History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 140

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358

USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men > Part 140

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).

1634

HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

long been felt, and at last it was decided that the society might safely undertake the erection of a hall of its own. In August, 1879, therefore, the Lieder- kranz Building Association was organized. The capital was placed at fifty thousand dollars, and the Liederkranz Society took three thousand five hundred dollars of stock, and every member of the society became also a member of the building association, which was managed by the following officers : Presi- dent, F. W. Sennewald ; Vice-President, Charles Wezler ; Secretary, A. Link; Treasurer, Ferdinand Diehm ; Directors, Louis Gottschalk, Lorenz Lampel, W. J. Lemp, Eugene Haas, Statius Kehrmann, Fer- dinand Herold, Joseph Emanuel, Emil Donk, and Egmont Froehlich.

The building association bought an eligibly situated lot at Chouteau Avenue and Thirteenth Street, and on the 31st of July, 1880, laid the corner-stone of the new hall. On the 22d of December, 1880, the building was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies. The hall was erected by Messrs. Wilhelm & Janssen, after plans procured from abroad. It has a frontage of ninety-four feet on Chouteau Avenue and one hun- dred and forty feet on Thirteenth Street, and is two stories high. The style of architecture is the renais- sance. A handsome entrance at the intersection of these streets conducts to the interior. The complete- ness of the appointments and the entire absence of any glaring' or " loud" details are the conspicuous fea- tures which first strike the eye. The special char- acteristics of the structure are solidity and safety, combined with beauty and a complete adaptability to the objects for which the building was erected. The grand hall is sixty-five by eighty-one feet, and there is a refreshment-room one hundred and five by twenty- four feet, besides a number of toilet-rooms and apart- ments for billiards and other games. The stage is thirty by twenty-five feet, and is shaped like a shell in order to secure the best musical effect. The acoustic properties of the hall are very fine. The lot cost eight thousand dollars, the building thirty-six thousand dollars, and the furniture six thousand dol- lars. The building, in spite of its simplicity and modesty of style, is one of the most imposing and beautiful in the city, besides serving as a cheerful home for the society and its friends.

has gained recognition as one of the best and most proficient singing societies in the West. Among the great works which it has brought out with distin- guished success are Verdi's " Requiem," Schumann's " Pilgrimage of the Rose," Mendelssohn's " Wal- purgis Night," Gade's "Erl King's Daughter," Vier- ling's " Rape of the Sabines," Becker's " Die Zigeu- nerin," Gade's " Zion," Bruch's " Odysseus," Hoff- man's " Die Schoene Melusine," Haydn's " Seasons," Moehring's "Auff Offner See," Erdmannsdoerfer's " Princessin Ilse," etc.

The officers for 1882 were : President, F. W. Sen- newald ; Vice-President, O. J. Wilhelmie ; Secretary, M. Klaus; Treasurer, Fred. Aberold ; Corresponding Secretary, F. W. Meyer; Cashier, E. P. Olshausen ; Musical Director, Egmont Froehlich.

Schweitzer Maennerchor .- This was originally the Gruelti Singing Society, a song section of the Gruelti Verein, the Swiss Benevolent Society ; but in February, 1874, it was chartered as the " Schweitzer Maennerchor," with the following incorporators : Ul- rich Schwendener, Francis Romer, John Jacklin, Henry Hotz, August Wildberger, J. J. Kiburz, Sam- uel Putscher, F. X. Siedler, Adolph Walser, John Boerdin, and others. It has about forty members. The present officers are : President, Albert Bugg ; Vice-President, Rudolf Bollinger ; Treasurer, J. J. Martin ; Musical Director, J. B. Trumbi.

