USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > A history of the Catholic church in the dioceses of Pittsburg and Allegheny from its establishment to the present time > Part 20
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No changes worth recording took place until about the year 1852, when the church fell down. So few and poor were the people that they did not undertake the erection of a new one for almost twenty years, but assembled in a room to hear Mass. At length, about the year 1869, when Rev. H. M.Hugh was pastor of Brownsville, it was determined to rebuild the fallen temple. It was finished, and was dedicated by the Bishop October 9th, 1870. The congregation is smaller now than it was fifty years ago, and will count no more than twenty families, and it has little hope of increase in the future. The narrow-gauge railroad, now open from Pittsburg to Waynes- burg, will render access less difficult. This will be the first sound of a steam-engine within twenty miles of the town.
ST. JAMES' CHURCH, WEST ALEXANDER, WASHINGTON COUNTY.
West Alexander is a village thirty-eight miles south-west of Pittsburg, and within a very short distance of the western boundary of the State. It was founded before the close of the last century, and owes its origin and early importance to the fact that it lay on the Southern Turnpike, the great thor- oughfare between the east and west before the days of canals and railroads. But its glory has long since vanished, and al- though on the line of the Hempfield Railroad, which connects Washington with Wheeling, it is of no present nor prospec- tive importance. It is the only place in the diocese in which a church existed for a time and was afterwards abandoned.
Catholics of Irish birth came here from the Monongahela valley as early as 1825, the pioneers being Ch. Dougherty and M. Egan. A log-church was built at an early day, but the
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DEATH OF REV. D. HICKEY.
date is uncertain; it was, however, before the erection of the See of Pittsburg, at which time Bishop O'Connor gives the Catholic population at 107 souls. After the first visit of Bishop Kenrick, in the summer of 1837, the church was visited at regular intervals from Brownsville. In the course of time the log church was replaced by a brick one, and in 1852 the first resident priest, Rev. D. Hickey, arrived. For two years he ministered to his small scattered flock, until his health failed, and after a brief illness he died, October 5th, 1854, and was laid to rest among them.
REV. DANIEL HICKEY was born in county Kilkenny, Ire- land, and after completing, or almost completing, his studies came to this country and diocese, where he was ordained in 1852. At the time of his death he was but thirty years of age.
The cessation of traffic caused by the construction of ยท canals and railroads opening other routes induced a number of Catholics to withdraw from the congregation, and it was found more conducive to the interests of religion to abandon the church and erect one at Claysville, to be noticed hereafter. The church was torn down a few years ago.
CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, WASHINGTON.
Washington County was the first established by the legisla- ture after the declaration of independence, having been taken from Westmoreland by the act of March 28th, 1781. Its di- mensions were reduced in 1788 and 1796 by the formation of Allegheny and Greene counties, so that it comprises at present an area of but 888 square miles. The surface of the county is undulating and in some parts hilly ; but there are no moun- tains, and the hills are seldom too steep for cultivation. The county was originally settled by Scotch-Irish from Bedford and York counties and from the Kittatinny valley, from Vir- ginia, and directly from Ireland, and all belonged to the Pres- byterian sect ; and although Germans and others have since come in, the descendants of the original settlers still predomi- nate, and their influence prevails in the manners and religious and literary institutions of the county .*
* Day's Historical Collections, pp. 658, 659.
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LITTLE WASHINGTON.
Few towns in the State are more delightfully situated than Washington, or "Little Washington " as it is frequently called, which was founded in 1782. It is built on an undulat- ing ground, near the head of the Chartier's Valley, about twenty-five miles south-southwest of Pittsburg, with which it is connected by the Chartier's Valley Railroad, and is sur- rounded by one of the most beautiful of landscapes. It has a population of about 6000, and contains many elegant private residences. But notwithstanding the natural advantages of the town, the Catholic population is very small, and, owing to the causes enumerated at the beginning of this chapter, gives little promise of increasing even moderately in the future. Presbyterianism in its darkest and most bigoted form here reigns supreme. Here, too, is situated Washing- ton and Jefferson College, with its two or three hundred stu- dents and its staff of reverend professors of the same denomi- nation. The former lodge about the town, and have an effect upon the religious and moral tone of the place of which dif- ferent persons form different opinions. There is also a young ladies' academy. Under such circumstances it is not to be wondered at that there should be the profoundest ignorance of our holy religion, and that even enlightened minds should speak in good faith of priest's horns, etc.
