USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Catholicity in northern Ohio and in the diocese of Cleveland from 1749 to December 31, 1900, Volume I, pt1 > Part 2
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The author here makes grateful acknowledgement to his brother priests, to the superiors of the various institutions of the diocese, and to the early Catholic settlers in Cleveland and elsewhere throughout Northern Ohio, for the kindly interest they have shown in the work, and for the pains they have taken to aid him in verifying the facts herein set forth. Their encouragement and assistance have been invaluable to him in the work of collect-
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AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
ing, sifting, and collating the material for this history. One of the difficulties the writer had to contend with was that of con- densing judiciously the numerous details of parish history, not of general interest ; and another, to get at facts, the memory of which had all but disappeared.
Now that this self-imposed duty, in the sense of a labor of love, has been discharged, the author hopes that all those who so kindly aided him may have the satisfaction of knowing that a good start has been made in redeeming from oblivion the memory and great labors of the valiant men-bishops and priests and people-who, from the beginning, toiled with singleness of purpose and self-sacrificing zeal in this portion of God's Church.
GEORGE F. HOUCK.
Cleveland, Ohio, January, 1903.
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THE CATHOLIC CHURCH In Northern Ohio and in the Diocese of Cleveland
PART I HISTORY OF CATHOLICITY IN NORTHERN OHIO 1749-1847
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION OF CATHOLICITY INTO NORTHERN OHIO.
THE JESUIT FATHERS POTIER, DE BONNECAMP AND DE LA RICHARDIE, FIRST MISSIONARIES SENT TO TERRITORY COVERED BY NORTHERN OHIO-THE . HURON AND WYANDOT INDIAN TRIBES-FORT SANDUSKY-FATHER POTIER AT SANDUSKY-TRACES OF INDIAN MISSIONS NEAR SANDUSKY RIVER- THE REV. EDMUND BURKE AT FORT MEIGS, ON THE MAUMEE RIVER- FATHER EDWARD FENWICK.
T HE territory now covered by the State of Ohio was for- merly a part of that vast region, North and South, from the Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, between the Allegheny and Rocky Mountains, and was known by the name of Louisiana. France first claimed it by right of discovery. Under this claim the bishops of Quebec, Canada, the chief city of the French Cana- dian Colony, exercised jurisdiction over this territory. The Rt. Rev. Henry M. De Pontbriand, sixth Bishop of Quebec (1741- 1760) was the first prelate of that See to perform any episcopal functions within the present limits of the United States, having administered confirmation at Ogdensburg, N. Y., and Detroit, Mich. He also exerted himself in behalf of religion in Louisiana. by directing the Provincial of the Jesuits at Quebec to send thither zealous and able missionaries. Among them were Fathers Peter Potier, Joseph B. De Bonnecamp and John De la Richardie.
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all members of the Society of Jesus. Father Potier, a native of France, was born April 2, 170S. He joined the Jesuits in Septem- ber, 1729, and came to Canada in 1743. Six years later he was sent by his provincial, with the sanction of the Bishop of Quebec, to assist in evangelizing the Hurons at and near Detroit. He soon mastered their language and compiled a Huron grammar.1 Father Potier was sent to Detroit in 1749. He established a mis- sion among the Huron Indians living a few miles below Detroit, at Blois Blanc Island. They proved unfriendly to Catholic teach- ing, however, and forced him five years later to leave. Father De la Richardie met a like fate, and quite discouraged by his fail- ure to convert these hostile Indians, he returned to Quebec. But, two years later, he was recalled and did valiant missionary work among the various Indian tribes, notably the Hurons.2 These latter were of unsteady habits, and inclined to intemperance. A roving spirit taking possession of them, a part of the tribe pushed along the southern shore of Lake Erie and made sojourns of irreg- ular durations at Sandusky Bay-which they named in their Huron tongue "Ootsandooske"-"There the water is pure!"3 Father Potier, who knew the Hurons and their language thoroughly, fol- lowed them in 1749, in which year the Holy Sacrifice was offered up for the first time within the limits of Northern Ohio, Father Bonnecamp having done likewise in Southern Ohio, in the same year, near the Miami river.4
At Sandusky Bay a small number (about 60) of the Huron tribe, under the name of Wyandots, permanently settled in 1751, having been induced to do so by Father De la Richardie. A turbu- lent Huron, named Oruntondi, was their chief; the French called him Nicholas. Soon he opened communication with the English and sought their friendship by killing some French traders, located at the mouth of the Huron river. Father De la Richardie visited them at their French trading posts at intervals from Detroit. He had a log chapel erected for the Wyandots in 1751, on a site about six miles south of the place where later on the English built Fort Sandusky, on the southern edge of a large plain. This chapel,
(1) Shea, The Catholic Church in U. S., Vol. I, pp. 105, 184.
