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 II, pt1 > Part 18
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John, who was born May 4, 1842, became a priest of the Dio- cese of Cleveland. He entered St. Mary's Seminary August 16, 1858, and was ordained in St. John's Cathedral by Bishop Rappe June 25, 1865. He died at St. John's Hospital, in Cleveland, November 28, 1896, when he was in the forty-ninth year of his age and the twenty-sixth of his priesthood. His remains are interred in the family lot in Calvary Cemetery. He was assistant at St. John's Church. Defiance, from July, 1865, to August, 1866. He was pastor or assistant by turns in various places in the diocese. In May, 1896, he was appointed assistant at St. Colman's, Cleve- land, which was his last field of labor.
Mr. Michael Hannan yet resides in Cleveland. He and his brother Edward, of Indianapolis, are the only surviving members of a family noted for intellect, patriotism, and devotion to religion.
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THE REV. JAMES HENRY HALLIGAN.
The pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Wellsville, Ohio,* has been selected as the subject of this bio- graphy, not alone because he is representative of those active priests in the diocese who have attained to middle life, but more particularly because he is both energetic and zealous, and cleverly. equipped for his sacred calling.
Father Halligan's parents were natives of Ireland. His father, whose name was William, was born in the city of Dublin. His mother's maiden name was Miss Ann Faulkner. She was born in the city of Droheda. In 1842 they emigrated to the United States. Having providentially formed each other's acquaintance they were married in Boston, Massachusetts, where they made their permanent home. It was in that city that their now reverend son was born to them March 18, 1859.
The Rev. James H. Halligan was educated at Holy Cross College, Wooster, Massachusetts, and at Montreal, Canada. His philosophical and theological courses he completed in St. Mary's Seminary, Cleveland, Ohio, from 1886 to 1890. In the latter mentioned year, March 7th, he was ordained priest by Bishop Gilmour, and was the last ordained, in the diocese or elsewhere, by that distinguished prelate.
Father Halligan's first appointment on the mission was to take the place made vacant through the illness of the then assistant to the pastor of the Immaculate Conception Church, Cleveland. He remained there seven months, or until his appointment in a like capacity to labor in St. John's Cathedral parish in the same city. He continued in that field doing excellent work during seventeen months. He was then transferred to his present parish as pastor March 16, 1893.
At Wellsville, where his is the only Catholic church, Father Halligan has accomplished much good both spiritually and tem- porally. Having enlisted the united co-operation of his parishion- ers, he has succeeded in paying off the greater part of a large indebtedness on the parish. At this writing a special movement
*Since this work was sent to press, Father Halligan was appointed pastor of St. Joseph's congregaton, Ashtabula, June 14, 1902.
THE REV. JAMES H. HALLIGAN
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on the part of his people is being made under his direction not only to liquidate the remaining portion of the debt, but also to make provision looking to the erection in the near future of a new church which will be in keeping with the growing importance of the congregation and with the central site already secured for it. which is the finest in that city.
Besides his fitness to labor in the various avenues in which the Catholic priest is called in daily activity, Father Halligan appears to be specially gifted, not only in the way of ability but also through an agreeableness and charm of manner, to bring to a knowledge of the Truth many from whom it has been shut out through prejudice, early training, or environments. The num- ber of these in Wellsville alone is thirty-six, and the leaven of God's grace is yet working there through the ministry of this good priest. Knowing himself to be but an instrument in the hands of God, he is too sensible and humble to take to himself any of the credit for the wonderful operations of grace. He is neces- sarily well pleased with results and joins with the Psalmist in say- ing : Non nobis, Domine, non nobis; sed nomini tuo da gloriam- "Not to us, O I.ord, not to us ; but to thy name give glory."
There are few priests anywhere who have a happier combina- tion of intellectual faculties than has Father Halligan. His mind is uniform in its activity and exhibits to good advantage his powers of observation, generalization, and adaptation. Without effort he appears to be both humorous and witty, having come by both honestly, as his Celtic ancestors would say. The one he often employs to teach a lesson by reaching the heart, and the other to pave the way thereto by quick jocularity and the clean exercise of the imagination. He can be serious without being long-faced, mirthful and jocose without undue levity, and can make melody in his as well as in others' hearts while his paths lead him through the trials and tribulations inseparable from earthly life.
