Mary-Lanesville-Historical-Paper-Unfinished

introduction
To say our parish history revolves on two abiding
realities, hard work and Faith, is easy. It may seem like
all we are doing is saying the obvious. But is it?
We have had work since the si ' th day of creation.
our Faith has given us the potentia for giving work, ~ s
hard work, fresh meaning and incen 've. That is a mes age
which our parish can and should give beca
for man, p _0ple
today work is boring and a drudgery without la inw
·
meaning.A US Government study of work emphasiz~~that work ·
without a . soul is when life gets rotten. Yet i~/IS work,
hard work integrated with Faith; which has ma
our parish
unique and it can continue to do so.
We received this priceless heritage with our relatives
who came here from Germany 150 years ago. Other people have
worked too but there is something different about the
Germans made it a means, not an end. Perhaps our neighbors
to the West, our brothers in the Benedictine community at
st. Meinrad and our sisters in the Benedictine convent at
Ferdinand, have said it better: to work is to pray. An=·n
that sense, we can speak of our parish as a unique comm nity
of hard work and faith. It is our Faith which brought ope
to a world some 20 centuries ago. It is the Gospel wh ~th
promises: " come to Me all you labor and carry heavy t urdens
and I will refresh you!" How else did our early bishops such
as Maurice St. Palais find the stamina to make nine f rips
across the ocean?
i
Our secret is NOT how long we work or how muqh we
produce. God is NOT an industrial engineer making ~ ife only
a series of time and motion studies. Rather it is ~hat we
put into our work as the Gospel parable of the workers in
the vineyard can remind us. For most of our parish~
l hi tory,
the work of most of our people has been farming. W at
s
r
made farming a vocation is fidelity to a stewardsh ~ as
earlier celebration of Rogation Days every spring w uld
1
recall to our people, we are absolutely dependent on
Go
o
is Master or Lord of the harvest. It is true that ~st' of u~'¥'
longer plow, plant, weed and harvest but our ins_;,: 1 ~ sic
~
dependence remains. The~ are many tasxl.t- in life toqay wh;(ch . - require hard work and Ffi th~ -/
\
,.
I
The Faith of the parish remains wne ht ~~ pe ~ k of Sis~er Ludwina Sprayer who died almost a \ ~'oon a s -- s 'fie
arr1 ved here, a young woman very recentl professed/. There
are also Franciscans, daughters of the pa ish of w~om one
r~ined with her vows for 75 years and -.,, ose totai length
of service amounts to almost ttio years. / It is a,lso the
witness of the fe~g of those 32 fami 1 :' s , in ou,i first 25
to 40 years who had ten or more childr
- \ i n t_/h ose who
-
remained single AND in Don Schneider who perhaps
mysteriously has moved to another part of our Master's
vineyard. In many ways, our past 25 or 30 years are a
mystery hidden in God but a God Who is faithful to His
commitment to remain with us always.
We should not be outraged if God writes straight with
what Shakespeare has called "crooked lines." It was also
almost a century before God gave us a son who would return
here to offer and bless bread and wine at our altar. Perhaps
those years were a preparation for it, in part an answer to
faithful daily prayers like those of Kunigunda Gehring
(Gering) Schellenberger. We live in a world where waiting is
unacceptable, if not resented yet our whole parish history
is a becoming stout-hearted and waiting for not a Godot who
never comes but for a God Who is Father, Brother and Lover.
The reference to Godot is a play by an agnostic who
apparently did not know our God. We all live in earthen
vessels but there is also One like us Who shared our fate to
a degree no one would have dreamed. In a remarkable and
thoughtful book, THE SECOND CONQUEST, a believing, but not
Christian King when learning about the Passion and
Resurrection, exclaimed, "oh, earthlings, who would not envy
you your destiny since God has deigned to share it!"
That however is only one half of our story. God has not
only shared in our destiny, even to the grave. The other
half is that He wants us to share in His very life; He is
the God of the Living who offers us a more abundant life
beginning now. Consider that one of our early priests, Louis
Nygren helped people die amidst the horrors of war and the
almost unbelievable agony of cholera. Yet he survived and
remained faithful for a lifetime that consumed almost a
century.
This then is our Faith - the Faith of St. Mary's
Lanesville - and this book is both our tribute to those who
have gone before us and also our pledge to those to whom we
shall pass on that unique heritage of hard work and Faith.
Let us learn more about that heritage.
BEGINNINGS
To write a history of a parish is an act of Faith. It
is also a statement that somehow what our people have done
in the past still has meaning for us today. It likewise
expresses the hope that here is something significant for
our children, grandchildren and those who may move into our
parish. That significance may simpl·t)'f be a conviction that
there is a future. The temptation today may be doubt that
there is a future or at least to let unexamined anxiety
prevail in our thoughts about the future. The Christian
response - that of our parish - is to repeat these words
with which we have b~gun the Preface of the Mass: " LIFT UP
YOUR HEARTS; WE LIFT THEM UP TO THE LORD!"
r---
But who are we? We are St. Mary's, Lanesville. And what
can or should that say to us? These pages hope to help us
answer that by getting in touch with our roots. Our roots
derive from these three roots. We came from a frontier and
pioneer setting just 200 years ago - not a long time
considering the appparently long history of humankind. We
were an immigrant church with agricultural beginnings. There
IS something different about having one's origins in
farming. We have become a part of a multi-national society;
we are still learning what it can mean to be Catholic and
Christian as we prepare to enter the 21st century since the
Incarnation.
So let us present something about our beginnings. These
are the years which begin with the opening of the Northwest
Territory shortly after the end of our War for Independence.
And as a parish, they have origins in John Miller's chapel
near Dogwood and extend to the coming of Father Alphonse
Munschina in 1854. Originally named for the intrepid St.
John the Baptist, our first listing as a parish is in the
Catholic Almanac in 1843 ,
People were coming here to make homes before there were
railroads. They had barely begun to make their appearance in
those early 1840's. There was also neither radios, TVs,
telephones, automobiles, computers, tape recorders,
typewriters, airplanes, movies or electric lights. John
Tyler was only our 10th President while his youthful,
vivacious Julia was the first Catholic to become mistress of
the White House. Her husband had been elected in 1840 on a
slate headed by the man for whom our county is named and who
once lived in these parts. This country did not yet have
postage stamps while Texas and California had not entered
the Union. The movement westward was in its infancy.
On a more global scale~, Italy and Germany were not yet
nations. The Pope was still a temporal ruler. The Central
and South American countries were still feeling their way
as nations. Japan was still closed to the world and the mere
beginnings of colonization were taking place in Africa. No
one had even thought of a league of nations while Queen
Victoria was recently married and in . the first years of what
was to be the longest reign in Engl~. A 30 year German
composer of genius named Richard Wagner was getting ready to
startle a Latvian audience with the colorful music of his
"Flying Dutchman."
The reigning Pope, Gregory XVI, had more in common with
his predecessors than those who were to come after him. The
events which were to spread devotion to Our Lady, including
the naming of her as our country's patronesss were yet to
come. Thomas Aquinas was yet to be named the patron of
Catholic education and intellectual life. None had even
heard of the Baltimore Catechism. Young people still made
their First Holy Communion around the dawning of adolescence
and frequent Communion was not to come until the next
century. The Church had little to say to and about the
Industial Revolution which was beginning to make its
presence felt.
Coming closer to home, a 25--year- old priest named
Edward Sorin and his companions were just arriving at what
is known today as Notre Dame at the invitation of our
bishop. There were now 16 dioceses and not quite 600
priests, diocesan and secular; probably over half of them
had been born abroad, mostly French. The only Jesuit
university was Georgetown but a number of congregations of
women religious were on the scene, some of which had been
founded in this country by Americans such as Catherine
Spalding, Mary Rhodes and Angela Sansbury. The use of
missals at Mass by the laity and a codified Canon Law were
still to come.
The beginnings of German immigration to these parts and
elsewhere had begun, along with it a rather vocal Native
American sentiment, which came to be known as the
Know-Nothing Party. It had both anti-foreign and anti Catholic feelings. The very year our parish was founded, a
publisher-printer in nearby Corydon, Ignatius Mattingly
refused to endorse their movement and so one night
vigilantes came and destroyed his plant. Despite his first
name which seemed to suggest that he at least had been born
into the Faith, our county's capable historian, Fred Griffin/
maintains that at the time of this incident, he was a
Presbyterian. Yet considering the vehement dislike of the
Jesuits in those years by a number of other Americans who
seem to have included Thomas Jefferson, it is hard to
imagine that the parents who had given him that name were
other than Catholics. The year after our parish began,
Illinois sent a lanky young man to Congress who had spent
most of his impressionable teen years in neighboring Spencer
County. His name was Abraham Lincoln.
The Know Nothings
attitude towards Catholics seems to have been varied since
some of them helped support the building of our schools in
Vincennes. The most unusual behavior noted among them was
that although former President Fillmore ran for this high
office on their ticket, between the end of his term and that
election, he secured and had a private audience with Pope
Pius IX!
And while these sides of our story are important, there
are other sides of it which we now turn to.
The earliest white settlers of our area and surrounding
territories were the French. There is a report that the
first Mass at what is now Vincennes took place in 1702. One
cannot forget that they co-existed with the Indians, an
undetermined number were baptized. There were intermarriages
and perhaps some of our earliest French people were of mixed
blood. Eventually, the English were envious of the French
presence and prosperity and the French and Indian War was
the result with the English winning it and Canada at the
decisive battle of Quebec in 1763.
One result of that was that a good number of French
left this area while those who remained were poorly treated
by the English, especially on religious grounds. That was
the state of things when the American colonies went to war
with the English. The French were aware of that and it was
probably involved in their decision to enter this conflict
on the American side. So, when Washington sent George Rogers
Clark over the Ohio to this area of which Vincennes was the
center, Clark soon learned that the most influential among
the French here was the Catholic Pastor at Vincennes, Father
Gibault. Clark convinced him Americans would treat Catholics
better. This led to a useful alliance and the war ended with
Americans in control of this territory, a condition
confirmed by the Treaty of Paris.
Clark's expedition thus led to the territory which
would become the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan
and Wisconsin. The conclusion of the war led to increasing
American settlements largely by war veterans who had
received land grants in these parts. One of them was a Major
Harbison whose land was in what is now our county. He soon
found that some of the Indians were still a threat. On one
of their raids, they killed a number of settlers including a
man named English and kidnapped his three children. In due
time, Harbison had met and begun to court the widow. Moved
by his ardor and character, she said she would marry him but
only after he had rescued her children.
It took him three years to achieve their freedom,
largely because one daughter had become attached to the
Indian family which had made her one of their own. Har~ison
was as persistent as he was courageous and wise for
·
eventually he succeeded in the rescue and courtship. As the
children grew up, two of the girls found two sons of the
Pennington to their liking. This family has given its name
to one of our town's main st·reets. Gradually the Indian
threats abated. Probably the clincher was the American
defeat of the English and their Indian . allies in what we
know today as the War of 1812. A one time resident of our
county, William Henry Harrison, won the decisive battle of
Tippacanoe, providing the basis for a slogan that would help
him win the Presidency years later.
It was also during the closing years of that war that
other settlers came down from the Appalachians and the Ohio
River. We have briefly mentioned one family that of the
dyer, John Miller. They were both Pennsylvania Dutch and
Catholic and as far as we know, the first Catholic~
Americans to settle here. What their Faith meant to them
when we learn that Miller himself built a special room onto
to his log house to serve as a chapel where Mass could be
said and those who came could receive Our Eucharistic Lord.
It is not certain who was the first priest to offer
Mass in that humble chapel which was located in what we know
today as Dogwood. Perhaps it was the first person to be
ordained in our country, the refugee from the French
Revolution, Stephen Badin. Much has been written about this
zealous, yet outspoken and indefatigable priest, whose
missionary endeavors remind one at times of St. Paul. Coming
to our area at an unknown time, he found that most of the
Catholics in this and nearby counties were settling around
Vincennes along with the few French who had remained. Yet
Badin was not the first for in the year before his
ordination, the first American bishop, a one time Jesuit
before the suppression of the Society, John Carroll of
Baltimore, had sent another French immigrant, Benedict
Joseph Flaget to be pastor at Vincennes in 1792 where he
remained until 1795. Flaget was a courteous, zealous, self
giving and withal a rather severe in certain aspects. The
vast majority of his parishioners were French and those
Indians who had become Catholics, originally probably
through intermarriage. The extent of his ministry can be
glimpsed by this fact; at his first Christmas Masses, some
700 persons were on hand but only 12 received Our Lord!
When Flaget left in 1795, he first resumed his seminary
teaching in Baltimore and then became the first bishop west
of the mountains at Bardstown, Kentucky, taking over in
1810, though named in 1808. He was not to return to
Vincennes until sometime in 1814, then a three day trip by
horse from Louisville which he made solo, sleeping on the
ground! It is not known whether he offered Mass around here
enroute or if Miller had already built his chapel. Though
most local histories date that chapel as 1814, there is not
full evidence that this date is accurate. We do know that
between 1814 and 1829, Flaget was to make six trips to
Vincennes and quite possibly, he did say Mass at Miller's,
probably confirming the son, William, who was apparently the
first American Catholic child baptized in our county.
There is almost universal admiration for the way in
which Flaget lived his faith and priesthood. One has
described him·as "preeminently a worker." Such an example
contributed to the tradition for these two qualities which
has distinguished the Catholic Faith in our midst ever
since.
The number of Catholics in this and surrounding
territory continued to grow and were no doubt a factor in
helping Flaget convince Gregory XVI to create the diocese of
Vincennes in 1834. It took up all of Indiana and goodly part
of Illinois. Like Flaget, the new bishop was a Sulpician and
had been connected with the seminary at Baltimore which this
order continues to operate. Simon Brute, whose family was
seriously diminished in its worldly resources due to the
French Revolution, had scarcely been ordained a bishop in
the cathedral at St. Louis, before he was off and on to his
native France, recruiting seminarians and priests, one of
whom was to work in our midst. His name was Joseph Louis
Neyron.
The hard work and faith elements in our local tradition
are uniquely alive in the life of this man who was among the
first to baptize our children, officiate at our marriages
and prepare us to meet God in eternity. Before he came here
with Bishop Brute - even before his ordination, he had known
life as no other priest in our history and even as few
persons had experienced it.
He tells us that when only 17, he marched to Russia as
an army doctor under Napoleon as an army surgeon.
That must
have been an ordeal for Napoleon was an ardent
disciplinarian, intent on conquest and not overly concerned
about its cost in human terms. The casualties were many and
in circumstances which intensified the human suffering.
Forced to fight and retreat in a sub freezing Russian
winter, young Neyron must have learned a great deal about
the agonies of being human as well as medical practice in
conditions hardly resembling even contemporary hospitals.
Yet he stuck with it and remained in the army under Marshal•
Ney even when that officer deserted to Napoleon on his
return from Elba. Thus, young Neyron was active in the
Battle of Waterloo.~His devotion to duty almost cost him his
life for he was ta~ prisoner while treating a wounded
general and then he was robbed, almost executed before being
turned over to the British by the Prussians. His surgical
skills saved him.
These skills not only saved his life but with medical
treatment available only in highly limited fashion, the
British also paid him a handsome salary. The war ended after Waterloo; young Neyron found himself pondering the pros
and cons of two careers, the army or the priesthood. It must
have been a highly difficult decision for 10 years were to
elapse between the war's end and his entry into the seminary
at Lyon. Handsome, able and intelligent, - it is only natural
that the option for lifetime celibacy gave him pause. But he
made up his mind and did not look back from the plow of
which the Gospel speaks.
By 1828, he was ordained for the diocese of Bellay
where he ministered for seven years. Then Simon Brute came
to his diocese, inviting volunteers. Neyron tells us "I
heard in his invitation the voice of God! Our bishop released us and it was pleasing to me that like me, Bishop
Brute had been a doctor and a surgeon!f ~
Though first assigned to New Albany, the outbreak of
cholera brought him to the nearby state of Kentucky. "It
made my presence necessary and many a poor victim died in my
arms as I administered the last sacraments. "Space does not
allow anything like a full description of his ministry. Once
again, his medical skills took him to Louisiana and Texas
where he contracted malaria, leading to rheumatism.
Returning to our area, spent 27 years in New Albany and
surrounding countryside where he ministered to our people at
various times during the 1840's. The rheumatism forced his
retirement in 1866 and so he went on to Notre Dame where he
began to teach at the age of 71. The colder climate removed
his rheumatism and he lived and gave himself for another 22
years without either cane or glasses. While at New Albany,
he would walk with his food supply to St.Mary's of the
Knobs.
We do not know whether his first years at New Albany
took him to the Miller's chapel. His first certain presence
in our midst was in the fall of October, 1842 when he
officiated at the wedding of John Wolford and Barbara
Schwaend, probably at the Miller chapel. John Wolford or one
of his family sold the property on which our church was to
be built along with a tract which belonged to Augustus
Bulleit of French ancestry. This took place in 1842-43 and
at that time, there appears to have been 25 Catholic
families in our community, mostly of German birth. Of these
families, that of Jacob Yanner was the first known to settle
here. Yanner had originally settled in Louisville to work
and get enough money to buy a farm here.
For several years,
beginning in the mid 1830's, Yanner would make the arduous
trip to St. Boniface to make his Easter duty of Confession
and Communion, the Franciscan parish having had its first
Mass in the building on the present site in 1837. This
parish retained its German identity for ~lightly more than a
century.
It was either in late 1837 or 1838 when an invaluable
assistant crossed the ocean to join the ailing Bishop Brute.
Already ordained, a native of Croatia, then a province of
the Austrian Hungarian Empire, Josef Kundek's mastery of
fluent German was a Godsend to his bishop whose fluency
with that language was not one of his gifts. Brute
immediately sent the still youthful Kundek to visit this
part of his diocese where the Germans were started to settle
in considerable numbers.
Kundek offered Mass and dispensed
the sacraments for our people and advised the bishop that
there was need for a parish. Kundek was a tireless worker
who was also at that time becoming founder and pastor of the
church named for his patron in Jasper. He was as tireless
and zealous in Southern Indiana as one could want.
In the meantime, another brilliant young seminary professor
named Charles Opperman had been ordained and was sent to
pastor the people at Oldenburg. Kundek told him about the
families in and around Lanesville and so, on his trips to
and from Oldenburg, the young priest stopped here to
minister to our needs. That included helping our people
raise funds to buy the land on which our present church and
property stand. Not the least of Fr.Kundek's achievements
were a trip to Europe which made possible the establishment
of St. Meinrad and the Benedictine convent at
Ferdinand. Though a tireless and relentless worker, Kundek
has also been described as "amiable" and ''respected by all
who knew him." And our parish came to be in 1843 •,( {), ~
THE COMING OF THE GERMANS AND EARLY PARISHIONERS
The Germans began coming to the United States soon
after the close of the Napoleonic Wars (1815). A reliable
estimate claims that from that date to the outbreak of World
War I, 5.5 million Germanic people had arrived safely in
this country. As there no country known as Germany until
1871, we use the word, Germanic, to include the
principalities and duchies of what is known Germany as well
as the present territory of Austria.
What brought these people here? Students of this
movement emphasize that they wanted to abandon a
deteriorating socio-economic situation aggravated by an
immense and unforseen population growth. Life in the
Fatherland had become severely restrictive and burdensome.
One person wrote "they came from widely different
circumstances and from all classes of society: the
availability of good farm land was a great appeal as were
opportunities for artisans, craftsmen, merchants and
workmen." Religious freedom was also a considerable
>
incentive since the religion of the prince, duke or b~on
normally determined the religion of his subjects.
Many left from either Bremen or Hamburg. One should not
ignore that these voyages posed many dangers and
uncertainties. For the people who came by sailing ship,
prior to the Civil War, the trip would take from 30 to 63
days with the longer journey being the more common
experience. An undetermined number of passengers did not
survive the tiip. Children were born and people died aboard.
Almost unimaginable limitations of lighting, ventilation,
food, health care and quality of water were commonplace.
Dangers of storms on the frequently turbelent, often bitter
cold Atlantic were ever possible.
These difficulties were overcome only to meet others.
Most immigrants knew no English while many tis officials at
New York or New Orleans were almost as unfamiliar with
German. The overwhelming number of newcomers did not know
anyone in this country, at least in these port cities. They
were only the first stop in a strange and unfamiliar land
amid a foreign tongue. The full story of these trips has
yet to be told. It seems likely that most of the people
headed for settlements where some persons of their
nationality had already settled.
/0
Such was the case of James Yanner whom we have already
met. Other names of early parishioners have come to light,
thanks largely to John Quinkert's dedicated searches of
early Harrison County marriage records. Though mostly these
names are Germanic, some are French and the latter probably
lived around Frenchtown and westward. However prior to
Yanner's arrival, there were a few English speaking
Catholics in our county who lived near the Ohio. Their
spiritual needs were attended to by Fr. Charles Coomes who
crossed the river from adjacent Concordia in Meade County,
Kentucky even before the ordination of our first bishop,
Simon Brute. None of the names in his records are on our
present parish rolls.
The first Masses were offered in a house which stood on
our present property, some say it was one owned by Theodore
Henriot. That remained our church until a veteran of the
French Army, Fr. John Dion built a modest size frame church
with the labor of our early parishioners. Prior to his
arrival, most priests who came here to offer Mass and preach
to us were German as were the majority of our people or
Alsatians who could speak German but others were French.
Between the fall of 1842 and Fr. Munschina's arrival in
the spring of 1854, 48 marriages are known to have occurred
in the presence of one of the eight priests who came to us
during those years. We will learn more about these priests
later on in these pages. At least 13 of these marriages
reveal names still on our parish records.
The number of
marriages by years are as follows:
1842 1 1844
1848 5 1849 4
2 1845 2 1846 4 1847 6
1850 6 1851 8 1852 5 1853 5.
We interrupt our narrative to introduce Anton Eisert
known as "Uncle Motzel.'.Aand here is his account of life in
these parts during those years and the ones which followed.
y
It seems that the first Germans such as those mentioned
and persons named Hess, Schickel, Spath, Spies, Weingartner,
Gerdon, Zeller lived around the areas they farmed and would
only gradually become townspeople. There were also the
beginnings of settlements around what is now Bradford,
Frenchtown and Floyds Knobs. Bishop Brute came to the latter
settlement to consecrate the church for what was largely a
French community and quite possibly Fr. Kundek influenced
him to stop here to say Mass. It was in 1839 that Brute's
successor, Celestine de la Hallandiere brought a number of
priests and seminarians whom Brute and he had spoken about
the great need here for them.
The ones who were to become well known to our people
included Charles Opperman, Alphonse Munschina, Jean Dion,
Edward Faller and maybe Aegidus Moschal. All of them except
Opperman were to be named pastors to our people. They were
ordained after completing their studies at St.Charles
Seminary, which was one of Brute's finest achievements. They
were a remarkable group of men. Though we know little about
Moschal and a sudden illness removed Fr.Opperman at the age
of 41, the other three were to spend over 150 years in the
active ministry in our diocese.
Charles (Karl) Opperman was a native of Dudestadt in
Hanover, Germany and the date usually given for his birth is
1808. He was very well educated; we know he went to school
at Gottingen before entering the seminary at St. Sulpice in
suburban Paris and eventually, he taught there and this
seems to have delayed his ordination. Like Kundek and most
of the others, he heard in our Bishop's call to the mission
the voice of God and the example of the tireless Kundek
blossomed into a friendship which led the German-speaking
Croat Kundek to invite the young man to celebrate his first
aoly Mass at St. Joseph's in Jasper on September 19, 1841.
There and at Ferdinand, the young priest provided good,
reinforcing companionship and pastoral relief for Kundek who
wrote that "about 250 German Catholic families have
exhausted not only my bodily strength but my mental
stamina." Thus, Opperman's first labors were divided between
Ferdinand, Jasper and Vincennes. However, in the fall of
1842, the increasing number of German immigrants at
Oldenburg and in nearby Dearborn County led him to be
assigned there.
He ~lso received additional instructions to
investigate and report on the situations in the New Albany
area including our county. And so he arrived in our midst
in 1843. He seemed to have celebrated his first Masses in
our county in Miller's chapel. As he ministered to our
forebears, he realized the depth of their Faith and need for
larger facilities. So, together, they bought 10.5 acres of
our present site for $325.
We know he returned here several times but the dates
are not certain except for a marriage on April 22, 1848 of
two young people of French American extraction, John L. Born
and Marie Josephine Dulieu possibly in a home near the
present site of Frenchtown.
It seems likely that or at least possible that Kundek
said Mass for our people before Opperman's ordination and
noted earlier so did Neyron. It was probably the latter who
baptized the first two youngsters here, Henry Grantz and J.
J. Bulleit, whose family sold some of the acreage for our
//
first church. Together these youngsters represent the two
nationalities in our congregation. A descendant of Henry
Grantz was to become a priest and some of his female
.
relatives were to join Franciscan sisters who were to teach
in our school. The Bulleits moved to Corydon where Frank, a
latter day descendant was among the founders of the Knights
of Columbus Council and to sell our parish its first
insurance. At least five of our early marriages were
officiated by Fr. Neyron. A Rev. John Blackinger was
assigned here in the mid 1840's but no further information
is available about his labors or himself.
