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c^WID^AMERICA 


Vol.  XIV 

New  Series,  Vol.  Ill 


JULY,  1931 


Number  1 


Journal  of  the  Illinois  Catholic  Historical  Society 

28  North  Franklin  Street,  Chicago 

MANAGING  EDITOR 
Gilbert  J.  Garraghan St.  Louis 

CONTRIBUTING  EDITORS 

Frederick   Beuckman Belleville      William    Stetson    Merrill Chicago 

John  B.  Culemans Moline      Paul  J.  Foik Austin,  Texas 

Francis  Borgia  Steck Qwincy 


28  NORTH  FRANKLIN  STREET,  CHICAGO 

HONORARY  PRESIDENTS 
His  Eminence  George  Cardinal  Mundelein,  Chicago 
Rt.  Rev.  Edward  F.  Hoban,  D.  D.,  Bockford      Rt.  Rev.  Henry  Althoff,  D.  D.,  BeUeviUe 
Rt.  Rev.  James  A.  Griffin,  D.  D.,  Springfield  Rt.  Rev.  Joseph  H.  Schlarman,  D.  D.(  Peoria 


OFFICERS 

Pbesident 

Rev.  Frederic  Siedenburg,  S.  J.,  Chicago 

First  Vice-Pbesident 

Rt.  Rev.  F.  A.  Purcell,  Chicago 

Second  Vice-Pbesident 

James  M.  Graham,  Springfield 

Treasures 

John  P.  V.  Murphy,  Chicago 


Financial  Secretary 
Francis  J.  Rooney,  Chicago 

Recording  Segbetaby 
Agnes  Van  Driel,  Chicago 


ABCHIVI8T 
Rev.  Frederick  E.  Hillenbrand,  Mundelein 


TRUSTEES 
"Very  Rev.  James  Shannon,  Peoria  Michael  F.  Girten,   Chicago 

Rev.  Robert  M.  Kelley,  S.  J.,  Chicago  James  A.  Bray,  Joliet 

Mrs.  Daniel  V.  Gallery,  Chicago  Frank  J.  Seng,  WUmette 

D.  F.  Bremner,  Chicago  Mrs.  E.  I.  Cndahy,  Chicago 

John  Coleman,  Lake  Forest 


Published  by 


The  Illinois  Catholic  Historical  Society 
Chicago,  III. 


V 


<?* 


V*S 


V 


# 


*• 


CONTENTS 

The  Mexico  City  Guilds  of  New  Spain  Marie  B.  Madden  3 

Pierre  Menard  of  Illinois  William  Stetson  Merrill  15 

The  Marquis's  Hospital  Elisabeth  Ward  Loughran  39 

Customs  and  Legends  of  Texas  Indians  Carlos  E.  Castaneda  48 

A  Miracle  in  Mid-America?  Mathias  M.  Hoffman  57 

Documents — A  Civil  "War  Diary  William  J.  Onahan  64 

News  and  Comments  73 

Book  Reviews  76 

Willard  and  Goodykoontz  (ed.),  The  Trans-Mississippi  West;  Robertson, 
Stout  Cortex;  a  Biography  of  the  Spanish  Conquest;  Laut,  Cadillac; 
Journal  of  the  American  Irish  Historical  Society,  1930-1931;  McGuire, 
The  Story  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  in  Mississippi;  Walsh,  Isabella  of 
Spain;  Williams,  Hebrewisms  in  West  Africa;  Case  (ed.),  Brother  Dut- 
ton  Memoirs;  Tourscher,  The  Hogan  Schism;  Quaife  (ed.),  The  John 
Askin  Papers;  Godecker,  Simon  Brute  de  Bemur,  First  Bishop  of  Yin- 
cennes;  Repplier,  Mere  Marie  of  the  Ursulines:  a  Study  in  Adventure; 
Historical  Becords  and  Studies,  Vol.  20;  Greene,  Our  Pioneer  Historical 
Societies;  Vicksburg  and  Warren  County,  Mississippi. 


cJVLID  -  AMERICA 

o4n  Historical  Review 

Vol.  XIV  JULY,  1931  Number  1 

New  Series,  Vol.  Ill 


THE  MEXICO  CITY  GUILDS  OF  NEW  SPAIN 

I 

At  no  time  since  the  outlines  of  our  industrial  society  became 
fixed  after  the  Napoleonic  wars  has  the  organization  of  labor 
been  so  discussed  as  it  is  today.  At  no  time  has  it  been  so  much 
taken  for  granted  by  all  but  a  few  that  labor  must  be  organized 
by  some  force  outside  of  itself.  Organization  is  used  here  in  its 
general  sense  of  planning  for  the  whole  interests  of  labor  and 
not  in  a  specific  sense  as  when  we  say  a  labor  union  has  been 
organized.  In  this  sense  of  course  labor  is  expected  to  organize 
on  occasions,  may  even  incorporate  itself  as  a  distinct  group, 
but  in  no  sense  is  that  incorporation  or  organization  taken  or 
expected  to  be  taken  as  anything  which  will  serve  the  whole 
interests  of  labor.  There  is  a  partial  exception  to  this  in  the  co- 
operatives, though  with  possibly  few  exceptions  even  these  rec- 
ognize no  more  than  the  economic  interest. 

The  major  problem  then  is  recognized,  save  by  the  few, 
notably  Pope  Pius  XI,  to  be  one  of  deciding  whether  the  organ- 
ization is  to  be  done  by  the  capital  owners  or  a  dictatorship  of 
the  proletariate  as  among  the  Communists  of  Russia.  Not  long 
ago  it  was  fairly  common  to  view  these  as  alternatives  with  the 
balance  towards  the  capital-owners,  but  the  rapidity  with  which 
the  two  seem  to  be  ready  to  pool  their  identity  is  truly  shocking. 
It  is  not  only  Lenin  and  Litvinoff  who  have  had  the  clarity  to 
state  this.     We  find  it  suggested  in  Belloc  and  Chesterton.1 


i  Cf .  also  Edmund  A.  Walsh,  The  Last  Stand,  Boston,  1931. 

Neither  of  these  writers  would  hold,  however,  that  these  two 
alternatives  were  the  only  alternatives  or  that,  should  the  logical 
merging  of  the  two  be  accepted  as  imminent,  other  alternatives 
could  not  save  the  situation. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  interests  of  labor,  if  not  of 
economics,  could  be  safeguarded  from  such  a  calamity  as  Russia 
presents  by  having  the  government  step  in  with  what  is  known 


4  MARIE  R.  MADDEN 

popularly  as  social  legislation.  If  this  were  enough,  there  would 
be  no  problem,  for  any  complaint  could  be  adjusted  by  the  ex- 
pedient of  more  legislation.  The  steps  already  taken  in  this 
regard  both  in  Russia  and  in  Mexico  have  given  Europe  and  the 
United  States  matter  for  thought.  Solution  of  the  problem  does 
not  seem  to  lie  in  this  direction. 

The  reason  for  this  is  not  immediately  apparent  to  most  be- 
cause of  the  eclipse  of  the  medieval,  and  Catholic,  theory  of 
social  organization  and  the  rise  of  the  economic  interest  as  the 
controlling  factor  in  society.  Labor  indeed  has  been  placed  be- 
yond the  pale  as  the  Rerum  Novarum  of  Leo  XIII  recognizes. 
Further,  with  the  dominance  of  the  economic  interest,  economic 
institutions  in  the  capitalistic  industrial  societies  are  also  beyond 
the  pale,  i.  e.  beyond  the  regulatory  guidance  of  governments, 
subject  only  to  the  norms  of  their  own  selfishness. 

The  problem  is  not  one  of  labor,  not  one  of  economic  institu- 
tions alone,  but  of  the  organization,  or  better  yet  of  the  integra- 
tion of  the  social2  interests  of  labor  in  the  economic  institution 
itself  and  not  as  side  interests  in  accompanying  legislation.3  To 
do  this  requires  a  comprehension  of  the  principles  of  sociology, 
at  least  those  derived  from  the  medieval  theory  of  social  organ- 
ization. It  is  surprising  to  many  how  a  study  of  these  throws 
a  great  light  on  the  problem  of  the  organization  of  labor. 

n 

In  1920,  the  Secretaria  de  Industria,  Comercio  y  Trabajo, 
taking  advantage  of  the  researches  of  Don  Luis  Gonzales  Obre- 
gon,  authorized  the  publication  of  selections  from  the  compen- 


2  Social  as  connoting  the  relationships  which  arise  among  men  as  a 
consequence  of  the  complex  nature  of  man,  spiritual,  intellectual  and 
physical. 

3  How  little  understood  is  this  idea  may  be  seen  from  the  editorial 
comment  in  The  New  Republic  for  May  27,  1931,  on  the  Encyclical  Quad- 
ragesimo  anno  (pp.  32-3),  published  before  the  full  text  was  issued.  The 
writer,  while  subscribing  to  the  moral  strength  of  the  Pope's  premises, 
complains  that  his  encyclical  is  a  mere  plea  for  "those  who  now  control 
our  present  economy  to  be  good."  His  Holiness  "ought  to  have  devoted 
more  attention  to  the  question  how  the  radical  implications  of  the  Church 
doctrine  are  to  be  effectuated." 

This  is  a  common  criticism.  However,  unless  the  Pope  so  chose,  there 
was  no  essential  reason  why  he  should  have  outlined  the  organization  of 
any  or  all  economic  institutions  from  banking  to  the  production  of  oil.  His 
point  was  served  when  he  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  in  organizing  the 
secular  details  of  the  institutions,  no  plan  must  be  adopted  which  would 
interfere  with  the  proper  development  of  man,  both  from  the  point  of  view 
of  social  justice  and  the  common  good,  and  from  the  point  of  view  of  in- 
dividual rights  and  the  great  final  destiny  of  man.  The  secular  details  of 
the  technique  of  the  institution  is  properly  left  to  the  individuals  concerned. 


THE  MEXICO  CITY  GUILDS  OF  NEW  SPAIN  5 

dium  of  the  Ordenanzas  de  Gremios  de  la  Nueva  Espana  made 
by  Don  Francisco  del  Barrio  Lorenzot.  An  alumnus  of  the 
Colegio  de  San  Ildefonso,  he  served  as  legal  advisor  to  the 
Audiencia  and  as  auditor  for  the  Ayuntamiento  of  Mexico  City, 
and  so  was  fitted  to  make  an  intelligent  selection  from  the  mass 
of  data  at  his  disposal.  Though  the  selections  now  printed  are 
limited  (a  bibliography  of  other  collections  is  listed),  they  are 
very  worthy  of  study  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  this  book  has 
not  received  the  wide  publicity  which  the  new  labor  code  of 
Mexico  has  received  in  the  United  States.  Many  more  extensive 
compilations  of  the  statutes  of  the  Mexican  Guilds  have  been 
made  but  unfortunately  these  exist  only  in  rare  editions  or  in 
manuscript.  Historians  have  too  often  preferred  to  write  the 
social  history  of  Spanish  America  from  the  peculiar  source  of 
Comte's  or  Herbert  Spencer's  social  ideology  and  so  have  missed 
the  information  contained  in  these  compilations,  while  the  ob- 
session that  neither  Spaniard  nor  Spanish-Americans  ever  had 
any  notion  of  self-government  has  so  far  prevented  any  historian 
of  the  United  States  from  publishing  a  study  of  the  great  col- 
lections of  the  Adas  of  the  colonial  cabildos.  No  good  could 
come  out  of  the  cabildo,  certainly  not  in  New  Spain,  has  been  a 
motto.  Times  are  changing.  The  records  of  the  Inquisition  in 
Spanish  America,  particularly  in  Mexico,  are  now  being  con- 
sulted by  the  United  States  historians,  not  for  details  of  tortures, 
but  for  the  evidence  of  the  social  life  of  the  times.  It  is  not 
undue  optimism  to  expect  that  young  United  States  scholars 
may  soon  devote  their  attention  to  the  source  material  so  abun- 
dantly to  be  found,  and  particularly  on  labor,  in  the  Adas  of  the 
cabildo. 

For  this  edition  of  Lorenzot,  Serior  Genaro  Estrada,  now 
Mexican  Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs,  has  written  a  stimulating 
introduction  in  which  he  calls  attention  to  what  strikes  him  and 
undoubtedly  will  strike  any  reader  of  these  documents  as  out- 
standing characteristics.  The  statutes  for  the  guilds  were  in- 
variably issued  by  the  Cabildo  of  Mexico  City,  though  often  con- 
firmed by  the  Viceroy.  Labor,  technical  and  administrative 
points,  quality  of  goods,  purity  of  the  merchandise,  buying  and 
selling,  were  all  considered,  detail  by  detail.  The  workers 
(artesanos  not  obreros)  were  organized  into  two  groups,  con- 
fraternities, in  order  to  supernaturalize  their  work,  and  guilds, 
in  order  to  systematize  it  more  justly  and  effectively. 


6  MARIE  R.  MADDEN 

In  these  institutions  of  the  guild,  the  confraternity  and  the 
cabildo  and  their  interrelations,  we  have  a  characteristic  of 
Spanish  Catholic  thought.  Its  principles  are :  spiritual  realities, 
democratic  and  representative  management,  protection  for  the 
worker  since  man  must  live  by  labor,  quality  of  the  goods  since 
man  is  so  planned  as  to  derive  a  peculiar  and  essential  satisfac- 
tion from  expressing  his  individual  idea  in  his  work,  and  the 
sacramentalizing  of  the  supreme  function  of  the  government  as 
channel  and  guardian  of  that  Divine  Justice  which  rules  the 
universe. 

The  only  way  to  secure  these  aims  as  the  Spanish  saw  them 
was  to  look  upon  the  institutions  necessary  to  carry  them  out 
as  corporate  activities.  Corporation  and  corporate,  of  course, 
are  expressions  of  the  social  interests  of  man,  but  as  the  Chris- 
tian medievalists  worked  them  out,  they  expressed  more  than 
mere  group  activity.4  Everything  was  viewed  in  this  corporate 
sense — city,  workers,  teachers,  officials — and  each  was  organ- 
ized to  have  a  self-contained  life  of  its  own  with  the  management 
clearly  arranged  for  and  always  democratic. 

The  ciudad,  villa  or  lugar5  as  political  corporations  were  or- 
ganized first,  but  the  ciudad  was  the  characteristic  unit  among 
the  Hispano-Romans  and  equally  so  among  the  Hispano-Ameri- 
cans.  The  administration  (regimiento)  of  this  followed  the 
custom  of  Castile  as  practised  before  the  introduction  of  cor- 


4  There  is  an  essential  difference  between  group  activity  and  corporate 
activity.  Group  activity  is  a  normal  mode  of  procedure;  one  may  come 
upon  it  anywhere,  and  it  is  dearly  liked  by  most  people.  It  is  not  often 
found,  however,  in  our  society  of  mechanized  work  and  mechanized  amuse- 
ments. But  it  haunts  those  deprived  of  it.  And  this  is  one  reason  why 
of  late  we  find  such  admiration  of  it  when  found  among  the  Indians  of  our 
southwest  and  of  Mexico.  It  is  more  often  called  "the  socio-political  in- 
heritance of  communistic  living,"  "flock-mindedness,"  and  heaven  knows 
what  (cf.  "Mexicans  and  New  Mexico,"  by  Mary  Austin  in  The  Survey 
Graphic  for  May  1,  1931,  and  the  books  of  Maurice  Hindus  on  the  Russian 
peasant).  It  is  opposed  by  what  Miss  Austin  calls  the  "individual  ex- 
pression of  economic  conquest." 

But  what  these  and  similar  writers  fail  to  see  is  that  this  trait  of 
group  activity  in  man  is  not  some  "expression  of  communistic  living,"  but 
merely  an  expression  of  his  social  nature.  Its  proper  recognition  and  the 
necessity  of  its  proper  functioning  were  grasped  by  the  Catholic  organizers 
of  society,  and  the  corporations  of  the  Middle  Ages  were  nothing  but  an 
attempt  to  express  and  guide  this  instinct.  This  is  one  of  the  great  lessons 
of  a  study  of  the  guilds  for  our  age;  but  we,  hypnotized  by  the  excessive 
individualism  of  capitalistic  society,  fail  to  see  it. 

s  These  terms  are  usually  translated  city,  town,  district,  but  as  de- 
scendants of  Roman  institutions  are  not  to  be  identified  with  the  corre- 
sponding English  entities,  especially  the  city. 


THE  MEXICO  CITY  GUILDS  OF  NEW  SPAIN  7 

regidores6  with  the  modifications  introduced  for  the  colonies.7 
The  ciudades  were  thought  of  as  republicas,  self-governing,  de- 
centralized, somewhat  in  the  manner  of  our  States.  This  is  the 
sense  in  which  the  term  is  used  in  the  Spanish  codes.  Further- 
more, the  republica  was  considered  to  be  composed  of  two  arms, 
the  ecclesiastical  and  spiritual,  and  the  political.8  These  two 
arms  not  only  composed  the  republica  as  a  principle,  but  also 
supported  it,  and  their  respective  institutions  were  the  two  main 
institutions.9  Hence  the  close  association  of  Church  and  State 
and  the  intimate  color  of  the  spiritual  with  which  every  secular 
institution  was  invested.  When  the  ciudad  was  founded  and  a 
sufficient  number  of  inhabitants  there  settled,  the  administrative 
agencies  were  set  up.10  Chief  of  these  there  was  the  cabildo11 
of  which  there  is  no  exact  equivalent  in  the  United  States  city 
government,  though  municipal  council  or  magistracy  is  often 
used  as  a  translation. 

Lorenzot  gives  a  transcription  of  the  Ordenanzas  drawn  up 
for  the  administration  of  Mexico  City12  in  which  the  principles 
outlined  above  have  interesting  applications.  The  inhabitants 
through  their  representatives  drew  up  their  own  statutes  and 
though  the  King,  as  representative  and  administrator  of  the 
great  interest  of  Justice  for  all,13  had  to  pass  upon  them,  their 
right  of  managing  their  own  affairs  was  unquestioned.  To  guard 
against  any  encroachment  on  this  the  city  had  a  procurador  or 
agent  at  court  to  look  after  its  interests.14 

In  Mexico  City  the  procurador  general,  an  official  of  great 
dignity  and  responsibility  elected  by  the  cabildo,  represented 
the  city  in  its  corporate  aspect,  attending  all  public  ceremonies 
and  celebrations  of  holydays.  He  had  assistant  diputados  de 
fiestas  to  attend  to  the  details  of  these.    It  is  interesting  to  note 


e  S61orzano  y  Pereyra,  Politico  Indiana,  reprint  of  1930,  IV,  p.  8. 
7  Ibid.,  pp.  8-9. 

s  The  Spanish  is  secular,  but  it  is  to  be  noted  that  this  meant  the  civil 
power,  and  not  a  lay  power,  as  the  word  connotes  today. 

9  Politica  Indiana,  IV,  p.  7. 

10  Recopilacion  de  las  Leyes  de  Indias,  3rd.  ed.,  1774,  Lib.  IV,  tit.  vii, 
leyes  1,  2,  14,  19. 

11  Cf .  the  jurists  Juan  de  Hevia  and  Juan  Matienza,  authorities  on  the 
laws  for  the  Indies,  quoted  by  S61orzano,  ibid.,  p.  8,  n.  2. 

12  By  the  city,  December  11,  1682,  approved  by  the  Viceroy,  1683,  and 
the  King,  1687,  and  amended  by  the  city  in  1720;  approved  by  the  Viceroy, 
1723,  and  the  King,  1728.    Pp.  182  et  seq. 

is  Cf.  Las  Sietas  Partidas  on  the  functions  of  the  King. 

14  Recopilacion,  Lib.  IV,  tit.  xi,  ley  1,  in  accordance  with  the  cedulas  of 
Toledo,  1519  and  1528;  ley  2,  modification  introduced  by  Philip  IV,  Novem- 
ber 22,  1623,  leyes  3  and  4. 


8  MARIE  R.  MADDEN 

that  the  particular  feast  days  on  which  the  corporation  of  the 
city  was  expected  to  participate  were  those  of  Our  Lady  of 
Help  (one  of  the  special  patrons  of  the  city),  Corpus  Christi,  to 
Whom  there  was  great  devotion,  San  Nicolas,  San  Felipe  de 
Jesus  the  Martyr,  San  Francisco  Xavier  and  Santa  Teresa.  A 
special  duty  of  the  procurador  general  was  to  look  after  the 
welfare  of  the  poor,  particularly  of  the  prisoners,  to  see  if  they 
had  sufficient  of  what  they  needed  including  medical  and  surgical 
attention.  He  had  various  diputados  de  pobre  to  assist.  The 
procurador  general  also  supervised  the  elections  of  the  guilds, 
arresting  any  disturbers.  He  went  over  the  books  of  the  ac- 
counting department  and  looked  after  the  income  from  the 
public  lands.15 

The  functions  of  the  Diputado  de  Policia,  which  held  regular 
committee  meetings  every  Wednesday,  directed  such  modern 
things  as  keeping  the  streets  clean,  removal  of  obstructions  un- 
less when  allowed  during  building  operations,  new  pavements, 
proper  fencing  of  the  various  properties  along  the  street,  and 
the  removal  of  dead  animals.  If  this  were  neglected,  by  the  way, 
the  householder  nearest  to  whose  property  the  corpse  of  the 
animal  was  found  had  to  pay  a  fine. 

Public  granaries  were  maintained  for  the  benefit  of  all  and 
chiefly  of  the  poor  and  small  farmers.  A  Fiel,  who  served  an- 
nually and  had  to  give  bond,  was  in  charge  with  a  salary  of 
three  hundred  pesos.  He  set  the  daily  price  for  wheat,  corn  and 
farina,  which  price  had  to  remain  unchanged  for  the  day.  These 
grains  were  to  be  brought  directly  to  the  warehouses  by  the 
muleteers,  who  had  to  declare  the  ownership  and  agree  to  sell 
their  amounts  within  twenty  days.  The  deputies  were  to  hear 
all  disputes  arising  and  appeal  was  to  the  cabildo.16  The  Statutes 
for  the  Alhondiga  de  cacao  drawn  up  in  1636, 17  then  an  im- 
portant item  in  the  city  economy,  forbade  a  profit  as  against  the 
general  welfare. 

The  objective  for  these  particular  functions  of  the  ciudad 
was  to  safeguard  the  general  welfare  by  safeguarding  the  poor, 


15  The  ciudad  or  concejo  usually  had  proprios  or  public  lands,  the  in- 
come of  which  went  towards  the  support  of  the  municipality.  Cf .  Recopila- 
cion,  Lib.  IV,  tit.  vii,  ley  14. 

is  Special  statutes  for  these  warehouses  or  alhondigas  were  drawn  up 
as  early  as  1580  (Ordenamas  de  Gremois  de  la  Nueva  Espana,  p.  209  et 
seq.)  and  for  the  weighing  of  the  wheat  in  1553  (ibid.). 

«  Ibid.,  p.  224. 


THE  MEXICO  CITY  GUILDS  OF  NEW  SPAIN  9 

especially  in  the  matter  of  the  food  supply  and  health.18  This 
point  of  view,  so  truly  social,  arose  not  so  much  from  considera- 
tions of  sanitation  or  material  well-being,  as  from  the  fact  that 
as  a  corporate  entity  the  whole  community  could  not  be  indif- 
ferent to  the  condition  of  the  poor  or  to  the  condition  of  the  en- 
vironment as  a  whole,  as  it  affected  the  whole.  When  it  is  grasped 
that  the  cabildo  integrated  these  activities,  it  will  be  seen  how 
different  was  this  old  Spanish  concept  of  the  corporate  nature 
of  the  ciudad  from  our  United  States  view  of  the  relations  of  the 
municipal  council  to  the  various  city  departments.  The  modern 
method  may  be  more  imposing  from  the  technical  details  of  ad- 
ministration as  it  handles  larger  groups;  but  it  has  no  such 
grasp  of  social  cohesion.  As  for  the  poor,  it  may  be  mentioned 
here  that  of  course  much  was  done  for  them  through  the  con- 
fraternities, as  these  were  considered  better  adapted  to  the 
proper  practice  of  the  spiritual  and  corporal  works  of  mercy 
than  the  cabildo,  again  a  note  quite  absent  from  our  modern 
Departments  of  Charity.19 

Ill 

The  spiritual  interests  of  the  guilds,  as  we  indicated  above, 
were  taken  care  of  by  the  confraternities.  In  this  collection  of 
Ordenanzas  we  have  a  sample  of  one,  though  not  very  complete, 
that  of  Nuestra  Senora  de  los  Remedios.  The  officials  in  charge, 
a  regidor,  mayordomo,  secretario,  were  elected,  and  a  chaplain 
was  attached  who  was  required  to  have  the  faculties  to  preach 
and  hear  confessions;  moreover,  he  had  to  know  Mexican.  He 
was  given  a  salary  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  pesos,  fifty  of  which 
came  from  the  income  from  the  proprios  and  the  rest  from  the 
confraternity.  He  was  obliged  to  offer  up  two  special  Masses 
weekly,  one  for  the  souls  of  the  conquerors  on  Mondays,  for 
whose  protection  at  a  critical  moment  in  the  Conquest,  Nuestra 
Senora  de  los  Remedios  was  honored,  and  on  Saturdays  in  honor 
of  Our  Lady  under  this  title.    A  sacristan  priest  was  also  re- 


is  Other  important  ordinances  may  be  f  ound  in  the  Ordenanzas.  For 
example,  no  inspector  of  weights  and  measures  or  alguacil  was  to  have  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  a  tavern  (1577);  dangerous  dogs  were  to  be  chained 
on  the  property  of  the  owners  (1581) ;  the  selling  of  sweets  in  the  streets, 
then  as  now  a  marked  activity,  was  regulated  as  early  as  1533;  drains 
were  to  be  kept  clean  and  no  refuse  allowed  to  collect  in  the  streets  except 
at  the  stated  places  (1589). 

is  The  care  of  the  poor  in  hospitals  and  other  institutions  also  had  its 
organizations,  extremely  interesting  but  omitted  here  from  discussion.  The 
digest  of  Lorenzot  gives  no  examples  of  them. 


10  MARIE  R.  MADDEN 

tained  by  the  confraternity  at  a  salary  of  one  hundred  pesos. 
On  holydays  the  mayordomo  collected  alms  for  the  support  of 
the  charities  of  the  confraternity.  A  fixed  scale  of  alms  for  in- 
dulgences was  suggested,  three  pesos  for  married  people,  two  for 
bachelors,  one  for  young  boys;  the  poor  sons  and  descendants 
of  the  conquerors  (many  of  whom  were  then  in  straightened 
circumstances)  were  exempt.  The  four  great  feasts  of  Our  Lady, 
her  Nativity,  Purification,  Annunciation  and  Assumption,  were 
held  in  particular  devotion  with  splendid  ceremonies.  The  con- 
fraternity maintained  a  home  with  twelve  beds  for  the  poor 
where  they  should  be  fed  and  cared  for  as  necessary.  The  cabildo 
had  the  right  to  amend  the  statutes. 

The  fact  that  the  public  and  social  values  of  the  confraternity 
were  recognized  by  the  financial  support  it  secured  from  the 
public  treasury  and  the  supervision  it  received  on  the  part  of 
the  cabildo  reveals  a  point  of  view  truly  Catholic.  Not  only 
was  "welfare  work"  performed,  but  by  offering  a  regularly  in- 
stituted channel  for  spiritual  needs  and  activities,  manifestation 
was  made  of  the  public  and  corporate  idea  in  the  worship  and 
respect  paid  publicly  to  God  on  the  great  feast  days.  The  beauty 
and  indeed  the  necessity  of  this  idea  is  unfortunately  difficult 
to  grasp  today  by  Catholics  who  live  in  the  prevailing  non- 
Catholic  atmosphere  of  most  countries  and  who  find  for  the  most 
part  their  Sunday  public  ceremonies  rarely  corporate  and  their 
Holydays  entirely  private  with  a  hasty  attendance  at  early 
Mass  (hasty  because  of  the  exigencies  of  getting  to  work  on 
time).  All  the  guilds  were  required  to  be  represented  offi- 
cially in  the  public  celebrations  of  holydays20  and  the  various 
customs  with  which  both  the  guilds  and  the  confraternities  took 
part  in  the  ceremonies  provided  much  opportunity  for  ingenuity 
and  recreation  as  they  prepared  for  them.  This  is  not  without 
its  point,  too,  for  those  who  worry  over  the  leisure-time  activ- 
ities of  the  proposed  four  or  five-day  week. 

IV 

A  glance  at  the  guild  statutes  for  the  various  industries  and 
guilds  represented  in  the  Ordenanzas  suggest  several  observa- 
tions. The  degree  of  economic  development  arrived  at  by  1600 
included  such  activities  as  those  of  rope-makers  (statutes,  1550) , 
makers  of  harness  and  saddle  trappings  (1572) ,  tanners  (1571) , 


20  Ordenanzas  de  Gremios,  pp.  264-5. 


THE  MEXICO  CITY  GUILDS  OF  NEW  SPAIN  H 

gilders  (1570),  painters  and  decorators  (1557),  makers  of  caps 
and  bonnets  (1575),  silk  merchants  (1556),  silk  weavers  (1570 
and  1573) ,  dyers  of  silk  (1594) ,  dyers  of  cloth  (1584) ,  weavers  of 
cloth  of  gold  (1596) ,  lace  and  edging  makers  (1589) ,  carpenters, 
carvers  and  joiners  (1578),  coopers  (1592),  hatmakers  (1571), 
swordmakers  (1556),  embroiderers  (1546),  forge  workers 
(1578),  wax  and  candle  makers  (1574),  masons  (1579),  and  so 
on.  The  numbers  of  skilled  artisans  these  imply  is  impressive  wit- 
ness to  the  character  of  the  immigration  from  Spain.  Mulattoes, 
mestizos  of  negro  blood,  and  many  Indians  were  excluded  (chiefly 
from  those  industries  where  competition  of  Indians  would  inter- 
fere with  Spanish  immigration) .  It  was  of  the  greatest  import- 
ance to  encourage  the  proper  kind  of  immigration  from  Spain 
since  the  Indian  culture  needed  a  great  addition  of  the  European. 
In  fact,  the  level  of  the  Indian  culture  would  have  been  raised 
by  infinitesimal  degrees  only  if  indeed  at  all,  had  not  the  culture 
of  New  Spain  been  made  dominantly  and  decisively  Spanish. 
This  could  not  have  been  done  unless  Spaniards  were  there  in 
sufficient  numbers.  How  to  get  this  was  the  problem.  The  level 
of  civilization  would  never  be  raised  by  gentlemen  living  in 
idleness  on  the  labor  of  Indians  in  the  fields  and  the  mines,  as 
every  one  knew.  This  picture  lives  only  in  the  minds  of  the 
myth-ridden  Hispanophobists.  Spanish  artisans  were  needed 
and  the  authorities  realized  that  with  the  Indians  so  skillful  at 
imitation,  if  they  were  allowed  to  compete  in  the  open  market 
with  the  Spaniards,  these  would  simply  be  eliminated.  There 
would  be  no  work  or  opportunity  for  them.  Hence  Spanish  labor 
had  to  be  protected  at  first.  That  this  was  done  with  no  essential 
injustice  to  the  Indians  who  could  learn  European  ways  (for 
many  were  savages),  is  clear  if  the  whole  question  of  Indian 
labor  be  considered.  Certain  industries  such  as  decorative  and 
design  painting,  carving  and  embroidery  were  open  to  Indians. 
As  time  passed  on  the  industries  were  better  organized  and 
the  increased  dignity  of  the  guilds  may  be  seen  in  the  amended 
statutes  of  a  later  century,  for  example,  the  coach-makers, 
1706,21  needle-makers,  1616,22  wax  and  candle-makers,  1710,23 
goldsmiths,  and  the  organizations  for  the  grocery  storekeepers, 
1757.24    A  characteristic  of  the  guild  organization  is  that  uni- 


21  Ordenanzas,  p.  89  et  seq. 

22  Ibid.,  p.  135  et  seq. 

23  Ibid.,  p.  157,  where  new  methods  are  taken  into  consideration,  p.  161. 

2*  Ibid.,  pp.  170-1. 


12  MARIE  R.  MADDEN 

formly  there  appear  regulations  for  the  election  of  officers  in 
democratic  form  by  the  masters.  These  officials  were  to  meet 
and  elect  the  veedor  de  sciencia,  or  veedores  if  necessary,  who 
were  conscientiously  to  examine  the  candidates  for  the  guilds, 
inspect  the  shops  and  works,  and  report  violations  to  the  Jus- 
ticia  or  Fiel  Executoria,  or  the  proper  authority.  These  veedores 
were  to  present  themselves  before  the  cabildo  for  certification 
and  to  take  oath.  If  the  guild  should  fail  to  elect  them,  the 
cahildo  nominated  them.  No  one  could  have  a  shop  or  an  in- 
dustry without  being  properly  examined  and  licensed.  For  this 
the  veedor  had  to  know  the  technique  of  the  trade  or  industry 
so  as  to  evaluate  properly  the  qualifications  of  the  candidates. 
The  technical  knowledge  required  from  the  candidates  was  suf- 
ficient to  ensure  honest  workmanship  and  honest  quality.  For 
example  the  members  of  the  gilders  for  the  harness  and  equip- 
ment for  the  horses  and  mules,  then  elaborately  made  and 
chased,  had  to  present  specimens  of  their  skill.25  The  painters 
and  image  makers  had  to  attest  their  skill  in  design,  mixing 
colors,  prove  that  they  knew  how  to  describe  the  work  as  well 
as  do  it,  and  be  skilled  in  the  various  branches  of  their  art  and 
the  necessary  symbolism  in  work  for  religious  purposes.26  Like- 
wise the  carvers  and  sculptors  must  be  examined  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  five  orders  of  architecture  and  all  the  technique  of 
the  art.27  It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  no  Indian  could  sell  his 
own  creations  in  the  way  of  busts  or  figures  of  saints,28  as  the 
Indians  sometimes  were  particularly  unskilled  in  this  branch  of 
art  and  it  was  feared  that  their  crude  efforts  would  more  often 
arouse  laughter  than  reverence  and  devotion.  They  could  do  the 
background  and  design,  but  not  the  human  figure. 

Another  object  of  the  guild  statutes  was  to  secure  quality  in 
the  materials  of  the  articles.  Adulteration  was  strictly  forbid- 
den, and  the  materials  had  to  be  properly  prepared.29  In  regard 
to  the  weaving  of  yarns,  silk,  cotton  or  linen,  or  serge,  the  num- 
bers of  thread  for  the  particular  quality  was  specified,30  some- 


25  Ibid.,  p.  17. 

26  Ibid.,  pp.  19,  22. 

27  Ibid.,  pp.  87-8. 

28  Ibid.,  pp.  23,  88-9. 

29  Ibid.,  p.  5,  regulations  for  the  preparation  of  hemp  and  the  maguey 
fibres  for  the  ropemakers;  p.  10  for  tanning  leather  properly;  sheepskin 
was  not  to  be  used  to  counterfeit  cordovan  leather,  pp.  11-2 ;  no  adulteration 
of  gold  or  silver,  p.  21;  silk  was  to  be  labelled,  silk  or  half  silk,  p.  30. 

so  Ibid.,  pp.  43,  64-70. 


THE  MEXICO  CITY  GUILDS  OF  NEW  SPAIN  13 

times  following  the  practice  in  Spain.  Severe  penalties  were 
attached  to  the  violation  of  guild  regulations,  usually  fines  for 
the  first  offense,  doubled  for  the  second,  and  exile  for  one  or 
several  years  for  the  third. 

As  time  went  on  two  evils  appeared  against  which  strict  reg- 
ulations were  issued,  forestalling  and  combinations  in  restraint 
of  trade  or  competition  as  they  would  be  called  today.  Reselling 
was  forbidden  to  the  tanners31  and  verticle  and  horizontal  trusts 
were  nipped  in  the  bud.  No  shoemakers  could  have  a  tanyard 
or  form  a  company  with  a  tanner.32  No  one  was  to  buy  up  the 
flocks  in  order  to  control  the  price  of  skins.33  If  the  flock  were 
bought,  the  buyer  must  first  manifest  to  the  veedor  the  quality 
and  price.  The  veedores  had  the  right  to  divide  the  skins  among 
the  officials  of  the  guilds  for  distribution  and  by  a  further 
ordinance  of  1607  the  buyer  must  manifest  his  intention  to  the 
Justicia,  so  as  to  allow  to  the  ones  interested  the  opportunity 
of  buying.  All  skins  were  to  be  properly  marked  and  stamped 
officially.  All  masters  of  the  forge-workers  guild  were  to  mark 
their  own  work.34  In  the  needle-workers  guild,  no  master  was  to 
have  connection  with  foreign  capital  or  companies.35 

Regulations  for  apprentices  are  not  stated  in  any  detail  but 
the  time  for  apprenticeship  varied  from  one  to  four  years,  vary- 
ing with  the  difficulties  of  the  trade  or  art  to  be  learned.  The 
masters  in  many  cases  had  to  agree  to  instruct  apprentices.36 

Some  interesting  customs  are  revealed  in  the  statutes  for  the 
grocery  storekeepers.37  There  was  to  be  only  one  store  for  the 
four  corners  of  a  street.  No  second  shop  was  to  be  set  up  with- 
in a  reasonable  distance.  The  prospective  storekeeper  had  to 
put  up  security  of  five  hundred  pesos.  All  shop-keepers  had  to 
have  lights  at  their  shop  doors,  of  sufficient  height  and  strength 
to  light  the  corner,  bright  until  the  evening  Angelus,  dull  until 
ten  p.  m.,  when  the  store  was  to  be  closed.  Special  lights  had 
to  be  maintained  in  case  of  some  extraordinary  happening  such 
as  a  fire.  Furthermore  no  shop-keeper,  on  pain  of  one  hundred 
lashes,  was  to  stand  in  the  doorway  or  on  the  corners,  way- 
laying and  urging  prospective  customers.    No  shop-keeper  could 


31  Ibid.,  p.  10. 

32  ibid.,  p.  10.    Statute  for  the  tanners. 

33  Statutes  of  1591. 

34  Ibid.,  p.  148. 

35  Ibid.,  p.  140. 

se  E.  g.  the  needlemakers  guild  of  1616,  p.  140. 
37  Ibid.,  p.  167,  dated  1757. 


14  MARIE  R.  MADDEN 

charge  more  than  two  silver  reales  in  the  peso  for  a  loan.  Credit 
and  financial  arrangements  were  strictly  regulated.  Debts  run- 
ning for  a  year  were  to  be  sold  by  authority  of  the  Justiciar 

An  interesting  detail  of  the  tavern  statutes,  which  may  be 
recommended  to  the  prohibition  reformers,  is  that  only  one  kind 
of  wine  was  to  be  sold  in  each  tavern  and  there  must  be  a  sign 
on  the  door  stating  the  kind  and  quality.39 

And  so  on,  ad  infinitum.  Much  more  might  be  said  of  the 
colonial  Mexican  guilds,  but  enough  has  been  detailed  to  arouse 
interest  in  this  most  fruitful  and  interesting  source  of  research. 
There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  social  philosophy  of  the  guilds 
is  in  line  with  Christian  precepts,  and  if  many  of  the  provisions 
seem  odd  to  us,  it  should  be  remembered  that  no  statute  was 
formed  without  due  consideration  of  the  time,  the  place  and  the 
circumstances  and  in  response  to  a  need. 