It is impossible to determine the precise date of the arrival of the first Catholic settlers; but Rev. P. Rafferty, then as- sistant at St. Paul's, Pittsburg, is thought to have celebrated the first Mass in the town about the year 1831. Three years later Bishop Kenrick, without visiting the place, established a mission to be attended at regular, though distant, intervals from Brownsville, of which Rev. Fr. Mazzachelli was then pastor. In 1841 the building of a church was resolved upon, and a site was purchased. But to such a degree did religious prejudice prevail that persons who had purchased lots in the vicinity of the church lot gave them up, and no one could be found willing to build under the shadow of a Catholic church. Yet this took place in an enlightened and liberal (!) com- munity and in the nineteenth century. While such a feeling prevailed it was deemed imprudent to build a church, and the lot was accordingly sold. But another lot was pur-
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CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION.
chased in a different part of the town, March 5th, 1842, to be held until such time as a church could be prudently erected. In the mean time the place continued to be visited as before, and the changes in pastors were more frequent than those in the congregation. At length Rev. D. Hickey, noticed above, was appointed pastor in 1852, with his residence at West Alexander. Soon after his appointment he commenced to build the church, which, though small, was yet a heavy tax on the ability of the congregation. But the good pastor did not live to witness its completion, having died, as we saw above, October 5th, 1854. He was succeeded by Rev. John C. Farren. The church upon its completion was dedicated by Rt. Rev. R. V. Whelan, Bishop of Wheeling, under the invo- cation of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, August 26th, 1855. It is a brick building, simple in style, and is 55 feet in length by 35 in width, has one altar, a gallery, and a small belfry. Strange as it may appear, it is almost adjoining the grounds of the college.
Soon after the completion of the church Washington be- came the residence of a priest and the centre of an extensive missionary district. But the priest has always been obliged to lodge in a hotel or with a private family. The Holy Sacri- fice is celebrated every Sunday, except during a part of the winter, when it is offered up alternately here and at Clays- ville, as we shall see. The pastor of Washington has care of the few Catholics in the entire county, with the exception of the Monongahela valley. He celebrates Mass once a month on a week-day at Cannonsburg, on the Chartier's Valley Railroad, about twelve miles north of Washington, for a very few fami- lies, principally employed on the railroad. He also visits the Pennsylvania Reform School (House of Refuge) at Morganza Farm, a few miles further north, once a week on a week-day, gives instruction, and generally says Mass. This is a great advantage to the Catholic youth, who number about one third of the three hundred inmates. But so long as they are obliged to assist in the chapel on Sunday at the services of whatever minister chances to officiate, there is much still to be desired. The managers and officers, however, afford every negative though but little positive facility to the priest on his
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ST. JAMES' CHURCH, CLAYSVILLE.
weekly visits. I shall treat more fully of our destitute youth when speaking of St. Paul's Orphan Asylum.
Rev. John Malady is the present pastor of Washington, and it may be questioned whether his congregation is larger now than it was thirty or forty years ago. If it be, the in- crease is almost imperceptible, and the past may be taken as a fair index of its prospects in the future. It will number at present about twenty families.
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ST. JAMES' CHURCH, CLAYSVILLE, WASHINGTON COUNTY.
Claysville is a small village eleven miles south-west of Washington, on the Hempfield Railroad. For several years before the abandonment of the church at West Alexander it was visited as a station by the pastor of Washington. But the number of Catholic families having increased, it was thought best to erect a church for their accommodation. It was accordingly undertaken, was finished in the fall of 1875, and dedicated, by the Bishop under the invocation of St. James, September 25th. It is a brick building, is 80 feet in length by 35 in width, and has a tower in the centre in front. The interior is neatly finished, and the whole is modelled after the Gothic style. From May to November Mass is offered up every Sunday, the priest celebrating an early Mass at Washington and then driving to St. James for the late one. But in winter this is impossible, owing to the condition of the roads, except when sleighing is good. Mass is then celebrated in the two places alternately.