Then either in late 1845 or very early in 1846, our
first resident pastor arrived. He was the Rev. John
P.Dion.He served with distinction in the French Army after
completing his classical studies. But by the time he was
offered a commission, like Fr. Neyron, he opted for the
priesthood. So, on May 25, 1839, he was ordained for the
diocese of Rennes. Yet in the midst of his seminary
training, he experienced a life threatening illness. Unknown
to any one at the time, he inwardly vowed to serve in the
foreign missions if God would restore his health. He
recovered but it would take several years after ordination
for his bishop to release him. After a brief service at the
cathedral in Vincennes, he came here and officiated at the
Ackerman Roth nuptials. He soon found his language skills
needed sharpening so he left to acquire them. His departure
was to bring us one of the most remarkable priests in the
Catholic history of our State: Edward M. Faller,
He was the son of a well-to-do and devout Alsatian
family. The new year of 1824 had scarcely begun when Mrs.
Faller proudly presented her husband with a delayed
Christmas present; young Edward arrived on January 3. The
young man was highly talented completing his classical
studies at Strasbourg in early 1840. already resolved that
God was calling him to the Altar in that part of the
vineyard known as the United States. Landing at New Orleans,
he made for his destination at St. Charles Seminary in
Vincennes. There he was ordained on July 5, 1846 at the age
of 22, being so young required a special dispensation. Very
shortly afterwards, he was on his way to Lanesville,
l -probably by ~orseback. In his brief tenure, he celebrated
' ~two marriages: Anton Day and Anna Catherine Meurer; John
Downhower ( Danhauer?) and Mary !ftU:...M,; ,1
Fr. Faller may well be the youngest pastor in the
history of our diocese, maybe in the annals of the Catholic
Church in our nation. He devoted 64 continuous years as a
pastor of ten parishes. He established a rema~kable record
in religious construction of churches, rectories, and
schools as well as St. Edward's Hospital in nearby New
Albany. His known personal donations seem to have exceeded
$150,000. He served as director of the New Albany Deanery
for almost a quarter of a century.
13
He left us for Fort Wayne but as we shall see, he did
not forget Lanesville. Between his departure in October,
1846 and the return of Fr. Dion in mid 1849, our spiritual
needs were met by Fathers Francis Fischer, Louis Neyron,
Augustine Bessonies and Charles Opperman.
Fischer seems to have arrived here sometime in 1847 not
long after a number of Lanesvillians had left for service in
the Mexican War. Like Faller and later Munschina, he was an
Alsatian, but unlike them, he only required one more yearof
seminary training. Prior to coming here, a very early
assignment for him was to the Germans of a parish in a town
with the then unfamiliar name of Chicago. There he worked
with a young French aristocrat, Maurice St. Palais whom we
will meet later in this narrative. One outcome of Fischer's
time with us are the following marriages at which ~e
officiated in 1847:
June 26 Celestine Mackerey and Julia Henriot
August 4 Frederick Zeller and Catherine Rider
August 8 Adam Heck (or Hoeck) and Eva Ball
August 11 Christian Heil and Mary Anne Kline
He was a "good, kind and amiable man. "However, he did
not stay long with us and by 1850 had joined the new diocese of Chicago from which he returned to Europe @1862.
Reportedly he experienced "discouragement at the outlook for the Church in this country."
Apparently, there was now an interlude during which we
had no resident pastor. One person who came to us at
intervals was the well-loved August Bessonies, then pastor
at Leopold. The frequency of his visits is unknown and the
only record of his presence at this time was the wedding of
Catherine Weisengill and Martin Smith (Schmidt or Schmitt)
on February 4, 1848. A few more words about this energetic
and self giving man whose priestly ministry was to reach
into our century seems in order.
Influenced by the missionary appeals of Bishop Brute,
only the lack of a seminary here kept him in France until
the school term of 1838-39 ended. His trip from Le Havre to
Vincennes lasted from August 2 to October 21. His schooling
practically concluded, he was ordained on January 18, 1840
by Bishop de la Hallandiere. He founded the town and parish
to which he gave the name, Leopold to honor the Vienese
society for the propagation of the Faith whose royal
protector had been Emperor Leopold. At first, Bessonies
spoke English imperfectly and had to speak only by sign
language. However, he arrived safely at Jasper where Fr.
Kundek gave him a map which took him by ponds, swamps,
creeks and hills. Anyone who has driven from Jasper eastward
on State Roads 62, 64 and 150 and considered what that part
of our state was before any highways were built, may have a
pretty good notion of what a trek this young man had.
The chapel which he found was literally in the forest;
it was a two story structure, the first was a residence and
the second for divine worship. Daily he had to trudge six
miles for meals and to get his mail was only 17 miles away.
From this lonely spot, he and his faithful horse visited
many counties including those bordering the Ohio River,
perhaps the first priest to say Mass in many places. He
became Leopold's first postmaster and remained there until
1852. He served faithfully and generous at several other
places until assigned to Indianapolis in 1857. Eventually,
he became our Vicar General.
Two of his companions on the voyage from France were
Francis Fischer, Alphonse Munschina and Hypolite Dupontavice
who was to have a significant role in making our parish
school possible. Bessonies' last knowp appearance here was
to officiate at the nuptials of John G. Dougherty and
Bridget King on July 1, 1851.
Several other marriages had taken place in 1848 and
some names are probably quite familiar to our parishioners.
Fr. Neyron officiated at all of them: Charles Eisert and
Mary Anne Seipel on May 5; John Nicholas Eisert and Mary
Margaret Meyer on August 8; John Geswein and Catherine Hahn
on August 18. One report has it that by now, there were 25
families in our parish. Then in late 1848, Fr. John Dion
returned here. Corydon was part of our parish and it would
be interesting to know if the publisher and stout foe of the
Know-Nothings, Ignatius Mattingly was one of them.
Dion has since become known as the "Apostle of Harrison
County." He joined with our people in building our log
church which as historian John Gilmary Shea wrote, "was all
these people could afford." He must have been a determined
builder for the log structure at Buena Vista (St. Peter's)
and the first St. Bernard's at Frenchtown were his work. The
latter appears to have been made of local yellow poplar
timbers. Dion also offered Masses at Bradford whose chapel
reportedly was erected in 1835. Outside help for these
works, especially Frenchtown, came from the Society for the
Propagation of the Faith in Paris.
Dion's return here came towards the end of the War with
Mexico. One of our county's most distinguished citizens
would be one of the returning veterans: 22 year old Walter
Q, Gresham who, as a judge, was to be confronted by one of
the parties in case before him as follows: "if you decide
against us, you will never be President of the United
States!" Gresham found that his conscience would not let him
decide in their favor. And though he did not become
President, (the people kept their threat), he was to serve
in three different cabinet posts, including the prestiguous
one of Secretary of State. His forebears had come from
Kentucky after the 1787 Northwest Ordinance and today, our
post office bears his name.
This may be a good place to look at our parish,
Lanesville and Harrison County in a larger way since that
affected our life and piety. When John Miller came here in
1814, Indiana was not yet a state but soon to become one.
James Monroe would become President during a respite from
political strife which has become known as "the era of good
feeling." Internationally, the Spanish colonies in our hemisphere were declaring their independence which gratified our
government. We began as a nation with six consecutive
presidents who had direct ties with our struggle for
independence and represented the aristocracy of Virginia and
Massachusetts. However, by 1824-30, our section of the
country, then known as the West, began to assert itself and
its personification, Andrew Jackson became President. It
also marked - the beginnings of increasing industrialization
and immigration largely of Germanic peoples.
It cannot be forgotten that American Catholicism was an
immigrant church but if the people were largely German, the
clergy and bishops were mostly French or Alsatian with some
Germans. This made them somewhat different in outlook and
priorities from that of the first American bishop, native
born John Carroll. A valuable source of information about
what all this meant and its impact on us today is Jay
Dolan's informative AMERICAN CATHOLIC EXPERIENCE.
The dominant note of rural, largely immigrant Catholic
life up till and sometime afterwards Dion's return was that
the pastor was the most educated person in his parish. His
authority was unquestioned in a church which was emphasizing
its own. These outlooks were complemented by the Germanic
heritage which also had authority at the center of its life.
This influence was pervasive and it has remained and been
felt in our time.
At the same time, a number of events were also
affecting life in this country three of which I will mention
here. They do NOT appear in order of importance. The first
was an increasingly concern with what was then called "our
manifest destiny." This meant an extension of our borders
from coast to coast. Next was the increasing challenge of
slavery and several conflicting reactions to it. Third, the
increasing immigration, mostly of Germans and Catholics led
to resentment and antipathy which was known as the Native
American and Know Nothing excitement. It was bitterly
anti-Catholic and foreigner.
/:f
\
\
\
\
)
By the first ten years of our diocese, it had several
Catholic schools,27 churches, 10 other buildings, 29 clergy,
and several religious communities including free parochial
schools and a trade school plus St.Charles Seminary. Our
first four bishops were French born and cradle Catholics.
All were formed by influences which preceded the French
Revolution and that many sided uprising we know as the
Enlightenment. These influences have been traumatically and
widely impacting on the Church until recently even in our
country and community.
Our first bishop, Simon Brute was a remarkable student.
His initial aspirations and training was for a medical
career and he ranked among the highest students. It is not
clear what led from medicine to the priesthood and before he
ordination, he had emigrated to this country; the French
Revolution made seminary education impossible or at least
highly perilous. Like Bishop Flaget whom he knew and highly
respected as a fellow Sulpician, he came to Baltimore where
they were fellow seminary faculty members. Eventually, Brute
became its rector. Becoming bishop in 1834, he tirelessly
crossed the ocean in search of priests and seminarians. He
was persistent and persuasive and two of his recruits were
to succeed him as our bishop. He was also hard working and
well loved.
His successor, Celestine de la Hallandiere had a very
keen sense of commitment while also being very devout.
However, he experienced a certain amount of difficulties in
being able to delegate work and this led to his resignation
eight years after his becoming bishop. He was followed by
John Bazin who only lived one year.
That brought to the bishop's chair a young man of 37
who had come over on the boat with several who would serve
our community. He was a man of a distinguished family,
Maurice de St. Palais who seems to have been as affable but
firm and highly committed. He is the first known of our
bishops to have been in Lanesville although there is some
likelihood rather than evidence that both Brute and de la
Hallandiere were here once. Neither of them appear to have
been able to speak German well. It was St Palais who
appointed two vicar generals; one spoke English and French
while the other was fluent in English and German. His
affability led to his title, "Father of the orphans." It is
possible that his first visit to Lanesville may have come
upon the completion of our church @1848-49 and included the
first time the Sacrament of Confirmation was administered
in Lanesville.
Father Dion had scarcely returned here when the diocese
experienced an outbreak of cholera, the extent of which is
unknown. An early Catholic historian of our diocese, Henry
Cawthorn described him as "kind and affectionate as a woman,
always in good humor with a smile of welcome for every
visitor, though his words are few while he attends promptly
and punctually to his duties, enjoys excellent health and
strength who delights in walking."
While here between 1848 and 1852, he officiated at 14
marriages, mostly between German members of our
congregation, many of whose names are still on our parish
rolls. Margaret and Catherine are the most frequent female
names while Joseph, John and Peter share honors among the
young men. He also performed a number of infant baptisms;
both that number and the total baptized are unknown for the
following reasons.
No written records have been found for
those years. A number of tombstones' inscriptions are no
longer legible and some seem to have eroded with the passage
of time. It also seems that not all graves have markers
especially in the case of infants or if there was an
epidemic.
A close scrutiny of the names of the 48 men listed as
married before Fr. Munschina's arrival, reveals some 32 are
not listed in our Cemetery records. Some 11 possibly 12
children born to the other 16 couples w~e baptized before
his arrival judging by the cemetery lists. The latter may
be incomplete since when the sisters came to open our
school in the fall of 1854, Fr.Munschina tells us we had
120 families and the initial enrollment was 65.
Fr. Dion also established parishes at Buena Vista and
Frenchtown and all this argues for a visit by Bishop St.
Palais before his first definitely known arrival in 1855.
)1
The Coming of the Lutherans
Around the time German Catholics were settling in our
county, other Germans mostly Lutherans, were also making
homes here. They found a site upon which they built a log
church, one mile from their present location. Christmas 1842
must have been a sad one for on that day, 53 year old John
Meyer was the first one to die.
The first Lutheran settlers came from the German duchy
or principality of Nassau. Upon arriving here, their
religious needs w~e met by traveling "wandering apostles",
some of whom wereAGodly men but others have been
described by historians of this congregation in language
resembling the Gospel's references to "hirelings." Some time
before 1846, Pastor Settlemeyer sought to organize a
congregation but it was not until that year that Pastor
Brand succeeded in this endeavor, calling it the "German
Evangelical and Christian Church" with many parishioner
names still on its rolls today •• And when they celebrated
their golden jubilee in 1896, only 80 year old Philip Sabel
or Zabel was the survivor of the 1846 congregation. A replica of their first building can be seen on their grounds
today. In 1848 or soon later, they acquirfed their present
name, St.John's Evangelical Lutheran Church. These people
came to this country for similar reasons to those of our
first parishioners. It was a new experience for both groups
to live near each other without the secular authority
dictating their choice of religion. However, the Lutherans
experienced a traveling Methodist missionary campaign in
1850-52 but it is not known if thi~ campaign also sought
recruits from our people.
The Methodist congregation in
Lanesville dates from 1859 as far as a church building is
concerned.
As far as Lutherans and Catholics are concerned,
tradition reveals that as neighbors, they helped each other
plant, plow and harvest crops when the need required.
However, neither congregation encouraged inter marriage and
our marriage records do not identify the religion of the
other spouse. A number of these marriages are present among
our people today. There is no information about how our
pastors related to each other until recently Parton Baumgart
told me that his grandfather and Father Hunger were good
friends and when his grandfather died suddenly while
preaching, one of the first persons to come was Fr.Hunger.
Our two congregations also shared common difficulties.
The original parishioners of both congregations were adults
when they arrived here. Both had known the arduous nature of
the trip from the homeland.
It was a quite different place
from this country and learning a new language was
troublesome. In some ways, this task symbolized the other
difficulties of getting accustomed to life here. As the
i fi
German numbers increased, there was open resentment and
hostility first identified as ''the Know Nothing excitement"
did not really abate until drowned out by the agitations
over slavery and the Civil War. There does not seem to have
been open conflict around Lanesville but there were some
strong feelings in Corydon. Nearby New Albany experienced
some unrest and there were some fatalities when Louisville
had what is known as "Bloody Monday
(August 6, 1855). The
results included internal traumatic scars and departures for
such cities as Cincinnati and St. Louis. The following
reported item from a New Albany paper during the week in
1855 when Bishop St.Palais came to confirm our people can
give some idea of how charged the atmosphere could become.
"Election of a Preacher in the Massachusetts
Legislature. The election of a clergyman to preach the
sermon before the Legislature of 1856, says the Boston
Courier of the 2nd instant, was attended by a great deal of
excitement and patriotic devotion in the House of
Representatives yesterday. Mr. Scattering had votes from all
sides of the chamber, and it will be seen that his Holiness
Pius IX has an agent in the House, who had the audacity to
cast an open ballot for the Rt. Rev. John B. Fitzpatrick,
'Roman Catholic Bishop of Boston'. Let there be a committee
of inquiry to ferret out this disguised emissary of the
Pope."
Hopefully, these common difficulties mitigated the
feelings by Catholics and Lutherans about each other based
on feelings imported from life in the Old World. And what
one local Lutheran pastor wrote about his people may also
apply to ours - having no aversion to hard work and having
fairly good farm land, they were able to make a fairly
decent living. The extent to which these immigrants voted
and took part in local politics and other civic activities
is not known.
However this insight can say something abo~t our
people's Faith, determination and capacity for hard work for
in the year after the Bishop's visit, work on a larger
church began. This project aroused considerable community
interest and conversation for when Madison pastor Father
Leonard Brandt came here on March 27, 1859 to lay the
cornerstone, the following news item was printed in papers
as far away as New York.
"NEW CHURCH AT LANESVILLE, INDIANA - On Sunday, the 27th of
March, the cornerstone of a new church in Lanesville,
Harrison County, Indiana, was solemnly blessed and laid in
the foundation by the Rev. Leonard Brandt of Madison,
Indiana, assisted by the pastor of the congregation, Rev.
Alphonse Munschina. A very large concourse of persons
residing in the town and neighborhood were present at the
ceremony, many of whom were Protestants. They were addressed
by Father Brandt in eloquent sermons,both in German and
English, and all appeared to listen with marked attention to
his expositions of the true F-9lth~ _T_b.~_Rork_ Jlpon__t_he_Chur.ch- - --- - - is -alr-eady -far - advan-ced: --ft--is to be of the Gothic style of
architecture, 120 feet in length by 50 feet in breadth.
Father Munschina has spared no pains of labor to accomplish
the undertaking, and to his untiring zeal the Catholics of
Lanesville will be indebted for an elegant church edifice.
After the ceremony was concluded, a very liberal
subscription was taken up to aid in finishing the church."·
There was also another fairly frequent common
experience which likely drew the people of our two
congregations together. There were a continuing and
significant number of deaths at birth, in childbirth and of
children in the- earl-y years af- life. This ty-pe - of -t -r-agedy ·
could not be veiled from neighborhood awareness. The
previous story about the cornerstone laying was most likely
not the first conversations between our two pastors and/or
members of their congregations. Whether earlier pastors
before Fr. Munschina occasionally met and talked is not
known.
But such conjectures are getting ahead of our story.
Returning to F~. Dion's three years with us, they came to an
:>8-f\.'t°
•
.
end when he was~to
Leopold 1n
early 1 8 5 2 • Then 1n
May of
that year our people welcomed Aedidus Moschall, another
immigrant from Alsace, of whom very little is known. Priests
were still in short supply in our diocese. Speaking of the
ones from Alsace, we want to remember that this was a region
in which French or Gallic and Germanic had intermingled
since the time of J~lius Caesar. As a result, many of ~hese
people could speak both languages. Prior to Fr. Peckskamp,
almost _ all of our ~arly pastors were from Alsace.
By the time Bishop St. Palais first came here and for
some time afterwards, most of our diocesan clergy had been
born and come to maturity in Europe. The Irish potato famine
of the 1840's began the large scale immigration from that
county but few of them came to Harrison County though they
began to be present in New Albany and their presence was
resented, intensifying the anti foreigner and Catholic bias.
This bias had deep roots in the religious history of peoples
of the British Isles and perhaps earlier.
Now, during Father Moschall's brief stay, he built a
modest rectory whose cost had been estimated at $332.75. He
officiated at six marriages three of which took place during
the winter of 1852-53. Suddenly he was transferred to
Dearborn County near Cincinnati and after that, his name no
longer appears in THE CATHOLIC ALMANAC for our diocese. In
the interim which followed, Harrison County marriage records
tell us that Fr.Dion returned to officiate at another
wedding while a Father J. J. Vitale heard the vows of
Christian Kochert and Victoria Leigart.
Other aspects of life at this time as follows. At
least 30 other persons had been born and baptized during
those years but our cemetery records do not specify the
place of birth.
This was a time when travel was arduous and probably
infrequent although Theodore Day, who later moved to New
Albany was one of the leaders in the construction of the
Plank Toll Road between New Albany and Corydon. This was in
1851 and the road derived its name from the wooden planks
on which the horses made their way. Reference to the deaths
of that time leads us to keep in mind that Dr. Crawford
Long's pioneer work with anesthetics in Georgia had only
begun in the early 1840's. Also the comment previously
quoted about the availability of medical attention and its
competence in rural areas by Fr. Kundek has to be kept in
mind. Of the 17 persons clearly known to have been buried in
our cemetery before Father Munschina's arrival, five or
maybe six were youngsters. One has to assume these totals
are incomplete.
Perhaps the least known and among the more difficult
months of our history were those 13 months between the
departure of Fr.Moschall and the coming of Fr. Munschina.
There is no record of how often Mass could be celebrated,
how many children were baptized, if there was a time for
receiving First Holy Communion etc. The readers will recall
that back in 1843 ·t;hat Fr. Kundek had carefully instructed
our people how to keep our Faith alive in the prolonged
absences of a priest so we can assume that our people could
and would baptize thexir own children and give them some
measure of religious instruction. Also there was the
heart-wracking pain of premature deaths, prolonged illnesses
and the unique tragedy of a mother dying during and after
childbirth, leaving a distraught husband and other small
children in a new and strange country where English was not
always a familiar tongue. These were the times which sorely
tried the souls of our people in which the legendary and
real Germanic tenacity joined with a loyalty to God and the
Faith to make possible the rich heritage of Catholic living
which followed.
Many sorrowing people found meaning in gazing at the
crucifixes and the pictures of our Sorrowful Mother in their
homes or perhaps some made visits to our modest church to
make the Way of the Cross. They believed in the midst of
unbearable sorrow, stress and haunting questions. Out of
these hours would come the depth of Faith whose generosity
of time, talent and limited treasure would make possible the
coming of the first Sisters and the construction of the
larger church to which we previously referred. Here began
the passing on our Faith to our children and the
affectionate efforts to prepare aging relatives to meet God
without benefit of either clergy or physician. There must
have been many a sleepless nocturnal vigil by bedsides in
summer and winter amidst highly limited lighting and
primitive plum.b ing. Imagine all we will learn when God opens
the Book of Life. Let us think of these ancestors when we
come together for All Saints and All Souls for we are truly
members of one another - and realize what a rich heritage
has been ours!
No doubt all foods were carefully prepared and
preserved, tasks taking hours and realize this was going on
before milk was pasteurized; spring houses and smokeg houses
were all we had to keep food usable and there was no running
water. Butter and cheese, pies and cakes were made with
one's own hands while meats were care.f ully salted and stored
and fruits from the farm were dried along with preparing
vegatables for "canning."
Returning to our religious legacy, let us not forget
that our first known parishioner, Jacob Yanner had kept the
Faith by taking the then long and tiring trip to St.Boniface
In Louisville, perhaps taking his wife and children. One
might suspect that he would have brought back a German
prayerbook to prepare his youngsters for First Confession,
Communion and Confirmation. Or did he do what we read
earlier about Uncle Motzel's mother, send the children to
Louisville to receive such instruction at German-speaking
St. Boniface? We do not know but we do know our Faith was
kept and kept well. One can imagine the attention with which
these people heard the Sunday sermons during their
infrequent participation in the Masses in Louisville!
We have already heard from Fr. Kundek that our Faith
was a source of joy for our forebears as well as realizing
the truth of this description of the Holy Spirit in the
Sequence for the Mass of Pentecost: "solace in the midst of
woe!" So what happiness must have been these people's when
they heard a priest was on his way to offer Mass with them!
How attentively did they listen to him as he proclaimed the
Gospel and delivered the sermon. We can doubt if anyone was
a clock watcher! What must have been their feelings when
·fit~--.they ~ place~e Sacred Host on their tongues. It
tnrilled them to hear him pray in Latin even though they did
not understand it; they knew what he was doing. And at
Christmas and Easter what did hearing the folk hymns in
German do to them? Today, some of those same hymns are in
our hymnals: "Now Praise We All Our God; "Holy God" "Jesus
Christ Is Risen Today" "Silent Night" and "Come Holy Ghost.''
Our priests came to share our joys of Baptism, First
Communion and Marriage, to console and to reinforce our
fidelity to our Faith and the hard work farming has always
been, along with its uncertainties of weather and crop
output . ·'Fhe re '-Yl.aS a 1 s_o___t.h.e.-st-F-u.gg 1 e s--- wi-t-fl-s..u..ch ma 1 ad j es as
m~-ng..--e-e-~-h-, ···--chui·e-ra-,---d-i-p-ht.e·f'·i-a -,----i-nA-u~ and
-~.
C0mmun n and Marr· ~r--'5-e---eon_~g.te and to reinforce our
fidelity a
Faith and the hard work farming has always
been,~ g with it~
i
'es of wet
ou~~ There was also the struggles with such maladies as
measles, whooping cough, cholera, diphteria, influenza and
appendictis which were at times fatal and all times
disabling. What patience was needed to let broken bones
knit?
THE ADVENT OF FATHER MUNSCHINA
Alphonse Munschina was the best known and remembered of
our early pastors. A native of Strasburg in Alsace, he was
born on May 16, 1815. One report says his family lNll:S well to
do; another identified him as a French Baron.
hBcJJoi eLike his lifelong friend and admirer, Edward Faller, he
began seminary studies in his home town where his attention
was to the Indiana missions was stirred by Father, soon to
be Bishop de la Hallandiere. He was but one of a number of
young persons so inspired and soon, together, they sailed on
,
"The Republican", a French ship, boarding it on July 2,
J~·
0
1839. He and several others were not to see their native
~~
1
land again. Though landing in New York, it is not clear ho~"~~~ f~~J'
he got to Wheeling I West Virginia, (probably via the Erie - c.P. e~ 0 \1' ~".
Canal ) but from there, he traveled to Louisville on the ~0 .i5 . yy-P"~.,.;'{'
Ohio. He and his companions then took the Louisville St.
GU~~
Louis post road ( a predecessor of Highway 150?) arriving at
Vincennes. One wonders what kind of trip it was since even
main roads of that era had hardly anything in common with
the first of modern highways. Any rate, he resumed studies
at St. Charles seminary taking philosophy and theology. By
the fall of 1842, he received major orders and Bishop de la
Hallandiere ordained him on February 19, 1843.
His knowledge of German kept him for pastoral work in
Vincennes but he also taught at the Seminary. But the needs
for German speaking pastors was urgent so he was sent to
serve Oldenburg and its four missions. This area had only
recently begun to be settled by Catholics yet one historian
tells us that "these people went to Sunday Mass whether it
rained or shone, was cold or hot, weather and conditions of
roads notwithstanding." As he would later with us, he took
no salary but privately asked for eatables which he cooked
in his sacristy where he also slept.