(2) Shea, Church in U. S., Vol. I, pp. 613, 631.
(3) Shea in Catholic Universe, Sept. 15, 1881.
(4) Shea, Church in U. S., Vol. I. p. 613.
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according to the Catholic Historian, Dr. J. Gilmary Shea, was un- doubtedly the first permanently erected within the limits of the State of Ohio-a name given alike by the Hurons and Iroquois to the river that washed its southern border-Ohio-"Oheeo"- "Beautiful river!" However, as above stated, the first Mass was celebrated by Father Potier at Sandusky in 1749.1 Father De la Richardie resided at his new mission for several years, though Chief Oruntondi forced him to leave it for a time. He died full of years and merit on March 23, 1758, leaving the Hurons, who had become strongly attached to him, without a priest. This pioneer priest of Ohio and its first resident pastor was born in France, on June 7, 1686, and entered the Society of Jesus on October 21, 1703.
Gradually the Jesuit missionaries, resident at Detroit, were called to their eternal reward, and hence their visits to Sandusky became by degrees less frequent, until, with the death of Father Potier, they ceased altogether. Father Potier died at Sanwich, Ont., opposite Detroit, on July 16, 1781, and was the last of the old Jesuit missionaries of the West.2
These Indian missions, as also those of the French trading posts, were abandoned in 1773, when the Jesuits were suppressed, and from that time forward depended entirely on the priests at- tached to the military posts of the French in Canada and Michigan for spiritual attendance, meagre though it was. The more piously inclined of the Wyandots, and they were not few, went regularly to Detroit to receive the Sacraments. The Faith was thus kept alive among them, though they were in great measure cut off from spiritual care and instructions. The Protestant settlers in these missions attested to this fact, and it is stated by them that down to the commencement of the present century, about 1806, the Wyan- dots still clung to the Catholic Faith and wore their crucifixes as evidence of their belief. When white settlers began to come to Northern Ohio in large numbers, the Wyandots attracted the attention of the Protestant ministers who had followed these settlers and appeared bent on undoing what the Jesuit mission- aries had done under the greatest hardships, to convert and civilize the Indians. Among these proselytisers was a Presbyterian preacher named Joseph Badger. He attempted to pervert the
(1) Shea, Catholic Universe, Sept. 15, 1881; Shea, Church in U. S., Vol. III, p. 330. (2) Shea, Church in U. S., Vol. II, p. 184.
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Wyandots, but met with firm resistance from their chiefs, one of whom, it is said, put to death a member of his tribe, because he had apostatized. The Methodists then attempted what the Rev. Badger failed to do, and with better success. The old members of the Wyandot tribe having passed away, their children, who had not been properly instructed, followed the new religious "guides" and so were lost to the Church.1
Relics and evidences of these Catholic Indian Missions have been found in recent years (the last as late as 1885), near the San- dusky river, at Fremont, and near the Portage river, at Port Clinton, in the form of plain silver crosses, such as are known to have been used by the French Canadian Missionaries.
