USA > Pennsylvania > Cambria County > Loretto > Souvenir of Loretto centenary, October 10, 1899 : 1799-1899 ,Saint Michael's Catholic Church > Part 4
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OTHER PIONEERS.
The settlement founded by Captain Michael MeGuire at- tracted other pioneers to the Alleghenies, and he was soon followed by William Dodson, Richard Nagle, Cornelius Ma- guire, Richard Ashcroft, Michael Rager, James Aleorn and John Storm. Still following these were John Trux, John Douglas, John Byrne, William Meloy and many others whose names, together with the names of their descendants, are pre- served in the Registers of St. Michael's Parish, Loretto. Mr. John Sturm, or Storm, built the first grist mill in Cambria
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Brandon Pule
REV. PETER IL. LEMKE. PASTOR 1840-44.
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County, where Dawson's (Sybert's) mill now stands. The rapid improvements of this part of the county are due to the efforts of these early pioneers, who struggled against obsta- cles of which in our day we can form but a slight idea. The word "road" is a dignified term for the path by which they held intercourse with the settlements across the mountain to the east. A rough Indian path led from the present site of Loretto and intersected the "Frankstown Road" about two miles west of the Summit. Exposed to the inclemency of an Allegheny winter-for against the rigor of such a winter their hastily constructed and poorly furnished cabins afforded but slight protection -- their sufferings were almost beyond hu- man endurance. Yet with unyielding firmness, characteris- tic of the pioneer race of frontiersmen, those hardy men wrested from the grasp of nature and preserved the inheri- tance which we now enjoy.
Of their adventures with the savage beasts and still more savage Indians then infesting the neighborhood, many anec- dotes, as narrated by the older citizens of Allegheny Town- ship, are handed down to the present generation. The In- dians were not slow to seize upon every opportunity of ag- gression which presented itself to their blood-thirsty minds, and consequently not only property but even life itself was held by the inhabitants in a very uncertain tenure. The truth of the Alcorn story is vouched for by the most reliable citi- zens of this neighborhood. In the vicinity of the spot where Loretto row stands James Alcorn had built a Lut and made a clearing a short distance away. One day his wife went out to this patch and did not return. Although search was imme- diately made no trace leading to her discovery could be found. To this day the manner of her disappearance remains a mys- tery, though it is generally supposed that she was borne away by the savages.
FATHER GALLITZIN.
In the summer of 1796, Mrs. John Burgoon, a Protestant, living near "McGuire's Settlement," was taken seriously ill, and begged so hard and repeatedly to see a Catholic priest that
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Mrs. Luke MeGnire and a companion undertook the long and dangerous journey to Conewago, near the Maryland border, 130 miles, to find one who would be able and willing to visit her. The message coming to Father Gallitzin he hastened to join the good Samaritans and to carry the consolations of re- ligion to the stranger in the wilderness. Mrs. McGuire fret- ted very much at the many delays necessarily incidental to the journey, fearing lest the woman would die before they could reach her, but she was made confident by the priest's assur- ance that if Mrs. Burgoon were as anxious as they said she was to see a priest, God would not permit her to die until her de- sire was fulfilled. His words were so far made good that she recovered her health, and after being instructed she was re- ceived into the Church and until her death, many years after- wards, lived a truly Catholic life.
The coming of Father Gallitzin on this occasion was hailed with joy by the few families scattered in that unbroken country to which only at long intervals a priest had ever pene- trated. fle said mass in the new log house of Luke MeGuire, which stands a firm monument of the celebration to this day, and administered baptism to a number of children, and even one or two old persons; exhorted them all to faith, prayer, courage and perseverance and before he started to return he had resolved to invest in land with the liberal pecuniary allow- ance from his mother, and to establish a church on the Alle- ghenies,
Returning, he remained in Baltimore until some time in 1796, when he took charge of the Conewago mission, from which central point he visited Taneytown, Pipe Creek, Hagerstown and Cumberland, in Maryland, not far from the Pennsylvania border; Chambersburg, Path and Shade Valleys, Huntingdon, and even the Allegheny mountains, in Pennsylvania. The Maryland congregations were principally English speaking people, which gave him a better fluency in the English language. In the neighborhood of Chambers- burg great ignorance prevailed, which, as usually happens, was accompanied by prejudice, bigotry and persecution.