Marie  R.  Madden,  Ph.  D. 

Fordham  University 
New  York 


ss  Other  regulations  for  shop-keepers  may  be  found  on  pp.  186-7. 
39  Statutes  of  1571. 


PIERRE  MENARD  OF  ILLINOIS 

The  times  in  which  lived  Pierre  Menard,  pioneer,  Indian 
agent,  legislator,  judge,  officer  of  militia,  first  lieutenant-gover- 
nor of  the  state  of  Illinois,  and  the  first  Catholic  to  hold  public 
office  in  it,  were  so  different  from  our  own  that  it  will  be  help- 
ful, in  tracing  his  career,  to  have  as  a  sort  of  mental  background 
the  changing  picture  of  the  events  and  scenes  amid  which  he 
lived  his  active  and  useful  life.  His  figure,  whenever  it  emerges, 
will  thus  be  viewed  in  its  proper  setting,  while  the  narrative  will 
make  clear  the  character  and  the  purport  of  his  actions. 

At  St.  Antoine,  a  little  village  located  on  the  north  bank  of 
the  Richelieu,  a  river  emptying  into  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  dis- 
tant thirty-five  miles  from  Montreal,  the  father,  Jean  Baptiste 
Menard,  called  Brindamour,  a  soldier  of  the  regiment  of  Guienne, 
was  married  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight  to  Marie  Francoise  Ciree, 
age  twenty-two.  The  date  of  this  marriage  was  February  14, 
1763,  as  given  on  the  parish  record,  a  copy  of  which  is  among 
the  Pierre  Menard  Papers  preserved  in  the  library  of  the  Chicago 
Historical  Society.  This  and  other  documents  to  be  quoted  in 
the  present  paper  are  printed  in  volume  four  of  the  Society's 
Collection,  edited  by  Edward  G.  Mason,  Chicago,  1890.  Five 
sons  were  born  of  this  marriage,  of  whom  Pierre  was  the  second. 
The  parish  record  of  his  baptism,  signed  "Gervaise,  P'tre"  reads 
(original  in  French) :  "The  year  seventeen  hundred  and  sixty- 
six,  the  eighth  of  October,  by  us,  the  Priest  undersigned,  cure 
of  this  parish,  has  been  baptised  Pierre,  born  yesterday  eve- 
ning." Court  records  of  Randolph  County,  Illinois,  years  later 
give  his  full  name  as  Antoine  Pierre  Menard. 

A  picture  of  a  French  village  like  that  in  which  Pierre  spent 
his  childhood  has  been  sketched  in  a  recent  work  based  upon 
journals  of  contemporary  travelers  and  other  documents.1 

"Before  the  end  of  the  French  domination  [in  1763]  each 
village  had  its  church  of  stone  or  of  wood,  surmounted  by  a 
cross,  and  often  upon  it  might  be  seen  appurtenances  recalling 
the  instruments  of  Our  Lord's  passion.  At  intervals  along  the 
road  stood  wayside  crosses  with  the  image  of  the  Virgin  set 
behind  panels  of  glass  and  at  the  top  a  figure  of  a  cock  that 
crowed  when  Peter  denied  his  Lord."    Blessed  candles  were  kept 


i  Herbert  Ingram  Priestley,  The  Coming  of  the  White  Man,  New  York, 
1929,  p.  242-258.  The  author  is  professor  of  Mexican  history  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  California  and  librarian  of  the  Bancroft  Library. 

15 


16  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

in  the  houses  of  the  habitants  and  could  not  be  taken  for  domes- 
tic use  without  sacrilege.  The  parish  priests  "possessed  ample 
quality  for  wilderness  services.  On  snowshoes  or  in  canoes  the 
cure  traveled  long  miles  to  give  extreme  unction,  baptise  a  new 
child,  or  marry  a  pair  of  his  impatient  wards."  To  each  newly 
married  couple  the  Government  gave  "an  ox,  a  cow,  a  sow,  a 
cock,  a  hen,  two  barrels  of  salt  meat,  and  eleven  crowns."  Fam- 
ilies were  large,  six  to  ten  children  being  not  uncommon;  but 
the  infant  mortality,  due  to  improper  feeding,  was  heavy.  Con- 
version of  the  Indians  was  a  vital  concern  of  the  State  as  well 
as  of  the  Church.  Recollects,  Jesuits  and  Sulpicians  vied  with 
one  another  in  missionary  work  and  set  the  moral  tone  of  the 
colonists.  The  Seminary  at  Quebec  trained  the  secular  priests 
and  "to  its  kindly  shelter  they  retired  in  sickness  and  old  age. 
There  they  passed  annual  retreats  and  from  the  field  reported 
regularly  to  it  for  advice  from  their  head."  "When  one  entered 
the  home  of  a  Canadian  farmer,  the  latter  rose,  doffing  his  hat, 
offered  the  visitor  a  seat,  and  then  replaced  his  hat  as  he  sat 
down  again.  .  .  .  The  peasants  wore  shoes  hollowed  from  wood. 
Boys  and  girls  wore  their  hair  in  cues  behind,  generally  with 
woolen  toques,  red  near  Quebec  and  blue  about  Montreal.  Some 
of  the  gentlemen  wore  wigs."  As  Pierre's  parents,  after  living 
for  a  time  across  the  river  from  St.  Antoine,  moved  to  Montreal, 
doubtless  Pierre  wore  a  blue  toque  as  a  boy!  "In  winter  oiled 
mocassins,  laced  nearly  to  the  knees,  were  universally  worn,  two 
or  more  pairs  of  woolen  socks  inside  completing  the  foot  dress. 
In  summer  women  and  children  ran  barefoot,  but  the  men  usual- 
ly preferred  to  wear  cowhide  clogs.  'Best  clothes'  came  out  on 
Sundays  and  feasts ;  then  the  men  surmounted  their  dignity  with 
tall  beaver  hats,  and  the  women  in  bodices  and  petticoats  decked 
themselves  with  ribbons  and  laces  from  France.  Town  dwellers 
often  wore  scarlet  cloaks  and  perukes,  buckled  slippers  and  silk 
stockings." 

Such  was  doubtless  the  kind  of  a  community  in  which  Pierre 
spent  his  boyhood  and  youth.  The  French  habitants  were  un- 
likely to  change  their  mode  of  life  when  Canada  passed  under 
British  rule.  Writing  of  the  old  French  settlers  even  in  the 
valley  of  the  Wabash  after  their  lands  became  American  terri- 
tory, Judge  Law  says:2  "The  change  of  government  seems  to 


2  John  Law,  The  Colonial  History  of  Vincennes,  Vincennes,  1858,  pp. 
124-125. 


PIERRE  MENARD  OF  ILLINOIS  17 

have  made  no  great  difference  in  their  habits  or  manners  .  .  . 
Submissive  and  obedient,  they  yielded  to  the  powers  that  were, 
made  no  complaint,  offered  no  resistance,  cultivated  their  com- 
mon fields,  sang,  danced,  smoked  their  pipes,  .  .  .  content  to 
take  this  world  as  it  went." 

Yet  the  elder  Menard  showed  an  independence  of  judgment 
and  a  love  of  liberty  quite  at  variance  with  the  characteristics 
just  described;  that  these  traits  were  present  also  in  his  son  is 
shown  by  the  son's  subsequent  career.  The  father  is  said  to  have 
taken  part  in  the  campaign  around  Fort  DuQuesne;  when  the 
Revolutionary  war  broke  out,  he  joined  the  American  forces  and 
fought  under  Montgomery  at  Quebec.3  The  sentiments  of  the 
family  were  thus  on  the  side  of  the  American  colonies,  and  sym- 
pathy with  American  ideals  may  have  influenced  the  young  man, 
after  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  new 
nation.  Many  of  his  fellow-countrymen,  French  in  blood  and 
Catholic  in  religion,  were  already  settled  in  the  Illinois  country, 
as  it  was  called,  especially  at  Kaskaskia,  Cahokia,  and  Vin- 
cennes.  To  Vincennes  he  came,  in  1786  according  to  Governor 
Reynolds,4  whose  father  was  his  fellow  townsman  in  Kaskaskia. 

The  Illinois  country,  although  named  from  the  Illinois  In- 
dians whose  hunting  grounds  and  fields  were  in  it,  included,  ac- 
cording to  Alvord,5  who  had  access  to  documents  in  the  French 
archives,  "the  whole  course  of  the  Ohio  and  both  banks  of  the 
Mississippi  from  the  line  of  the  Ohio  to  that  of  the  Missouri  and 
Illinois  rivers."  Jurisdiction  over  this  territory,  lying  as  it  did 
between  New  France  and  Louisiana,  was  several  times  a  matter 
of  controversy  between  the  governors  of  those  two  provinces.  It 
was  the  scene  of  the  campaigns  of  George  Rogers  Clark  in  1778- 
1779,  and  was  included  in  the  territory  relinquished  by  Great 
Britain  to  the  American  colonies  at  the  close  of  the  Revolution ; 
but  it  was  under  no  organized  government  other  than  that  of 
the  several  villages  within  its  bounds  until  by  the  terms  of  the 
Ordinance  of  1787  the  region  became  a  part  of  the  Northwest 
Territory.  A  governor,  Arthur  St.  Clair,  a  secretary  and  three 
judges  became  the  first  governing  body  of  the  immense  terri- 
tory thus  organized. 


3  Edward  G.  Mason,  Early  Chicago  and  Illinois,  Chicago,  1890.  (Chicago 
Historical  Society's  Collection,  vol.  iv,  p.  144.) 

4  John  Reynolds,  The  Pioneer  History  of  Illinois,  Belleville,  1852.   Repr. 
Chicago,  1887,  p.  291. 

s  Clarence  Walworth  Alvord,  The  Illinois  Country,  1673-1818.     (Centen- 
nial History  of  Illinois,  vol.  1,  Springfield,  1920,  p.  191.) 


18  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

The  country  within  the  present  limits  of  the  state  of  Illinois 
was  in  1800  an  almost  empty  wilderness.  A  belt  of  territory 
along  the  east  bank  of  the  Mississippi  known  as  the  American 
Bottoms  contained  about  twenty-five  hundred  inhabitants.  "From 
Kaskaskia  southeastwardly  to  the  Ohio  and  northeastwardly  to 
the  Wabash  there  was  probably  not  one  home;  a  road,  hardly 
usable  by  other  than  single  horses,  ran  to  each.  Apparently 
one  ran  also  from  Vincennes  to  Cahokia."6 

Letters  written  by  Pierre  Menard's  parents  to  him  after  he 
left  home  are  our  only  source  of  information  regarding  his  move- 
ments during  the  earlier  years  of  his  life  in  the  Illinois  country. 
These  and  other  letters,  examined  by  Mason  in  the  collection  at 
the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  "treasured  by  him  to  his  death, 
breathe  a  spirit  of  the  tenderest  affection  for  the  absent  son, 
and  those  of  his  mother  especially,  show  the  writer  to  have  been 
a  person  of  superior  intelligence  and  education.  She  died  at  La 
Prairie,  a  village  on  the  south  shore  of  the  river  St.  Lawrence, 
nine  miles  from  Montreal,  September  19,  1807."  Mason,  op.  cit., 
p.  144. 

A  glimpse  of  this  very  village  is  afforded  us  in  Peter  Kalm's 
Travels  into  North  America  during  the  French  Regime:  "In  the 
midst  of  the  village  [La  Prairie]  is  a  pretty  church  of  stone, 
with  a  steeple  at  the  west  end  of  it  furnished  with  bells.  Be- 
fore the  door  is  a  cross,  together  with  ladder,  tongs,  hammer, 
nails,  etc.,  which  were  to  represent  all  the  instruments  made  use 
of  at  the  crucifixion  of  Our  Saviour."7  From  this  church  doubt- 
less Pierre  Menard's  beloved  mother  was  taken  to  her  final  rest- 
ing place. 

One  of  the  letters  referred  to  above,  written  to  him  by  his 
mother  from  Montreal  and  dated  June  9,  1789,  alludes  to  one 
of  his  dated  July  6th  of  the  preceding  year,  showing  that  he  was 
at  Vincennes  certainly  in  the  summer  of  1788.  The  other  letter 
is  one  from  his  father  addressed  to  "Mr  Pierre  Menard,  Clerk 
for  Mr  Vigo  at  Poste  Vinsene."  Francois  Vigo,  Menard's  em- 
ployer, was  a  leading  man  in  the  Illinois  country,  known  as  the 


e  Francis  S.  Philbrick,   The  Laws  of  Indiana   Territory,   Springfield, 
1930,  introd.,  p.  xiii-xiv. 

i  Cited  in  Priestley,  op.  cit.,  p.  242. 


PIERRE  MENARD  OF  ILLINOIS  19 

"Spanish  Merchant"  on  account  of  his  birth  and  long  residence 
at  St.  Louis,  then  in  Spanish  territory.8 

Vigo  had  been  a  soldier  in  a  Spanish  regiment  ordered  first 
to  Havana  and  then  to  New  Orleans.  Here  he  quitted  the  army 
and  engaged  in  the  trade  with  the  Indians.  Seeing  the  possibil- 
ities of  the  fur  trade,  he  went  up  the  Mississippi  to  St.  Louis 
where  he  was  settled  at  the  time  of  George  Rogers  Clark's  famous 
campaigns.  His  services  to  Clark  were  indispensable  to  the  suc- 
cess of  the  American  cause,  but  were  not  requited  nor  were  his 
loans  repaid  until  after  Vigo's  death.  He  was  a  man  of  sterling 
character,  widely  traveled  and  highly  respected  by  the  Indians, 
whose  confidence  he  possessed.  Reynolds  learned,  perhaps  from 
his  father,  that  in  1789  Pierre  Menard  accompanied  Vigo  across 
the  Allegheny  mountains  to  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania,  where  they 
had  an  interview  with  President  Washington  in  relation  to  the 
defense  of  the  western  frontier.  Reynolds,  Pioneer  History,  p. 
291.  Menard's  subsequent  career  shows  that  he  profited  by  his 
early  association  with  this  veteran  Indian  trader  and  man  of 
affairs.  The  portrait  of  Vigo  given  in  Smith's  Old  Vincennes 
shows  a  thin,  weather-worn  face  with  high-bridged  nose  and 
grizzly  beard,  the  head  covered  by  a  toque.9  As  Vigo  was  com- 
missioned a  major  of  militia  on  June  26,  1790,  it  is  possible  that 
Menard  got  under  him  some  of  the  military  training  which  quali- 
fied him  for  high  office  in  the  militia  a  few  years  later.  Menard's 
claim  for  land,  based  upon  service  in  the  militia  in  or  before 
1790,  was  affirmed  in  later  years  by  the  land  commissioners. 
Colonel  Vigo  died  at  Vincennes  on  March  22,  1836.  The  date 
1835  graven  on  his  tombstone  is,  according  to  H.  M.  Smith,  an 
error  proven  from  the  records  of  the  undertaker  consulted  by 
Smith!  So  much  for  the  presumptive  finality  of  imperishable 
granite. 

The  Vincennes  of  Pierre  Menard's  sojourn  we  find  described 
in  a  letter  addressed  by  General  Harmar,  United  States  com- 
mandant of  the  Old  Northwest,  to  the  Secretary  of  War  and 


s  H.  C.  Bradsby,  History  of  Vigo  County,  Indiana,  Chicago,  1917,  chap, 
v:  Colonel  Francis  Vigo.  Hubbard  M.  Smith,  Historical  Sketches  of  Old 
Vincennes,  Vincennes,  Ind.,  1902,  pp.  160-165.  John  Law,  op.  cit.,  pp  26-30. 
The  St.  Clair  Papers,  arr.  and  annot.  by  William  Henry  Smith,  Cincinnati, 
1882,  II,  p.  166. 

s  A  larger  and  better  reproduction  of  apparently  the  same  portrait, 
said  to  be  from  a  drawing  by  Chas.  Alex.  Lesueur,  appears  in  Reynolds's 
Pioneer  History  of  Illinois,  p.  423.  Lesueur  was  an  artist  and  ichthyologist 
who  was  for  a  time  associated  with  Robert  Owen  at  New  Harmony,  Indiana. 


20  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

dated  August  7th,  1787.10  "Post  Vincennes,"  he  writes,  "is  a 
very  considerable  village,  situated  upon  the  Wabash,  about  one 
hundred  and  twenty  miles  from  the  mouth.  It  contains  near 
four  hundred  houses — log  and  bark — out-houses,  barns,  etc. ;  the 
number  of  inhabitants,  about  nine  hundred  souls  French,  and 
about  four  hundred  souls  American.  Monsieur  Vincennes,  the 
French  officer  from  whom  it  derives  its  name,  I  am  informed, 
was  here  and  commenced  the  settlement  sixty  years  ago." 
Cauthorn11  says  that  the  town  "at  first  huddled  and  centered 
around  the  present  locality  of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  old 
fort,  built  by  Francois  Morgan  [Margane]  de  Vincenne  in  1702 
[1732-1733],  was  located  on  the  river  between  what  is  now  the 
Catholic  Church  square  and  the  [Wabash]  river,  and  between 
Barnet  and  Vigo  streets."  Smith,  in  a  chapter  devoted  to  the 
subject,  gives  a  history  of  the  fort  and  a  picture  of  it  as  repaired 
and  enlarged  by  the  British  governor  Henry  Hamilton  in  1778. 
The  cut  shows  a  large  stockade  of  logs  set  on  end,  surmounted 
by  a  coping  pierced  with  loop-holes.  At  each  corner  is  a  block- 
house and  within  the  enclosure  a  larger  one,  which  was  doubt- 
less the  citadel.  A  gateway  gave  access.  The  story  that  a 
second  fort  was  built  in  1787  and  named  Fort  Knox  is  shown 
by  Smith  to  rest  upon  a  misunderstanding  of  General  Harmar's 
direction  to  Major  Hamtramck,  reading:  "Let  your  fort  be 
named  Fort  Knox."  Only  the  name  was  changed,  as  a  compli- 
ment to  the  Secretary  of  War  at  the  time,  General  Knox. 

The  first  Catholic  Church  in  Vincennes  was  built  in  1749 ;  at 
least  that  is  the  earliest  date  in  its  parish  records,  the  priest  at 
that  date  being  Father  Louis  Meurin;  a  mission  may  have  ex- 
isted at  the  place  before  that  time.  A  cut  of  the  church,  given 
in  Smith's  Old  Vincennes,  shows  a  building  built  of  logs  set  on 
end,  the  roof  being  of  logs  also,  bound  down  by  cross  logs;  the 
gable  in  front  is  surmounted  by  a  tiny  belfry  ending  in  a  cross. 
Law's  description  confirms  this  view  of  the  building,  which  he 
says  was  "chunked  and  daubed."  He  believes  that  the  building 
antedated  the  earliest  record  of  April  21,  1749.  The  famous 
Father  Gibault  was  stationed  here  from  May,  1785,  to  October, 
1789,  according  to  Judge  Law,  who  examined  the  record,  thus 
being  Pierre  Menard's  pastor  during  the  latter's  stay  in  Vin- 


io  St.  Clair  Papers,  II,  26-27. 

ii  Henry  S.  Cauthorn,  A  History  of  the  City  of  Vincennes  from  1702 
to  1901,  Terre  Haute,  1902,  p.  17. 


PIERRE  MENARD  OF  ILLINOIS  21 

cennes.  Father  Gibault  is  quoted  in  a  History  of  Knox  County 
(p.  289)  as  having  written  that  a  new  church  was  built  there  in 
1784.  But  Smith  says  that  Father  B.  J.  Flaget,  upon  his  arrival 
to  take  the  church  in  1792,  describes  the  building  as  "poor,  open 
and  neglected,  the  altar  a  temporary  structure"  and,  continues 
Father  Flaget,  "I  found  the  congregation  in  a  worse  state  even 
than  the  church."  How,  asks  Smith,  could  the  "new"  building 
of  1784  have  become  so  dilapidated  by  1792?  The  church  of 
St.  Francis  Xavier,  described  above,  was  probably  the  building 
in  which  Pierre  Menard  heard  Mass.  After  Father  Gibault's 
departure  a  layman,  Pierre  Mallet,  appointed  by  him,  acted  as 
"guardian  of  the  church"  until  the  arrival  of  Father  Flaget. 

A  partnership  was  formed  between  Pierre  Menard  and  Tous- 
saint  Dubois  in  1790  or  shortly  after,  according  to  Reynolds,  and 
the  two  left  Vincennes  and  settled  as  traders  in  Kaskaskia, 
situated  on  the  tongue  of  land  between  the  Kaskaskia  river  and 
the  Mississippi  near  the  junction.12  That  Menard  was  a  trader 
in  Kaskaskia  in  1792  we  know  from  the  wording  and  date  of  an 
ante-nuptial  contract  preserved  among  the  Menard  Papers,  its 
date  is  June  13,  1792,  and  it  reads — translated  from  the  orig- 
inal French — in  part  as  follows:  "Before  the  Notary  Public  of 
the  county  of  St.  Clair,  in  the  country  of  the  Illinois.13  The  un- 
dersigned, residing  in  the  parish  of  the  Immaculate  Conception 
of  Our  Lady  of  the  Kaskaskias  .  .  .  and  the  undersigned  wit- 
nesses were  present.  In  person  Mr  Pierre  Menard,  a  bachelor 
...  a  trading  merchant  living  in  the  said  parish  of  Kaskaskia 
.  .  .  and  Miss  Therese  Godin,  called  Tourangeau,  daughter  of 
the  late  Mr  Michel  Godin,  called  Tourangeau,  and  of  Dame 
Therese  Ste.  Geme  Beauvais,  her  father  and  mother,  living  in  the 
beforementioned  parish  of  the  Kaskaskias  .  .  .  aged  nineteen 
years  .  .  .  have  agreed  to  have  made  between  them  the  agree- 
ment and  articles  of  marriage,  as  follows  .  .  .  "14 

The  terms  of  this  contract,  which  may  be  found  in  full  in 


12  Pioneer  History,  pp.  291,  434. 

is  St.  Clair  County,  established  by  Governor  St.  Clair  in  1790,  embraced 
all  the  territory  between  the  Illinois  and  the  Ohio  rivers  from  north  to 
south,  and  from  the  Mississippi  and  the  Illinois  east  to  about  the  median 
line  of  the  present  State  of  Illinois.    Blue  Book  of  Illinois,  1929-1930,  p.  684. 

i*  The  spelling-  of  the  French  names  varies :  Gaudin,  Godin,  Thouran- 
geau,  Durangeau,  Geme,  Gemme.  The  spellings  found  in  the  official  Kas- 
kaskia records  as  given  in  Alvord's  edition  (Illinois  State  Historical 
Library,  V,  1909)  are  Godin,  Durangeau,  St.  Geme,  Bauvais. 


22  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

volume  four  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society  Collections,  indi- 
cate that  at  this  time  the  French  law,  based  upon  the  so-called 
"Custom  of  Paris"  and  brought  with  them  by  the  early  French 
settlers  from  Canada,  was  still  followed.  French  law  prevailed 
even  after  the  passing  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787  by  virtue  of  a 
special  clause  of  that  instrument.  The  Ordinance  safeguarded 
"to  the  French  and  Canadian  inhabitants  and  other  settlers  of 
the  Kaskaskia,  St.  Vincents  and  the  neighboring  villages,  who 
have  heretofore  professed  themselves  citizens  of  Virginia,  their 
laws  and  customs  now  in  force  among  them,  relative  to  the 
descent  and  conveyance  of  property."15 

The  village  of  Kaskaskia  began  with  arrival  in  1703  of  the 
Kaskaskia  Indians  who  were  moving  from  their  temporary  home 
at  the  Des  Peres  River  on  a  site  which  is  now  within  the  munici- 
pal limits  of  St.  Louis.  The  low  lands  bordering  the  Mississippi 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  to  that  of  the  Kaskaskia,  known 
later  as  the  American  Bottom,  were  occupied  by  French  settlers 
at  Kaskaskia,  Cahokia,  and  lesser  villages.  Captain  Philip  Pitt- 
man  visited  Kaskaskia  and  wrote,  in  the  account  of  his  travels 
printed  in  London  in  1770:  "The  village  of  Notre  Dame  de 
Cascasquias  is  by  far  the  most  considerable  settlement  in  the 
Country  of  the  Illinois,  as  well  from  its  number  of  inhabitants, 
as  from  its  advantageous  situation.  It  stands  on  the  side  of  a 
small  river,  which  is  about  eighty  yards  wide,  and  empties  itself 
into  the  Mississippi  more  than  two  leagues  below  the  village. 
The  river  is  a  secure  port  for  the  large  bateaux  which  lie  so  close 
to  the  banks,  to  load  and  unload  without  the  least  trouble,  and 
at  all  seasons  of  the  year  there  is  water  enough  for  them  to  come 
up  .  .  .  Another  great  advantage  that  Cascasquia  receives  from 
the  river  is  the  facility  with  which  mills  for  corn  and  plank  may 
be  erected  on  it  .  .  .  The  principal  buildings  here  are  the  church, 
and  the  Jesuits'  House,  which  has  a  small  chapel  adjoining  it; 
these,  as  well  as  some  of  the  other  houses  in  the  village,  are  built 
of  stone  and,  considering  the  part  of  the  world,  make  a  very  good 
appearance." 

The  village  was  the  scene  of  exciting  events  in  the  George 
Rogers  Clark  campaigns;  was  part  of  the  western  lands  ceded 
by  Virginia  in  1784  to  the  United  States,  but  suffered  with  the 
surrounding  region  from  the  lack  of  adequate  government  until 


is  The  text  of  the  Ordinance  may  be  conveniently  found  in  the  Blue 
Book  of  Illinois. 


PIERRE  MENARD  OF  ILLINOIS  23 

the  arrival  of  Governor  St.  Clair  in  1790.  The  French  settlers 
had  difficulty  in  establishing  titles  to  the  lands  cultivated  by 
them,  and  one  of  the  tasks  of  the  new  Governor  was  to  receive 
and  examine  the  claims  of  the  inhabitants.  He  writes  to  the 
Secretary  of  War,  in  a  letter  dated  at  Cahokia  on  May  1,  1790: 
"They  are  the  most  ignorant  people  in  the  world.  There  is  not 
a  fiftieth  man  that  can  either  read  or  write,  the  consequence  of 
which  has  been  that  everything  where  they  are  parties  has 
languished  extremely.  Though  they  are  ignorant,  they  seem  to 
be  the  gentlest,  [most]  well-disposed  people  that  can  be  imagined, 
and  their  manners  are  better  than  might  have  been  expected, 
considering  their  ignorance,  the  want  of  proper  government,  and 
the  grievous  oppression  under  which  they  have  groaned  since 
they  fell  under  the  American  dominion."16 

This  description  should  perhaps  be  somewhat  discounted. 
Alvord  says  that  "the  better  classes  were  educated  to  the  same 
extent  as  were  their  contemporaries  in  France" — but  where? — 
"and  the  lower  classes  were  for  the  most  part,  illiterate."  Vol- 
ney  found  that  in  Vincennes  in  1796  six  out  of  nine  could  neither 
read  nor  write.  "It  is  difficult,"  Alvord  continues,  "to  character- 
ize the  French  colonists  with  any  assurance  of  truth.  The  dis- 
order and  licentiousness  of  a  frontier  community,  whether  of 
French,  Spanish,  or  British  stock,  have  always  made  a  deep 
impression  on  the  visitor  from  more  settled  communities;  and 
in  a  general  condemnation  the  members  of  the  official  class  have 
readily  joined,  since  it  excused  their  incapacity  to  maintain 
order.  The  French  villagers  have  experienced  this  universal 
condemnation."17 

The  militia  was  an  important  arm  of  government.  It  was  the 
police  force  of  the  time  and  was  indispensable  to  the  community 
in  meeting  frontier  conditions.  On  October  5,  1795,  Pierre 
Menard  was  commissioned  by  Governor  St.  Clair  major  of  the 
First  Regiment  of  Militia  of  Randolph  County,  which  the  Gov- 
ernor had  that  very  day  established,  with  Kaskaskia  as  its 
county  seat.  This  commission  was  renewed  on  August  1,  1800, 
by  John  Gibson,  acting  governor  of  Indiana  Territory.18 

St.  Clair  County,  from  which  Randolph  County  was  set  off, 
extended  in  1790  from  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi  rivers  east- 
ward to  a  line  running  from  Fort  Massac  on  the  Ohio,  about 


ie  St.  Clair  Papers,  I,  p.  168. 

17  Alvord,  The  Illinois  Country,  p.  217. 

is  Pierre  Menard  Papers,  p.  167. 


24  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

forty  miles  above  its  mouth,  to  the  Illinois  river  below  the 
present  Peoria.  The  lower  third  of  this  territory  was  set  off  as 
Randolph  County  in  1795;  it  was  extended  eastward  almost  to 
the  Wabash  river  in  1801.  St.  Clair  County  took  in  all  of  Illinois 
to  the  north.19  Indiana  Territory,  of  which  these  counties 
formed  parts,  included  in  1800  the  present  states  of  Illinois, 
Wisconsin,  Michigan  and  Indiana  except  a  triangle  in  its  south- 
east corner  between  the  mouths  of  the  Kentucky  and  the  Great 
Miami  rivers. 

The  system  of  courts  established  by  Governor  St.  Clair  in 
1790  for  the  county  of  St.  Clair  included  those  of  common  pleas, 
general  quarter  sessions,  the  justices  of  the  peace,  and  the  pro- 
bate court.  The  scanty  records  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas 
of  Randolph  County  show,  according  to  Philbrick,  that  Menard 
sat  in  that  court  before  1800.  On  February  5,  1801,  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  Governor  William  Henry  Harrison  one  of  the  judges 
of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  and  he  served  in  that  court  until 
March  1,  1809.  He  was  notably  regular  in  his  attendance. 
Menard  was  named  with  John  Edgar  and  John  Griffin  on  Septem- 
ber 24,  1802,  to  serve  on  a  commission  of  inquiry  concerning 
crimes  fn  the  Territory,  and  was  county  commissioner  from 
1803  to  1809.20  The  salary  of  judges  was  eight  hundred  dollars 
a  year  until  on  March  3,  1807,  it  was  raised  by  act  of  Congress 
to  twelve  hundred.  "Judged  by  present-day  standards  of  spell- 
ing," says  Philbrick,  "most,  if  not  all,  of  the  county  judges  seem 
but  semi-literate.  No  evidence  has  been  seen  that  any  of  them 
had  schooling,  or  owned  or  read  books."21 

The  land  question  was  now  to  inject  into  the  politics  of  In- 
diana Territory  an  issue  of  intense  bitterness.  Alvord  describes 
the  situation:  "On  March  26,  1804,  an  act  was  passed,  by  Con- 
gress, making  provision  for  the  disposal  of  land  in  the  Indiana 
Territory  in  quarter  sections  and  reserving  the  sixteenth  section 
in  every  township  for  a  school  and  an  entire  township  in  each 
district  for  a  seminary  .  .  .  The  announcement  that  the  United 
States  had  appointed  commissioners  to  straighten  out  the  tan- 
gled web  of  land  titles  made  valuable  the  cessions  that  had  been 
yearly  sinking  in  esteem.    A  violent  hysteria  of  speculation  in 


is  See  the  admirable  outline  maps  appended  to  Philbrick's  Laivs  of 
Indiana  Territory. 

20  Alvord,  op.  cit.,  p.  404;  Philbrick,  op.  tit.,  ccli,  ccxxx;  McDonough, 
History  of  Randolph,  Monroe  and  Perry  Counties,  p.  125. 

2i  Philbrick,  op.  cit.,  cciv-ccv. 


PIERRE  MENARD  OF  ILLINOIS  25 

these  old  titles  broke  out;  everybody  sought  to  accumulate 
claims,  and  dealing  in  them  became  the  speculative  mania  of 
the  villages  .  .  .  The  land  commissioners  were  empowered  to 
compel  witnesses  to  attend  their  meetings  and  to  administer 
oaths;  it  was  their  duty  to  pass  judgment,  in  the  first  place,  on 
all  titles  and  to  report  to  Congress  their  findings  for  confirma- 
tion or  rejection  .  .  .  The  report  was  finally  completed  on  De- 
cember 31,  1809."  The  commissioners  of  the  land  office  for  the 
district  of  Vincennes,  on  December  14,  1805,  appointed  Pierre 
Menard  a  deputy  commissioner  to  take  depositions  and  examine 
witnesses  within  the  county  of  Randolph.  That  he  should  have 
been  selected  to  conduct  these  inquiries  in  his  own  village  when, 
as  Alvord  says,  "some  of  the  most  honored  men  in  the  com- 
munities became  involved  in  the  meshes  of  the  grossest  deceit 
and  few  who  possessed  the  means  to  speculate  could  pride  them- 
selves on  having  maintained  an  irreproachable  innocence," 
speaks  well  for  Menard's  honesty  and  prudence.  The  commis- 
sioners at  Kaskaskia  found  in  his  claims,  which  were  large, 
nothing  discreditable.  Claims  for  8557.4  acres  were  affirmed  to 
him.  In  1808  he  held  12,600  acres.  The  Randolph  County  Court 
of  Appeals  on  October  15,  1807,  fixed  the  value  of  the  lands  be- 
longing to  nine  persons,  among  whom  was  Pierre  Menard,  at  a 
dollar  and  a  half  per  acre.  In  1805  he  was  listed  as  delinquent 
in  the  payment  of  a  retail  licence  amounting  to  sixty  dollars; 
but  the  richest  man  in  town  was  at  the  same  time  listed  as 
delinquent  to  the  same  amount.  Money  was  scarce  in  the  com- 
munity. Yet  in  1808  Menard  was  taxed  for  12,600  acres  or 
land.22 

Strangely  enough,  Menard's  honesty  was  used  as  a  means  of 
defrauding  him  of  what  was  rightfully  his  own.  The  court 
records  show  that  one  of  the  land-grabbers  "forged  the  names 
of  witnesses,  deponents  and  grantors;  even  the  names  of  fellow 
judges,  Menard  and  Hull."23  In  1812  Menard  addressed  to  the 
second  board  of  land  commissioners  a  protest  against  a  ruling 
that  they  had  already  made  in  favor  of  claims  supported  by 
forgery.  He  tried  to  hold  3822  acres  against  John  Edgar,  3804 
against  William  Morrison,  1200  against  Jarrot  and  disputed  1500 
with  others.    Conflicting  claims  were  common.24    "A  little  group 

22  Alvord,  op.  cit.,  pp.  419-421;  Philbrick,  op.  cit.,  Ixxiv,  cxx. 

23  Philbrick,  op.  cit.,  lxxxix-xc. 

24  Philbrick,  op.  cit.,  xci-xcii. 


26  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

of  men  controlled  the  entire  local  government,  judicial  and  ad- 
ministrative," writes  Philbrick,  whose  testimony  for  the  period 
of  Indiana's  territorial  government  is  based  upon  unquestionable 
sources.  "They  recommended  each  other,  and  a  few  friends,  to 
the  governor  as  fit  to  keep  the  taverns;  .  .  .  Similarly  they  and 
a  few  others  held  the  ferry  licenses.  As  county  commissioners 
— for  with  rare  exceptions  they  acted  as  such  themselves — they 
appointed  the  tax  collectors,  and  assessors  if  none  were  elected ; 
supposedly  pursued  delinquent  collectors  and  taxpayers  .  .  . 
and  supposedly  pursued  themselves  as  delinquent  commissioners. 
They  tried  each  other  for  misdemeanors  and  nonpayment  of 
debts."25 

The  slavery  question  was  a  factor  in  Illinois  politics  almost 
from  the  passing  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787.  In  its  sixth  article 
that  instrument  declared:  "There  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor 
involuntary  servitude  within  the  Territory  otherwise  than  in 
the  punishment  of  crimes."  The  French  settlers  in  the  Illinois 
country  owned  slaves,  and  upon  the  passage  of  the  Ordinance 
became  alarmed.  Some  took  their  families  and  slaves  to  the 
other  side  of  the  Mississippi  river;  others  prepared  petitions  to 
Congress  asking  for  the  repeal  of  the  article  regarding  slave- 
holding.  One  after  another  of  these  petitions  was  presented 
between  1796  and  1809.  Even  after  1818  agitation  for  the  call- 
ing of  a  constitutional  convention  to  revise  the  first  Illinois  con- 
stitution in  favor  of  slavery  continued  up  to  1824,  when  the 
people  finally  voted  decisively  against  it.  Pierre  Menard  was 
elected  a  delegate  to  the  convention  that  met  in  Vincennes  in 
November,  1802,  to  consider  the  legalization  of  slave  immigra- 
tion. "In  all  these  petitions,"  says  Alvord,  "there  is  evidence 
of  almost  no  opposition  to  the  introduction  of  slavery  in  the 
Illinois  part  of  the  Indiana  Territory ;  still  it  is  in  the  discussion 
of  the  subject  that  two  factions  in  the  Indiana  Territory  first 
became  apparent;  both  were  pro-slavery  in  character;  but  they 
wished  to  attain  their  ends  by  different  means.  The  leader  of 
one  of  these  factions  was  Governor  Harrison  ...  In  Illinois  the 
outstanding  men  who  looked  to  the  governor  for  guidance  were 
Pierre  Menard,  with  a  large  following  among  the  Frenchmen, 
and  Dr.  George  Fisher,  both  of  Kaskaskia."26  The  issue  of  the 
factional  struggles  was  the  establishment  of  Illinois  as  a  sep- 


25  Philbrick,  op.  cit.,  cli-clii. 

26  Alvord,  op.  cit.,  pp.  422-423. 


PIERRE  MENARD  OF  ILLINOIS  27 

arate  territory  in  1809.  Its  boundaries  extended  northward  to 
the  Canadian  line.  But  let  us  retrace  the  course  of  Menard's 
career  from  1806.  Indiana  Territory  passed  to  the  second  stage 
of  territorial  government  in  1804  and  two  years  later  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  President  Jefferson  to  the  first  legislative  council  of 
Indiana,  which  met  at  Vincennes ;  but  he  resigned  on  September 
19,  1807,  for  disputed  reasons.  In  that  short  term  of  service  he 
signed  one  bill  of  importance  for  higher  education  in  the  State, 
the  charter  for  the  first  institution  of  learning,  Vincennes  Uni- 
versity.    (Blue  Book  of  Illinois,  1921-1928,  p.  320.) 