After the abandonment of the Indian missions, as above stated, not until 1795, do we find a record of anything like a sys- tematic attempt to continue the work so nobly begun by the Jesuits. At that time England, although having recognized some years previous the independence of the United States, continued under various pretexts to hold several western military posts, and even to erect new fortifications on acknowledged American terri- tory. One of these was Fort Meigs, on the Maumee river .? Near it the Rev. Edmund Burke, afterwards Vicar Apostolic of Nova Scotia, began a mission among the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, as appears from a letter sent the writer by the Catholic Historian of the United States, the late John Gilmary Shea. As the letter is full of historic interest in connection with the condition of Catho- licity at that time in Northern Ohio it is given here in full :
"Elizabeth, N. J. Sept. 15, 1887.
"Rev. Dear Father :- I have just ascertained something which was a surprise to me, and may perhaps be new to you. It fills a gap between the retirement of the Jesuits from their San- dusky mission and the coming of Father Fenwick to Ohio.
"A priest, and a man of mark in his day, who became in time a bishop, and Vicar Apostolic of Nova Scotia, was for a time, in 1795-6, a missionary in Northern Ohio. This was the Rev. Ed- mund Burke, a native of Ireland, and evidently a priest of the Diocese of Dublin, before he came to Canada. He was the last priest of the Diocese of Quebec, and the first English speaking priest in Ohio.
(1) Shea, Am. Cath. Missions, p. 203.
(2) Shea, Church in U. S., Vol. III, p. 330.
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"The Rev. Edmund Burke was born in Ireland about 1743. He came to Canada May 16, 1787, according to the Abbe Tan- guay, who adds that he was for some years parish priest at Saint Pierre and Saint Laurent, on Isle Orleans, from 1791 to 1794. From his letters he was evidently, in 1794, professor (apparently of mathematics) in the Seminary of Quebec. But he longed for priestly work, and seeing that nothing had been done to continue the work of the Jesuit Fathers among the Indians of the West, after the suppression of the Order, and the retirement of Father Dujaunai, who struggled on alone unaided and hampered for some years, he conceived the project of a great Indian mission in the West, and wrote to Archbishop Troy, of Dublin, to induce him to · apply to the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda. The Pre- fect, Cardinal Antonelli, wrote to Bishop Hubert, of Quebec, in regard to the matter, and that prelate appointed Rev. Edmund Burke his vicar-general for Upper Canada, with very ample powers, soliciting his attention especially to the French mission on Raisin river, now Monroe, Michigan. He set out from Quebec. September 15, 1795, encouraged by the British authorities in Canada, who were now anxious to avail themselves of the influence of Catholic priests over the western Indians. He reached Detroit, and was at Raisin river, where he dedicated the church to St. Anthony of Padua. But on the 2d of February, 1796, he wrote from the 'Miamis' to Archbishop Troy. He says:
" 'I wrote from Quebec, if I rightly remember, the day before departure for this country; am now distant about five hundred leagues from it, on the western side of Lake Erie, within a few miles of the Miami fort, lately built by the British government. * * * I'm here in the midst of Indians, all heathens. This day a grand council was held in my house by the Ottawas, Chippewas and Pottowatomis. These people receive a certain quantity of Indian corn from the government, and I have been appointed to distribute it. That gives me a consequence among them which I hope will be useful, as soon as I can speak their language, which is not very difficult ..
" 'This (is) the last and most distant parish inhabited by Cath- olics on this earth ; in it is neither law, justice nor subjection. You never meet a man, either Indian or Canadian, without his gun in his hand and his knife at his breast. My house is on the banks of a river which falls into the lake, full of fish and fowl of all sorts; the finest climate in the world, and the most fertile lands. * * * Next summer I go on three hundred leagues towards Mackina, or Lake Superior, where there are some Christian Indians, to see if I can collect them.'
