USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Memoirs of Milwaukee County : from the earliest historical times down to the present, including a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in Milwaukee County, Volume I > Part 36
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archbishop of Milwaukee. For many years before his elevation to the episcopal see he was known as one of the most learned theologians of the country. The provincial council began its sessions under his ad- ministration. Archbishop Heiss succumbed to old age and overwork at the St. Francis hospital at La Crosse, whither he had gone in search of health, on March 26, 1890. From that time until December the see was without an archbishop, the administration resting in the hands of Rt. Rev. A. Zeininger. In the latter month Very Rev. F. X. Katzer, of Green Bay, was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Archbishop Heiss.
Frederick Xavier Katzer was born at Ebensee, Austria, on Feb. 7, 1844, a son of Charles and Barbara (Reinhartsgruber) Katzer. His preparatory scholastic training he received at Gruundia, Austria, and in 1857 began his classical studies at the Jesuit college of Linz, Austria. In 1864 he was graduated at that institution and in May of the same year immigrated to America. He entered the seminary of St. Francis de Sales at St. Francis for theological study and was there ordained a priest on Dec. 21, 1866. He remained at St. Francis as professor of mathematics, theology and philosophy until July, 1875, and left to become secretary to Bishop Krautbauer, of Green Bay. In 1879 he became vicar-general of the diocese, and upon the death of Bishop Krautbauer on Dec. 17. 1885, he was made administrator of the diocese, a position which he filled until May 31, 1886. On that date he was chosen bishop of the see and was consecrated on Sept. 21, 1886. On June 30, 1891. he assumed the duties of the archepiscopal see and held the office until his death at Fond du Lac in 1903. The chief feature of the administration of Archbishop Katzer was the question of the Bennett law, and his active part in the campaign against it. In 1902 the archdiocese under his charge had 317 churches, thirty-six chapels, four seminaries, six schools for the higher educa- tion of boys, seven young ladies' academies and 144 parochial schools, The Catholic population was 245,000, ministered to by 312 priests. Rt. Rev. Sebastian G. Messmer was chosen to succeed Archbishop Katzer and the pallium was conferred upon him in 1903. An extended sketch of Archbishop Messmer may be found in the biographical section of this work.
There are in Milwaukee to-day thirty-three churches of the Catholic denomination, beside a number of missions scattered through- out the county. The Church of the Gesu, on Grand avenue opposite Twelfth street, is the finest and largest edifice in the city. It was dedicated in 1896 and its first membership was formed by the com- bination of the parishes of St. Gall's, organized in 1848, and Holy
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Name, organized in October, 1875. Holy Rosary, located at Oakland avenue and Lafayette, was dedicated in 1885. The Church of the Holy Trinity, at the corner of Greenbush and Park streets, was the first church organized on the south side of the city, its founder being Dr. Salzmann, and the date of its origin. 1850. The congregation of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, whose edifice is at the corner of Russell and Kinnickinnic avenues, was organized in 1871. St. Ann's church, on Thirty-sixth street between Meinecke avenue and Wright street, is one of the more recently organized churches, its edifice having been dedicated in 1895. St. Anthony's, at Fourth avenue and Mitchell street, a German congregation, was organized in 1872 by Father Anthon Decker, and the first mass was held in the church edifice on October 3. St. Augustine's, at Graham and Homer streets, was dedi- cated in 1888 and St. Bonifacius', on Eleventh street, in the year following. The consecration of St. Cyril and Method church, at the corner of Smith street and Windlake avenue, occurred on Dec. 17, 1893. The congregation of St. Francis church was organized by Capuchin brothers in 1869 and the edifice of the parish was conse- crated on Feb. 8, 1877. The first Polish church organized on the east side was St. Hedwig's, at Racine and Brady streets, which was founded by Rev. John Rodowicz in 1871. St. Hyacinth church, at Becher street and Tenth avenue, was consecrated in 1882. The church of St. John de Nepomuk, located at Fourth and Cherry streets, was one of the churches organized by Father Kundig in 1867. St. Josephat's, at Lincoln street and Second avenue, was dedicated in 1889 and St. Joseph's, at the corner of Eleventh and Cherry streets, was conse- crated by Father Henni in 1856, a year after the organization of the congregation by Rev. H. J. Holzbauer. St. Casimir's and St. Law- rence's, at Clarke and Bremen streets, and Twenty-first avenue and Orchard streets, respectively, are among the more recently organized congregations, the former in 1895 and the latter in 1889. St. Mat- thew's, at 430 Twentieth avenue, and St. Michael's, at Twenty-fourth and Cherry, were both consecrated in October. 