Menard  had  been  in  the  Indian  trade  for  many  years.  He 
gained  his  earliest  experience  from  the  veteran  trader  Francois 
Vigo.  Reynolds  says,  doubtless  deriving  his  information  from 
his  father,  that  while  Menard  was  still  in  Vincennes,  he  pro- 
cured from  the  Indians  supplies  for  the  army  under  generals 
Clark  and  Scott.  "He  headed  many  parties  out  from  Vincennes 
to  the  Indian  hunting-grounds  and  packed  meat  back  for  the 
troops."27 

The  Pierre  Menard  papers  contain  bills  and  contracts  show- 
ing that  in  his  store  at  Kaskaskia  Menard  dealt  not  only  in  goods 
for  the  Indian  trade,  but  in  building  supplies,  tools,  and  other 
things  needed  by  a  frontier  settlement.  In  1799  he  sold  to  two 
Baltimore  men  9233^  acres  of  land,  purchased  by  him  from 
some  of  his  fellow  townsmen,  who  preferred  to  sell  rather  than 
await  the  fulfillment  of  the  promises  of  Congress  to  confirm 
them  in  their  holdings,  or  pay  the  expense  of  a  survey.  The 
price  paid  by  the  Baltimorians  was  nine  thousand  dollars.  The 
Randolph  court  record  of  1805  shows  that  in  that  year  he  oper- 
ated a  ferry.  The  entry  states  that  he  paid  the  license  fee  of 
five  dollars  and  filed  bonds.28  In  the  following  year  he  became 
associated  with  others  in  an  enterprise  of  great  extent. 

A  Spanish  trader  named  Manuel  Lisa  had  in  1800  secured 
from  the  Spanish  government  the  exclusive  right  to  trade  with 
the  Osage  Indians  on  the  Osage  river,  in  territory  that  is  now 
in  Kansas  and  Missouri.  Following  the  return  of  the  Lewis 
and  Clark  Expedition  in  1806,  Lisa  headed  an  expedition  up  the 
Missouri  river.  Branch  finds  Lisa's  operations  of  significance 
in  tracing  the  history  of  the  frontier.    "Lisa  halted  in  the  heart 


27  Reynolds,  op.  cit.,  p.  291. 

28  History  of  Randolph,  Monroe  and  Perry  Counties,  Illinois,  p.  101, 
cited  in  Alvord,  p.  420n;  Philbrick,  op.  cit.,  cli  n. 


28  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

of  the  Crow  domain  at  the  mouth  of  the  Bighorn,"  he  writes, 
"and  there  built  the  first  American  trading  post,  Fort  Lisa,  in 
the  upper  rivers  of  the  Far  West.  Again  in  St.  Louis  in  the 
summer  of  1808  Lisa  interested  several  Westerners  of  capital, 
Pierre  Chouteau,  William  Clark  and  eight  others,  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Missouri  Fur  Company."  Pease  says  that  Menard 
was  associated  with  both  of  these  enterprises.  Reynolds  writes 
of  Menard :  "He  was  a  partner  in  1808  in  the  mammoth  company 
of  Emanuel  Liza  (sic)  and  others,  and  remained  in  the  Rocky 
Mts.  a  year,  doing  business  for  the  company."29  Lisa  is  de- 
scribed by  Greenbie,  in  a  recent  book  on  the  fur  trade,  as  a  man 
of  boundless  energy.  "In  twelve  years,  to  the  time  of  his  death," 
he  writes,  "he  made  twelve  trips  to  the  Missouri,  covering  twenty- 
six  thousand  miles.  Army  officers  and  scientists  always  found 
a  welcome  at  his  post  .  .  .  The  goodfellowship  and  indefatigable 
enterprise  earned  for  him  as  much  as  $35,000  in  profits  in  a 
single  year."30  Menard  must  have  profited  by  association  with 
such  a  lucrative  venture;  but  how  long  he  was  associated  with 
it  does  not  appear.  Perhaps  a  careful  examination  of  the  Pierre 
Menard  papers  would  yield  details  of  this  period  of  Menard's 
life. 

Mrs.  Menard  died  in  1804,  leaving  four  children.  On  Septem- 
ber 22,  1806,  Pierre  Menard  married  Angelique  Saucier,  daugh- 
ter of  Frangois  Saucier  and  Angelique  La  Pensee,  and  grand- 
daughter of  Frangois  Saucier.  The  latter  was  a  French  officer 
once  stationed  at  Fort  Chartres,  which  was  on  the  east  bank  of 
the  Mississippi  seventeen  miles  above  Kaskaskia.  The  marriage 
was  performed  at  Kaskaskia  in  the  church  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception,  by  the  parish  priest,  Donatien  Olivier.31  Hon.  Henry 
S.  Baker,  who  knew  the  Menard  family,  says  of  Mrs.  Menard: 
"A  lady  noted  for  her  generous  hospitality  and  her  elegant  and 
refined  manners.  Her  charities  were  the  gifts  of  silence;  un- 
known to  the  world,  they  were  dispensed  with  a  loving  hand,  to 
the  poor  and  unfortunate."32 


29  E.  D.  Branch,  Westward,  the  Romance  of  the  American  Frontier, 
New  York,  1930,  p.  302;  Pease,  The  Story  of  Illinois,  p.  85;  Reynolds,  op. 
cit.,  p.  294. 

so  Sydney  Greenbie,  Frontiers  and  the  Fur  Trade,  New  York,  1929, 
pp.  156-158. 

3i  Mason,  Pierre  Menard,  citing  a  letter  of  Mrs.  Augustine  Menard, 
Nov.  25,  1888. 

32  h.  S.  Baker,  "The  First  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Illinois,  an  Address," 
(Chicago  Historical  Society  Collection,  rv,  156-157). 


PIERRE  MENARD  OF  ILLINOIS  29 

Menard  was  appointed  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Randolph 
County  militia  by  the  governor  on  July  12,  1806,  and  this  com- 
mission was  renewed  by  Secretary  Nathaniel  Pope  on  May  6, 
1809.  His  reputation  as  an  efficient  militia  officer  seems  to  have 
extended  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  county,  for  the  governor  of 
Louisiana  Territory  on  April  1,  1809,  appointed  him  captain  of 
militia  on  special  service,  the  precise  nature  of  which  does  not 
appear.  In  the  list  of  judges  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of 
Randolph  county  the  name  of  Peter  Menard  appears  as  one  of 
the  judges,  appointed  January  23,  1811 ;  but  Alvord  says  that  he 
resigned  on  the  following  February  ll.33 

Illinois  Territory  passed  to  the  second  stage  of  territorial 
government  on  May  21,  1812.  The  change  provided  for  a  gen- 
eral assembly  composed  of  representatives  elected  from  counties 
or  townships,  in  addition  to  the  governor,  secretary  and  three 
judges.  In  October  of  the  same  year  the  first  legislature  was 
elected  and  also  representatives  to  Congress.  Pierre  Menard 
represented  Randolph  county  in  the  territorial  legislature.  The 
Journal  of  the  executive  council  for  1812,  which  is  included  by 
James34  in  his  Territorial  records  of  Illinois,  shows  Menard  tak- 
ing a  leading  part  in  its  proceedings  from  the  very  start.  On 
December  21  "on  motion,  Resolved  that  the  Council  go  into  the 
election  of  the  President  and  on  casting  up  the  votes  Mr  Menard 
was  duly  elected  and  took  the  chair  accordingly."  He  held  that 
office  by  successive  reelection  for  the  next  six  years  until  in 
1818  he  became  lieutenant  governor  of  the  newly  admitted  State 
of  Illinois.  In  the  struggle  over  slavery  in  December  1817  he 
voted  against  the  repeal  of  the  laws  permitting  the  holding  of 
indentured  servants — a  form  of  slavery  for  a  limited  period. 
Buck  says  that  he  held  aloof  from  the  political  factions  of  the 
period;  his  honors  were  due  to  his  universal  popularity.35 

Speaking  of  Menard's  service  in  the  legislature,  Reynolds 
says:  "He  presided  in  that  assembly,  as  he  did  in  many  sub- 
sequent cases,  with  good,  common-sense,  but  without  pomp  or 
parade  .  .  .  He  had  a  sound,  solid  judgment  and  true  patriotism 
to  govern  his  actions  in  these  legislative  assemblies.  He  never 
made  speeches  of  any  length  but,  like  Franklin,  told  anecdotes 
that  were  extremely  applicable  and  made  remarks  that  showed 


33  The  Governors'  Letter-books,  18 18-183 It,  Springfield,  1909.     (Illinois 
State  Historical  Library  Collections,  vol.  4,  p.  lOn). 

34  e.  J.  James,  The  Territorial  Records  of  Illinois,  Springfield,  1901. 

35  Buck,  Illinois  in  1818,  p.  202;  Philbrick,  op.  cit.,  cclii. 


30  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

both  his  good  sense  and  patriotism.  Many  of  the  wise  and  equit- 
able laws  which  have  made  Illinois  so  prosperous  came  out  from 
under  his  fostering  care."36 

Following  the  passing  by  Congress  of  the  enabling  act,  on 
April  18,  1818,  a  constiutional  convention  assembled  at  Kas- 
kaskia  in  August  of  the  same  year  to  draw  up  the  first  consti- 
tution of  Illinois.  "The  draft  of  the  constitution,"  says  Buck 
in  his  chapter  on  the  framing  of  the  constitution  "was  finally 
reported  by  the  committee  of  fifteen  on  Wednesday  the  twelfth. 
It  consisted  of  a  preamble  and  eight  articles,  the  greater  part 
of  which  had  been  copied  from  the  constitutions  of  neighboring 
states  .  .  .  The  'first  reading'  took  two  and  a  half  days  and  at 
its  conclusion  a  committee  of  five  was  appointed,  none  of  which 
had  served  on  the  committee  of  fifteen,  to  suggest  additional 
articles  or  sections  which  it  might  consider  necessary  to  com- 
plete the  draft  of  the  constitution.  The  work  of  this  committee 
was  primarily  to  prepare  a  schedule  for  putting  the  new  govern- 
ment into  operation."37  One  of  the  suggestions  of  this  second 
committee  was  not  only  of  peculiar  significance  as  regards  the 
subject  of  our  study  but  was  almost  unique  in  the  history  of 
constitution-making.  The  constitution  as  originally  adopted  re- 
quired that  the  lieutenant-governor  should  have  the  same  quali- 
fications as  the  governor,  including  citizenship  for  thirty  years. 
The  section,  as  submitted  in  the  schedule  of  the  second  com- 
mittee, however,  reads:  "Any  person  of  thirty  years  of  age  who 
is  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  and  has  resided  within  the  limits 
of  this  State  two  years  next  preceding  his  election,  shall  be  eligi- 
ble to  the  office  of  lieutenant-governor;  anything  in  the  thir- 
teenth section  of  the  third  article  of  this  constitution  contained 
to  the  contrary  notwithstanding."  Governor  Ford's  explanation 
of  this  section,  which  Buck  says  is  "doubtless  correct,"  is  that 
"Col.  Pierre  Menard,  a  Frenchman  and  an  old  settler  in  the  coun- 
try, was  generally  looked  to  to  fill  the  office  of  lieutenant  gov- 
ernor; but  ...  he  had  not  been  naturalized  until  a  year  or  two 
before."38  Baker's  comment  on  this  incident  is  just :  "Was  there 
ever  such  a  tribute  paid  to  a  man  ? — and  that  too  by  the  voice  of 
a  free  and  independent  people  ?    There  is  no  precedent  in  history 


36  Reynolds,  op.  cit.,  pp.  293-294. 

37  S.  J.  Buck,  Illinois  in  1818,  Springfield,   1917.      (Illinois  centennial 
publications,  introd.  volume,  pp.  267-268.) 

ss  Thomas  Ford,  A  History  of  Illinois  .  .  .  1818  to  18^7,  Chicago,  1854, 
p.  26.    Cited  in  Buck,  op.  cit.,  pp.  285-286. 


PIERRE  MENARD  OF  ILLINOIS  3^ 

where  the  organic  law  of  a  free  people  had  been  changed  or 
modified  for  the  benefit  of  one  not  seeking  the  benefit  of  that 
modification."39 

We  may  follow  Baker  in  his  account  of  the  service  of  Menard 
while  presiding  over  the  senate  of  Illinois'  first  legislature. 
"During  the  time  that  Col.  Menard  held  the  office  of  lieutenant- 
governor,"  he  says,  "a  series  of  laws  were  adopted  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  our  young  State,  which  laws  have  to  a  great  extent 
become  the  foundation  of  all  subsequent  legislation  .  .  .  Nothing 
remarkable  was  transacted  until  1821,  when  the  legislature 
created  the  State  Bank  of  Illinois  and  sought  to  induce  the 
United  States  government  to  receive  its  notes  as  land-office 
money.  Col.  Menard  had  more  common-sense  than  the  entire 
legislature  upon  that  subject  and  was  opposed  to  the  whole 
scheme."  The  anecdote  told  by  Gov.  Ford,  however,  that  Menard 
in  broken  English  offered  to  bet  a  hundred  dollars,  after  the 
measure  had  passed  over  his  protest,  that  the  state  bank  notes 
would  never  be  received  as  land-office  money,  is  discredited  by 
Baker.  "He  was  too  dignified  and  polished  a  gentleman  to  act 
unbecomingly  while  presiding  over  the  senate."  If  he  said  what 
was  reported,  he  said  it  in  good  English  and  after  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  senate,  when  the  policy  of  the  measure  was  being 
discussed. 

At  the  close  of  his  term  as  lieutenant-governor  in  1822  Pierre 
Menard  declined  further  political  honors  and  retired  to  his  home 
and  to  the  conduct  of  his  private  business.  Yet  he  was  later 
called  upon  to  negotiate  a  treaty  with  the  Indians,  a  form  of 
service  which  he  was  singularly  well  qualified  to  fulfill  owing  to 
his  long  experience  and  to  the  veneration  in  which  he  was  held 
by  them.  Let  us  at  this  point  review  the  situation  of  the  In- 
dians in  Illinois  during  the  lifetime  of  Menard  and  his  relations 
with  them  as  trader,  Indian  agent,  and  negotiator. 

On  April  2,  1813,  John  Armstrong,  secretary  of  war,  had 
appointed  Pierre  Menard  United  States  sub-agent  of  Indian  af- 


39  H.  S.  Baker,  Pierre  Menard,  pp.  153-155. 


32  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

fairs  at  Kaskaskia.    What  was  the  field  of  operations  and  the 
duties  of  an  Indian  agent  at  this  time  ?40 

The  confederacy  of  five  Indian  tribes  known  as  the  Illinois, 
found  by  the  French  explorers  who  first  visited  the  Mississippi 
valley  in  the  seventeenth  century,  had  been  almost  wiped  out  by 
their  neighbors  during  the  following  century. 

"By  1818  the  Cahokia,  Michigamea,  and  Tamaroa  had  disappeared  as 
distinct  tribes,"  writes  Buck;  "the  Kaskaskia,  much  weakened,  lingered  on 
in  a  reservation  of  350  acres  left  them  by  the  whites  near  the  town  of 
Kaskaskia;  while  the  remnants  of  the  Peoria  still  lived  near  the  former 
habitat  of  the  confederacy  on  the  Illinois  river.  Next  to  the  Kaskaskia, 
the  nearest  neighbors  of  the  white  settlers  in  the  south  were  the  Kickapoo. 
who  were  scattered  along  the  valley  of  the  Sangamon  from  the  headwaters 
of  the  Kaskaskia  river  to  the  Illinois.  They  also  appear  to  have  had  one 
or  two  villages  west  of  the  Illinois.  Farther  north  were  the  Sauk  and  Fox, 
who  although  not  completely  amalgamated,  mingled  with  each  other  a 
great  deal  and  sometimes  lived  in  the  same  villages.  In  spite  of  the  nom- 
inal cession  of  all  their  lands  in  Illinois,  the  principal  villages  of  these 
tribes  were  still  located  near  the  mouth  of  the  Rock  river  with  other  vil- 
lages extending  along  both  sides  of  the  Mississippi  and  into  the  interior. 
Generally  speaking,  these  tribes  may  be  said  to  have  occupied  the  western 
part  of  the  triangle  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Illinois,  and  between 
the  Mississippi  and  the  Rock  rivers.  The  greater  part  of  the  domain  of  the 
Winnebago  was  in  what  is  now  Wisconsin,  but  a  small  wedge-shaped  por- 
tion of  it  extended  into  Illinois  between  the  Rock  river  and  the  eastern 
watershed  of  the  Mississippi.  Some  of  the  villages  of  this  tribe  were 
located  on  the  Rock.  The  whole  northeastern  part  of  Illinois  was  occupied 
by  the  Potawatomi  with  the  associated  bands  of  Ottawa  and  Chippewa. 
They  had  villages  on  the  Rock,  the  Fox,  the  Kankakee,  the  Illinois,  and 
also  in  the  interior  between  these  streams  and  the  neighborhood  of  Chi- 
cago"  (pp.  1-2). 

These  tribes  lived  along  the  borders  of  rivers,  differing  in 
that  respect  from  the  Indians  who  hunted  the  bison  on  the  open 
prairies  or  those  who  hunted  in  the  depths  of  the  forests.    Their 


40  An  excellent  and  authoritative  account  of  the  Indian  tribes  living  in 
Illinois  Territory  is  given  by  Solon  Justus  Buck  in  his  introductory  volume 
to  the  Illinois  Centennial  publications  entitled  Illinois  in  1818  (Springfield, 
1917).  Chapter  I  deals  with  the  Indians  and  the  fur  trade.  The  author 
relies  upon  the  papers  of  the  Indian  Ofiice,  Emma  H.  Blair's  The  Indian 
Tribes  of  the  Upper  Mississippi  Valley  and  Region  of  the  Great  Lakes,  a 
compilation  of  reports  of  French  and  American  officials  located  in  the 
region,  American  State  Papers,  and  other  works  listed  by  him  in  his 
bibliography. 


PIERRE  MENARD  OF  ILLINOIS  33 

mode  of  life  is  described  by  Major  Morrell  Marston,  U.  S.  A., 
commanding  at  Fort  Armstrong.41 

"They  leave  their  villages,"  wrote  Marston  to  Jedidiah  Morse 
in  November,  1820,  "as  soon  as  their  corn,  beans,  etc.,  is  ripe 
and  taken  care  of,  and  their  traders  arrive  and  give  out  their 
credits  and  go  to  their  wintering  grounds;  it  being  previously 
determined  on  in  council  what  particular  ground  each  party 
shall  hunt  on.  The  old  men,  women  and  children  embark  in 
canoes,  and  the  young  men  go  by  land  with  their  horses ;  on  their 
arrival  they  immediately  commence  their  winter's  hunt,  which 
lasts  about  three  months  .  .  .  They  return  to  their  village  in 
the  month  of  April  and  after  putting  their  lodges  in  order,  com- 
mence preparing  the  ground  to  receive  the  seed"  (p.  3).  The 
tribes  that  Major  Marston  is  describing  were  the  Sauk  and  the 
Fox ;  but  those  with  whom  Pierre  Menard  came  in  contact  doubt- 
less lived  in  much  the  same  way,  as  all  were  Algonkin  except 
the  Winnebago,  who  were  Dakota.  The  reference  to  traders  and 
to  credits  requires  further  elucidation. 

Fur  traders  had  been  the  first  to  enter  the  Indian  forests  and 
these  were  French  bourgeois;  the  work  of  paddling  the  canoes 
and  carrying  them  across  portages  was  performed  by  voyageurs, 
and  other  laborious  duties  about  the  camp  or  on  the  march  were 
performed  by  the  engages  as  they  were  called.  After  the  ter- 
ritory of  New  France  passed  to  Great  Britain  and  later  the 
Mississippi  valley  came  under  American  control,  the  French 
boatmen  and  laborers  were  still  indispensable  to  traders  on  ac- 
count of  their  amenability  to  proper  control.  "The  private 
trader  .  .  .  went  out  into  the  wilderness,  carrying  his  goods  to 
the  Indians  at  their  hunting  grounds  or  villages  .  .  .  When  cold 
weather  approached  the  savages  were  usually  without  money  or 
furs  but  it  was  necessary  for  them  to  secure  many  articles,  such 
as  guns,  ammunition,  traps,  kettles,  and  blankets  before  they 
could  set  out  for  their  wintering  grounds.  Since  these  articles 
could  not  be  obtained  at  the  factories  [i.  e.  the  government  trad- 
ing posts,  which  exchanged  goods  for  furs  but  gave  no  credit] 
the  Indians  were  obliged  to  resort  to  the  private  traders,  who 


4i In  1818  there  were  four  military  posts  in  Illinois:  Fort  Dearborn, 
Chicago,  which  had  been  destroyed  in  1812  but  restored  in  1816;  Fort  Arm- 
strong- at  Rock  Island;  Fort  Edwards,  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Des  Moines 
river;  and  Fort  Clark  on  the  Illinois  river  near  the  outlet  of  Peoria  lake. 
They  aided  in  keeping  the  Indians  in  check  and  protected  the  Indian  de- 
partment and  the  government  trading  posts.     (Buck,  op.  cit.,  p.  12.)   ,    . 


34  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

were  more  than  willing  to  supply  their  needs  on  credit"  (p.  19) . 

Many  of  the  private  traders  at  this  time  were  British,  who 
after  the  close  of  the  war  of  1812  were  permitted  to  enter  the 
territory  only  after  they  had  received  permission  to  trade  there 
from  the  President;  to  the  United  States  agents  was  delegated 
the  power  of  deciding  who  should  be  permitted  to  do  so.  "Since 
the  American  capital  employed  in  the  industry  was  not  sufficient 
to  supply  the  needs  of  the  Indians,"  writes  Buck,  "it  was  not 
thought  wise  at  this  time  to  exclude  foreigners  entirely"  (pp. 
15-16).  Yet  the  influence  of  these  British  traders  among  the 
Indians,  some  of  whom  had  but  recently  been  in  arms  against 
the  Americans,  caused  considerable  embarrassment  to  the  Gov- 
ernment. The  British  were  in  the  habit  of  making  presents  to 
the  Indians  among  whom  they  traded;  so  the  agents  of  the 
Government  must  perforce  do  likewise.  In  1820  Pierre  Menard, 
as  sub-agent  at  Kaskaskia  expended  thirteen  dollars  "for  fer- 
riage of  the  Delaware  chief  and  his  party  over  the  Mississippi" ; 
nineteen  dollars  and  fifty  cents  "for  supper  and  breakfast  fur- 
nished thirteen  Indians,  corn  and  hay  for  their  horses";  and 
twenty-three  dollars  "for  four  hundred  pounds  of  beef,  and  mak- 
ing a  coffin  for  a  Delaware  Indian  who  was  accidentally  killed."42 

"The  Government  had,  then,  three  ends  in  view  in  its  ad- 
ministration of  Indian  affairs  on  the  northwestern  frontier  dur- 
ing this  period:  to  preserve  peace  between  the  red  man  and  the 
white  settler;  to  destroy  British  influence  and  to  render  the  In- 
dians dependent  upon  the  United  States ;  and,  lastly,  to  improve 
the  condition  of  the  savages  or,  if  possible,  to  civilize  them. 
There  was  a  rather  widely  spread  feeling  that  the  whites  owed 
a  certain  moral  obligation  to  the  Indians  on  account  of  the  occu- 
pation of  so  goodly  a  portion  of  their  best  hunting  grounds.  The 
Government  sought  to  carry  out  its  policy  by  means  of  three 
separate  and  distinct  agencies:  the  military  posts  upon  the 
frontier,  the  Indian  department,  and  the  system  of  Government 
fur  trading  factories"  (pp.  11-12).  The  four  military  posts  lo- 
cated in  Illinois  have  been  mentioned  above; — being  forts  Dear- 
born, Armstrong,  Edwards,  and  Clark.  The  Indian  department 
had  its  agencies  at  Mackinac,  Green  Bay,  Prairie  du  Chien,  Chi- 
cago, Vincennes,  Fort  Wayne,  and  Piqua.  While  Illinois  was 
still  a  territory  its  agents  were  responsible  to  Governor  Edwards 


*2  Cited  in  Buck,  p.  15,  from  American  State  Papers,  Indian  Affairs, 
2:302. 


PIERRE  MENARD  OF  ILLINOIS  35 

at  Detroit.  "Charles  Jouett  was  in  charge  of  Indian  affairs  at 
Chicago,  while  Richard  Graham  acted  as  "agent  for  Illinois 
Territory" ;  the  two  sub-agents  within  the  limits  of  Illinois  were 
Pierre  Menard  and  Maurice  Blondeau"  (pp.  12-13). 

The  duties  of  agents  and  of  sub-agents  were  similar  except 
as  to  jurisdiction.  They  discharged  treaty  obligations  to  the 
Indians,  and  were  the  intermediaries  between  the  Government 
and  the  various  tribes;  they  granted  licences  to  trade  and  paid 
annuities.  These  annuities  were  not  large.  That  due  the  Kas- 
kaskia  in  1818,  which  passed  through  the  hands  of  Menard  as 
sub-agent,  was  one  thousand  dollars.  An  equal  amount  was  paid 
the  Ottawa,  Chippewa,  and  Potawatomi  residing  upon  the  Illinois 
river.    The  Kickapoo  received  only  nine  hundred  dollars  (p.  13) . 

The  Government  trading  "factories"  have  been  mentioned. 
The  first  of  these  dated  as  far  back  as  1795.  The  purpose  in 
establishing  them  was  not  to  make  a  profit,  such  as  was  sought 
by  the  private  traders,  but  to  aid  the  Indian  department  in  its 
administration  of  the  frontier.  The  conduct  of  these  was  regu- 
lated by  an  act  of  1811.  "The  President  was  given  authority  to 
establish  factories  at  such  places  on  the  frontier  as  he  might 
deem  most  convenient  and  to  appoint  a  superintendent  of  Indian 
trade  who  should  manage  the  business  on  behalf  of  the  Govern- 
ment. The  agents  appointed  to  take  charge  of  the  various  fac- 
tories were  to  be  responsible  to  the  superintendent  and  render 
their  accounts  to  him.  The  prices  of  the  goods  employed  in  the 
trade  were  to  be  regulated  in  such  a  manner  that  the  original 
capital  stock  furnished  by  the  United  States  should  not  be  dimin- 
ished .  .  .  The  furs,  skins,  and  other  articles  obtained  from  the 
Indians  in  the  course  of  trade  were  to  be  sold  at  public  auction 
under  the  direction  of  the  President  at  such  places  as  should  be 
deemed  most  advantageous"  (p.  17).  The  Government  factories 
were  not  permitted  to  give  credit  to  the  Indians,  a  circumstance 
that  gave  an  advantage  to  the  private  trader.  "The  factories 
were  so  widely  scattered  that  it  was  often  necessary  for  the 
Indians  who  wished  to  exchange  their  peltries  for  the  white 
man's  goods  to  make  long  journeys  with  their  furs"  (p.  19). 
The  private  trader  brought  his  goods  directly  to  the  Indian  vil- 
lage. For  these  and  other  reasons  the  Government  trading  posts 
were  not  successful  and  were  finally  abolished  in  1822  (p.  21). 
Unfortunately  the  private  trader  too  often  brought  whiskey  to 
exchange  for  the  furs  offered  by  the  Indians.    The  efforts  of  the 


36  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

Government  agents  to  prevent  or  abate  this  grave  evil  were  of 
little  avail. 

Pierre  Menard's  last  public  service  was  on  a  diplomatic  mis- 
sion to  the  Indians,  the  nature  of  which  can  be  no  better  de- 
scribed than  in  the  wording  of  the  original  commission,  a  copy 
of  which  is  in  the  Pierre  Menard  papers,  as  printed  by  the  Chi- 
cago Historical  Society. 

John  Quincy  Adams,  President  of  the  United  States  of  America  ... 
To  all  who  shall  see  these  presents,  Greeting: — Know  ye,  that  in  pursuance 
of  the  Act  of  Congress,  passed  on  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  May,  1828, 
entitled  "An  act  to  enable  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  hold  a 
treaty  with  the  Chippewas,  Ottawas,  Pattawatimas,  Winnebagoes,  Fox  and 
Sacs  Nations  of  Indians"  and  reposing  special  trust  and  confidence  in  the 
abilities,  prudence  and  fidelity  of  Lewis  Cass  of  the  Territory  of  Michigan, 
and  Pierre  Menard  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  I  have  nominated  and  by  and 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate  do  appoint  them  commissioners 
of  the  United  States,  with  full  power  and  authority  to  hold  conferences  and 
to  conclude  and  sign  a  treaty  or  treaties  with  the  Chippewas,  Ottawas, 
Pattawatimas,  Winnebagoes,  Fox  and  Sacs  Nations  of  Indians.  .  .  .  Wash- 
ington, May  24,  1828. 

Reynolds  mentions  an  incident  seemingly  connected  with  this 
mission,  but  the  date  given  is  1826.  "He  and  Lewis  Cass  were 
at  the  Lower  Rapids  on  the  Mississippi  in  1826,  on  July  4,  pre- 
paring for  a  treaty  with  the  Indians,  and  during  the  festivities 
of  the  day,  he  named  the  town  at  the  foot  of  the  Rapids,  Keokuk, 
which  it  has  retained  to  this  day."  Keokuk  was  a  chief  of  the 
Sauk  and  Fox  Indians.  "The  Indians,"  says  Reynolds  in  char- 
acterizing Pierre  Menard,  "almost  worshipped  him  as  they  did 
the  Great  Spirit.  At  any  time  an  Indian  would  prefer  giving 
Menard  his  peltry  for  nothing,  than  to  receive  double  value  for 
it  from  a  long-knife  American  .  .  .  No  man  in  the  West  had 
more  influence  with  the  Indian  tribes  than  he  had.  He  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  government  in  many  cases  to  treat  with  the  red- 
skins."43 Reynolds  himself,  when  governor,  sent  him  as  Indian 
agent  the  following  communication,  dated  Belleville,  21st  July, 
1831: 

"Dear  Sir: — I  have  before  me  a  petition  from  many  of  the  citizens  of 
Shelby  County,  which  is  situated  towards  the  head  of  the  Kaskaskia  River, 
informing  me  that  some  Indians  .  .  .  are  insolent  and  are  destroying  their 
Stock,  they  wish  them  removed,  and  say,  if  the  Indians  are  not  started  off, 
the  Whites  will  remove  them  at  all  events  .  .  .  These  Indians  cannot  be 


43  Reynolds,  op.  cit.,  p.  292. 


PIERRE  MENARD  OF  ILLINOIS  37 

permitted  to  live  among1  the  Whites  and  destroy  their  Stock.  I  am  sorry 
that  there  is  of  late  so  much  Indian  trouble,  and  as  a  friend  to  all  parties 
advise  you  to  get  them  off  as  soon  as  possible.  "44 

Pierre  Menard  died  at  his  home  in  Kaskaskia  on  June  13, 
1844.  The  record  of  his  burial  reads  as  follows:  "On  the  four- 
teenth of  June  1844  I,  the  undersigned,  buried  the  remains  of 
Colonel  Pierre  Menard  in  his  vault — in  the  graveyard  of  this 
Parish,  thither  he  was  accompanied  by  an  immense  concourse 
of  People.  He  died  yesterday — the — [illegible  in  the  original 
manuscript  at  the  Chicago  Historical  Society]  at  1%,  having 
previously  received  the  last  sacraments,  he  was  72  years  old. 
J.  M.  J.  St.  Cyr,  parish  Priest."  By  his  second  wife  Pierre  Men- 
ard left  six  children.  The  names  are  given  in  Mason's  sketch, 
pp.  147-148. 

We  have  seen  how  prominent  was  the  part  Menard  played  in 
the  community  in  which  he  lived  and  how  his  fellow  citizens 
respected  and  honored  him.  Yet  Reynolds,  who  must  have  known 
him  intimately,  says:  "It  was  not  in  public  life  where  he  ex- 
celled, but  it  was  in  his  private  and  domestic  conduct  where  his 
true  and  genuine  benevolence  displayed  itself,  and  all  the  virtues 
that  adorn  and  ennoble  the  human  family  had  a  proper  theatre 
in  his  heart  for  their  action.  The  poor  and  distressed  always 
received  charity  at  his  hand  ...  In  his  younger  days  he  had, 
as  most  others  did,  purchased  lands  of  the  citizens.  These  lands, 
together  with  his  Indian  trade  and  other  means,  made  him  a 
princely  fortune;  but  his  amiable  and  kind  disposition  diminished 
it  to  some  extent.  He  could  not  refrain  from  being  security  for 
many  individuals  whose  debts  he  was  compelled  to  pay  .  .  .  The 
legislature  of  Illinois  in  1839,  as  a  marked  honor  to  him,  called 
a  county  Menard."45 

Mrs.  Menard  died  on  February  12,  1839,  five  years  before  her 
husband,  leaving  six  children.  The  names  of  all  of  Menard's 
children,  with  dates  of  birth  and  death,  with  other  genealogical 
information,  are  given  by  Mason  in  his  sketch. 

The  memory  of  Pierre  Menard  has  been  honored  by  several 
memorials.  A  statute  of  him,  presented  to  the  State  by  Charles 
P.  Chouteau  of  St.  Louis,  the  son  of  a  former  business  associate 
of  Pierre  Menard,  was  erected  on  the  capitol  grounds  at  Spring- 
field, the  unveiling  being  held  on  January  10,  1888.    Hon.  Henry 


44  The  Governors'  Letter-books,  p.  176. 

45  Reynolds,  op.  cit.,  p.  294. 


38  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

S.  Baker,  who  had  known  Menard  and  his  family,  was  the  orator 
of  the  occasion.  His  address,  included  in  the  fourth  volume  of 
the  Chicago  Historical  Society  Collection,  is  one  of  the  few 
sketches  of  Menard's  career  available.46  On  December  3,  1919, 
a  bronze  tablet  was  placed  by  the  Illinois  Daughters  of  the 
American  Revolution  upon  the  house  built  by  Pierre  Menard  on 
the  east  bank  of  the  Kaskaskia  river.  This  house,  built  in  1802, 
has  been  purchased  with  its  furniture  by  the  State  of  Illinois. 
The  bill  for  its  purchase  was  introduced  into  the  Fifty-fifth 
Assembly  in  1927  by  Sarah  Bond  Hanley,  whose  sketch  of  the 
pioneer,  in  the  Blue  Book  of  Illinois  for  1927-1928,  describes  the 
house  in  part  thus :  "It  is  built  of  oak  with  interior  finish  of  black 
walnut,  in  the  French  style  of  architecture.  The  windows  have 
twenty-four  small  panes  of  glass  and  there  are  beautiful  fan 
lights  above  the  double  doors.  The  shutters  are  cut  from  solid 
lumber.  The  mantels  were  imported  from  France  and  above  them 
were  beautiful  gilt  frame  mirrors.  The  house  is  77  by  44  feet, 
exclusive  of  kitchen  .  .  .  The  kitchen  ...  is  floored  with  flag 
stones  and  has  an  immense  rock  fire  place  .  .  .  and  a  capacious 
stone  oven,  and  a  sink  made  from  solid  rock"  (p.  320). 

This  paper  may  close  with  an  extract  from  a  letter  received 
on  March  3,  1931,  by  the  writer  from  Mrs.  Franklin  Miller,  hon- 
orary state  president  of  the  United  Daughters,  1812,  in  which 
she  states  that  a  marker  was  in  September,  1928,  placed  on  the 
grave  of  Pierre  Menard  by  the  members  of  that  Society.  "The 
marker  is  a  bronze  copy  of  the  insignia  of  the  Society — a  star 
and  anchor — with  plain  bronze  plate  below,  on  which  is  cut  the 
name  of  the  1812  soldier— PIERRE  MENARD." 

William  Stetson  Merrill 

Oak  Park,  Illinois 


46  Blue  Book  of  Illinois  for  1927-1928  contains  a  sketch  of  Pierre  Men- 
ard, pioneer,  by  Sarah  Bond  Hanley,  accompanied  by  portrait,  cuts  of  the 
statue  and  of  the  Menard  home,  still  standing  across  the  river  from  the 
former  site  of  Old  Kaskaskia. 


THE  MARQUIS'S  HOSPITAL 

In  the  general  archives  located  in  the  National  Palace,  Mex- 
ico City,  where  the  nation  preserves  its  heritage  of  documents 
dating  back  to  the  year  of  the  conquest,  1521,  there  is  a  small 
room  filled  with  a  recently  acquired  archive,  the  property  until 
last  year  of  the  Cortes  family.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  un- 
bound manuscripts,  tied  together  without  arrangement  by  year 
or  contents,  are  now  in  process  of  being  catalogued  with  the 
prospect  of  the  publication  of  the  most  important.  They  con- 
tain papers  relating  to  the  business  and  charitable  enterprises  of 
Hermando  Cortes  and  his  heirs  and  descendants  down  to  the 
present  time,  and,  because  they  were  kept  in  the  Jesus  Nazareno 
hospital,  which  Cortes  founded,  they  are  generally  known  as  the 
Jesus  Nazareno  archive,  though  but  a  fraction  of  them  deals 
with  the  hospital  itself.  According  to  the  Mexico  City  news- 
papers of  December,  1929,  the  government  was  informed  that 
the  present  incumbent  of  the  title  of  Marques  de  Valle,  title  con- 
ferred by  Charles  V  on  Hermando  Cortes  in  1529,  had  disposed 
of  some  of  the  most  valuable  of  these  manuscripts  to  dealers  in 
the  United  States,  and  in  order  to  prevent  further  sequestration 
of  national  treasure,  it  confiscated  the  archive. 

It  seems  probable  that  out  of  such  a  mass  of  reports,  cor- 
respondence, etc.,  some  new  and  important  data  will  be  dis- 
covered bearing  on  the  foundation  and  early  years  of  the  hos- 
pital and  of  the  Confraternity  of  Our  Lady,  under  whose  aegis 
the  hospital  was  administered,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that 
this  archive,  difficult  though  it  has  been  to  use,  has  not  been 
overlooked  nor  neglected  by  Mexican  historians.  Carlos  de 
Sigiienza  y  Gongora1  used  it  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and,  in 
the  nineteenth,  Lucas  Alaman2  and  Joaquin  Garcia  Icazbalceta.3 
With  what  degree  of  completeness  these  writers  examined  the 
archive  cannot  be  determined  until  all  the  documents  which 
compose  it  become  available  for  comparison  with  the  history 
of  the  hospital  as  at  present  known.  In  view  of  a  reasonable 
expectation  that  this  may  be  in  the  near  future,  it  seems  worth 
while  to  review  here  the  story  as  drawn  from  the  above  men- 


i  Carlos  de  Siguenza  y  G6ngora,  Piedad  Heroica  de  Herndn  Cortes, 
Mexico,  1663.    Very  rare,  but  may  be  found  in  1927  edition  of  Obras. 

2  Lucas  Alaman,  Discertaciones  sobre  la  historia  de  la  Reptiblica  Miji- 
cana,  3  vols.,  Havana,  1873. 

a  Joaquin  Garcia,  Icazbalceta,  Obras,  9  vols.,  Mexico,  1896. 