It would not be at all extravagant to say of him that he is an all-around, happily balanced man whose natural mood is that of happiness, whose intention is ever to do good, and whose relations both to the members of his flock and to his fellow citizens are always those of kindness and benevolence. Such a man, inde- pendent of natural ties, can be at home anywhere, for he is ever in the midst of friends.
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THE REV. EDWARD HANNIN.
The reverend rector and founder of St. Patrick's parish, Toledo, Ohio, is a native of the county of Sligo, Ireland, having been born there December 22, 1826. He is the third of eight children, four sons and four daughters, born to Bartley and Margaret (Tighe) Hannin. One of his brothers, Luke, also became a priest. He died in Ireland in 1896.
The elder Hannin was an industrious farmer, who made every sacrifice to give his children a good education. He even erected, at his own expense and on his own land, a commodious school building, in which the Irish National Educational Board placed a competent teacher. During three years the subject of this sketch studied there, after which he was sent to more advanced institu- tions, where he completed the commercial course and also a course in civil engineering, architecture and mechanics. He graduated when he was nineteen. For a short time, in 1846, he was given Government employment as an engineer and superintendent of public works in Ireland. The crop failures prostrating business of all kinds, and he having completed his task, he sought and found employment in a large commercial house in Liverpool. Returning to Ireland, in 1848, with the hope of finding business improved, he was confronted by even a worse condition of the "bad times," and . so unpromising was the outlook for anything like success in his profession that he at once resolved upon quitting the country altogether and emigrating to America. He landed in New York City, May 20, 1849. From there he subsequently removed to the central part of the State, where he spent eighteen months doing such work as he could find.
The advice of some priests, whose acquaintance he had formed, inclined him to study for the church. He accordingly, in 1850, at his own expense, took up the study of Latin and Greek. He completed his course in Geneva, N. Y., in 1853. Having been previously well educated in the English branches, with a habit for study, and great determination, he readily compassed the required classical course in three years. Bishop Rappe, of the Diocese of Cleveland, was then in great need of energetic young men of the
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THE REV. EDWARD HANNIN
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class to which Edward Hannin belonged, and when the young man presented himself he was accepted by the bishop, and at once entered St. Mary's Theological Seminary, Cleveland. Devoting eleven hours each day to the study of philosophy and theology, he was ready for ordination in less than three years, and was elevated to the priesthood by Bishop Rappe, June 1, 1856.
His first appointment was as assistant priest in St. John's Cathedral, Cleveland. The following year he was made the bishop's secretary. St. Patrick's Day, 1857, he began his public labors in behalf of total abstinence, which he has continued to this day. For over sixty-one years he has kept most faithfully the pledge he took from Father Matthew in Ireland, October 20, 1839 ; and during his long priestly career he has induced thousands to adopt and practice total abstinence. In 1862 he was commis- sioned by Bishop Rappe to organize a parish in the southern half of the city of Toledo. He did so, calling it St. Patrick's. The corner stone of its first church was laid shortly after, and it was ready for occupancy before the close of the year. It cost $30,000. In 1866 he built St. Patrick's Academy, and, in 1874, he erected St. Patrick's Institute, on the top of the front wall of which, standing upon a portion of the Rock of Cashel, is an heroic statue of St. Patrick himself. In 1870 Father Hannin was made Administrator of the Diocese, the See having been made vacant through the resignation of Bishop Rappe. He ordered the affairs of the diocese wisely and well until the appointment of the late Bishop Gilmour. In 1872 he returned to his beloved St. Patrick's to continue his labors for religion, education, and sobriety. In 1892 he began the erection of the present St. Patrick's Church, a stone edifice that is a monument to religion and incidentally to himself, for he is inseparable from St. Patrick's Church and institu- tions. April 14, 1901, this splendid edifice is to be first used by the congregation.