West St. Louis Liederkranz .- In 1871, Anton Huber, Frank Wieser, August Gruenewald, Louis Schaefer, A. Meyer, Henry Pohlmann, and Louis Wiesler organized the West St. Louis Liederkranz, with headquarters near Spring and Easton Avenues. Henry Pohlmann was the first president, A. Meyer the first secretary, and John Oberreiter the first trcas- urer. Herr Haar was musical director. The society prospered, and gained an enviable reputation for good music, and in 1880 took the second prize at High- land, Ill., competing with fifteen clubs from St. Louis and Southern Illinois. It has a membership of two hundred and twenty, of whom twenty are active. Quite a number of ladies belong to the society, and are its most energetic members. Frederick Parten- heimer has been director for five years. The present officers are : President, Otto Keil; Secretary, Carl Golschen ; Treasurer, William Schroeder; Musical Director, Frederick Partenheimer ; Trustees, Louis Schaefer, August Gruenewald, George Kramer, Theo. Hoell, William Koehler.

The Liederkranz has six hundred members, of whom one hundred and thirty are active. It is the largest singing society in the city, and its success is due chiefly to the high standard which it has applied There are many other German song unions of some- what lesser note. Many of them are simply song sections of German clubs, turnvereins, etc. Among to its own performances, and to its aim to introduce and familiarize the best work of the most eminent composers. Under the direction of Herr Froehlich, it them may be mentioned the Rock Springs Saenger-

1635

MUSIC AND MUSICIANS.

bund, Camp Spring Leidertafel, Apollo Gesangverein, Teutonia Gesangverein, Rheiniseher Frohsinn, Maen- nerehor der Hermann Soehne, etc.

The St. Louis Choral Society was organized Sept. 1, 1880, by Professor Joseph Otten. The first officers were : President, L. L. Tebbetts ; Viec-Presi- dent, R. Chauvenet ; Secretary, Thaddeus Smith ; Li- brarian, A. A. Sehnuek ; Conductor, Professor Joseph Otten. During the first year four subscription coneerts were given, and the works rendered were " The Mes- siah," " The Fair Melusine," by Hoffman ; “ Dettingen Te Deum," by Handel ; and fragments of "Tann- häuser," Beethoven's Mass in C, ete. The society has a chorus of one hundred and thirty voices, and is regarded as a promising young organization. The present officers are : President, Nathaniel P. Hazard ; Vice-President, S. S. Leach ; Secretary, Richard Fenby ; Conductor, Professor Joseph Otten.

Musical Union .- In November, 1881, Professor A. A. Waldauer and Dabney Carr organized the St. Louis Musical Union, an orchestra of nearly sixty pieces, which for two seasons past lias given eon- eerts of a very high order of merit, having performed with great acceptability the most difficult works of most of the great composers.

Henry Shaw Musical Society .- In the fall of 1882 was organized a society with this name, under the lead of Professor R. S. Poppen. Its first season's performances were highly ereditable.

CHAPTER XXXIX. .

RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 1

The Catholic Church .- The Catholic missionaries were the first to preach the gospel in the territory now known as the State of Missouri, and, indeed, in

1 For material assistance in preparing the sketches of the churches of St. Louis the author is greatly indebted to Rt. Rev. C. F. Robertson, D.D., Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Dio- cese of Missouri ; Rt. Rev. P. J. Ryan, D.D., Coadjutor Bishop of the Catholic archdiocese; Rev. Walter H. Hill, S.J., of St. Louis University ; Lewis E. Kline, of the Baptist Depository ; Rev. J. W. Allen, D.D., of the Presbyterian Depository ; Rev. Timothy Hill, D.D., of Kansas City, author of a "History of Presbyterianism in Missouri ;" Rev. Benjamin St. James Fry, D.D., editor of the Central Christian Advocate, and his assist- ant, W. E. Barns ; Rev. John E. Godbey, D.D., editor of the Southwestern Methodist ; as well as to a "History of Metho- dism in Missouri," by Rev. Dr. D. R. McAnally ; " Pictorial St. Louis," by Camille N. Dry, published by Compton & Co., 1876 ; and the St. Louis Spectator, in addition to the pastors of the various churches.