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Deliverance from this mission came to him at last. The scattered settlers on the mountains amounting to ten or twelve families, forming what was generally known as "McGuire's Settlement, " sometimes called Clearfield, where he had visited the sick woman, to which place he had since made several journeys, seut a petition to Bishop Carroll, begging for a priest to reside among them, trusting that with the aid of some land previously given to Bishop Carroll by Captain Mc- Guire for church property, and such tithes as they could give him, the priest might be able to provide for his physical sub- sistence, while he cared for their spiritual needs. Several petitions were forwarded, a couple of which were sent through him on his return from occasional visits to the settlement, en- treating that, if conformable to his own wishes, he might be the pastor chosen for them. lle finally made this request his own, and it was cordially granted.
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Following is the reply:
Rt. Rev. Bishop Carroll to Rev. D. A. Gallitzin:
WASHINGTON CITY, March 1, 1799. Rev. and Dear Sir:
I fear you have been disappointed in not receiving an earlier answer to your letter which covered a list of sub- seribers in Clearfield, Frankstown and Sinking Valley. I had come hither on business invediately before the arrival of yours at Baltimore. Your request is granted. I readily con- sent to your proposal to take charge of the congregations de- tailed in yours and hope that you will have a house built on the land grauted by Mr. MeGuire and already settled or cleared, or if more convenient on your own, if you intend to keep it.
My intention was, before I received yours, to advise you of the notice lately given by Mr. Egan, that he would return to Ireland in the spring or summer. I meant to have offered you with your present congregations that of Emmitsburg and the mountain (now Mt. St. Mary's) united in one.
JOHN, BSP., Baltimore.
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Thus sanctioned by his Bishop, called by the people, and arged on by a voice higher than all, the young priest lost no time in making preparations, but packed up his few posses- sions, mounted his horse, and turned his face northwestward "over the hills and far away" to found a Catholic community on the lasting basis of virtue and true religious simplicity.
In the latter part of the summer of 1799 Father Gallitzin reached his mission. About a dozen families were found al- ready settled in the neighborhood, and these, with a few fam- ilies that had just come from Maryland and Conewago, formed his immediate parish; but all the Catholics who could not be conveniently reached from Conewago were under his charge and jurisdiction. At MeGuire's Settlement he commenced to put things in order, thankful enough that as yet the field was antonched. Settling on the donated land he at once di- vided his own, which had cost him about four dollars an acre, into lots which he sold to the newcomers for a mere trifle on most casy terms. It was seen before long and gratefully ac- knowledged that with this frail young priest a new and invig- orating spirit had been infused not only into the settlement, which was at comparative ease, but into all the Catholic pio- neer families within a circuit of sixty miles at least.
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When Father Gallitzin arrived to take up his permanent abode he lived for some months in the houses of the settlers until his own log eabin, 14x16 feet, could be built on the site selected by him, about a half, mile from the chief McGuire farm. His first care, however, was for the erection of a church which he commenced soon after his arrival, and completed on Christmas eve following. This was the first, and for a time the only, House of God between Lancaster, Pa., and St. Louis. Great preparations had been made for the midnight Christ- mas mass, the first that was offered up in the humble build- ing. The snow lay waist-deep around the edifice and the stars shone bright and cold above it, as on that other Decem- ber night over the scarcely humbler stable at Bethlehem. The men had been instructed to bring in branches of the beautiful evergreen trees which grew thick upon the moun- tuin und at their very doors. The women set the candles they
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had made for the occasion amid the dark green foliage which covered the rude walls; and just at midnight, when the peo- ple who had gathered from long distances through the wilder- ness of snow were hushed in rapt expectation, Father Gal- litzin aseended the altar and commenced the mass. Never did the Gloria in Excelsis come more joyously and exultingly from his heart or lips than when he now, for the first time, opened and gave to the Incarnate Lord a refuge in the wilder- ness, a home on the Alleghenies.
