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 23
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BROAD TOP.
if so many. But its future prospects, though by no means flattering, are yet more encouraging than they were at any previous period of its history. Father Murphy was succeed- ed by the present pastor, Rev. Arthur Devlin, in the middle of November, 1878.
The pastor of Huntingdon has also to attend a small mis- sion at Mount Union, ten miles east on the Pennsylvania Rail- road, which he visits once in a month on a week-day. The number of families is quite small, but a Catholic gentleman, Mr. John Dougherty, has donated a few acres of ground as the site for a church which will probably be erected at no distant day.
CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, BROAD TOP.
Broad Top City is situated on a short branch of the Hunt- ingdon and Broad Top Railroad, about twenty-two miles south of the former town, and owes its rise to the rich coal- field in which it stands. In the beginning of its history the congregation was visited from Huntingdon, but the number of Catholics increasing, Father Doyle built a frame church, 50 feet in length and 30 in width, in the summer of 1859, which was dedicated, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, by Very Rev. James O'Connor, Adm., October 30th of the same year. The church stood in the village of Dudley, about one and a half miles west of Broad Top, and was long known as the Dudley church. Immediately before the breaking out of the Rebellion mining began to be carried on very exten- sively, the Catholic population increased, and it became neces- sary to appoint a resident pastor that the Holy Sacrifice might be offered up every Sunday. Rev. P. Hughes, who had for some time visited the congregation from Huntingdon, was transferred thither in the beginning of 1863, and became the first resident pastor. From 1861 to the close of the Rebel- lion was the season of the congregation's greatest numerical strength and prosperity. Fr. Hughes built an elegant frame pastoral residence, and finding the church too small he re- placed it by a large frame edifice, which was dedicated by the Bishop September 18th, 1864.
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CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION.
Four years later Rev. W. A. Nolan succeeded to the pas- torate, and Fr. Hughes was transferred to Braddock's Field. The congregation met with a serious loss in the total destruc- tion of the church by fire, November 28th, 1869. It was re- placed by another frame building, which was dedicated by Very Rev. J. Tuigg, V.F., July 21st, 1870. Father Nolan was soon after succeeded by Rev. P. B. Halloran, who in turn soon gave place to Rev. R. Brown. Owing to the par- tial cessation of work in the mines and the imprudent strikes of the miners the congregation had for several years been declining in numbers and importance, though still large. Fr. Brown was succeeded, in December, 1875, by Rev. Jas. P. Tahaney. Again the congregation sustained a loss in the burning of the church and pastoral residence, on Holy Satur- day, April 15th, 1876. The destruction of the church is con- fidently believed to have been the work of an incendiary, for great dissatisfaction had long existed regarding its location. It stood at Dudley ; one and a half miles east was Broad Top, and four miles further east was East Broad Top. Many wished the church to be at Broad Top, as being more central, and feeling on the matter was stronger than it was Christian.
Upon the destruction of the church the Bishop decided that a new one should be built at Dudley and another at East Broad Top. But the condition of the congregation, reduced as it was by the hard times, did not favor the undertaking, and Father Tahaney purchased a property for $1500 consisting of about an acre of ground with a large frame dwelling and several other buildings on it. The dwelling is used as a pas- toral residence, and one of the other buildings has been trans- formed into a temporary church. Father Tahaney was suc- ceeded by Rev. Jos. Gallagher September, 1876, and he by Rev. J. Bullion, the present pastor, February 8, 1879. For the accommodation of the people of East Broad Top, Mass is now offered up for them once or twice in the month in a school-house.
The mission, although much smaller than it was formerly, will yet number perhaps one hundred and fifty families. What it is destined to be in the future will depend upon the future of the coal-mines ; but any increase is not to be expected, at least not for many years.
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CHAPTER XVI.
IN BLAIR COUNTY.
General remarks-St. Patrick's Church, Newry-Rev. Jas. Bradley-St. Luke's Church, Sinking Valley-Hollidaysburg-Early Catholic settlers-St. Mary's Church-Conversion of Hayden Smith-St. Michael's German Church- St. Joseph's Church, Williamsburg-Altoona-St. John's Church-Lloydsville mission-Church of the Immaculate Conception, German-St. Matthew's Church, Tyrone.