that now actually comprised in the United States. Long before the " Mayflower" entered Massachusetts Bay the Franeisean missionaries had eommeneed their saered labors on the coast of Maine. Side by side tlie eross and the fleur-de-lis moved into the wilder- ness, marehing not to the sound of the drum, but to tlie solemn tones of the Gregorian chant. The Jesuits, succeeding the Franeiseans, carried on the holy work, uneheeked by snows or forests or tor- rents, until within a few years the vast basin of the St. Lawrence, from Quebec to Lake Superior, was dotted with rude chapels, in which the saered wafer, " all that the church offered to the prinees and nobles of Europe, was shared with the humblest savage neophytes." 2 And five years before Eliot, the Indian apostle of New England, had commeneed his labors among the red men in the vicinity of Boston, the eross of the Catholic Church overlooked the valley of the Mississippi. The Indian proselyte loved the Catholie missionary. The man of learning, the scholar, and the gentleman became as a brother to the children of the wilderness. He lived in their wigwams, smoked their pipes, and ate of their veni- son. He shared their hardships and sympathized with their joys. In a word, aeting upon the apostolie rule, " with the weak he became as weak, in order that he might gain the weak."

But it is not alone because the missionary adopted the Indian habits and became as one of the tribe he was proselyting that he was blessed with sueeess. This but furnished him with his moral lever. Instead of demolishing the natural religion of the Indians, he directed its energy and inspired it with an object. In his eyes it was the rough bloek which he was to ehisel into life and beauty. Nature furnished him with ma- terials ; it was his business to produce the image. And with true knowledge of the world and the human heart, he saw that the savages, possessing uncultivated intelleets, could only be thoroughly impressed through the medium of their senses. Accustomed as they had been to the greatness of the material world, they could not at onee become spiritual in their aspirations. He therefore eharmed them with the fascinating powers of musie, and took extraordinary pains in the embellishment of the church and the altar. Fragrant woods of the forest furnished materials, which his own ingenuity earved into seraphs and saints. Fields which had never been broken by the plow surren- dered to his pious exertions wild flowers and ever- greens. Sweet-smelling gums exuded from trees, " which spread an odor equally agreeable with that of

2 Bancroft.

1636

HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

incense." Simple art and more simple nature con- bined to decorate the log-built temple; and the rays of the morning sun, pouring through the window of the little chancel, both gilded and sanctified the holy work. "The Indians," says an eminent Protestant writer, " felt that the place was sacred ; that the Great Spirit, though everywhere present in his creations, was peculiarly present here, invisible and holy ; and that the cross, which was the soul of baptism and the sign of devotion, which was symbolized in every mo- ment of danger or deliverance, on lying down and on rising up, which sparkled in every constellation of the heavens, was indeed a holy emblem, significant of the Great Sacrifice made far away in that Eastern land, from which they derived light both for body and soul. In this way the Jesuits succeeded in teach- ing European virtues, and not teaching European vices." 1

The same writer adds,-

" Let all honor, then, be paid to the memory of the Jesuit mis- sionaries in America. They have set a noble example to their fellow-laborers in God's vineyard. They have illustrated by their lives the force of that thrilling command, 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature ;' and the promise which accompanied the command was faithfully kept in every in- stance. Though ' most of them were martyrs to their faith,' God was with them in all their sufferings and trials, and their deaths were scenes of peaceful triumph. But the monuments of their labors are fast passing away. Where are the Hurons, the Mo- hawks, and the Abenakis? Where are the mighty war-chiefs of the Five Nations ? The sun shines upon their graves; their tomahawks arc forever buried ; the fire of their calumets forever extinguished. The wild forests of America no longer resound with hymns to the Virgin, chanted in languages unknown to civilization. The little bell of the chapel no more rings matins and even-song by the shore of the inland lake. They have all fled, and with them has fled away the glory of the Jesuit mis- sions. But wherever history is read, the names of Brebœuf and Jogues, Raymbault, Rasles, Marquette, Joliet, and Lallemand shall be mentioned with honor, and wherever the Catholic faith is promulgated these heroes shall have what they never sought, an earthly immortality." 2