The future prospects of St. James' congregation are good -better than those of any other congregation in this part of the diocese ; and the day is probably not far distant when the pastor will reside here instead of at Washington. It will number at present about twenty-five families, composed principally of farmers, with a few men employed on the rail- road.
Besides the churches and missions already mentioned, the pastor of Washington visits a few scattered families in two or three other places; but their number is so small as not to entitle them to special mention. The church at Monongahela
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FAYETTE AND SOMERSET COUNTIES.
City, in this county, has been noticed in connection with that at Elizabeth, Allegheny County, from which it has always been visited.
FAYETTE AND SOMERSET COUNTIES.
No part of Western Pennsylvania presents more varied and beautiful scenery than that which is at present to engage our attention. Traversed by the Allegheny Mountains and the Laurel and Chestnut ridges, it is calculated to present all that is pleasing to the eye in natural scenery, and travellers on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, between Connellsville on the west and Bridgeport on the east of the mountains, can bear witness to the surpassing grandeur of the mountains. We cannot pause to dwell upon this, however, as being for- eign to our subject, but may occasionally refer to it in the course of our history.
The political history is no less interesting. In the early settlement of the West, Fayette County especially played an important part. A warlike though less barbarous class of inhabitants appear to have occupied the territory prior to the Indians who were found upon it by the pioneer Europeans. Ruins of their fortifications are to be met with in various places .* Numerous Indian paths traversed the country, and . were of considerable importance, particularly in the mountain regions, in determining the best routes for emigrants to follow, and afterwards for the State roads or turnpikes. The princi- pal of these was Nemacolin's Path, which led from the spot where the city of Cumberland stands to the forks of the Ohio, the site of Pittsburg, as we saw when speaking of the latter city. A branch of this path led to Red Stone, the present Brownsville. There were other branches of minor importance.
But from a religious point of view the history of these counties, though dating far back and promising much in the beginning, is almost as barren as that of Greene and Wash- ington counties. It was originally settled by Dunkers, whose
# The Monongahela of Old, pp. 17-23.
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BROWNSVILLE.
hostility to the Church has to a great extent withstood the levelling hand of time. While this may have discouraged the settlement of Catholics to some extent, the principal reasons were the delay in developing the mineral resources and erecting manufactories ; but more especially is it due to the opening of the Pennsylvania Canal, which became the great thoroughfare from the East to the West and drew the atten- tion of emigrants to other parts of the country. But recently the mineral resources of the northern part of Fayette County have been considerably developed, manufactories have been erected to a limited extent, and in consequence a strong Catholic population is springing up, as we shall have occasion to note in the course of our remarks. To proceed, however, to the history of the separate congregations.
BROWNSVILLE, FAYETTE COUNTY.
Brownsville appears very early in the history of the western part of the State, and occupies a conspicuous place from the beginning. The advantages of its location will appear as we proceed and account for the prominent position it held during the latter half of the last and the early part of the present century-advantages which it was destined, in the nature of things, to lose with the march of civilization. Where the town of Brownsville now stands there existed at the date of the first settlement by the white man the ruins of one of those fortifications of which I have already spoken, known from the Red Stone Creek, which empties into the Monongahela at that point, as Red Stone Old Fort. Here, after the with- drawal of Ensign Ward from the fortification he was erecting at Pittsburg in the spring of 1754, Major Geo. Washington built a small fort, which was used after settlements began to be made in the surrounding country for the storage of ammu- nition and supplies .* It is believed that the first settlers here were Wendel Brown and his two sons, who came in 1751 or 1752.t But the great importance of Brownsville was that it stood at the head of navigation of the Monongahela, fifty-
* The Monongahela of Old, p. 22. t Ibid. p. 79.