During all the years of his eventful life, Father Hannin has been a man of untiring energy and many labors. Next to his devotion to religion he has been the patron of education, and the apostle of temperance in Toledo and the Diocese of Cleveland. He is the oldest living total abstainer among the priests of the United States, and is now, in his 74th year, a striking example of
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the blessings of sobriety. The good he has accomplished in this field is known in part to his parishoners, to the citizens of Toledo, and to the diocese, but the recording angel keeps the best record. He has fought the good fight and has kept the faith. His course, however, is not yet finished, and it is the prayer of his people, and the hope of large numbers in Toledo and elsewhere who are not of the faith, that the Rev. Edward Hannin be spared for many more years to enjoy the fruition of his great labors.
If a man may be judged by his works, as the tree is known by its fruits, there can be no mistake as to the qualities and capacities of Father Hannin. Once his hand is put to the plough there is for him no such thing as turning back. Onward and upward has ever been his motto. His course once staked out his constant effort is to push on to the goal of success. His portrait on the adjoining page will indicate to the reader-what a personal acquaintance of thirty-eight years has to the writer-the great strength of character and remarkable qualities of the man. There can be read robustness of constitution, toughness of fibre, resist- ance to disease, great force of mind, and remarkable personal magnetism. With a head larger than the average -- a mathemati- cal head, having the upper frontal and coronal regions largely developed-it is impossible not to note the intellectual faculties of causality and comparison, with paradoxical mirthfulness super- added. In tracing analogies he never goes astray. In analysis and induction he is at home. Human character and nature are operi books to him. His firmness and combativeness, coupled with a strong personality, and his clear conception of moral duty, equip him for the work of valiantly defending the truth, and, in the language of Pope. "Vindicating the ways of God to man."
For forty-five years he has been a priest of the Diocese of Cleveland, and during those years his labors in the cause of religion, education, and sobriety have made his name honored and loved in Toledo and northern Ohio. In the estimation of non- Catholics he stands very high, especially in his city, where he has lived so long, where he has performed his greatest work, and where he is so well and favorably known by all.
HON. GILBERT FRANCIS HARMON
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HON. GILBERT FRANCIS HARMON.
Judge Gilbert Francis Harmon, of Toledo, Ohio, is of note in the intellectual and legal world. He is descended of an old colonial family ; and, as a convert to the Catholic faith, happily exemplifies what grace can effect in the way of moral courage, steadfastness, and humility. He became a Catholic at a mission, or series of sermons, instructions, and devotional exercises, conducted in St. Francis de Sales' Church. Toledo, by the late Father Dahmen, S. J., in the spring of 1870. He has since exhibited a loyalty to his religious convictions that is not only creditable but also far beyond that of the average neophyte.
He is the third born of a family of seven to the late Elias and Mary (Moulton) Harmon, at Thorndyke, Waldo county, Maine. His natal day was March 30, 1834. His father died in 1872 when he was aged about sixty-five years; his mother, in 1862, when she was fifty. His great-great-grandfather on his mother's side was Colonel Moulton, who was active at the siege of Louisburg in 1745. His grandfather on his father's side was a soldier in Washington's army of the Revolution. He bravely entered the service when a youth of fourteen and came out at twenty-one. He saw active service at Valley Forge, Trenton, Princeton, and other engagements. The Harmons were evidently in the mind of Whittier when, in Mogg Megonn, he wrote these lines :
"And Harmon came down the sands of York, With hand of iron and foot of cork."
Judge Gilbert Francis Harmon received both a common school, an academic, and a collegiate education. He graduated with high honors from Tuft's College, Massachusetts, in 1863. This he followed by his law course, and he was admitted to the bar of York .county, Maine, in 1866. After practicing there two years he removed to Toledo, Ohio, in 1868, where he has since continued in his profession. The only interruption in his practice during the past thirty-four years was when judge, for five years, of the Common Pleas court of the first subdivision of the fourth judicial district of Ohio. As judge he has been classed among the
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ablest and most conscientious of those who have presided with distinction in the courts of that district.
In 1870, October 11th, at West Topsham, Vermont, he was married to Miss Lucie C. Watson, the accomplished daughter of Oramel and Electa (Foster) Watson, natives of that State. To their union have been born a family of three: Esther, Lucie, and Watson. Like their parents, the children of Judge and Mrs. Harmon have been carefully educated.