39 


40  ELIZABETH  WARD  LOUGHRAN 

tioned  historians,  and  from  documents  in  the  printed  collections 
from  the  archives  of  Spain. 

The  original  name  of  the  hospital  was  the  Hospital  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception,  Hospital  de  la  Limpia  Conception  de 
Nuestra  Seiiora,  and  on  April  16,  1529,  Clement  VII  granted 
Cortes  patronage  of  it  in  perpetuity.4  Because  of  this  grant  and 
of  the  generosity  Cortes  showed  towards  the  work  both  during 
his  Mexican  residence  and  in  his  will,  the  hospital  has  always 
been  known  as  the  Marquis's  hospital.  It  was  not  his,  however, 
strictly  speaking.  It  was  founded  by  the  Confraternity  of  Our 
Lady,  of  which  Cortes  was  elected  majordomo  in  charge  of  the 
hospital  during  its  first  years.  The  confraternity,  perhaps  a 
branch  of  the  Confraternity  of  Our  Lady,  founded  in  1208,  and 
surrounded  by  traditions  of  hospital  service  in  Europe,  was  a 
voluntary  association,  somewhat  like  our  present  day  sodality, 
founded  to  honor  God  and  to  advance  the  personal  sanctification 
of  each  member.  The  members  met  weekly  for  some  kind  of 
religious  service,  and  pledged  themselves  to  work  without  pay 
in  the  hospital.  They  took  turns  as  nurses,  and  besides,  con- 
tributed always  according  to  their  means  and  generosity.  In 
return,  they  had  the  right  to  certain  indulgences  on  the  usual 
conditions.5  Wherever  the  colonists  established  hospitals,  be- 
ginning with  the  first  one,  founded  in  1503  in  the  city  of  Santo 
Domingo,  and  throughout  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cen- 
turies, it  was  the  general  rule  to  have  a  confraternity  specially 
interested  in  the  hospital,  and  often  directly  managing  it. 

The  conquest  of  Mexico,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  accom- 
plished in  1521.  The  Hospital  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  was 
founded  soon  afterwards.  Father  Cuevas6  believes  in  the  same 
year,  basing  his  opinion  on  the  statement  by  Cortes's  friend, 
Bernal  Diaz  de  Castillo,  "eyewitness  and  true  historian"  that 
Cortes  was  always  in  the  city  seeing  to  it  that  the  Spaniards 
founded  hospitals  and  churches.7    The  statement  by  Castillo  is 


4  Alaman,  op.  tit.,  II,  262-266. 

s  The  indulgences  given  the  Mexican  hospitals  were  the  same  as  those 
of  Nuestra  Senora  de  Garcia  of  Saragossa,  Spain.  "Those  who  serve  the 
sick  in  this  hospital  for  days  or  for  week  [  ?]  may  gain  after  confession  and 
communion  a  plenary  indulgence  on  the  day  they  enter  the  hospital  for 
service  and  at  their  death."  Ordenationes  del  hospital  de  N.  S.  de  Zara- 
goza,  Saragossa,  1656,  pp.  97-102. 

e  Mariano  Cuevas,  S.  J.,  Historic/,  de  la  Iglesia  de  Mgjico,  5  vols.,  El 
Paso,  1928,  I,  425. 

7  Bernal  Diaz  de  Castillo,  Historia  Verdadero  de  la  Conquista  de  la 
Nueva  Espana.,  Chap.  170. 


THE  MARQUIS'S  HOSPITAL  41 

not  definite  enough  for  us  to  be  sure  of  such  an  early  date  of 
foundation,  but  we  do  know  that  three  years  later  it  was  spoken 
of  in  the  city  records  as  a  landmark.  In  the  earliest  extant 
books  of  proceedings  of  the  cabildo  or  city  council,  those  of 
1524,  nearby  house-lots  were  designated  in  their  relation  to 
"the  house  of  Alonse  de  Grado,  which  is  at  present  a  hospital."8 
We  can,  perhaps,  better  appreciate  the  promptness  and  en- 
thusiasm with  which  the  Spainards  founded  their  hospitals  if 
we  pause  to  consider  what  traditions  of  establishing  and  or- 
ganizing hospitals  they  carried  with  them  from  Spain,  and  how 
necessary  an  aid  to  social  well-being  they  considered  them. 
Alfonso  X,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  incorporated  into  his  code 
of  laws,  Las  Siete  Partidas,  one  decreeing  that  any  legacy  left 
to  the  poor  of  a  community  should  be  distributed  by  the  hos- 
pital authorities.  The  Spanish  hospital  and  the  American  one 
built  in  imitation  of  it,  was  not  only  a  hospital  in  the  narrow 
sense  but  a  sort  of  poor  house  as  well,  where  the  indigent,  the 
blind,  the  deformed,  and  the  aged  were  cared  for,  in  addition,  it 
was,  as  we  see  from  the  law  of  Las  Siete  Partidas,  a  dispensing 
station  for  alms.  The  first  Spanish  hospital,  of  whose  founda- 
tion proof  exists,  was  built  by  Bishop  Mansona  in  Merida,  prov- 
vince  of  Badajoz,  in  580  for  "whatever  sick  man,  slave  or  free, 
Christian  or  Jew."9  In  the  ninth  century,  church  councils  began 
to  decree  that  bishops  establish  hospitals  in  their  sees,  and  pres- 
ently the  poor,  the  sick,  pilgrims,  and  the  homeless  were  sheltered 
and  cared  for  in  houses  grouped  around  the  cathedral  church. 
In  the  following  century,  monasteries  placed  infirmaries  at  their 
gates,  to  which  certain  members  of  the  order  were  assigned  as 
attendants  and  nurses  to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  the  adjacent 
community.  By  the  fourteenth  century,  there  were  few  cities 
or  towns  that  did  not  have  at  least  one  hospital,  and  often  there 
were  many  in  the  one  city.  It  began  to  be  common  for  indi- 
viduals, either  while  living  or  through  their  wills,  to  found  and 
endow  hospitals  for  different  sorts  of  patients,  and  many  were 
thus  founded  by  cardinals,  bankers,  merchants,  noblemen,  con- 
fraternities, and  some  by  the  municipalities  themselves.  So 
many  were  thus  established,  that  there  arose  an  agitation  to 
unite  all  those  in  any  place  into  one  or  at  most  two  general  city 
hospitals.     The  bishop  of  Lerida,  by  a  papal  indult  of  1450, 


s  Alaman,  op.  cit.,  II,  160. 

s  Catholic  Encyclopedia,  art.,  "Hospitals. 


42  ELIZABETH  WARD  LOUGHRAN 

merged  six  hospitals  into  one,  and  later,  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, sixty-six  in  Seville  were  consolidated  into  two,  and  twenty 
in  Salamanca  into  one.10 

We  see,  therefore,  that  the  Spaniard  who  came  to  America 
expected  to  care  for  the  poor  and  needy  in  hospitals  and  to  pro- 
vide treatment  for  the  sick,  poor  and  rich  alike,  and,  moreover, 
that  tradition  placed,  in  general,  one  hospital  near  the  cathedral 
under  the  direction  of  the  bishop,  attached  others  to  parish 
churches  and  monasteries,  and  embraced  the  possibility  of  some 
of  lay  foundation.  Thus  it  was  as  much  to  be  expected  of  Cortes 
that  he  would  found  a  hospital  at  once  as  that  he  would  create 
a  cabildo.  It  was  part  of  the  orderly  functioning  of  the  com- 
munity. 

The  site  Cortes  chose  was  five  or  six  blocks  to  the  southwest 
of  the  cathedral,  facing  the  then  fashionable  thoroughfare 
Ixtapolapa,  today  the  Avenue  J.  M.  Pino  Suarez.11  Here,  before 
1535,12  was  constructed  a  two-story  building13  about  three  hun- 
dred feet  long,  divided  into  two  infirmaries  or  wards,  one  for 
men  and  the  other  for  women.  Some  thirty  years  later,  a  second 
wing  of  the  same  proportions  was  added  at  right  angle  to  the 
first,  used  also  as  infirmaries,  though  at  later  date  found  un- 
satisfactory as  such  and  given  over  to  other  uses.  We  have  an 
interesting  dialogue,14  written  in  1554,  which  gives  us  the  con- 
dition of  the  hospital  in  that  year  and  public  sentiment  towards 
Cortes.  The  dialogue  was  written  by  one  of  the  professors  of 
the  University  of  Mexico,  and  in  it  a  visiting  Spaniard  is  being 
shown  the  city. 

"If  Cortes  had  lived  longer,  I  do  not  doubt  that  equal  to  his 
other  works  would  be  the  hospital  dedicated  to  the  Virgin,  which 
he  began  on  so  magnificant  a  scale. 

"Its  grandeur  is  assured  by  its  beginning. 

"The  work  will  soon  be  advanced  with  the  money  already 


10  F.  Hernandez  Iglesias,  La  Beneficencia  en  Espana,  2  v.,  Madrid,  1876, 
I,  277. 

"  Alaman,  op.  cit.,  II,  61. 

12  Under  a  window  was  found  this  inscription :  "Diego  Diaz  Deusbona 
de  nacion  portugue's  hizo  esta  ventana,  ano  de  1558." 

is  The  material  used  was  the  soft  rose-colored  stone  of  Mexico  called 
Tezontle,  with  trimmings  of  white  limestone.  The  ceilings  were  of  beauti- 
ful cedar  beams  cut  on  the  Cortes  estate  in  the  nearby  town  of  Tacubaya. 
One  of  these  ceilings  can  be  seen  today  in  the  inside  vestibule  of  the  church. 

14  Cervantes  de  Salazar,  Mexico  en  155Jf — Tres  dialogos  latinos,  Mexico, 
1875,  pp.  157-159. 


THE  MARQUIS'S  HOSPITAL  43 

gathered  for  the  tribute  and  assigned  to  the  completion  of  this 
hospital. 

"Beautiful  facade  and  excellent  plan  of  building." 
The  dialogue  then  continues  on  what  it  calls  the  real  merit 
of  such  establishments,  namely  "what  patients  it  receives  and 
how  it  cares  for  them."  It  is  difficult  even  to  hazard  a  guess  as 
to  how  many  patients  the  hospital  cared  for.  The  wing  first 
built  could  easily  have  housed  a  hundred,  but  whether  it  opened 
with  enough  beds  for  this  number,  or  how  many  patients  a  year 
it  attended,  are  among  the  queries  that  can  be  answered  only  if 
the  Jesus  Nazareno  archive  discloses  the  information.  Siguenza 
y  Gongora,  writing  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
said  that  in  his  time  the  hospital  averaged  four  hundred  patients 
a  year.15  From  him  we  learn  also  that  the  hospital  employed  a 
physician,  a  surgeon,  a  barber,  a  head  man  nurse  and  a  head 
woman  nurse,  a  cook,  three  Indians  who  kept  the  building  clean, 
and  eight  slaves,  colored,  men  and  women  who  completed  the 
domestic  service.  These  data,  however  interesting  as  part  of 
hospital  history,  give  little  or  no  light  on  conditions  a  hundred 
years  previous,  at  the  time  of  foundation.  A  surgeon  the  hos- 
pital did  have,  we  know  from  a  page  of  Bishop  Zumarraga's  ac- 
count book  for  the  year  1531.16  The  patients,  according  to 
Cervantes  de  Salazar,  whose  dialogue  we  have  quoted  above, 
were  "all  Spaniards  suffering  from  fevers."  Salazar  wrote  in 
1554,  the  year  in  which  the  Crown  established  a  royal  hospital 
in  Mexico  City  exclusively  for  Indians.  Before  this  date  the 
patients  were  without  doubt  "all  Spaniards  and  Indians  suffering 
from  fevers."  Had  we  no  evidence  to  substantiate  this  state- 
ment we  should  be  sure  of  it  from  the  customs  of  Spanish  hos- 
pitals, for  centuries,  to  receive  the  sick  regardless  of  race  or 
color.  We  have,  however,  almost  certain  proof.  Diaz  de  Castillo 
wrote  that  Bartolome  de  Olmedo,  chaplain  to  Cortes,  gathered 
into  one  hospital  "all  the  sick  Indians  and  cared  for  them  with 
great  charity."17  There  was  a  second  hospital  founded  in  1541 
by  Bishop  Zumarraga  for  contagious  diseases,  and  the  Bishop 
himself  tells  us  that  it  was  opened  to  both  Spaniards  and  In- 
dians.18   When  the  Royal  Hospital  opened,  naturally,  the  Indians 


is  Quoted  in  Alaman,  op.  cit.,  U,  64. 

is  J.  Garcia  Icazbalceta,  Juan  de  Zumdrraga,  Mexico,  1881.    Apendice, 
pp.  62-63. 

17  Diaz  de  Castillo,  op.  cit.,  Chap.  170. 

is  Icazbalceta,  Zumdrraga,  Apendice,  p.  137. 


44  ELIZABETH  WARD  LOUGHRAN 

were  transferred  to  it,  but  between  the  date  of  foundation  and 
1554  many  a  red-skin  must  have  received  treatment  not  only  in 
the  Bishop's  but  also  in  the  Marquis's  hospital. 

As  to  the  spiritual  care  of  the  patients,  it  was  a  primary 
consideration.  As  we  have  seen,  Father  Olmedo  was  the  first 
chaplain.  A  chapel,  later  known  as  the  Santa  Escuela,  was 
built  before  the  hospital  itself,  and  was  the  second  church  in 
the  city.  It  was  so  situated  that  the  patients,  unable  to  attend 
Mass,  could  watch  the  celebration  of  it  from  their  beds.  The 
present  church,  planned  and  endowed  by  Cortes  before  his  death, 
was  not  begun  until  1575  and  not  completed  until  almost  a  cen- 
tury later.  It  had  evidently  been  a  project  near  to  the  Mar- 
quis's heart,  for  in  a  letter  written  to  the  King  in  1536,  Bishop 
Zumarraga19  urged  the  immediate  building  of  a  fine  cathedral, 
because  he  said,  "the  Marquis  was  thinking  of  erecting  an  ele- 
gant church  in  which  the  hours  would  be  chanted,  and  thus  no 
one  to  be  buried  from  the  cathedral  church."  In  charge  of  the 
spiritual  needs  of  the  patients  was  a  chaplain  chosen  first  by 
Cortes  and  then  by  his  heirs  in  accordance  with  the  bill  of 
patronage  granted  them  by  Clement  VII.  By  the  middle  of  the 
following  century,  according  to  Sigiienza  y  Gongora,20  there  were 
three  chaplaincies  attached  to  the  hospital.  It  was  the  pious 
habit  of  most  of  the  Spaniards  and  their  descendants,  the 
Creoles,  and  also  of  the  rich  Indians  to  leave  in  their  wills  sums 
of  money  providing  for  a  certain  number  of  Masses  a  year  for 
the  repose  of  their  souls.  In  some  cases  they  established  an 
entire  chaplaincy,  in  others,  part.  Such  legacies  must  account 
for  the  two  additional  chaplains. 

It  was  in  this  connection  with  the  church  that  the  change  of 
name  of  the  hospital  occurred.  In  1663,  a  rich  Indian  woman 
named  Petronilla  Geronima  died.  She  had  had  in  her  oratory 
a  very  much  venerated  statue  of  Jesus  Nazareno,  and,  not  being 
able  to  decide  what  church  she  wished  to  give  it  to,  in  a  rather 
droll  will,  she  named  five  churches  and  ordered  that  lots  should 
be  cast,  and  the  statue  given  to  the  one  which  luck  favored.19 
On  a  drawing  of  three  out  of  five,  the  church  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception  won,  and  in  solemn  procession  the  statue  was  carried 
to  the  church.    So  great  was  the  popular  devotion  at  the  new 


19  Mariano  Cuevas,   S.  J.,  Documentos  ineditos  de  Siglo  XIV  para  la 
historia  de  Mexico,  1914,  p.  60. 

20  Quoted  in  Alaman,  op.  cit.,  II,  65. 


THE  MARQUIS'S  HOSPITAL  45 

shrine  that  the  church  and  the  hospital  began  to  be  called  Jesus 
Nazareno. 

To  return  to  the  early  years  of  the  hospital  and  its  financial 
arrangements.  The  treasury  belonged  in  the  beginning  to  the 
Confraternity.  Cortes  supplied  a  large  part  of  the  money  for 
the  building  and  running  expenses,  though  others  contributed, 
perhaps  in  big  sums.  The  early  majordomos  were  conquistadores 
to  whom  Cortes  had  been  generous  in  the  allotment  of  lands  and 
towns,  Antonio  de  Villaroel,  for  instance  alyuacil  mayor  of  the 
city.  If  such  men  were  interested  enough  to  give  a  part  of  their 
time  and  energy  for  several  years  to  the  work  of  managing  the 
hospital,  they,  doubtless,  gave  freely  of  their  money  also.  Cortes 
contributed  towards  the  annual  running  expenses  a  thousand 
ducats  in  rents  and  mortages;21  Bishop  Zumarraga  gave  a  hun- 
dred pesos  a  year,  when  he  could  afford  to,  and,  unquestionably, 
others  were  regular  contributors.22  All  the  records  we  have 
show  that  these  gifts  were  given  "to  the  hospital  and  confrater- 
nity." The  report  of  the  archdiocese  in  1570  likewise  lists  the 
possessions  in  mortgages,  rents,  etc.,  which  the  hospital  enjoyed 
as  "property  of  the  hospital  and  the  confraternity."23 

Cortes  died  in  Spain  in  1547,  and  in  his  will24  he  left  to  the 
hospital,  he  does  not  mention  the  confraternity,  an  annual  in- 
come from  various  parts  of  his  estate  amounting  to  two  thou- 
sand pesos,  more  or  less,  and,  in  addition,  or  rather,  as  a  prin- 
cipal gift,  the  tithes  and  first  fruits  from  the  towns  of  his  mar- 
quisate,  after  the  expense  of  chaplain  and  church  in  each  town  or 
district  had  been  subtracted.  Cortes  owned  large  portions  of  the 
valley  of  Mexico,  of  Oajaca,  Toluca,  Cuernavaca,  Cuantle,  Charo, 
Tuxtla,  Tehauntepec,25  and  on  this  property  he  owed  tithes  on 
all  agricultural  and  animal  products,  and  also  on  the  tribute 
due  him  from  the  Indians.  All  this  would  amount  to  a  very 
considerable  sum.  By  the  bull26  Eximiae  devotionis  of  Novem- 
ber, 1501,  Alexander  VI  ceded  to  the  throne  of  Spain  the  tithes 
due  the  church,  and  the  Sovereigns,  in  turn,  after  the  erection 


21  Ibid.,  II,  61. 

22  Icazbalceta,  Zumarraga,  p.  62. 

23  Descripcion  del  Arzobispado  de  Mexico,  hecha  en  1570,  Mexico,  1897, 
p.  287. 

24  Alaman,  op.  cit.,  II,  315-342. 

25  Descripicion  de   los   obispados   de    Tlaxcala,   Michoacan,   Oajaca   y 
otros  lugares  del  Siglo  XVI,  Mexico,  1904,  153-154. 

26  Coleccion  de  documentos  ineditos  del  Real  Archives  de  Indias,  Ma- 
drid, Second  series,  V,  79. 


46  ELIZABETH  WARD  LOUGHRAN 

of  American  bishoprics,  in  1512,  returned  the  tithes  to  the 
bishops.27  By  the  bull28  Universalis  Ecclesiae  of  July  28,  1508, 
Julius  II  gave  to  the  kings  of  Spain  patronage  over  the  church 
in  their  new  colonies,  that  is,  the  right  to  present  names  for  all 
benefices.  Now,  Clement  VII,  in  a  bull  dated  April  16,  1529, 
gave  to  Cortes  and  his  descendants  not  only  the  right  to  patron- 
age in  perpetuity  of  the  existing  hospitals  and  of  all  other 
churches  and  hospitals  he  might  found,  but  also  all  the  tithes 
and  first  fruits  of  his  marquisate.29  This  was  an  extraordinary 
bull  in  view  of  the  royal  prerogatives  granted  by  previous  popes. 

The  Crown,  of  course,  would  not  recognize  this  bull,  first  be- 
cause it  was  prejudicial  to  royal  privilege  as  stated  in  the  bull 
Universalis  Ecclesiae,  and  second,  because  it  had  not  received 
the  visa  of  the  Council  of  the  Indies  before  being  promulgated 
in  America.30  Cortes  had  made  a  test  of  it  in  1530,  and  had 
lost.31  The  tithe-collector  to  whom  the  royal  officials  had  farmed 
out  the  tithes  brought  suit  against  Cortes  in  1532  before  the 
Audiencia,  or  court  of  appeal,  because  he  refused  to  pay  tithes 
on  his  property  in  the  archdiocese,  amounting  to  fifteen  hundred 
pesos,  a  sum  equalling  one-third  the  total  tithes  in  that  see.  The 
Audiencia  made  him  pay  the  money  and  the  King  sent  for  the 
bull,  to  which,  of  course,  he  refused  his  visa.  So  when  Cortes 
wrote  in  his  will  this  donation  to  the  hospital  he  must  have 
known  that  it  was  no  more  than  a  gesture  of  confidence  in  his 
own  privileges  as  received  from  the  Pope. 

The  hospital's  actual  donation  was,  then,  an  annual  income 
of  only  two  thousand  pesos;  but  the  heirs  of  the  marquisate 
have  been  generous  towards  what  was  the  great  marquis's  fav- 
orite charity.  After  Hermando's  death  when  a  timid  govern- 
ment exiled  the  family,  the  administration  of  the  hospital  suf- 
fered. Funds  were  stolen,  and  the  service  was  so  poor,  that  in 
the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  saying  was  "if 
Juan  de  Dios  is  bad,  Jesus  Nazareno  is  worse."32  But  this  state 
of  affairs  was  temporary;   the  Marquis's  hospital   has   been 


2*  F.  J.  Hernaez,  Collection  de  Bulas,  Breves,  y  documentos  Relativos 
a  la  Iglesia  de  America  y  Filipinas,  2  vols.,  Brussels,  1875,  I,  21-24. 

28  Ibid.,  I,  24-25. 

29  See  note  4. 

so  Recopilacidn  de  las  leyes  de  las  Indias,  Madrid,  1680.  Lib.  I,  Tit. 
VIII,  1,  55. 

si  Col.  de  doc.  ined,  First  series,  XIII,  237  ff. 

32  in  1604  the  order  of  Juan  de  Dios  came  to  Mexico  and  established 
themselves  in  the  Hospital  de  la  Epifania  or  de  los  Desamparados,  a  hos- 
pital founded  in  1582  by  Doctor  Pedro  Lopez. 


THE  MARQUIS'S  HOSPITAL  47 

through  the  centuries  a  great  blessing  to  the  community.  Part 
of  the  original  building  is  still  standing,  and  the  Jesus  Nazareno 
hospital,  under  government  auspices,  serves  a  part  of  the  City 
of  Mexico  today. 

Such  is  the  story  of  the  Marquis's  hospital.  It  is  today 
Mexico's  only  monument  to  the  great  soldier,  poet,  scholar,  and 
gentleman,  who  founded  that  nation  and  organized  it  with  such 
skill  as  to  make  posterity  wonder  at  his  genius.  The  monument 
was  of  his  own  building,  and  it  was  dedicated  to  his  patron  and 
advocate,  the  Blessed  Virgin.  In  1823,  the  ashes  of  this  great 
man,  to  whom  Mexico  owed  so  much,  had  to  be  taken  in  the 
night  from  their  resting  place  in  the  church  attached  to  the  hos- 
pital, in  order  to  save  them  from  being  scattered  to  the  winds 
by  a  people  unbalanced  by  republicanism.  Today,  the  govern- 
ment pays  the  popular  painter,  Diego  Ribera,  to  vilify  Cortes  in 
poster  art  on  the  walls  of  his  own  old  palace  in  Cuernavaca. 
However,  the  work  of  the  Jesus  Nazareno  Hospital  continues, 
and  perhaps  the  ideals  which  it  represents  will  produce  a  new 
generation  better  able  to  form  a  just  appreciation  of  Cortes  and 
of  the  things  for  which  he  stood. 

Elizabeth  Ward  Loughran 
Boston,  Mass. 


CUSTOMS  AND  LEGENDS  OF  TEXAS  INDIANS1 

Twilight  had  fallen.  The  hills  were  assuming  that  indescrib- 
able purplish  hue;  the  red  glow  of  sunset  was  now  a  faint  pink 
and  lavender,  a  star  twinkled  here  and  there,  and  the  hum  of 
millions  of  insects  floated  in  the  air  that  was  laden  with  the 
perfume  of  wild  flowers.  Instinctively  I  fell  to  musing  and  the 
thought  of  what  had  been  in  days  gone  by  flitted  through  my 
mind.  Almost  three  hundred  years  before  a  little  band  of  mis- 
sionaries slowly  wended  its  way  over  trackless  mountains  and 
boundless  plains  from  Mexico  to  far  away  Texas.  For  the  first 
time  the  Indians  that  roamed  over  the  land  came  into  direct 
touch  with  European  civilization.  Even  then,  some  of  the  tribes 
had  unfortunately  come  into  contact  with  Europeans,  both  on 
the  coast  and  on  the  vast  basin  of  the  Mississippi,  but  the  recol- 
lection was  not  pleasant,  for  they  had  been  driven  from  their 
former  hunting  grounds  into  the  west  beyond.  That  little  band 
of  brown-robed  Franciscans  that  entered  Texas  in  1689  were  the 
first  to  come  on  a  mission  of  love  and  out  of  solicitude  for  their 
welfare.  To  the  accounts  left  us  by  these  worthy  soldiers  of 
Christ  must  we  now  turn  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  that  world  that 
has  so  completely  disappeared.  In  their  diaries  and  memoirs 
are  to  be  found  today  all  that  is  left  concerning  the  life,  the 
manners,  the  customs,  the  habits,  and  the  beliefs  of  that  simple 
though  cruel  people  that  occupied  the  vast  expanse  of  Texas 
when  the  curtain  rises  on  the  first  act  of  the  great  drama  of 
Texas  history. 

Did  the  Indians  have  any  idea  of  God?  What  was  their 
philosophy  of  life?  How  did  they  explain  the  great  mysteries 
of  nature  ?  Simple  and  child-like,  the  untutored  hordes  had  their 
own  ideas  on  all  these  subjects,  tempered  by  a  rude  and  harsh 
reality.  To  them  the  creator  of  all  things  was  the  "Great  Cap- 
tain," called  in  their  tongue  Caddi  Yago. 


i  This  study  is  based  on  the  following  sources :  Juan  Augustin  Morfi, 
Memorias  para  la  Historia  de  Texas,  MS,  (photostat  copy  in  University  of 
Texas  Library) ;  Juan  Augustin  Morfi,  Historia  de  la  Provincia  de  Texas, 
MS,  (discovered  by  the  author  in  Mexico  City  last  December  and  copied 
for  the  University  of  Texas  Library) ;  Isidro  Felis  Espinosa,  Chronica 
Apostolica  y  Seraphica,  Mexico,  1746;  Jose  de  Solis,  The  Solis  Diary  of 
1161,  translated  by  Rev.  Peter  P.  Forrestal,  St.  Edwards  University,  pub- 
lished in  Preliminary  Studies  of  the  Texas  Catholic  Historical  Society; 
Fr.  Francisco  de  Jesus  Maria  Casanas,  letters  to  the  Viceroy  of  Mexico, 
August  15,  1691,  in  "Descriptions  of  the  Tejas  or  Asinai  Indians,  1691- 
1722,"  translated  from  the  Spanish  by  Mattie  Austin  Hatcher,  Quarterly, 
Texas  Historical  Association,  Vol.  XXX. 

48 


CUSTOMS  AND  LEGENDS  OF  TEXAS  INDIANS  49 

In  the  beginning  of  the  world,  they  claimed,  there  was  a 
woman  who  had  two  beautiful  daughters.  One  of  them  was 
about  to  give  birth  to  a  child.  It  happened  that  one  evening,  as 
the  two  girls  strayed  along  the  fields  in  the  spring,  picking 
flowers,  they  were  suddenly  set  upon  by  a  ferocious  beast  that 
resembled  a  huge  serpent,  whose  horns  rose  from  its  head  and 
were  lost  in  the  skies.  This  creature  was  called  Caddaha,  or  evil 
one,  by  the  Indians.  It  fell  upon  the  expectant  mother  and  with 
indescribable  fury  tore  her  to  pieces  and  devoured  her,  bit  by 
bit.  The  sister  of  the  unfortunate  girl  ran  away  as  fast  as  she 
could  and  climbed  the  highest  tree  in  sight,  but  the  ferocious 
animal  had  no  sooner  finished  feasting  upon  the  victim  than  it 
set  about  to  gnaw  the  tree  on  which  the  survivor  had  taken 
refuge.  Seeing  that  the  tree  would  soon  fall,  the  girl  jumped 
into  a  deep  well  that  stood  nearby.  She  dived  into  the  still 
waters  and  came  out  a  long  distance  away,  where  she  found 
her  mother. 

The  beast,  determined  to  get  the  sister,  began  to  drink  the 
water  in  the  well,  thinking  the  girl  was  at  the  bottom,  without 
realizing  that  the  well  had  no  bottom  but  opened  into  the  sea. 
His  efforts  proved  futile,  for  as  fast  as  he  could  drink,  the  well 
filled  up  and  the  water  kept  its  level. 

The  mother  and  the  remaining  daughter  made  their  way 
back  to  the  scene  of  the  tragedy.  There,  on  a  small  acorn  shell, 
they  discovered  a  drop  of  bright  red  blood,  the  only  silent  wit- 
ness of  the  monster's  brutality.  The  mother  tenderly  picked  up 
the  little  acorn,  placed  another  half  shell  over  it,  and  carried 
it  home.  She  then  placed  the  acorn  in  a  small  jar  and  set  it  in 
a  corner. 

That  night  she  was  awakened  by  a  peculiar  noise,  as  if  some- 
thing were  knawing  at  the  jar.  She  got  up  and  went  to  ascer- 
tain the  cause  of  the  disturbance.  Much  to  her  surprise  she 
discovered  that  the  little  drop  of  blood  had  changed  in  the  bottle 
into  a  small  human  figure,  the  size  of  one's  little  finger.  She 
carefully  replaced  the  cover  over  the  jar  and  went  back  to  sleep. 

The  following  night  she  heard  the  same  noise  and  got  up  full 
of  curiosity  to  see  what  caused  it.  Imagine  her  surprise  on 
finding  that  the  small  figure  had  become  a  full-grown  man. 
Much  pleased  with  the  discovery,  she  lost  no  time  in  bringing 
him  a  bow  and  arrow,  and,  removing  the  top  of  the  jar,  let  him 
out.    He  immediately  inquired  after  his  mother,  whereupon  he 

4013 


50  CARLOS  E.  CASTANEDA 

was  informed  by  the  grandmother  and  aunt  of  her  tragic  end. 
Filled  with  rage  and  sorrow,  he  set  out  in  quest  of  the  Caddaha, 
or  evil  one,  determined  to  avenge  the  death  of  his  mother.  He 
found  him  after  a  while  and  shot  an  arrow  from  his  bow  that 
hit  him  so  hard  that  it  is  said  the  devil  has  never  again  had  the 
courage  to  appear  in  this  world. 

The  young  man,  nameless  till  now,  returned  to  his  grand- 
mother and  aunt  and  told  them  it  was  not  safe  to  remain  in 
this  world,  exposed  to  the  wiles  and  snares  of  the  evil  one,  and 
they  agreed  to  go  with  him  to  heaven.  They  all  ascended  into 
heaven  and  from  there  Caddi  Yago,  the  "Great  Captain"  has 
ever  since  been  ruling  the  world  and  watching  the  evil  one. 

They  not  only  believed  in  the  "Great  Captain,"  who  was  their 
principal  deity,  but  also  in  life  after  death  or  immortality.  When 
a  member  of  the  tribe  died,  a  lugubrious  death  song  was  intoned 
and  a  dance  was  held.  With  proper  ceremonies  the  departed 
one  was  placed  in  the  burial  ground  with  his  bow  and  arrow, 
his  best  clothes,  his  feathers,  and  his  beads.  Just  before  burial 
one  of  their  priests  would  seriously  advise  the  departed  one, 
whispering  in  his  ear,  "to  work  hard  in  that  other  house  .  .  . 
until  all  shall  have  assembled." 

It  was  thought  that  those  who  died  went  to  a  large  house 
where  they  were  to  wait  until  everyone  in  the  world  had  died, 
at  which  time  all  would  start  from  this  house  to  a  new  world. 
They  were  not  to  stand  idly  around  while  waiting  for  the  rest 
but  must  work  in  the  meantime.  It  seems,  from  their  sayings, 
that  they  thought  the  older  residents  in  the  house  of  death  did 
not  work  as  hard  as  the  new  arrivals  but  actually  seemed  to 
take  delight  in  getting  the  newcomers  to  work  immediately.  One 
account  says  that  the  souls  in  the  house  of  death  would  say, 
"Here  he  comes!  make  him  work  until  we  are  all  assembled!" 
when  a  new  arrival  appeared  in  sight. 

As  in  all  primitive  societies  the  medicine  men  of  the  tribe 
were  personages  of  no  mean  importance.  They  enjoyed  all  kinds 
of  privileges,  being  the  first  to  taste  of  the  food  and  wine  at  all 
ceremonies  and  the  only  ones  allowed  to  sit  in  a  raised  seat 
higher  than  the  captain  himself.  The  first  fruits,  as  well  the 
choice  pieces  of  game,  were  always  for  them.  They  were  dis- 
tinguished from  the  rest  by  their  peculiar  dress,  a  tuft  of  feath- 
ers worn  on  the  head,  and  a  number  of  curious  necklaces  made 
of  different  snake  skins  brightly  colored.    Naturally  the  greatest 


CUSTOMS  AND  LEGENDS  OF  TEXAS  INDIANS  51 

desire  of  the  young  men,  particularly  those  endowed  with  ambi- 
tion and  intelligence,  was  to  become  medicine  men.  This  was 
greater  than  to  be  captain,  and  certainly  gave  the  scheming 
youth  a  much  greater  opportunity  of  enjoying  the  good  things 
of  life  than  anything  else. 

But  to  attain  his  desire  the  ambitious  candidate  had  to  sub- 
mit himself  to  a  severe  ordeal.  All  the  medicine  men  of  the 
tribe  would  meet  on  an  appointed  day  to  examine  the  candidate. 
One  of  the  chroniclers  assures  us  that  there  were  a  great  many 
medicine  men  and  that  this  sort  of  medical  board  of  examiners 
were  extremely  jealous  of  their  high  position  and  great  preroga- 
tives, for  which  reason  the  young  aspirant  was  put  through  a 
severe  test  according  to  their  lights.  The  supernatural  or  mys- 
terious was  inseparably  associated  with  the  practice  of  medicine, 
magic  being  indispensable  to  cover  the  absence  of  science. 

The  medicine  men  having  assembled  and  the  whole  tribe 
being  gathered  with  an  abundant  supply  of  provisions  and  drink 
for  the  occasion,  the  candidate  was  brought  forward.  He  was 
first  given  various  potions,  previously  prepared,  all  of  which  he 
drank  in  generous  quantities  and  with  great  frequency.  He  was 
also  handed  a  pipe  and  given  abundant  tobacco,  specially  pre- 
pared for  the  occasion,  to  smoke.  The  result  was  that  he  soon 
fell  into  a  swoon  or  trance  and  remained  in  this  condition  for 
twenty-four  hours  at  least,  during  which  time  the  rest  of  the 
tribe  and  the  examiners  engaged  in  merry-making,  weird  sing- 
ing, and  much  eating  and  drinking.  After  twenty-four  hours  of 
real  or  feigned  sleep,  the  candidate  began  to  give  signs  of  return- 
ing consciousness,  breathing  deeply  from  time  to  time  and  mov- 
ing as  one  about  to  come  out  of  a  trance.  As  he  regained  con- 
sciousness he  would  pretend  not  to  know  where  he  was  and 
would  begin  talking  of  what  he  had  seen  and  where  he  had  been 
during  his  sleep,  claiming  that  his  soul  traveled  far  into  the  un- 
known regions  where  many  things  unknown  to  human  kind  were 
revealed  to  him.  The  good  friar  remarks  that  the  "impostors" 
generally  made  up  a  fictitious  and  most  incredible  story  of  what 
they  had  seen  as  they  went  along. 

The  ceremonies  then  continued  for  ei^ht  days,  during  which 
time  the  medicine  men  sang  weird  songs  and  joined  in  fantastic 
and  grotesque  dances,  while  the  women  formed  a  row  all  around, 
with  dishevelled  hair,  adding  their  lugubrious  moaning  to  the 
infernal  music.    Fires  were  kept  burning,  both  for  ceremonial 


52  CARLOS  E.  CASTANEDA 

purposes  and  for  cooking  the  food.  During  all  this  time  various 
medicine  men  would  hold  long  and  serious  conversations  with 
the  candidate,  during  which  he  would  feign  to  be  possessed  by 
superhuman  understanding.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  examina- 
tion and  different  trials,  a  great  festival  was  held  and  the  new 
member  of  the  medical  association  was  acclaimed  with  much 
rejoicing. 

But  all  was  not  roses.  If  there  were  many  honors  and  privi- 
leges enjoyed  by  the  members  of  this  cast,  there  were  also  grave 
dangers.  If  a  sudden  epidemic  appeared  in  any  locality — this 
was  a  common  occurrence  given  the  unsanitary  conditions  in 
which  they  lived — and  the  medicine  man  was  unsuccessful  in 
saving  his  patients,  the  rumor  soon  spread  that  he  had  the  evil 
hand,  that  he  had  lost  favor  with  the  divinity  that  gave  health, 
consequently  he  was  no  good  any  more  in  healing  them.  The 
end  was  as  swift  as  it  was  awful.  The  men  would  gather,  chiefly 
the  relatives  of  the  recent  dead  treated  by  the  unsuccessful  im- 
postor, and,  without  ceremony,  club  him  to  death.  The  Nacog- 
doches, in  particular,  demanded  success.  It  is  claimed  that  this 
tribe  was  very  severe  with  the  medicine  man  that  failed  to  re- 
store the  patient  to  health.  The  relatives  of  the  deceased  would 
take  clubs  and  fall  upon  the  unfortunate  doctor,  making  a  quick 
end  of  him. 

When  called  to  attend  a  patient,  the  first  thing  he  did  upon 
arrival  at  the  house  was  to  build  a  large  fire.  He  then  made 
ready  his  fifes  and  a  large  fan  of  feathers.  With  curiously 
carved  sticks  that  resembled  the  rattles  of  a  snake  he  would 
make  an  infernal  noise  by  playing  upon  a  stretched  dry  skin, 
adding  to  the  weirdness  of  the  performance  by  his  doleful  chant 
that  resembled  the  song  of  the  condemned,  according  to  the 
chronicler.  In  the  meantime  the  patient  was  "warming  up"  for 
treatment,  placed  over  a  grate  of  live  coals  set  under  his  bed. 
Generally  the  ceremony  preceding  treatment  would  begin  in  the 
afternoon  and  last  until  the  early  hours  of  morning. 

