness, inhabited till then only by wild beasts and by roving bands of savages. The daring spirit of Bane, Harrod and Logan was soon communicated to large masses of popula- ton ; and the consequence was, that in less than a quarter of a century from its Arst discovery or exploration, Kentucky had a sufficient population to be admitted as one of the independent states of this great confederacy; the second that was added to the venerable THIRTEEN, which had fought the battles of independence.
Maryland shared abundantly in the enthusiasm which had already set one- Curth of the adjacent populations in motion towards the west. The Cathohes who settled in Kentucky, came principally from this state, which had been funded by Lord Baltimore, and a band of colonists professing the Roman V'ath die religion. Bold, hardy, adventurous and strongly attached to their faith, but tolerant towards those of other denominations, the Catholic emigrants is Kentucky, proved not unworthy of their ancestors, who had been the first to un- til on this western continent, the broad banner of universal freedom, both civil and religious." They cheerfully underwent the labors, privations and dangers,
. Hasenft in his History of the United States. (Vol. I. Maryland), awards this praise to the Catholic coun us of Maryland; and so do our other historians, passion.
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to which all the early emigrants were exposed; and they made common cause with their brethren in providing for the security of their new homes in the wil- derness, and in repelling Indian invasions, Several of their number were killed or dragged into captivity on their way to Kentucky ; others passed through sur- ring adventures. and made hair-breadth escapes.
The first Catholic emigrants to Kentucky, with whose history we are ac- quainted, were Dr. Hart and William Coomes. These came out in the spring of 1775, and settled at Harrod's station. Here Dr. Hart engaged in the practice of medicine; and the wife of William Coomes opened a school for children. Thus in all probability, the first practising physician and the first school teacher of our infant commonwealth were both Roman Catholics. A few years later they removed with their families to Bardstown, in the vicinity of which most of the Catholic emigrants subsequently located themselves. Previously to their removal, however, they were both actively employed in the defence of Harrod's Station during its memorable siege by the Indians in 1776-77. William Coomes was with the party which first discovered the approach of the savages; one of his companions was shot dead at his side; and he made a narrow escape with his life.
In the year 1785 a large colony of Catholics emigrated to Kentucky from Maryland, with the Haydens and Lancasters, and settled chiefly on Pottinger's creek, at a distance of from ten to fifteen miles from Bardstown. They were followed in the spring of the next year, by another colony led out by captain James Rapier, who located himself in the same neighborhood. In 1787, Thomas Hill and Philip Miles brought out another band of Catholic emigrants, and they were followed in 1788, by Robert Abell, and his friends : and in 1790-91, by Benedict Spalding and Leonard Hamilton, with their families and connexions. The last named colonists settled on the Rolling Fork, a branch of Salt river, in the present county of Marion.
In the spring of the year 1787, there were already about fifty Catholic families in Kentucky. They had as yet no Catholic clergyman to administer to their spiritual wants : and they felt the privation most keenly. Upon application to the Very Rev. John Carroll, of Baltimore, then the ecclesiastical superior of all the Catholics in the United States, they had the happiness to receive as their first pastor the Rev. Mr. Whelan, a zealous and talented Irish priest, who had served as chaplain in the French navy, which had come to our assistance in the struggle for independence. He remained with his new charge till the spring of 1790, when he returned to Maryland by the way of New Orleans.
After his departure, the Catholics of Kentucky were again left in a destitute condition for nearly three years ; when they were consoled by the appearance among them of the Rev. Stephen Theodore Badin, who was sent out as their pastor by bishop Carroll, of Baltimore, in the year 1793. This excellent, Jearned, zealous and indefatigable religious pioneer of our state, still lingering in venera- ble old age above the horizon of life, labored with unremitting zeal among the Catholics of our state for more than thirty years, and even after this long term of service, though worn down with previous exertion, and induced to travel and take some relaxation for his health, he still continued to work at intervals in the vine- yard which he had so dearly loved and so long cultivated.