BLAIR COUNTY, which was formed from Huntingdon and Bedford in 1846, though smaller than either, possesses a Catho- lic population far larger in the present than both, and af- fords better promise for the future. It is the only portion of the diocese east of the mountains upon which we are per- mitted to look with satisfaction. Favored rather by circum- stances than by nature, it was at first traversed by the Pennsylvania Canal, which, terminating in its eastern division at Hollidaysburg, made that the most important town between Harrisburg and Pittsburg. In later years it reaped and is still reaping a yet greater advantage from the Pennsylvania Railroad, especially at Altoona, as we shall have occasion to remark in the following pages. It is the third county in the two dioceses in point of Catholic population, and contains perhaps nine thousand souls.
ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH, NEWRY.
The village of Newry is situated near the foot of the eastern slope of the Allegheny Mountains, about nine miles south of Altoona, with which it is connected by a branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Here resides Rev. Jas. Bradley, the patriarch of the secular clergy of the two dioceses, full of health and vigor and giving promise of many more years of
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REV. JAMES BRADLEY.
usefulness and edification before being called to his reward. Leaving Ireland, his native country, to dedicate himself to the cause of religion in the wilds of America, he emigrated to the United States, in 1825, and entered Mount St. Mary's College, Md., to complete his studies. Having spent five years there under the spiritual direction of the venerable Simon Gabriel Brute, afterwards Bishop of Vincennes, Mr. Bradley was ordained to the sacred ministry in the church of Conewago, Pa., September 20th, 1830. It is worthy of remark that he is the first priest ordained by the saintly Bishop Kenrick. Writing of his entering upon the mission, Father Bradley tells me: " I soon after (ordination) set out from Emmittsburg with Father Stillenger for the Pennsylvania mission. . . . I offered up my first Holy Mass in the mission at Bedford on Sunday, and drove the same day thirty miles to Newry, where I said my second Mass. I then drove to Loretto, and after spending a few days with Rev. Dr. Gal- litzin, I took charge of the Ebensburg congregation." When noticing that congregation I shall have something further to remark on the labors of the venerable missionary. Having re- mained at Ebensburg about two years, ministering to the spiritual necessities of a very large district, Father Bradley was transferred to Newry, which from the beginning had been embraced within the range of his missionary labors.
Writing of the foundation of the town and congregation of Newry, Father Bradley says: "The first settlers of Newry were Patrick Cassidy and Henry M'Connell, who emigrated from Newry (county Down), Ireland, and laid out the town and called it Newry, after their native place, about the time that Dr. Gallitzin began his laborious mission at Loretto (1799). It was one of Dr. Gallitzin's stations for sixteen years, until the number of Catholic settlers increased and undertook to build a stone church in 1816. It was dedicated under the patronage of St. Patrick. My predecessors here were Dr. Gallitzin, Fathers M'Girr, Kearns (of Chambersburg), Hey- den, Archbishop Hughes, and Father O'Reilly. The old stone church was still in use when I came to Newry, on the first Sunday of Advent, 1832. The present church was then in process of erection." Since that date, a period of forty-
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ST. LUKE'S CHURCH, SINKING VALLEY.
eight years, there has been no change of pastors. But with Newry the good priest had many other places to visit, as will appear in the sequel. The new church, which is built of brick and is still occupied, was dedicated by Bishop Kenrick August 11th, 1833. The congregation had Mass at that time on one Sunday in the month; then, as new missionary centres were formed and the sphere of Father Bradley's labor was narrowed, the Holy Sacrifice was offered up twice in the month, and finally the good pastor's labors were confined, as they have now been for thirty years, to Newry alone. When Bishop O'Connor visited the congregation in 1847 it num- bered, as he states in his Notes, four hundred souls. About twenty years ago Father Bradley built a chapel for week-day Masses adjoining his residence. The congregation has con- tinued for many years, as it will in the future, gradually to increase. The people are almost exclusively farmers, and are Irish or of Irish parentage. They have grown up around their common father, who has baptized nearly all, and has watched over them and guided them with a father's care; and they, in turn, as is but right, entertain for him sentiments of filial affection. All will unite with them in wishing their good pastor many years of life before he is called to the joy of his Lord. In the fall of 1879 Rev. J. Ward was appointed assistant to Father Bradley.
ST. LUKE'S CHURCH, SINKING VALLEY.