From  time  to  time  the  medicine  man  would  treat  the  patient 
by  applying  his  lips  to  the  abdomen  of  the  sick  man,  pressing  as 
hard  as  he  could  with  his  head  and  sucking  furiously  at  the 
skin.  While  performing  this  operation,  he  dexteriously  intro- 
duced various  objects  and  coloring  matter  into  his  mouth,  which 
he  would  later  spit  out  after  each  operation  to  show  that  he  was 
drawing  out  the  cause  of  the  illness.     Some  times  he  even  in- 


CUSTOMS  AND  LEGENDS  OF  TEXAS  INDIANS  53 

troduced  worms  into  his  mouth,  which  he  would  later  spit  out, 
declaring  they  were  the  cause  of  the  illness.  This  treatment 
was  successful  only  when  applied  to  snake  bites  or  freshly  in- 
fected wounds,  observes  the  chronicler,  because  then  the  sucking 
produced  its  effect. 

The  high  priests  and  medicine  men  also  predicted  weather. 
Their  predictions  generally  went  unfulfilled,  but  many  supersti- 
tions grew  around  them.  It  was  a  common  belief  that  if  there 
were  many  ticks  in  the  spring — and  there  always  are,  declares 
the  good  padre — the  crop  of  beans  would  be  very  abundant.  In 
the  winter  the  dying  coals  of  a  fire  should  never  be  enlivened  by 
blowing  on  them  with  a  feather  or  straw  fan,  for  this  would 
cause  the  fine  ashes  that  were  blown  up  in  the  air  to  bring  down 
a  heavy  snowfall.  If  the  rains  were  heavy  in  March  and  April 
the  rainfall  during  July  and  August  would  be  scanty  indeed  and 
there  would  be  a  bad  drought.  But  the  good  friar  observes  that 
whenever  a  drought  was  predicted  by  the  wise  men  of  the  tribe 
the  crops  were  usually  lost  because  of  excessive  rains.  The  con- 
trol of  the  elements  has  led  in  all  times  to  ridiculous  practices. 
Not  very  long  ago  all  kinds  of  measures  to  bring  about  rain 
were  advocated  by  numerous  rain-makers. 

Were  the  children  of  the  plains  inured  to  the  soft  charm  of 
spring  and  the  universal  passion  of  love?  Not  exactly.  The 
sturdy  young  warriors  felt  the  urge  of  tenderness  and  the  pangs 
of  love  as  keenly  as  our  sophisticated  youth.  The  customs  of 
courting  differed  somewhat  in  the  various  tribes.  Among  the 
Tejas  the  young  brave  who  wished  to  court  the  favor  of  an  In- 
dian maid  first  cultivated  the  friendship  of  her  kinfolk.  He 
would  then  go  out  and  bring  the  finest  game  possible,  the  most 
valuable  pelts  in  his  possession,  and  other  highly  prized  tokens 
and  approaching  the  wigwam  of  his  lady  love  he  would  drop 
them  at  the  door  and  retire  a  short  distance.  The  maid  did  not 
take  up  the  offerings,  but  called  her  parents  to  see  them.  If  the 
parents  considered  them  of  sufficient  value  to  indicate  the  worth 
of  the  suitor  and  the  extent  of  his  love,  they  took  them  in.  This 
was  a  sign  of  acceptance  of  the  suit.  The  brave  could  now  call 
on  the  maid.  He  could  not  marry  her,  however,  without  the 
consent  of  the  Caddi  or  chief  who  must  be  consulted  on  the 
match  and  invited  to  the  wedding  feast. 

But  matrimony  lasted  as  long  as  the  couple  were  satisfied 
with  each  other.     "At  the  least  misunderstanding,  each  one," 


54  CARLOS  E.  CASTANEDA 

declares  the  chronicler,  "looks  for  another  companion."  The 
matches  were  easily  broken  without  much  formality,  and  it 
seems  that  woman's  desire  for  finery  and  jewels  was  as  strong 
and  as  much  the  cause  of  matrimonial  unhappiness  as  it  is  to- 
day. The  good  padre  states  that  the  women  often  left  their 
husbands  "especially  if  the  woman  finds  a  man  who  can  give 
her  things  she  likes  better."  Some  times  the  husband  wore 
mourning  to  display  his  grief  at  conjugal  disloyalty,  and  there 
are  instances  where  the  adulteress  was  chastised  with  heavy 
lashes  of  the  whip,  but  in  the  main  they  attached  little  import- 
ance to  chastity  or  conjugal  loyalty  and  the  standard  of  married 
life  was  low  in  the  extreme. 

According  to  the  missionaries  the  Tejas  Indians  were  a 
comely  lot.  "The  men  of  this  tribe  are  fair-complected,  hand- 
some and  well-proportioned;  they  go  about  without  any  clothing 
except  a  breech  clout.  They  are  all  covered  with  red  and  other 
colored  paints.  .  .  .  The  women,  with  blond,  dishevelled  hair, 
are  most  beautiful,  white-skinned,  and  pleasant.  They  wear 
shammy  dresses  embroidered  and  adorned  with  fringes.  They 
use  beads  of  various  colors  and  hang  from  the  lobes  of  the  ears 
long,  smooth,  polished  bones."  Another  missionary  confirms 
this  description  of  the  Tejas  women  declaring  that  they  are 
"beautiful,  white,  graceful,  and  very  affable,  without  lacking  in 
honesty,  and  specially  modest  with  strangers." 

Throughout  the  year  they  dressed  with  decorum,  wearing 
two  gamuzas  (especially  tanned  and  dressed  deer  skins).  One 
of  these  covered  them  from  the  waist  down  to  the  ankle;  while 
the  other,  with  a  hole  or  opening  in  the  center  for  the  head, 
covered  them  from  the  neck  to  the  waist.  The  skirt  was  taste- 
fully decorated  with  small  white  beads  and  little  seeds  embroid- 
ered along  the  border.  The  edges  of  the  upper  garment  were 
all  curiously  edged  with  a  fringe  "which  makes  it  very  pretty," 
declares  the  padre. 

These  Indians  were  particularly  fond  of  community  festivals. 
The  building  of  their  homes,  the  planting  of  the  crops,  the 
gathering  of  the  harvest,  all  these  were  occasions  for  community 
festivals.  Strange  as  it  may  seem  they  appear  to  have  had  a 
celebration  that  resembles  remarkably  well  our  feast  of  the  May. 
No  definite  day  was  set  aside  each  year,  but  during  this  month 
the  whole  tribe  would  go  out  into  the  woods  and  select  the  tallest 
and  most  slender  pine  tree  they  could  fine.    A  brave  would  then 


CUSTOMS  AND  LEGENDS  OF  TEXAS  INDIANS  55 

climb  the  tree  and  carefully  trim  off  all  the  branches  except  the 
very  top.  The  tree  would  then  be  cut  down  with  due  ceremonies 
and  removed  to  a  large  open  space  previously  selected,  cleared, 
and  leveled.  It  was  here  set  up  and  two  tracks  were  marked  off 
around  it  and  made  as  smooth  as  possible  to  facilitate  the  races. 
On  the  appointed  day,  before  daybreak,  all  the  tribe  would 
gather  about  the  tree.  The  strongest  and  swiftest  runners  took 
their  places  on  the  two  tracks  marked  out  while  the  remainder 
— men,  women,  and  children — ranged  themselves  around  the 
open  space  as  spectators  and  judges  of  the  race.  In  breathless 
silence  the  runners  and  the  tribe  awaited  the  first  ray  of  sun- 
light to  stream  over  the  horizon.  At  the  sight  of  the  sun  a  wild 
shout  of  joy  rent  the  air  and  the  racers  set  off.  The  braves  ran 
along  the  tracks  for  hours,  the  women  wailing  for  those  that 
fell  out  exhausted  early  in  the  race  and  cheering  for  those  who 
remained.  The  one  who  ran  the  fastest  and  made  the  most 
rounds  was  acclaimed  victor.  The  races  over,  the  whole  tribe 
joined  in  merrymaking,  eating,  drinking,  and  dancing  until  far 
into  the  night. 

Their  war  dances,  their  cruel  treatment  of  captives,  and  their 
many  tricks  have  been  more  commonly  described  and  will  not  be 
discussed  in  this  paper.  An  example  of  their  great  admiration, 
cult  we  might  say,  for  courage  and  bravery  cannot  be  omitted. 
In  their  estimation  this  was  the  highest  virtue.  A  brave  and 
courageous  man  was  worthy  of  all  consideration. 

According  to  the  story,  it  happened  that  Lieutenant  Antonio 
Tremiho  was  one  day  unexpectedly  attacked  while  on  his  way 
with  a  small  escort  from  San  Antonio  to  La  Bahia.  The  enemy 
greatly  outnumbered  his  men,  and  the  suddenness  of  the  attack 
put  them  at  a  disadvantage.  All  his  companions  were  killed  by 
the  first  charge  of  the  Taovayases  and  he  himself  received  sev- 
eral wounds.  His  horse  fell  dead  and  he  was  forced  to  take 
refuge  behind  a  tree,  from  where  he  continued  to  fight  undis- 
mayed. The  leader  of  the  Indians,  impressed  by  his  bravery, 
ordered  his  followers  to  cease  fighting,  and,  approaching 
Tremifio,  told  him  it  was  useless  for  him  to  resist,  that  he  would 
certainly  perish,  that  it  was  a  pity  to  see  the  life  of  a  brave  man 
thus  uselessly  sacrificed.  Convinced  by  these  words,  he  agreed 
to  surrender,  after  having  been  offered  good  treatment.  Much  to 
his  surprise  the  Indians  immediately  made  a  rough  stretcher  of 
sticks  and  brush,  tenderly  placed  him  on  it  and  carried  him  back 


56  CARLOS  E.  CASTANEDA 

to  their  camp  with  the  greatest  solicitude,  offering  him  on  the 
way  the  best  they  had.  Upon  arrival  at  the  Rancheria,  a  house 
was  made  ready  for  him,  Indians  were  ordered  to  serve  and  cure 
him,  and  when  he  was  restored  to  health  they  gave  him  an  In- 
dian maid  for  his  wife,  as  any  member  of  the  tribe.  So  much 
confidence  and  respect  did  they  feel  for  him  that  he  was  always 
called  to  their  councils,  even  the  most  secret,  and  his  advice 
asked  on  all  questions. 

But  after  two  years  of  this  life,  Tremiiio  grew  sad  and  fell 
into  a  melancholic  mood.  The  Indians  realized  he  was  homesick 
for  his  own  people.  The  chief  called  him  and  told  him  he  had 
never  been  considered  a  prisoner,  that  he  was  at  liberay  to  go 
when  he  pleased,  that  they  had  tried  to  make  him  happy  and 
induce  him  to  live  with  them,  but  that  if  he  wanted  to  return  to 
his  people,  everything  would  be  made  ready.  Tremino  was  much 
impressed  by  these  words  and  a  few  days  later  set  out  for  San 
Antonio.  He  was  accompanied  by  a  number  of  Taovayases  who 
came  to  protect  him  from  other  Indians.  All  his  belongings 
were  returned  and  he  was  presented  with  several  good  horses. 
When  the  party  reached  the  vicinity  of  San  Antonio,  the  Indians 
took  leave  of  their  "brother,"  as  they  called  him,  assuring  him 
that  any  time  he  needed  help  or  wanted  to  see  them,  he  knew 
the  way  to  the  Rancheria.  "And  this  was  told  me,"  declares 
Father  Morn,  "by  Tremino  himself,  at  the  presidio  of  Bexar 
where  I  met  him.  .  .  .  This  single  story  reveals  their  character." 

Carlos  E.  Castaneda 
University  of  Texas 
Austin,  Texas 


A  MIRACLE  IN  MID- AMERICA? 

We  have  no  official  Acta  Sanctorum  of  the  missioners  and 
pioneer  priests  of  the  American  prairies  and  forests.  No  society 
of  American  Bollandists  has  passed  on  the  genuineness  of  those 
extraordinary  feats  which  annalists  claim  were  performed  dur- 
ing the  missioners'  labors  for  Christ.  But  occasionally  some 
feat,  some  extraordinary  performance,  stands  out  strikingly  in 
a  challenging  way,  and  the  mere  historical  data  supplied  by  the 
circumstances  fail  to  meet  the  challenge  in  a  perfectly  satisfac- 
tory manner,  and  fall  quite  short  of  solving  the  problem  involved 
on  purely  natural  grounds. 

Of  all  the  remarkable  missioners  who  labored  in  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley  since  the  days  of  Father  Marquette,  there  are  none 
who  can  surpass  in  continued  effort  and  in  success,  the  Rev. 
Francis  Xavier  Weninger,  S.J.  The  fruits  of  his  labors  after 
three  quarters  of  a  century  are  still  so  apparent  in  some  con- 
gregations in  Iowa,  and,  it  is  presumed,  likewise  in  other  states, 
that  the  grandchildren  of  those  who  heard  him  know  him  today 
by  name  and  speak  of  him  with  veneration  and  awe.  And  that 
Heaven  itself  set  its  seal  of  approval  upon  his  work  in  a  spec- 
tacularly preternatural  fashion  would  seem  manifest  to  us  to- 
day, not  merely  from  references  in  his  own  writings,  but  from 
the  reliable  and  credible  testimony  of  hundreds  who  were  wit- 
nesses of  some  of  these  extraordinary  events. 

An  intensely  colorful  career  was  that  of  Father  Weninger  in 
America;  his  movements  to  and  fro  on  his  cyclonic  missionary 
journeys — no  other  adjective  brings  out  the  effects  of  his  efforts 
among  the  people  for  whom  he  labored — through  most  of  the 
states  of  the  Union,  were  kaleidoscopic  and  dramatic.  His  life 
was  quite  eventful  even  before  his  arrival  in  America.  Born 
near  Marburg  in  Austria,  he  was  educated  at  the  gymnasium 
there.  Later  while  studying  pharmacy  at  Leibach,  he  made  a 
marked  impression  on  a  member  of  the  royal  court,  who  spoke 
favorably  of  him  to  the  Empress  Carolina  Augusta.  The  latter 
gave  him  a  scholarship  at  the  University  of  Vienna,  where  he 
completed  his  classical  studies,  and  then  decided  to  prepare  for 
the  priesthood.  He  earned  his  doctorate  of  divinity  and  was 
ordained  at  the  age  of  twenty-five.  After  serving  as  professor 
at  the  University  of  Gratz,  he  applied  for  entrance  into  the 
Society  of  Jesus  and  became  a  member  in  1832.    In  1840  he  was 

57 


58  MATHIAS  M.  HOFFMAN 

confessor  to  the  Duchesse  de  Berry,  whose  father-in-law  was 
soon  to  become  King  Charles  X  of  France.1 

Until  1848  he  was  almost  constantly  engaged  in  professional 
work  at  the  renowned  University  of  Innsbruck.  Such  was  his 
zeal  that  besides  performing  his  scholastic  duties,  he  heard  over 
20,000  confessions  a  year,  and  occupied  three  pulpits  regularly. 
The  exciting  revolutions  that  broke  out  in  the  various  German 
states  in  1848  put  an  end  to  much  of  his  work,  and  he  applied 
for  and  was  granted,  permission  to  come  to  the  United  States  to 
labor  as  a  missioner. 

Arrived  in  America,  he  spent  the  next  forty-five  years  of  his 
life  almost  entirely  in  giving  missions  and  retreats.  The  phen- 
omenal success  that  followed  him  in  this  field  did  not  prevent 
him  from  devoting  his  spare  time  to  the  writing  of  books  and 
pamphlets.  He  wrote  a  series  of  books  on  religious  topics  adapted 
for  his  missions;  he  published  a  number  of  volumes  of  his  ser- 
mons ;  and  he  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  religious  magazines 
and  newspapers.  That  he  was  no  mean  theological  writer  is 
apparent  from  the  strikingly  favorable  comment  of  the  Holy 
Father,  Pius  IX,  on  his  volume,  "The  Infallibility  of  the  Pope." 
More  good  had  been  done,  wrote  the  Pontiff,  "by  this  single  book 
than  by  all  the  missions"  of  the  author. 

Father  Weninger's  missionary  labors  took  him  through  all 
the  country  between  the  Ohio  River  and  the  Great  Lakes,  through 
all  the  states  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  from  Wisconsin  to  Louisi- 
ana and  Texas,  and  through  the  lands  of  the  Far  West.  After 
mastering  the  English  tongue,  he  was  soon  able  to  address  con- 
gregations with  almost  equal  fluency  in  German,  French  and 
English,  but  most  of  his  work  was  among  the  German  congre- 
gations. While  on  the  Pacific  coast  he  made  himself  at  home  in 
the  Chinese  settlements  and  when  in  the  South  before  the  Civil 
War  he  gave  missions  to  the  slaves,  on  one  occasion  receiving 
over  fifty  of  them  into  the  Church.  His  long  and  spiritually 
fruitful  life  ended  on  June  29,  1888,  at  St.  Xavier's  in  Cincin- 
nati, but  his  remains  now  rest  in  the  valley  of  the  Father  of  the 
Waters  at  Florissant,  Missouri. 


i  These  general  facts  of  Father  Weninger's  life  are  taken  from  a  series 
of  articles  appearing  from  June  to  December,  1927,  in  Central- Blatt  and 
Social  Justice,  (St.  Louis),  the  Central  Verein's  official  publication.  These 
articles  were  based  on  Father's  Weninger's  Erinnerungen  aus  meinem  Leben 
in  Europa  und  Amerika,  his  unpublished  Memoirs. 


A  MIRACLE  IN  MID- AMERICA?  59 

Father  Weninger  had  left  Austria  during  the  revolutionary 
year  of  1848.  Before  that  year,  during  it,  and  shortly  after  it, 
thousands  of  Germans  involved  in  the  several  revolutionary 
movements  and  chagrined  at  the  failure  of  their  attempts  to 
establish  democratic  government  at  home,  rushed  away  to  em- 
brace the  great  free  Republic  of  the  West.  Many  thousands  of 
them  settled  in  various  parts  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  it 
was  the  fortune  or  misfortune  of  Father  Weninger  to  be  thrown 
in  frequent  contact  with  them.  They  were  not  only  avowed 
enemies  of  their  former  governments  of  Europe  but  also  of 
their  established  religions.  Most  of  them,  and  even  the  former 
Catholics  among  them,  were  strongly  infected  with  the  virus 
of  anti-clericalism.  Carl  Schurz,  that  romantic  revolutionist  of 
Germany,  and  military  hero  and  political  genius  of  the  United 
States,  known  favorably  to  Abraham  Lincoln  and  other  Amer- 
icans of  his  day  as  "that  tremendous  Dutchman,"  a  man  who 
had  abandoned  the  Catholic  faith  of  his  fathers,  had  become 
their  idol.  And  Father  Weninger's  aggressive  career  among 
them  was,  of  course,  by  no  means  a  happy  one.2 

It  was  sometime  during  the  year  of  1853  as  the  valiant  Jesuit 
missioner  was  laboring  in  Wisconsin  that  Bishop  Loras  of  Du- 
buque heard  of  his  herculean  successes.  Bishop  Loras  immedi- 
ately made  arrangements  with  Bishop  Henni  of  Milwaukee  to 
secure  the  services  of  Father  Weninger  for  his  diocese,  and  the 
missioner  arrived  in  Dubuque  in  the  fall  to  commence  a  series 
of  missions  in  Iowa.  From  the  very  beginning,  Father  Weninger 
encountered  opposition  and  persecution  from  the  "forty-eight- 
ers" — the  German  revolutionists.  His  own  description  of  tfeeir 
tactics  in  Dubuque  furnishes  an  enlightening  sample  of  this  op- 
position. 

"I  opened  the  first  mission  in  Dubuque  itself,  the  largest  city  in  the 
state,  situate  on  the  Mississippi  and  seat  of  the  Bishop.  Iowa  numbers 
among  its  inhabitants  many  fugitives  from  Europe,  and  consequently  a 
large  number  of  most  determined  enemies  of  religion,  one  may  even  say 
most  rabid  enemies  of  God.  The  mission  and  its  quickening  and  saving 
influence  were  quite  discomforting  to  these  radical  sons  of  Satan.  How 
often  did  I  not  hear  in  one  place  and  another  throughout  the  entire  state 
of  Iowa  the  incessantly  repeated  assurance:  'If  you  had  not  come  I  would 
have  been  lost  forever;  I  was  about  prepared  to  cast  all  faith  and  religion 
overboard.' 


2  On  the  German  revolutionists  in  America,  see  Carl  Schurz,  Militant 
Liberal,  (1930),  by  Joseph  Schafer,  Superintendent  of  the  State  Historical 
Society  of  Wisconsin. 


60  MATHIAS  M.  HOFFMAN 

"The  exasperation  of  the  hostile,  atheistic,  anti-Christian  elements,  on 
the  other  hand,  promptly  and  plainly  became  evident  by  two  attempts 
against  my  life.  One  by  hurling  a  bottle  of  nitric  acid,  or  oil  of  vitriol, 
through  the  window  of  my  room  onto  my  bed,  the  other  in  broad  daylight, 
in  the  street.  I  was  on  my  way  to  comply  with  a  sick-call,  wearing  my 
priestly  garb,  that  is,  the  garb  of  my  order,  and  carried  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment with  me.  Suddenly  two  horsemen  galloped  up  the  street,  one  of 
whom,  seeing  me  dressed  in  my  cassock,  called  out  to  the  other:  'Reit 
doch  den  Pfaffen  nieder!'  ('Ride  that  Papist  down!')  This  horseman  there- 
upon actually  rode  straight  towards  me  at  full  gallop.  I  did  not  yield  an 
inch  but  let  him  come  straight  at  me.  The  horse  was  immediately  in 
front  of  me  when  the  rider  suddenly  reined  it  to  one  side.  I  had  expected 
to  be  knocked  down,  but  I  suffered  no  harm,  my  hour  had  not  yet  come.  I 
do  not  know  whether  the  man  was  startled  by  my  calm  bearing  or  whether 
some  other  circumstance  caused  him  to  jerk  the  horse  aside  just  as  it  was 
about  to  hurl  me  to  the  ground,  "s 

After  this  incident  one  of  the  first  places  which  Father 
Weninger  visited  for  the  purpose  of  conducting  a  mission  was 
Guttenberg,  forty  miles  north  of  Dubuque,  a  beautifully  scenic 
little  town  on  the  Mississippi.  It  had  been  known  as  Prairie  La 
Porte  in  the  days  of  the  Indian  traders,  but  with  the  arrival  of 
the  Germans,  among  whom  were  many  revolutionists,  it  had  been 
named  Guttenberg,  after  the  inventor  of  the  printing-press. 

Here,  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the  missioner  was  to  cause  the 
erection  of  a  mission  cross  near  the  church  on  the  high  bank 
overlooking  the  river.  This  was  in  accord  with  his  unfailing 
custom  in  the  first  years  of  his  missionary  activities.  He  gen- 
erally arranged  to  have  the  cross  of  huge  dimensions,  forty  or 
fifty  feet  in  height,  and  set  on  a  pedestal  of  nine  or  ten  feet. 
In  farm  parishes  such  a  cross  would  be  set  up  in  the  churchyard ; 
in  a  city  where  several  parishes  conducted  a  joint  mission,  it 
was  erected  in  the  most  prominent  place  of  the  community.  In 
connection  with  these  public  gatherings,  Father  Weninger  sought 
to  have  ceremonies  as  impressive  as  possible.  Soldiers  from 
nearby  garrisons  were  invited  to  participate  in  the  processions. 
The  town  cannon,  often  used  by  the  local  authorities  in  those 
days  for  civic  and  national  celebrations,  was  pressed  into  service 
to  fire  salutes  at  the  erection  of  the  outdoor  mission  cross.  The 
carpenters  at  Guttenberg  attached  large,  round  knobs  to  the 
tips  of  the  beams. 

It  was  during  this  mission,  on  the  afternoon  of  October  7, 


s  Annals  of  the  Ludwig  Missions- Verein  for  the  year  1853,  p.  406  et 
seq.  (Munich,  1854) ;  Central-Blatt  and  Social  Justice,  January,  1931. 


A  MIRACLE  IN  MID-AMERICA?  61 

1853,  at  three  o'clock,  that  there  appeared  in  the  sky  a  large 
white  cross.  According  to  Father  Weninger's  diary,  this  re- 
markable heavenly  cross  appeared  on  three  other  occasions.  In 
1856  when  he  passed  Guttenberg  on  a  steamboat  he  again  saw 
the  cross  in  the  firmament,  and  it  appeared  also  in  later  years 
during  the  missions  conducted  at  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  and 
Monroe,  Michigan.  But  it  is  this  first  appearance  of  the  celestial 
cross  at  Guttenberg  in  1853  that  attracts  the  attention  of  the 
historian  because  it  seems  so  well  verified  and  authenticated. 
Father  Weninger  referred  to  this  event  several  times  in  his 
writings,  and  we  quote  here  his  own  words  from  a  sermon  de- 
livered in  his  late  years. 

"It  happened  in  the  year  1853  when  I  gave  a  Holy  Mission  in  Gut- 
tenberg, Iowa.  It  was  in  October  in  the  week  when  the  feast  of  the  Holy 
Rosary  is  celebrated,  and  I  was  commemorating  the  twenty-fifth  anni- 
versary of  my  first  holy  Mass  which  I  celebrated  on  the  feast  of  the  Holy 
Rosary,  1828,  in  Vienna,  Austria.  On  Friday  afternoon  about  three  o'clock 
a  large  cross  twenty-five  feet  in  height  was  raised  in  the  open  near  the 
church.  ...  As  this  cross  was  elevated  a  bright  cross  appeared  in  the 
sky.  It  did  not  move  but  stood  still  for  about  fifteen  minutes,  then  gradu- 
ally disappeared.  It  seemed  about  100  feet  long,  with  cross  beams  of 
nearly  25  feet.  A  lady  noticed  it  at  first  and  she  drew  the  attention  of 
others  to  the  same.  Several  persons  made  a  sworn  statement  before  a 
notary  as  to  the  truth  of  the  vision."* 

In  his  Memoirs,  Father  Weninger  stated  that  when  the  Bishop 
of  Dubuque  heard  of  the  affair  he  sent  two  priests  to  make  an 
investigation.  All  those  questioned  answered  under  oath  and 
insisted  on  the  reality  of  the  appearances.  And  today  we  actu- 
ally find  reference  in  the  Dubuque  archives  to  this  report  of  the 
event  to  Bishop  Loras.  In  a  letter  written  in  French  to  Bishop 
Loras  exactly  a  week  after  its  occurrance,  Father  Weninger 
said:  "A  mon  retour  a  Dubuque  apres  la  Mission  de  New- Vienna 
je  vous  donnerai  des  details  sur  l'apparition  d'une  croix  au  ciel, 
au  temps  de  la  plantation  de  la  croix  de  la  Mission.  L'apparition 
dura  un  quart  heure  et  des  Catholiques  meme  des  Protestants  en 
sont  temoins."  ("Upon  my  return  to  Dubuque  after  the  mission 
at  New  Vienna,  I  shall  give  you  the  details  concerning  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  cross  in  the  heavens  at  the  time  of  the  planting  of 
the  mission  cross.  The  apparition  lasted  a  quarter  of  an  hour, 
and  Catholics  as  well  as  Protestants  are  witnesses  to  it.") 

Bishop  Loras  kept  no  diary  and  so  we  are  unable  to  learn  the 


*  From  a  sermon  preached  on  May  26,  1882.    Weninger's  Predigten. 


62  MATHIAS  M.  HOFFMAN 

result  of  Father  Weninger's  report  on  the  cross.  But  that  the 
Bishop  was  impressed  by  the  news  is  clear  from  the  fact  that  on 
the  back  of  the  letter  he  wrote :  "Apparition  d'une  croix  au 
ciel."  And  that  he  held  the  missioner  in  highest  esteem  and 
honor  is  further  apparent  from  the  fact  that  he  wrote  on  the 
back  of  the  last  letter  received  from  him  just  after  he  had 
finished  his  remarkably  successful  tour  through  Iowa:  "Rev. 
F.  X.  Weninger,  S.  J.    The  Apostle  of  Iowa."5 

But  it  is  from  the  descendants  of  the  pioneers  of  Guttenberg 
who  were  present  at  the  mission  of  Father  Weninger  that  we 
find  multifold,  and  to  this  day,  unchallenged,  verification  of  this 
celestial  apparition.  Time  and  again  have  these  descendants, 
many  of  them  among  the  most  intelligent,  educated  and  cultured 
people  of  the  community,  heard  the  details  of  this  event  from 
their  fore-fathers  who  were  witnesses  of  it.  Mr.  Kamphaus,  the 
chief  carpenter,  who  had  supervised  the  making  of  the  mission 
cross,  delighted  in  later  years  to  narrate  to  the  young  people 
how,  standing  in  the  shadow  of  the  cross  he  had  erected,  he  saw 
its  heavenly  counterpart  gleaming  in  the  sky.  Dr.  Hofbauer, 
one  of  the  leading  revolutionists  of  the  town  and  a  former  Catho- 
lic, remained  away  from  the  mission,  but  his  wife  was  one  of 
the  principal  witnesses  of  the  event.  The  grandchildren  of  Mrs. 
Winkels  recount  how  this  lady,  a  non-Catholic  before  the  mis- 
sion commenced,  beheld  the  apparition  and  was  able  to  give  the 
names  of  thirteen  persons  among  her  acquaintances  alone  who 
were  eyewitnesses  of  it.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Heitmann,  among  the 
oldest  settlers  of  the  community,  have  handed  down  their  testi- 
mony to  the  present  age,  through  their  children  and  their  chil- 
dren's children.  A  short  search  among  the  citizens  of  the  beau- 
tiful and  picturesque  river  town  of  Guttenberg  revealed  many 
more  names  and  instances  than  this.  But  another  bit  of  testi- 
mony is  cited  because  it  confirms  Father  Weninger's  claim  that 
sworn  statements  of  witnesses  were  taken  at  the  time  before  a 
notary.  Mrs.  Gerald  Herman  Eilers  was  in  the  crowd  near  the 
mission  cross,  when  she  heard  the  lady  at  her  side,  a  Protestant, 
cry  out:  "My  God!  What  do  I  see?"  And  looking  up,  she  be- 
held the  celestial  cross.  Mrs.  Eilers  recounted  that  this  Protes- 
tant lady,  having  been  among  the  first  to  behold  the  apparition, 


5  Letters  of  Father  Weninger  to  Bishop  Loras,  Guttenberg  to  Dubuque, 
October  14,  1853,  and  Burlington  to  Dubuque,  November  27,  1853,  in 
Dubuque  archdiocesan  archives. 


A  MIRACLE  IN  MID- AMERICA?  63 

appeared  before  a  notary  to  give  her  testimony,  when  her  hus- 
band, a  violent  revolutionary,  arrived  upon  the  scene  and  led 
her  away,  refusing  to  permit  her  to  testify. 

Is  it  a  concession  to  credulousness  for  the  historian  to  look 
upon  the  appearance  of  this  heavenly  cross,  witnessed  alike  by 
Catholics  and  by  Protestants,  by  believers  and  by  atheistic  Ger- 
man revolutionists,  as  something  supernatural,  something  mirac- 
ulous? Of  course,  its  appearance  can  be  ingeniously  explained 
and  correctly,  too,  as  due  to  natural  causes,  to  the  refraction  of 
the  sun's  rays  and  their  action  on  the  clouds.  But  the  extra- 
ordinary coincidence  of  its  occurence  at  the  very  moment  of  the 
open  air  mission  ceremony  and  the  erection  of  the  great  wooden 
cross  on  the  high  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  seems  to  add  to  the 
event,  to  say  the  least,  a  special,  a  profound  significance.  Father 
Weninger  himself  was  never  so  bold  as  to  refer  to  this  incident 
as  a  miracle  in  his  Memoirs.  He  relates  the  affair  with  the  same 
quasi-casual  air  which  marks  all  his  descriptions.  He  speaks  of 
gigantic  prairie  fires,  of  hair-raising  accidents  on  the  road  or 
on  the  river,  of  malicious  attacks  of  revolutionists,  and  of  these 
apparitions,  in  the  same  easy  tenor,  entirely  free  from  all  undue 
emphasis,  as  he  speaks  of  the  ordinary  sermons  given  during 
a  retreat.  Whether  the  coincidence  be  considered  natural  or 
supernatural,  we  can  hardly  avoid  the  conclusion  that  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  celestial  cross  was  some  sort  of  Divine  approval 
of  the  remarkable  labors  of  the  saintly  Weninger,  the  heroic 
Jesuit  missioner,  whose  life  and  work  have  influenced  the  Catho- 
lic history  of  the  Mississippi  valley  even  to  this  day. 

M.  M.  Hoffman 
Columbia  College 
Dubuque,  Iowa 


DOCUMENTS 

A  CIVIL  WAR  DIARY 

Not  the  least  interesting  and  valuable  books  in  the  library 
left  by  my  father,  William  J.  Onahan,  were  his  diaries  dating 
from  1856  to  his  death  in  1919.  They  are  really  a  history  of 
Chicago. 

The  first  entry  is  on  his  twentieth  birthday,  November  24, 
1856.  He  writes:  "I  am  here  today  full  of  life,  hope  and  am- 
bition relying  however  on  the  kindly  justice  of  the  Almighty. 
And  when  my  earthly  career  shall  be  brought  to  a  close,  be  it 
tomorrow  or  be  it  long  years  hence  may  God  grant  that  I  shall 
not  be  unprepared."  There  follow  accounts  of  lectures  by  prom- 
inent men,  civic  events  of  various  kinds,  the  organization  of  the 
Catholic  Institute  and  its  meetings;  also,  his  more  personal 
affairs,  an  ever  widening  acquaintance  with  the  attractive  young 
ladies  of  early  Chicago.  The  circle  finally  dwindled  to  one.  On 
Sunday,  July  8,  1860,  he  writes:  "Today  the  greatest  event  of 
my  life,  the  fulfillment  of  long  yearning  hopes  was  consum- 
mated. My  destiny  was  forever  linked  with  Maggie.  Twas  but 
yesterday  I  may  say  we  decided  upon  it  and  now  it  is  an  ac- 
complished fact.  The  day,  the  scene,  the  circumstances  are 
indelibly  fixed  on  my  memory.  I  hope  the  Almighty  will  favor 
and  bless  our  union,  our  Blessed  Mother  be  forever  our  Guardian 
and  protectress.  And  O  vast  future  be  thou  propitious!  With 
great  hopes  and  fond  anticipations  we  commence  our  new  life." 

The  entries  from  the  years  1856  to  1860  are  of  so  personal 
and  intimate  a  nature  that  it  has  been  deemed  advisable  to  start 
with  the  journals  dealing  with  the  Civil  War.  The  following 
excerpts  are  taken  from  that  period.  As  he  was  what  was  known 
as  a  "Douglas  Democrat"  his  lack  of  enthusiasm  for  Abraham 
Lincoln  may  be  at  least  partially  understood. 

Mary  Onahan  Gallery 

Chicago,  111. 


Wednesday,  May  16,  1860.  Meeting  of  the  Republican  Na- 
tional Convention.  At  twelve  o'clock  today  I  was  present  and 
heard  Governor  Morgan  of  New  York  read  the  call  of  the  con- 
vention. Wilmot  of  Pennsylvania  was  made  temporary  chair- 
man. He  made  a  noisy  speech,  the  text  "Freedom  and  Freemen." 
Order  prevailed  and  as  far  as  I  can  judge  all  goes  on  harmoni- 

64 


A  CIVIL  WAR  DIARY  65 

ously.    Immense  crowds  everywhere.    Hall  crammed.     City  all 
excitement. 

Thursday,  May  17.  The  excitement  grows  more  and  more 
intense.  Multitudes  are  still  thronging  in  from  all  quarters. 
The  Wigwam  presents  an  enlivening  spectacle — thronged  to 
density.  The  scene  this  evening  upon  the  reading  of  the  "Pro- 
tection to  Home  Industries"  plank  in  the  platform  was  beyond 
precedent.  One  thousand  tongues  yelled,  ten  thousand  hats, 
caps  and  handkerchiefs  waving  with  the  wildest  fervor.  Frantic 
jubilation. 

May  18.  Balloting  commenced  this  morning.  I  was  present 
when  the  result  of  the  first  ballot  was  announced.  Seward  175^ 
— Lincoln  102.  On  the  second  Lincoln  gained  70  votes  and  on 
the  third  he  was  nominated.  Then  what  a  scene!  Yesterday 
was  a  dignified  display  to  this.  Pity  that  Seward  should  have 
been  thus  cast  out  and  Lincoln  taken  in.  I  was  present  likewise 
at  the  nomination  of  Hamlin  of  Maine  for  Vice  president. 

Saturday,  May  19.  The  excitement  is  on  the  wane.  Lincoln 
fails  to  excite  the  genuine  enthusiasm  which  the  nomination  of 
Seward  would  undoubtedly  have  evoked.  The  city  is  still 
thronged  but  the  signs  betoken  speedy  exit. 

Tuesday,  August  14.  The  advent  or  rather  the  return  of  the 
Zouaves  is  the  feature  of  today.  The  bells  ring  for  them  at  noon 
and  in  the  evening  a  great  demonstration  was  held.  Our  little 
family  flocked  to  town  this  evening  to  witness  the  reception  of 
the  Zouaves.  After  a  severe  trial  of  patience  they  came.  Enough 
to  say  that  we  did  feel  rewarded  for  our  trial  of  endurance. 

Saturday,  September  8.  Terrible  news  is  whispered  from  ear 
to  ear  this  morning.  Tis  said  the  "Lady  Elgin"  which  left  here 
last  evening  for  Milwaukee  with  three  to  four  hundred  excur- 
sionists from  that  city  is  lost  with  all  or  nearly  all  on  board. 
Subsequent  advices  proved  this  to  be  a  fearful  truth.  Two  hun- 
dred souls  sent  in  a  moment  with  no  note  of  warning  to  eternity. 
Tis  dreadful  beyond  all  expression  of  words.  A  thousand  homes 
are  desolated  in  our  sister  city.  Truly  tis  said  in  the  midst  of 
life  we  are  in  death.    Requiescat  in  pace. 