His adventures and hardships would fill a volume; and the varied incidents of his remarkable life cannot even be alluded to in this brief sketch. Wherever there was sickness or spiritual destitution ; wherever error or vice was to be eradicated, and virtue inculcated; wherever youth was to be instructed and trained to religious observances ; wherever, in a word, his spiritual ministratiens were most needed, there he was sure to be found laboring with all his native energy, for the good of his neighbor. Difficulties and dangers, which would have appalled a heart less stout and resolute, were set at naught by this untiring man. He traversed Kentucky on horseback hundreds of times on missionary duty ; and he spent nearly half his tune in the saddle. Through rain and storm, through hall and snow; along the beaten path and through the trackless wilderness, by diy and by night, he might be seen going on his errand of mercy: often for years together, alone in the field, and always among the foremost to lobor, even when subsequently joined by other zealous Catholic missionaries. He was intimate with the most distinguished men of Kentucky in the early
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times, and his politeness, learning, affability and wit, made him always a wel- & #the quest at their tables.
When he first came to Kentucky in 1793. he estimated the number of Catho- Ja families in the state at three hundred ; he has lived to see this number swell tu more than six thousand. When he first entered on this missionary field, there was not a Catholic church in the entire commonwealth, and there were few. if anv, Catholic schools; at present there are more than forty churches, besides a goat number of missionary stations, about forty Catholic priests, one religious establishment for men, two colleges for young men, four female religious in- sutations, eleven academies for girls, five or six charitable institutions : besides an ecclesiastical seminary, and some minor schools. The entire Catholic popula- tion of the State, may be now estimated at thirty thousand.
After having remained alone in Kentucky for nearly four years, Rev. M. Badin was joined by another zealous Catholic missionary, like himself a native of France; the Rev. M. Fournier, who reached the State in February, 1797. Two years later-in February, 1799, the two missionaries were cheered by the arrival of another, the Rev. M. Salmon, likewise a Frenchman. But these two last named elpreymen did not long survive the arduous labors of the mission. M. Salmon after a serious illness contracted by exposure, was suddenly killed by a fall from his horse near Bardstown, on the 9th of November, 1799; and the Rev. M. Fournier died soon after on the Rolling Fork, probably from the rupture of a blood-vessel.
Their places were filled by the Rev. Mr. Thayer, a native of New England, who had once been a Congregational minister in Boston, but had from convic- tion become a Catholic, and had been promoted to the ministry in our church. He arrived in Kentucky in 1799; having been sent out, like the rest, by bishop Carroll, of Baltimore, the venerable patriarch of the Catholic church in America ; and he remained in the State till 1803. After his departure, M. Badin was again left alone for about two years,-until the year 1805.
This year is memorable in our religious annals, as marking the arrival among us of one among the most active and efficient of our early missionaries-the Rev. Charles Nerinckx. a native of Belgium, who, like many others of our first mis- sionaries, had been compelled to leave Europe in consequence of the disturbances caused by the French Revolution. Strong, healthy, robust, and full of faith and religious zeal, he was admirably suited to endure the hardships necessarily con- beeted with our early missions. He shrank from no labor, and was disheartened by no difficulties. He labored without cessation. both bodily and mentally, for nearly twenty years, and he died on a missionary excursion to Missouri, in 1821. He erected in Kentucky no less than ten Catholic churches, in the building of which he often worked with his own hands. Two of these were of brick, and the rest of hewed logs.
For many years he had charge of six large congregations, besides a great num- ber of minor stations, scattered over the whole extent of the State. Like M. Bodin, he spent much of his time on horseback, and traveled by night as well as by day. On his famous horse Printer, he very often traveled sixty miles in the day ; and to save time, he not unfrequently set out on his journeys at sunset. He often swam swollen creeks and rivers, even in the dead of winter; he frequently wept in the woods : and on one occasion, in what is now Grayson county, he was bruart by wolves during a whole night, when he was saved, under the divine pro- fection, by his presence of mind in sitting on his horse and keeping his persecu- Lory at bay by hallooing at the top of his voice. Exact in enforcing discipline. he was more rigid with himself than with any one else. He cared not for his bodily comfort, and was content with the poorest accommodations. He delighted to visit the poor, and to console them in their afflictions; while children and ser- Wanty were the special objects of his pastoral solicitude.