Sinking Valley extends south from Tyrone, between two spurs of the Allegheny Mountains, the distance from that town to the church being about six miles. The valley owes its name to a peculiarity of the surface of the ground, which sinks in many places as if acted upon by a subterranean cur- rent. Being near the line of emigration from the East to the West, a small number of Catholic families settled there before the close of the last century. When Dr. Gallitzin wrote from Taneytown, where he was then stationed, to Bishop Carroll, in March, 1799, requesting permission to enter the Pennsyl- vania mission to labor among the Catholics of the mountain district, he named Sinking Valley as the seat of a Catholic
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HOLLIDAYSBURG.
colony .* He was the first priest to visit the place, and he continued his visits until the arrival of Father Heyden at Bedford relieved him of the country east of the mountains. It remained under the jurisdiction of the latter until 1840; but his visits, like those of his predecessor, were necessarily made at distant intervals. In that year Father Bradley took charge of the congregation, and in the same year built the little frame church which is yet standing, and dedicated it to St. Luke. Little change took place in the congregation dur- ing that time, or indeed since, for it is as large now, and no larger, than it was seventy-five years ago. For thirteen years, as he informed me, Father Bradley continued to visit the church on one Sunday in the month, until Rev. J. Tuigg was appointed to Altoona, when Sinking Valley became tributary to that church. So it remained for perhaps eight years, until a resident pastor was appointed to Tyrone, when it passed under his care. Slender were the hopes that its condition would ever improve, owing to the small number of Catholics. But at length, in April, 1877, Rev. Ed. M'Sweeny was appointed the first and only resident pastor. Speaking of the congregation he said there were less than half a dozen families, and remarked that when he had a full attendance at Sunday- school there were two children present. He remained until September of the same year, when he was transferred to Williamsburg, and St. Luke's reverted to Tyrone. So it re- mains, and in all probability will remain.
Sinking Valley, like all the early settlements, was selected on account of the fertility of its soil ; but when the attention of the native and foreign population was turned to other pur- suits than agriculture it lost its attraction, and with it all hope of improvement. For unfortunately farming is not esteemed as it should be among us.
ST. MARY'S CHURCH, HOLLIDAYSBURG.
Hollidaysburg, the county-seat of Blair County, is situated near the foot of the eastern slope of the mountains. It lies
* Life of Dr. Gallitzin, by Miss Brownson, p. III.
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FRANKSTOWN.
also on the route of the early emigrants, and for that reason it attracted the attention of the first settlers. The date of the foundation of the town is uncertain, but it was probably about the beginning of this century. The town takes its name, how- ever, from William and Adam Holliday, who settled here in the year 1768. It was incorporated as a borough in 1836, and had in 1870 a population of 2952. Gaysport, on the opposite side of the Juniata River, had at the same time a population of 1799. Being at the western terminus of the eastern division of the canal, and lying in the midst of a fertile country, it was for many years a place of considerable activity. At present it manufactures pig and bar iron to a limited extent.
Catholics were found among the residents of Frankstown, a village three miles east of Hollidaysburg, before the close of the last century, and it was in behalf of these among others that Dr. Gallitzin asked permission, as we have seen, to enter the Pennsylvania mission. It may be that he visited the place as early as 1796. Frankstown, though but a small village, dates back to the middle of the last century and is mentioned by Col. Armstrong as a well-known place in 1756 .* The few scattered families of the neighborhood formed a part of Dr. Gallitzin's missionary field until the arrival of Father Heyden. After Rev. H. Lemcke took up his residence at Ebensburg in 1834, he paid Hollidaysburg a few visits. At length it was transferred to the jurisdiction of Father Bradley of Newry, a place but three miles distant from it. The im- portance of the town, which ranked next after Pittsburg, in the western part of the State, in business, refinement, and politics, had attracted so large a number of Catholics that a church was deemed necessary. As early as the summer of 1831 Bishop Kenrick had asked the views of Dr. Gallitzin on the propriety of building a church, but we are not told what opinion was held by the venerable missionary. It was not until 1841 that the present church was commenced by Father Bradley. The dedication did not, however, take place until March 17th, 1844, when the ceremony was performed by Father Heyden. The church is a substantial brick building
* Annals of the West, p. 143.
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CONVERSION OF HAYDEN SMITH.
87 feet in length by 63 in width, with a steeple in the centre in front, which was not, however, built until some years later. There are three altars, that in the centre being an elegant piece of workmanship. Over it is an altar-piece, a crucifixion, which is a painting of considerable merit.