Sunday,  September  9.  The  Bishop  [Duggan]  preached  at 
the  cathedral  this  forenoon  and  alluded  feelingly  at  the  close  of 
his  discourse  to  the  terrible  disaster  the  thought  of  which  fills 
all  hearts  with  sorrow  and  so  many  with  bitter,  bitter  anguish. 
Today  sad  scenes  are  witnessed  on  the  shore  of  the  lake.    Bodies 


66  DOCUMENTS 

from  the  wreck  are  being  hourly  washed  ashore  melancholy 
vestiges  of  the  precious  freight  of  humanity  which  but  a  little 
while  ago  revelled  in  all  of  life's  bouyant  activity.  The  wail 
from  the  desolated  city  of  Milwaukee  is  heartrending.  Hundreds 
of  homes  in  one  ward  alone  are  now  like  vacant  places,  lampless, 
lightless  and  full  of  mourning.  Wives  without  husbands,  chil- 
dren without  parents,  parents  without  children.  May  God  have 
pity  upon  these  afflicted  ones,  and  be  unto  them  as  a  Father, 
kind  and  merciful. 

Monday,  October  1.  This  promises  to  be  a  great  week  for 
Chicago  politically  and  otherwise.  Seward  speaks  here  tomor- 
row when  there  will  undoubtedly  be  a  great  Republican  demon- 
stration. 

September  2.  Governor  Seward  in  Chicago  today.  Disas- 
trous news  from  the  Papal  States. 

October  5.    Douglas  home  again. 

October  6.    Douglas  spoke  to  five  thousand  people. 

October  18.  Springfield.  In  Springfield  this  morning.  After 
finishing  my  business  I  introduced  myself  to  Abraham  Lincoln, 
in  all  probability  our  next  president.  He  nearly  frightened  me 
he  looked  so  cadaverous. 

November  5.  The  eve  of  a  day  of  great  importance  to  the 
American  people.  Tomorrow  decides  the  character  of  our  gov- 
ernment for  the  next  four  years  at  least.  Republicans  are  con- 
fident, Douglas  men  have  only  the  courage  of  despair  to  animate 
them.  Yet  they  will  not  give  up.  As  things  look  now  tis  doubt- 
ful if  Douglas  carries  a  single  state.  Illinois  goes  for  Lincoln 
by  10,000,  Douglas  may  carry  Missouri,  Colorado  and  perhaps 
Oregon.    I  am  not  posted  as  to  the  South. 

November  6.  The  events  of  today  are  important  and  may 
mark  a  crisis  in  the  annals  of  our  country.  The  election  for 
President  is  held.  The  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln  the  Re- 
publican or  Anti-slavery  candidate  seems  imminent,  I  may  say, 
inevitable.  Douglas  the  man  who  deserves  the  office  and  would 
do  most  good  has  no  chance.  I  voted  for  Douglas  and  Johnson, 
Popular  sovereignty  and  Non-intervention.  Tonight  the  issue 
is  decided  yet  I  now  have  no  positive  knowledge  of  the  result. 
There  is  hope  that  New  York  may  go  against  Lincoln.  That  is 
the  last,  the  only  hope.    Let  us  see. 

November  8.  An  awful  castastrophe  occurred  at  our  wharf 
this  morning.    The  propeller  "Globe"  exploded  and  hurled  death 


A  CIVIL  WAR  DIARY  67 

and  destruction  on  every  side.  I  had  a  narrow,  a  providential 
escape.  Had  not  been  three  minutes  out  of  the  boat  when  the 
calamity  occurred.  Tis  a  terrible  scene,  the  dead,  dying  and 
wounded.  Walter  Hale  is  among  the  missing  and  is  supposed 
to  be  buried  in  the  wreck.  Poor  fellow!  tis  a  melancholy  end. 
I  owe  my  own  preservation  to  the  protection  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  and  the  prayers  of  some  powerful  advocate. 

November  9.  Walter  was  found  in  the  Marion  Hospital  and 
still  survives  although  badly  injured.  I  assisted  in  carrying  him 
from  the  wreck.  Went  with  Douglas  the  same  day  to  the  hos- 
pital yet  did  not  recognize  him  although  he  was  there  all  the 
time.  The  incidents  of  this  terrible  affair  I  can  not  speedily 
forget.  The  desk,  the  office  and  everything  about  are  badly 
shattered.  .  .  .  All  is  confusion  and  disorder. 

November  26.  Panic  prevails  in  the  east  and  is  gradually 
overspreading  the  whole  country  in  consequence  of  the  Secession 
movement,  now  in  full  progress  in  the  extreme  south.  A  finan- 
cial revulsion  seems  imminent.  Stocks  are  down,  exchange  is 
up  and  everything  generally  unsettled.  Doubt  and  distrust  pre- 
vail. 

December  3.  The  panic  prevails.  If  anything  grows  worse 
and  worse. 

December  8,  9,  10.    Secession  panic.    Ditto.    Ditto. 

December  19.    Secession  still  rampant. 

January  1,  1861.  The  New  Year  greeted  us  this  morning 
with  an  unusually  pleasant  aspect.  Would  that  it  were  an  index 
of  peaceful  tidings — a  harbinger  of  restored  peace  to  the  nation 
and  prosperity  to  the  individual.  Maggie  and  I  together  wel- 
comed its  advent  as  the  bells  tolled  the  death  of  60.  God  be 
with  it.  In  the  future  we  will  look  back  to  it  as  marking  the 
"bright  particular  era"  of  our  existence.  Good  old  60  farewell. 
January  10.  Home  reports  are  conflicting  in  regard  to  the 
doings  at  Charleston.  Tis  said  the  Itma  conveying  reinforce- 
ments for  Major  Anderson  was  fired  into  and  forced  to  put  out 
to  sea  without  unloading  the  troops. 

January  11.  There  is  warlike  news  from  Charleston — partly 
a  reiteration  of  what  I  alluded  to  yesterday.  A  day  or  two  more 
and  the  conflict  will  begin.    Where  and  when  to  end? 

January  12.  News  from  Charleston  wears  the  usual  warlike 
tone.  Congress  does  nothing.  Seward  made  a  great  speech 
today. 


68  DOCUMENTS 

January  18.  No  news  from  the  South  and  affairs  in  Europe 
remain  in  statu  quo.  King  Francis  still  holds  Gaeta.  The  Pope 
yet,  thank  God,  at  Rome  where  long  may  he  reign. 

January  29.  The  Secession  movement  still  goes  on.  Georgia 
has  withdrawn  from  the  Union,  and  still  the  cry  is  "No  conces- 
sion." Petitions  and  appeals  for  the  Union  flood  the  halls  of 
Congress  and — nothing  is  done. 

February  8.  The  usual  twaddle  and  inertia  prevail  in  Wash- 
ington. Even  the  Peace  Congress  promises  to  prove  of  no  avail 
except  it  be  to  further  show  the  futility  of  efforts  to  save  the 
Union. 

February  16.  I  attended  a  meeting  at  Bryant  Hall  endorsing 
Compromise  and  Seward  and  Kellog  for  holding  out  the  olive 
branch. 

March  4.  The  all  important  epoch  in  the  annals  of  our  coun- 
try. Lincoln  was  inaugurated  peaceably.  His  address  seems 
fair  and  conciliating  yet  it  is  even  more  than  ever  to  be  feared 
that  hostilities  will  follow. 

April  12.  A  notable  day.  At  ten  o'clock  this  A.  M.  the  first 
hostile  shots  were  fired  by  the  Rebels  at  Charleston  and  Fort 
Sumter  formally  attacked.  Civil  war  is  now  inaugurated  and 
who  can  tell  when  the  end  will  be — nor  how? 

April  13.  I  read  first  this  morning  the  news  related  yester- 
day. Tis  startling  indeed.  Alas  that  it  should  be  true.  There 
are  many  rumors  and  telegrams  concerning  the  attack  and  de- 
fense of  Fort  Sumter.  The  Old  Glory  still  waves.  We  shall  have 
something  decisive  soon. 

Sunday,  April  14.  The  city  is  wild  over  the  news  of  the  sur- 
render of  Fort  Sumter  to  the  Carolinians.  Everything  denotes 
war.  War.  Tis  on  all  tongues  and  in  all  hearts.  Would  to 
God  that  it  could  have  been  averted. 

April  15.  Still  War.  President's  proclamation  calling  for 
75,000  men  to  put  down  rebellion.  These  are  indeed  exciting 
times  and  we  know  not  where  or  when  the  end  will  come.  Chi- 
cago is  arming.  I  attended  meetings  preliminary  to  the  city 
election  tomorrow.  Bryan  and  Rumsey  are  the  nominees  for 
Mayor.  Phil  Conley  runs  on  the  Bryan  ticket,  which  it  seems 
now  pretty  certain  will  be  defeated. 

April  18.  News  still  of  War.  Virginia  tis  reported  has  re- 
fused in  convention  to  secede.    This  is  good  news. 

April  19.    An  eventful  day  in  American  history.    The  Mass. 


A  CIVIL  WAR  DIARY  69 

[achusetts]  troops  while  passing  through  Baltimore  were  at- 
tacked by  a  mob  and  many  killed  on  both  sides.  Terror  reigns 
in  Baltimore.  Worst  of  all  the  Capital  is  in  danger.  The  most 
intense  excitement  prevails  in  town.  The  war  occupies  all 
thoughts.    Business  literally  suspended. 

April  20.  News  still  of  war  and  bloodshed.  Fighting  still 
in  Baltimore  and  great  fears  felt  for  Washington.  The  city  is 
teeming  over  with  patriotism.  Volunteers  everywhere.  Drilling 
on  all  corners.  Attended  mass  meeting  at  the  Wigwam.  Took 
an  oath  to  support  and  sustain  the  U.  S.  government  and  that 
of  Illinois.  Twas  a  solemn  spectacle.  The  vow  of  ten  thousand 
and  now  the  climax  is  coming. 

April  21.  The  war  excitement  abounds  thro  the  city.  Streets 
thronged  with  embryo  soldiers  who  present  (large  numbers  of 
them  at  least)  a  very  sorry  appearance. 

April  22.  Great  anxiety  felt  for  the  safety  of  Washington. 
Tis  feared  Jeff  Davis  has  attempted  a  raid  on  it  and  as  the  de- 
fenses are  but  very  weak  and  inadequate  he  may  have  done 
mischief.  Telegraphic  communications  are  interrupted.  The 
city  still  glowing  with  military  fever.  An  Irish  regiment  is  now 
projected  and  canvassed  for. 

'April  23.  Met  Captain  Walsh  who  wants  me  to  join  the  Irish 
regiment.  James  A.  Mulligan  also  urged  it.  Charlie  says  I  can 
be  paymaster  if  I  go.    Here's  a  chance  for  glory. 

April  24.  The  war  news  relaxes  much  of  its  former  intense 
interest.  Washington  is  conceded  to  be  reasonably  safe.  At- 
tended meeting  this  evening  at  North  Market  Hall  for  "Irish 
regiment."    Mulligan  spoke  well.    Much  enthusiasm. 

April  27.  Tonight  we  go  to  theatre  on  invitation  of  Mc- 
Vicker  to  receive  a  flag  presented  by  Sands.  The  affair  was 
managed  very  well.  Mc.  made  a  clever  speech.  J[ames]  A. 
M[ulligan]  (fresh  from  the  tented  field)  responded. 

April  30.    Brigade  meetings  every  evening. 

May  11.  Dreadful  work  at  St.  Louis  yesterday.  Murderous 
slaughter  of  the  unarmed  citizens  by  the  Dutch  troops.  Great 
apprehension  felt  for  the  safety  of  our  local  banks.  A  crash  is 
feared. 

May  31.  The  war  goes  on  without  so  far  any  battle  of  note. 
Judge  Douglas  remains  at  the  Tremont  House  in  a  critical  con- 
dition. He  has  been  so  for  weeks  and  his  recovery  is  now 
despaired  of. 


7Q  DOCUMENTS 

June  3.  Douglas  is  no  more.  He  died  at  the  Tremont  House 
this  morning.  From  what  I  can  learn  he  was  received  into  the 
Church  before  his  death  and  participated  in  her  Holy  Rites. 
This  is  a  mournful  day  for  Illinois — for  the  nation  at  large.  Her 
foremost  patriot  has  fallen.  All  seem  affected  with  grief.  Tis 
a  great  shock  and  at  such  a  time  comes  with  terrible  effect  upon 
a  troubled  country. 

June  4.  Thoughts  of  Douglas  occupy  all  hearts.  Mrs.  Doug- 
las was  to  have  taken  his  remains  to  the  national  capital  but 
giving  ear  to  the  voice  of  Illinois,  which  implores  that  his  re- 
mains be  left  with  her,  she  yields  to  the  general  desire.  Tis 
fitting  that  the  state  of  which  he  was  the  great  pride  and  glory 
should  possess  and  honor  his  remains.  I  had  a  passing  glance 
of  the  Judge  as  he  lay  in  state  at  Bryan  Hall  this  evening. 

June  6.  I  engaged  with  Dr.  Butler  to  go  over  to  the  Bishop's 
and  prepare  the  address  for  the  papers  (which  the  Bishop  de- 
livers tomorrow) .     This  I  did. 

June  7.  Today  business  is  generally  suspended  and  the  city 
shrouded  in  mourning.  Douglas  is  to  be  buried  today.  Dickson 
and  myself  went  out  and  secured  a  couple  of  horses  and  rode  to 
the  grave.  The  funeral  obsequies  were  grand,  orderly  and  in 
every  way  impressive. 

June  18.  Met  Dr.  Butler  this  morning.  He  announced  his 
appointment  as  Chaplain  of  the  Irish  Brigade  and  goes  with 
them  in  a  few  days. 

July  20.  Severe  skirmishing  at  Bull  Run  today  with  the  ad- 
vantage, the  papers  say,  on  "our"  side. 

July  22.  News  arrived  today  of  a  terrible  and  disastrous 
battle  fought  yesterday  near  Manasses.  The  Federal  army  was 
disgracefully  routed.  Alone  of  the  whole  the  glorious  69th  fought 
like  heroes.  So  also  the  brave  Zouaves.  Be  all  honor  to  the 
brave.    Beauregard's  star  is  in  the  ascendant. 

July  23.  Public  feeling  is  terribly  exercised  over  the  news 
of  the  defeat.  The  report  is  that  Meagher  and  Corcoran  are 
killed  and  the  whole  regiment  nearly  annihilated.  I  pray  God 
tis  not  true. 

August  16.  Went  up  to  Jesuit  Church  this  evening.  Heard 
Father  Smarius  on  Sin  and  Its  Enormity.  Of  course  I  was 
pleased  beyond  measure  with  his  discourse. 

August  18.  Attended  Mass  at  the  church  of  the  Holy  Fam- 
ily.    Heard  Father  Smarius  again  on  the  Punishment  of  Sin. 


A  CIVIL  WAR  DIARY  71 

High  Mass  was  celebrated  with  great  pomp  and  such  decorum 
as  the  Jesuits  only  can  display.* 

August  29.  No  war  news — except  that  Beauregard  is  ad- 
vancing on  Washington  and  matters  look  now  as  if  he  could 
take  it  if  he  wants  it. 

September  3.    Prince  Napoleon  is  in  town. 

September  13.  Lexington  invested  by  Price  and  a  Confed- 
erate army.  Mulligan  and  the  Brigade  with  other  forces  in  de- 
fense. 

September  16.  News  of  the  siege  of  Lexington  reached  here 
today.  Mulligan  and  Lexington  are  on  every  tongue  and  ac- 
cording to  all  accounts  he  holds  out  gallantly.  Of  course  the 
most  intense  excitement  exists  in  Chicago  concerning  the  prob- 
abilities of  his  holding  out. 

September  17.  We  get  naught  but  rumors  of  the  state  of 
affairs  at  Lexington.  The  prospects  of  Mulligan  holding  out  are 
rather  gloomy.  Price  has  a  large  force.  Reinforcements  are 
uncertain  and  Fremont  acts  sluggishly  or  not  at  all.  I  hope 
Jim  will  come  out  all  right  and  cover  himself  with  glory.  I  fear 
however  that  he  can  not  hold  out  long  and  that  his  surrender 
is,  only  a  question  of  time. 

September  18.  Still  only  rumors.  Vague  accounts  are  given 
of  prodigious  fighting  at  Lexington — unequalled  bravery  of  the 
Brigade  and  fearful  loss  of  the  rebels  but  naught  definite.  Every- 
thing so  far  concerning  the  fate  of  the  place  except  the  general 
fact  that  it  is  besieged  is  unrevealed.  The  inference  is  that 
J.  A.  M.  has  not  been  reinforced  thus  far.  Otherwise  we  should 
have  heard  direct  from  him. 

September  19.  Lexington  still  holds  out  and  the  reports  are 
that  Mulligan  is  making  a  right  gallant  defense.  The  eyes  of 
the  whole  country  are  on  him.  Fremont  announces  his  promo- 
tion as  Brigadier  General  (Acting).  I  still  have  but  little  hope 
of  Jim  holding  out  finally.  At  any  rate  he  has  done  enough  so 
far  to  secure  a  niche  in  history.    "Mulligan  and  Lexington." 

September  20.  As  far  as  heard  from  Mulligan  is  all  right 
yet.     Affairs  on  the  Potomac  remaining  unchanged.     The  im- 


*  Throughout  these  diaries  there  are  many  records  of  visits  to  the 
Jesuits  and  to  the  Sacred  Heart  convent  on  West  Taylor  street  where 
Mother  Gallway  was  superior.  She  and  my  father  were  warm  friends  and 
the  last  lines  she  ever  wrote  were  an  inscription  in  a  little  book,  "The 
Spiritual  Combat,"  given  to  him  on  her  deathbed.  All  these  notations  are 
omitted  as  the  Civil  War  news  is  of  so  much  more  general  interest. — Mary 
Onahan  Gallery. 


72  DOCUMENTS 

pending  battle  seems  as  remote  as  ever.  Kentucky  is  in  a  tumult 
but  there's  nothing  decisive  there  yet.  All  eyes  are  turned 
towards  it.  Still  tis  "Lexington  and  Mulligan."  Brave  Jim. 
Long  may  you  live!     Drilled  tonight  at  Mat's. 

September  21.  We  have  a  repetition  of  rumors  concerning 
the  siege  and  defense  of  Lexington  and  many  incredible  stories 
are  related. 

September  22.  At  early  Mass  this  morning.  The  Times  of 
this  morning  gives  news  of  the  surrender  of  Mulligan  after  a 
protracted  defense  of  20  days.  He  fought  gallantly  and  well — 
is  slightly  wounded.  Loss  of  the  Brigade  not  so  great  as  might 
be  anticipated.    The  news  is  doubted  by  many. 

September  23.  Reported  news  of  yesterday  not  corroborated 
this  morning.  I  still  think  however  that  the  fact  of  the  sur- 
render is  in  the  main  correct. 

September  24.  The  surrender  of  Lexington  fully  authen- 
ticated. Mulligan  and  all  the  officers  prisoners.  The  Doctor  (Dr. 
Butler)  slightly  wounded.  Men  released  and  on  their  way  back. 
I  am  greatly  cast  down  by  the  news.  Mulligan  is  the  hero  of 
the  war  now.    The  details  only  increase  his  merit  in  all  eyes. 

September  25.  Papers  full  of  the  Brigade  and  its  glories. 
No  movement  at  Washington.    Kentucky  in  arms. 

November  6.  Tonight  a  party  of  us  held  a  meeting  at  the 
Tremont  House  to  arrange  and  plan  a  suitable  reception  for 
Mulligan  who  is  expected  tomorrow  night.  Had  a  telegram  from 
him.  There  was  great  spirit  and  enthusiasm.  Telegraphed  to 
J.  A.  M.  "Chicago  hopes  to  greet  you  Friday  night." 

November  7.  The  Mulligan  affair  is  now  the  local  theme, 
the  popular  topic.  Everything  goes  on  well  and  promises  finely 
for  the  ovation.  Another  meeting  tonight.  Had  to  stay  down 
town  until  a  late  hour  getting  things  in  shape.  Met  Colonel 
David  Stuart  of  Bush  notoriety.  Met  also  Colonel  Tucker  who 
is  to  be  Chief  Marshall  on  the  occasion. 

November  8.  At  Tremont  House  at  twelve  o'clock  with 
Colonel  Tucker.  The  affair  will  be  a  grand  one  and  no  mistake. 
Went  with  delegation  and  a  big  crowd  to  Joliet  to  meet  the 
Colonel.  We  had  a  great  time.  He  came  and  is  still  the  same 
J.  A.  M.  as  of  yore.  Mrs.  Mulligan  and  the  Baby  alone.  Great 
uproar.  General  enthusiasm  and  hilarity.  Grand  success  of 
demonstration  in  Chicago.  Rode  with  Mrs.  Mulligan  and  party 
to  Tremont. 


NEWS  AND  COMMENTS 

The  stream  of  Marquette  memorials,  the  surprising  volume 
of  which  was  suggested  by  an  illuminating  article  in  the  April 
Mid-America,  gives  no  indication  of  running  dry.  A  recent  con- 
tribution under  this  head  is  a  mural  painting  by  Edgar  S.  Cam- 
eron, Chicago  artist,  depicting  the  landing  of  Louis  Jolliet  and 
Pierre  Marquette  at  the  Chicago  Portage  in  September,  1673.  It 
was  dedicated  April  5,  1931,  at  the  Riverside  (Cook  County, 
Illinois)  library  where  it  constitutes  a  panel.  Near  it  is  a  dec- 
orative map  by  George  G.  Conner  indicating  the  famous  Chicago 
Portage  between  the  Des  Plaines  and  the  Chicago  Rivers.  This 
was  one  of  the  so-called  "keys  of  the  Continent,"  linking  up  as 
it  did  the  two  great  water-systems  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the 
Mississippi.  The  first  white  men  known  to  have  used  it  were 
Jolliet  and  Marquette,  who  are  accordingly  reckoned  its  dis- 
coverers. Both  painting  and  map  were  made  especially  for  the 
library  and  are  the  gift  of  Robert  Somerville,  president  of  the 
Riverside  library  board. 


.  Another  Marquette  memorial  of  recent  date  was  a  float  in 
one  of  the  parades  that  crowded  the  streets  of  Chicago  during 
a  civic  jubilee-week  celebration  (May,  1931).  This  float,  which 
was  Loyola  University's  contribution  to  the  celebration,  won  the 
first-prize  trophy  for  the  best  reproduction  of  a  scene  from  Chi- 
cago history.  The  parade  in  which  it  appeared  took  place  on 
May  18,  the  two  hundred  and  fifty-sixth  anniversary  of  Mar- 
quette's death.  The  float  "portrayed  Marquette  and  six  Indians 
landing  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan  at  the  present  site  of 
Chicago.  In  a  canoe  towards  the  rear  of  the  forty-foot  float 
stood  Father  Marquette.  In  the  front,  around  a  tepee,  were 
grouped  the  Indians.  The  float  was  particularly  noticeable  be- 
cause of  its  utter  simplicity,  in  sharp  contrast  with  the  majority 
of  the  floats  in  the  parade  which  were  elaborate  creations.  Loy- 
ola's float  took  two  days  to  build  and  cost  about  two  hundred 
dollars." 


The  week  March  9-17,  1931,  witnessed  the  bi-centennial  cele- 
bration of  the  founding  of  the  city  of  San  Antonio,  Texas,  and 
the  Franciscan  Missions  of  the  locality,  La  Purisima  Concepcion, 


73 


74  NEWS  AND  COMMENTS 

San  Juan,  San  Francisco.  It  was  a  memorable  occasion  made 
outstanding  by  the  participation  in  it  of  the  highest  dignitaries 
in  Church  and  State.  Cardinal  Hayes  and  other  members  of 
the  American  Catholic  hierarchy,  Governor  Sterling  of  Texas, 
and  Mayor  Chambers  of  San  Antonio  were  among  the  notables 
that  took  an  active  part  in  the  celebration.  Said  Mayor  Cham- 
bers in  an  official  proclamation  announcing  Bi-Centenial  Week 
and  calling  upon  all  citizens  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  great 
anniversary:  "Behold  the  mute  witness  of  that  romantic,  thrill- 
ing and  heroic  past  of  San  Antonio  and  her  environs :  the  Span- 
ish Governor's  Palace  recently  restored  by  an  appreciative  citi- 
zenry, which  will  be  rededicated  during  this  celebration;  our  old 
San  Fernando  Cathedral,  in  whose  shadow  solemn  and  inspiring 
religious  functions  will  take  place  and  whose  bells  have  an- 
nounced the  messages  of  victory  and  peace  to  a  grateful  citi- 
zenry throughout  our  long  history;  the  venerable  Franciscan 
Missions  whose  age  stained  walls  proclaim  the  faith  and  the 
vision  of  the  brownclad  Padres  who  brought  Christianty  and 
civilization  to  Texas;  and  finally  our  Alamo,  cradle  of  Texas 
liberty,  whose  walls  were  consecrated  with  the  blood  of  our 
heroic  patriots.  These  all  proclaim  the  romance  and  heroism  of 
San  Antonio's  storied  past." 

Both  the  civic  and  religious  life  of  the  historic  Texas  city 
run  back  for  their  ultimate  source  to  the  missionary  zeal  of  the 
devoted  friars  who  made  of  the  vast  Texas  reaches  a  conquest 
of  their  own  for  the  cause  of  civilization  and  the  Church. 


Mid- America  called  attention  in  its  preceding  issue  (April, 
1931)  to  the  recently  published  monumental  work  of  Dr.  Herbert 
E.  Bolton  on  the  Anza  expeditions  that  led  to  the  founding  of 
San  Francisco.  Here  it  takes  pleasure  in  noting  another  vol- 
uminous historical  project  of  high  rank  which  is  now  under 
way.  This  is  the  Southwest  Historical  Series,  a  collection  of 
documents  hitherto  unpublished  or  inaccessible  depicting  social 
and  economic  conditions  in  the  Southwest  during  the  nineteenth 
century.  The  series,  which  is  being  edited  in  its  entirety  by 
Dr.  Ralph  P.  Bieber  of  Washington  University,  St.  Louis,  has 
for  publisher  the  Arthur  H.  Clarke  Company,  formerly  of  Cleve- 
land, now  of  Glendale,  California.  The  initial  volume,  James 
Josiah  Webb's  Adventures  on  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  recently  off 


NEWS  AND  COMMENTS  75 

the  press,  reaches  a  high  level  of  scholarly  editorial  treatment. 
Dr.  Bieber's  intimate  acquaintance  in  all  its  phases  with  the 
general  background  of  Southwest  history  during  the  frontier 
period  and  with  the  bibliographical  resources  available  for  study 
in  this  field  particularly  qualify  him  to  edit  a  series  such  as  the 
present  with  success.  It  is  contemplated  to  complete  publication 
within  five  or  six  years.  All  in  all,  the  finished  series  will 
take  rank  with  such  well  known  documentary  collections  as 
Thwaites's  Jesuit  Relations  and  Western  Travels  and  Robert- 
son's Phillipine  Documents. 


Agnes  Laut  in  her  recently  issued  Cadillac,  which  is  reviewed 
in  the  present  number  of  Mid-America,  sees  Saint  Vallier,  the 
second  bishop  of  Quebec,  as  a  disciple  of  Loyola.  "Cadillac  had 
little  sympathy  and  still  less  in  common  with  the  strict  rule  of 
the  Jesuit  Saint  Vallier."  Of  course  Jean-Baptiste  de  Saint 
Vallier  was  in  point  of  fact  a  diocesan  or  secular  clergyman  and 
not  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  The  error  in  Miss  Laut's 
book  is  not  a  mere  lapsus  calami  or  casual  inaccuracy,  of  a  kind 
with  those  from  which  even  the  most  meticulous  of  historians 
are  not  immune;  it  is  symptomatic  of  the  general  haze  of  in- 
exactitude and  misconception  into  which  she  drifts  whenever  she 
attempts  to  explain  the  part  played  by  the  Jesuit  missionaries 
in  her  story.  Biography,  which  is  nothing  else  than  the  history 
of  an  individual,  is  bound  by  the  same  laws  which  regulate  or 
are  supposed  to  regulate  the  compilation  of  history  and  among 
these  laws  none  is  more  outstanding  than  the  one  which  requires, 
not  necessarily  an  unsympathetic,  but  at  any  rate  an  unpartisan 
and  objective  attitude  towards  the  subject  in  hand. 


BOOK  REVIEWS 

The  Trans-Mississippi  West:  Papers  Read  at  a  Conference  Held 
at  the  University  of  Colorado,  June  18-June  21, 1929.  Edited 
by  James  F.  Willard  and  Colin  B.  Goodykoontz.  Boulder, 
University  of  Colorado,  1930,  pp.  366,  $2.00. 

The  University  of  Colorado  and  Professor  James  F.  Willard 
are  to  be  congratulated  for  making  possible  this  pioneer  con- 
ference on  the  History  of  the  Trans-Mississippi  West.  Bringing 
together  the  leading  specialists  in  the  field,  the  conference  per- 
formed a  service  of  both  local  and  national  significance.  We 
can  heartily  agree  with  Professor  Willard  that  "similar  meet- 
ings in  other  districts  would  do  much  to  supplement  the  activ- 
ities of  the  American  Historical  Association,  and  would  greatly 
aid  state  and  more  purely  local  historical  societies  in  their 
work." 

Sixteen  papers  were  presented  at  this  conference.  They 
dealt  with  a  variety  of  important  subjects,  but  only  ten  can  be 
mentioned  here.  Of  these,  one  was  a  synthesis,  three  involved 
problems  of  interpretation  or  emphasis,  and  six  were  intensive 
investigations  of  specific  subjects. 

The  synthesis,'  given  by  the  leading  scholar  in  the  field,  was 
Herbert  E.  Bolton's  "Defensive  Spanish  Expansion  and  the  Sig- 
nificance of  the  Borderlands."  Based  upon  many  years  of  ex- 
tensive research,  Professor  Bolton  described,  in  clear  and  vig- 
orous language,  the  origin  and  importance  of  the  old  Spanish 
Borderlands,  which  were  the  fusing  place  of  two  streams  of 
European  civilization.  He  pointed  out  that,  except  for  New 
Mexico,  Spanish  colonization  in  the  northern  borderlands  was 
primarily  defensive  in  its  origin.  Slender  though  these  Spanish 
outposts  were,  they  have  left  a  permanent  impress  upon  a  large 
part  of  what  is  now  the  United  States. 

The  three  papers  that  involved  problems  of  interpretation  or 
emphasis  were:  Frederic  L.  Paxson's  "Finance  and  the  Fron- 
tier," Eugene  C.  Barker's  "On  the  Historiography  of  American 
Territorial  Expansion,"  and  Walter  P.  Webb's  "The  Great  Plains 
and  the  Industrial  Revolution."  Professor  Paxson  gave  an  ex- 
cellent presentation  of  the  hitherto  unworked  field  of  finance 
and  its  relation  to  frontier  history.  The  story  of  how  the  debtor 
frontiersman  dug  into  the  soil,  made  a  living  for  himself  and 
family,  and  finally  accumulated  sufficient  capital  to  meet  his 

76 


BOOK  REVIEWS  77 

financial  obligations,  is  still  untold  and  is  of  tremendous  interest 
to  the  historian  of  society.  Professor  Barker  presented  some 
pertinent  reflections,  based  upon  his  researches,  on  the  motives 
and  methods  which  have  operated  in  our  acquisition  of  the  West. 
He  demonstrated  that  certain  psychological  attitudes,  such  as 
a  sympathy  for  the  weak  and  unfortunate,  a  desire  to  write 
cleverly,  a  tendency  to  discredit  American  officials,  and  a  naive 
assumption  that  foreign  diplomats  have  always  told  the  truth, 
were  responsible  for  much  misapprehension  of  this  phase  of 
western  history.  As  a  remedy  Professor  Barker  suggested  that 
historians  "measure  the  actions  of  the  American  government  by 
the  same  practical  standards  of  national  usage  which  we  apply 
to  other  peoples  and  other  governments,  and  not  by  the  ideal 
standards  of  an  international  Utopia."  Professor  Webb  offered 
an  entirely  new  interpretation  of  the  delayed  settlement  of  the 
Great  Plains.  When  the  advancing  frontier  reached  the  Great 
Plains,  it  found  the  old  technique  of  pioneering  altogether  inade- 
quate, and  was  forced  to  await  the  invention  of  new  tools  before 
occupying  this  vast  empire.  To  support  his  contention,  Pro- 
fessor Webb  described  the  introduction  and  use  of  the  "six- 
shooter,"  barbed  wire,  the  windmill,  and  new  farming  imple- 
ments. 

Six  papers  represented  intensive  investigations  of  specific 
subjects:  Gilbert  J.  Garraghan's  "Nicolas  Point,  Jesuit  Mis- 
sionary in  Montana  of  the  Forties,"  John  C.  Parish's  "By  Sea 
to  California,"  Colin  B.  Goodykoontz's  "Protestant  Home  Mis- 
sions and  Education  in  the  Trans-Mississippi  West,  1835-1860," 
LeRoy  R.  Hafen's  "Hand  Cart  Migration  Across  the  Plains," 
Louis  Pelzer's  "Trails  of  the  Trans-Mississippi  Cattle  Frontier," 
and  Archer  B.  Hulbert's  "Undeveloped  Factors  in  the  Life  of 
Marcus  Whitman."  Utilizing  unpublished  sources  in  places  as 
widely  apart  as  St.  Louis,  Montreal,  and  Rome,  Father  Gar- 
raghan  gave  an  excellent  description  of  the  missionary  activities 
of  Nicolas  Point,  who  labored  among  the  Indian  tribes  of  the 
Rocky  Mountain  region  between  1841  and  1847.  Father  Gar- 
raghan  stressed  Point's  career  in  what  is  now  eastern  Montana, 
and  related  how  this  famous  missionary  lived  with  the  Indians, 
shared  their  discomforts,  followed  them  about  in  their  periodical 
hunts,  "and,  in  fine,  gave  himself  up  to  spend  and  be  spent  in 
ministering  to  their  needs."  Father  Point,  and  not  Father  de 
Smet,  was  the  typical  Jesuit  missionary  in  the  Rocky  Mountain 


78  BOOK  REVIEWS 

field  in  the  forties.  Professor  Parish  delved  among  old  news- 
papers and  unpublished  manuscripts  to  obtain  material  for  his 
interesting  story  of  the  "sea  trails"  to  California  in  1849.  He 
stated  that  the  fatalities  of  the  sea  journey  were  far  less  than 
those  of  the  overland  trek,  but  that  traveling  by  ship  left  the  in- 
dividual with  soft  muscles  and  manifestly  unprepared  for  the 
rigors  of  mining  life.  He  also  asserted  that  the  sea-goers  were 
the  first  argonauts  to  leave  "the  States"  for  California  and  that 
they  started  considerably  earlier  than  the  overland  emigrants; 
but,  in  the  opinion  of  the  reviewer,  the  latter  statement  must  be 
modified,  for  overland  emigrants  left  Texas  for  the  gold  fields  as 
early  as  January,  1849.  Professor  Goodykoontz's  paper  dealt 
with  certain  phases  of  New  England's  interest  in  education  and 
religion  in  the  West  during  the  quarter  century  preceding  the 
Civil  War.  Though  the  principal  reason  for  Protestant  mission- 
ary activity  in  the  West  was  religious,  a  belief  in  the  manifest 
destiny  of  the  Protestant  faith  and  in  the  existence  of  bad  moral 
and  social  conditions  among  the  western  pioneers,  were  additional 
motives.  Protestant  missionaries  likewise  established  colleges 
and  furnished  competent  teachers  for  the  elementary  schools. 
Dr.  Hafen,  in  discussing  the  short-lived  use  of  hand  carts  by 
emigrants  traversing  the  prairies,  declared  that  Brigham  Young 
suggested  this  method  of  transportation  for  the  benefit  of  the 
poorer  classes  of  Mormons,  and  that  ten  hand  cart  companies 
crossed  the  plains  to  Utah  between  1856  and  1860.  Dr.  Hafen 
made  no  mention  of  the  use  of  hand  carts  by  Pike's  Peakers. 
Professor  Pelzer  assembled  very  important  material  relating  to 
cattle  on  the  frontier,  and  described  the  profits  of  cattle  driving, 
the  experiences  of  individual  drovers,  and  the  statistics  of  the 
cattle  drives.  But  the  main  subject  of  his  paper,  cattle  trails, 
was  treated  only  incidentally  and  at  times  inaccurately.  Pro- 
fessor Hulbert  based  his  paper  on  some  hitherto  unused  sources 
relating  to  Marcus  Whitman. 

Taken  as  a  whole,  the  papers  read  at  the  conference  main- 
tained a  high  standard  of  excellence.  They  showed  what  prog- 
ress had  been  made  in  recent  years  in  the  study  of  the  Trans- 
Mississippi  West.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  success  of  this  con- 
ference will  lead  to  others  of  a  similar  nature. 

Ralph  P.  Bieber,  Ph.  D. 
Washington  University 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 


BOOK  REVIEWS  79 

Stout  Cortez.  A  Biography  of  the  Spanish  Conquest.    By  Henry 
Morton  Robinson.    The  Century  Co.,  New  York,  pp.  347. 

A  gripping,  glamorous,  romantic,  and  not  altogether  inac- 
curate account  of  the  life  of  one  of  the  greatest,  if  not  the  great- 
est, of  the  Spanish  conquistadors,  this  biography  should  appeal 
to  the  average  reader.  No  episode  in  American  history  can 
compare  with  the  dramatic  and  heroic  quality,  epic  if  you  please, 
of  Hernando  Cortez  and  the  little  band  of  determined  and  fearless 
men  that  single-handed,  in  defiance  of  the  authority  of  the 
treacherous  governor  of  Cuba  who  had  sent  them,  undertook 
to  conquer  the  mighty  empire  of  the  Aztecs  for  their  own  per- 
sonal gain  and  glory. 

On  the  whole  the  author  is  enthusiastically  sympathetic  with 
the  bold  adventurer  and  his  companions  and  the  reader  ex- 
periences the  thrill  of  conquest,  the  exhilaration  of  hand  to  hand 
conflict,  the  heart  pangs  of  thwarted  ambition,  and  the  encircling 
gloom  of  ingratitude  and  disillusion  that  slowly  but  inexorably 
close  about  the  hero  in  the  last  years  of  his  life.  Not  only  does 
the  character  of  Cortez  stand  out.  In  sharp  contrast  to  his 
boundless  resourcefulness  and  courage  stands  the  pathetic  figure 
of  the  Aztec  emperor  Montezuma,  who  like  a  Hamlet  of  the  new 
world,  hesitates,  doubts,  wavers,  and  finally  falls  a  pitiful  victim 
to  his  own  indecision.  The  character  of  the  virile  defender 
of  Mexico  City  after  the  death  of  the  unfortunate  emperor, 
Cuauhtemoc,  is  vividly  portrayed  and  true  admiration  for  his 
noble  and  determined  stand  against  the  Spaniards  is  expressed. 

