USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > Conewago in Adams County > Conewago : a collection of Catholic local history : gathered from the fields of Catholic missionary labor within our reach. > Part 7
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Farewell, Conewago, farewell! The happiest joys of my life and its saddest sorrows and vainest regrets are in thy keeping. Every foot of thy hills and valleys and streams
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is familiar to me, and they change not, but the scenes of my childhood are gone, and its associates scattered like the mists of youth. Every nook and corner of thy sacred place have I hunted over by day with miser care for some scrap of the past, and dreamed by night of treasures of hidden lore, and behold the meagre fruits of my labor ! Time guards well the trusts confided to its care.
Conewago, farewell ! Thy happy days and sorrowful chase each other in troubled hurry over the pathway of memory. Friends and dear ones have come and gone in faithful trust, true and lasting, where recreant hopes long since have perished and lie buried in misery and anguish of heart. The past has nothing in common with the present ; the one knew no care ; the other knows no quiet rest free like then from trouble. Where are the bright sunny days of school life, the happy faces and innocent enjoyments, the kind teachers and dear old Fathers ? Look back and see sorrow mingled with gladness : the sad tolling of the bell, the mournful funeral procession winding its way around the hill ; again joyful peals where sorrow echoed still ; happy souls united where festive throngs made merry ; Christmas chimes and Easter carols ; tears to-day and smiles to-mor- row, and forgotten scenes hurry on each passing hour. Why look back or why peer forward ? Has not life been always thus ?
Then farewell, once more, but before we part, heed my words generations yet unborn. Conewago has been as dear to us as will ever be to you or was to those before. It is not ours, nor yours, nor was it theirs. It is blessed by every sacred tie from Heaven, and as a religious inheritance guard it well, for others are destined here to find their rest. Holy and venerable is the place. Our footsteps follow the traces of hallowed lives, unworthy as we are. Soon we, too, will have passed away, and our children come and go until in God's own good time the angel's voice sound here below. Ye shepherds, while your flocks abide, watch the old building
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with an anxious care. "Guard it as best you may, and at any cost from every influence of dilapidation. Count its stones as you would jewels of a crown ; set watches about it as if at the gates of a besieged city ; bind it together with iron where it loosens ; stay it with timber where it declines ; do not care about the unsightliness of the aid ; better a crutch than a lost limb ; and do this tenderly, and reverently, and continually, and many a generation will still be born and pass away beneath its shadow."
EDUCATION AT CONEWAGO.
The first schools in the Valley like those through the county, were mostly private or subscription schools. The missionary Fathers combined the primary education of the children with their religious instruction, which was never neglected when it could in any way possible be provided. The religious instruction of the children continued to be a part of the ministry until late years, when Sunday-schools and parochial schools relieved the priests to a great extent of that labor. Catechism is now taught in the schools. and one of the Fathers visits them once or twice a week to give catechetical instructions and to prepare the children finally for Confirmation and Communion.
Very little is known of the early educational interests of Conewago. Joseph Heront taught a school near the Pigeon Hills before 1800, where afterwards the Sulpitian Seminary was located. Colleges were just then being estab- lished, and he may have had a preparatory course in the higher branches, or for the young men of the Valley whose
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parents were in good circumstances and who desired to give their sons all the educational advantages then possible, for they were limited compared to what they are now. Father Brosius taught a school at Conewago about the period of 1800, but of what nature or how long kept up, we do not know. There were schools at the church then, taught some- times by the Fathers and at others by a lay teacher or a Brother, up to the time when the parochial schools were started. When Father Deneckere first came to Conewago he established a school in which the higher branches were taught, something in the order of a preparatory school for those who might have a vocation for the priesthood. This school was taught by himself with the assistance of a Mr. Gross. In 1868 or 1870, Father Deneckere started another preparatory school in the school houses then standing in the churchyard, and one of which has since gone to ruin and been removed. He had as high as eighteen scholars at that time, and kept it up until a while before his death. There are several of his students now novices in the Society. During Father Bellwalder's Superiorship, Ed. S. Reily, Esq., . taught a select school at the church ; he also gave lessons in algebra and mathematics to Father Deneckere's scholars. David Smith, Esq., taught a winter school at the church for several years after Father Deneckere's death. For some years satisfactory arrangements have been made with the Directors of the Free Schools in the parish, by which compe- tent Catholic teachers were employed and the larger scholars sent there. The Free Schools, generally, had only a few scholars of their own, and in some instances they were willing to provide a Catholic teacher and pay him out of the school taxes, of which the Catholics contributed almost the entire amount, besides keeping up their parochial schools. This arrangement was allowed by the Fathers only for the larger boys,-the girls and smaller boys attending the paro- chial schools.