"He solicited the erection of a Prefecture of the Indian Terri-
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A HISTORY OF CATHOLICITY
tory of the West, independent of Quebec, Baltimore and Louisi- ana, but this was not carried out. This letter, I think, enables us to fix, pretty nearly, the spot where he was. The fort was that erected by the English on the Maumee,* and near which Wayne defeated the Miamis and their confederates. There were probably some Catholics among the soldiers in the fort, and his letter shows he had Canadians. His house, where he must have said Mass, was three miles from the fort, and evidently surrounded by the Indian camps. He wrote from Detroit in May, but in August, 1796, in a letter from Quebec to Archbishop Troy, says that he received his letter of November 30, 1795, at the Miamis in February-that is, of course, February, 1796. His stay, or visits to Ohio, therefore, extended at least from February, 1795, to February, 1796, and possibly a little longer.
"He seems, after some practical experience, to have aban- doned his plans of great Indian missions. In 1797 he was at Fort Niagara. In 1803 he was sent by the Bishop of Quebec to Halifax as its first settled pastor. There he erected the Glebe House, which I believe is still the residence of the Archbishop, and he made the plans and laid the foundation of St. Mary's cathedral. He visited Rome in 1816; and the next year (July 4, 1817), was appointed by Pius VII, Bishop of Sion and Vicar Apostolic of Nova Scotia. He died at Halifax, December 1, 1820, according to Archbishop Han- nan's sketch, in his seventy-eighth year.
"This gives, I think, Reverend dear friend, another Ohio priest, short as was his stay, and one too conspicuous to be over- looked. I find allusion to his presence in the West, in some letters of Bishop Carroll, and a wandering Dominican Father, Le Deu, and it would seem that when the English finally retired from the posts which they had held in contravention of the treaty of 1783, Rev. Mr. Burke wrote to Bishop Carroll, and may have thought of coming to the Diocese of Baltimore.
"I should be most ungrateful if I did not mention that Bishop Maes, of Covington, who has written a sketch of the Church at Monroe, first told me of Bishop Burke's having been at Raisin river; then I found him in the Register at Quebec.
Yours most sincerely,
REV. G. F. HOUCK.
JOHN GILMARY SHEA."
After Father Burke left his unpromising charge, about Febru- ary, 1796, no priest visited or was stationed in Northern Ohio, until 1817. During this period of twenty years a number of Cath- olic families came from Maryland and Pennsylvania and settled,
*Fort Meigs, near the present site of Perrysburg, and opposite the present town of Maumee, Lucas county, Ohio .- H.
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ST. JOHN'S CATHEDRAL SCHOOL, CLEVELAND.
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some in Columbiana county, as early as 1812, others a few years later, in Stark and Wayne counties. The See of Bardstown, Ky .. was erected by Pius VII in 1808, and the Rt. Rev. Benedict J. Flaget was appointed its first Bishop. Ohio, with all the territory northwest of the river of that name, was placed temporarily under his charge.1 In 1812 the saintly Dominican Father, Edward Fen- wick, was commissioned by him to look after the spiritual welfare of the Catholics, sparsely settled in Southern and Central Ohio, and to arrange for regular pastoral attendance. In 1817 Father Fenwick paid his first visit to the few Catholic families settled in northeastern Ohio, many of whom had not seen a priest for years. From this visit dates the actual history of Catholicity in Northern Ohio, as since then there has been no intermission in Catholic worship in that part of the State.
(1) Shea, Church in U. S., Vol. III, p. 234.
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A HISTORY OF CATHOLICITY
CHAPTER II THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS; SECULAR CLERGY; CHURCHES; 1817-1847.
1. THE DOMINICANS .- THEIR MISSIONS IN COLUMBIANA, MAHONING AND WAYNE COUNTIES-FIRST CATHOLIC SETTLERS IN COLUMBIANA COUNTY -FATHER FENWICK'S FIRST VISIT TO COLUMBIANA COUNTY-FATHERS YOUNG AND HILL-EARLY CATHOLICITY IN CANTON AND WOOSTER- FATHER FENWICK APPOINTED FIRST BISHOP OF CINCINNATI-DOMINI- CANS GIVE UP THEIR MISSIONS IN NORTHERN OHIO.