By December 1844, he moved north to Fort Wayne which
also had four mission stations and one of his first tasks
was to instruct youngsters for their First Holy Communion.
Then in 1846, he was moved this time to Jennings County
(the part settled by the Irish, who were helping build the
railroad) and other areas where Germans had made their
homes. Here he gained a reputation as a builder: at St.
Ann's, he built a log church and rectory; a brick church at
Muhlhausen; a frame church at Napoleon and Four Corners; a
school 25 miles north of Madison and a rectory at Four
Corners where this writer once had Sunday dinner with two
cousins who pastored there and in North Vernon.
All these things plus ordinary pastoring were done in
seven years (the Biblical seven years of plenty?). When
one thinks of construction in those days, we are likely
thinking of priest and people doing the work including the
making of bricks, hod carriers, carpenters and the other)(
skilled artisans of the time plus ordinary unskilled manual
labor. These achievements were, in a sense, a preparation
for his masterpiece of construction, our church.
From there, he was sent to organize the Germans for what
is now St. Mary's in New Albany and perhaps along with this
task, he was also assigned to our parish. He arrived here in
early spring, 1854. This was a growing community with
approximately 120 families as well as adjacent missions in
what is now Dogwood ( the Miller chapel rebuilt by Kundek),
and Buena Vista. New Middleton and Laconia were yet to come.
His work in New Albany done, he turned the parish over to
his friend, Edward Faller; there is nothing to indicate that
he expressed public displeasure at not being assigned to
what was to become one of the larger parishes and the
Deanery headquarters. He may have felt it inwardly; there is
evidence he was sensitive to demands on him but he was also
obedient.
When he arrived in Vincennes, he found that Catholic
education was one of Bishop Brute's priorities. He soon
realized it would be his too for his first step on coming
here was to visit his people. No doubt he conversed with
Fathers Dion and Bessonies as well as Fr. Kundek and Bishop
St. Palais who, by all accounts, was a caring, well-informed
and level-headed leader. The result of all this
investigation or research clearly suggested a parish of this
size needed a school as soon as possible but one which had
to be taught by German-speaking nuns. Through a fellow
immigrant, Msgr. Du Pontavice, he met, discussed and wrote
the foundress of the Sisters of Providence, Mother Theodore
Guerin who was headquartered at Terre Haute. The results of
his work are summed up in the following letter, apparently
written to Du Pontavice; the Monsignor referred to in it is
probably St. Palais. And so he was able to begin school in
September 1854 as we read. L..
There was great excitement in Lanesville · as the great
day when the Sisters would arrive drew near. And one can
imagine the feelings when their coach came into view on our
"Holy Hill." The pleasure was heightened by the arrival of
their chaperones, Msgr. Du Pontavice and their Foundress.
The Sisters assigned here were Sisters St. Charles Ryan and
Mariann McKay, both born in Ireland and still speaking in
German with a brogue and the first superior, German born
Sister Mary Frances Guthneck. The Order's historian, Sr.
Francis Xavier, quoting from Mother Theodore's letters,
says, "we received an enthusiastic welcome, being conducted
to the commodious convent with a religious procession and
all these good people wept for joy!" One suspects that one
of that crowd was nine year old Kunigunda Gehring ( later
Schellenbeger) and her family. The oldest nun was 31 and
Sister Mary Frances had been a member of the order for 10
years. One report seems to say that Sister St. Charles was
our first principal and would remain with us for four years
before heading for Fr. Faller's parish in New Albany. Our
initial enrollment was 60.
The Sisters soon discovered their students "had great
need for religious instruction." But there was also great
interest and strong parental support; teachers and students
were up to the task for five months later, Bishop St. Palais
arrived to find a class of 55 ready for the Sacrament of
Confirmation, some of whom were adults. That Sunday,
February 11 may also been the first time Fr. Munschina had a
First Communion class. We know neither the hour of these
ceremonies or whether the Bishop offered Mass with our
people or how long he stayed. It seems safe to say that we
tendered him and his companions the hospitality of a meal
with genuine German, now American gemuthlichkeit. The
pictures we have of him seem to make it clear that he knew
how to share his people's joy. Then 44, many of our parents
found he was their contemporary. There is no news story of
either the school opening or Confirmation in the concurrent
issues of the New Albany paper.
That confirmation day also provided our 39~ year-old
pastor with a welcome opportunity to discuss with his fellow
immigrant and Bishop a project which he had probably
previously broached to him by mail. Though mail was brought
and sent from here from the earliest years, the issuing of
postage stamps had begun in 1847 and no doubt enhanced the
work of the postal service. The project on Fr. Munschina's
mind was the building of a new and larger church9~'the
previous Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Piu~had
defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception arid perhaps
that started the process which led our parish name to change
to -st. Mary's with Our Lady being honored under the title of
Mother of Mercy. One reason for the title may have been the
blessings received, including the coming of the Sisters, the
opening of our school and deliverance from the cholera of a
few years earlier. The continuing of deaths at and around
birth as well as of women in childbirth also suggest that
the new title was also an intercession for Divine Mercy as
well as gratitude for it.
Both our pastor and bishop were acutely conscious of
the hardships and sufferings of life among their people.
Maurice
de St. Palais had labored in the missions at Logansport and
Chicago. He had written in his first pastoral after becoming
our bishop, " I am eager to share the labors and sacrifices
of the ministry with you." That this was not a
temporary response or merely pious sentiment, the following
will show.
In 1852, a relative of Napoleon Bonaparte was
elected Prince President in France, a position he turned
into becoming the last French Emperor. Some of the bishop's
close relatives, a family whose ties with the aristocracy
had existed for some time before the Revolution, indebted
themselves to the new ruler who sought to reciprocate. So he
told the family that as the Archbishopric of Toulouse was
open, he would ask Rome to name their brother to that see
which could easily lead to a red hat or Cardinalate. Rome
complied but our bishop politely yet firmly indicated that
he had no desire to leave us.
As for our parish, he endorsed the plans for a new and
larger church. The cornerstone was laid in early 1859, the
building was far enough along and the parish need was so
great that Masses were said in it several years before its
dedication in 1864. Some delays may have been due to the
Civil War and availability of materials. The figures also
point up the need. In ten years, Fr. Munschina had baptized
550, married as many as 120 person~ both of whom were
parishioners, the school was getting its work done and two
other confirmations, including the one on the day of
dedication which involved 186 persons. By numbers alone, one
can get some idea of Fr.Munschina's work load. On the first
of these confirmations, February 5, 1860, St.Palais blessed
our structure with the dedication taking place on June 19,
1864. The New Albany pre~s was too busy with the war and f
the coming Presidental race between incumbent Abraham
Lincoln and General Mc Clellan to report what was going on
closer at home.
It seems likely that the ceremony was an early morning
Mass; (that was the case when a similar ceremony took place
in 1896) so probably it was a pleasant summer evening when
our Bishop arrived the day before. Who came to this event
from elsewhere is not known but one suspects our former
pastor and Munschina's schoolmate ag~ fellow immigrant
Edward Faller was on hand or had mail!r every effort to do so.
Our church was aglow with candlelight and crowded; no doubt
the music was highly fitting since we already had a
tradition, befitting a German American congregation for
impressive performance of Church music. One is almost sure
that as at the cornerstone ceremony, the sermon was
delivered in both German and English. One can almost see the
pride and joy on our people's faces and hear the full voice
choir greet the Bishop with the "Kyrie Eleison.'' Everyone's
heart, especially that of St. Palais and our pastor must
~
]
(
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)
_
have beat a little more lively when after the prayers at the
foot of the altar, Maurice St. Palais magnificently strode
up the steps, bowed and then going to the Epistle side, made
an attentive Sign of the Cross and solemnly read these words
from the Introit of the Mass for the Dedication of a Church:
"Terrible est iste locus; domus Dei, portia caeli et aula
Dei."
(How awesome is this place; for it is God's house,
the gate of Heaven and the court of God.)
But there were dark clouds on the horizon. A goodly
number of our young men were at war and more details with
names will be found later in this narrative. Soon, the lack
of German speaking sisters would lead the Sisters of
Providence to regretfully discontinue their role in our
parish school. One indication of the quality of their
education was that two of their students, Joseph Endres and
John L. Wolford had been accepted for admission by the
University of Notre Dame.
In all, 11 members of this dedicated community had
endeared themselves to us. Each one was a young woman under
40 when she arrived. One of them was Ludwiga Sprayer who
died shortly after her arrival. Four of these eleven had
been born in Germany, and two from Austria, Ireland and this
country with one unknown. Sister St. Charles later left the
congregation to join the Good Shepherds in nearby
Louisville.
Other glimpses of life around here would include the
blessing of the crops on rogation days in spring. This is an
ancient ritual and as long as we were primarily a farming
community, it was an annual as Lent. There were also days of
fasting and abst~inence which introduced the four seasons.
One wonders if the long hours and rigors of farming mostly
by manual labor or home made crude implements influenced Fr.
Munschina to dispense us from fasting since the official
document exempted "persons who are obliged to labor hard and
all, who,through weakness, cannot fast without injury to
their health." Farming usually, like housekeeping, was never
done and usually lasting from sunrise to sundown - and
beyond.
Now, it seemed that the year 1865 had hardly begun when
the news reached us that the war was over and that the
gallant Robert E. Lee had surrendered to the relentless
general of the North, Ulysses Grant. This meant that our
young men, including Jacob Yanner, Jr. whom the Corydon
DEMOCRAT described as a ''brave soldier" would be coming
home. The war had scarcely ended Holy Week well underway
when what many considered its most significantly casualty
took place, the assasination of President Lincoln, in his
teens a resident of a neighboring county. Soon, we were into
a series of remarkable inventions. Cyrus Mc Cormick patented
farm machinery; Elias Howe made possible transoceanic
telegraph and Alexander Graham Bell, an immigrant from
Scotland was given a patent for a "new fangl~d contraption''
he called the telephone.
~~~~~1
Improvements in health care cameAbecause of lack of
access including transportation. Between 1854 and 1867, 152
parishioners died, 22 in 1855 and of that overall total, 97
were children five years old and younger. In 1855 and 1860,
12 of our deceased came from that group. No doubt the
frequency of such grief and hard to heal suffering made
heavy demands on Fr. Munschina as he and his trusted horse
rode day and night to provide comfort and reinforce the
faith of our people. In at least a dozen of our families,
three or four children died and in some cases, their mothers
also perished. It was around this time after the war that a
German born widow, Judith Deig became Fr. Munschina's housekeeper. One is quite sure that in a quiet, thoughtful way,
she helped him in this ministry of consolation.
It is perhaps possible to find meaningful words for a
loved friend when sorrow unexpectedly invades his or her
life. But consider what demands such a ministry can make on
a pastor already confronted by many duties especially when
so many of our people w{e kin to each other. Our pastor
probably found Fr. Lacordaire, O.P. 's counsel both helpful
and challenging when he wrote that a priest is "a member of
all families but belongs to none." If the weekly sermon
preparation is normally among a priest's most taxing
assignments, consider the demands of frequent bereavement
especially when it involves children and spouses. The
demands of being an effective and compassionate worker in
such a vineyard are often exhaustive, physically and
emotionally. In addition to being pastor, he was also
confessor and spiritual director to our sisters. Other
difficulties of the confession are that ours has been that
of a highly close knit community in such tragedies as once
involved the Heim, Altman and Yanner families.
Fortunately,
Fr. Munschina had friends among his brother priests with
whom he could occasionally relax and share his burdens.
A PRIEST'S LIFE
These burdens were indeed many sided; they obviously
cannot be described here. Yet they should be mentioned for a
parish history which does not seek to enhance mutual
understanding between priests and people is neglectful of
one of its basic duties. Briefly a priest encounters many
and varied, not to say unpredictable · expectations. They
reflect the almost infinite variety of personalities and
person! histories as well as the changeableness inherent in
individual human personalities, including that of the priest
himself. In a congregation such as ours, there are umpteen
possible situations in which personalities can jar, nettle
and clash; situations for which there often is no immediate
or quick answers. Many can involve the pastor outside the
confessional such as young people wanting to marry despite
parental objections in one or both families. There are also
marriages which experience difficulties of one kind or
another and as we move into Fr. Peckskamp's time (1893),
there are also the challenges of marriages which are
peculiar to those between spouses who differ in religion.
And it would b e unreal to write as if parental children
tensions only became difficult in more recent years. The
lack of priests or known seminarians, real or prospective,
for almost 90 years from this parish does not that this
experience of parenting did not occur earlier. Or that the
proposed entry of or aspiration of young women for religious
life which seems to have begun in the late 1870's, did not
occasionally require a pastor's intervention in and outside
the confessional. And while we have a numerical list of
marriages within the parish, one could not and should not
asume that mediation in marital difficulties was not needed.
Obviously some marriages went on the rocks, whether or not
the persons separated while some persons had extra marital
situations not all of which ended well.
So much for external difficulties in which our priests
might be needed.
There can be any number of challenges or
difficulties growing out of a pastor's humanity. He could be
drawn into vexing situations involving students in our
school, their teachers and parents, a situation which did
not begin in Fr. Baron's time. One should not~ think that
becoming a priest, let alone a pastor automatically enables
him to handle all people with the wisdom of Solomon. And
sometimes, a pastor would find, to his dismay, that some
situations would aggravate his personal shortcomings
especially when he had to react or intervene in delicate
situations or under circumstances in which he could not get
the whole story. Nor would pastors be exempt from being
involved in neighborhood difficulties of a highly delicate
nature.
A major challenge in all these experiences is the
difficulty if not impossibility of avoiding offense to
someone. One seldom really gets to know many of one's
parishioners well yet their ties reach into eternity. Such
an awesome responsibility can occasion many a sleepless
night for the priest who must often and sometimes
unexpectedly involve himself in "dangerous and delicate
matters," Every confession is unique and Fr. Munschina no
doubt recognized "it is not easy to go to confession at
all." Not the least difficulty is the likelihood of
recognizing the person and patiently awaiting what they will
say then painfully becoming aware that he or she may not be
saying it all. And how did he go about preparing our
youngsters to receive this sacrament? For in his days,
first confession took place around the dawning of
4
adolesce~e.
For some youngsters, what they said could sound
like memorizing what they found in their prayerbooks. They
may have said what they did with seeming little reflection
or providing insight into their personal situations. More
than one priest has suddenly experienced the differences
between boys and girls at these ages. This experience
includes their demeanor in beginning to use this sacrament
as well as in teaching them catechism and preparing them for
the sacraments of Confession, Eucharist and Confirmation.
How does one prepare a class for the latter which numbers
107? Consider the added challenge of preparing a young girl
for these sacraments along with that of marriage within a
few years.
The young men might be equally challenging but
in somewhat different ways.
)D
Another aspect of priestly life ~s that in those days
there was far less paper work involv~ in running a parish.
There was also a minimum of other activities including
people coming to the rectory. Perhaps Fr. Munschina spent
much time on the road by foot and horse. Was he able to
visit with them more than once or twice a year in those days
when our people lived also at Buena Vista, Dogwood, Laconia
and New Middleton? This situation was to persist until these
other places had a resident pastor. It was a far different
situation to prepare pre teens and early teens for
sacraments than later on when the youngsters were from 7 to
9 years old.
The priesthood has always had more than its share of
loneliness; that has been aggravated by sleepless nights,
the frequent lack of someone with whom one could ~ ~6 Nf-I ~
unburden one's self, share one ' s sense of achievement ana/or Q
lack of responsiveness to one's teachings and exhortations?
One pastor put it this way: "how can I minister to people
who do not respond to what I say?" These questions seem to
be a continuing vocational challenge for pastors, regardless
of denominations. How many priests have struggled in
solitary fashion with the various and continuing demands on
them in what one close observer has called " a very ordinary
kind of life"? One priest once had this to say about his
challenges, "there are things I confide to God almost every
morning without any shame." The sometimes harsh contrast
between "this very ordinary life'' and"the very heavy price
for the superhuman dignity of our calling" is at the very
heart of priestly loneliness. And so, our priests struggle
to remain faithful. Even the awesome dignity of the Mass is
no assurance that this daily offering will bring uplift or a
sense of meaning to one caught in the throes of quiet
desperation.
The Years After 1865 for Fr. Munschina
After 1865, a number of events took place whose impact
is still with us. The departure of the Sisters of Providence
made it imperative to locate German-speaking sisters for our
school. Fr. Munschina had formerly served in Oldenburg and
that plus friendships with other priests seems to have
enabled him to obtain Sisters of St.Francis, then
headquartered there. Sister Dorothy Steckler's current presence marks 128 years a representative of this congregation
has been in our midst. The first one to come was Sister
Pacifica.
The period which followed was one of growth for our
parish. In the year previous, 1864, 112 persons were
confirmed followed by 134 in 1871 and 103 in 1876. Baptisms
were not as consistently high as they were before 1864 and
after 1872, they declined about 50%. This may have reflected the fact of fewer marriages. Baptisms continued to
decline as the total between 1868 and 1872 was 259 compared
to 173 between 1873 and 1879. During these dates, we had 24
marriages in the first set of years contrasted with 17 in
the second. The latter included 1875, the only year in the
last century when our church witnessed no marriages. These
numbers do not include any marriages if the bride was from
another parish, notably when resident pastors came to nearby
communities. Between 1868, we conducted 73 funeral~ 70
between 1873 and 1879.
1868 turned out to be a special year for us. It was a
double silver jubilee: that of our parish and that of our
pastor. No descriptions of either event have been found. It
is almost impossible to say what the one picture we have _of
Fr. Munschina can tell us about him. One close student of
our parish and its people gave me these adjectives to
describe him: "zealous, committed, one who lived simply, a
pioneer priest, determined, dependable, a good horseman,
slightly retiring yet outspoken, prayerful, caring, fair,
honest in word and deed, friendly." There may be much
implied about him in this action which took place more than
50 years after he died. Albert Deig, M.D., was at least the
first known parishioner to become a physician; his mother
was Fr. Munschina's housekeeper and Albert, as we shall see,
became administrator of Father's will. He was still living
when the fund drive to rebuild our church after the 1948
Fire. He donated $100,'' in memory of Father Munschina."
.
·~
THE PIETY OF OUR PARISH: One Person's Impressions
And what might our one surviving photo of Fr. Munsc h ina tell us about him? This is a tricky question to answer since there is a general tendency in all of us to read
into a picture what we already know about a person. What
seems certain is that he had a full head of hair, was
stockily built, perhaps slightly above average in height
(5 1 8 11 ) . His eyes are alert, maybe penetrating, serious
minded, a person valued the use of his library when time
permitted or weather kept him ln, someone who made friends
with his brother priests including Bishop St. Palais. No
doubt our people shared his joy on the silver anniversary of
his ordination, February 19,1868 and that same year, we also
marked the 25th anniversary of the founding of our parish.
Looking at the large picture, forces abroad were moving
towards united Germany and Italy; the latter event put an
end to the Pope's role as a temporal but not before these
warlike activities forced an adjournment of the First
Vatican Council. That meeting saw the proclamation of papal
infallibility which caused quite a stir and some opposition~
In the country from which we drew many of our parishioners,
the Prussian "Iron Chancellor'' Otto von Bismarck took
advantage of a sudden and rather conclusive victory over the
French to declare the Prussian ruler, William I Emperor of
Germany. This action did not seem to be one that might
affect the living and practice of our Faith but Bismarck and
the Emperor, Lutherans, did not let matters rest there. By
1873, the German Parliament or Reichstqg enacted what became
known as the May Laws which legislated certain requirements
in secular education before a citizen could become a priest.
For some reason, Bismarck wanted to be master of the Church
as well as the new Germany's politicl leader so he,
embarrassing the Church, declared that his legislation was a
"Kulturkampf'' or battle for civilization. Later on, he had
to repeal these statutes
Perhaps their presence was a source of embarrassment to
Germanic American Catholics, including our parishioners.
Speaking of our people, we asked Fr.Otto Schellenberger about the piety of our parish. Here are some of his
' comments. "If I understand piety as being the OUTWARD
EXPRESSION OF BELIEF IN GOD AND IN OTHERS then I have this
to say.
The piety was genuine, but as everywhere, thee was a
lack of good teaching. Fear of God was prevalent and I would
think that our parish was held together mostly out of fear.
Hence it was so easy to write off someone who did not
measure up to the letter of the law. Because of my
upbringing, for example, I had great trouble in accepting
the so-called mixed marriages. And as we look through our
church records we see that many of these opened to families
ropened up to families no longer practising the Catholic
Faith that we were brought up with.Part of this is due to
not accepting the non-Catholic party into our community.
Maybe we had no facility for doing that.
When we had a mission in the parish, the evening
sessions were well attended. My mother used all those
opportunities though we had to travel about six miles by
road (part of which was rather rough) to get there. There
were people living in Lanesville who went to daily Mass, as
many do today. My grandparents and my mother wee such
people.They lived at the top of\Pennington near the road up
to the Church. Shortly before my' mother died she said that
she could not live without daily Mass and Communion. She had
that opportunity up to the last week of her life.
From the above, you would gather that the people
expected a fairly high standard of the priests.
I would like to add a most remarkable situation that
prevailed in our family. WE used to get up early on a Sunday
morning, have the chores finished by 6am, and be on the road
to get to Mass and go to Communion. And there would be many
of the parishioners at that first Mass. There was the long
sermon by Fr. Peckskamp (close to an hour maybe of which I
can't recall one thought. Fr.Baron did not keep us quite as
long. After the Mass we would go down to our house, where we
boarded during the week. (we boarded so we could get to
school); there we would eat breakfast. There is also where
we tied our horses and spring wagon to the pole when we
first went up the hill. After breakfast, it was up the hill
again for the 10 o'clock Mass. The choir usually sung a High
Mass at this time. We'd attend that and could be on the road
home before noon. Shortly after lpm we'd be home and have
our lunch.
I can't recall ho~ many parishioners attended
the two Masses as we did.
We never missed Mass because of the cold weather. On
the coldest days we'd snuggle up in the spring wagon and try
to keep each other warm. In case of rain, however, we might
have missed Mass so Mum would always have some reading,
recitation of the Rosary and other prayers so we could be
faithful to our Sunday observance.
To carry out the letter of the law in detail, there was
the Potter's field, outside the back gate of the cemetery.
There were buried the unbaptized babies and the adults who
died in questionable circumstances. In the older days, a
person, for example, who took their own life or who had not
made their Easter duty, could not be buried inside the
cemetery which was called "sacred ground."
During Fr. Munschina's days, his reports suggest only a
few people failed to make their Easter Duty. He has nothing
to say about other shortcomings.
Returning to our chronological narrative, it seems that
Lanesville only joined the list of incorporated towns in the
1870 Census. Here are some excerpts from the NEW ALBANY
LEDGER STANDARD dated Valentine's Day, 1874.
There was an association of farmers active in our
county and our county fair apparently began in 1858.
"Some time ago, the costly Catholic meeting house of
this place had its cupola blow~ off. It was recently
replaced with a new one besides having some other ornamental
decorations that have been placed in this house. (Italics
mine).
Levi Knotts, the Methodist pastor, is now holding a
protracted meeting (revival7)
Yaeger's blacksmith shop is now four years old.
The population of Lanesville is only about 300 souls;
and one might hung the country (USA) over without finding
another village of its size with the same business capacity.
It is surely one of the liveliest places on the American
continent. Work is not only done by manual labor but
machinery is also called into requisition to assist man in
his enterprise.
Nearly every person in town is either German or has
German antecedents and it is well known that they are an
industrious and frugal people.
I learn we have about 150 school houses in Harrison
County and as far as I know, all of them are occupied with
teachers and pupils this season."
The year 1877 marked an end of an era and the year
which followed was the beginning of new one, deeply
affecting our parishioners. On June 28, 1877, after
experiencing a number of illnesses and the pressures of
leadership, God called our gentle, caring Bishop St. Palais
to the reward He promises to all good and faithful servants.
This event took place at the Sisters of Providence
Motherhouse near Terre Haute where he had apparently found
rest, hoping to recover his health in an atmosphere of love
and concern. His 29 years had not been free of care and
disquiet. In that time, our diocese had grown to include 117
priests, secular and religious, 70,000 Catholics, 151
churches and seven congregations of religious women. He had
also seen the Benedictine Abbey at St. Meinrad become a
significant training center for priests for more than one
diocese. Their sisters in St.Benedict were providing
teachers for a number of parishes besides offering an
academy for young women in Ferdinand.
1877 also marked a milestone and significant beginning
in our parish's contributions to the larger church. Among
our very earliest families, we find the name of Grantz. One
of their members was a young man named Matthew who had come
to this country as an adult. Matthew came here, married a
Frances Zeller who had come here with her parents. They met
and married here and on April 28, 1856, they had a daughter,
Mary. Mary became one of our early students but there are no
details about her school days. Any rate, two days after her
21st Birhday, she became the first known parishioner to
enter religious life, in this case, the Franciscans. ( There
are no records of any parishioners seeking to apply to the
Sisters of Providence. Unfortunately, Mary became seriously
ill. Her condition worsened so much so that she was allowed
to take final vows on her deathbed, September 1, 1879.
Also in 1879, an unknown illness sidelined Fr. Munschina and that brought the youthful Fr. John Macke here for
an undetermined period. This is the first known incidence
of an illness limiting our pastor in his ministry.