In Irishtown there is a Catholic school building and
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church combined, called St. Peter Canisius, built in 1868. Mass is occasionally said there. Francis Noel taught the school for a number of years, and was succeeded by Mr. Topper.
A Catholic School was established at Mt. Rock a number of years ago, a frame building having been erected on the free school lot above the hill. Miss J. M. O'Neill taught there. A stone church building and school house was erected in 1869, on the second hill west of Mt. Rock, on land given by Charles Smith, and called St. Charles. Miss O'Neill taught here awhile and was succeeded by the Sisters from MeSherrystown, who are the present teachers. These schools have a large number of pupils. The parochial schools were started when Rev. Burchard Villiger was Superior. Father Manns was the leading spirit in the Catholic School question for a number of years, and gave religious instructions in them once or twice a week. About 1860, Mass was said in a private house at Whitestown, along the HI. & G. R. R., now discontinued. In the last few years steps were being taken to build a school house at Flatbush, between Littlestown and Bonneauville.
The Sisters of Charity were established in McSherrys- town, by a Board of Trustees, in 1834. They arrived June 20th, and opened their school that month. They were from St. Joseph's, Emmettsburg, and the School was dedicated to St. John the Baptist. Sisters Anne and Agnes were the two first Sisters. They met with such success that application was made to Rev. Mr. Hickey, then Superior of the Sisters of Charity, for more assistance, and Sister Mary Cecilia was sent to aid them. After that four or five Sisters were employed. Their house became too small for the increasing number of scholars and boarders ; an unfinished house was purchased from Mr. Slagle for $2200, and their work con- tinned, until the academy building was destroyed by fire in 1840. The house was rebuilt by the trustees and sold with
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five acres of ground to a branch of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, by whom it was enlarged and successfully conducted until 1851, when they left and located at Eden Hall. The Sisters of St. Joseph then purchased the house and lands, and the institution received permanent life and success. They were incorporated Aug. 31st, 1854, under the title of the MeSherrystown Novitiate and Academy of St. Joseph. They have made many improvements and purchased several additional tracts of land. It was managed for a number of years by Mother Mary Magdalene, who died Aug. 22d, 1876, and was buried on the 25th,-Bishop Shanahan and eight priests attending. She was succeeded by Mother Ignatius, who is raising the standard of the institution in every way, enlarging the scope of its work and making such additions to the buildings and property as necessity demands. Their objects are educational and charitable ; the reception of Novices, the education of young ladies, teaching, visiting the sick, and the care of orphans.
Since the consecration of the Rt. Rev. Bishop Shanahan, St. Joseph's Convent has become the Mother House for the Sisters of St. Joseph in the Diocese of Harrisburg. It was formerly a branch of Chestnut Hill. A large number of Sisters are employed here in the various departments of the Sisterhood. Several of the Sisters reside at Hanover and teach the parish school at that place. Others teach the Mt. Rock and MeSherrystown parochial schools. The boarding school at the academy is conducted by the best teachers in all the higher branches. A department for the instruction of the blind has been provided, under an experienced mem- ber of the community.
The school is furnished with all the facilities for educa- tional purposes. It is located in the Valley of the Cone- wago, well known for its landscape beauty and healthfulness. The buildings are large and roomy, and the grounds laid out in walks, yards, and orchards. The land is farmed and used for dairy purposes, thus providing the best products of farm,
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garden and dairy for their own maintenance.