1892. St. Patrick's church, located at the corner of Second avenue and Washington street, was consecrated in 1876 and Rev. John Vahey, who had organ- ized the congregation, became the first pastor. SS. Peter and Paul church, Cramer and Bradford streets, and St. Rose of Lima, Sycamore and Thirtieth streets, were organized in 1889 and 1888 respectively. St. Stanislaus church, now located at Grove avenue and Mitchell, had its inception in 1852 in a visit of Rev. John Polack, a missionary priest, and the organization was effected a year later by Father Bonaventure Buczynski. St. Vincent de Paul, at Sixteenth avenue and Mitchell
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street, and St. Wenceslaus, on Scott street between Ninth and Tenth avenues, were organized in 1888 and 1883 respectively. The follow- ing named churches, with their location, have all been established within the past thirteen years : Holy Ghost, Lincoln and Twenty-sixth avenues ; Madonna de Pompeji, 301 Jackson street ; St. Elizabeth's, Second and Burleigh ; St. Gall's on Third, between Clarke and Center streets ; St. Mary's Help of Christians, a Slavonic congregation, at Fifth and Walnut streets; and St. Thomas Aquinas, at Thirty-fifth and Brown streets.
The report of the secretary of the Milwaukee school board for 1907 states that there are in the city thirty Catholic parochial schools, employing 297 teachers and having a total enrollment of 16,922 pupils. The church also maintains a number of hospitals and other charitable institutions, all of which are mentioned under different chapters.
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
The early history of the Episcopal church in Milwaukee is some- what obscured by reason of the fact that at the time of the first settle- ment in Milwaukee the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Wisconsin was a contested point and no bishop was actively engaged in the direction of the work. When in 1837 Bishop Kemper, in a call issued for a primary convention to organize the diocese of Wisconsin requested a history of each parish, St. Paul's of Milwaukee reported :
"There is neither register nor record to show what ministerial acts were performed in this parish previous to Jan. 25, 1845, nor is it known when the parish was organized. As near as can be ascertained, it was in April, 1838."
About a year prior to the formation of Wisconsin territory the diocese of Michigan had been formed, and included the few churches on the west side of Lake Michigan, Green Bay, Navarino and the Oneida mission. Rev. Samuel A. McCoskry, D. D., had been elected bishop of the Michigan diocese and was consecrated as such on July 7, 1836, just four days after the separation of Wisconsin into a territory by itself. Dr. McCoskry maintained that the ecclesiastical jurisdiction still belonged to the Michigan diocese and the clergy in the territory took issue with him. On Sept. 25. 1835. Rev. Jackson Kemper. D. D., was consecrated as the first missionary bishop of the church, under the title of bishop of Missouri and Indiana. The only two dioceses organized west of the Ohio at the time were Michigan and Illinois and Bishop Kemper was to have charge of the balance of the North- west wherever there were settlements. It was the desire of the clergy
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in Wisconsin to be put under the direction of Bishop Kemper, and on May 31, 1836, the rector, wardens and vestry of Christ church, Green Bay, petitioned the general board of missions to that effect. Bishop McCoskry's position was that no act of the government could take from him his ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and that despite the fact that Congress had made Wisconsin. a separate territory it was rightfully under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Michigan. The discussion filled the church papers of the day, and involved many of the bishops of the dioceses of other states. Bishop Kemper, who himself desired Wiscon- sin to be a part of his territory, obtained from Bishops Chase, of Illi- nois ; Otey, of Tennessee ; Smith of Kentucky ; and H. U. Underdonk, of Pennsylvania, opinions favorable to the Wisconsin view. While the matter was under discussion Bishop Kemper's delicacy forbade his visitations in Wisconsin, but in the summer of 1838 an agreement was reached whereby Dr. McCoskry invited Bishop Kemper to perform visitations in Wisconsin. Although the latter agreed to the arrange- ment he did not personally come to Milwaukee. Upon motion of Bishop Kemper, seconded by Dr. McCoskry, at the general convention of the church in the fall of 1838, the exact bounds of his jurisdiction were fixed and the territory of Wisconsin became part of the jurisdic- tion of the apostolic Kemper.