Perhaps one of the known fruits of Fr. Munschina's
pastoral years are the respohses of our young women to
religious life. The credit also, humanly, has to be shared
with the Franciscans who taught here. During his years, 11
of our 20 took final vows and of those 11, seven served 50
or more years. Several of these young peoople were cousins
while what seemed to be twins were from the Peter Kochert,
Sr. family. Their nieces, daughters of Peter, Jr. also
entered as did their niece. Three of our young women were to
celebrate 75 years in the Lord's service but the one with
the longest time was also a Franciscan, Sr. Mary Capistran
(Isabelle Zeller). Entering one month after her 19th birthday on a spring day, May 7, 1888, she was stout-hearted,
waiting on and for the Lord until February 14, 1971 in her
102nd year. She was a member of two our pioneer families,
the Zellers and Yanners.
And now we need to introduce Bishop St. Palais'
successor, Francis Silas Chatard, then Vice Rector of the
American College at Rome. His predecessor, William George Mc
Closkey had been named bishop for Louisville some 10 years
earlier. His instructions included changing his name Silas
Moreau to Francis Silas and to make his residence in
Indianapolis while the cathedral nd diocesan name remained
at Vincennes. He had been at Rome since his late teens and
was of an aristocratic family. His ordination to the
priesthood came at the age of 27. If photography is any
indication, his personality was as noticeably different
from St. Palais' as his priestly experience.
However, before presenting the 1880's, here are a few
highlights from the past.
37
Bishop Chatard made his first visit to us on ~ovember
12, 1878. He confirmed a class of 34, the smallest known
group to date. The confirmed included 16 year old Victoria
Kochert who would enter the Franciscans in three years. That
was only the beginning.She was to serve God and His people
for the next 75 years and lived to be 94.
September 20, 1870 was to be a fateful day in recent
Catholic history. Giuseppe Garibaldi and his army entered
Rome, completing the unification of Italy and ending the
temporal power of the Papacy. Here is Lanesville, we had our
first wedding recorded as having'four attendants: the
nuptial Mass of John Schulte and ·Apollonia Wolford; she was
the daughter of our first known marriage in 1842. For some
reason, Apollonia was a very popular girls name in our community during these early years.
The very first marriage here officiated and recorded by
Fr. Munschina w?,s that of Andrew Egli and Teresa Fatigue on
April 12, 1854. His first baptism was that of Joseph Neusch
who, alas, only lived to be less than two years old.
After 1872, Fr. Munschina had more than 30 baptisms in
two yeas, 1878 and 1883. He· also officiated at more mixed
marriages than any other of our pastors after him.
By 1882, we had had six parish missions but only in one
instance has the preacher been identified. We do learn from
the diocesan paper that the missions were conducted by
various religious orders.
Despite he absence of electricity, our church was well
lit by coal oil lamps whose fuel was sold to us for years at
the price of 10¢ a gallon by parishioner John Wolford. The
school year, as we shall see, was not always as long as it
became in recent memory.
In those days, parishioners did not use missals during
Mass. That was not to come for almost half a century. Two
popular prayer books were WEGE ZUM HIMMEL (The Way To
Heaven) and DAS PARADIES GARTEN (The Garden of Paradise).The
first sold for 37~ and 62 cents while latter had editions
priced from 25¢ to $1.50. Chasuables sold for $13w, Copes
and Veils for Benediction ranged from $14 to $28 and $16
respectively while stoles cost $7. Altar wines were
reasonable while nearby convents such as Ferdinand probably
provided unconsecrated altar breads.
It seems likely that Fr. Munschina was present at the
installment of our new bishop but we do not know if they had
an opportunity for extended conversation.
One is almost
positive he talked with his long time friend,
Msgr.Bessonies, now our Vicar General who had several times
offered Mass with our people. Bessonies no doubt was pre-
sent at Fr. Munschina's ordination and maybe First Mass. He
very likely came with the bishop when he confirmed here but
there is no record of this event other than a list of the
confirmed.
In our first annual report which has come to light, Fr.
Munschina told Bishop Chatard, "my people have to work hard
for a living but our parish is free of debt. We cannot
afford to buy insurance (it was then available through the
diocese) for our church and convent.
Here are the first records of our First Holy Communion:
1878
17
1879 14 1880 20
1881 16 ( eight of each
sex) 1882 24 1883 29 1884 15 - then boys first 1885-6
8 5 1887-88 5 9
1889-90 7-13 1891 5 boys only
1891-2
6 9. This great day was the closing of the school
year and it too~ place @ the feast of SS. Peter and Paul.
Other confirmation classes during Fr. Munschina's time
were as follows: 1883 66;
1886 57; 1889 58 1892 32.
School enrollment appears to have been a seasonal
affair. In 1878, the average winter attendance was 35 but in
spring, it was 65. Tuition payment is only mentioned once
until Fr. Peckskamp comes. Our 1885-86 enrollment was 20
boys and 19 girls; in 1887-88, we had 23 of each gender. The
1889-90 attendance was 16 boys and 20 girls; the 1890-91
total was 30 each. In another source, THE CATHOLIC ALMANAC,
our figures appear for the first time in 1883 and for that
year and then from 1887 through 1893, the number remains the
same, 65.
We have already taken note of Fr. Munschina's health
in 1879. Apparently he recovered but whether fully or not,
we do not know. By the mid to late 1880's, he had reached
his 70's and was feeling his limitations enough to wire our
Bishop. An assistant had been suggested but Father told the
Bishop that he would not be acceptable to our people so he
wanted the Bishop to act. But apparently the urgency of
acting was increasing and so he later told the Bishop: "I
want you to name the person.
I do not want an assistant; I
want to resign since my infirmities increase every day. I
have served the diocese 60 years without a day of
interruption or vacation; now I want retirement and want to
be free from all responsibilities. I want an honorable
discharge. I want to live and remain in my home alone and
prepare myself, with the help of God and His holy Mother,
for a happy death. Fr. Peckskamp is anxious to come to
Lanesville; the people wish it too. I don't ask for any
support or pension. I think I can support myself. If it is
agreeable to Your Lordship, I will continue my duties until
Easter, 1889."
The 1880's were also
'-
marked by newer things and a fresh approach to life was
underway in both the Church and secular
society. The quality of caring leadership in our diocese was
the subject of a gracious and probably heartfelt tribute to
Bishop St. Palais by Governor Williams when he welcomed
Bishop Chatard. This may have been the first such public
tribute in the Catholic history of Indiana. The recently
elected successor to Pius IX, Leo XIII signaled a fresh emphasis on and in Catholic education. His first encyclical
strongly urged the study of Thomas Aquinas in no uncertain
terms, calling Thomas' teaching~~ "an abundant spring." Then
in the English speaking world, he gave a similar signal when
he made the brilliant English convert and scholar, John
Henry Newman a Cardinal.
In fact, shortly after his election, someone asked Leo what kind of Pope he would be. The
68 year old youthful pontiff, smiled and said,
"wait till
you see my first list of C~rdinals."
Possibly of more immediacy to our German American
parishioners was his diplomacy as he neutralized the
obstacles to seminary education in Germany, which Bismarck
had enacted by the Reichstag.
Here in our country, a former mayor of Scranton and 3rd
Order Franciscan, Terence Vincent Powderly became leader of
the Knights of Labor, the first American Catholic to head a
labor union of that size. Then shortly after his election
to the presidency, Civil War hero, James Garfield was
assassinated. Civil service legislation was enacted and another act set up the Bureau of Labor Statistics which
broadened the awareness of working people and their
problems.
In 1881, an event took place largely unknown to our
people at that time. Yet its origins began in Lanesville
when Frederick and Barbara Opper Schaaf arrived here in
1854 with their four children including John who soon became
a member of our 1855 confirmation class. John married in
1858 and by 1861, Fr. Munschina was baptizing· John's second
child, Andrew Albert. By 1870 this family moved to
Celestine near Jasper. And when 1881 came, Andrew, like his
father, a highly skilled wood carver, entered St. Meinrad Seminary. On June 15, 1889, Andrew was ordained to the
priesthood by Bishop Chatard, making him the first person
baptized in our parish, to enter the seminary and be
ordained to the priesthood.
There was another and earlier ordination in 1882 which
was to affect many of us for years to come. Bishop Chatard
conferred the dignity of the priesthood on a 32 year old
widower named Augustine Peckskam. Shortly afterwards, he
took over the neighboring parishes of Buena Vista, Laconia,
New Middleton and Dogwood. 1883 saw Father Allerding, later
Bishop of Fort Wayne, publish the first history of our
diocese while our part of Indiana also experienced a
cyclone.
In the diocesan collections for orphans, seminarians and Peter's Pence, our people's contributions
were $54, $38 and $28.50 respectively.
It appears that in
those days, our farm's chief cash crops were spring and fall
wheat and livestock. The plank toll road was still very much
in use and the railroad was being opened from New Albany to
Corydon. It may have been around this time that some of our
farmers began to take their produce to New Albany and vicinity either to sell it house to house and the groceries. One
feature of our toll road was tHe so-called toll houses whose
operators had to be on guard against the very real threats
of robbers. Then came our first parish improvement in 1885,
the addition of a vestibule in our church, 20' x 105' at a
cost of $15,000. According to the diocesan paper, this
project was expected to take a year to build. Perhaps it was
ready so that when Bishop Chatard came for confirmation the
following year, he also blessed it.
It was also around this time that a directory of
Indiana contained the following business references for
Lanesviille along with 17 for New Middleton:
Edward Walther County Comissioner
Peter Endris, ex Sheriff
Michael Gehlbach, Franklin Township Trustee
A. M. "Uncle Motzel" Eisert, Franklin Township Assesor,
cooper, and insurance agent.
William Benson, Justice of the Peace
Father Munschina
Colonel B. Q. A. Gresham, Notary Public
Louis Stiegemeyer, Lutheran Pastor
Henry c. Fouts, physician and surgeon
Jacob S. Horner, physician and surgeon.
Iverson Lynn, veterinarian
George Schafer, blacksmith
Wm. C. Yeager, blacksmith
John Redick, General Store sales and bartering.
c. Meyer, general store including pharmacy.
Joseph Schumann, General Store
Mrs. Maggie Schumann, postmistress.
Peter Day, Carpenter and Contractor
John Wright, Carpenter and contracto.
August Jungbluth, Saloon and Dealer in Fine Liquors
John Miller, grower and dealer in fresh fruits.
Leroy Jenkins, dealer in farmer products
J. E. Williams, grower and dealer in fresh fruits
William Meyer and Co. saw mill and cooperage.
John Arnold, distiller fine fruit brandies
Henry Bachman, distiller, fine fruit brandies.
J. s.simler, teacher, public schools
J. E. Williams, teacher, public schools
John T. Gehlbach, dry goods and traveling salesman
Zable and Hussung, saw mill
Philip L. Hirt, boots and shoe manufacturer
Stephen Day and brother, carpenter, builder etc.
q;
We have been able to identify some of the aoove as
parishioners but do not have a complete list.
The following is a typical pastoral for a diocesan
collection for the 1886 seminary collection. (Insert A)
The earlier list of Lanesville businesses dated from
1882 while the following is from the 1890 INDIANA GAZETEER
AND BUSINESS DIRECTORY published by R. L. Polk Co.
"LANESVILLE. Is an incorporated town of 290 inhabitants in
Franklin Township, Harrison County, 9 miles east of the
Corydon court house and 11 wesl of New Albany, the place of
shipment,both being banking towns. Mail, daily. John L. Wolford, postmaster.
Elbers and Sons undertakers
Henry Grantz, shoemaker
Matthew Grantz, general store
B.Q.A. Gresham, veterinary surgeon
Philip L. Hirt, saloon
Jacob s. Horner, physician
Mrs. Mattie Horner, milliner
Charles J. Messin, saloon
Christian Meyer, General Store.
Wm. Meyer and Co. staves and heading
Rev. Alphonse Munschina (Catholic)
Philip Ott, saloon
John Redick, Dry Goods
Henry Rupp, undertaker
Schafer and Reinhardt, blacksmiths.
Jacob Schochter, blacksmith
Charles Selb, shoemaker
Valker, Philip blackmsith.
Philip w. Valter, blacksmith
Joseph A. Walter, tinner
Lewis Walter carpenter
z. c. Wolfe, physician
John L. Wolford, General Store
James M. Yeager, dentist
Frank A. Yost, carpenter
Mathias Yost, cooper
,
II
Zable and Sons,Flour and saw mill.
As 1892 drew to a close,he increasngly felt the
iimitations of age and physical weakness. His last baptism
was that of William Emly; the last wedding, that of Joseph
Eve and Elizabeth Boehler; the final funeral, that of 31 day
old George Edward Schneider.
Yet 1893 held two days of grand and glorious
significance for him and our people. The first of these came
on February 19 and happily it fell on a Sunday. A New Albany
newspaper got wind of it and here is what it published:
"The Reverend Alphonse Munschina will tomorrow
celebrate the golden jubilee of his· priesthood a~
Lanesville, Harrison County. A number of clergymen will be
in attendance to lend solemnity to the rare occasion. Father
Munschina is one of the pioneer priests of Indiana,coming to
this country from France about 60 years ago and being
ordained at Vincennes, February 19, 1843. He labored
successfully in various parts of the state and has been at
Lanesville for 39 years. He built the costly brick church
which is a beautiful piece of Gothic architecture. Though
built many years ago, it is still classed among the finest
churches in Southern Indiana. Father Munschina is in his
79th year but carries his years well, being able to minister
to his large flock unassisted. He is well known in this city
having first organized St. Mary's congregation among the
German Catholics here in the year 1854."
And here is what the INDIANA CATHOLIC RECORD had to
say: "On last Sunday February 19, occurred the golden
jubilee of Rev. Alphonse Munschina of Lanesville. The ceremonies which were very impressive, were inaugurated by Very
Reverend Dean Edward Faller of New Albany, assisted by Rev.
Fr. Lucian, O.F.M. of St. Boniface, Louisville. A large
number of clergymen were present." The women of the parish
probably prepared a festive dinner and probably, the
eloquent and dedicated Rev~Engelbert Bachman, a relative of
several parishioners, gave the address of congratulations.
The other event was the Golden Jubilee of our parish.
Research has not turned up any information about when it was
celebrated and how.
A statistical indication of Fr. Munschina's 39 years is
little more than a slight indication of his ministry among
and for us. He baptized 1473 persons, officiated at 183
marriages and offered the Mass of the Resurrection for 413.
Broken down by decades, it reads as follows:
Years Baptisms Marriages Funerals Confirmations
1854-9 304
45
71
55
1860-9 510
57
106
186
1870-9 313
32
118
241
1880-9 222
33
144
181
1890-2 66
12
31
32
.
A more mind boggling equation is to multiply 17,000
times Infinity. 17,000 is an estimate of the number of
Masses he offered with and for us and we multiply them times
infinity since the value of each Eucharistic Sacrifice
defies numerical calculation.
By now his failing health was evident but he was able
to live six more years in a house he had purchased with his
own funds. For some time, a long time parishioner, a native
of Baden, Germany, the widow, Judith Deig had been his
Mrs. Deig was a great reader and a skilled,
~leasant conversationalist. Her husb~nd had died during the
Civil War and she raised her children while providing a home
like life for our pa~tor whose next of kin still lived in
France and whom hefnever see again. One of her children,
Albert became our first student and parishioner to become
first a pharmacist and then a physician. Mother and son were
to be a great comfort as Fr. Munschina had to accept and
endure an ever deepening blindness, a disabling paralysis
and a humiliating inability to handle his own affairs. Two
other parishioners, Stephen Day and John L. Wolford, by then
owner of a general store and local postmaster were others
known to come to his aid. He reeained
a number of priest friends including the head of the New
Albany Deanery and pastor of St. Mary's, Father Edward
Faller. A most generous person with him self and his worldly
possessions, Fr. Faller visited Fr. Munschina whenever
possible and did all he could to alleviate his needs and
pains.
~ousekeeper.
lj
/
Father Munschina enjoyed reading so one is certain that
his blindness was a considerable cross. However, Mrs.Deig
and other parishioners read to him. His earthly sojourn
terminated on All Souls Day, 1898 and the following tribute
from the Corydon Democrat, quite likely penned by "Uncle
Motsel" belongs in any history of our parish. Bishop Chatard
had left on a trip east some time earlier, became ill and
was confined at the home of his friend, Archbishop Ryan of
Philadelphia and thus unable to celebrate the Mass of
Christian Burial.
"Rev. Father Alphonse Munschina, the venerable priest
at Lanesville, died last Wednesday of the infirmities of
age, aged 83 years.
About four years ago, he was partially paralyzed, since
which time he has been an invalid. He was born at Strassburg
and came to this country while a young man. He had been the
acting priest for the Lanesville congregation for 39 years
and was held in the highest esteem by everyone. His funeral
took place Monday from the Catholic Church and was quite
largely attended by people from all parts of this and
adjoining counties. The Abbot, Rev. Athansius Schmidt, O.S.B. of St. Meinrad, and a large number of
priests from a distance were in attendance. The many noble
deeds of Father Munschina will stand as a monument to his
memory for many years to come. Both the Abbot and Fr.
Engelbert Bachman preached at the Mass. One might well guess
that one of the texts came from Ecclesiastes: " behold, a
great high priest who, throughout all his days, pleased God.
There was no one like him in the manner he observed the Law
of the Most High. For this reason, God swore an oath to make
his name great among the people."
\
Otto Schellenberger told us that in his opinion, Fr.
Munschina's will is an index to his character ana so herein,
we reproduce the following: (Insert B)
THE COMING OF FATHER PECKSKAMP
Fr. Munschina•s successor was no stranger to him or our
people. 43 year old Augustine Peckskamp had spent almost all
his priesthood in our neighboring parishes where he became
greatly loved and unforgetable. He was our first German born
pastor since Fr. Opperman. Born in Damme, Oldenburg, on or
near the Feast of St. Augustine of Hippo, 1849, his devout
parents named him for this great Doctor of the Church, the
Teacher of the Middle Ages. By 1869, the Peckskamps which
included his brother and sister, had settled in Cincinnati.
He continued his education at what is now Xavier University.
The Jesuit education enhanced his skill in using English
while he retained a lifelong mastery of his native German.
Sometime after going to college, he went to work and
married. His wife, Catherine conceived, but along with the
baby died soon after its birth and today, their mortal
remains are in the old St. Joseph Cemetery on Price Hill.
We do not know how long after this sorrow he made the
decision to enter the seminary and join our diocese.
However, he did enter St. Meinrad's where he took philosophy
and theology being ordained there in the late spring of
1882. He offered his First Mass on June 4, 1882, probably in
Cincinnati.
Available information reveals him to have been an
alert, sensitive, self-giving, intelligent person, a hard
and faithful worker in his Master's vineyard. Some one who
knew him well described him as "endearing, kindly and
lovable, full of faith and fervor."
He was also a talented preacher who, as Uncle Motzel's
columns in the Corydon Democrat indicate, could say the
right thing at the right time. He shared our deep feelings
about family ties and what it had meant to be Germanic and
Catholic. He sensed our people's expectations of their
pastors. While we cannot provide a complete picture of
Catholic life and practices at that time, the following can
hopefully, add to our understanding of our heritage.
Germanic piety and expectations of appropriate childhood behavior often so influenced each other that one could
not say clearly where one began and the other ended. For
instance, part of this picture imparted a strong. sometimes
rigid sense of duty to God, the Church and parents. One is
reminded that one very influential Germanic writer described
duty as "the stern daughter of the voice of God!" Otto
Shellenberger earlier in these pages suggested that this
earlier method of education and child rearing included a
rather strong reliance on fear as a means of motivation for
both learning and behavior. Parentai authority was strictly,
sometimes severely, exercised. More than one parishioner has
recalled that if the Sisters sent a child home for unacceptable behavior, he or she was almost always sure to
experience strong expressions of displeasure at home. If
Sister or worse yet, Father, punished you, that was it.
There was seldom, if ever, an opportunity to challenge the
rightness of her action or her means of expressing it.
"Spare the rod and spoil the child" was an ever present rule
of thumb and next came "children should be seen and not
heard." Of course, these notions about behavior and
punishment were not confined th Catholic education or even
institutions run by German Americans.
One has to wonder about the lasting effects of this
approach especially on the youngsters' understanding,
practice and transmission of our Faith. And also just how
did young people come to regard our priests and sisters as
well as those prayerbooks, especially in those sections
which sought to introduce youngsters to the Sacrament of
Penance.
On the one hand, these instructions very clearly emphasized that God loved us so much to the point of
permitting Jesus to die for us. On the other hand, these
books made it unmistakeably clear that conduct they
identified as sinful was deadly serious. And yet what these
prayer books wrote about examining one's conscience varied
considerably both in clarity of expression and relevance to
the lives. Behavior in church was usually described as
sternly as were obligations to parents. Yet their treatment
of the 6th and 9th commandments often strikes a discerning
reader as vague and unlikely to help its young readers
understand and apply what it said. The earlier education
emphasized memorizing material and that may have been not
too difficult; to understand it, apply it to one's immediate
circumstances and life ahead was quite another matter.
One has to wonder whether the strictness of the visible
piety of those days plus the severity of behavior and
discipline had anything to say why we did not have a priest
or seminarian for over half our history. By contrast, our
young ladies began entering the convent, usually the
Franciscans, over 50 years before our first young man would
enter the seminary. In those days, the vast majority of our
young people and others were born, lived and died in
Lanesville or the neighboring areas. Young boys seldom if
ever went away to school while perhaps some girls saw in the
convent a likeable alternative to the current domestic life.
Seminary life was remote and perhaps more girls had more
frequent interactions with the nuns than the boys did with
our priests.
From this point, let us say a little more about the
,demands of the priestly ministry. One unforgetable fact
which we may hardly remember and many never knew was that
for over 2/3's of our history, receiving Our Lord' in the
Eucharist required a strict fast from all foods since
midnight as well as abst,inence from liquids including
water. Our pastors would bi-nate,that is, offer two Masses
and in earlier days, leave to offer another Mass in a
neighboring mission, all without breaking one's fast. And
sometimes though pastor at New Middleton, Fr. Peckskamp
would also saddle his horse and head, often regardless of
weather, for Laconia, Bridgeport, Dogwood or Buena Vista.
That often meant a priest could not break his fast until
early afternoon. That would be ~ifficult, sometimes arduous,
even if a man had had a normal night's rest and/or avoided
such common maladies as the cold, bronchitis, acute
indigestion etc. But consider the challenges of fasting
along with one or more of these conditions. Does that tell
us something of what fidelity to duty could demand? Consider
that prior to 1921, all travel had to be done with a horse
or horse and buggy over terrain which was anything but
smooth and in weather which be displeasing to man and beast.
And even if our priests did not have to travel to offer
Sunday Mass, there were other times when people's unexpected
needs and other duties took them to the road in literally
all kinds of weather.
~
Finally, Sunday Masses wee preceded by Confessions
which also had to be heard on Saturday nights. There was
often more to hearing confessions well than we lay folks
have any notion of.
In some ways, the seal of the
confessional, silence, was an awesome, if not at times,
nerve wracking burden. In his remarkable book, THE CARDINAL,
Henry Robinson has the hero, then a young priest, confide,
after hearing confessions, "They ( our seminary teachers)
never told me it would be like this; sin is like an cancer,
infecting the whole person." How many priests have had to
contend with such feelings in our history? Of course, in
this day of infrequent confession, there are other
challenges which we may mention later in these pages.
And now, we turn to what we have learned of Fr.
Peckskamp's first years among us.
Hindsight is always 20-20 • But it is hard to escape
the impression from our parish's annual reports that Fr.
Munschina was practically exhausted by the time he welcomed
the 44year old Father Peckskamp in the spring of 1893.
Putting his hands to the plow, our new pastor began to see
things happen. Parish society memberships rose to 80 for the
men and 130 for the women. School enrollment was divided
with 40 students of each gender; tuition payments and Sunday
collections increased. So did pew rent.
Household visits yielded a total of 750 parishioners
and only four persons were noted as·not having m~de their
Easter duty. Alex Schellenberger joined John Wolford as a
trustee and after that by 1900, our trustees included
Wolford, William Glotzbach, Christian Geswein, Jacob Yanner,
Jacob Schneider, Matthew Grantz, Joseph Hess, Christian
Kochert, John Weisenberger, John Yost, Peter Loew, John
Stilger, and Andrew Schmelz.
We took out insurance which the diocese made available.
Known First Communion classes by years and sex were as
follows:
Boys
Years
Girls
1893-4
16
13
10
10
1894-5
1896-7
10
6
7
1897-8
10
7
1898-9
10
9
1899-1900 14
'
~
During 1897-98, parish society membership reached an
all time high with 150 men and 219 women. Sunday collections
topped the $400 mark along with a $500 donation for our new
school. Parishioners totalled 800 for the first time in
1898-99. They had been 693 when the 1890's begun. The
reasons for the increase may have been baptisms which
reached 38 in 1894, 36 in 1897 and 31 in 1898. These were
our largest totals since 1872 with the exception Of 1883.
By 1899-1900, our Society line up was as follows: St.
Joseph, the older men; St. Aloysius (young men, mostly
singles); St. Ann's (married women); St. Mary's (singles);
Sacred Heart League and the Poor Souls Society.
OUR NEW CHURCH AND SCHOOL AND AFTERWARDS
It is not quite clear when and by whom, we came to the
awareness of the urgency of our needs for a renovated church
and larger school. One could very well guess the need was
apparent but Fr. Munschina was not up to it and that at the
1893 New Albany Deanery meeting, Fr. Peckskamp discussed it
at least with Bishop Chatard.