The subject of this mention is a man of a high order of intel- lect and a finished education. He is an ornament to his profession, not only from a scholarly point of view, but also in the purity of his life and the record he has made as an honest, conscientious counselor and advocate, and as an incorruptible judge. The tricks practiced by some, to the dishonor of the legal profession, he has not failed to discountenance and condemn, his high sense of justice and honor being always his defense against the allurements of temporal success attained by questionable practices. He would rather be just and right than win a case that ought not to be won, and this he provides for in advance by taking no case, and advising against the bringing of a suit, where justice and the law do not warrant the proceeding and a verdict.
Judge Harmon is well equipped mentally. He has remark- able discernment and judgment. He is a man of ideas, a thinker, and a reasoner. Few are his superiors in these respects. Hc seems always to remember that,
"To have ideas is to gather flowers,
To think is to weave them into garlands."
By association of ideas his fund of information and his knowl- edge of facts, rulings, decisions, and laws are to the fore for immediate use. From his extensive reading are culled, seemingly without effort, suitable illustrations, or happy retorts. The trend of an argument, and often a word, will call to his mind something that has been said, or that he has known or read, and in every case it will be germane and will exactly fit the case or the situation. His aptitude in this respect applies also in argumentation. His logical mind measures the bearing and force of facts and laws. His use of these is as systematic and regular as is the laying of stone upon stone by the mason. Hence, he is an able jurist, and
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as a judge his decisions have been just and according to the law and the facts.
With such acquired and natural talents it is not to be wondered at that, even irrespective of grace, he became a Catholic.
"I hold it truth, with him who sings To one clear harp in divers tones, That men may rise on stepping stones Of their dead selves to higher things."
Nor could it have been otherwise than that he should have found peace and sweet content in a religious system, which, by the consistency of its teachings and the solidity of its dogmas, appeals to his intellect and judgment. Having a mind trained to recognize authority and the right to delegate its exercise, and being skilled in tracing logical connections and in discovering flaws where they occur in the line of argumentation, it is an easy task to account for the serenity of soul and the intellectual satisfaction which are the foundation for Judge Harmon's spiritual content- ment. As an observer he recognized these things at work in the case of his old friend and fellow lawyer and convert to Catholicity, the late Hon. Frank H. Hurd. He has been accustomed to say of Mr. Hurd that he was a theologian, and also the greatest lawyer in northwestern Ohio; but in this respect he was but unwittingly repeating what Frank H. Hurd often said touching Gilbert Francis ' Harmon.
It. was a brother lawyer and judge, himself of no mean parts, who once quoted Longfellow in support of Judge Harmon's strenuous and successful efforts to attain to intellectual and pro- fessional heights as follows :
"The heights by great men reached and kept Were not attained by sudden flight, But they while their companions slept Were toiling upward in the night."
Both gentlemen have been an honor to the Lucas county bar, and Judge Harmon continues in the high esteem of his fellow citizens.
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MR. WILLIAM J. HART.
Among the members of the Cuyahoga County Bar, in the city of Cleveland, there are few harder working, abler, or more successful attorneys than Mr. William J. Hart. This averment is proved by the number and character of his cases, and the triumphs that have attended his efforts, not alone from a legal point of view but also financially.
By adaptability and choice he is what is called a trial lawyer. It is said of him that he would rather try a case than eat when hungry. He is also credited with winning more suits than many others of his profession in Cleveland. It is asserted of him, more- over, that, as a classically educated man, he has great advantage over most of his brother attorneys; that his trained mind readily compasses every legal intricacy ; that it surmounts all obstacles in view of the delight he takes in protecting his clients' interests, and in teaching some law to the "attorneys for the other side."
Mr. Hart was classically educated in Mt. St. Mary's College, Cincinnati, and in the old St. Aloysius' Seminary, at Columbus. Having finished his course he devoted some time to the editorial profession, and later to pedagogy. Having removed, in 1878, to Cleveland, Ohio, from his native city, Columbus, in the same State, where he was born September 17, 1857, he became principal of St. Malachy's parochial school. In that position he remained five years. During those years he studied law between times under Mr. Henry C. Ranney, and was admitted to practice in 1882.