The want of additional buildings was felt several years ago, and efforts were made to erect them. The chapel was too small for the community itself, yet many of the old and infirm people of MeSherrystown were accustomed to hear Mass at the Convent. A priest from Conewago Chapel says Mass every morning for the Sisters. The erection of the new building was begun in May, 1883, and completed in May, 1884. It adjoins and communicates by a two-story corridor with the Convent proper, and covers a site 55x65 feet, three stories and attic in height, with pointed turrets. The architecture is of the semi-Gothic, and was designed by Mr. J. A. Dempwolf, of York, Pa. The building is entirely devoted to the work of education, and the accommodation of the pupils. The rooms are well ventilated and thoroughly heated throughout. The study-hall, dormitories and recrea- tion halls are spacious, and furnished with every appliance for the health, comfort and convenience of the pupils. The Convent property includes thirty-four acres of ground. The recreation grounds of the Academy are extensive, and con- sist of a fine lawn, walks and groves. The property known as Capt. Brogunier's lot was purchased in July, 1880, at a cost of $1246 ; and the Ginter lot was bought in June, 1884, for $3000. The cost of building the Academy, exclusive of expenses for drainage, paving walks and such improvements, is $12000. This does not include the valuation of the original buildings, just the cost of late improvements. New day-school buildings have also been erected.
Conewago has not given many sons to the church, but her daughters in religion are numerous. Of those born at Conewago who became priests, we can only name Bishop Timon, Fathers Shanefelter, Shorb, Miller, Sullivan, Marshall, (I think,) two of the Lillys, and Brothers Rimbaugh, Mar- shall and Gulden. There may be a few others. It is impossible to name all the Sisters. McSherrystown received
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quite a number, and many made their profession elsewhere. The Fathers at Conewago were instrumental in many of them being able to carry out their intentions of becoming religious, for there were in some instances great obstacles to overcome. In the correspondence of the Fathers, the most touching tributes of gratitude come from such of their spiritual children who have been counseled and assisted by them in the direction of a religious life. Happy souls !
THE "SEMINARY FARM."
The Sulpitian Seminary at the Pigeon Hills has a very important connection with the Catholic Church in the eastern provinces. Many eminent bishops and priests studied at the Pigeon Hills and spent their vacations there. Its history, like that of other old land marks of the church, is lost, and we can only give a general sketch of it as a religious institu- tion. The place is at the foot of Pigeon Hills, in Oxford Township, about five miles north of Hanover, and still goes by the name of the "Seminary Farm." The land was originally taken up by warrant from the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, issued July 26th, 1750, to Henry Gearnhart, (or Kingheart, illegible in old deed,) and descended to the Lorimores. It contained about 273 acres, and was conveyed to Joseph Heront, April 4th, 1794, for one thousand pounds, gold and silver, which would seem to have been a very high price. He improved the property, opened a select school and called it " Herontford." To this day, Joseph Heront is spoken of by the older people of the Valley as a monk and a priest, but we are not sure that he was either. Father HI. F. Griffin, one of the oldest Sulpitian priests living, informs us that Mr. Harent, or Heront as spelled in the old deeds,
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was an exile from France during the first French Revolution, and that he was a private gentleman, but may have studied for the priesthood after he left Pigeon Hills. The Laity's Directory of 1822, records the death of a Rev. Joseph Heront in 1817, in the Island of Martinique. This may have been " the monk of Herontford," as he certainly was, from what we can learn, a very intelligent, seclusive and pious man. Local tradition says he sailed for France, his native land, and died on the way. His name is last men- tioned in the deeds about 1810.
John Tessier inherited " Herontford " by the last will and testament of Joseph Heront, recorded in the office of the Register of Wills for Baltimore County, liber W B, No. K, folio 419. Father Griffin thinks Mr. Heront was not related to Mr. Tessier, but bequeathed his farm to the Sulpitians on condition that they should pay some outstanding debts. The lands of Nicholas Bittinger, James McTaggart and Frederick Myers, adjoined the Heront property. Frederick Myers was the grandfather of Rev. Father Myers, dec'd, of pious memory in the Diocese of Baltimore. It was through Joseph Heront, and by his means, that Father Myers became a priest.
On the Feast of the Assumption, 1806, the Abbe Dillet, a Sulpitian, founded at Pigeon Hills "a college intended to give a religious education to boys, whose piety and qualities seemed to show a decided vocation for the priesthood." Pupils were received on the recommendation of their confessor. Conewago furnished some of the students. The Sulpitians had a Seminary in Baltimore, St. Mary's, founded in 1791, and Pigeon Hills was the preparatory school for this Seminary. About 1807 or 1809, Rev. John Dubois founded St. Mary's College, Emmettsburg. In the spring of 1809, sixteen scholars were transferred from Pigeon Hills to the Mountain School.