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CATHOLICS AT BROWNSVILLE.
three miles by the river south of Pittsburg, and hence the spot-for the town was not yet laid out-became a place of rendezvous for emigrants "down the river" to Kentucky and other places. By this route came nearly all the early missionaries to Kentucky, beginning with Father Whalen in 1787. It was also the headquarters of spies during the Indian wars. " The protection afforded by the posts and block-houses erected along the Monongahela attracted settlers, and soon a very considerable population found its way into the valley of that river and especially around Redstone. The importance of the place was gradually increased by the emigration that set in from the regions east of the mountains, after the close of the war, along Braddock's road to Redstone. . . . It
was not, however, until 1785 that the present town of Browns- ville was laid out on the site of Old Fort Redstone, and in the next year its population had increased to six hundred." * Brownsville was also the scene of the first outbreak of the excise troubles known as the "Whiskey Insurrection," in 1791-4. In 1870 it had a population of 1749.
It would be difficult to fix the date of the first arrival of Catholics in the town and surrounding country ; but it is certain that a few Irish Catholics found their way thither a few years before the close of the last century. Rev. Father Lanigan visited them from Waynesburg, and a Rev. J. Sayer -whose name occurs nowhere else in our history-is said to have ministered to them for a time about the close of the century. Rev. P. Heilbron, who came to Sportsman's Hall -now St. Vincent's Abbey-in November, 1799, paid them an occasional visit before the arrival of Rev. F. X. O'Brien. What consolation they were able to derive from his ministra- tions it is difficult to tell, for it is said that he could never learn to express the simplest ideas in English. But of these visits we know absolutely nothing but the fact of their occur- rence. Fr. O'Brien came to Brownsville, as nearly as can be ascertained, early in the year 1806, and for a little more than two years remained, attending also the few scattered families in the whole south-western part of the State. Incredible as
* Annals of the West, p. 430.
.
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THE STATE ROADS.
it may appear, Pittsburg was one of these stations. But in November, 1808, he transferred the centre of his. missionary labors to that city, and attended Brownsville at intervals. For the next twenty years the history of the congregation is extremely meagre in details, and all that is known with cer- tainty is that the number of Catholics gradually increased, and that they were visited generally from Pittsburg, although the priest at Sportsman's Hall ministered to them sometimes owing to the feeble health of Fr. O'Brien. Soon after his withdrawal the government began to construct the national roads, or turnpikes, upon which a large number of laborers, principally Irish Catholics, were employed .* The "South- ern Pike," from Washington City to the West, passed through Brownsville, adding materially to its importance. Naturally enough many of the laborers settled in the towns and country along the route after the completion of the work, and thus increased the Catholic population. But it must be admitted, though with regret, that, owing to the limited facilities af- forded for the practice of their religion, very many of them fell away from the Church, and intermarrying with members of the sects, became members of their false religions or prac- tical infidels. . It is impossible to estimate the numbers that have been lost to the Church in this manner in every part of the diocese, but they may safely be placed at thousands.
In the year 1807 Rev. Stephen Badin, as Archbishop Spalding informs us in his "Sketches of Catholicity in Ken-
* As reference will frequently be made to these roads in the course of our his- tory, it may be well to give the reader an idea of the route of the principal among them. They were:
I. One from Washington City past Cumberland, Md., through Uniontown, Brownsville, near Washington, Claysville, and West Alexander to the West. This was known in Pennsylvania as "the Southern Pike."
2. One from Philadelphia, passing through Huntingdon, Hollidaysburg, Sum- mitville, Ebensburg, Blairsville, and Greensburg to Pittsburg. This was com- monly called "the Northern Pike." From Pittsburg it divided, one branch pass- ing to Steubenville, O., another down the northern bank of the Ohio River, and another through Wexford to Franklin.
3. One from Baltimore, passing through Bedford and Youngstown, united with the Northern Pike near Greensburg.
4. And one from Ebensburg through Indiana, Kittanning, Butler, and New Castle into Ohio.
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ST. PETER'S CHURCH, BROWNSVILLE.
tucky," stopped at the village of Brownsville on his way from Kentucky to Baltimore, and preached in the Methodist chapel there, after which Major Noble, who had been much im- pressed by the sermon, invited him to his house, which re- sulted in the baptism and reception into the Church of the entire family. This Major Noble appears to have held a prominent position among the Catholics of Brownsville; for upon the visit of Bishop Egan to the western part of the State in the fall of 1811 he called at Brownsville, where he celebrated Mass and administered confirmation in the house of that gentleman. Dr. Gallitzin also paid the place an occa- sional visit during the construction of the turnpike. It will afford an idea of the difficulties against which our forefathers had to contend when we are told they had no priest nearer than Loretto, It also illustrates the remark of Bishop Ken- rick that "some of our missionaries need the gift of tongues and a health of iron."