There has been some discussion also as to the time of the first Episcopal service held in Milwaukee. One fact is agreed upon, how- ever, and that is that the service was conducted by the Rev. Henry Gregory, a missionary, who was passing through the then village of Milwaukee to the Menomonee Indians. In a series of Early Remin- iscences published in the "Church Register" for September, 1869, under the initials, "J. B. S.", the statement is made upon the authority of Cyrus Hawley, Esq., that "the first ministerial service of our church, south of Duck Creek, east of Mineral Point and north of Chicago, was held in the house of George Dousman, Esq., in December, 1835. The Rev. Mr. Gregory, of Homer, New York, officiated. Mr. Gregory -afterward Dr. Gregory, of Syracuse, New York-was then on his way to an Indian mission at Butte-des-Morts." On the other hand there is a letter, published in 1861, from Dr. Gregory to Mr. John W. Hinton, which tells of Dr. Gregory's journey west and continues "At Root River we 'ran agin a stump', and broke the axletree of the wagon. Getting that mended, we started for Milwaukee (22 miles) on Saturday, the 9th of January, 1836. Night overtook us, and we encamped three miles out of Milwaukee. Early on Sunday morning we came in, and stopped at (I believe the only tavern) a small story and a half frame house. There was a Presbyterian minister who had
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held services in a school-house, but on hearing of my arrival he desired me to officiate, which I did, and preached in the afternoon; and that was the first service, according to the liturgy of the Protestant Epis- copal church, in Milwaukee, and was held on the first Sunday after the Epiphany, Jan. 10, 1836." Whichever date may have been the correct one is immaterial, but the visit of Mr. Gregory created a desire for services under Episcopal auspices, and the same chronicles of 1869 record that in the spring of 1836 "a few men whose sympathies and feelings inclined them to the church, met together and arranged for the holding of services on Sunday. A young man was found who was studying for the ministry with Bishop Chase, and who cheerfully complied with the desire expressed that he would read the service. These services were held in Mr. Hawley's office, who was at the time Deputy Register of the Land Office. This room was in the second story of a small wooden building, occupied by Winslow & Co., which stood on the west side of East Water street, near the center of the block bounded by Michigan and Wis- consin streets. Among those present at this first service were Hans Crocker, B. H. Edgerton, Wm. N. Gardner, Wm. Campbell, Joshua Hathaway, John S. Rockwell, Allan W. Hatch, Cyrus Hawley and Mr. Nichols. After the departure of Mr. Chase a Mr. Gardner read the service, and subsequently Jonathan E. Arnold was induced to join them, and being a good reader was induced to read the sermons, most of them being from Bedell and Dewey's." The above history also has been the subject of some controversy, and the early history of St. Paul's church as prepared for "Wheeler's Chronicles" gives the following history of the early Episcopal services. "In the summer of 1836 several church- men met in the register's office, and a Mr. Nichols, father of the Rev. Mr. Nichols, now of Racine, read the service. These meet- ings were kept up for about two months, until a nephew of Bishop Chase visited the town. This young man was studying for the minis- try, and he officiated in a voluntary manner during the summer.
Two reverend gentlemen by the names of Beardsley and Berry, visited the village and remained long enough to give the young and feeble society a fresh impetus." During the year a subscription list was started and some $2,000 was raised to call a clergyman to the village. Rev. Dr. Henry Gregory, who had held the first Episcopal service in Milwaukee, was asked to become the rector, but declined. and before another call could be sent to any clergyman the great financial crisis of 1837 swept the country and rendered void the subscription list. It was nearly a year afterward before the Episcopal communicants of Mil- waukee had sufficiently recovered from the financial difficulty to extend
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a call to Rev. John Noble, who accepted. He preached his first sermon on Ash Wednesday, 1838, in a building at the corner of East Water and Wisconsin streets. In April of the same year the organization of the society was effected at a meeting in the court house, Rev. Mr. Noble presiding. Dr. J. S. Hewitt and Samuel Wright were elected wardens and A. S. Hosmer, Cyrus Hawley, H. Crocker, Joshua Hath- away and John S. Rockwell were chosen vestrymen. In the summer of 1839 the Rev. Lemuel B. Hull was installed as rector, and served as such until his death in October, 1843. Bishop Kemper's first visit to Milwaukee was made in January, 1839, and on the 13th day of that month celebrated Holy Communion, the first to be held in the city. The bishop's visit occurred during the interim between the resignation of Mr. Noble and the assumption of the duties of rector by Rev. Mr. Hull. Again in August of the same year Bishop Kemper visited Mil- waukee, after Mr. Hull had assumed his new duties, and in a letter to his daughter speaks highly of the cordiality and Christian spirit of the Milwaukee people. The first convocation of the Wisconsin clergy was held at the court house on Sept. II and 12, 1840. Beside Bishop Kemper there were present Rev. Aaron Humphrey, of Beloit; Rev. R. F. Cadle, of Prairie du Chien ; Rev. Benjamin Eaton, of Green Bay ; and Rev. Mr. Hull, of Milwaukee. The advisability of forming a diocesan organization in Milwaukee was discussed and decided im- practicable.