As early as 1512 the Spanish missionaries preached the gospel to the Indians of Florida, but Father Mar- quette had the honor of first planting the cross in the Illinois country, after he had, in 1673, discovered and explored the Mississippi River. For two months he

sailed down the river in his bark canoe, and the nar- rative of his extraordinary voyage, revealing to the world the fact that the St. Lawrence could commu- nicate with the Gulf of Mexico by an almost uninter- rupted chain of lakes, rivers, and streams, gave France the first idea of colonizing Louisiana. The

MARQUETTE ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

Mississippi valley soon beheld missions rise among the Illinois, Miami, Yazoo, Arkansas, Natchez, and other tribes. Jesuits, Recollects, and priests of the foreign missions here shared the rude toil of convert- ing the Indians, and the French missions of North America mingled and blended with those of the Spaniards of the South.

Marquette was succeeded in the Illinois country by Father Claude Allouez, who labored under the direc- tion of the Bishop of Quebec. He died about August, 1690. He was followed in 1680 by Father Gabriel de la Ribourde, the first Superior of the Recollects, who was slain by Kickapoo Indians, Sept. 19, 1680. Fa- ther Ribourde labored with Father Zenobius Membré, who arrived in June, 1675, and preached in the Illinois country in 1680. He was also murdered by the In- dians in 1686 or 1687. The Jesuits now began their missions in the country, and Father James Gravier, S.J., who was killed about 1706, commenced his labors. He was in Illinois in 1687, and was followed by Father Sebastian Rale, who set out from Quebec in 1691, but who it is believed did not reach the country until the spring of the following ycar. After

1 Peter Oliver : Historical View of the Puritan Common- wealth.

2 Ibid. Also see on the same subject Hazard, vol. ii. pp. 313, 314, 393; Bancroft ; Kip's Jesuit Missions ; Hutchinson's His- tory of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 158, n .; Colden's Five Nations, vol. i. p. 60; Moore's Life of Eliot, p. 76 ; British Review, Octo- ber, 1844 ; Wilberforce's American Church ; Mercure de France, 1806; De Maistre's Essay on the Generative Principles of Human Government, translated in 1847 by a gentleman of Bos- ton ; and Shea's Catholic Missions.

1637

RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.

remaining two years he was transferred to the Abe- nakis, his original charge, and Father Gravier took his mission. Father Gravier was very successful with his missionary labors, but was soon recalled to Macki- naw.

He was succeeded by Fathers Julian Binncteau and Francis Pinet, the latter of whom founded the mission of Tamaroa, or Cahokia. In 1700, Father Gravier descended to the mouth of the Mississippi in order to obtain supplies from French vessels for the Kaskaskia mission, and apparently then returned to the mission. Father Lymoges, stationed at first among the Oumas in the lower Mississippi, is supposed to have aseended the river with Father Gravier. Fathers Pinet and Bovic also labored at the mission, but all of them, except Father Pinet, disappeared about 1703, and Pinet died in 1704. Gravier returned to Peoria and labored there, but descended to Mobile, where he died in January, 1706. About 1700 the care of the Illi- nois mission devolved upon Fathers Marest and James Mermet. In the previous year Francis J. de Mon- tigny, vicar-general of Quebec, and Antoine Davion had proceeded to the Mississippi, and Tamaroa, or Ca- hokia, the mission of Father Pinet, was placed under their charge. The first of the clergymen sent to Cahokia was the Rev. John Bergier, but his health having failed, Fatlier Marest, who was then stationed at Kaskaskia, joined him. Father Bergier soon after- wards died. In addition to the Kaskaskia and Ca- hokia missions, there was one on the St. Joseph's River, of which Father John B. Chardon took charge in 1711.