Shortly after the holidays, being anxious to provide for the poor settlers who were flocking to the settlement, he went to Conewago to procure seed and implements for the spring planting. From there, on February 9th, 1800, he wrote as follows to Bishop Carroll: ". Our church which was only begun in harvest got finished fit for service the night before Christmas. It is about 44 feet long by 25, built of white pine logs, with a very good shingle roof. I kept serv- ice in it at Christmas for the first time, to the very great sat- isfaction of the whole congregation, who seemed very much moved at a sight which they never beheld before. There is also a house built for me, 16 feet by 14, besides a little kitchen and a stable. I have now, thanks bo to God, a little home of my own for the first time since I came to this country, and God grant that I may be able to keep it. The con- gregation consists at present of about forty families, but there is no end to the Catholies in all the settlements round about me; what will become of them all, if we do not receive a new supply of priests, I do not know; I try as much as I can to persnade them to settle around me." This was written in 1800, yet for more than twenty years afterwards he was obliged to administer, unassisted, to the spiritual wants of the constantly increasing population.
In his history of the Pittsburg diocese, Rev. A. A. Lam- bing, LE. D., who in 1869 was stationed at St. Francis Col- lege, and assisted the pastor of St. Michael's, Rev. Michael J. Mitchell, says: "The Loretto colony appears to have had as yet bnt one common center, although it was increasing in numbers and widening in extent, for the persecutions of
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which the pastor had been the victim, served to make him bet- ter known and attracted more settlers from the east. The log church was now filled to excess, and in 1808 he enlarged and otherwise improved it, at his own expense, for it may be stated here, once for all, that he never received any salary or income from the people, but paid out of his own resources the expenses of the church as well as the maintenance of his own household. In fact, it was his extreme antipathy to the pew- rent system that induced him to apply to the Bishop for per- mission to leave Taneytown aud come to the mountain, where he could mould the affairs of the Church after his own views. The colony began to branch out and lay the foundations of other congregations that have a separate history of them- selves -- Ebensburg, Carrolltown, St. Augustine, Wilmore, Summit, etc. In September, 1808, Father Gallitzin wrote to the Bishop, asking for a priest to take part of his territory, and leave him to labor for the Catholies of Cambria County alone, and to manage the temporalities of Loretto; but owing to the scarcity of priests, that prelate was unable to comply with the request. The temporalities gave him no little anx- iety. His just expectation of receiving aid from Europe was constantly doomed to partial, often to total, disappointment, so that for almost thirty years, his mind had but meagre re- pose. "
FATHER GALLITZIN AT JEFFERSON ( WILMORE).
After Father Gallitzin had settled at Loretto and began his visits to the outlying communities which extended over the greater portion of the Pittsburg diocese, he found locat- ed near the confinence of the Little Conemaugh and the North Branch near the present town of Wilmore, a family whose name is now appropriately commemorated in the name of the village for which these people did so much. Godfrey Wilmore, the father of the family, was a negro, but, intelleet- ually and morally, was far above the average of his race. His wife was a white woman, of Irish nationality, a "redemp- tioner." Both lived in Harford County, Md., and the hus- band being energetie, worked enough extra outside of his serv-
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itude to buy his freedom. Lle then saved money and bought the time of servitude of his wife, whose maiden name was Mary Higgins, married her, and about 1792 moved to a place about a mile south of Wilmore, known to early settlers as the "Jimmy Rhey Place, " and from thence to the place above noted. Wilmore was a Baptist, while his wife was a Catholic. When Dr. Gallitzin first visited them he and Wilmore had sincere conversations about religion, the result of which was the latter's conversion to the faith of his wife, and he was ever after a most exemplary member of the Church, and in his house Father Gallitzin sometimes stopped and said mass when on his visitations to that and the more southern sections of the county.
The children of this union were: Bernard, the founder of the town which now bears his name; James, who for many years lived on a farm about two miles north of Wilmore; John, who lived near the town: Mary, wife of James Young, and Eliz- abeth, who died November 11, 1832. Bernard Wilmore was, by trade, a bookbinder, and also taught school, as did his father, who died April 2, 1815, in his 64th year. He was a cripple and was never married. His father, in his life- time, had built a saw mill on the Little Conemaugh below Wihnore, which was subsequently washed away, and he then located abou't 800 yards east of the present Pennsyl- vania Railroad depot. Near this place Sylvester Weleh's corps of engineers, running the lines for the Allegheny Port- nge Railroad, in 1829, founded a little village which they marked on their map "Guinea," an appellation which the Irish laborers who built the road adopted until the matter was made a subject of complaint to Dr. Gallitzin, who from the altar denounced this insult to a family for whom he had the greatest respeet. It is said that he ahnost anathematized any person who would call the town by the opprobrious name and declared that it should be called Jefferson, the name it bore until 1859, when the town was incorporated into a bor- ough under the name of Wilmore. The first postoffice estab- lished in Jefferson, in August, 1832, received the name of Wilmore. Thomas J. Power, Esq., was its first postmaster.