It is typical of our parish's Faith that we took this
decision to heart. 1893 marked the beginning of what is
widely agreed to have been the worst national depression to
date. It was to last until 1897. Our fund raising brought
out numerous donations of $1 but at least 44 parishioners
gave $10 or more. Christian Meurer and Louis Walter were the
more prominent parishioner artisans who figured in the
construction while Fr. Peckskamp secured the then wellknown Italian born Louisville artist, Charles Leber, to do
the frescoing. New pews added much to the finished product,
a fit dwelling for our King.
Finally, all was ready and everyone awaited the great
day, September 27, 1896. It arrived and so ~id Bishop
Chatard. Here is how the NEW ALBANY DAILY LEDGER told its
readers what happened.
Insert C
Fr. Peckskamp's First Years - Continued
Though health care was improving, we still experienced
the grief of children's deaths at a very early age. No less
than 20 occurred in Fr. Peckskamp's first seven years and
seven of them took place in 1896. This was a situation which
our pastor had personally experienced earlier in life and
one can well hear him tell the grieving parents: "I have
cried as you have; I also have asked God why."
Another aspect of Fr. Pe~kskamp's years was an
increasing number of marriages - which involved a partner of
another faith. In those days, the spouse not of our Church
had to sign an agreement, the text of which we reproduce
below. Our pastor would then have to forward it to the
Chancery for a dispensation signed by the Bishop. And he
would send an official dispensation which appears below.
Inserts D & E.
These marriages made up almost \ of the nuptials at which
Fr. Peckskamp officiated. It is only fair to say that we
have no statistics of marriages contracted by a parishioner
where the ceremony took place in another parish. There may
also have been some instances of persons eloping and/or
marrying before the pastor of another denomination or a
Justice of the Peace of which no records have been found.
Fr. Peckskamp kept meticulous records of services
performed for our parish by our people for which he paid
them out of our funds. That list is too long to reproduce in
full but the following will give us some ideas about who
were these people and what they did for us.
Joseph Bachman made many a fire in our furnace on a
cold winter day. He was also one of many who kept "God's
Acre", the time honored name for our cemetery, neat and
clean. Joe also laid the foundation for our school and in
one year, he spent 19 days hauling bricks. Louis Walter was
our master carpenter for years while John Pressler was
faithful, year after year, taking care of our needs for
heating and ventilation. Peter Day was equally always ready
with his paint brush and wallpaper. John Ringley hauled the
coal, often using that noble predecessor of Indiana Highway
62, the toll plank road. For years,Ursula Stoker would sweep
and clean our church and she lived to be 91. Joe Walter
slated our church and also painted. Dave Schnell did the
fire making when Joe Bachman could do it no more. Mary
Eisert took over from Ursula and later Olivia and Bertilla
Ringley succeeded Mary. Louis Volpert did many a repair job
on our church.
Fr. Peckskamp did not confine his talents, time and
energy to specific priestly duties. He was an energetic
community leader who, among other tasks, helped organize the
Lanesville Water Company, becoming its President.
SI
.
'
As there is no description of our Masses on .Christmas
and Easter in those days, we now present Memories of Yesteryear, an imaginative reconstruction of our Christmas Mass on
the last year of the 19th century.
The sound of horses' hoofs dies down. People are
aliting from their jolt wagons,shivering for it is December
with its brisk, chilly winds. Their clothes are often
homespun; their shoes are those made by Matthew Grantz or
some other neighbor who brought his trade with him from
Germany. There is a young couple cheerfully greeting their
parents, "Froliche Weinachten 11 \ (Merry Christmas). And see
there is Kunigunda and Alexander Schellenberger still
walking hand in hand. As they get closer to the door, they
hear music and their pace quickens, as if they are
anticipate the arrival of a long awaited visitor.
The
words, "Stille Nacht, Heilege Nacht" drift through the air
as they enter the building, whose vestibule is only a few
years old. In a week, it will be the beginning of another
century.
Off to the side, there is the new school building which
Bishop O'Donoghue dedicated only seven weeks ago. The lights
illumine the multi-colored windows as a youngster, clad in
ancient apparel, lifts a long, narrow pole to reach the
wicks of candles taller than he is. Kunigunda sighs and
smiles; perhaps she still misses the pastor who had watched
her grow since she was nine. The organ then reveals its
majestic presence; its sounds fill her ears and heart as the
choir proclaims, "Jesus Christus heute geborn!" After that
there is a pause - then silence.
A bell tinkles; once again the organ is heard giving
way to the human voices which intone,"Filius Meus es Tu;
haec dies Te generavit!" The priest now approaches the
middle of the altar, handing one of the young men his
biretta then making the Sign of the Cross, declares,
"introibo ad altare Dei" to which the young men reply
promptly and clearly, "ad Deum qui laetificat iuventutum
meum." Suddenly the choir, representing all in full voice,
pleads, "Kyrie Eleison" recalling a litany 19 centuries
young. Meantime the priest has already opened the book on
the side and now moves to the middle of the altar. Raising
his voice and his hands upward, he announces, "Gloria in
excelsis Dec!"
This all too brief return to our past evokes memories.
While today's words and music differ, the glad message of
this Day is ever new. "What Jesus Christ was yesterday and
is today, He remains forever!" The joy of this unique Feast
remains for soon it will resound in our midst for the 150th
time as God once again keeps His promises. " I have come
that you may have life and have it more abundantly!" Today's
lights may be brighter, but the elation of His coming
remains. Harold Ripperger has replaced Augustine Peckskamp
and other Schellenbergers have substituted for Alexander and
Kunigunda but it is the Mass - the Mass of Christ or
Christmas which once again has come to Lanesville.
Returning to our history, the new century brought with
it more comprehensive insurance coverage. An interesting
source of income came to us on July 18, 1900 when Jacob
Snider gave us $32.50 for the old school house. A year
passed and an unknown person g~ve us a $200 donation. The
new school provided a hall where we could offer
entertainments while our finances were in such a good shape
that we could lend the Bishop money. Student entertainments
and euchre games added to our parish income. The first known
record for separate donations by a parish society came when
the St.Joseph's Men Society gave $63. The bishop paid off
his loan with interest in six years.
THE EARLY YEARS OF THIS CENTURY
The coming of a new year always seems to spark a
certain amount of partying and anticipation so one could
expect that the arrival of a new century would be even more
festive. And so it was here in Lanesville - but who would
have thought what this century would bring! There is no
evidence that the telephone had come to our rectory though
perhaps; the bills for it are not in Fr. Peckskamp's account
book. And who in Lanesville -or most anywhere else would
have forseen the horseless carriage or even the airplane?
For a number of years, A.M. "Uncle Metzel" Eisert
published news of our community in the CORYDON DEMOCRAT.
One way to get a glimpse of life in Lanesville in the
opening years of this century is to glance at some of his
reports, chiefly taken from the years 1907-1909.
Persons visiting friends and relatives in the
Louisville-New Albany area included Mrs. Magdalen Bachman,
M/M Joseph Hess and A.M.Eisert. The latter's friends
included Mr.Frank Simon who was editor of the German
Catholic paper in Louisville. One of Mr.Simon's descendants,
a physician, has had Lanesville patients in recent years.
Parishioners active in the larger community life of our
little city included the following: J. L. Walter, Peter Loew
and Jacob Fachinger, Lanesville Mutual Aid Society, Father
Peckskamp, Lanesville Water Company and John N. Geis,
Lanesville School Board.
Persons called home by God our Father would have
included Mrs.Magdalen Bachman, Mary Mildred Ringle (21
months), John Yanner, a son of our first Catholic settler,
Louis Endris, and John Geswein,at 95, the oldest man in
_Franklin township. And the following will provide some
indication of how our school children mourned the, death of a
classmate:
"Miss Katie Henchel, the 13 year old daughter of M/M
Paul Henchel of Floyd County, three miles NE of Lanesville,
died Tuesday of whooping cough and pneumonia. The funeral
took place Thursday forenoon. Rev. Father Peckskamp
celebrated a Solemn Requiem and delivered the funeral sermon
after which the remains of this good and bright little girl
were laid to rest in the Lanesville Catholic Cemetery. All
the school girls were dressed in white with wreaths and
veils and black ribbons. Each girl and small boy carried a
\
bouquet."
',
Visitors or rather homecomers to Lanesville included
Joseph Yost, Jr. Miss Addie Bauer, M/M P. L. Hirt, M/M/ J.
L. Wolford, Mrs. Henry Reiling (Hess), Mrs. Ben Rusch
(Eisert), Mrs. George Eisert (Weisenberger), Mrs. John
Redick, Mrs. Mary Felten and Joseph Gering.
These items will tell us more about what Uncle Motzel
called "progress" in our little city.
Dr. J. w. Baxter is having a concrete pavement made in
front of his dwelling. Who will be next?
Our
into the
the side
call. He
boys get
agricultural merchant, Louis P. Zabel has also gone
hardware business and has opened a store room on
of the Post Office. Mr. Z is a hustler. Give him a
also has ordered a carload of fine buggies. Now
ready and go to see them.
John Weisenberger's new house is ready for occupancy.
It is quite an improvement to our town. Who is next?
Henry Zabel, our miller, has had some improvements made
in his mill and is also beutifying his premises by making
concrete walks nd other improvements while Dr. F. E.Wolfe
will have concrete walks to his office and so is J. c.
Reinhart.
Surprise parties and dinner guests were welcomed by M/M
John Zeller, M/M Joseph Thomas, Squire Smith, M/M Alex
Schellenberger, M/M Amiel Day and M/M George A. Kasteleiner.
Unfortunately, no records of activities on behalf of
our parish by its various societies have showed up except
for the St.Mary's Young Ladies Sodality. The others will be
mentioned as information becomes available.The young ladies
used their modest dues for parish needs and beautification
of our facilities including the convent besides having an
annual memorial Mass for deceased members. Their purchases
would include a gas stove, a host baker, linoleum, church
linens, a chandelier, curtains, carpets, wall paper, carpet
sweeper, mattresses, an organ for our school (in.1906 it
cost $25), sanctuary oil, palms, music for choir and school,
statue bracket, tabernacle banner, dishes, coal, furnace
pipes, equipping Fr.Peckskamp's house, the one he secured
after retiring, etc., a remarkable accumulation of good
works with 10¢ a month dues. They also raised money by
euchre parties. They also sewed, cleaned and cooked.
Only in 1925, does their account book list a full slate
of officers and for a good many years between 1900 and 1956,
no officers are named at all. Those named are the treasurers
and the first person so identitied is Rosa Schellenberger,
Others found in this book include Eleanor Kochert, (2),
Julia Ringle (4), Margaret Stilger, Cecilia Ringle, Lucille
Day, Bertilla Ringle, Philomena Richmer, Marie Bachman, Lula
Mae Hess, Rosella Glotzbach, Geneva and Cornelia Ringle,
Pearl Kochert, Mary Stilger, Ruth Kochert, and Alma
Glotzbach. The 1925 officers were: Marie Kochert,
President, Agnes Schellenberger, VP, Philomena
Richmer,Sec'y., and Julia Ringle, Treasurer.
In both world wars, the young ladies also wrote letters
to our parishioners in the service and maintained our
service flag, inserting a gold star when Charlie Day died of
the flu during that epidemic in 1918.
One of the spiritual highlights of our year was always
the Forty Hours Devotion in honor of Our Lord's presence
with us in the Blessed Sacrament. Frequently we heard soulstirring sermons by our brothers in Christ, the Benedictines
from St. Meinrad. Those known to have been here included
Fathers Odilo, Basil, Dominic, Celestine, Francis, Ignatius
(2), the future Abbot, and Leander. Regarding this devotion,
Uncle Motzel once wrote in the CORYDON DEMOCRAT: "40 Hours
Devotion was held in the beautiful and nicely decorated
Catholic Church, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Several
visiting priests were in attendance."
Then in late spring, 1907, a very special event took
place in our midst and here again is Uncle Motzel to tell us
about it:
Silver.Jubilee
Rev. Father Augustine Peckskamp, the popular and
zealous priest (or Rector) of Lanesville St. Mary's Catholic
Church will celebrate his silver jubilee or 25th anniversary
of his priesthood on Tuesday, June 4, 1907. Several priests
will be present and divine services will be held in our
beautiful church in the forenoon. All members of the
congregation are invited to attend church on that day and to
give thanks to the Almighty. Everybody is welcome to come.
The popular, pious and beloved priest, Father A.
Peckskamp read a solemn high mass on June 4, the. day of his
silver jubilee and anniversary of his priesthood. The church
was very nicely and tastefully decorated and about all the
members of the congregation participated. The celebrator of
the jubilee received several valuable silver presents. It
was a glorious day for the Catholics.
Turning to more immediate matters, the following prices
were asked in Corydon's markets and may be of interest as
they were identical or similar to those asked in our town.
Wheat per bushel $.60
'·
Corn bu.
.35
Oats bu.
.25
Shipstuff per cwt .60
Hay per ton
$6.00
Clover seed bu.
$2.50-@$2.75
Beans bu.
$1.50
Flour per cwt.
$2.00
Hams per lb.
.10
Shoulders per lb.
.06
Sides per lb.
.07
Chickens per lb.
.04
Spring Chickens per lb. 6~¢
Eggs per doz.
10¢
Butter per lb.
10-16~¢
Potatoes per barrel $1.00
A MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGE
we, or at least some of us, took note of the passing to
eternal life of Pope Leo XIII and the coming to the Papal
office of Giuseppe (Joseph) Sarto, the Patriarch of Venice
He was widely loved there to the point that just before
boarding the train for Rome for the conclave or papal
election, he told his people who saw him off, "I'll be back;
see I have a round trip ticket."
But as they say, humans propose and God disposes. And
after the last interference with a papal election by a
secular Catholic ruler, Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary,
white smoke emerged from the Sistine Chapel amidst growing
excitement from the gathering crowd outside. Suddenly one of
the Cardinals emerged, proclaiming, "Praesum magnum gaudium;
habemus Papal, Eminentia, Joseph Sarto, Pius Decimus." I
bring you a great joy; we have a Pope, His Eminence Joseph
Sarto, Pius X."
Space limits what we can say about this Pope but in
1910, he made a statement and in the following year, a
change
whose effects on Catholic life and personal spiritual growth
are still with us and which cannot be stated in exact terms.
For centuries, though our priests received the Eucharist at
each Mass, frequent reception of this Sacrament was not the
custom among other Catholics. Even nuns would receive
weekly. That exhortation to frequent Our Lord's table was
only the beginning. In 1911, this Pope changed the age at
which one would first receive Our Lord from 11 or 12 to what
we have called, the age of reason or seven or eight. And
though we adopted this change, we also observed what was
called Solemn Communion when our youngsters were approaching
adolescence.
PARISH CHARACTERISTICS
'
Our parish can be best de~cribed
as hard-working,
thrifty, trust-worthy and pious. Our people were firm in
their convictions as they understood them. They were also
generous when they recognized as a need presented
appopriately. Three such instances during Fr. Peckskamp's
time have come to light.
The first was the unique devastation of Galveston,
Texas by a hurricane on September 8, 1900. Our response was
part of nation-wide Catholic activity. A native Texan later
pointed out that this was a devastation which created needs
unique in the history of Texas; some 5,000 to 8,000 lives
were lost. In a special collection for this cause, our
people gave $26.50, the third highest special collection for
that year.
The other two such appeals came in the nineteen teens.
The first was for flood sufferers of 1913 which was
particularly severe in various parts of the country. Our
people chipped in $50 and the closest local experience of
this disaster was the nearby Falls City cities. By this
time, there had been considerable goings and comings between
our people, friends, and relatives. We felt fortunate, if
not blessed, in being located on high ground and in being 8~
miles from the rampaging river, which, for once, was not
called the "beautiful Ohio."
The third was a response to a singular experience for
us and US Catholicism.
In 1915, a number of Catholic men in
our county, including our own John Stilger and Sister
Liguori's father, John Kochert, helped organize a Knights of
Columbus Council in our county. Both later served as Grand
·Knights as would John's relative, . Maurice. As did the
earlier Knights of St. John, a long time active organization
in these parts, the KofC saw itself as defenders of the
Faith and the Church. And here is how this third appeal got
going.
Probably none of our parishioners had ever visited
Mexico and it is also doubtful if any of our earliest
settlers had any relatives who served in the US Mexican
War. Now for some years, after our Civil War, the Republic
to the South had seemed to be stable and exhibiting outward
signs of progress and prosperity. Its leader was a so-called
benevolent dictator, a former semiarian, Porforio Diaz.
American investments, especially in oil were making
attractive profits. Diaz had been regularly reelected; not
only that but nobody in the Mexican Congress or among the
Governors of Mexico's 32 states was elected who was not his
friend.
But an unexpected developed stirred the winds of
change. In an interview with an American journalist, Diaz
avowed that despite his dictatdrship, he still believed in
democracy and Mexico could look forward to a democracy after
his demise. Ambitious and idealistic Mexicans took him at
his word and began scheming. The result was the country's
first revolution in 34 years and Diaz hastily left the
country, never to return. That revolution was only one of
several and the latest one was led by atheists who attacked
the Church, for its alleged complicity in Diaz'
dictatorship. Actually, that revolution was in reality, two
revolts, each leader seeking supreme power. Churches were
destroyed, sacrifices were committed including the violation
of religious persons and some were murdered.
The victors enacted a new and radically anti-clerical
constitutions so funds were needed to help keep the Church
going, if not underground.
The Kof C helped make this
collection nation wide and our people took part.
WORLD WAR I AND FATHER PECKSKAMP'S LAST YEARS
While Mexico was in the midst of its tumult, the summer
of 1914 began rather quietly and appeared to be no different
than any other one. But then as now, there was unrest in the
Balkans, jointly controlled by Turkey and Austria-Hungary,
the latter being controlled by the Hapsburg Emperors. For some reason, the Emperor's nephew,
Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife took a trip there in
late June. Unknown to many, if not most Americans, European
nations were making hush-hush treaties. Now, June 28 saw the
Archduke and his wife in Sarajevo where a terrorist bomb
under their carriage killed both of them.
That was the spark that was to set off World War I.
At first, it was France and Russia against Germany and
Austria Hungary with German activity against France leading
to an invasion of Belgium. That action was to bring England
into the conflict and within a year, Italy, both on the side
of France and Russia. President Wilson declared our country
to be neutral but probably unknown to him, important and
highly placed Americans and persons in England were working
to involve this country on the Allied side. The war was
probably a distinct shock to German Americans even more as
it would become apparent that the US might and could be
drawn in on the Allied side.
Their shock was deepened if they still had relatives
aboard with whom they had been corresponding. If.they were
anything like this writer's grandfather who had come here at
age 14, they still had some feelings about things German. If
they did and read the LOUSVILLE COURIER JOURNAL, as the war
developed and expanded, especially after England entered the
war, they would have been offended to read the people from
their homeland described as "Huns." It was soon all too
clear that American public opinion was increasingly opposed
to the Central Powers and that American neutrality would not
continue indefinitely. Then when German submarines began
sinking British and Allied ships, American public opinion
became highly critical. This outlook reached a climax when
the Germans sank the Lusitania, ostensibly a passenger ship
with a Red Cross flag, on which there were losses of
American lives. What most people in this country did not
know is that the English had also put military supplies on
it and possibly the Germans knew that.
Knowing that and
that the losses of American lives would inflame American
public opinion, the British Lord of the Admirality, who
later became known to us as Sir Winston Churchill, wrote
"the strategy which brings a powerful ally to your side is
as useful as winning a great battle."
After the Lusitania was sunk, it was only a matter of
time and on Good Friday, 1917, President Wilson asked
Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. The
anti-German feeling had been carefully fed into the American
press and anti German feelings were rampant and widespread.
A near fanaticism became evident when music by German
composers could no longer be played in public. Then came
that unforgetable Sunday in Spring 1917 when our beloved
pastor entered the public; it looked to some that he had
been crying. After reading the Gospel, he began his sermon
in a voice which betrayed a German accent and reflected a
deep feeling, " my dear people, I have sad news for you
today. We can no longer sing hymns - or preach in German."
Soon, young men from Lanesville, including some
parishioners, were entering the armed forces. One can
imagine the feelings in our parish when they told us they
were crossing the Atlantic and we learned they were seeing
action in the battles for the Argonne Forest and around
Chateau Thierry. That was late September 1918 and early
October and suddenly we faced another and more immediate
trial. The nation and our community faced a widespread
epidemic of Spanish flu. A former parishioner, Gene Weckman
recalled, "This day I felt badly but still went to school.
Suddenly I felt so sick that all I could do was to
stretch myself out on a school bench, desperately wanting to
go home and get in bed."
Gene did get home and got well but what a relief it was
when first the flu subsided and then on November 11, our
. •
beautiful, melodious bells announced . the glad tidings that
the war, the bloodiest in memory, was over. One en almost
hear Fr. Peckskamp say, "Gruss Gott!" (Thank God). He was
probably echoing what all Lanesville, Catholic and Lutheran
felt, Gelob sei Jesus Christ! (Praise to Jesus Christ).
OUR FRANCISCAN TEACHERS
The mention of our school in our last paragraph reminds
us we have not really said much about the devoted and
faithful women, the Oldenburg Franciscans, who by now had
been teaching our children for iittle more than half a
century. We also want to say some more about our own young
women who left home to join them
The first two Franciscans who taught here were Sisters
Pacifica and Margaretha. We have not yet learnt how long
they stayed. But what we have discovered is that on May
27,1893, when Henry Meurer came to Marie Scheller in what
appears to have been Fr. Peckskamp's first Wedding Mass,
they had no witnesses. However, Sisters Pacifica and
Delphina had come to hear Mass and our pastors lined them up
as witnesses; this seems to have been the only instance of
nuns acting in this role in our 150 years. Earlier, Sister
Theresa Hess came in 1880 and stayed two years. Sister
Cecilia Rabb arrived in 1882 and taught all eight grades,
probably our only teacher to have done that. In 1889 we
welcomed Sisters Marcellina and Donata and that is all we
have learned what we know about our teachers under Father
Munschina.
Sister Adelinda was the first of our Franciscans to be
greeted by Fr. Peckskamp. Others who were serving here
during his 28 years have included Sisters Angela(3), Pelagia
(2), Marcellina (16), Donata (9), Theophilia (2), Boniface
(2), Liguori (3), Simeon (3) and Stephany (1). Our first
known domestic sister was Sister Hermania while other and
later teachers were Sisters Otto, Ephrem, Martha,
Engelberta, Priscilla and Lucy. Sister Germaine served as
housekeeper during Father's last full school year, 19201921.
Father Peckskamp had been here almost 20 years before
any of our young ladies went to stay as members of the
Oldenburg community. In 1912, 15 year old Bertha Schueler
would take the name: Mary Agnes Loretta. Then Isabella
Schellenberger entered in 1914 at a somewhat later age and
then Catherina Stilger, Bertha Geis and Catherina Geswein
entered. This quintet's years of service to God and
humankind have totalled 297 years. Gene Weckman's sister
attended school here for the first few years but entered
from another parish. She still belongs on our honor roll.,
FATHER PECKSKAMP'S LAST YEARS AS OUR PASTOR
,5".,
.
Our young men were returning from the War but not long
after that, Father Peckskamp told our people we were going
to have our own electric plant bringing electricity to our
church, rectory and school. Its cost was $700 plus $1100 for
fixtures and other equipment. John Gettelfinger of nearby
Bradford was in charge and one of his relatives among our
current parishioners is Jo Ann Schickel, Pete's wife. 1919
and 1920 were record years for parishioner contributions and
parish expenses. Some of that could be attributed to
inflation which seems to follow wars. In 1919, we gave
$1740.31 while spending $1356.38 while 1920 brought in
$3681.65 while we disbursed $3413.60.
In the midst of this, Fr. Peckskamp seemed to tire
easier and some of our older altar boys noted that he was
slower afoot. However, it no doubt brought joy to his
priestly heart to learn that our more experienced altar boys
such as Maurice Kochert were helping the younger ones such
as Gene Weckman with their server prayers. Our pastor also
had begun to talk with the young Leo Schellenberger about
his hopes of becoming a priest. He also lent his ears to
Leo's sister, Rose about her aspirations to join a
missionary order, The Servants of the Holy Spirit. Both
brother and sister found that for the moment, their family
had more immediate needs for them, other children were on
the way and work on the farm in particular required Leo's
energy and strong physique. The beginings of Rose's vocation
may have found incentives as she read about the order and
its male counterpart, the Divine Word Missionaries in a
magazine called LITTLE MISSIONARY, both of which had been
founded in Germany. Rose got to leave in 1921 but Leo still
had to wait.
Meantime, two other young ladies, both cousins, had
joined another community of German origin,the Louisville
Ursulines. They were Sister Clovis (Rosa Kuehn) and Sister
Liguori (Olivia Kochert). She may have taken the name in
honor of one of her teachers in our school. Her mother had
died when she was very young and due to needs at home, she
did not finish the 8th grade. As she told the writer of
this publication,
"I did everything that needed to be done
in the house and on the farm: kept house, gathered the eggs,
clean the chicken coop, fed the chickens, slopped the
piggies and their older relatives, milked the cows, worked
in the garden, plowed the fields and cooked the meals."
Not long after she entered her teens, her desire to
become a nun intensified and other relatives had become
Franciscans. So "I approached Fr. Peckskamp and the first
thing he said was, 'you're awfully young!' I was about 15."
She did not give up and he finally said, "well, go ahead and
try it. God bless you!"