The life and conversion of Mr. Hayden Smith, the archi- tect of this and several other churches, offers so forcible and fitting an illustration of the feeling of the sects towards the Church in that part of the State, and in the earlier years of our history, that, without offering any apology for the digres- sion, I shall present it to the reader. Speaking of the con- versions effected by the writings of Dr. Gallitzin, Miss Brown- son says :*
"One of the best known is perhaps that of Hayden Smith, the architect, son of Irish Protestants, brought up in such hatred of the Church that his father, when dying, enjoined upon him never to associate with Catholics, or touch their books or anything belonging to them, of course never to enter a Catholic church, and, if possible, to avoid living in the same town with Catholics. So solemn and earnest, we should say so horrible, was this death-bed injunction that it made the deepest impression, and the youth determined to carry it out to the very letter; he journeyed from city to city in England, Ireland, Canada, and the United States, but everywhere the cross was before him, the Catholics about him; finally he found himself in one of the bitterest towns of Pennsylvania, where the most violent animosity to the Catholics was freely displayed. In that very stronghold of ignorance and preju- dice Mr. Smith met with a copy of the ' Defence of Catholic Principles.' He was about to throw it down in disgust, when it occurred to him that nothing could afford him better argu- ments against the despised Catholics than one of their own absurd books; he read, and he believed ; he could not doubt, was received into the Church, and spent the greater portion of his long life in planning Catholic churches; he was the architect of the brick church in Loretto, of St. Mary's in Lan- caster, and many others, and at the time of his death was oc-
* Life of Dr. Gallitzin, pp. 311, 312.
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CHANGES OF PASTORS.
cupied in beautifying the famous Central Park in New York."
To return to our subject : Father Bradley celebrated Mass in the new church on two Sundays in the month for one year from its dedication, after which a resident priest was appoint- ed. Mass was then celebrated on three Sundays until 1853, since which it is offered up every Sunday. Rev. R. A. Wilson, D.D., was the first resident pastor. At the end of a year he gave place to Rev. John C. Brady, who remained until the autumn of 1848. The growth of the congregation in the years immediately following the erection of the church was more rapid than was that of any of the surrounding parishes ; and from the Notes of Bishop O'Connor we learn that at the time of his first visit, in 1847, it contained seven hundred souls. Father Brady was succeeded after a short interval, December 20th, 1848, by Rev. John Walsh, whose tenure of office was destined to be more prolonged than that of his predecessors. He built a brick residence in 1851. When the Papal Nuncio, Cardinal Cajetan Bedini, visited the United States, he stopped at Hollidaysburg on his way to Pittsburg in the beginning of December, 1853, and administered confirmation in St. Mary's Church. During the construction of the New Portage Rail- road, by which it was intended to connect the eastern and western division of the canal by rail, instead of drawing the freight and passengers on cars by stationary engines, as on the Old Portage, as well as during the construction of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the labors of Father Walsh were greatly increased. The distance to be travelled, the impass- able nature of the roads in the mountains, the number of hands employed on the works, and the frequent occurrence of accidents rendered the duties of the priest a herculean task, and it is a matter of astonishment how one man was capable of performing so arduous a ministry. A little congregation was then springing into life, which, prior to the appointment of Father Tuigg, was, as we shall see, annexed to the mission of the pastor of Hollidaysburg.
In May, 1854, a number of Sisters of Mercy from Pitts- burg took charge of the schools, which had for some time been conducted by lay teachers; and the large and elegant
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ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH.
convent, school, and academy buildings which yet stand were elected for their reception.
But the completion of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which gave birth to Altoona, the supplanter of Hollidaysburg, dimin- ished the importance of the latter. In 1868 Father Walsh erected another brick building, the lower story of which is used for a school and the upper is a hall. At length, after hav- ing presided over the congregation for almost thirty years, he was transferred to Altoona, upon the promotion of Father Tuigg to the See of Pittsburg, in March, 1876. He was suc- ceeded by his brother, Rev. Thos. Walsh, who is yet pastor of the congregation. The Sisters of Mercy were also trans- ferred to other fields of usefulness in the summer of the same year, and were succeeded in the school and academy by the Sisters of St. Joseph from Ebensburg.
The congregation of St. Mary's, like the town in which it is, has fallen from its former prosperous condition, and will not number more at present than it did thirty years ago. The future is not reassuring.