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It was the sixth postoffice in the county. (Summit was the seventh)
Bernard Wilmore, in his will, bequeathed to Father Gal- litzin a parcel of land in the center of the town for the pur- pose of erecting thereon a Catholic Church. This land was afterwards sold by the executors of Father Gallitzin's estate to 'Squire Miller and Mr. George Settlemeyer, and on a por- tion of the latter conveyance the Evangelical Lutheran Church now stands. We have heard many testify that it was nn- der an apple tree in the meadow of Bernard Wilmore and Young that Father Gallitzin used to say mass when the old Portage road was being graded, no building, then there, being large enough to accommodate the Irish Catholic laborers.
EXTRACTS FROM FATHER GALLITZIN'S LETTTERS.
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TO BISHOP CARROLL.
July 15, 1800.
The congregation is considerably increased since the time I moved hither; and I feel the greatest satisfaction in seeing the most unequivocal signs of the sincerest repent- ance and conversion in some of the most inveterate simmers. The church which I got built last August is very often ahnost full, and will have to be enlarged in a couple of years. I live at my own cabin ever since Christmas last, though in a very poor style yet, as your lordship may expect. The moving to a country where I had to begin in the woods, the furnishing myself with everything necessary for honsekeeping, when I had nothing of the kind, the great improvements I have made in order to put the place in such a state as to afford a maintenance for a priest, have exhausted my finances. It is very likely that I shall see your . lordship in Baltimore next October, when I send my wagon down.
LORETTO CENTENARY.
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TO THE SAME.
CLEARFIELD SETTLEMENT, February 5, 1801.
[ am happy to see that your lordship has altered the res- olution of removing me from here, which removal would be attended with the destruction of this new establishment. Catholics are gathering in from all quarters upon the promise that I made not to forsake them, in as far as I had it in my power to make such a promise. The plantation will hardly be able in two years to maintain a priest, unless there is yearly as much money spent in the improving of it as the congregation's salary amounts to. (Note by Miss Brownson : "This means the salary which the congregation would be able to give. Father Gallitzin never received any salary, either from the Bishop or from any of his congregations) Between clearing of land, building and purchasing all the necessary furniture of the church, the house and the place, I have sunk in about sixteen months almost £400, though I could not accuse myself of a great many useless expenses.
TO THE SAME.
February 4, 1805.
I am now in Aughwick Settlement, about seventy miles from home, traveling in a sleigh, or rather sled, from one valley into another, until I go through all the different con- gregations under my jurisdiction. The winter is so severe, the snow so deep, that a great portion of the congregation, particularly poor people not sufficiently provided with cloth- ing, could not attend. Out of several hundred communicants that never miss their Easter or Christmas communion, I had only about sixty of these last holidays. I hope, if your lord- ship will assist me, that the church property here shall, in a few years, exceed any other church property in this State.
TO THE SAME.
May 11, 1807.
I am on the point of starting for Greensburg; whilst my horse is eating his feed, I cannot forbear giving myself the satisfaction of writing a few lines to your lordship. I feel very curious to know what is going on at Greensburg; I
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doubt very foul and dirty work. However, I shall know better to-morrow evening. . The greatest satisfaction to me is that I am completely innocent in all those cases in which I am acensed, as far as I have been informed of the acensations. Another satisfaction is that not one person in the whole congregation, except a handful of the vilest black- guards, believes any of the accusations. No, my very Prot- estant neighbors have shown as much indignation at the base, malicious, and foul steps that are taking, as some of the most zealons Catholics; they have offered their signatures to the within instrument which the trustees and congregation thought fit to send to your lordship. I thanked them very kindly for their offers, but I did not think proper to insert their names, wishing to contine myself to my own congrega- tion. . Another satisfaction is the increase of the Church amidst these persecutions; three of my Protestant neighbors have come forward since Easter and solemnly abjared heresy and made profession of Catholic faith, and there are more coming.