ST. PETER'S CHURCH, BROWNSVILLE.
We must pass over the intervening time and come to about the year 1830. A Rev. Father Curtis resided at Brownsville for a short time in the fall of this year. He was succeeded by Rev. Patrick Rafferty. What harvest the latter was able to reap in the spiritual order it is difficult to determine; certain it is his temporal recompense was meagre enough. For after laboring about a year he returned to Pittsburg, having received during that time, besides his board, the sum of $3.624. Upon his reaching the city Father M'Guire, then pastor of St. Patrick's Church, re- ceived him, and insisted upon his remaining within until he should go out and purchase a respectable suit of clothes for him. He was no doubt satisfied to leave the field of his labors to some one else. Be that as it may, the people, al- though giving evidence of the zeal and disinterestness-more especially the latter-with which they had been ministered to, were deprived of a resident pastor for a considerable time, as appears from a letter of Bishop Kenrick dated January 14th, 1834. He says: "On my visit to Brownsville, a little
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ST. PETER'S CHURCH BURNED.
village on the Monongahela River, I was much edified at the joy with which a French widow, residing in the neighbor- hood, came with her children to approach the sacraments, which she had been debarred from for years, in consequence of not meeting a priest who understood her language. The faithful of this mission are to be pitied, being able only four times a year to enjoy the presence of a priest, tne pastor of Blairsville, Rev. James Ambrose Stillenger, who visits them thus till I can place a pastor here." I remember hearing Fr. Stillenger speak in his entertaining way of his travels and adventures on this mission. He visited the place for two years, till in the latter part of 1836 it was attended monthly from Pittsburg by Rev. Patrick Waters.
I have not been able to learn the date of the building of the first church, but from the words of Bishop Kenrick it must have been before his visit, as he speaks of a church without making mention of its erection or dedication. The circumstances of its erection, whatever time it took place, were these: Neal Gillespie donated three acres of ground in a very desirable place in the town as a site for the building. This gentleman was grandfather of the politician James Gillespie Blaine. Two Protestant gentlemen, J. J. Workman and E. L. Blaine, father of the above-named, undertook to erect the church, travelling for the purpose of raising the necessary funds as far as Baltimore. Both became converts, and after the destruction of the church by fire were interred in the spot upon which the altar had stood.
In the summer of 1837 Rev. Michael Gallagher was ap- pointed pastor, with the additional care of all the Catholics in Washington, Greene, and Fayette counties. In April, 1839, the congregation sustained a heavy loss in the burning of the church, and during the time that elapsed before the erection of the new one the people accommodated them- selves as best they could in a private house. The congrega- tion was at this time at the zenith of its prosperity and numerical strength. Too sanguine of the future, Fr. Gal- lagher commenced the building of a splendid edifice in 1842. For this purpose he collected in different parts of the country, and happily left the church at its completion free from debt.
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MISSIONS.
It was solemnly consecrated by Bishop O'Connor April 7th, 1844. It is built of cut stone throughout, is 125 feet in length by 50 in width, and has a tower in the centre in front 120 feet high. The floor is paved with stone, and the altar was of the same material, but because of the dampness was soon replaced by one of wood. Had the congregation con- tinued to increase and been able to keep the church in the order which such a building requires, it would be the most elegant as it is the most substantial church in the diocese. But the congregation began to decline soon after its comple- tion. About the same time Fr. Gallagher withdrew, and was replaced by so long a list of successors-for the church has always had a resident pastor-that it is impossible to give the names of all. The present incumbent is Rev. H. P. Connery. The Pennsylvania Canal on the north and the Potomac Canal on the south drew the travel and traffic from Brownsville, and it immediately began to decline rapidly in importance. A pastoral residence was purchased many years ago, but the congregation has never enjoyed the inestimable advantage of a parish school.
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