She did more than try it; she is now in her 76th year
as a professed religious. She told the writer, "I didn't
61
' finish the 8th grade so I couldn't teach. I became a
domestic sister. I kept house and cooked for the· other
sisters who taught." No doubt the good meals she had learned
to cook at home helped keep her sisters healthy in the dozen
or more convents where she was missioned.
She even cooked
for one bishop. As this is written, her eyesight is failing
but she remains cheerful and faithful to God through her
rule. She obviously enjoyed sharing her life and is
remarkably well-adjusted. A person like her says more about
the potential of religious life for personal fulfillment
than many writings. No doubt she misses her cousin, a
lifelong friend but she is ba~ically a happy, fulfilled
person and her love for her Dad and family are evident in
the ways she talks about them.
FR. PECKSKAMP: Some Memories
Father Peckskamp, though remembered as a strict man,
was above all, an understanding pastor. He more than once
told his farmer-parishioners. I'm required to read you the
Lenten regulations. I know how hard you work so I'm
dispensing you from fasting. See Insert G.
He was concerned to have the music for Mass done well.
There is evidence of at least one situation where he paid
for a young parishioner's music lessons so she could play
the organ properly in church.
He was deeply sensitive
to family ties and it is also remembeied that during more
than one summer, he had his young nephew, Christopher stay
with him at the rectory. During one of these visits, "Uncle
Gus" prepared the young man for his First Holy Communion.
Christopher recalled his love for his uncle in a letter to
Father Placidus, OSB while the Benedictine served as our
Administrator in 1962-63.
And there is a former parishioner, Sister Priscilla Messmer
O.S.F. who recalls, "My mother used to take me when she had
to discuss things with Fr. Peckskamp. I can never forget how
good he was to my mother!"
A summary of his 28 years with us reveals the
following: he baptized 647 persons; he performed 160
marriages and buried 325 parishioners. The last person for
whom he offered a Mass of the Resurrection was Otto Loew on
November 21, 1921.
Several other notes of interest: Father Peckskamp was a
key factor in the organization of a Knights of St. John
Commandery in our town; we have yet to find details of all
the good this organization did in our midst nd for our
parish. We had a number of benefactors in our parish; the
best known were Joseph and Mary Knaus.
We do not have a complete list of our trustees during
Fr. Peckskamp's 28 years. Besides those mentioned earlier,we
also find Joseph Wissman, Sr., Peter Michels, John Gehring
or Gering, Joseph Stilger and Marcus Schmelz.
Part of Gene Weckman•s story, he is a former student at
our school as well as resident here, belongs to Fr.
Peckskamp's era. Today, though Bl and living in Louisville,
Gene still calls Lanesville "home." His father, a
Louisvillian, had met one of our young ladies, a Miss Rose
Weisenberger who had been a student at st.Mary's. The family
had moved back here @1915 when his father suffered a reverse
in health. They moved near the Schneiders who made a home
for this young family in exchange for the father's work on
the farm. Eventually, the father took produce, eggs and
butter (Gene was one of those who churned the butter) to
Louisville and New Albany where he sold his products to
families and both groceries. Recalling his memories of
Lanesville, Gene reveals, "Maurice Kochert is still a dear
friend and I simply loved serving Mass. I found Fr.
Peckskamp easier to serve for than Fr.Baron. So you can
imagine it was a great disappointment when I had to quit
school in the 7th grade to help at home. When I told Sister
that but added,"! still want to serve." However, she told
me, "you can't because you are no longer in school." Several
years later, we moved back to Louisville, I think that was
about 1930. Later, he met and married a lovely lady named
Marie.' ' They have six children and that gave Gene a distinction which no one else in our parish history has: he is
the father of three sets of twins.
It was late in 1921 when Fr. Peckskamp retired and
moved to a small house in Lanesville. He was not a well man
and nothing is known of his declining years except this
gracious comment from a local newspaper:
Mfather Peckskamp is a fine gentleman and is a man of
rare qualifications and attainments. He has been a faithful
servant in the cause of Christ and he has many good friends
in this county who love and respect him and who hope that he
may regain his health."
There are still some parishioners who recall serving
him on the Altar. the disability from which he suffered a
paralysis of the left arm. Then in late November, 1925 and
he caught a chill and within a week, God came for him. Here
is what the CORYDON DEMOCRAT had to say:
"Father Augustine Peckskamp died at his home in
Lanesville at 6:20 p.m. last Wednesday November 9 after an
illness of ten days from a cold an its effects.
However, he had suffered
from paralysis of his left
. arm for several years and because of this disability retired
from active service as a priest four years ago.
he served as priest of the Lanesville Catholic Church
for 28 years and prior to that he served as Priest at New
Middleton, Buena Vista and other churches of his
denomination.And he was a faithful, devoted pastor who was
greatly loved by his people. We heard him deliver many able
sermons at Buena Vista 30 odd years ago.
Funeral services were conducted last Monday morning t
St. Mary's Catholic church at Lanesville by the clergy of
the diocese, the sermon being preached by Father Joseph
Schermersheim of Washngton, In~iana. Interment was in the
St.Mary's Catholic cemetery at Lanesville.
Father Peckskamp was aged 76 years and four months. He
leaves surviving him several nieces and nephews who came
from their homes in Illinois to attend the funeral."
His successor, Father Baron had this to say to our
people, "This third {Gaudete) Sunday in Advent is not a day
of rejoicing in Lanesville. You have lost a warm-hearted
friend, and I think you will not forget him in your prayers.
Right after high mass and benediction, the entire
congregation will go to bring Father Peckskamp's body to the
church. It will lie in state from 11:30 or 12:00 o'clock
today to the end of Mass tomorrow. The Knights of St. John
will act as guard of honor. After the Divine Office of the
dead, the mass and sermon, all will go the cemetery in order
in a Christian way and pray for his departed soul."
Some 300 Mass offerings were turned in by our people, a
magnificent tribute of love and gratitude.
FATHER BARON'S YEARS WITH US, 1921-30
It was November 8, 1921 when Fr. Baron arrived in our
midst.
He was almost 50 when he came. He was one of two sons
who became priests. They were possibly first generation
Americans and from a family which lived in Schnellville or
near Kyana. He was ordained in the year Fr. Munschina died,
finishing his seminary studies at Catholic University of
America. He was our first native born American pastor and
also the first to own a radio and an automobile. His
priestly life was exclusively spent in rural ministry and
when he was assigned to us, he was serving as pastor of the
church in the coal mining town of Linton. He noted that
arriving here, we had approximately 471 dollars in the bank
and a certificate of $900.
AN UNFORGETABLE NIGHT
0:3
It began like many another Saturday night in Lanesville
or anywhere else. The father of this family, Charles H.
Stanley, a local merchant, had gone upstairs to light the
li ght coal oil stove so as to warm the bathroom for it was
almost time for his children's Saturday night baths. Three
of the youngsters, nine year old Josephine, 7~yea old
Charles H., Jr. and six yea old John William soon went up,
bathed and retired. For reasons not now known, three year
old Jean had remained with her parents while four year old
Lois was visiting with her grandmother.
Suddenly, while sitting i~ their business' store room
with a neighbor, Morris Baker, the Stanleys spotted water
trickling from the ceiling. So they opened the door leading
to the stairway only to discover that their upstairs was
ablaze. Mr. Stanley found the stairway was too hot and
filled with smoke, so soon as possible, he rushed to an
upstairs window. The Lanesville firemen were already pouring
strong streams of water and seeing him, they directed this
vigorous flow on him as he moved to Charles, Jr.'s room. He
got there, only to find his son already dead. Only when the
flames had been quenched,consuming that part of the building
could the charred remains of Josephine and Willie be
removed.
The local firemen had not only arrived with lightning
speed but also sensing that the fire would become
uncontrollable, they phoned their New Albany counterparts
who lost no time in coming to our people's aid. Perhaps
providentially, the air that night was still so the fire
burned straight up. As the CORYDON DEMOCRAT reported, "had
the air current been moving and fanned the flames, the
firemen would have been unable to check the flames."
Fr. Baron offered the Mass of the Resurrection for the
Stanley children the following Monday morning, October 15,
1923. Only God has the full account of how our parishioners
and other Lanesville folk reached out to this family
especially the mother who was prostrated by grief.
Father Baron's Pastorate - continued
Fr. Baron's years with us can be a jolting reminder
that we, as individual persons and as a parish, are
influenced by the larger American society. God also invites
each one of us to influence it as well as each other.
Three distinct happenings in the Schellenberger family
empathize what has been just written. We have already
mentioned Rosina's departure for a missionary congregation,
a vocation to which she gave 71 years. Last year God called
her home to receive the reward He promises to all who are
His faithful daughters and sons. Nursing can be a unique and
sublime way of collaborating with the Divine Physician - and
Rose saw Him in the thousands of people He sent into her
daily life, much of it taking place halfway around the
world.
Two years later, her obedient brother, Leo began to
move towards the fulfillment of a long cherished goal - the
priesthood of Jesus Christ. Fr. Baron and other parishioners
not now known helped pay for his schooling and Leo became
our first son to offer God to God and to spend offer 50
years at His altar. Leo was to have a highly diverse
ministry Su-g-g-e sting the truth of what the Gospel says, "you
.
have not chosen me, but I have ' ~hosen you!" Throughout his
ministry, his fidelity and obedience were to be tested.
Finally, also influenced by Father Baron, the younger
brother, Otto entered St. Meinrad, only to recognize and
follow a different call, to the foreign missions. He was
ordained for the Society of the Divine Word and like his
sister and brother, he was to spend 50 years and more in his
calling. Otto's interest in, support for and help in these
pages defies adequate expressions of gratitude. Later, we
will hear from him something of what his vocation has meant
to him. Only God knows what his and their self-giving has
meant to those whose lives they have touched.
Certainly, it is prayerfully reflective to realize they
began these journeys starting with two years aster God had
welcomed home their beloved grandmother, Kunigunda Gehring
Schellenberger, that tireless intercessor for religious
vocations. Today, her spirit lives in Otto and also in Rev.
Kenneth Gering, O.F.M., Conv., a great nephew not of our
parish but whose Dad was a student in our school where he
first received Our Lord in the Eucharist.
Father Baron arrived here as we began that period of
our local and national history known as "the roaring
twenties" It is safe to say that neither he nor our people
were prepared for it or what changes it would occasion. We
do not know what Fr. Baron heard of us and what we know of
his earlier formation and experiences is limited.
The first major change or challenge of the 1920's was a
landslide Republican victory nationwide whereas our
community and county had been Democratic. The Republicans
said they wanted a "return to normalcy," whatever that
meant. There were to be other aspects of politics which may
well have influenced our people more directly. One was the
passage of a constitutional amendment which forbade the
manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages, including beer,
which was a beverage not unknown in our community. By
contrast, our new pastor was a person who both avoided such
beverages and also took as little wine at the Offertory as
possible. There is no clear study as to the impact of this
Amendment on our county or people although one hears that
home brewed beer was still present in our midst. Whether our
parishioners included anyone who bootlegged the stronger
drink is not known.
The next aspect of life at this time which was
unwelcome was the revival of religious and racial bias by
the Klu Klux Klan. It became a rather pervasive and
important force in Indiana state politics and Indiana was
also something of a national headquarters for this
organization. Openly anti-Catholic, it threatened to tear
the 1924 Democratic National Convention wide open. As it
was, it took 103 ballots to get enough votes to agree on a
Presidential candidate. This wa~ a combination of issues:
prohibition and religion. Neithe~ issue really disrupted the
1928 Conventions but they were highly vocal and visible in
the campaign that followed. While there is not a clear
indication of the Klan's presence and impact in our county,
there were undercurrents of opposition to the Democratic
nominee, Governor Smith of New York. Smith was the first
Catholic to be nominated by a major political party.
There were also other and unique effects of life in the
1920's which, though part of a larger and national
scenario, were felt in our midst to a significant degree.
One way to approach these development is to present some
more information about Fr. Baron.
When he took over here, he was the oldest in age and
number of years in the priesthood of any of our previous
pastors. 51 years old, he had been a priest since 1898. One
of six children, his priestly training had been divided
among St. Meinrad, St. Mary's (Kansas), Mount St. Mary's of
the West (Cincinnati) and Catholic University of America. In
an infrequent perhaps rare experience, he received the
various minor orders (tonsure, lector, porter and acolyte)
and major orders (subdeacon, deacon and priest) on four
consecutive days, November 25, 26, 27 and 28, 1898 from
Bishop Chatard, then recovering from a rather serious
illness.
His pastoral experience and early life were almost
exclusively in rural communities. It is not known if had
ever visited our part of Southern Indiana before he came
here as pastor. He had only spent one year at St. Meinrad.
Four of his pastoral assignments were less than one year
each. The bulk of his work before 1921 was at Sullivan and
Linton, both in the Indiana coal mining area and those were
company towns. It is likely that many of the miners were
foreigners or descendants of foreigners and a company town
is usually a difficult assignment for a priest. The coal
company dominated life in almost all its phases and there is
knowledge of one such place in Illinois. There, the priest
spoke up for the rights of his people only to . have the coal
operator threaten to complain to the local bishop.
Our chief, but not our only source about these years
comes from several notebooks for the years 1925-6 through
1930. They are more personal than the records left by Fr.
Peckskamp and they have rather minimal financial data.
Besides parishioner memories, there is only one annual
report to the diocese for his nine years, a pre-ordination
letter to Bishop Chatard and a four page printed letter
about a difficulty during his rather brief stay at Cannelton
before 1900.
CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECTING
M~NISTRY
..
IN THE 1920's
Few automobiles had been seen in Lanesville before Fr.
Baron arrived. It was something new to see a priest behind
the wheel and a number of parishioners recall seeing him
driving youngsters in it. Not all of them were Catholics.
The coming of the automobile led to the replacement of the
Plank Road by a paved highway and the construction of other
roads. This increased contact with both New Albany and
Louisville. A number of our young people sought and secured
work in these two cities; quite a few made their homes there
as well as in Clarksville and Jeffersonville. Leonard
Gering's experience happened to others. He learned a trade
here, in his case, wood working, went to Louisville and got
a job. Before long, he met a young lady from Buena Vista who
also had gone to Louisville and secured employment. They
met, courted and married; they made their home in
Louisville's West End, near the site of the present Sherman
Minton Bridge.
Improvements in transportation also resulted in a
growing number of our parishioners buying a small truck and
taking their produce, eggs, and butter to sell them to
residents and merchants in the larger cities. The exact
number is not known but in the previous generation, people
from Lanesville had begun to move away including John
Wolford, our former postmaster and parish trustee. So when
our truck farmers began their trips, they already knew home
town people who would be likely customers. With the paved
roads a reality, no longer was the Edwardsville Hill an
obstacle, especially after Indiana 16 became Indiana 62
which a contemporary publicity blurb described as "a
wondrous highway. Together with the railroad, the effects
led Louisville to "discover" Southern Indiana; names such as
Spickert Knob, Floyd's Knobs and Mount St. Francis became
almost household words as every parish developed the annual
custom of offering home cooked chicken and ham dinners at
the pleasing spectacle of a country picnic.
Another change was the coming of radio; . KDKA was the
first station broadcasting out of Pittsburgh in 1920.
Locally Judge Robert Bingham who had purchased the COURIER
JOURNAL in 1918, now established the voice which coined the
. word, Kentuckiana, WHAS radio. As the 1920's unfolded, Fr.
Baron made continuing and effective use of its p~ograms in
his ministry. Before radio, there was another innovation
whose impact was electric, if not immediate: the movies.
They introduced new styles in speech, dress and behavior
which spread like wildfire. No longer did our young ladies
feel compelled to wear full length dresses and conceal their
ankles. A growing number of young women aped what was called
"the flapper" who not only wore shorter dresses, but smoked
cigarettes, put on lipstick and were more free and easy in
conversation and manner. They saw all this in the movies,
which even though silent, were frankly explicit, especially
as regards expressing affectiort.in public. Actors and
actresses became role models for a growing number of young
people. Father Baron's notebooks indicate he was well aware
of these trends and he did not approve and said so in plain
language. It is not clear how often the remarks in these
notebooks found their way into what he said from the pulpit.
He was not a solitary critic. It was soon apparent that
the movies were presenting behavior which troubled a growing
number of pastors from various denominations. The US Bishops
established what became known as the Legion of Decency which
rated movies on moral grounds and these ratings were
regularly published in diocesan papers. The bishops and
pastors also encouraged non patronage of theaters whose
movie selections were offensive and the resultant loss of
business led producers to set up their own review office and
to adopt a code in which Daniel Lord, S.J. played a
prominent part. To anticipate, the situation became more
urgent when talking movies were produced.
Another aspect of our parish life was the response to
priesthood and religious life. Father Baron found two of our
young men at St. Meinrad but soon afterwards, Merlin Bauer
withdrew while Frank Bachman had just begun what was to be a
three year trial of seminary life. For several years, none
of our young ladies left for Oldenburg although there was
pardonable pride in fact that the order was sending Bertha
Geis (Sister Adelaide) to prepare for college teaching in
the sciences. Now 94, she told some visitors at the Motherhouse, "when they realized that I liked school, they sent me
off for more education." Then in the fall of 1926, the first
of the younger Peter Kochert's daughters, Adeline entered
the Franciscans, to be followed by her sister, Josephine six
years later. Josephine took her name in honor of St.
Francis, Seraphica and last summer (1992) she came home to
celebrate her 60th year in the order. There was real joy in
her references to Lanesville and Fr. Baron when some
visitors came to see her at Oldenburg last winter. She still
remembers that Fr. Baron made sleds and took the kids on
them up and down our hills.
In those days, we had a school with two classrooms and
there was a room in between where, as many remember,
>including the late Dr. Joe Schickel, Fr. Baron punished the
youngsters whom the Sisters could not adequately handle.
When asked how strict he was, Otto Schellenberger put it
this way, "he didn't stand for any foolishness." Some
persons remember how he planted apple and peach trees on our
property and if any one damaged them, he would have Fr.
Baron to reckon with. He also encouraged Leo Schellenberger
and when the time came for him to leave for St. Meinrad, Fr.
Baron made him a gift of his old trunk which Leo kept as a
lifetime keepsake. Leo was also to make the acquaintance of
two staples on the seminary menu: "sinkers" (doughnuts) and
"hard tack" (corn bread). And when youngsters got hurt, often at recess'', it was Father Baron who
administered first aid. Fr. Baron celebrated his silver jubilee of
ordinstion on November 28, 1923 but we could find no
memories
of it.
During those years, and perhaps earlier, our parish,
especially our young people felt something of a division
between the people who lived in town and the families who
farmed. As one close observer of life around here at that
time put it, " the teachers didn't always appreciate what
the farm kids had to go through." That included going to
school in all kinds of weather on foot, going from two to
seven miles. Old timers like Benny Schmelz recall these
treks even today. One result of this situation was that town
kids got to serve Mass most of the time until the farm kids
were able to stay overnight during the week with relatives
or close family friends. There were also situations such as
Maurice Kochert recalled, "my father moved to town so we
could go to a Catholic school." Other kids dropped out of
St. Mary's because they felt frustrated. The transportation
problem was not resolved until Fr. Hunger's time. In Fr.
Baron's first years, our school enrollment was 99 with three
nuns, one a domestic sister who kept house and cooked. That
was to be the lowest attendance in this century. More about
our sisters later.
THE BEGINNING OF OUR PARISH PICNICS
A brief mention of parish picnics has already been made
but it is not known which parish was the first to have these
events. Neither is it known who first suggested that we
adopt the custom. However, it was on August 31, 1924 that we
held our first picnic with 28 year old Herman Richmer as
General Chairman. The capable President of our St.Ann's
Altar Society, Catherine Ringley Geis was at his right hand
as General Chairman for preparing and serving our delicious
dinner •• MMMM! Incidentally, both persons had . married twice
and into the Ringley family. The net for that first picnic
was slightly over $1600. Both Herman and Catherine were
,active for this event, at least through 1958 as were the
following: M/M Aloysius Schmelz (Fr.· Damian's parents),
Mmes. Rose Geswein, Gertrude Schellenberger, Bertha Kochert,
Anna Eisert, Anna Day, Philomena Schmelz, Louisa Miller and
Theresa Hess. The Schmelz's were one of the last weddings at
which Fr. Peckskamp had officiated while Anna Eisert lived
to be 99!
Other items of interest about our first picnics from
Fr. Baron's notebooks include the following:
Neighboring parishes invited us to their picnics; there
was one almost every week duriny the summer and care was
taken not to schedule them in ways that duplicated dates.
These churches were: Mt. St.Francis, New Middleton, Corydon,
Navilleton, Buena Vista, Dogwood,Starlight, Floyds Knobs,
St. Joe Hill, Frenchtown and Bradford. Fr. Baron emphasized
that while neighboring pastors ran their picnics, he was NOT
going to boss ours. He also did
NOT want to depend on a picnic as our chief source of
revenue. He insisted that the first picnic was a success
because of the extent of parishioner involvement. So when
the question of a repeat in 1925 came up, he made use of a
parish referendum. That vote was 68-29 under the same
leadership and the stands were to be built the week before
by our own people. He invited constructive criticism of the
1924 event and in 1925 meals were to be-served from 10 to 2
and from 5 to 7:30pm.
He also pointed out the possible benefits from the
picnic were financing our school teachers, a new rectory, a
new roof for the church and maybe another classroom.
The net from 1925 was approximately $1520,95 but this
time, the vote for a picnic in 1926 was both close and
light.
In 1927, Fr. Baron alerted our people to expect the
largest crowd yet for dinner pointing out that the previous year we had to buy more chicken and enlarge the
stands. He again called for volunteers and suggestions.
Picnic features and their respective incomes were as
follows:
Fortune wheels, $763~02; meals, $883.58; candy,
$701.60; Bingo, $512.13; a bowling alley, $69.65; soft
drinks, 578.23. We cleared about $2300. It is not clear what
the situation was for that year and the two following:
typhoid fever seems to have cancelled one and the
construction of Indiana 62 interfered with another.
Our picnic has become an established annual event in
which young and old, newcomers and persons whose relatives
founded the parish, come together to welcome our many
visitors and to provide a healthy amount of Hoosier
hospitality. The custom of neighboring parishes not picking
. conflicting dates continues and later on in these pages, we
we have more details about our picnic.
FARM LIFE 1921-1941
Much of this narrative has concentrated on our life as
a parish. Yet a parish is basically a community of people.
It has been noted earlier that our parish has been divided
between the families one could call town people and those
families (apparently the larger number) whose lives centered
on the farms. One of those families arrived here in the
month before Fr. Baron did and here is their story.
"We made this move by farm wagon to carry our few
belongings. Our one cow came along tied behind the wagon; a
coop full of chickens sat on the back. Mom who was 30 years
old at the time held me in her arms constantly for two days.
These wagons were called "jolt wagons" at the time. They had
no springs and the passenger felt every piece of gravel the
wheels rolled on.
For the one night on the road, we all slept in a hay
barn at Leavenworth. The owner required a firm promise of
"no matches will be struck" in the barn. By the second
evening the cow was too exhausted to complete the journey.
So, we left her at a barn on the east end of Lanesville. As
I write this, the barn with the faded "MAIL POUCH TOBACCO"
sign on it still stands in the same spot after 70 years.
Compared with this arduous two day journey, we now drive
down the Interstate highway with air conditioning on in
little more than one hour.
My two sisters and a living brother made us a family of
six. We came to occupy a small two story frame house on 56
acres of medium to poor land. As the family grew to seven
children, Dad added rooms to accomodate us.
It was just a shell of a house where the wind whistled
through the weatherboard siding to chill the plastered
walls. The only warm rooms were the kitchen with its wood
fired range and the living room with its wood stove; this
was also our bedroom. Of course there was no insulation in
the walls so the house was also hot in summer. In fact, Carl
and I slept in the unfinished attic for a few years. You
could see the daylight through the eaves and snow would sift
in on our covers.
We wee always anxious to take the stove down and make
space in the spring. So this store was usually done
prematurely, leaving us with another cold room during the
late cold spells before summer began in earnest.
There was no electricity and the nearest water was at a
spring about 100 yards away. One of my onerous chores as a
~/
child was to carry endless buckets of water from the "spring
house" uphill to our house. We finally dug a cistern by the
house in 1937 after younger brother Carl was sick with
typhoid fever. A pitcher pump in the kitchen brought us
water except when a drought let the cistern run dry. Dad
finally installed electricity during the middle 40's while I
was away at war. This was made possible by the Rural
Electrification Program subsidized by the federal government
to bring cheap electric power to rural America.
We purchased our first battery radio with proceeds from
two hogs about 1938. It brought us such programs as "Amos
and Andy", "Fibber Mc Gee, Hell<'y Aldrich" and "Gang
Busters." We also had news from the outer world when events
were building to World War II.
The Great Depression struck in 1929 and lasted through
out most of the 30's -most of my school years and before my
career was launched. I can remember my poor father trying to
harvest sorghum cane in cold wet weather with shoes falling
off his feet. He was scratching out a living from 56 acres,
a virtual impossibility. He made weekly trips to New Albany
and Jeffersonville to peddle butter and eggs from house to
house on the "market route." He did occasional carpenter
work for 15 to 20¢ an hour. This increased to 50¢ or $4. a
day during the late 30's. It was always a struggle to get a
little cash for necessities we could not make or grow. An
epidemic disease struck his flock of poultry in the late
20's. This left him owing a large feed bill to a Georgetown
merchant. He paid this off with two pounds of butter per
week during most of the 30's.