TO THE SAME.
May 11, 1807.
and and some more, being partly through my fault, disappointed of getting the offices of the county, are from disappointed ambition raised to the highest pitch of anger ; and some of them have declared, if they get no satis- faction from your lordship, they will try the civil law, and if that won't do, they will try something else.
P. S .-- I shall be back from Greensburg in about two weeks: if I find certain charges to be true I shall hardly leave Westmoreland County before I enter suits against ---- and -----. Snch men are not afraid of spiritual punishments, and, therefore, ought to be handled more roughly.
TO THE SAME.
LORETTO, June 20, 1807.
Since I came home I found my enemies here in the utmost consternation. We now enjoy perfect peace and quietness; not a loud word is to be heard; all their plots
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(they find) are defeated and turned against themselves; every one tries to clear himself and blames his neighbor for leading him astray. Some have sold their places and are gone; others are in the way of selling; and in a short time, thanks be to God's mercies, our settlement will get rid of the most corrupted set of villains that ever disgraced the Church; who were endeavoring to engross into their own hands all the most important offices of our new county, from which calamity, however, my persevering endeavors have for- tunately delivered our poor country. This it was that drew the whole weight of their anger and revenge upon my head, and caused one of the blackest conspiracies to be instituted against me which human malice, assisted by the power of hell, could devise. God be praised, the storm has subsided, peace is restoring fast, and all the county offices will, in a short time, be filled with the most respectable characters of the settlement; the ecclesiastical and civil authorities will then go hand in hand and mutually assist each other in pro- moting the public welfare and happiness. Amen.
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TO THE SAME.
LORETTO, July 27, 1807.
It is with the greatest pleasure I comply with Mr. - 's request of sending your lordship the enclosed act of retrac- tion, which was also, at his request, read in church last Suu- day week.
-'S RETRACTION.
July 18, 1807.
My Dear and Rev'd Sir:
The horror which I feel in the heinous crimes committed against your innocent character and the faults of my unsus- pected heart, demand of me to humble myself before you and the congregation. First, I sincerely ask your pardon and pardon from the congregation in general; of my lord, the Bishop of Baltimore, I ask pardon, and of an injured and offended God 1 implorefforgiveness and pardon. Iam sin- cerely sorry from my heart for the many scandals I have committed by keeping bad company, and suffering myself to
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be deluded in believing the most abominable lies against yom innocence, and in joining in plots against your reverence, and being made the messenger of so many contaminated lies to my lord, the Bishop of Baltimore.
I also feel sorry for breaking the laws of the Church by leaving yon, my immediate pastor, to go to be married out of your parish. I do sincerely acknowledge the gratitude I received from Almighty God in opening my eyes and discover- ing the falsity of those infamous accusations alleged against your reverence. Though unworthy of the least favor from you, from man, or from an injured God, I do solemnly declare, in the presence of the congregation, future obedience and sub- mission, with a determination of shunning all evil company, particularly those who have so basely betrayed me; and, if required, I am willing to elucidate both their wicked proceed- ings and their names before the congregation, As to tem- poral punishment, I will, with cheerfulness, submit to your reverence. I am willing to submit my bare back to flagella- tion publicly, in the church, by your trustees, for I consider no punishment too good to be inflicted on me, the most un- worthy of sinners.
N. B .- With my permission you may publish this. I am sorry it is ont of my power to come to church. I am called upon to go to Somerset; on my return I will humbly submit to the chastisements herein mentioned.
TO THE SAME.
LORETTO, September, 1807.
I have been wonderfully low this great while, and begin serionsly to apprehend that my days will not be very long. I can better feel than describe the gloomy and melancholy state of my mind, especially since the death of my mother; the remembrance of former times, her tender affection to me, her last dying expressions concerning me, my own solitary situa- tion in the wilds of Allegheny, my sufferings and persecution here, all seem to conspire to overwhelm me with sorrow and melancholy. Oh, my dear Lord! For God's sake send me a companion; a priest to help and assist me, for my heart is .
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