June 3d, 1830, the " Seminary Farm " was conveyed by deed from John Tessier, president of St. Mary's, Balti-
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more, to Lewis Regis Deluol, his successor. He also came in possession of an adjoining tract, the deed of which he obtained from Thomas C. Miller, Sheriff of Adams Co. This latter tract was no doubt the property of Francis Marshall, who was very intimate with Father Deluol, and whose history is not very plain. Father Griffin knew him well, and thinks he was of German origin more than French, probably from Alsace. His name is signed to various old deeds and con- veyances, and he wrote it " Franz Marschall .? ' He was no relation to the Marshalls of Conewago, as far as we can learn, and most likely came to the place through some of the priests who were from his own country. In their old age, through the mismanagement of one of their children, mis- fortune overtook them. The farm was sold and bought by the Seminary. Father Deluol allowed the old couple to live on it as their own till the day of their death. There were several other old families of Marshalls, of which Francis and Joseph were descendants. They were doubtless French people, and may have come to that vicinity with the Noels and Dellones, who settled there from France about the beginning of the 1700 era. There was a Father Marshall, a Brother and a Sister Marshall, but to what family they belonged we are not informed. Francis X. Marshall was educated at Mt. St. Mary's, and ordained at the Dominican Convent, Perry Co., Ohio, A. D. 1824 or 1825. Father Griffin was present at his ordination and served his Mass. He afterward returned to Maryland, and was stationed in Alleghany County.
Father Deluol fixed up the Seminary property as a retreat for students during vacation. There was a fine chapel there and buildings for the students ; with large gardens and orchards. The premises were laid out in walks and lawns, and everything made attractive and inviting. The students had good times there, and like boys will be, made things lively in the neighborhood. Mr. Peter O'Neill, then at the Conewago Chapel, did the hauling back and forward and
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lived at the Seminary a while. He was their friend and helped them in their pranks and amusements, or out of them rather, by fixing up things when anything was wrong or complaints made. It continued to be used by the students in the summer until 1849, (so generally given,) when St. Charles College took its place. The deed from Father Deluol to Henry Eichelberger is dated 1847. Once every year, on St. Ignatius Day, the services at Conewago were condneted by the priests and the students from the Seminary, who would march over to the Chapel in grand procession. Many men, afterwards distinguished ecclesiasties in the Catholic Church, visited the Seminary and Conewago at that time. Father O'Brien was Prefect of the Seminarians. Father Chance, Professor and afterwards President of St. Mary's, gave lectures to the students during vacation. Father Elder, successor of Rev. Chance as Bishop of Natchez, and other priests, made their retreat at the Seminary. Father Eccleston was there, afterwards Bishop of Baltimore.
When the Reign of Terror drove the Trappist Monks from their native land, they resolved to seek an asylum in America. A party of them, eight or ten priests and nearly twenty lay brothers, under the guidance of Father Urban Guillet, embarked at Amsterdam, May 29th, 1803, for Baltimore. They proceeded to Pigeon Hills, and remained about a year, going from there first to Kentucky, then to Missouri, and other places. finally we believe returning to their native country, though there are several monasteries of that order now in America. While at Pigeon Hills they dug the well on the "Seminary Farm." The traditional idea that Joseph Heront was " a monk," very likely comes from his association with these Trappists. It is to be regretted that this place, so dear to the memory of the church, was allowed to come into the possession of strangers. A railroad rums near it now, (through one of the fields, we believe,) on to Abbottstown and Berlin, and it is a valuable property.
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The students to whom it was once a dear home, would know it no more. It was the home of the exile and the sacred enclosure of the religious ; what is now a common farm- house was once the temple of the Lord, where the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was daily offered. Alas ! how Time leaves every barrier broken down in its way.
THE PARADISE CHURCH.
The Catholic Church, at first called Brandt's Chapel or Pigeon Hills, in Paradise Township, York Co., about one mile north of Abbottstown, has a very interesting history, but much confused. Exercising even the best judgment, it would be difficult to give a clear sketch of the church .-- Here we passed nine years of our childhood, and are as well acquainted with the parish as at Conewago. In the settle- ment of the country at an early date, several French, a few Irish and a number of German Catholic families located near the Pigeon Hills, around Abbottstown and towards East Ber- lin. At one time the church was right flourishing in num- bers, but later on many families removed to Conewago and elsewhere. The early Catholics attended church at Conewa- go Chapel.