At this time four missions were in active opera- tion,-one on the St. Joseph's, one at Peoria, one at Kaskaskia, and one at Cahokia. At the last of these, Father Dominic Mary Varlet succeeded Father Ber- gier, about 1712, and remained for nearly six years, laboring zealously among thie Illinois. On his return . to Europe, about 1718, Father Varlet was made Coad- jutor Bishop of Babylon, but having avowed Jansen- istic opinions, was deposed and cxcommunieated by three successive popes. Contemporaneously with Father Varlet, the Rev. Philip Boucher is said to have labored in Illinois, chiefly at Fort St. Louis.

The influence of the missionaries upon the Indians was widespread and highly beneficial. " Before their conversion," writes Shea, "cruel and licentious to the most frightful degree, the Illinois had, under the influ- ence of religion, softened their savage customs and became so pure in morals that the French settlers frequently chose wives from the Indian villages. These intermarriages are, indeed, represented as so frequent that we must consider the present French

families of Indiana and Illinois as to some extent rep- resenting the Illinois Indians, whose blood flows so freely in their veins. The labors of the missionary here, as among the Abenakis of Maine, had two fields, -the villages at one scason, the hunting- or fishing- ground at others, being thus partly fixed and partly nomadic."

In the mean time Spanish missionaries had been approaching from the southwest. Cabeza de Vaca, of the Narvaez expedition, succeeded in reaching the outposts of the Spaniards of Mexico in Sonora, and his accounts of the Indian tribes excited the religious zeal of Friar Mark, of Nice, who in 1539 determined to undertake a mission to them. His experiment failed, but in 1542 another expedition set out from Mexico, taking a course towards the northeast. After having reached the head-waters of the Arkansas River, the commander, Coronado, decided to turn back, and on reaching the Rio Grande to return to Mexico. Two Franciscan missionaries, Father Pa- dilla and Brother John of the Cross, had accompanied Coronado, and they determined to remain in the country and undertake the conversion of the Indian tribes. While on their way to the town of Quivira they were both slain by the savages, and it was not until forty years later that the Franciscans penetrated into New Mexico, now the diocese of Santa Fé. De Courcy, in his sketch of the Catholic Church in the United States, says, " Before the English had formed a single settlement, either in Virginia or New Eng- land, all the tribes on the Rio Grande were converted and civilized; their towns, still remarkable for their peculiar structure, were decorated with churches and public edificcs, which superficial travelers in our day ascribe to the everlasting Aztecs." Gradually the French and Spanish missionaries drew nearer to each other, until at length their efforts mingled and blended. In 1721, Father Charlevoix visited the missions on the Mississippi River. He found the Miamis and Pottawatomies nearly all Christians. Father Marest appears to have been recalled about this time, and his death occurred some years later. The chief missions were now established on the banks of the Mississippi River,-the Cahokias and Tamaroas under the priests of the foreign missions, the Kaskaskias, Peorias, and Metchigameas, the latter a tribe which Marquette had seen ncar the Arkansas, under the priests of the So- ciety of Jesus. The mission of Cahokia was located on a small river, about a mile from the Mississippi, at a large Indian town, in which two tribes dwelt. At the time of Charlevoix's visit it was in charge of Fathers Dominic Thaumur de la Source and Le Mer- cier. The Kaskaskia mission had been divided into

104

1638

HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

two distinct charges. One, said to have been the more numerous, was " about half a league above old Fort Chartres, within gunshot of the river," and was under the direction of Father Joseph Ignatius le Boulanger. The latter translated into the Illinois dialect the cate- chism and instructions for hearing mass and approach- ing the sacraments, and added for the use of the mis- sionaries a literal translation into French of the Illinois versions. In 1721 he was assisted by Father De Kere- ben. At the French village below the fort Father De Beaubois was parish priest, and the second Kaskaskia mission, located at an Indian village about six miles inland, was under the charge of Father John Charles Guymonneau, who apparently was at that time Supe- rior of the mission.