We built a lot of our own tools when time was worth so
little. Dad would put a hickory stick in the vise and start
carving with a drawer knife. Hours later, it would be an axe
handle. He would carve out the grip for a plow handle from a
one by two inch hickory board. Then we steamed the material
in a big kettle and bent the softened handle over a
half-round stick. After it dried it was far superior to any
plow handle one could buy.
I spent many days grinding sorghum cane to squeeze out
the green juice; then Dad boiled it to make the sorghum. One
of our mules pulled the boom timber round and round to run
the grinder. I had to stoop each time it passed by o~ get my
head bumped. Finally we bought some gears at a salvage ~ard
and rebuilt the mill to power it with a gasoline engine.
It
was the stationary type engine that fires a few times then
coasts on the momentum of fly wheels for several revolutions
and then fires again. They make a very distinctive sound and
I find it to be very nostalgic. Sometimes I am tempted to
buy one as a toy.
We completed the building of a barn in 1939; a two year
/'X
semi-basement walls we blasted sandstone ledges. Then we
broke the ledge into building size blocks and hauled them to
the site. This took weeks of hard labor but it saved money.
We had the siding and rafters sawed at a mill but Dad hewed
the 6 by 6 and 8 oy 8 timbers from tall trees with a
broadaxe. The sawmill charged by the boardfoot and those
timbers would have cost more than we could possibly pay. We
boys would chop into the log to make notches about 15 inches
apart. Then Dad would swing the broadaxe over his head and a
large 15 inch slab of wood came off. On a hot humid day we
would be drenched in sweat after a few minutes of such
strenuous work.
'·
The land needed lime so we built a lime kiln by
blasting out rock from limestone ledges. Then a large fire
heated the loose rocks in their old niche long enough that
it crumpled into dust. We hauled and spread the dust over
the fields with wagon and manual labor. The total number of
man hours was staggering. A few years later a federal
government program paid to have large dump trucks spread
several tons of lime from mechanized quarries over the
fields in a few minutes.
Meanwhile, Mom arose at 4:30 each morning and baked
biscuits to eat with the oatmeal for breakfast. She made our
underwear, bedding and many other articles from feed sacks.
The nice printed sacks were special - for dresses and slips.
After breakfast we milked the cows and cranked the manual
cream separator. The cream went into butter for sale and we
drank the skim milk. Meat was not plentiful except for a
while after we butchered a cow or hog at the beginning of
winter when it could be kept without refrigeration.
Summer time it was chicken when company came or maybe a
beef soupbone bought at the end of marketing. Some winters
we would smoke the hams from butchered hogs. These were
guarded like gold and served only on special occasions.
There were no fresh green vegatables through the winter. We
searched the fields in early spring to gather wild lettuce
long before it was available in the garden.
Clothing was mostly bib overalls, worn till nearly
threadbare before we could have new ones. For cold weather,
we had blue denim jackets to match~ I don't remember any
with linings. The only "store bought" underwear was long
johns. The embarassment has finally worn off my memory of
showing the first grade teacher, "Miss Wolfe" the sleeve of
a new pair of long johns. Miss Wolfe was the wife of our
mail carrier. In those depression days, many good people in
the area begrudged this childless couple their two salaries.
It was barely tolerated because Guy Wolfe had such a great
friendly personality.
Those depression days didn't seem all that bad at the
73
time. Nearly all our friends were also poor and one could
~ always think of someone in worse straits. ~e played "town
ball" at noon and recess. A ball caught on first bounce put
the batter out. I wasn't especially good at it but I always
got to play. Why? For some reason, hard to believe in
retrospect, I always had a good rubber ball. Brother Carl
and I spent our spare moments of leisure at home playing
ball with some crude stick for a bat. When neighbor children
came, we played "Hide and Seek" or with snow on the ground
we would play "Fox and Goose". For this game we tromped a
large circle in the snow with paths to a center haven. A
brave goose would run from the haven to the circle and all
the foxes would try to catch t~ goose before it would get
back "home."
~
I had my first bike at 16. Dad drove to Perry County
near my birthplace to build Uncle Ed Hatfield a two room
house. I helped and we stayed there four nights before
coming back to run the market route on Saturday. It took
four weeks and my pay was the $7 used bike. It was nothing
like the beauty I had pined for but there were no
complaints. Dad built the house for $80.
I was not very athletic and so was very slow to learn
bike riding. Carl did it much faster than me. Even before
that, he had grown a heavy mat of hair on his chest. With my
bare chest I was so jealous I told him it looked ugly and he
shaved it off to no avail. We were always very close in
spite of the petty sibling rivalries. He grew to be a giant
hulk of a man who could spin the flywheel on the tractor to
crank it or lift the corner of a car when a buddy was pinned
under it. His death at 43 from liver cancer was one of the
bigger tragedies of my life.
I learned to play euchre at about six years old. In the
3rd grade, we were put in the room with 7th and 8th graders.
By then I could play Rook with the upper classmen. We played
a lot of tic tac toe ane Yoyos had one of their very popular
periods then. We played marbles a lot and some kids played
"for keeps." My few were used for fun play only. Agates and
steel balls from bearings were a premium. We also spun tops
by wrapping a string around a top. Then you throw out the
top and pull the string to make the top spin. An expensive
top was also a status symbol.
Social life was aimost non existent. When time
permitted , we would visit a neighbor for a couple of hours
in the evening. Sometimes we swapped work to be together
during the work day and at lunch. A few weddings gave us an
excuse for a barn dance. Local fiddlers, Dad included, took
turns playing for a square dance."
MORE ON PARISH LIFE UNDER FATHER BARON
7t-
We mentioned earlier that Fr. Baron had a radio and
he brought it to
our euchre parties and played it in a nearby room so
children who came with their parents could listen to it with
him. A growing number of parishioners came to buy radios and
as programming came to include religious features, he called
our attention to then Msgr. Sheen and THE CATHOLIC HOUR and
later, "the radio priest", Father Charles Coughlin from
Detroit. Then as WHAS expanded its coverage, it broadcast
live the 9:00 High Mass from St. Boniface, Louisville. At
that time, this Franciscan parish, with long standing ties
to our parish, had a superb choir directed by Professor
Molengraf with his talented wif~ at the organ. And the Franciscans had a wide reputation for brief but highly
listenable sermons. Fr. Baron had heard these broadcasts and
they impressed him greatly. So he frequently called our
attention to them and would play them for us in the time
between our two Sunday Masses.
~made use of it in his ministry. At first,
He was also zealous to encourage parishioner support
for and use of the Catholic Press, chiefly OUR SUNDAY
VISITOR, ST. ANTHONY MESSENGE and the diocesan papers from
Louisville and Indianapolis. Still, with his usual candor,
he did not hesitate to warn us about those who solicited
subscriptions in an unethical manner.
He also provided opportunities to take part in the
brief ceremony of homage and love for Our Lord in the
Blessed Sacrament known as Benediction. It was so called
because its key moment was the benediction or blessing of
the congregation with the use of a monstrance, in which the
consecrated Host was plainly visible. In those days, both in
this service and at Mass, the visible presence of the sacred
species, bread and wine, was announced by the ringing of a
bell by one of the altar boys. And yet it was Fr. Baron's
sad experience that our time honored custom of having a
Corpus Christi procession around the time of that feast
somehow got in the way of some parishioners receiving
Communion during Mass. So he abolished the procession.
Other opportunities for pious practices included The
Way of the Cross during Lent and probably a mid weekly
sermon concluded by Benediction. There were processions of
our school children for the opening Sundays of May and
October and public recitation of the Rosary; promotion of
the First Fridays, (receiving Communion for nine consecutive
months on the First Friday). This began when Pius XI wrote
an encyclical on devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
giving it fresh emphasis for the devotion and that of the
First Fridays went back to the 17th century. Its theology
was rooted in seeing the Heart of Jesus as the symbol of His
humanity, but a humanity, "substantially united to the Word
of God." This devotion arose a~ a result of~ private
revelation to a Visitation nun, now St. Margaret Mary and
75
...i ts promotion owed much to her Jesuit Confessor, Claude de
Columbiere who was just canonized in . 1992. The heart of the
revelation was a series of promises by Jesus to Margaret
Mary with this one as predominant: anyone who made the Nine
Fridays would not die in God's displeasure. An instructive
book on this topic, now out of print, is Margaret Yeo's
THESE THREE HEARTS. It took its title from this message
which both Margaret Mary and Claude said came directly from
Christ: it was a vision of three flaming hearts in a blazing
furnace during which they said they heard Jesus proclaim:
"My love forever unites the love of these three hearts."
We also celebrated Rogatioh Days, had a procession to
our cemetery on All Souls' Day, one of two days when every
priest could offer three Masses, prayers for the conversion
of Russia were said after each low Mass to which there was a
novena of prayers for nine days immediately preceeding
Pentecost. Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays of the week
beginning each of the four seasons were days of fast and
abstainence and special prayer and were known as Ember Days.
Father Baron's notebooks have little about our school;
from THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC DIRECTORY, we learn that its peak
enrollment was 108. Franciscan records indicate the
following sisters taught here during his years: Sisters
Priscilla, Engelberta, Lucy, Daniel, Basil, Basilla, James
Clare, Aegidia and Bertilla. His report to the diocese for
1922, and as noted earlier, the only one I could find in
Indianapolis, tells us that our students numbered 46 boys
and 60 girls. Tuition payments came to $292.10 and this item
seemed to be a persistent difficulty at this time. Almost
all parishioner memories of our teachers for this era focus
on what they considered "strictness." One hesitates to name
names since this was apparently a time when there was
strictness in all schools, public and parochial as well as
in the home. Some of our teachers were noted as "sweet" and
"lovable." It may be that the alleged strictness was a
factor in vocational response; the 1920's produced the
fewest vocations to the sisters of any decade since the
1870's. On the other hand, the 20's were the decade most
conspicuous for less stringent behavior. The 1922 First
Communion class was nine boys and a like number of girls.
Parishioner numbers were also down; we had 124 families
and the spouse in 10 of them was not of our Faith. Total
parishioners was 640, a drop and so was the membership in
our parish societies: St. Joseph, (men) 30, St.Ann's
(married women) 95 and the St. Mary's (young women) 44.
Obviously a decline in numbers meant less in
collections, both parochial and diocesan. Sunday collections
totalled $779.51 while pew rent came to $1296.75. Diocesan
collections were as follows:
Indian and Negro missions $30.
Seminarians
$93.
..,_'?we have no data for 1923 and 1924 bu.t the Christmas
collection for orphans declined from 1925 to 1927. The
Lenten offering for Indian and Negro missions showed rises
and falls while our 1929 total was the largest for any of
the some 25-30 years for which we have information. The 1928
seminary collection was our best showing and the difference
between 1927 and 1928 also was the largest single increase.
Our people were quite generous to 1927 flood sufferers,
Mexican Catholics and co-religionists in Russia and the
Middle East. In only a few years did our seminary donations
top the amount given to orphans.
Individual Sunday collections during the 1920s are qnly available for the years
1928-30. However, until 1930, there is no clear indication
that the Great Depression affected these totals. For
instance, in March, 1930, we find the largest single Sunday
collection during that three year record.
We speak of our people as German or Germanic so it
might be worth recording the chief duchies from which our
ancestors came: Prussia (the Rhineland), Baden, Westphalia,
Nassau, Bavaria, perhaps Hanover and Alsace Lorraine. Though
the Days are reported as coming from Prussia via the
Rhineland, there is a tradition that earlier they had fled
England when Henry VIII broke with the Church.
Every parish has members who criticize the pastor and
sometimes, the criticism spreads. There is very little which
tells us who, how or what prompted some of our people to
become seriously critical of Fr. Baron. There is an entry in
his book about a dream in which a parishioner threatened to
take his case to the Bishop. That entry appears towards the
end of the 1920's while there are other entries around that
time which suggest that something was going on. It is hard
to escape a feeling that some parishioners became convinced
that Fr. Baron could no longer handle his responsibilities
since by early in 1930, some of our people went to the
Bishop to request a change in personnel. Ironically, it
happened just after we had built a new rectory. It is
possible that Fr. Baron and a significant number of our
people were not well suited to each other.
Yet, perhaps the best way to conclude our narrative of
these years is to borrow these lines from THE KING AND I:
"this is a man who stumbles and falls; this is a man who
tries. He does not always do what you would have him do, but
sometimes he's wonderful!" Consider that his notebooks
include a heartfelt prayer to be capable of what he is asked
to become and do; he confesses his weakness and that he had
the courage to challenge his people regardless of any human
limitations in the ways he expressed his observations. He
was faithful to his duty as he saw it and fidelity is a
virtue; success is not. Who cannot say that he did not give
God and us the full measure of devotion especially when he
was lonely, exhausted, frustrated and at times, not well? Or
7f
r as one pastor once wrote, " how can I be pastor if they do
not want to be church?"
Father Baron came here only a few ye ~ rs after we began
the practice of more frequent reception of Jesus in the
Eucharist and receiving Him at what could have struck many
older persons as a very early age. It is ~sually easier to
be critical than correct - and of how many c~llings is this
more true than the priesthood? There are st f ll people around
here who served his Masses but one does not hear their
voices raised in criticism. There is a feeling that in going
to the Bishop, his critics, however well motivated, crippled
if not traumatically bruised hts spirit for he was never the
same again. Yet only One sees ail and how much of what he
did and sought to be and do has left lasting admiration and
gratitude in the heart of God?
77
Lanesville, August 31, 1854
'
Dear Confrere,
I have just thls instant received your letter of August 29.
I hasten to
J
.
answer kt, to tell you that everything ls ready for receiving the goo~ Sisters;
their house, furniture, all ln a word that I was able to procure for their
comfort, and I hope that they will be satisfied with the house that I have prepared
for them.
1be reason I have not written ls that I received Monslgnor•s letter too late
to answer lt, and besides his letter did not need a reply.
Here ls what he said to
me: three Slaters wlll be sent to you after the retreat. If you could not be ready
to receive them at the end of this month please let me know immediately.
Now as
I told you above Monsignor's letter arrived too late for me to answer in time to
St. Mary•s, and I thought I ought to do all I could to be ready for the tlme stated.
Picture to yourself that •ince I received Monsignor's letter I have visited 120
families of my Congregation; I have made a collection for the good Sisters; I have
been obliged to direct the work, and all by myself, and you will say yourself that
I have not lost any time.
In spl te of that, lf l t were not for a mlsunderstand.ing,
if we were not so far into the week I would leave today for Madison; but I count on
belng wlth you Monday evening, September 4.
As
I do not know where a letter from me would reach Madame the Superior,
will you please be my interpreter tfi th her. explaining what I have told you offering
her my excuses.
Goodbye, in the hope of finding you in good health next Monday,
Alphonse 1-tJnchina
··: ···
.
I
/6~
11 I·j .
tllHE.
.l.
<""
W RECQ.RD.• ~ · . · ·
.r.H.E
o.:r:~1cu.L.
NEW RECORD, THUl
A).
propoaale; exoept a l'MOlt to agenoloa . IT
or violent reproulon dlaorodlted by loall
Dearly Beloved Brethren:.
·
. half a century of failures, and within adv•
'. RICHARD . BUTLER..
. On :Easter Su.nda::r there .will be t.bel laat twelvemonth . repndlatlld by nyn
taken up, ae usual, the Colloctlon' for bot.h t.be great. polltlcat part.lea, by the bu
'- qn1c1c'1 ---·JO and II, 1Jalon . t~e education or the Bomlna.rlans of Consorvatlvos on their 1u~qnlremont or gent
aatl•C.s.' w-t JlarJ'iand •treet, ll>e- tho Dlooeso. The presentt_year wltnoPeoe oflloe last June, arid by the Liberal• on larg
t•ee•
and T•••HA-•tr.ets. tho abundant fruit-or your generosity, their recent return 'to power. "1111• la som
for s~von young LOvl.tes •":lll reoolv~ the el"'nlftcant
feature In Mr. Goe- ash1
. _\..._ '-e
HUusuRIPTION RATES:
Priestly Ordlna~lon. Every··yoar, .a1111 ohen'• speech, that be omitted to that
one 7ear........: .,. ........................................
i:nte, 1100s llhnlnutlon In the ranks or designate any. reinedy but force · tor tba
Bil[ montfli .....).......................................... 1
tho workers, and e'1ery year provl··
·
·
• Tbree raonth1 ... ~. ........ .. ..... . ................... 60
,
.
the present notorious lnoompetenoe of the
s1n1le oo~I••·•······~·:·· .. --.........;·············:
6 Rion has.to be made for vacan:t'!lts In tho Engllah laws lo Ireland., It la the tlon
IN'\ ARtABL\:, IN AD\ ANCE.
th_o future, · ~ It ls well for you, Dearly failure of the Uberal malcontents to alth
THE · NEW RECORD will be found on rDoloved Drothren, to know that la11t •offer any' plausible substltnte for the non
a&Je at the tollowlns pla~e11:
.
year ~our collection fell abort or tho proposed hcune rule that. ·makes tho mo
IND1ANAN>J,JR-10H'11:;11 BMlTil, No. amount.. Jieoos11ary for t.be Rnpport. or l!:ngllah poople look with Hnitplclon.on mo
M North Illlnol1 11treet..
'\
the. .. young
men. Not.withstanding
their p.rt>fesslons of. patriotism • 11.1r
fro
TERRE HAUfE. IND.D. BKITH,
· .
'·
. ·
._. •
No. 81!1 Main 1treet..
. . ~·
.
tbe.~&Qt that w!. have .m ade good the GlRdetone will Improve every ·hour
EVA NSVII,LE, IND.-W. ~LAN, No. sun\ lost by the unexpected f11olluro of ri-om now forward to win tho boart.y
T
212 Mlll1111trcot. •
.
: ~
a· baok' up ' to that. moment In· high ·S mpat.hy or the entire British pctople, mo
PEllU, IND.-P. M. C1tUM1t.
·
standing, had It ' not been for a sur- a~d
1,;dlcatlone now point to cer· wit;
MADISON, IND.-l\IIBS AUOUl!TIN, ew11
..
11
h db 'th
"!'
1~d1
Dealer.
. . . .~
·
plus n'.ot from .bo ectlons, el
y . e taln vlc~ory for his parliamentary •.
EDINBUR<J, INU.-M. 1,vNcn.
. · Semi.nary, there. would bo a l)alRnce legislation when htl noxt ronew11 tho Ch R
GREENSBURG, IND.-Klt881~0 Bno '• against It• This yonr, If you do not give carnpal~n wit.bin the Houso of Com- 1".
B&zaar.
~ore than laRt, we shall either havo a
·
lssll
mon11.
'ltntered at the Po11tomee al Indlanapol111 \flclt, or It will bo nocowmry, to our
=====~==~
1';1n
11 \VnIT1mov, moonllltht, and rlbbo'n
u 1econd-clMfl mall mllttcr.
great regret, to rofuso promising
be t,
youths coming to us to dovoto their societies, murders by nhi;ht and day," <JU e
8abtterlbert1 wishing their papeni dl11- lh·os to God, and send thorn to othor 1J&ld Lord Salisbury, "made doubtful
r..e l
.
.
.
I
coutlnued at the oX:plrutlon or the time
for which they ha Ye ,pnld will ptenRe no- d,loceRes. In our opinion ;t. Is be!.'lt for tho angelic character or the Irish peas- J<'ra
"Unfortunately,'' · the New Toi•
tify 011 at. that time~ and not before. 'fho us to recruit our ranks from tho .youth an try."
date on the lnhcl bearing your nnmo will born in our midst, ou tho 11011 of Ind I- York Run replies to thl11, "an angelic 11 1o
11bQW the time at whle!J tho notice Khou Id
ana, where I.boy have grown up under cluuacter 111 11omothh11c that no pooplo py
be given.
the eye or those who have been able to nossoes. Kn-Klux and kind rod socio- and
==========-=======::.== noto tholr qunlltlm1. Thoro 111 le1111 iloe, murd~rs by night and dRy1 n;ado Bar
THURSDAY, APHII.. :l2, l8...'l6.
liability to be mistaken, and homo In- doubtful the chivalric charaotor ot' the Ne\·
fluoncos are generally whole11ome. Southern Democrats.
nut the KuClltlRCH CA.l.F.:NDAR •.
'Vhllo we should bo profoundly grate- Klux soclotioA wero tho out.growth of
1',
ful lo tho~o who hR\'e como from ohio- ·oppro'Mslon hy carpot-bag govern- No
April.
-.J....
. h-.'"'1""IH.,. t.,. . .,.J.,. .h-1K'"'l,. , . . ,1""11=-117h-o-p-.t•·7<..;:-:o-::n:.f7e11:"'.'11:::0-=r.--- . ~here to aid us, I.here can be no ques- men ts. \Vhen that oppression was ro· yea:
F. 2 8t.. J.. runclH or l'irnln, Conrc1111or...
·t.lon about tho fact that the sympathy moved, t.he life wu knocked out or ly !'
1-1.
!I 1-'t. lrPnf', MIKI ••t Com., 11!11!.
of tho poopfo usually g;oos to tbosa tho Ku-Klux Klan. Since tho South· due
NE.
\...!:):/
lilt••••
S2::
ali
•·
•·onrth flluaday
or 1.ent.
Ooapel, st. John vi. 1-15: The Mtrnclc ot born among .thorn. Aid,. therefore,
the l.OllVCR nnd Flllhe11.
gonoromdy, ·and holp educate your
H. f HI. f"lllor, H.J I>., C.
own
whom God hRH ·bloHMcl wlt.h a
M. f1 Ht.. VI nct!n l 1' 1'rrcr, Con fr1<Hor.
· · 'I'. 6 Ht.. ('eh•11tlnc, 1'11p1• & Confcs1•or.
call to the Holy PrieHtho<id. That you
\V. 7 lll1'1111ed Hermnn Jo.'leph ...
may tbu~ oo-opornte In Hl1t.work 1 Rn'd
'l'h. R Hl. \\' niter, A hhot.
JI'. II Ht. Mnry of EKYl't, 1'cnlt1>11t.o:havo from II Itri n .1Jle1J1:1lng 1 wo glvo
H. lOHt. Ml'rhllhkM, \· lrgln .1< Abht•HM.
you our J•!pllicopnl Ronodlctlon.
Pa1111lo11 Munday.
Goepel, Ht. J.o hn \ 111. 46-50: The JowK try
tFnANrr~ S11 •.\i. 1
·
.
to Rlone J c1mk.
i
Bishop or Ylnconnos.
,.._ H Ht. 1.~o the Ur411\t. 1'.• U., l:.
indlanapolls, Aprll 10, 1886..
M. 12 "3L \'lctor, Mnrtyr.
T. 13 Ht. Hermcneglld, Mart.yr.
f
_
W. 14 Ht. Tlhurtl\111 & Com1>., MM ... ·
Th.II> Ht. l'llt.er Oonr.l\lllll, Con ff'llllOr.'
!
TO VICTORY.
.
1'", 111 Ht. Ben. J 01<. t .nhro, Con foM~or...
\Vork
woll
1beg11n
IH hl\lr <indod, Rtlll
H. 17 Ht. lludol ph, M nrt., r.
1
tll~ friends ff Ireland are to be conPnlm Hu11dny •
.. •• . . -·-·· · n.,,, ""''": The ,,. .. .,h11'•tAtl U'utt tho first sklrmll!b In
0
0
or.
r
erners have had home rule, they have
bocomo obedlont."to the lRW8 an<i loyal
to I.ho Union. 1f thl11 country Hhould
got lnt.o R foreign '_Var there would be
no need to keep an army In tho Ron th
to ovorawe tho people and guarcl
agalnat another rebellion. Moonlight
Rnd ribbon Rocletles have grown out.
of carpet-bag government In Jroland.
They aro evils which can be healed by
the Ramo modlclno that :curod I.ho KuJ{lux J>IRKUO. Ir l~ngl1uid 11ho11ld drift
Into a WRr wlt.h a 11oworful nolghl.>0rand sooner Or later Rho must got thClre
-,Q bad addition
to that mh1fort11ne
IRto
peri
Rtul
thRI
ros<
I.lo
wa
sRt
OU
Ro
m<J
Ahl
Cal
(
08f
• •• -
•
'
-·
'II" -
"'
.,
'
11!!15iia
I
~ .
C+•, {13
,a.
I
c::
1111'1'.
•
(
=
Last Wlll of Alphonso Munschina.
'l'he last will of Fa.ther Alphonso llunschiua, former pastor of the Catholic
church at Lanesville, has been admitted
to probate in the office of the clerk of
the circuit court of this count,t, After
revoking all previous wills, the will just
probated recites:
"l desire to die in the peace and com_.
munion of the Roman Catholic church
in the bosom of which I was born and
in which I have ~ndeavored to serve Almighty God during my life."
The next item requests that his body
be buried in the cemetery of St. Ma.ry'i; .
church at Lanesville, and that a. memo- '
ri&l ta.blet be erected at his grave.
He devises his house and lot in Lanesville to Rt.. Rev. Silas F. Cha.tardr
Bishop, of Yincennes, and his successors
in office, to be dlsposed of for the beneflt of St. Mary's church.
He bequeaths Rt. Rev. Silas Chatard
and his successors in office one thousand
dollars. He also gives to said Rt. Rev.
Bishop Chatard, to be held in trust, the
following sums: For the Mission of the
.· Immanuel Conception for the protect.ion
of homeless and destitute children of the 1
city of :New York, the sum of $500; the
Carmelite N•!ns, of New Orlea~s, $.300;
the Carmelite Nuns, of Baltimore, $500;
the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary,
Yigo county, Ind,. $500; the Sisters of
St. Frant:is Oldenburg, Franklin county,
Ind., $500; the Little Sisters of the Poor,
of Indianapolis, $500; St. Meinaru's Monas~~ry.! Sr.e~1c~! ~oui:it:Y• _Incl., $500.