In  simple  yet  pleasing  style,  with  vigor  and  dash  to  suit  the 
stirring  episodes  depicted,  the  story  of  the  life  of  this  singular 
man  and  his  companions  is  told  with  a  vividness  that  falls  short 
of  reality.  There  is  no  new  fact  brought  out,  no  attempt  to 
utilize  recent  material.  The  author  has  contributed  nothing 
from  the  point  of  view  of  scholarship  to  the  studies  of  the  life 
of  Cortez.  On  the  whole  the  traditional  accounts  of  Bancroft 
and  Prescott  are  followed  closely  and  the  book  makes  no  pretense 
of  being  a  scholarly  study.  It  is  a  popular  restatement,  ably 
and  pleasingly  put  together,  of  the  traditional  life  of  one  of  the 
most  picturesque  figures  in  the  history  of  America.  There  is 
not  a  single  footnote  to  indicate  the  sources  used.  Some  of  the 
quotations  can  be  traced  directly  to  Bernal  Diaz  del  Castillo, 
that  strong-armed  companion  of  Cortez  who  added  to  his  mili- 
tary prowess  the  gift  of  a  good  story  teller;  others  are  more 


30  BOOK  REVIEWS 

difficult  to  identify.  Only  one  of  the  illustrations  used  in  the 
book — and  there  are  a  good  many,  well  chosen — gives  the  source 
from  which  it  is  taken.  All  the  illustrations  are  reproduced  as 
a  courtesy  of  the  Hispanic  Society  of  America. 

Though  the  biography  cannot  be  called  a  scholarly  piece  of 
work  and  though  it  adds  nothing  to  the  available  information  on 
this  remarkable  conqueror,  administrator,  and  benefactor  of 
Indian  Mexico,  still  it  is  a  welcomed  addition  to  our  popular  his- 
torical literature.  The  average  person  will  read  it  with  pleasure 
and  profit,  for  it  cannot  fail  to  arouse  the  interest  of  even  the 
most  indifferent  reader. 

C.  E.  Castaneda,  Ph.  D. 

Latin  American  Librarian 
University  of  Texas 

Cadillac.   By  Agnes  C.  Laut.   Indianapolis,  Bobbs-Merrill,  1931, 
pp.  298,  illustrations,  maps. 

This  book  is,  according  to  the  author,  the  first  biography  of 
Antoine  de  Lamothe,  Sieur  de  Cadillac,  founder  of  Detroit  and 
one  of  the  early  governors  of  Louisiana.  Information  about 
Cadillac's  career  has  been  both  sparse  and  contradictory,  the 
latter  perhaps  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  he  appears  to  have 
been  prone  to  incur  the  enmity  of  many  of  his  contempor- 
aries. In  the  explanatory  chapter  at  the  beginning  of  her 
narrative,  the  author  says:  "Cadillac  would  not  mold  to  any 
hand.  He  would  neither  bend  nor  break,  and  kept  his  inner  self 
hidden  as  under  an  iron  mask  from  all  except  his  family,  Louis 
XIV  and  Frontenac."  At  this  point  it  is  interesting  to  note  what 
another  writer  says  of  Cadillac.  Bishop  Schlarman  in  his  From 
Quebec  to  New  Orleans  (1929),  says:  "At  Michillimackinac 
and  Detroit  he  [Cadillac]  had  quarrels  with  the  Jesuits,  chiefly 
because  of  their  opposition  to  the  brandy  trade  with  the  Indians. 
Vaudreuil  and  Raudot,  governor  and  intendant,  respectively,  of 
Canada,  accused  him  of  'looking  out  for  himself  first  .  .  .  '  and 
of  'being  equally  hated  by  the  troops,  by  the  inhabitants,  and  by 
the  savages.'  " 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  faults  of  Cadillac's  disposition, 
he  undoubtedly  played  an  important  part  in  the  development  of 
New  France.  His  enduring  friendship  with  the  strong-willed 
and  hot-headed  Frontenac,  and  his  loyalty  to  Louis  XIV  were 
dominant  traits  of  his  character. 


BOOK  REVIEWS  81 

Born  at  St.  Nicolas  de  la  Grave,  France,  in  1658,  Cadillac  was 
a  cadet  in  the  French  army  by  1677.  In  1683  he  was  sent  to 
America  by  Louis  XIV.  In  1687  he  married  Therese  Guyon, 
whom  he  had  probably  met  in  Port  Royal.  Madame  Cadillac 
seems  to  have  helped  him  in  his  career  throughout  by  her  prac- 
ticality and  her  co-operation  in  all  his  projects. 

After  several  years  at  Mackinac  Cadillac  decided  that  the 
site  where  the  city  of  Detroit  now  stands  was  of  strategic  im- 
portance in  the  control  of  the  fur  trade  with  the  Indians,  and  he 
finally  carried  out  his  project  of  establishing  there  a  fort,  which 
he  named  Pontchartrain.  Probably  the  happiest  years  of  his 
life  were  spent  there,  laying  the  foundation  of  a  prosperous  city, 
Detroit.  If  he  hoped  to  spend  the  remainder  of  his  life  there, 
he  was  doomed  to  disappointment.  Greater  still  would  have 
been  his  sorrow  if  he  could  have  foreseen  that  all  the  country 
he  helped  to  develop  for  France  was  first  to  pass  into  English 
hands  and  later  to  become  part  of  a  great  new  nation  undreamed 
of  in  his  day. 

Cadillac's  career  seems  to  divide  naturally  into  two  parts.  In 
the  first  he  progressed  steadily  toward  the  attainment  of  his 
ambition,  the  founding  of  Pontchartrain.  This  might  be  called 
the  high  point  of  his  career.  His  appointment  as  governor  of 
Louisiana,  a  position  which  he  unwillingly  took  in  1712,  was  a 
sharp  break  in  his  life.  After  his  dismissal  from  the  governor- 
ship in  1717  he  returned  to  France,  where  he  was  caught  "in 
the  vortex  of  the  Mississippi  Bubble"  and  was  sent  to  the  Bastile. 
The  remaining  years  of  his  life  after  his  release  from  prison 
were  spent  near  Castelsarrasin,  where  he  died  in  1730. 

The  portions  of  the  book  dealing  with  Detroit  give  a  definite 
idea  of  Cadillac's  purposes  and  actions ;  but  the  parts  relating  to 
his  life  in  Louisiana,  and  the  causes  of  his  dismissal  from  the 
governorship  are  but  vaguely  defined.  The  story  of  Juchereau 
de  St.  Denis  and  some  of  the  stories  about  Bienville  are  inter- 
esting in  themselves,  but  distract  attention  from  the  central 
figure,  Cadillac,  and  tend  to  obscure  the  clearness  of  the  nar- 
rative. 

The  illustrations  are  noteworthy,  some  being  reproductions 
of  paintings  in  the  National  Gallery  of  Canada.  The  end  papers 
are  reproductions  of  maps  of  Louisiana,  prepared  either  by 
Cadillac  himself,  or  by  the  engineer,  De  Lery,  under  Cadillac's 
direction,  according  to  the  author's  statement. 


82  BOOK  REVIEWS 

The  book  is  somewhat  marred  by  slovenliness  of  style.  In- 
stances are :  "Death  and  taxes  have  to  be  paid" ;  "A  light  might 
be  seen  in  some  towers  where  Jesuit  scholars  were  peering  their 
eyes  out  over  some  old  Latin  tome" ;  or  the  rather  complicated 
statement:  "When  Old  France  thought  to  dictate  all  prices  from 
beaver  bought  to  calico  sold,  she  invited  the  very  same  rebellion 
which  confronted  the  defeated  England  over  a  tea-tax  in  Bos- 
ton." Such  phrases  give  the  impression  that  the  writing  was 
done  hurriedly  or  carelessly.  The  sources  from  which  the  author 
drew  her  information  are  mentioned  in  the  foreword. 

Ethel  Owen  Merrill 

Oak  Park,  Illinois 

The  Journal  of  the  American  Irish  Historical  Society,  1930-1931, 
v.  XXIX.    Published  by  the  Society,  New  York,  1931,  pp.  344. 

This  annual  volume  of  the  American  Irish  Historical  Society 
is  divided  into  five  sections,  the  reports  of  officers  and  commit- 
tees, the  annual  banquet,  the  historical  papers,  the  necrology 
and  the  membership  roll.  In  the  report  of  one  of  the  officials, 
James  McGurrin,  the  secretary-general,  is  found  this  interesting 
statement:  "Since  our  last  General  Meeting  this  Society  has 
secured  no  less  than  715  new  members,  an  achievement  never 
exceeded  before."  At  the  thirty-third  annual  banquet  held  at 
the  Hotel  Pennsylvania,  January  31,  1931,  noteworthy  addresses 
were  delivered  by  John  Kenlon,  the  president-general,  Clare  G. 
Fenerty  and  John  P.  O'Brien.  These  three  presentations  were 
not  strictly  historical  but  rather  eulogistic  in  spirit  and  expres- 
sion. 

The  historical  papers  comprise  twenty  short  essays  on  vari- 
ous Irish  phases  of  American  history.  In  his  "The  First  Irish- 
men in  America,"  R.  J.  Kelly  presents  a  fine  study  on  the  two 
Irishmen  who  accompanied  Columbus  on  his  first  voyage  to  the 
New  World.  "Irish  Art"  is  the  subject  of  an  essay  by  Mary 
Manahan.  A  very  enlightening  article,  "Early  Irish  Settlers  in 
Milwaukee,"  is  contributed  by  Humphrey  Desmond.  Margaret 
McCormack  writes  interestingly  of  James  Napper  Tandy,  one  of 
the  United  Irishmen,  about  whom  were  written  the  well-known 
lines : 

"O!  I  met  with  Napper  Tandy 
And  he  took  me  by  the  hand, 


BOOK  REVIEWS  83 

And  he  said,  'How's  poor  old  Ireland, 
And  how  does  she  stand.'  " 

George  F.  O'Dwyer  reveals  some  results  of  his  research  in 
the  Old  Calvary  Cemetery,  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  the  Old 
Cabotsville  Cemetery,  Chicopee,  Massachusetts,  1840-1850,  and 
St.  Paul's  Catholic  Cemetery,  Blackstone,  Massachusetts,  indi- 
cating that  much  more  work  can  be  done  in  this  source  of  early 
Irish- American  history.  Cornelius  Harnett,  a  prominent  figure 
in  the  history  of  North  Carolina,  is  the  subject  of  an  essay  by 
John  G.  Coyle.  William  M.  Sweeney  contributes  a  brief  article 
on  Patrick  Ronayne  Cleburne,  a  major-general  in  the  Confeder- 
ate army,  who  was  born  in  Cork,  Ireland.  Maryland  is  remem- 
bered in  a  brief  article  on  John  Van  Lear  McMahon,  who  played 
an  important  part  in  nineteenth  century  Maryland.  A  second 
contribution  by  George  F.  O'Dwyer,  "Some  Massachusetts 
Wills,"  is  taken  from  the  Probate  Records  of  Suffolk  and  Wor- 
cester counties.  "The  Mullanphys  of  St.  Louis"  is  the  subject 
of  an  essay  by  Francis  X.  Stephens,  Jr.  This  article  throws  no 
new  light  on  the  Mullanphy  family.  No  bibliography  or  refer- 
ences for  direct  quotations  accompany  the  presentation. 

A  remarkable  piece  of  work  is  contributed  by  Charles  Mon- 
tague Early  in  "Passenger  Lists"  obtained  from  The  Shamrock 
or  Irish  Chronicle  for  1815-1816.  The  list  includes  3,150  names 
of  persons  "from  whom  are  descended  perhaps  230,000  people 
living  today."  According  to  the  writer  "no  less  than  seventy- 
two  vessels  are  mentioned  as  having  arrived  at  various  American 
ports,  mainly  New  York;  from  certain  foreign  ports,  mainly 
Irish,  with  passengers  having  Irish  names"  within  the  year  be- 
ginning September,  1815.  Other  contributors  are  Marian  Sands, 
J.  Havergal  Sheppard,  Christopher  Colles,  William  Montgomery 
Sweeny,  Daniel  E.  McCarthy,  Arline  Scully,  Francis  Hackett  and 
Thomas  Ollive  Mabbott. 

The  historical  papers  are  extremely  brief,  with  two  or  three 
exceptions,  and  lack  proper  footnote  citations  and  indication  of 
sources,  though  in  these  last  two  aspects  an  improvement  is 
noted  over  the  volume  for  the  preceding  year. 

The  necrology  contains  the  names  of  William  Howard  Taft, 
Bishop  Louis  J.  O'Leary,  James  D.  Phelan  and  seventy-seven 
other  persons.  The  membership  list  shows  that  there  are  at 
present  3,001  members  including  2,802  annual  members,  one 
hundred  and  ninety-six  life  members  and  three  honorary  mem- 


S4  BOOK  REVIEWS 

bers.     An  index  of  subjects  and  an  index  of  persons  complete 
the  volume. 

George  Francis  Donovan,  Ph.  D. 
Webster  College 
Webster  Groves,  Mo. 

The  Story  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  in  Mississippi.  By  Reverend 
Mother  M.  Bernard  McGuire.  P.  J.  Kenedy  &  Sons,  New 
York,  $3.00. 

There  is  a  certain  fascination  in  this  account  of  the  Sisters 
of  Mercy  in  the  State  of  Mississippi,  written  so  modestly,  yet  so 
wisely,  and  withal  so  simply.  The  delightful  conversational  style 
carries  you  from  one  period  to  another  without  effort.  By  her 
simple  manner  of  narrating  little  incidents  so  interestingly  hu- 
man, Mother  Bernard  makes  you  feel  as  if  you  were  sitting  with 
the  Sisters  in  a  circle  around  her  listening  to  her  gentle  voice 
telling  you  of  each  Sister  or  priest.  Her  praise  of  their  work 
and. their  individual  characters  is  the  reflection  of  her  own  cul- 
tured mind. 

The  trials  and  hardships  of  war  and  yellow  fever  epidemics 
through  which  those  devoted  pioneer  nuns  passed  could  only 
be  met  by  the  strong  faith  which  animated  them  and  the  wise 
direction  of  their  superiors.  In  reading  this  volume  one  begins 
to  realize  the  training  necessary  to  develop  the  efficiency  shown 
in  their  system  of  intelligent  management.  Possibly  few,  save 
the  Sisters  alone,  know  of  the  remarkable  grasp  of  economic 
problems  possessed  by  these  women  whose  lives  were  apparently 
shielded  from  want  and  the  miseries  of  the  less  fortunate  of 
society. 

As  educators  these  Sisters  were  eminently  capable  and  well 
chosen,  but  their  labors  and  influence  had  a  far  wider  reach. 
Their  intelligent  assistance  to  the  Doctors  during  the  frightful 
epidemics  of  yellow  fever,  their  message  of  helpfulness  to  the 
sufferers,  their  unselfish  devotion  to  the  poor  and  humble,  both 
white  and  colored,  arouse  our  deepest  admiration  for  this  cour- 
ageous band  of  workers  whose  gentle  hands  lifted  many  burdens 
from  fainting  shoulders,  and  reanimated  the  virtues  of  faith, 
hope,  and  charity  in  countless  faltering  souls. 

The  book  has  an  added  interest  for  the  future  Catholic  his- 
torian for  it  tells  incidentally  of  the  progress  of  the  Catholic 
Church  in  the  state  of  Mississippi.     While  the  history  of  the 


BOOK  REVIEWS  85 

Sisters  of  Mercy  in  other  states  of  the  Union  may  be  similar  in 
many  respects  to  that  of  the  Sisters  of  Mississippi,  those  of 
Mississippi  are  more  fortunate  in  having  theirs  left  to  posterity 
by  one  so  gifted  as  Mother  Bernard. 

James  J.  O'Brien,  S.  J. 

Loyola  University 

New  Orleans,  La. 

Isabella  of  Spain,  the  Last  Crusader.  By  William  Thomas 
Walsh.  Robert  M.  McBride  and  Company,  New  York,  1931, 
pp.  xix+515,  $5.00. 

The  life  and  times  of  Queen  Isabella  of  Spain  will  have  for- 
ever, so  it  seems,  a  fascination  for  the  historian  and  the  teller 
of  tales.  For  years  this  period  of  Spanish  history  has  been 
tempting  ground  for  investigation  and  the  work  is  still  going  on 
unabated.  From  time  to  time  there  appears  a  work  in  the  field 
of  more  than  ordinary  merit — such  a  book  is  Isabella  of  Spain. 
Viewed  from  any  angle  it  is  different  from  the  general  run  of 
books  one  will  find  in  a  list  of  contemporary  biographies.  It  is 
an  oasis  in  the  desert  of  our  present  day  mudslinging  biography; 
it  is,  as  the  author  intended  that  it  should  be,  not  an  interpreta- 
tion of  the  period  or  its  movements;  it  is  the  history  of  a  great 
Queen  told  with  the  conception  of  a  poet,  the  art  of  a  novelist, 
and  the  perspective  of  a  historian.  However,  one  must  add  that 
the  poet  and  the  novelist  in  the  author  seem,  in  some  measure 
at  least,  to  outrank  the  historian. 

"Isabella  was  born  to  the  purple  in  no  ordinary  sense,"  the 
author  asserts  in  his  opening  sentence  and  thenceforward  he 
lets  the  course  of  events  shape  the  story,  which  the  casual 
reader  will  find  interesting.  To  the  person  with  a  knowledge  of 
the  era  it  will  be  doubly  so;  but  to  the  student  searching  for 
facts  it  will  prove  of  mediocre  value  for  the  author  is  not  the 
master  of  his  appended  notes  that  he  is  of  his  material;  these 
are  a  little  too  indefinite  to  be  of  much  aid  to  the  student.  The 
story  teller  reaches  the  height  of  his  glory  in  the  chapter  dealing 
with  the  capture  and  defense  of  Alhama  (p.  232  ff.) .  Then  it  is 
that  the  reader  forgets  the  medium  of  the  printed  page  as  the 
pageant  of  late  fifteenth  century  warfare  moves  swiftly  into 
action.  On  the  whole  it  is  an  excellent  biography  of  a  woman 
who  lived  through  and  influenced  greatly  one  of  the  most  crucial 
phases  of  Spain's  history.    The  influence  of  things  spiritual  upon 


85  BOOK  REVIEWS 

the  Queen  who  deserves  to  be  called  "America's  godmother"  is 
plainly  brought  out  and  the  portrait  is  one  which  will  not  soon 
be  forgotten. 

The  book  is  illustrated,  by  far  the  most  interesting  cuts  being 
from  contemporary  paintings  and  tapestries.  It  is  enriched 
greatly  by  the  front  and  back  end  papers,  which  are  from  a 
group  of  old  Burgundian  tapestries.  The  selected  bibliography 
which  follows  the  sketch  map  of  the  Iberian  peninsula  in  the 
fifteenth  century  explains  to  a  large  extent  the  author's  grasp 
of  the  material  which  he  marshals  on  his  pages. 

Harold  E.  Young,  M.  A. 

St.  Louis  University 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Hebrewisms  of  West  Africa — From  Nile  to  Niger  with  the  Jews. 
By  Joseph  J.  Williams,  S.  J.  New  York,  The  Dial  Press,  1930, 
pp.  xii-f443. 

We  have  here  a  critical  investigation  of  the  possible  origin 
of  Hebrew  cultural  elements  found  among  certain  West  African 
tribes,  notably  among  the  Ashanti,  from  whom  the  negroes  of 
Jamaica  are  descended.  Apparent  Hebraic  words  and  customs 
have  been  frequently  discovered  to  exist  by  missionaries  and 
travellers  among  many  savage  races  in  all  quarters  of  the  world ; 
but  it  is  one  thing  to  detect  a  similarity  and  quite  another  to 
prove  that  there  is  a  real  connection  between  existing  tribal 
practices  and  Jewish  customs  which  they  are  supposed  to  per- 
petuate. The  task  of  establishing  such  a  connection  Father 
Williams  has  carried  out  with  astonishing  thoroughness  by  ac- 
cumulating a  mass  of  evidence  that  will  convince  most  readers 
that  the  similarity  of  certain  Ashanti  customs  with  well  known 
Hebrew  rites  and  abuses  described  in  the  Old  Testament  are  not 
mere  coincidences. 

More  than  thirty  Hebrewisms  existing  among  the  Ashanti 
are  described.  They  are  words  or  practices  that  are  distinctly 
Jewish,  such  as  the  remarkable  similarity  of  the  Ashanti  Yame 
and  the  Hebrew  Yahweh,  the  Sabbath  rest,  the  Levirate  mar- 
riages, uncleanness  after  childbirth,  purification  ceremonies,  the 
duodecimal  division  of  tribes  into  families,  etc.,  etc.  Can  a 
plausible  reason  be  given  for  these  similarities? 

In  answering  this  question  Father  Williams  brings  forward 
all  the  available  evidence  that  shows  what  influence  Jews  have 


BOOK  REVIEWS  87 

had  on  African  tribes.  It  is  a  most  interesting  series  of  quota- 
tions relating  to  African  tribal  history  and  customs,  movements 
and  events,  garnered  from  all  manner  of  sources,  ancient  and 
modern:  from  geographers  and  historians,  travellers  and  mis- 
sionaries, archaeologists  and  anthropologists.  Facts  of  African 
history  that  make  us  gape  with  wonder,  fascinating  glimpses 
of  Jewish  enterprise  and  achievement  are  recounted  briefly — a 
Jewish  Kingdom  at  Ghana,  south  of  the  Sahara,  Jewish  colonies 
along  the  whole  northern  coast,  Jewish  commercial  centres  in 
the  heart  of  the  desert,  black  tribes  that  have  been  Judaized  to 
such  an  extent  as  to  become  devotees  of  the  liberal  arts  and  who 
collected  a  library  of  sixteen  hundred  tomes.  One  chapter  tells 
us  briefly  the  history  and  customs  of  the  Fallashas,  a  Jewish 
tribe  that  has  inhabited  Abyssinia  from  time  immemorial,  who 
pride  themselves  on  being  the  descendants  of  settlers  who  came 
to  that  country  in  the  days  of  King  Solomon ;  in  fact  they  claim 
as  their  founder  a  son  of  Solomon  and  the  Queen  of  Sheba, 
called  Menilek.  Another  chapter  informs  us  that  recent  tomb- 
stones found  near  the  site  of  ancient  Carthage  prove  that  the 
Jewish  community  of  that  famous  old  city  was  both  large  and 
influential  in  the  time  of  Hannibal ;  and  long  before  the  Christian 
era  many  Jewish  commercial  towns  existed  in  Cyrene,  Ethiopia, 
Libya,  Tarshish  and  Morocco.  When  these  settlements  were 
absorbed  or  destroyed  by  Roman,  Byzantine  and  Moslem  forces, 
the  Jews  who  would  not  give  up  their  faith  took  refuge  in  the 
desert,  where  they  founded  new  settlements.  There  is  evidence 
that  many  Berber  tribes  were  converted  to  Judaism,  and  other 
African  nations  were  controlled  or  directed  by  Jews.  Hence  the 
cultural  and  civilizing  influence  of  the  Hebrews  in  Northern 
Africa  was  very  considerable  at  various  periods  in  history,  as 
the  author  clearly  shows  by  numerous  quotations  from  reliable 
sources. 

Rightly,  however,  does  Father  Williams  set  aside  these 
sources  of  influence  to  account  for  the  Hebrewisms  found  among 
the  Ashanti.  The  Jewish  colonists  of  Northern  Africa  passed 
through  various  stages  of  Hellenic  culture  and  were  permeated 
with  the  traditional  spirit  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  whereas 
the  specific  customs  under  investigation  point  to  pre-exilic  rites 
and  practices.  Hence  they  must  be  traced  back  to  another 
source.  This  is  found  in  the  Hebrew  military  settlements  near 
the  first  cataract  of  the  Nile.    As  early  as  525  B.  c.  a  Jewish 


gg  BOOK  REVIEWS 

community  existed  on  the  Island  of  Elephantine,  which  had  its 
Temple  where  Yahweh  was  worshipped  under  the  name  of  Yahu. 
Probably  around  the  year  400  b.  c.  this  colony  was  destroyed  by 
the  Egyptians,  and  the  supposition  is  that  the  Jews  retreated 
further  up  the  Nile.  Later  on  there  was  a  constant  movement 
up  the  Nile  of  other  Jewish  refugees  and  traders,  and  various 
centres  of  Jewish  culture  must  have  been  established  in  the  heart 
of  Africa.  Of  this  we  are  not  certain,  but  there  is  sufficient  evi- 
dence to  justify  the  supposition.  The  author  supposes  that  some 
such  colonists  by  intermarriage  with  the  native  tribes  started 
the  Songhois  nation,  which  later  on  became  the  greatest  Empire 
in  Africa.  The  Songhois  gradually  moved  westward,  from  the 
Nile  to  Lake  Tchad,  and  thence  to  the  Niger.  A  large  section 
of  this  nation  later  embraced  Mohammedanism,  but  certain 
tribes  clung  tenaciously  to  their  ancient  faith.  From  the  Song- 
hois, therefore,  the  author  thinks  the  Ashanti  tribes  derived 
their  Hebrewisms. 

The  explanation  is  ingenious  and  logical.  It  is  not  set  forth 
as  certain,  but  the  evidence  presented  makes  it  seem  very  plaus- 
ible. The  author  deserves  the  thanks  of  all  students  of  history 
for  this  accumulation  of  material  on  African  tribal  customs  and 
Jewish  colonial  enterprise  in  Africa,  which  is  presented  scien- 
tifically with  due  reference  to  the  sources  and  copious  footnotes, 
a  very  extensive  bibliography  and  a  splendid  index.  The  average 
reader  will  find  the  book  informative  and  interesting,  the  student 
of  Jewish  history  will  look  upon  it  as  an  invaluable  aid  both  to 
profitable  reading  and  to  casual  reference. 

Henry  Willmering,  S.  J. 
St.  Louis  University 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Brother  Dutton  Memoirs.  Edited  by  Howard  D.  Case.  The  Hon- 
olulu Star-Bulletin,  Ltd.,  Honolulu,  1931,  pp.  242. 
In  Brother  Dutton  Memoirs  unfolds  the  story  of  a  life  whose 
beginning  and  end  were  equally  removed  in  time  and  place.  It 
is  a  newspaperman's  story  of  another  man's  life,  which  almost 
any  moment  of  its  eighty-eight  years  would  have  made  front 
page  copy.  "Ira  B.  Dutton  was  born  at  Stowe,  Vermont,  on 
April  27,  1843,"  the  author  tells  us  in  Chap.  Ill  after  having 
related  briefly  the  history  of  the  island  of  Molokai  and  its  de- 
velopment as  a  leper  colony.    From  that  day  on  until  he  was 


BOOK  REVIEWS  89 

received  into  the  Catholic  Church  in  1883  his  life  was  a  wander- 
ing one.  He  attended  the  "Old  Academy"  at  Janesville,  Wis- 
consin, whither  his  family  had  removed;  he  attended  Milton 
Academy  and  later  Milton  College.  He  was  by  turn  a  clerk  in  a 
bookstore,  bookbinder,  and  printer  before  he  was  through  his 
teens.  It  was  during  this  period  that  he  "signed  up"  with  the 
Janesville  Zouave  Corps,  which  later  became  Company  B  of  the 
13th  Wisconsin  Volunteer  Infantry,  a  regiment  which  saw  serv- 
ice in  Kansas,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Alabama,  Louisiana,  and 
Texas  during  the  course  of  the  Civil  War.  The  book  is  inter- 
spersed here  and  there  with  references  to  this  period  of  his  life 
and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  Ira  B.  Dutton  began  at  the 
bottom,  the  kicking  end  of  a  rifle,  and  was  mustered  out  a  cap- 
tain at  the  end  of  the  War.  In  1884  he  withdrew  from  the  Gov- 
ernment service  and  entered  shortly  thereafter  the  Trappist 
monastery  at  Gethsemani,  Kentucky,  where  the  remained  for 
twenty  months,  leaving  because  he  felt  that  in  the  quiet  solitude 
of  that  Order  he  could  not  accomplish  as  much  for  his  fellowmen 
as  he  desired  to  accomplish.  On  the  morning  of  July  29,  1886, 
between  the  reflecting  blue  of  the  Hawaiian  sea  and  the  green 
hills  of  Molokai  a  stranger  spoke  to  Father  Damien,  already 
famous  for  his  mission  to  the  poor  outcasts  of  society : 

"I  am  Joseph  Dutton,  a  lay  brother"  .  .  .  "and  I  have  come 
here  to  help  you  carry  on  your  good  work."  .  .  . 

"I  need  you.  Jump  up  here  alongside  of  me  and  we  will  ride 
over  to  the  settlement." 

That  was  Joseph  Dutton's  initiation  to  Molokai  and  the  be- 
ginning of  his  forty-four  years  of  uninterrupted  service  to  man- 
kind, which  ended  with  his  death,  March  26,  1931. 

The  book  is  well  and  understandingly  edited  by  one  who  has 
caught  between  covers  which  partake  somewhat  of  the  green 
verdure  of  the  islands  from  whose  sea-washed  shores  they  have 
issued,  something  of  the  spiritual  purpose  and  self-sacrifice  that 
played  so  great  a  part  in  determining  Brother  Dutton's  life.  It 
has  been  compiled  from  the  latter's  correspondence  with  his  ex- 
pressed permission  and  is  supplemented  by  numerous  photo- 
graphs used  by  the  special  permission  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii. 
The  editor  has  supplied  an  interesting  treatise  on  a  day  spent  on 
the  island  while  the  chapter  dealing  with  the  leprosy  situation 
in  Hawaii  should  prove  worthwhile  to  those  interested  from  a 
medical  point  of  view. 


90  BOOK  REVIEWS 

Brother  Dutton  School,  Beloit,  Wisconsin,  has  the  United 
States'  agency  for  the  book. 

Harold  E.  Young,  M.  A. 
St.  Louis  University 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 

The  Hogan  Schism  and  Trustee  Troubles  in  St.  Mary's  Church, 
Philadelphia,  1820-1829.  By  Francis  E.  Tourscher,  O.  S.  A. 
Philadelphia,  The  Peter  Reilly  Company,  1930,  pp.  xxii-j-234. 

Father  Tourscher's  volume  recounts  the  history  of  one  of  the 
celebrated  cases  in  the  unhappy  series  of  agitations  collectively 
known  as  the  Trustee  Troubles.  Commencing  shortly  after  the 
close  of  the  American  Revolution  and  continuing  well  into  the 
middle  of  the  last  century,  small  groups  of  malcontents  in  New 
York,  Charleston,  Baltimore,  New  Orleans,  to  mention  but  a  few 
localities,  carried  on  deliberate  and  often  long  continued  cam- 
paigns of  resistence  to  episcopal  authority  and  to  the  canonically 
appointed  pastors  of  their  respective  churches.  All  too  often 
these  willful  groups  were  aided  and  abetted  by  the  schemings 
of  unworthy  clerics  whose  patronge  of  the  elements  of  discontent 
aided  the  propagation  and  continuance  of  what  probably  con- 
situted  the  gravest  internal  menace  that  ever  afflicted  the 
Church  in  the  United  States. 

Philadelphia  had  been  the  seat  of  similar  troubles  for  some 
years  previous  to  the  time  when  the  Rev.  William  Hogan,  a 
priest  of  the  diocese  of  Limerick,  in  Ireland,  took  up  his  pastoral 
duties  at  Saint  Mary's  Church  in  that  city  in  April,  1820.  The 
events  associated  with  Hogan's  subsequent  career  in  Philadelphia 
form  the  major  portion  of  the  present  volume. 

The  author  has  made  a  careful  and  searching  effort  to  pre- 
sent a  sober  and  connected  narrative  of  the  unhappy  contro- 
versy. That  he  has  succeeded  to  a  degree  surpassing  that  of 
the  other  authors  who  have  essayed  to  narrate  the  history  of 
the  schism,  few  will  deny.  Evidently  the  product  of  a  wide  and 
careful  study  of  pertinent  source  material,  the  volume  has  been 
rendered  doubly  useful  to  the  student  of  the  development  of 
canonical  legislation  in  the  American  Church  by  the  inclusion  of 
many  of  the  major  documents  of  the  controversy. 

Unfortunately  the  documentation  betrays  at  times  a  de- 
parture from  the  now  generally  accepted  norms  of  presentation 
for  works  of  historical  research.    The  citation  of  authorities  is 


BOOK  REVIEWS  91 

not  always  consistent  in  form,  and  at  times  leaves  much  to  be 
desired.  The  volume  also  lacks  a  bibliography  or  critical  essay 
on  the  sources,  a  serious  handicap  to  the  reader  or  student  who 
might  wish  to  study  the  Hogan  Schism  in  relation  to  the  trustee 
troubles  in  the  country  generally.  A  variation  in  the  size  of 
type  used,  especially  in  the  case  of  documents  reproduced,  would 
have  added  to  the  appearance  of  the  page,  in  addition  to  lending 
emphasis  to  the  class  of  material  used. 

Yet  the  evident  merits  of  the  work  greatly  overbalance  these 
defects.  The  author  has  evinced  a  judicial  temper  in  narrating 
the  conduct  of  individuals  whose  activities,  viewed  in  the  long 
perspective  of  a  hundred  years,  offers  little  ground  for  com- 
mendation. That  both  sides  to  the  controversy  overstepped  at 
times  the  bounds  of  good  judgment  in  the  war  of  pamphlets,  is 
rightly  admitted  by  Father  Tourscher. 

The  reader  who  may  wish  to  supplement  Father  Tourscher' s 
volume  by  a  study  of  Trusteeism  in  other  parts  of  the  country 
will  do  well  to  commence  with  the  study  of  the  problem  to  be 
found  in  the  first  volume  of  Doctor  Zwierlein's  Life  and  Times 
of  Bishop  McQuaid,  and  to  follow  with  Doctor  Guilday's  Life 
and  Times  of  John  Carroll,  Life  and  Times  of  John  England,  and 
The  Catholic  Church  in  Virginia,  1815-1822,  from  which  he  may 
pass  on  to  the  mass  of  material  to  be  found  in  the  older  works 
on  the  history  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States,  and 
in  the  publications  of  the  various  Catholic  historical  societies. 

Thomas  F.  O'Connor,  M.  A. 

St.  Louis  University 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 

The  John  Askin  Papers  (Vol.  II,  1796-1820).  Edited  by  Milo  M. 
Quaife,  Secretary-editor  the  Burton  Historical  Collection. 
Published  by  the  Detroit  Library  Commission,  1931,  pp.  829. 

The  first  volume  of  the  John  Askin  Papers  was  published 
some  four  years  ago.  The  present  volume  completes  the  publi- 
cation of  these  impressive  first-hand  materials  for  the  pioneer 
history  of  Detroit  and  the  territory  commercially  dependent 
upon  it.  John  Askin  (1734-1815)  was  a  native  of  Ireland  who 
came  to  America  to  serve  in  the  Seven  Year's  War,  remaining 
there  to  engage  in  private  trade  and  official  employment  first  in 
Mackinac  and  then  (1780)  in  Detroit,  where  he  remained  until 
1802.    He  then  changed  his  residence  to  what  is  now  Walkerville 


92  BOOK  REVIEWS 

on  the  south  side  of  the  Detroit  River,  being  bent  on  remaining 
a  subject  of  Great  Britain,  to  whose  interests  he  was  loyally  and 
uninterruptedly  attached  until  his  death.  His  papers,  comprising 
a  vast  range  of  correspondence  and  other  documents  largely  of 
a  business  nature,  were  acquired  by  Clarence  M.  Burton  of  De- 
troit and  now  constitute  one  of  the  most  valuable  documentary 
groups  of  the  Burton  Historical  Collection  of  the  Detroit  Public 
Library.  Askin's  activities  as  revealed  in  his  multifarious  papers 
were  complex  and  touched  the  most  diverse  phases  of  the  con- 
temporary life  of  which  he  was  a  part.  Authentic  and  interest- 
ing data  for  economic,  social,  political  and,  to  some  extent,  cul- 
tural conditions  in  Detroit  and  other  localities  of  the  Old  North- 
west during  the  period  1747-1820  literally  swarm  in  this  unique 
documentary  collection.  In  the  words  of  the  editor  of  the  vol- 
ume before  us  the  papers  illustrate  such  activities  of  Askin's 
as:  "shipping,  Indian  trade,  land  titles  and  speculation,  salt  and 
whisky  manufactures,  farming  methods,  and  the  introduction  of 
new  crops.  They  illustrate  also  almost  every  phase  of  local 
official  and  social  life — the  militia  administration,  disputes  over 
precedence  in  the  militia  establishment  and  in  church  dealings 
with  the  provincial  government  of  Upper  Canada  and  with  the 
American  government  at  Detroit,  the  establishment  of  and  sup- 
port of  schoolmaster  and  missionaries,  statesmanlike  discussions 
of  political  conditions  in  England  and  interesting  reports  con- 
cerning the  military  outlook  of  the  Napoleonic  period." 

Dr.  Milo  M.  Quaife,  who  has  taken  in  hand  the  task  of  pre- 
paring for  publication  selected  papers  from  the  Askin  collec- 
tion, has  discharged  the  business  well,  as  one  would  expect  from 
so  competent  a  scholar  in  the  field  of  Western  history.  To  edit 
a  volume,  however,  of  the  proportions  of  the  one  before  us,  en- 
riching it  on  almost  every  page  with  footnotes  which  supplement 
the  text  with  illuminating  data,  was  not  a  task  to  be  attempted 
singlehanded ;  the  editor  in  his  introduction  makes  grateful  con- 
tribution to  his  collaborators,  in  particular,  to  Mrs.  L.  Oughtred 
Woltz  for  translation  of  the  French  documents,  to  his  secre- 
taries, Ethel  Armstrong  and  Muriel  Bernitt,  and  to  Louise  Rau, 
who  in  the  capacity  of  associate-editor  made  a  notable  contribu- 
tion to  the  process  of  publication. 

The  editor  and  his  associates  are  to  be  congratulated  on  the 
concrete  result  of  their  labors.  The  volume  reaches  a  high  level 
of  editorial  excellence  and  is  an  object-lesson  in  the  sympathetic 


BOOK  REVIEWS  93 

insight  and  accuracy  of  detail  which  it  is  to  be  hoped  will  pre- 
vail more  and  more  in  the  publishing  of  original  texts  in  Western 
history.  From  the  printer's  viewpoint,  too,  the  volume  is  a 
superior  thing, — excellent  paper,  ample  margins,  distinguished 
type,  solid  and  impressive  binding. 

The  reviewer  has  only  one  regret  to  register  and  that  is  that 
a  list  of  the  documents  in  successive  order  according  to  the  cap- 
tions they  bear  in  the  body  of  the  book  has  not  been  included. 
Obviously  the  index,  which  is  skillfully  made,  answers  for  most 
practical  needs  the  purpose  of  such  a  list;  but  the  investigator 
who  is  interested  in  some  definite  line  of  research  is  greatly 
helped  by  the  convenience  of  a  formal  table  of  contents,  especial- 
ly in  such  a  bulky  volume  as  the  present.  One  other  detail. 
Father  Edmund  Burke,  who  went  to  the  West  in  1794,  settled 
not  in  Detroit  (p.  32)  but  at  Raisin  River  (now  Monroe,  Mich.) 
whence  he  frequently  made  trips  to  Detroit  though  he  does  not 
appear  actually  to  have  resided  there. 