In order to promote female piety and education, this good man founded the Sisterhood of Loretto, in April, 1512. The objects of this establishment were; Is enable those young ladies who wished to retire from the world. and to devote Utemselves wholly to prayer and the exercises of charity, to be useful to theus- wolves and to others. by diffusing the blessings of a Christian education among going persons of their own sex, especially among the daughters of the power. They were also to receive and rear up orphan girls, who, if left on the cold cher- thes of the world, might have gone to ruin themselves, and have become an
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occasion of ruin to others. The institution succeeded even beyond his most san guine expectations. Within the twelve years which elapsed from its establisti- ment to the death of its founder, the number of sisters who devoted themselves to this manner of life had already increased to more than a hundred ; and they had under their charge more than two hundred and fifty girls, distributed through six different schools, besides many orphans, whom they fed, clothed, and educated gratuitously. The institution now reckons about one hundred and eighty mort- bers; and besides the mother house, which is at Loretto, in Marion county, it has eight branch establishments, five of which are in Kentucky, and three in Mis- sonri. All of these have female schools attached to them, in which young ladies are taught not only the elements of English education, but also the varied accom- plishments which fit them for the most refined society.
In the spring of the year 1806, a new band of Catholic missionaries came to Kentucky, and established themselves at St. Rose's, near Springfield. They were the Rev. Messrs. Edward Fenwick, * Thomas Wilson, Wm. Raymond Tuite, and R. Anger ; the first a native of Maryland, and the three last Englishmen. They were all of the order of St. Dominic. They took charge of a considerable por- tion of the Catholic missions, and labored with great zeal and efficiency in the vineyard. Connected with their institution were a theological seminary and a college for young men, both of which continued to flourish for many years.
About a mile from St. Rose's, there was also established, at a later period, the still flourishing female institution of St. Magdalene's, conducted by sisters of the third order of St. Dominic, which has now a branch establishment at Somer- set, Ohio. This latter institution, the permanent establishment of which is mainly due to the enlightened zeal of Bishop Miles, of Nashville, has done great good in promoting the diffusion of female education among all classes of our population.
In the fall of the year 1805, the Trappists came to Kentucky with the Rev. Urban Guillet, their superior ; and they remained in the State, at their establish- ment on Pottinger's creek, near Rohan's knob, for about four years, when they removed to Missouri, and subsequently to Illinois. They were a body of religious monks who devoted themselves to fasting and prayer, and lived retired from the world. They were, however, of great assistance to the infant Catholic missions of Kentucky. not only by the influence of their prayers and good example, but also by their efforts to promote education, especially among the children of the poor. They established a school for boys, in which manual labor and instruc- tion in the mechanical arts were combined with a religious training and the teaching of the ordinary rudiments of an English education.
In the year 1811. the Catholics of our State were cheered by the arrival among them of their first bishop. the Rt. Reverend Dr. Flaget, who had been consecrated in Baltimore by Bishop Carroll, on the 4th of November of the previous year. This venerable missionary pioneer, now in his eighty-fourth year, had been already in the west, having been stationed for two years at Post Vincennes, as early as 1792, shortly after his arrival in the United States from France, his native country. When he passed Cincinnati in that year, there were only four rude cabins in this now flourishing city ; and Lonisville was but little farther ad- vanced. How different is the entire west now, from what it was on occasion of his first visit, or even on that of his second in 1811! What was then an unre- claused wilderness, filled with wild beasts and still fiercer savages, is now a smiling garden of civilization.
We cannot attempt to write even a rapid sketch of the life and labors of Bishop Flaget in Kentucky, during the last thirty-six years ; a volume would be neces- gary to do full justice to his excellent and admirable character. The incidents of his life are familiar to all the Catholics of the State ; while the many bency- olent and literary institutions he has reared, are the best monuments to his meni- ory. Suffice it to say, that he has ever blended the active benevolence and charity of the Christian missionary with the amiable politeness of the accom- plished gentleman. He had and still has a multitude of warm friends, even among the dissenting communions : he never had one eneiny.
Among the companions of Bishop Flaget, when he came to take up his
* Subsequently the first bishop of Cincinnati.