" Almost all the Illinois," we are told, " were now Christians, and greatly attached to the French. They cultivated the ground in their own way, and had be- come, under the influence of religion, very industrious, raising poultry and live-stock to sell to the French. The women were adroit, weaving of buffalo hair a fine glossy stuff, which they dyed of various colors and worked into dresses for themselves, manufacturing a fine thread with great ingenuity." About 1722 the Illinois of the Rock and Pimiteony, owing to the harassing attacks of the Foxes, determined to abandon their villages and join the other Illinois tribes on the Mississippi, where they were converted to Christianity. In the mean time the Jesuits had established them- selves at New Orleans, and their Superior there, to whom it was transferred from the Superior at Quebec, had the superintendence of the Illinois mission. Priests were thenceforth supplied from New Orleans. In 1725, Fathers De Beaubois and De Ville ascended the river, followed in 1727 by Fathers Dumas, Tar- tarin, and Droutrelau. The Illinois mission now be- gan to decline, owing to the mismanagement of the French government of Louisiana and the sale of liquor to the Indians at the fort in the Illinois country. In 1750 but two Indian missions remained, one of them embracing six hundred Indians, under Fathers Francis Xavier de Guienne and Louis Vivier, and the other, not so large, under Father Sebastian Louis Meurin, probably at Vincennes. The priests of the Seminary of Foreign Missions no longer ministered to the In- dians, but remained at Cahokia as pastors for the French. In 1757 the French government expelled the Jesuits from their colleges, and subsequently the possessions of France were surrendered to England and Spain. The centre of the Illinois mission at New Orleans was suppressed in 1762, and the mission was thenceforth deprived of all external aid. A portion of the Jesuit property in the Illinois country was sold

by the French government, and the means of the missionary priests were thus still further reduced. The Fathers generally remained at their missions as secular priests under the authority of the Bishop of Quebec until their death. Father Peter Potier, said to be the last survivor of the Jesuit missionaries in the West, was at St. Joseph's in 1751, and frequently visited the Illinois missions up to the time of his death, which occurred at Detroit in 1781.

The last of the Jesuit missionaries who resided regularly in the Illinois country was Father Sebastian L. Meurin, who arrived at Post Vincennes in 1749, and died after 1775. Father Meurin held services at the then recently founded town of St. Louis from May, 1766, to Feb. 7, 1769. Father Meurin's body was removed to St. Louis at a comparatively recent date. He was one of the most zealous and devoted of the early missionaries, who, if their labors were not crowned with that success for which they had so ardently striven, had the satisfaction of witnessing a great and beneficial change among the Illinois. " More than in any other part," writes Shea, " the settlers intermarried with the Indians, and there are few of the French families in Illinois and Missouri that cannot boast their descent from the noble tribe which has given its name to the former State." The Osages were frequently visited by the Illinois missionaries, and, as we have seen, Father Gravier was invited to labor among them. In 1720 some of the Missouris went to France, and the chief's daughter embraced Soon Christianity and married Sergeant Dubois. after their return, however, they attacked a French post and massacred all its inhabitants. Father Meurin's successor at Vincennes was Father Vivier, after whom came Father Pierre Gibault, who officiated at St. Louis from June, 1770, to January, 1772, and who was present at the capture of Kaskaskia by Gen. Clark, on the 4th of July, 1778. Father Gibault was " vicar-general of the Bishop of Quebec for Illi -. nois and the adjoining counties," and therefore had the supervision of all the missions in the Illinois country, including the French settlement of St. Louis. He appears to have returned to Canada about 1789. When Laclede and Choutcau arrived at the site of St. Louis, in 1764, Father Meurin was stationed at Cahokia. He crossed the river in a canoe, and having offered mass in the forest, blessed the settlers and their work. Laclede's companions were mostly French or of French descent, and subsequently were augmented by the immigration of Candians, Spaniards, Italians, and other nationalities. The population, therefore, was made up of people from Catholic countries, and the established religion, both under French and Spanish

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 140

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1358

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358