2. THE REDEMPTORISTS .- FATHERS SAENDERL, HAETSCHER AND TSCHENHENS TAKE CHARGE OF MISSIONS IN HURON, ERIE, SANDUSKY, CRAWFORD, WYANDOT AND SENECA COUNTIES-BISHOP PURCELL, SECOND BISHOP OF CINCINNATI-THE REDEMPTORISTS RESIGN THEIR MISSIONS.
3. THE SANGUINISTS .- THE VERY REV. F. S. BRUNNER AND OTHER SAN- GUINIST FATHERS TAKE CHARGE, IN 1844, OF THE MISSIONS RELIN- QUISHED BY THE REDEMPTORISTS-SANGUINIST CONVENTS ESTABLISHED AT NEW RIEGEL, THOMPSON-THE SUCCESS OF THE SANGUINIST MISSIONS.
4. THE SECULAR CLERGY .- 1824-1847.
5. CHURCHES IN NORTHERN OHIO .- 1820-1847.
6. FEMALE RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES .- SANGUINIST SISTERS, AT NEW RIEGEL-NOTRE DAME SISTERS, AT TOLEDO.
7. BISHOPS FENWICK AND PURCELL.
1. THE DOMINICANS.
C OLUMBIANA, Mahoning and Wayne counties are the cradle of Catholicity in Northern Ohio, and the Domini- cans its first missionaries. It is to be regretted that the records of the early labors of these pioneer priests in Northern Ohio are sadly deficient. In fact, as the writer was informed some years ago by the Very Rev. Provincial of the Dominicans in the United States, no records were kept by the Dominicans, either by themselves while attending to their scattered missions, or by their convents in Kentucky, and in Perry county, Ohio, whence they were sent to Northern Ohio. This account of their early labors, based chiefly on information gathered from historical sketches of churches under their pastoral care, must therefore necessarily be
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incomplete ; and although meagre, it is hoped it will not fail to prove of interest to the reader.
About the year 1812 a few Catholic families came to America from Ireland. After a long and tedious journey westward from the seaboard, and over the Allegheny mountain range, they crossed the Ohio river near Pittsburg and settled in the dense forest of Columbiana county, about eight miles southwest of its county seat, New Lisbon, then containing only a few log houses and frame shanties. These families were the first Catholic settlers in Nor- thern Ohio. For the reception of the Sacraments they were obliged to go to Pittsburg, eighty miles distant, as there was neither church nor priest nearer. Owing to the great difficulty of making this long journey it naturally followed that it was seldom made, and in consequence the faith of these people grew lukewarm. When Father Fenwick made his first visit to Perry county, Ohio, in 1816, he heard that there was a Catholic settlement of farmers near Hanover, a few miles distant from the present village of Dun- gannon, in Columbiana county. In June of the following year he extended his pastoral tour, so as to include in his visit the above mentioned Catholic settlers. Great was their joy to welcome that pioneer priest of Northern Ohio, the first to enter their homes since they had left Ireland. Father Fenwick's visit deeply im- pressed them and aroused in them their dormant faith. He said Mass, preached and administered the Sacraments in a log cabin on the farm of Daniel McAllister, whose guest he was during his stay in the settlement. In 1818 he came again, accompanied by his nephew, the Rev. Nicholas D. Young, also a Dominican, who had been ordained the year previous. Arrangements were now made for regular visits. For a more extended account of religion in this part of Columbiana county, the reader is referred to the parish sketch of Dungannon, which is the oldest congregation in Northern Ohio-the present diocese of Cleveland. In December, 1818, Father Fenwick was directed to establish a convent of his Order near Somerset, Perry county, Ohio, on a tract of land given the Dominicans for that purpose by Mr. P. Dittoe, a fervent and generous Catholic.