The pleasure and profit of practicing his profession were denied him for several years, owing to his having been elected a justice of the peace in 1883. He was re-elected to the same office in 1886. He declined, in 1889, to be a candidate for a third term through his desire to engage in his chosen profession. Accord- ingly he launched into general practice, for which, at the time, he was both ardently enthusiastic and thoroughly equipped.
Business came, and he gave it close attention. With business and success additional recognition followed. In consequence he was the standing choice of the minority political party (Demo- cratic) in Cleveland, at one time for judge of the City Court, at
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another for judge of the Probate Court, and at still another for representative in Congress. He made the canvass in each case and evidenced his ability as an eloquent and popular speaker. He usually received more votes in the elections than any other candi- date on the ticket.
In 1882, Mr. Hart was married to Miss Theresa V. Connolly, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Connolly, who were among the pioneer Catholics of Cleveland. Her primary education was obtained in the local schools, and she finished her studies in the convent at Windsor, Canada. Her religious and secular train- ing has happily fitted her to be charmingly domestic and to become the joyful Christian mother of seven children. Their names are : Clara V., Agnes, Ignatius A., William J., James P., Louis E., and Thomas Francis.
Mr. Hart, like his wife, is also descended of a pioneer Catho- lic family. His father, Martin Hart, was among the few who in early times constituted the little Catholic colony in Columbus, Ohio. He died in 1882. His mother's maiden name was Miss Ellen Farrell. She is now in her eighty-fifth year, and in his home she is the object of both his care and filial devotion. This exhibi- tion of his tender regard and affection for her who watched over his childhood, and who bears to him the sweet relation of mother, is the very best evidence of his qualities both as a son and as a man. No one who loves and provides for his aged parents can lack much in any of the essentials of true Christian manhood and good citizenship.
Inheriting the characteristics of his Celtic ancestors, Mr. William J. Hart is brilliant, eloquent, generous, hospitable, and to a degree aggressive and independent. He has not held himself aloof from those organizations that make for the advancement of religion and patriotism. On the contrary, he is in the ranks of the workers and contributes his share of personal effort to the general success. Among his affiliations are his membership in the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association, the Knights of Equity, the Knights of St. John, the Ancient Order of Hibernians and others. With Jean Ingelow he thinks rather of the work than of the praise-more of the good to be accomplished than of the acclaim of victory.
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THE REV. MICHAEL HEALY.
In these last days of the nineteenth century the Rev. Father Healy, pastor of St. Mary's Church, Tiffin, Ohio, enjoys the dis- tinction of having been, since 1819, a witness of the growth of the Diocese of Cleveland and a participant in its development since 1851. He saw it in its infancy, and now he sees it in the glory of its prime. The contrast between then and now, and the conscious- ness of his having been privileged for so long to take an effective part in rendering that contrast so marked, inclines him with Simeon of old to ask for peaceful dismissal, his eyes having beheld the great things for which, since 1817, three bishops and a valiant priesthood have zealously labored. The second day of April, 1901, this faithful priest attained the year of his golden jubilee in the priesthood.
The celebration of the event was made additionally memorable on account of the presence of the Rt. Rev. Bishop Horstmann and a large number of priests, each of whom heartily entered into the spirit of the occasion. Many of those in attendance, having been cognizant of most of the venerable jubilarian's career on the mis- sion, brought forward in their congratulatory remarks the prominent fact that Father Healy was ever a worker, but never boastful of the success of his labors. They also emphasized their references. to his faithfulness, happily pictured the simplicity of his life, and glorified the consecration by him of his multiplied years to the service of God and the salvation of souls. Few have been privileged to celebrate such an event in the Diocese of Cleve- land, and still fewer of these occasions have been more fittingly observed. The jubilee of the venerable pastor of St. Mary's was a recalling of the trying scenes of earlier days when confidence in God alone afforded glimpses of the future. It was the realization in the triumph of today of the things hoped for, and prayed for, and labored for in the spring-time of his youth. It was an occasion for rejoicing, for recognizing Divine Providence, and for renewing faith in God.
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