The Milwaukee parish, which had been named St. Paul's, was without a pastor for the two years succeeding the death of Rev. Mr. Hull. Under the latter's administration the congregation had pur- chased property at the corner of Jefferson and Mason streets, the pres- ent site of the Layton Art Gallery, and a small frame edifice, valued at $4,500 was under construction. On March 18, 1845, Rev. Benjamin Akerly was tendered the rectorship of St. Paul's and on the 26th day of the same month held the first service in the new church. The church membership grew rapidly and it was determined that the parochial bounds of St. Paul's church should be restricted and two other par- ishes, one on the west side and one on the cast, should be established. This was in January, 1847, and on the fourth of that month Trinity church, now St. James', was organized with thirty communicants and Rev. J. P. T. Ingraham, a recent graduate of Nashotah, placed in charge. On June 7 of the same year St. John's parish was organized on the south side and Rev. David Keene, another Nashotah graduate. was made its pastor. The first service in the edifice erected by the con- gregation, a small frame building eighteen by fifty feet, was held by Mr. Keene on the Sunday after Ascension, 1847, and the church was
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consecrated by Bishop Kemper on St. John's day, Dec. 27, 1847. This was the first consecration of a church under Episcopal auspices in Mil- waukee. In the same year St. Paul's church was reorganized under the laws of the territory.
On Feb. 27, 1847, Bishop Kemper called a convention of the clergy and lay deputies from all the parishes in the state for the pur- pose of organizing a diocese. Wisconsin was emerging from its mis- sionary character and it began to be felt that the seat of a see should be in Milwaukee. The diocese of Wisconsin was organized, and Bishop Kemper was elected bishop of Wisconsin, but it was not until 1854, when he again was unanimously elected as bishop of the diocese that he gave up his work as missionary bishop of the Northwest, to assume that of bishop of Wisconsin. At the session of the annual council in 1866 Rev. William Edmond Armitage was elected coadjutor and dur- ing December of the same year was consecrated. To him was assigned the duty of developing the cathedral idea in the city of Milwaukee. By 1869 the matter had so far progressed that Nov. I witnessed the laying of the corner stone of All Saints Cathedral by Bishop Kemper. Bishop Kemper passed away at Delafield, Waukesha county, on May 24. 1870, and Bishop Armitage succeeded to the position. His time for the months immediately following was so taken up that he could not devote his entire time to the cathedral, but on July 17, 1873, the cathedral was consecrated.
No history of the Episcopal church in Milwaukee would be com- plete without a review of the life of Bishop Kemper, whose part in the early development of the church was the leading one. Jackson Ken- per was born in Pleasant Valley, N. Y., on Dec. 24, 1789, a son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Marius) Kemper. Paternally he was descended from a long line of American patriots and his mother's ancestors were immigrants from Holland. In 1809 he graduated at Columbia Univer- sity, and then began the study of theology. On March II, 1811, he was ordained as a deacon in the Protestant Episcopal church by Bishop White and was made assistant in three churches of Philadelphia. In 1814 he was ordained as a priest of the Christ church of Philadelphia and served in that capacity until 1831. When he left it was to accept a call to St. Paul's church in Norwalk, Conn., a charge which he filled for four years. In 1835 he was made the first missionary bishop of the Episcopal church and went to St. Louis to reside. Ten years later he removed to Milwaukee and his later life is the history of the church in this city and state. It was due to his efforts that the theological seminary at Nashotah was founded. In 1829 Columbia University conferred upon him the degree of doctor of sacred theology and in
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1868 the University of Cambridge gave him the honorary degree of doctor of laws.