This convent was the residence of the Dominican Fathers who attended at regular intervals the missions entrusted to their pas-
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toral care in Columbiana, Stark, Mahoning and Wayne counties. Fathers Fenwick and Young were soon joined by others of their Order, each of whom had charge of one or more missions in Nor- thern and Central Ohio. The following is a complete list of their names, viz. : The Revs. Vincent De Raymacher, Charles P. Mont- gomery, John A. Hill, John G. Alleman, Joseph S. Alemany, P. Fochenkress, J. O'Meara, Thomas H. Martin, A. Fahey, Thomas McGrady, D. J. O'Leary, A. F. Van de Weyer and Richard P. Miles. They labored with zeal and success and left their impress on all the missions under their charge. Hardships and difficulties and disappointments they bore cheerfully. They laid the foundation of religion deeply, so that their successors might, as they did, build thereon a solid edifice.
Among them, Fathers Fenwick, Young and Hill were markedly successful. Their names are intimately associated with the early Catholic history of Northern Ohio; the first two as founders of flourishing congregations in Columbiana and Wayne counties, and Father Hill as the founder of St. John's, Canton.
In connection with this brief narrative of the missionary labors of the Dominican Fathers in Northern Ohio, the following extracts are taken from the U. S. Catholic Miscellany, published at Charleston, S. C., by Bishop England :
"Canton, Stark County, June 1, 1827.
The missionary Fathers, Revs. N. D. Young and J. I. Mullon, traveled through Belmont, Harrison, Jefferson and Columbiana counties to Canton, Stark county. Here they were received by the Rt. Rev. Bishop [he had preceded them from Zanesville to visit the pastor of Canton, Very Rev. John A. Hill, then seriously ill] who was anxiously awaiting their arrival to commence the Jubilee in St. John's Church, sooner than in other circumstances we could have desired. * In this settlement a church is now on hand, and we hope will be in readiness for service against the next visit of their worthy pastor [V. Rev. J. A. Hill, of Canton. ]"
In a later issue of the same periodical is found the following :
"Wooster, Ohio, September 1, 1827.
"From Dungannon the missionaries went to Wooster, the county town of Wayne county, where, at the request of some of its most respectable citizens, one of them [Rev. Father Mullon] preached in the court house to an audience, chiefly composed of
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ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH (Side Aisle), CLEVELAND.
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Protestants of the different sects, among whom was the Presby- terian preacher of that place. *
* In the vicinity of the place several very respectable Catholic families reside, the most of whom were converts from Presbyterianism. The first priest who visited this part of the State was our present zealous Bishop. About ten years ago he made his first visit to this sequestered part, from Kentucky, where he then resided. Hearing that a Catholic gentle- man resided in Wooster, who wished to have the consolation of religion, Doctor Fenwick, whose zeal for the salvation of souls was never dormant since he entered into the sacred ministry, hastened to this part of the State for the purpose, though distant nearly one hundred miles out of his usual route; the fatigues of the journey, the many privations he had to endure, were no obstacles to him. On his arrival he found, as he was informed, only one Catholic in the town, a native of Ireland, who by his industry and correct de- portment had become independent, and was at the time engaged in mercantile business. Before Dr. Fenwick left this gentleman's house he had the consolation to receive into the communion of the Church his whole family."
The following item appeared in the U. S. Catholic Miscel- lany, of February 28, 1828:
"Canton, February 10, 1828.
"Thirty Catholic families arrived from Lorraine, France, at Canton, Stark county. The chief motive that induced these indus- trious and respectable emigrants to locate themselves in this vicinity was the convenience of having a Catholic church at Canton. They and several congregations, though far asunder, are attended at present by the Very Rev. John A. Hill, V. G."
Bishop Flaget finding it impossible to attend to the vast territory under his jurisdiction, petitioned the Holy See for relief. The result was the erection of the Diocese of Cincinnati, embrac- ing the States of Ohio and Michigan, and the appointment of Father Fenwick as its first Bishop. Reluctantly he accepted the burden, and was consecrated at Bardstown, Ky., January 13, 1822. Till his death, in 1832, he loved to visit the field of his early mis- sionary labors and was always most cordially welcomed by his former co-laborers and parishioners.
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