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pennanent abode in Kentucky, were the Rev. J. B. M. David, and the Rev. G. J. C'habrat-the latter not yet a priest; both of whom afterwards were sucres- sively appointed his coadjutors. The latter was the first priest ordained by Bishop Flaget in Kentucky.
The Rev. Mr. David, or, as he was familiarly called, Futher David, was con- secrated bishop in the newly dedicated cathedral of Bardstown, on the 15th of August, 1819 ; and he died on the 12th of July, 1841, in the eighty-first year of his age. He was the founder of the theological seminary of Bardstown, and of the order of Sisters of Charity, in Kentucky. In the former institution, founded in Is11, were educated most of the clergymen now on the missions of ken- tucky, many of them under his own eye. The society of Sisters of Charity was commenced at St. Thomas, four miles from Bardstown, in November, 1812; and the number of its members increased apace, until it was soon able to send out new colonies to different parts of the State. The society now has four branch establishments under the general supervision of the parent institution at Naza- reth, near Bardstown; it has more than seventy-five members; it educates annually about five hundred young ladies, and has charge of an infirmary and orphan asylum, in the latter of which there are at present about seventy orphan girls, rescued from want, and trained to virtue and learning.
Among the most zealous and efficient deceased Catholic clergymen of our State, we may reckon the Rev. William Byrne and the Rev. G. A. M. Elder ; the former an Irishman, and the founder of St. Mary's college, in Marion county ; the latter a Kentuckian, and the founder of St. Joseph's college, in Bardstown. These two institutions, which have continued to flourish ever since, and which have been of immense advantage to the cause of education in Kentucky, stand forth the fittest and most durable monuments to their memory. Having been for many years bound together by ties of the closest Christian friendship, they were both ordained together in the cathedral of Bardstown, by Bishop David, on the 18th of September, 1819.
As an evidence of the unconquerable energy of these two men, we may re- mark, that the two institutions which they respectively founded, and in the welfare of which they felt so lively an interest, were both reduced to ashes under their very eyes,-St. Mary's college at two different times ; and that they were immediately rebuilt by their founders, who, far from being discouraged by the afflicting disaster, seemed in consequence of it to be clothed, on the contrary, with new vigor and resolution. No difficulties terrified them ; no obstacles were deemed by them insurmountable. The State never contributed one dollar to either of these institutions, nor were they erected by the wealth of their founders or the liberal contributions of individuals. The persevering industry and untir- ing energy of two men. wholly unprovided with pecuniary means, and yet deter- mined to succeed at all hazards, built np, rebuilt, and maintained those two institu- tions of learning. They and their associates asked no salary, no worldly retribu- tion for their labors ; and the entire proceeds of the institutions thus went towards paying the debts contracted for the erection of them. So great was the confi- dence reposed in the two founders by all classes of the community, that they had credit, to an unlimited amount ; and it is almost needless to add, that not one of their creditors ever lost a dollar by the trust reposed in their integrity and ability to meet all their liabilities.
The Rev. William Byrne died of the cholera, at St. Mary's college, on the 5th of June, 1933 ; and his friend followed him on the 28th of September. 13- The latter died at St. Joseph's college, of an affection of the heart, which he had contracted many years before. while a student at Etmetsburgh college, Maryland. Both fell victims of their zeal in the discharge of the duties of their office : both died in the arms of their dearest friends, in the institutions which they had reared, and which they left behind thein as their sepulchral monuments.
Here we must close this hasty and imperfect sketch. The narrow limits by which we were confined, prevented us from speaking of several other things wor- thy of notice in our religious history ; while we have on purpose abstained from saying much of those who are still living, whose biographies will be more ap- propriately written when they shall be no more.
MISCELLANEOUS STATISTICS.
GOVERNORS, LIEUTENANT GOVERNORS AND SECRETARIES OF THE COMMONWEALTH.
I. Isaac Shelby, the first governor, took the oath of office on the 4th of June, 1792, under the first constitution. James Brown, secretary of state.
II. James Garrard took the oath of office June 1, 1796. Harry Toulman, secretary. The present constitution was formed 1799.
III. James Garr und, being eligible, was again elected governor; Alexander S. Bullitt, lieu- tenant governor : Harry Toulman secretary -1800.
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