- .- .,. .- , ,-~
~.
.
Jf o.
No. -----·----------·-···-····-
AGREEMENT
1
----~--!__·~----------·-·
IDirecesi£
Perh1
To be slrined by all non-Catholic applicants for dispensation to contract marriage with members of the Catholic Church.
vi f acuitatum a S. Se de
\
1893, usque ad diem f9
I, the undersigned, not a member of the Catholic Church,
~xt0Zl_q,
et __::_/(~_____§ __ ~_ ___'7-1
. l.
.
. h_________'/-_________
~~
,/d:<t:
w1s
1mg to contract a marnage
wit
"t(j ________________ _/>,_
/,I -~
..... ____of ___ .{t,o:?'':-7-J-0:-:-•-c:•:-c:"_jJ_4
_a
ab impedimento
member of
· the Catholic Church, propose to do so with the understanding
ita ut valid e ac licite mat
non, fuerit rapta, vel si
that the marriage bond thus contracted is indissoluble, except by
in-juncta tamen
death; and I promise on my word of honor, that __A.he shall be
permitted the free exercise of religion according to h
--22
con~rua
eroJanda.
-~".::'_____________________ _
belief, and that all children of either sex born of this marriage
shall be baptized and educated in the faith and according to the
teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.
I furthermore promise
that no other marriage ceremony than that by the Catholic Priest
.
shall take place.
! -SIGNED IN TH F: l'RF.St:::XCE OF
Tllls form to be forwarded to the Cilancery with application for
dl~pen•nllon.
/IA
~(h
'Revdo Dno . -----·--··------~---·-:}.
I
l e applicants for dispensation to con- L)
n bers of the Catholic Church.
'
1
member of the Catholic Church
( /1~
'
s12 .
l.~ . /3~
with ........
L?:./J~~jl.4
JV 0. ··-···················-· ·--·······- ····-
a member of
IDioccesis ll'incennopolitana.
to do so with the understand ing
1ntracted is indissoluble, except by
Per has praesentes testamur quod, perpensis adjunctis,
vi facultatum a S. Sede A.postolica Jt'obis die i9 M ensis Januarii, an
word of honor, that __,,_{!he shall be
~l igion accordi~g to h
1893m,ue ad ~::de
k".:'.".................... .
. _:-1f~,J_~~-~~;;;zz_:~~-~~-:=~:
~_/._A.e_ L,i-__~LL~--------------
f either sex born of th is marriage
in the faith and according to the
c Church.
ensis 18.98,(!fd~' dispensavim
ab impedimento
____
I furthermore promise
ita ut valid e ac licite matrimonium queant in<dr se inire; dummodo muli
Y than that by the Catholic Priest
non fuerit rapta, vel si rapta fuerit, in raptoris potestate non exist1
I
I
I
injuncta tamen conJ!rua eleemosyna in pium opus ad arbitrium nostru
I
!
'I
I
I
I
I
r
neer~· wi th app ll cntlon for rll•pe n •ntlon .
I
I
11
fl
I
I
I
I
I
I
~ ~ ~
Episcopus Yincennopolitan1
Revdo Dno . ························································ ················-~--:--···-·························
··· ·· - · •
..aat'I.n.,........,
'-cln with
a Wlh•r
pinna life, and
ahnw a •1•lr1t or
.. .. - · ·· ..
. - ·-· - · --·
th• 'fery mari. .. t c•ontraal, 1.. t.,_11 Lhe
rt-lom nr worablp l'nM'Lloed la
..-...neh puhiln ln•Lllullon• an•I Lhat
cl~n1 ..1 &n ••m• ur Uae lnma&ae of
many almllar -taltll.ah11u1nt. In tb l.a
ecmntry,. lb• Hanclall'a lalanJ llonf Jt"fup for lnatanNt, M. It. lleC•Y·
lnr, •Ul'nrlnuind6nt orthe w11ll·known
lnalllutlon at M11llraw, Jl'ranne, whl11la
"
<'Omrrl•e• .the Colonlo Al(rloole, a
reformatory for Jnvealle dollnqunnt.,
and tho Soclt1w l'awrnolle,a rrotectorv
•
"
for prodlll'•I eona, aaya lo a letter to
~ ...... • - ·· : ···---· ... . ·i I
a1-~ or. Tb• noane of le<1la,..1\••n ·
1
1.. t
)'-r al "L Jc.epb .. <.."b•ttb, In
lhl.a rlly, tboa•b b''' aa earert-nt,
..1-rly d•Dlonal,..Led tbal ll wo•IJ
.ar?Ttotf
·-•··' - · •
•
lna• 1"91'911\&no- ..,. • ,.,..,,... nr l.ol•l
&&k• but ••ry little aftor\ ea make
-•h flOD~ det!ldecfly f'Oralar, and,
al•LL11en""
fJcw-arn 1lwltl0f1•1&,
I! you wLll, moet aa-rat from e
-----·-·-·····-··· a
1Uabor or J"ort Way~e.
~JILT 12' AP\' AICCX.
ftnauolal Jlnlnt of Yletr. IL mual he
bom11 I" mind that "'o •real and roe· ..
ne fnllowlnf are Lbe Mll{Ulatlona for
''
:r" •
'"
'Uil'ORll wlll N h>tan4 •n
1.... nt In th" nt~ of \'ln~nn• for
purpolWI la ••er arcompllabed alll •l
"1F1•a
once. l'rotrr""9 alow and by d.,llf,.._
\l.11'-J-JCO.. thl• y...r, In Tlrtue of the lndult ofthll
only are tho fulloet rt••ult• obt&lne<I
... ...-Z I\. R.. J-~.U.IQI,
tloly ~. dalf'>.l January 18, 1~:
,
•
Kame one/fuuat oommence lty, .... ,.
l. A 11 the faltbful ovor twonly-one
,
··:J nc. ncn.-t. n. -ITn,
11
and nndt1r lllxty yoarw or age aro,. un- Mr. ·L. Jl. Hln-o, l'rNldent or. the ha('ll, making aa.orlt\<'tlll lJefore the d •
J'tlK.
alre<l ofi1l la rear.hnd. IL wu Jo'alhPr'•
.JI;, IJU}.-\\', Nou11, 1fn. 1- lt1glUmatt!ly dllllttlll•eil, hound to C'athollc llnlon, 'Nftw York:
o._...,.e the re•l o( 1..enl.
,
\Vo <'011r.£t1l1;1 to our lnmatN all n£ted- ,\iertllng'• purpollfl when be ln•UlfU·
-!-. M.l.'llt!•a.
'
2. Tbey are .10 · take but. one full NI ~r.lllUos t.o J"r&<"llce t.holr rnllgloua rated laat year'• le~ture eourae to
"l'J\.-lil . . At'Gt'!WTU•, J'(eww ruNI a day, Sundaya
·
. •
-1
·
'make that commoncoment. He ,,.. ....
1 ti' I nmatft• o ( t h e
91."t'1'tt!1l,"'Vhl11h d II LI ""·
Mah•OO
1:-fD.-)I. l,TJlrll.
meal 11bonld be ta\ten aboul 110011.
l'l'lorn,elln are not ('alhollca alone; WO J>ropared lo meet with hut llllle un·
W, ll'lD..-X-1110 naOll'.
:I.. &lb ftab and tioah al"t' nol to be frequently ha,·e young tn11n liolonging ooura ement. lie wu to a d ree
,
uar.t at lhe ... we time, e\•(ln by w 11 y of to the Lutheran donomlnatlon, which ·d
IC
eg
Nll<'e ·· or condlm1111t, . Huoday11 In- happo1111 to bo tho C'Uf' at pro1111tlt. 111·· taarpolnted, for the att.endant-e •aa
l'mloftl«-e at lndlanaroll• ch11lo<I.
a1•r.onlam•o with tho de11lre or tholr bettAr lhao expect0<l. 'The lecturea \
4-co~aa IDAll mUMr.
•. A rollatlon '1 11 allowod lu tho fa111lll011, \\;O ba\·e uotlfiodtf10 rutor of at Ht. Jo11eph'• we,ro bM.t11r al1.(ln1le.I
"'·onlng. No general rule· as 'to tho tho l,uthftran communion, who comllll tb•n thoao at Plynaoutb Church ,,..ere,
\withstand Ing th• expen11e gone to I
w1ahln1 their l"'I><'" dl•- quantity or . food [>ormlttod at thlll C!Vory Sunday to vP!ilf hie young roh• ••plrellon nf U11• lln>t' Lime! 111 or rai1 bo made; i,ut tho prac-· rollglonlal.K.
\Vo bavo had l11ra!lllto11 to mak~ tho latter alltracll'\'e •. Thi•
nu•e raid will rl•a.ae no- lice of tho moat regul-.r Chrl~tlan Is, who wero vlalwd by their rabbi, and proves that our .,people •nt In favor of
11
'.Jme, and not l>«"fol't'. Tht'
to ne,·or let It exceed the fourth part like facllltloll / wero oxtem~ed to • tb(l movement· loaogunte~ In tbla
_. 1 ~rlnr rour name will
young Oree)( who holonged to the 1•lty I t
d
t 0 be no I
d·I
•t whll'h lhl! 110\lre ahould or an onllnary meal.
6. Tho u11e or lmttor, eggs, cbee11 e United Clro<ik Church.
..,. yoar an now
nt null I
"'
Id
••I
r
Ill
through Ht. Joitoph'a Young
and milk at the evonln1t oollatlon,
no w~u 110,·or ••• n o compe ng
,
•
·
wbero tbl!l 111 the custom, la tolerated younr men belonging to'dlfforent rf'" Union "JY father Alerdlnl{.
A Y, MARCH 4, l!l.'ltl.
hy the Church on account or the ox• llglous denomlnatlon11 to be pre11ent
\Ve wl11h St. Joaorh's Young .Men's .
lstenco of such custom. ·For the aame aL Catholic wol'llhlp. I am much 11ur- Union God 11peed. \\'bat parh1b wlll :
CH ('ALE!VDAB.
muon J~ 111 lawful to take wlt.h a prl11ed to learn that In a land 11uch aa next enroll lta young men In a
cncker I'\ tho morning, a cup/ of tetl., the United States, wblirb claims to union 1
,
co tree, or th~ n cbocol•te, with a little have so DI ucb respect for llburty;·any
I
Jilwbop .t: l'onf•-•r.
milk.
../
.
warrant can ba\'O boon fo1iud for comTo-D.l Y (Thul'llday) the l'lllllu1i1 will ,
cua, Pope 4: Uoufoaaor.
:rndM,.l'.mpreaa.
6.
The
use
or
lanl
Instead.of
butter
pelllug
cblldron
of
a
different
faith
to
be
conferred on Archbl11bop Corrigan j
1rL1>1nr .t l'onft-ar.
, nlahop .t l'onf.
h1 perrnltwd hi preparlng'fisb, vege- attend 'Protestant servlce11 and Prot- lo'.SL Patrick's Cathedral;New York, !
•, \'lrsln .t: Abl>MA.
e•tant proachlng.
by the M08t Rev • .Archb!shop or &Ill-!
table11, etc.
,_ . . _ . "•nda7.
7.
.
'l'he
following
are
exompted
from
Our
J?rlnclplo
horo
111
to
accord
to
_more.
.Archbishop Ehler, or Clncln· J
'xviii. 11-H: JeaH OIVM
the obligation or futlng: Young per- each child .the greatest facility for natl, who ·bro itht the Palllum from I
t.he Blind .Man.
aon11 ·under twenty-one years of age; practicing tbA dutle11 or the rellglona Roin
~Ill ~
•
.. Aqulnaa, DOC. & COnf.
those who h•ve completed their six- ·faith to which It belongs. We require
e,
al~g tb.e Maas, •nd Arch·!
,f Ood, lloofMA<>r.
,. of H.ome, Widow.
Uoth year; tho ·11lck, prognant womon, tho Catholl<'S, who aro In tho majority, bl 11 bop Uy1m, of l'hlladelphla, .will
o....Sar.•
or those gl\'lng 11 uck to Infant.II; per- to be pro11ent at dlvlnq_aervlce11, but In preach tho sermon.
,
t Melhodlua, Cont.
-y lhe llN&L, l'oJ><! &: Cont.•
aona who are obliged to labor hard tho matter of porforDtance of their re. Jilwhop.
and all who, through weakness, ca~ llglous duties we ba1'e tio do111re · to
IT Is an Ill wind that blows nobody I
'•••~•J' or L••l.
No presa~ro la good. The Chicago pickpocket.a ba\·e
• I\". l·ll: Jeaua la Templed not fast without Injury to their health. compel con11clonc011.
8. Dy dlspensatlol:l, tb& U'Je or tlesh over brought on inmates to make r.leared '3,000 by •ttendlng the meQty \be Devil.
meat la allowed at any.time on Bun- them go to confession or communion. lng11or the Rev. 8&111 Jones.
da.. QUtlOll!l\ M. Hofbauer.
day1 1 and onoo ·a day on Mondays, We work by perau&1lvo n1oan11 only.
th• Lt-per.
POPE Ll:O XIII.
Tue11day11, ThuPfday" and 8aturdays, E\'ory dl\y the d1apl1&ln vhtllll tho Cl\th1, Apooille of Ireland.•
J,Klur.
.
exoopt on ~e :Saturday of Ember ollc Inmates of the .Malann Pllternelle
"RPouao of lbe m. V.•
week, and 011;--Thunday and Saturday In tbolr rooms, and re11ponds Imme- De l'alke oC Illa Oppr-..1 «'ondl·
e, lltahop.•
Uon, and a ...nta a Libel oa
of Holy woo~.
,.
.
·
dlately to the call ef t.po11e wbe manlll•Dcl•J' er IAt•t..
Ill• Pa&rlotlem.
• xYtt.1.e:TrananruraUon . U. i;\en.on11 t who J.,re oxompwd or fe11t a desire to ••o .bl~ at tlmflll othe
t
•
A dispatch from Rome, dated Marcb
legtttm·at.llt.§r dl•pensed froin tho obll~ than hie dally vl11lt.
.
./
-3-r--....a;a-,,.... ....---.-.. · ' • \ 6 a
.~_AbbOL
gat.i~1>f -f·a'UngL"l!!._1112lbo
.iha.QWml.e .A..Jtl-1
,- ~
!,ilf.1~1.!-l.---.....i~_..!-....,F-_
... ._·..
1.T.. 4'Blbg -nleat-only at 0 ·ne
641 wltb-UTiml~eliglous belleflrl ho aeventy-ftflh annlveraary of hla
•Martyr.•
'
inonl on thlll'lv• 011 which Jt8 n1<o iii We roeelve only Catholic children. birth to-day, and tho eighth annlver.atlon or tbe n. '\'. 111.
·
· .,
p
I
II d I
1
'l Hlahot &: Coor.o
gran~ed
·by di11ponsatlon. /.
·
rote11tant nven o
e ln~uenta are aary or hie ooronatlon, which fall• to· 1
.' t:r;yp lll!rmlt.
f FnA?CC'·j11 Sil.AR,
Mont to a special lnstltullou located In w·orrow, by an addre1111 to the memNnnda7 ol IA"nl.
,
JllMhop <if Yhwi•llllOH.
\lift 11011th oC France, and foundoJ by berit ol the Sacrt1d C"ollc-ge. In thla hla
"xi. 1'·2": J"""" Caau Ont
Jmll~n 8 ~; 0 11"; Fohru•ry :!:!, IK.>l<l.
I\
l'roto1tl.tmt llOl'lot\', an1l which 111 Hollnt11t,. e11lo1tl1tt1ll tht1 union t1xlatlng
~vii.
.,
~-.=.., . ..;z:_____
l'allod l.11 Colonie d11 Sto. Jroy. Thero- among the Cardinal•, ·anJ urged t'On11 •· rop" .t ('out.
C
/
b
llll'lo1111 q11e11tlon, thoroforti, ooll!e• UJ> oord among Cllthollca against tho11e
.t Com)I, )Ul.
Ol!X}>.~TJ~" on tit o. fact that the
·11macbu11, Abbot.
tout to U~ ";•oen· wu rocel'\'od wltli only at our Malson l'aternelle, and I eeeklng to corrupt and weaken the
,blX>t.t Confe11110r. 0
,,,...
,
have J1111t explained to you In bow authority or the Churob. Ho deplored
•
•
hl11110a l\t 'the compllmontary din nor to broad and liberal a 11plrlt It 111 dealt
the oppre1111ed condition of the Holy
the/)rorklngmen mombera .or l'l\rll11- with by ua.
See •11 unworthy of the bead of the
m~nt last.week, tho corrOMpondont of
oburcb and Incompatible with bla lnTJOMA FOil LENT,
ono ol UufNow York 1lnlllo11 IK Ind lo
<lepun<lonoo. JllK JlollnoH 11poke with 1
CATJIOLJO YOUNG JllEK'B tTlfIOH.
I
1g are lho rogulaUonK (or 1111y ll~ntjthoro aro a gooJ 1111\llY J<:11gmuch 11nverlty oonct1rnl111r the attempt 1 ,
1
\V 1·: wou hi 1•1111 tho l\ttontlon or our
to connect till' \'atlcan with the crln)e'
ooeae ol 1''ort w •yne for ll11h mombera willing to blHK a king or
quoon, but tboy do nQt think tho limo roaile~ to lho account ln aiiotber of furnishing foreign onemle• or Is.ily 1•
Ill f I I b
· I
column or tho or~nnlzatlon of Ht 1111~rot information about 1t11· m,Jef.ary
~
c
~-~-··
.-..-.----· --··-·-·
··-··.
,.a-•
l•fll
lo
t.o
0
-IT. .
Wl•-·a.
<•
I
I
k
M&a'"j
i
'°
!
I
I
,
·a
•
I
1
u
w io
nve corn-
ltl.M
corno t.(>
HhO\V
tholr hnn<IM.
)toy- "" _,,_..,,,., " .. "'"',, . . ''".,,.., '""""
T;
1~
, 1 ,· f" ,.,, , . u ,.. ..
,. ,, •• .,.,. · '' ~ ''"
-,., ~~-- •'· · /1, .
•• .
FATHER KUNPEK SPEAKS TO US
Since writing about Fr. Kundek, the historian of his
work and parish has shared with three of his priceless
letters. From his opening sentence, one can almost imagine
that the Apostle Paul has returned; from the remainder,
well, it speaks for itself.
"A protracted illness of almost seven months forced me
to bed; meanwhile, I suffered much from colic and other ailments. A sick man is in a particularly sorry plight here for
in this miserable woods, there is neither physician nor
tried remedy and each one must suffer in patience and
resignation until God gives relief thru nature itself.
Finally, I visited the settlement of the late deceased
John Miller and there dedicated a new log church in honor of
the holy archangel Michael. (Dogwood) ••• the colonists have
not had the consolations of religion for more than two
years ••• 31 f~~ilies of Americans, German and Irish
extraction li~e here •••. Ten miles away I found another
rapidly growing community composed largely of German and
French Catholics. The town is called Lanesville. On the
Feast of SS Peter and Paul, I had much hard work there. I
was the eighth missionary that was ever seen, or heard to
preach in that place. I preached in German, English and
French. A missionary must be familiar with these three
languages if he is to do justice to his office since these
parishes consist of more than 50 persons who had not
received the Sacrament of Penance for two to seven years.
I preached three times a day, French before Mass, then
English and German. A mission exhortation closed the
services which tells the people how to conduct themselves
until they again a have a priest which may not be for many
years. Here I also had a discussion with Protestants that
lasted for more than four hours. God's grace manifestly
strengthened me so I could speak with burning zeal and
almost superhuman power on our most important truths so that
none present could object and most of them gave their full
assent. The Catholics glowed with joy at this victory. They
are making preparations to build a church, buying four lots
for $325 in the town, with a house they plan to convert into
a church, a stable and seven acres of land. But they could
not pay the first installment of $100 and there is reason to
fear that this work, so pleasing to God, will be hindered;
such is their poverty especially during this present crisis
when there is no income and no employment. If the
construction is to be made possible and brought to
completion, I will shall dedicate the church in honor of St.
John the Baptist because it was on his feast that I sang
High Mass and preached so many sermons here . . .fi
y
.iJtr' parents were poor peasants lpursUit nusoana.ry). illt::.Y l'lt::.i..c
respected and .esteemed, and faithful members of the Catholic Church. 'Ibey emigrated for the U.S. of America in Oct. 19 1 1842 1 with us 7 children and landed at
Louisville, KY. by way of .New Orleans, on New Years' morning, 1843. They lived in
wuisville till · some time in March, 1843;· 'Htien they located in Franklin township,
Harrison County, Ind., 3 miles south ..(little west of lanesville, ltlere they and
their son-in-law, (the late George M. Hess) bought 78 acres of land {very poorly
improved and not much cleared) • . Jtr' parents .t9ok the east part, 53 acres, and Mr.
Hess the west part 25 acres • . 'Ihis·section of·the country was at that time thinly
settled and al.most a wilderness. - People were poor and many of them lived in small
round log cabins. They were not prosperous (very dull times) and luxury was unknown. Wages were low ( a good hand from 25¢ to 35¢ a day) and produce had hardly
any price. School terms were very short and common in those days. When I was
about 8 years old I went about a month to free school in an old log school house
near Buck Creek, little piece west of where the late Enos Kerr's place, right in
woods, where I learned the English Alphabet and spelled little short words but
could not speak any English yet. After that I went seve:raJ. times yet in winter
for short times only and I went to English school in all about 10 months, When
I was about 9 years old I went for the first time for a few months to a common
Ge:rman school taught by a common German .citizen in lanesville; after that a
Germ.an man by the name of _John Bund, came .i::_o . lanesville with his children (he
was a widower) and opened a German school in his house. I went to his school
about 18 months.
'
·
When I was 12 years and 3 months old r.rry mother sent me to wuisville, KY for
seve:raJ. weeks to school to be instructed to make my first holy communion as we
had rio priest here at that time and on the 29th da;y of April, 1849, I, with the
rest of the communicants received. my first Holy ·Communion in St. Boniface church
on Green Street.
.
....
. ,. :..
'
~1
After we were .5t years in this country and begun to get a little good . start
rrr:r dear father took down sick with bilious fever and died the 8th day on July 24, . . ! . :
1848, in the .54th year· of his age. I was then only 11-! years old, a si.s ter 7
· ! . .·
years older than I and a brother 2 years younger . than me, remained with our dear .. ! :
and pious mother and attended our little farm the best we could. It' two oldest
I .·
brothers, John Nicholas and Ambrose, were then married and my older brother, John
Andrew had learned the shoemaker trade in Louisville and he lived there, My
,l
oldest sister, Mary Ann, got married in the old country, before we all emigrated, ·.·
to Geo. M. Hess. In 1852, my other sister, Mary Theresa, got married to Mr. Jacob -,
Herbst. From 1853 to 1855 my brother-in-law, (Mr. Herbst) lived rd th us and
. i·
. attended to our place and as he also understood something about coopering, he ·· ;
started a little shop and coopered some. As our place was small and not much to · ; 1•
do for us ail, my mother requested me to work also in the shop and learn the
·
y
(heavy) cooper trade and so I done. After my brother-in-law moved down to Crawford county (in the Blue River hills) in 1855, I remained with my mother and ran
the little cooper shop. In 18.56 my younger brother, Charles Henry, also learned
the same {cooper) trade with me. So we were both coopers and hammered away and
attended to our little farm till November 1858, 'When we all moved to Lanesville
into the house ltlere I reside yet Jan. 15, 1907.
I will remark here that·my good dear mother has been down sick often and
especially during the cold winter months and was not able to do her housework,
then my brother Charley . and . myself done the milking, cooking, etc., and Miss
Lizzie Direk, then a neighbor girl, done the washing and cleaning house, etc.
'lhat was after my sister was married and had moved to Crawfo:rd. county and before
we moved to Ianesville.
Here in town {Lanesville) I run a cooper shop and my brother (Charley)
worked for me and our mother kept house the best she could in her declining years.
After I lived here even 4 years I finally f9und one that would share joy and
sorrow with me through life (before that .I'.had not been successful) and on St.
Catherine's day, Nov. 25, 1862, I got married to Miss Catherine Schmelz; a
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Schmelz, of Floyd cmmty, Rev. Father Alphonse
Munchina, perlormed the solemn ceremony, during.a High Mass, in our beauti:f'ul
newly built Catholic church. My p~the~in-1..a.w; Joseph Schmelz, got married at
the same time. In 1865 my wife's folks all moved to Kankakee county, Ill. I
was not quite 26 years old whe~ I got ·married and my wife was past 22. After I
was married 10 months my dear and affectionate mother died on Sept. JO, 1863.
She was 67 years, 3 months and 24 days of age 'When the Lo:rd. called her to his
heavenly home. She was sick and suffered a great deal during her life time but
as she was a good and faithful Christian and led a mod.est life, she endured all
her siclmesses, cares, sorrows, ha:rd.ships and afflictions with Christian fortitude
and to the honor of God. I can not say too much to her praise, for she was a most
kind, goodhearted and affectionate mother in the true sense of the word. I shall
always think of her with a heart of gratitude and love. I hope to meet my beloved
and dear parents, brothers, and sisters once in yonder better world ltlere there
is no sorrow, tribulation, care, suffering nor separation any more but eternal
joy, bliss and hapP.iness. '·