Probably the first Mass said in the neighborhood was at Abbottstown, by Father De Barth, in the beginning of the present century. Mass was occasionally said in the house of Wm. Jenkins, a prominent Catholic of that place. The Jen- kinses were probably a Maryland family, but not related to those at Conewago. There are few descendants of the fami- ly ; none that we know. One son died about forty years ago, and is buried at Paradise Church. One of the Reilys living in the West married a daughter of Wm. Jenkins, and one of the sons of Baron de Beelen married another. The 1
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Wises were among the oldest Catholic families ; the property now owned and occupied by the Chunks was their homestead, and there Mass was said at stated times. This might have been about the period of 1800.
Among the first Goshenhoppen settlers was the Brandt ancestry from Germany. From there Frederick Brandt re- moved to near Abbottstown, but at what date we have been unable to discover. His tract of land, now the Paradise church property, is called " Brandtsburg " in the patent from the Commonwealth, a full title to which he obtained June 28th, 1809. The same tract had been granted by warrant from the Proprietaries to Matthias Bonzer, dated Oct. 28th, 1746. Frederick Brandt paid $460.73 into the Treasury of the State, which with the moneys paid by Matthias Bouzer, gave him a clear title to the land. The original grant was bounded .by lands of John Abbott. Nicholas Bittinger, Win. Mummert, John Jacobs, Wardle Kexer, and contained 235 acres. 87 perches, and allowance of 6 per cent. for roads.
Frederick Brandt was an intelligent and industrious man, and agood Catholic. He had no children, and no relatives on his side according to his will. Mrs. Brandt's maiden name was Keens ; she had two brothers, John and Jacob, and her sisters were Catharine Dellone, Eve Heidler, and Magdalene, whose married name we do not know, but the grandmother of Gregory Dellone's wife. Frederick Brandt built the house now on the church farm ; part of it was used for a chapel be- fore his death and after, until the stone church was built about 1844. Brandt's mill was one of the first in that neigh- borhood ; the site and old water courses are yet to be seen. Frederick Dellone hauled the stones for the mill when he was eigteen years old. Fathers DeBarth and Leken and their assistants attended the Paradise Catholics from time to time.
Frederick Brandt made his will Feb. 9th, 1815, "being of advancing age." He left his personal property to his wife. with whose "advice and consent " he determined to appro-
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priate his real estate for the benefit of his religion and his country ; "for as God has not blessed us with any offspring, and our brothers' and sisters' children being very numerous, the said estate could be of very little use to them if equally divided among all, and to favor some more than others would naturally produce jealousy and perhaps enmity." Therefore he bequeathed his dwelling, plantation and mills, and a five acre tract lately purchased of Clement Steuthabeker, to his wife during her life or widowhood, and after her death then the same to Rev. Francis Neale of Georgetown College, " his heirs and assigns for ever, in fee simple, in order to es- tablish thereon as soon as convenient a school or seminary, or any other house of education for the purpose of bringing up youth in useful literature and christian piety ; " or if more advisable, for a school or Noviceship for the reception of young men destined for the ministry of the Gospel in the Roman Catholic Church. He desired the property to be used for such purposes and no other, "and that it be never sold, mortgaged or alienated in any manner, either in whole or in part, for debt, security, or any other reason." He then provided that two boys, the preference to be given to those of relations, be educated either at the school to be established there or at Georgetown, out of the revenue from the farm, ex- clusively for the priesthood, and thus always to have two boys provided for. The entire purpose of his will seems to ยท have been twofold, first the education of youth for the minis- try, and after that the performance of worship on the said plantation. The executors were Michael Dellone, Wm. Jenkins and the testator's wife. Witnesses, Franz Marschall, Michael Strausbaugh and John Brieghner, Recordedin York. Jacob Barnitz, Register. There is a codicil dated Jan. 26th, 1820, in which he bequeaths to Rev. Francis Neale a five acre lot purchased of Isaac Latschaw, and appoints James Mc- Sherry Executor in place of Wm. Jenkins, dec'd. John L. Gubernator wrote the will.
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