ST. MICHAEL'S GERMAN CHURCH, HOLLIDAYSBURG.
A part of the first settlers in the vicinity of Hollidaysburg were Germans, but, like their countrymen in many other parts of the diocese, they had to content themselves in the begin- ning with such advantages as circumstances placed within their reach, and live in the hope of better times. But while they waited in expectation the greater part of them lost their language, and their children grew up more familiar with the English than with their mother-tongue. Nearly all the pres- ent German congregations are largely-many exclusively- composed of emigrants.
The germ of the present congregation appears to have first attracted attention about the year 1856, when one of the Benedictine fathers from St. Vincent's Abbey visited the German Catholics of Blair County once in the month. This arrangement continued until the erection of the German church at Altoona, in 1860, when Hollidaysburg was attached to it. Rev. G. Kircher, who was then pastor of that parish, organized the congregation of which we are now treating and
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WILLIAMSBURG.
commenced the erection of a church. Upon its completion it was dedicated by the Bishop, December 20th, 1863, under the invocation of St. Michael. The church, which is compara- tively small, is neat and substantial and is elegantly finished in the interior, being furnished with three altars. The whole is modelled after the Gothic style of architecture, and is fur- nished with a steeple in the centre in front. Soon after its completion a school-house was also built and a school opened by a lay teacher. Father Kircher was transferred thither in 1864 and became the first resident pastor. A residence was also secured, which, though small, was occupied for a few years until a larger one was erected. In 1868 Father Kircher was succeeded by Rev. J. B. Schmidt, and he, after a time, by Rev. Geo. Allman. About the year 1873 he placed the school under the care of the Sisters of St. Agnes, whom he introduced into the parish and provided with a convent, and they still continue to conduct it. Toward the close of the following year he was succeeded by Rev. J. Keuenzer. The congregation is small and its future increase will be very gradual. Fr. Keuenzer was succeeded in November, 1878. by the present pastor, Rev. J. Kaib.
ST. JOSEPH'S CHURCH, WILLIAMSBURG.
Williamsburg is situated on the Juniata River, thirteen miles east of Hollidaysburg, with which, as well as with Altoona, it is connected by a branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The scenery on the river in the vicinity of the town is very fine. The town was laid out in 1794 by a German named Jacob Ake, who called it Akestown; but previous to his death he changed its name to Williamsburg, in honor of his son William, who was about to leave him to penetrate further into the wilds. The plan of selling lots on lease by the payment of one Spanish milled silver dollar yearly forever was adopted by him, and to this day most all the lots pay that tax. One of the finest springs of water to be met anywhere flows through the town, furnishing water for a number of mills .*
* Day's Historical Collections and Renner's Altoona and Pennsylvania Railroad Guide, 1878, 1879.
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ALTOONA.
It cannot now be ascertained with certainty when the first Catholics settled in the town and its vicinity, but until Mass was offered up for them they attended one of the surround- ing churches. At length, about the year 1860, it was deter- mined to build a church, and encouraged by Father Walsh, of Hollidaysburg, under whose jurisdiction the town was, and aided by their Protestant friends, the few Catholic families commenced. The church was finished in the autumn of 1861, and was dedicated by the Bishop on the 9th of October. It is a beautiful little edifice modelled after the Gothic style of architecture, and has a steeple in the centre in front. For a time it was visited from Hollidaysburg, and then by one of the priests attached to St. Francis' College, Loretto. The writer visited it from that institution in the autumn and early winter of 1869, and it was the first church committed to his care. When the congregation performed the exercise of the Jubilee at that time there were but twenty-eight communi- cants. Soon after this time it was again attached to Holli- daysburg, and so it remained until the spring of 1876, when it was visited from Altoona. At length, in the fall of 1877, Rev. Ed. M'Sweeny was transferred thither from Sinking Valley and Mass was offered up every Sunday. With the exception of his brief pastorate, Mass has always been celebrated on one Sunday only in the month. Not long, however, after his appointment Fr. M'Sweeny was rendered incapable of further exercising the office of the sacred ministry on the mission by a paralytic stroke, which forced him to retire to the hospital. Again the church was placed under the care of a priest of St. Francis' College, and so it remains. There are no more than twenty families in the town and its vicinity, and no flattering prospects can be predicted at least for the immediate future.
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