Bishop Armitage, who succeeded Bishop Kemper, was born in New York city on Sept. 6, 1830. He was graduated at Columbia in 1849, and at the General Theological Seminary in 1852, was ordained deacon in 1852 and priest two years later. His first charge was as as- sistant minister at St. John's church, Portsmouth, N. H., and he re- mained in that capacity until he was made rector of St. Mark's church at Augusta, Me. In 1859 he accepted a call to St. John's church in Detroit and was there consecrated to the episcopate. Upon coming to Milwaukee his chief labor, as previously stated, was the development of the cathedral idea and with what energy he devoted himself to his task can best be judged by the results he achieved. On Dec. 7, 1873, Bishop Armitage passed to his rest.
The logical successor to Bishop Armitage was Rev. James De Koven, D. D., warden of Racine college. Dr. De Koven was recog- nized as the leader of the more advanced wing of the American church and was a theologian of the first rank. It was fully expected that he would succeed Bishop Armitage, but certain unfortunate divis- ions in the church led to the rejection of the nomination of Dr. De Koven made by the clergy by the lay members of the special council, and the matter was postponed until the meeting of the regular council in June. When that body convened Dr. De Koven refused to allow his name to be presented, and a compromise was affected whereby Rev. E. R. Welles, D. D., was elected bishop. On Oct. 24, 1874, Dr. Welles was consecrated in St. Thomas' church, New York, as the third bishop of Wisconsin. He was born in Waterloo, N. Y., on Jan. 10, 1830, and graduated at Hobart College. He was ordained to the min- istry by Bishop De Lancey; to the diaconate in 1857 and to the priest- hood a year later. In 1858 he became rector of Christ church, Red Wing, Minn., and served in that capacity until his election to the episcopate. His assumption of the duties of the office was under rather adverse conditions. The diocese had just concluded one of the most bitter struggles in church history, with two factions arrayed in opposition to each other. The forces which had opposed Dr. De Koven turned their enmity to the cathedral and instead of lessening only increased the burden on Dr. Welles' shoulders. It was some years before a satisfactory arrangement could be made whereby the property of All Saints' parish could be transferred to the "joint tenants" of All Saints' cathedral, but the matter was finally culminated on June 19, 1882. Bishop Welles' health had been gradually failing for some years prior to June, 1888, when his congregation raised a
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purse to send him to England to seek health and attend the Lambeth conference. He remained abroad until September of that year, and upon his return he went at once to his birthplace at Waterloo, N. Y., and there breathed his last on Oct. 7, 1888.
While a contest marked the session of the council of Dec. 12, 1888, for the election of a successor to Bishop Welles no such scenes as marred the council of 1874 were enacted, and the choice of the council was Rev. Cyrus Frederick Knight, D. D., D. C. L., rector of St. James church of Lancaster, Pa. Bishop Knight was born in Boston, Mass., on March 28, 1831, and graduated at Burlington College, Harvard University and the General Theological Seminary. He was ordained deacon in 1854 and two years later was made a priest. He then spent some years in travel and study abroad, and was after his return successively rector of St. Mark's, Boston, the Incarnation (now St. James'), Hartford, and St. James, Lancaster. Frederic Cook Morehouse, writing of the history of the Episcopal church in Milwaukee for a publication issued in 1895, says of Bishop Knight :
"Bishop Knight's episcopate was too short to have left any marked impress upon the church in Milwaukee, but he was enabled to see, and, in a measure himself to be instrumental in bringing about a better feeling among churchmen in the city, and a gradual loosening of the narrow factional lines which had once been so tightly drawn. His most notable act was the appointment of Rev. G. Mott Williams as dean of the cathedral, in succession to Mr. Mallory, who resigned in 1889. % Bishop Knight's ministry was terminated by his death, on June 8, 1891, and the diocese was again in mourning. His work had been constant, and had probably caused his speedy demise."
The regular council met on June 16, 1891, and proceeded to the choice of a successor to Bishop Knight. Rev. Isaac Lea Nicholson, S. T. D., at the time rector of St. Mark's church in Philadelphia, was elected to fill the vacancy, and on Tuesday, Nov. 10, was enthroned in the cathedral. Bishop Nicholson was born in Baltimore, Md., on Jan. 18, 1844. His early eduation was received at St. Timothy's Hall, Catonsville, Md. Impaired health prevented his carrying out the plan of studying further in order to enter the ministry, and for seven years he was employed in his father's bank. At the end of that period he had recovered his health and matriculated at Dartmouth College, at which he graduated in 1869. While a student there he studied under Rev. James Haughton, to whose influence he always attributed his final entrance into the ministry. His theological training was received in the Episcopal seminary at Alexandria and in 1871 at Grace church,
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