Gilbert  J.  Garraghan,  S.  J. 

St.  Louis  University 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Simon  Brute  de  Remur,  First  Bishop  of  Vincennes.  By  Sister 
Mary  Salesia  Godecker,  O.  S.  B.,  Ph.  D.,  Convent  Immaculate 
Conception,  Ferdinand,  Indiana.  With  a  Preface  by  his  Ex- 
cellency, the  Right  Reverend  Joseph  Chartrand,  D.  D.,  Bishop 
of  Indianapolis.  Published  by  St.  Meinrad  Historical  Essays, 
St.  Meinrad,  Indiana,  1931,  pp.  xliii-f  441,  $4.00. 

Sister  Salesia's  portrayal  of  Bishop  Brute  is  a  distinct  con- 
tribution to  the  ever  growing  historiography  of  Catholic  origins 
in  the  United  States.  Two  things  among  others  go  to  the  mak- 
ing of  a  successful  biography :  an  engaging  subject  and  adequate 
authentic  source-material  on  which  to  work.  The  present  bi- 
ography meets  these  conditions  admirably.  The  personality  of 
the  first  bishop  of  Vincennes  is  one  of  inevitable  interest  and 
charm.  Ascetic,  literateur,  educator,  and  a  tireless  worker  in 
the  ministry,  he  stands  out  a  unique  and  appealing  figure  in  the 
epic  story  of  nascent  American  Catholicism.  As  to  material  for 
her  task  Sister  Salesia  would  appear  to  have  exhausted  the  pos- 
sibilities in  this  direction.  No  unpublished  source  of  value  seems 
to  have  escaped  her  in  the  patient  and  prolonged  research  which 
she  undertook  in  European  and  American  archives.    Even  the 


94  BOOK  REVIEWS 

Brute  family  papers  in  Rennes  have  been  laid  under  contribu- 
tion. But  Brute's  revealing  correspondence,  enormous  in  extent, 
for  he  was  a  most  prolific  letter  writer,  has  been  especially  drawn 
upon.  The  result  is  an  excellently  documented  and  skillfully 
executed  piece  of  work  that  fills  a  long  standing  gap  in  American 
biography.  Regret  has  often  been  expressed  that  no  adequate 
portrayal  of  Bishop  Brute  has  ever  been  given  to  the  world 
despite  the  wealth  of  documentary  material  for  the  purpose  that 
lay  to  hand.  It  has  been  left  to  Sister  Salesia  to  attempt  the 
task  and  succeed,  thereby  rendering  a  service  to  American 
church  history  that  makes  us  all  her  debtors. 

Although  only  five  of  Brute's  sixty  years  of  life  were  spent 
in  Indiana,  two-thirds  of  the  volume  is  taken  up  with  this  period, 
the  most  important  historically  in  his  career.  Indiana,  when 
Brute  went  there  in  1834  to  be  installed  as  bishop  in  the  historic 
town  which  men  of  his  race  had  built  on  the  banks  of  the 
Wabash,  was  pretty  much  of  a  frontier  section  of  the  country. 
In  Catholic  development  it  was  likewise  backward,  something  of 
a  neglected  area  surrounded  by  regions  that  were  taking  lead  of 
it  in  the  growing  process  of  church  organization  in  the  West. 
Cincinnati  had  been  erected  as  a  diocese  in  1821,  St.  Louis,  in 
1826,  and  Detroit,  in  1833.  Now  it  was  Vincennes's  turn  to  re- 
ceive one  of  those  pioneer  western  bishops  whose  achievements 
are  a  chapter  of  glory  in  the  story  of  Catholic  beginnings  in  the 
United  States. 

Brute's  activities  during  the  five  years  he  spent  in  Indiana 
were  amazing,  particularly  in  view  of  the  feeble  state  of  health 
in  which  he  had  to  do  it  all.  Among  the  reasons  urged  by  him 
for  being  spared  the  dignity  of  the  mitre  was  the  difficulty  he 
experienced  in  travelling,  especially  on  horseback.  Still,  once 
he  had  in  a  spirit  of  sheer  obedience  and  submission  to  the  Divine 
Will  accepted  the  post  of  missionary-bishop,  he  would  suffer  no 
physical  handicap  of  whatever  sort  to  stand  in  the  way  of  his 
duty  to  the  diocese.  Visitation  and  confirmation  trips  of  the 
most  discomforting  kind  were  performed  with  a  zeal  and  energy 
that  were  possible  only  in  a  man  of  his  high  spiritual  purpose 
and  self-effacing  devotion  to  duty.  This  phase  of  Brute's  life  has 
been  portrayed  by  Sister  Salesia  with  a  detail  and  an  impres- 
siveness  which  its  importance  justifies.  At  the  same  time  the 
interior  devotional  life  of  the  saintly  bishop  has  been  duly 
stressed  as  the  unyielding  solid  rock  on  which  the  whole  struc- 


BOOK  REVIEWS  95 

ture  of  his  absorbing  external  activities  was  reared.  It  is  not 
unlikely  that  Simon  Brute  de  Remur  may  some  day  be  a  candi- 
date for  the  honors  of  the  altar. 

Sister  Salesia  is  generous  in  laying  before  her  readers  hither- 
to unpublished  letters  of  the  most  compelling  interest.  Newman 
wrote  that  a  man's  personality  is  best  revealed  in  his  corre- 
spondence and  it  is  accordingly  on  such  material  that  biography 
is  most  satisfactorily  based.  The  wide  range  of  archival  ma- 
terial which  went  into  the  production  of  the  present  work  is  in- 
dicated in  the  admirable  survey  of  Brute  biographical  sources 
which  introduces  it.  It  may  be  pointed  out,  a  detail  which  has 
escaped  mention  in  this  biography,  that  Bishop  Rosati  of  St. 
Louis,  though  at  first  recommending  to  the  Holy  See  the  appoint- 
ment of  Brute  to  the  see  of  Vincennes,  later  withdrew  his  recom- 
mendation in  favor  of  Father  Enoch  Fenwick  of  Georgetown 
College,  being  led  apparently  to  alter  his  choice  by  the  remark- 
able letter  which  Brute  addressed  to  him  and  which  Sister 
Salesia  has  reproduced  (pp.  207-211) .  As  a  piece  of  keen,  pene- 
trating, merciless  self -analysis  this  letter  is  perhaps  not  inferior 
to  any  other  document  of  a  similar  tenor  in  the  whole  range  of 
secular  literature. 

.  The  book  is  got  out  in  attractive  form  by  St.  Meinrad's  Abbey 
Press,  which  is  to  be  congratulated  on  this  successful  venture 
into  the  publisher's  field.  Reproductions  of  pen-and-ink  sketches 
of  contemporary  persons  and  scenes  by  Bishop  Brute  (for  he  was 
an  artist  of  some  merit)  enhance  the  value  of  the  volume. 

Gilbert  J.  Garraghan,  S.  J. 
St.  Louis  University 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Mere  Marie  of  the  Ursulines:  a  Study  in  Adventure.  By  Agnes 
Repplier.  Doubleday,  Doran  &  Company,  Garden  City,  New 
York,  1930,  pp.  314. 

In  1639  there  came  to  Quebec  a  little  group  of  people ;  a  noble 
lady,  three  Ursuline  nuns,  three  nursing  nuns  and  three  Jesuit 
priests.  They  came  "to  carry  the  light  of  faith  and  the  warmth 
of  Charity  to  the  New  World."  Agnes  Repplier  in  her  Mere 
Marie  of  the  Ursulines  tells  in  a  most  interesting  way  of  the  ex- 
periences of  these  pioneers,  coming  from  the  comforts  of  the 
Old  World  to  face  the  privations  and  perils  of  the  New  World 


96  BOOK  REVIEWS 

where  "Nature's  primeval  cruelty  was  a  fit  setting  for  the 
cruelty  of  her  savage  sons." 

Introductory  to  the  story  of  Marie  de  l'lncarnation,  foundress 
of  the  Ursuline  convent  in  Quebec,  which  today  covers  seven 
acres  of  ground,  the  author  gives  a  brief  sketch  of  the  lives  of 
Saint  Ursula  and  Saint  Angela  de  Merici,  and  of  the  founding 
of  the  Ursuline  order,  of  which  Mere  Marie  was  to  be  so  dis- 
tinguished a  member. 

Marie  Guyard  when  a  young  girl  wished  to  enter  a  convent 
but  her  parents  willed  otherwise.  She  was  married,  widowed 
at  nineteen,  became  an  efficient  business  woman  and  reared  a 
son  to  the  age  of  twelve,  when  she  put  him  in  school.  Then  at 
last,  she  was  free  to  follow  her  inclination,  and  in  1631,  with 
her  son's  consent,  she  entered  the  Ursuline  convent  in  Tours. 
"The  goal,  so  long  desired,  was  won  at  last.  Behind  her  the  past 
lay  like  a  troubled  dream.  Before  her  the  future,  wilder  than 
any  dream,  was  veiled  in  comforting  obscurity." 

While  Marie  Guyard  was  working  and  waiting  for  the  fulfill- 
ment of  her  plans,  over  in  the  New  World,  the  scene  of  her 
future  career,  Quebec,  was  just  coming  into  being.  Samuel  de 
Champlain  had  made  explorations,  discovered  Lake  Champlain, 
and  founded  Quebec.  On  his  death  in  1635  "he  left  to  France  a 
colony,  small  and  weak,  but  steafast  in  purpose  and  of  unshaken 
loyalty."  When  Pere  Le  Jeune,  superior  of  Jesuit  missions  in 
New  France,  appealed  to  the  mother  country  for  money  and 
teachers  in  order  to  establish  a  school  for  French  and  Indian 
girls  in  Quebec,  his  plea  was  answered  by  Madame  Marie  Made- 
leine de  Chauvigny  de  la  Peltrie.  She  furnished  funds,  selected 
nuns  and  herself  accompanied  them  to  Quebec,  where  she  de- 
voted the  rest  of  her  life  to  helping  the  Ursulines  in  their  tasks, 
proving  a  most  congenial  friend  to  Mere  Marie  for  thirty-two 
years. 

On  arrival  of  the  nuns  at  Quebec,  one  of  their  first  duties  was 
to  learn  some  of  the  Indian  languages.  Mere  Marie  became  in 
time  so  proficient  that  she  wrote  catechisms  in  Huron,  Algon- 
quin, and  Iroquois,  a  collection  of  prayers  in  Algonquin,  and  a 
primitive  dictionary  in  Iroquois.  This  was  only  a  part  of  her 
literary  labors.  Funds  were  necessary  for  the  upkeep  of  the 
school;  and  her  letters  to  various  persons  and  institutions  in 
France  roused  interest  in  her  project  and  elicited  the  needed 
financial  support.    Her  correspondence  with  her  son,  Dom  Claude 


BOOK  REVIEWS  97 

Martin,  who  had  become  a  Benedictine  monk,  is  of  historical 
value.  It  is  stated  that  her  letters  were  continually  quoted  by 
Abbe  Faillon  in  his  uncompleted  Histoire  de  la  Colonie  Frangaise. 
The  following  are  a  few  of  the  many  momentous  events  she  de- 
scribed: the  founding  of  Montreal  by  Maisonneuve  in  1641,  the 
death  of  Richelieu  in  1642,  the  terrible  Indian  wars  and  the 
martyrdom  of  the  Jesuits  and  other  priests,  the  social  and  eco- 
nomic development  of  habitant  life  and  of  the  city  of  Quebec, 
the  struggle  between  Church  and  State,  and,  in  the  Church, 
between  representatives  of  the  Gallican  and  Ultramontane 
spirits,  the  expedition  of  La  Salle  in  1670,  and  in  1673,  the  mis- 
sion of  Louis  Joliet  and  Pere  Marquette  to  "put  the  Mississippi 
on  the  map  of  North  America." 

Not  only  are  great  events  described  by  Mere  Marie,  but  great 
personages  as  well.  Talon,  Argenson,  Frontenac,  Courcelles, 
and  the  great  Bishop  Laval  appear  frequently  in  her  pages. 

Miss  Repplier  has  devoted  one  chapter  of  her  book  to  Fran- 
Qois  Xavier  de  Laval  Montmorency,  first  bishop  of  New  France. 
Mere  Marie  was  naturally  interested  both  in  his  educational  pro- 
jects and  in  his  efforts  to  prevent  the  sale  of  brandy  to  the  In- 
dians. She  knew  only  too  well  the  disastrous  effects  of  "fire- 
water" on  the  Indian  nature. 

Tribute  is  paid  to  the  work  of  the  Jesuits  in  the  building  of 
New  France.  As  teachers  of  Christian  doctrine  to  the  Indians, 
they  suffered  great  hardships  and  often  martyrdom.  They  per- 
formed a  great  service  as  ambassadors.  Miss  Repplier  quotes 
Mr.  William  Bennett  Munro  as  follows:  "Every  mission  post 
became  an  embassy,  and  every  Jesuit  an  ambassador  of  his 
race,  striving  to  strengthen  the  bonds  of  friendship  between  the 
people  to  whom  he  went  and  the  people  from  whom  he  came. 
As  interpreter  in  the  conduct  of  negotiations,  and  in  the  making 
of  treaties,  the  missionary  was  invaluable." 

Mere  Marie  continued  her  labors  until  her  seventy-first  year 
when  her  health  broke  and  her  death  followed  in  a  few  months. 
On  the  250th  anniversary  of  her  death,  in  April,  1922,  Pope 
Pius  XI  declared  her  "venerable."  Her  contemporary,  Bishop 
Laval,  has  also  been  pronounced  "venerable,"  and  the  Jesuit 
martyrs  whom  she  knew  and  sorrowed  for  were  canonized  in 
1930. 

Both  Bishop  Laval  and  Mere  Marie  have  temporal  monuments 
in  the  city  of  Quebec,  Laval  University  and  the  Ursuline  convent, 


98  BOOK  REVIEWS 

respectively.  The  spot  where  the  shack  stood  which  sheltered 
Mere  Marie  and  her  companions  on  her  arrival  in  Quebec  in 
1639,  is  marked  by  a  commemorative  tablet. 

Ethel  Owen  Merrill 
Oak  Park,  Illinois 

Historical  Records  and  Studies.  Edited  by  Thomas  F.  Meehan, 
Vol.  XX,  New  York,  United  States  Catholic  Historical  So- 
ciety, 1931,  pp.  196. 

This  latest  issue  of  Historical  Records  and  Studies,  the  serial 
publication  of  the  United  States  Catholic  Historical  Society  of 
New  York,  is  one  of  unusual  interest  and  importance.  For  many 
years  the  editing  of  this  publication  has  been  in  the  competent 
hands  of  Thomas  F.  Mehhan,  who  has  to  his  credit  a  long  record 
of  distinguished  service  in  the  field  of  Catholic  history  in  the 
United  States.  It  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  record  that  his 
services  in  this  regard  have  not  gone  without  recognition  in 
high  quarters,  the  Holy  See  having  recently  conferred  on  him 
membership  in  the  Order  of  the  Knights  of  Saint  Gregory.  The 
present  volume  contains  seven  papers:  Joseph  F.  Thorning,  S.  J., 
"American  Notes  in  Vatican  Diplomacy";  H.  C.  Watts,  "Con- 
ewago,  Our  First  Shrine  of  the  Sacred  Heart" ;  Sister  M.  Eulalia 
Theresa  Moffat,  "Charles  Constantine  Pise  (1801-1866)";  Joa- 
quin Garcia  Icazbalceta,  "Education  in  the  City  of  Mexico  dur- 
ing the  Sixteenth  Century";  Margaret  B.  Downing,  "George- 
Town-on-the-Potowmack" ;  Rev.  Thomas  P.  Phelan,  "Sargent 
Andrew  Wallace."  Father  Thorning's  article  reproduces  some 
of  the  highly  interesting  correspondence  occasioned  by  the  clos- 
ing in  1867  of  the  American  legation  in  Rome.  All  in  all  diplo- 
matic relations  between  the  Holy  See  and  the  United  States  had 
been  distinctly  cordial  and  the  legation  passed  into  history  leav- 
ing behind  it  a  record  of  service  that  fully  justified  the  insti- 
tution. "As  citizens  of  the  United  States  and  as  Catholics  we 
may  admire  the  courtesy,  good  feeling  and  mutual  respect  which 
marked  every  communication  which  passed  between  Washington 
and  Rome."  The  remarkable  paper  by  Icazbalceta,  the  well- 
known  Mexican  historian,  is  a  translation  from  the  Spanish  of 
a  study  published  by  the  Mexican  Government  in  1893.  It  is  a 
critical,  thoroughgoing  and  finely  documented  exposition  of  a 
most  interesting  phase  of  the  social  history  of  sixteenth  century 
Mexico.    The  translation  is  due  to  Walter  J.  O'Donnell,  C.  S.  C, 


BOOK  REVIEWS  99 

Ph.  D.  Together  with  such  papers  as  those  on  the  Mexico  City 
guilds  and  on  Cortez's  famous  hospital  in  the  same  city  appear- 
ing in  the  present  issue  of  Mid-America,  Icazbalceta's  paper  af- 
fords new  confirmatory  evidence  of  the  epochal  contribution 
made  by  Spain  to  the  cutural  and  economic  history  of  the  New 
World. 

Our  Pioneer  Historical  Societies.  By  Evarts  B.  Greene.  (In- 
diana Historical  Society  Publications,  Vol.  X,  No.  2,  pp. 
83-87.) 

This  is  an  address  by  Evarts  Boutell  Greene,  president 
(1930)  of  the  American  Historical  Society,  delivered  before  the 
Twelfth  Indiana  History  Conference  at  Indianapolis,  December 
12,  1930,  in  tribute  to  the  centennial  of  the  Indiana  Historical 
Society.  It  is  a  pleasantly  written  and  highly  informing  ac- 
count of  the  process  by  which  the  early  historical  societies  of 
the  United  States  came  into  being.  Dr.  Greene,  who  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  history-staff  of  Columbia  University  and  author  of 
outstanding  texts  in  American  history,  is  perfectly  at  home  in 
his  subject,  with  the  result  that  the  present  address  will  well 
repay  perusal.  The  Indiana  Historical  Society,  which  has  been 
particularly  active  under  its  present  director,  Dr.  Coleman,  is 
to  be  congratulated  on  its  venerable  and  distinguished  past. 
"That  an  institution  of  this  kind,"  says  Dr.  Greene,  "should 
have  been  set  up  in  Indianapolis  in  December,  1830,  is  in  itself 
a  remarkable  circumstance.  The  idea  of  forming  a  society  for 
the  study  of  history  does  not  ordinarily  come  to  the  members 
of  a  frontier  community.  That  is  usually  the  work  of  a  people 
whose  pioneer  experiences  have  already  receded  well  into  the 
past  and  can  only  be  brought  back  to  consciousness  through  the 
laborious  efforts  of  scholars  and  antiquarians." 

Vicksburg  and  Warren  County,  Mississippi:  Tunica  Indians: 
Quebec  Missionaries:  Civil  War  Veterans.  Designed  and 
compiled  by  M.  J.  Mulvihill,  Sr.,  1931.  Published  by  author- 
ity of  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen  of  the  City  of  Vicksburg  and 
the  Board  of  Supervisors  of  Warren  County,  Mississippi. 

This  interesting  brochure  of  eighty  pages  is  taken  up  with 
various  episodes  of  Mississippi  history  both  in  the  colonial  and 
Civil  War  periods.    The  missionary  labors  of  the  Quebec  Sem- 


100  BOOK  REVIEWS 

inary  priests  among  the  Mississippi  tribes  at  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  and  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  centuries  receive 
particular  attention,  pertinent  data  on  the  subject  being  drawn 
from  the  Catholic  Encyclopedia,  various  bulletins  of  the  Bureau 
of  Ethnology,  and  the  works  of  Shea,  Martin,  Dilhet,  Dunbar, 
and  other  historians.  The  story  of  old  Fort  St.  Peter  in  the 
present  Warren  County,  Mississippi,  is  told  in  the  following  in- 
scription, a  photographic  reproduction  of  which  appears  on  page 
two: 

FORT  ST.  PETER 
THE  FIRST  WHITE  MEN  TO  VISIT  THE  YAZOO  RIVER  WERE 
FOUR  MISSIONARY  PRIESTS  FROM  THE  SEMINARY  OF  QUEBEC. 
REV.  FRANCIS  DE  MONTIGNY,  A  NATIVE  OF  PARIS,  WAS  THE 
LEADER  OF  THE  PARTY  AND  BORE  THE  APPOINTMENT  OF  VICAR 
GENERAL  OF  THE  BISHOP  OF  QUEBEC.  THE  OTHER  PRIESTS 
WHERE  REV.  ANTHONY  DAVION,  REV.  THAUMUR  DE  LA  SOURCE 
AND  REV.  JOHN  FRANCIS  BUISSON  DE  ST.  COSME.  THEIR  PUR- 
POSES WERE  TO  CIVILIZE  AND  MAKE  KNOWN  TO  THE  INDIANS 
THAT  THERE  WAS  AN  ALMIGHTY  GOD,  WHO  LOVED  ALL  MAN- 
KIND AND  WOULD  REWARD  WITH  EVERLASTING  HAPPINESS 
ALL  WHO  WOULD  LEARN  TO  LOVE  AND  SERVE  HIM  AND  KEEP 
HIS  COMMANDMENTS.  THEY  ARRIVED  AT  THIS  SITE  JANUARY 
11,  1698  [1699],  AND  WERE  CONDUCTED  INLAND  FROM  THE 
MISISSISSIPPI  RIVER  BY  INDIANS  OF  THE  TUNICA  TRIBE  TO 
THE  VILLAGE  OF  THE  CHIEF.  THEY  ESTIMATED  THE  POPULA- 
TION AT  2000  WHICH  INCLUDED  THE  YAZOO  AND  OFO  TRIBES. 
THE  VISIT  LASTED  EIGHT  DAYS  AND  SICKNESS  BEING  AMONG 
THEM  THEY  BAPTIZED  SEVERAL  DYING  CHILDREN  AND  A  DIS- 
TINGUISHED CHIEF.  THEY  VISITED  OTHER  TRIBES  AND  RE- 
TURNED TO  CANADA  FOR  ALL  NECESSARIES  TO  MAKE  PER- 
MANENT THE  PLACES  SELECTED  FOR  MISSIONS.  THE  MISSION- 
ARIES WERE  BACK  IN  JAN.,  1699.  THEIR  STUDY  OF  THE  INDIAN 
LANGUAGES  WAS  SO  EXTENSIVE  AND  THOROUGH  AS  TO  HAVE 
JOHN  P.  SW ANTON  OF  THE  U.S.  BUREAU  OF  ETHNOLOGY,  IN 
1911,  STATE,  IN  BULLETIN  43:  "IT  IS  EVIDENT  THAT  OF  ALL  MEN 
DE  MONTIGNY  AND  ST.  COSME,  ESPECIALLY  THE  LATTER,  WERE 
BEST  FITTED  TO  PASS  UPON  THE  RELATIONSHIP  OF  THE 
NATCHEZ  TO  THE  LANGUAGE  OF  ITS  NEIGHBORS."  AND  IN  RE- 
FERRING TO  THE  LANGUAGES  OF  TEN  OTHER  TRIBES  HE 
STATED  THAT  IN  THE  LIGHT  OF  ALL  OUR  PRESENT  KNOWLEDGE 
NOT  A  SINGLE  MISTAKE  WAS  MADE  BY  THEM.  LARGE  GRANTS 
OF  LAND  WERE  MADE  TO  M.  LE  BLANC,  FRENCH  MINISTER  OF 
STATE  AND  HIS  ASSOCIATES.  IN  1719  FORT  ST.  PETER  WAS 
CONSTRUCTED  AND  "ADDITIONS  WERE  MADE  ANNUALLY  TO 
ALL  THE  SETTLEMENTS  UNTIL  THERE  WERE  TWO  FARMS  ON 
WALNUT  HILLS  AND  FOURTEEN  ON  THE  YAZOO  AROUND  FORT 
ST.    PETER    THAT    BECAME    THE    ENVY    OF    THE    BRITISH    AND 


BOOK  REVIEWS  101 

PRIDE  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  1721."  DECEMBER  31,  1729,  THE  YAZOO 
INDIANS  MASSACRED  REV.  JOHN  SOUEL,  S.  J.;  CHEVALIER  DES 
ROCHES,  COMMANDANT,  AND  ALL  THE  POPULATION  EXCEPT  4 
WOMEN  AND  5  CHILDREN. 

M.  J.  MULVIHILL,  SR.,  HISTORIAN 

Unfortunately  the  inscription  contains  some  inaccuracies. 
The  Quebec  missionaries  arrived  in  the  Lower  Mississippi  in  the 
January  of  1698,  not  1699.  Moreover,  they  did  not  return  to 
Canada,  as  stated,  but,  leaving  Davion  behind  them,  moved  up 
the  river  to  found  at  Cahokia  what  is  now  the  oldest  permanent 
settlement  in  the  state  of  Illinois.  De  La  Source  was  a  deacon, 
not  a  priest. 


Contributors  to  this  Issue 

Marie  T.  Madden,  Ph.  D.,  is  professor  of  Spanish-American  his- 
tory in  the  Graduate  School  of  Fordham  University,  author 
of  "Political  Theory  and  Law  in  Medieval  Spain"  and  con- 
tributor to  "Thought"  "America"  and  the  "Commonweal" 

William  Stetson  Merrill,  A.  B.  (Harvard),  associate-editor  of 
Mid-America,  expert  in  library  science  and  administration 
and  author  of  "Code  for  Classifiers"  (American  Library  As- 
sociation, Chicago,  III.,  1928),  was  long  connected  with  the 
Newberry  Library,  Chicago. 

Elizabeth  Ward  Loughran,  Boston,  Mass.,  contributor  to  "Catho- 
lic Historical  Review"  and  "Hispanic  American  Historical  Re- 
view," is  pursuing  research-studies  in  the  field  of  Spanish- 
American  ecclesiastical  history. 

Carlos  E.  Castaneda,  Ph.  D.,  Latin-American  librarian  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Texas,  is  the  author  of  "The  Mexican  Side  of  the 
Revolution." 

The  Reverend  Mathias  M.  Hoffman,  M.  A.,  professor  of  eco- 
nomics and  government  in  Columbia  College,  Dubuque,  Iowa, 
is  author  of  "Antique  Dubuque." 

Mary  Onahan  (Mrs.  Daniel)  Gallery,  Chicago,  Illinois,  is  the 
author  of  a  biography  of  her  father,  "Life  of  William  J. 
Onahan,"  Loyola  University  Press,  Chicago,  1929. 


cTWID^AMERICA 

Vol.  XIV  OCTOBER,  1931  Number  2 

New  Series,  Vol.  Ill 

Journal  of  the  Illinois  Catholic  Historical  Society 
28  North  Franklin  Street,  Chicago 

MANAGING  EDITOR 
Gilbert  J.  Garraghan St.  Louis 

CONTRIBUTING  EDITORS 

Frederick   Beuckman Belleville      William    Stetson    Merrill Chicago 

John  B.  Cnlemans Moline      Paul  J.  Foik Austin,  Texas 

Francis  Borgia  Steck Quincy 


28  NORTH  FRANKLIN  STREET,  CHICAGO 

HONORARY  PRESIDENTS 
His  Eminence  George  Cardinal  Mundelein,  Chicago 
Rt.  Rev.  Edward  F.  Hoban,  D.  D.,  Rockford      Rt.  Rev.  Henry  Althoff,  D.  D.,  Belleville 
Rt.  Rev.  James  A.  Griffin,  D.  D.,  Spring field  Rt.  Rev.  Joseph  H.  Schlarman,  D.  D.,  Peoria 

OFFICERS 

President  Financial  Secretary 

Rev.  Frederic  Siedenburg,  S.  J.,  Chicago  Francis  J.  Rooney,  Chicago 
First  Vice-President 

Rt.  Rev.  F.  A.  Purcell,  Chicago  Recording  Secretary 

Second  Vice-President  Agnes  Van  Driel,  Chicago 
James  M.  Graham,  Springfield 

Treasurer  Archivist 

John  P.  V.  Murphy,  Chicago  Rev.  Frederick  E.  Hillenbrand,  Mundelein 

TRUSTEES 
Very  Rev.  James  Shannon,  Peoria  Michael  F.  Girten,   Chicago 

Rev.  Robert  M.  Kelley,  S.  J.,  Chicago  James  A.  Bray,  Joliet 

Mrs.  Daniel  V.  Gallery,  Chicago  Frank  J.  Seng,  Wilmette 

D.  F.  Bremner,  Chicago  Mrs.  E.  I.  Cudahy,  Chicago 

John  Coleman,  Lake  Forest 


Published  by 

The  Illinois  Catholic  Historical  Society 

Chicago,  III. 


CONTENTS 

Catholic  Beginnings  in  Southern  Illinois  : 

Shawneetown  Frederic  BeucJcman  105 
Thomas  Francis  Meager  :  Montana  Pioneer  Francis  Xavier  Kuppens  127 
The  Great  Village  op  the  Illinois:   A 

Topographical  Problem  Gilbert  J.  Garraghan  141 

Documents — The  Diaries  op  William  J.  Onahan  152 

News  and  Comments  178 

Book  Reviews  187 


cTHID  -  (AMERICA 

c/ln  Historical  Review 

Vol.  XIV  OCTOBER,  1931  Number  2 

New  Series,  Vol.  Ill 


CATHOLIC  BEGINNINGS  IN  SOUTHERN  ILLINOIS: 
SHAWNEETOWN 

Age  carries  with  it  the  charm  of  history.  Events  which  in 
their  day  were  commonplace  grow  into  significance  and  historic 
interest  as  years  fade  away.  When  the  lives  of  pioneers  have 
passed  beyond  contact  with  the  living  and  conditions  of  life 
radically  change,  when  trackless  forests  give  way  to  fertile  fields 
and  small  pioneer  settlements  amid  the  aboriginal  Indians  grow 
into  populous  centers,  when  over  a  vast  territory  where  there 
was  neither  diocese,  parish  or  priest,  excepting  the  early  French 
Missions,  a  hierarchy  now  rules,  the  beginnings  grow  in  sacred- 
ness  and  interest. 

Seventy  years  ago  a  small  frame  church  was  under  construc- 
tion on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  in  the  village  of  Shawneetown,  111. 
Twelve  years  have  passed  since  the  centennial  of  the  landing  of 
the  first  Catholic  at  this  village.  Both  events  we  deem  sufficient- 
ly dignified  with  years  to  justify  their  record  as  germinal  Catho- 
lic events.  An  attempt  will  be  made  in  the  following  pages  to 
portray  in  outline  the  beginnings  and  the  development  of  perhaps 
the  oldest  Catholic  settlement  in  the  eastern  and  extreme  south- 
ern portion  of  the  state  of  Illinois.  If  this  essay  at  parish  his- 
tory should  not  satisfy  the  enquirer  in  many  respects,  if  yawning 
gaps  remain  to  fill  in  and  broken  links  beg  connection  in  the 
chain  of  events,  we  are  not  surprised  that  the  reader's  imagina- 
tion must  substitute  what  the  writer's  research  could  not  as- 
certain. 

Let  it  here  be  stated  that  the  blame  cannot  be  imputed  to  a 
lack  of  interest  in  the  subject,  nor  to  a  want  of  research,  for  we 
doubt  whether  greater  interest  or  more  earnest  research  could 

105 


106  FREDERIC  BEUCKMAN 

have  accomplished  more.1  The  writer  has  vividly  experienced 
that  we  treasure  too  little  the  historic  events  of  our  day  by 
current  parish  chronicles  and  that  posterity  will  fail  to  find  the 
key  to  the  development  of  events  which  have  been  consecrated 
with  the  halo  of  age.  Since  written  records  were  wanting,  no 
parish  chronicle  having  been  kept,  research  was  most  difficult 
and  piecemeal  in  its  results.  The  memory  of  many  events  was 
rescued  from  the  aged  before  they  had  carried  it  with  them  into 
a  silent  past.  Weeks,  months  of  inquiry  were  often  meagerly 
rewarded  with  a  discovery  of  what  might  be  comfortably  nar- 
rated in  a  laconic  sentence.  The  writer  realizes  more  than  ever 
that  much  of  the  most  valuable  historic  information  obtainable 
lies  buried  in  the  memories  of  the  aged  and  if  this  is  to  be  pre- 
served to  posterity  it  must  be  rescued  without  delay.  It  is  not 
overlooked  that  the  memory  of  men  is  not  always  reliable; 
wherefore  we  have  taken  pains  to  verify  every  personal  recol- 
lection, at  least  beyond  a  reasonable  doubt,  and  where  this  has 
not  been  possible,  have  left  room  for  doubt. 

On  the  last  day  of  the  year  1819  there  disembarked  at 
Shawneetown,  111.,  John  Lawler  and  Elizabeth,  his  wife,  who 
were  the  first  Catholic  settlers  in  this  part  of  the  state.  They 
had  emigrated  from  the  town  of  Monstraveen,  County  Kildare, 
Ireland,  in  March,  1816,  and  at  first  settled  at  Frederickstown, 
Md.  Michael,  their  five  year  old  son,  could  not  then  have  known 
that  his  new  home  in  a  fledgling  state  was  to  usher  him  into  a 


i  The  writer  was  engaged  as  pastor  of  Shawneetown  and  its  missions 
from  July  6,  1892,  until  August  10,  1910.  During  this  time  he  became  in- 
tensely interested  in  the  history  of  the  Mission  and  gathered  in  the  course 
of  these  years  the  material  embodied  in  this  monograph,  which  was  con- 
tributed as  a  serial  to  the  Messenger,  Belleville,  in  the  years  1910,  1911,  and 
1912.  The  Messenger  was  at  that  time  a  monthly  publication,  large  octavo. 
A  fire  destroyed  all  the  files  of  this  publication,  and,  as  far  as  the  writer 
can  ascertain,  the  only  complete  set  of  these  serial  contributions,  which  at 
the  time  had  only  a  narrow  local  circulation,  is  the  porperty  of  the  writer. 
The  great  amount  of  source  material  garnered  during  those  many  years 
and  embodied  in  this  monograph  the  writer  thinks  ample  justification  for 
its  preservation  and  availability  to  the  future  historian.  The  writer  had 
occasion  to  refer  to  this  source  material  repeatedly  in  his  History  of  the 
Parishes  of  the  Diocese  of  Belleville,  Belleville,  Illinois,  1919.  Of  this  his- 
tory of  the  diocese  of  Belleville  all  copies  not  sold  were  destroyed  by  the 
same  fire,  as  also  all  previous  files  of  the  weekly  Messenger. 

Much  of  the  material  incorporated  in  this  and  subsequent  articles  could 
not  be  secured  at  this  late  date.  The  writer  presents  the  material  as  writ- 
ten in  the  original  serials,  with  the  slight  changes  of  relative  references 
as  to  time  to  the  present  year  1931,  and  the  addition  of  the  footnotes. 


SHAWNEETOWN  107 

distinguished  military  career  as  captain  in  the  Mexican  war  and 
then  colonel,  brigadier  and  major  general  in  the  Civil  war.  The 
family  first  settled  south  of  Shawneetown  on  a  farm  at  Gum 
Springs,  shortly  after  moved  west  of  town  to  a  farm  at  Boutwell 
Springs  and  a  little  later  to  what  is  now  known  as  St.  Patrick's 
Mission  at  Doherty,  Illinois.  John  Lawler  died  April  23,  1835, 
and  lies  buried  in  the  Catholic  cemetery  of  that  mission.  The 
present  cemetery  and  the  church  are  both  located  on  his  land. 
Many  of  the  grand  and  great-grand  children  of  John  Lawler 
are  still  attached  to  the  various  parishes  of  the  county.2  It 
may  here  be  noted  that  the  water  supply  of  a  spring  determined 
the  location  of  most  of  the  early  settlers. 

When  John  Lawler  arrived  at  Shawneetown,  a  village  of 
white  settlers  existed.  Michael  Sprinkle,  a  gunsmith,  had  set- 
tled here  as  early  as  1800;  yet  little  is  known  of  him.  The 
Federal  government  platted  the  city  of  Shawneetown  in  1810 
and  the  first  government  land  office  was  established  in  1812.3 
Numerous  entries  of  land  were  immediately  made,  but  it  is  un- 
known to  me  whether  any  of  these  claimants  were  Catholics. 
Some  time  in  the  early  1820's,  a  Mary  Handmore,  a  widow,  ar- 
rived from  Wheeling,  West  Virginia,  where  her  husband  had 
died  shortly  after  emigrating  to  America  from  Ireland.  She 
was  accompanied  by  three  children,  James,  Thomas  and  Patrick 
and  her  two  brothers,  Thomas  and  Stephen  Morris.  What  in- 
duced this  family  to  locate  at  Shawneetown  is  unknown  and  this 
causes  a  suspicion  to  arise  that  a  certain  James  Morris,  who  in 
1816  had  entered  a  tract  of  land  in  Equality  township,  might 
have  been  a  relative.  If  this  should  prove  the  case,  the  arrival 
of  the  first  Catholic  might  antedate  the  arrival  of  Lawler  by 
three  years,  or  more.  At  Shawneetown  the  widow  Handmore 
married  John  R.  Sheridan  and  shortly  after  moved  to  New 
Haven,  111.,  as  did  also  her  brother  Stephen,  where  their  descend- 
ants still  reside  as  parishioners  at  St.  Patrick's  Mission.  If  the 
marriage  records  of  St.  Vincent,  Ky.,  record  this  marriage,  the 


2  The  writer  was  intimately  acquainted  with  two  daughters  and  the 
youngest  son  of  General  M.  K.  Lawler,  who  were  members  of  his  parish 
and  have  since  died. 

a  History  of  Gallatin  County,  Chicago,  1887,  pp.  22,  92.  S.  J.  Buck, 
Illinois  in  1818,  Springfield,  111.,  1917,  p.  68. 


108  FREDERIC  BEUCKMAN 

arrival  of  the  first  Catholic  settler  at  New  Haven  can  also  be 
established. 

In  May,  1839,  the  couple,  Daniel  and  Catherine  Golden  with 
their  niece,  Johanna  Calahan,  arrived  at  Shawneetown.  Their 
niece  was  married  to  Patrick  Handmore  of  New  Haven.  Three 
children  of  Daniel  Golden  were  members  of  the  parish  at  Shaw- 
neetown until  the  twenties  of  this  century.4  Other  Catholics 
who  may  have  resided  in  this  vicinity  at  this  early  date,  may  be 
traced  in  records  at  St.  Vincent,  Ky.,  which  I  regret  not  to  have 
had  the  opportunity  to  consult. 

As  the  first  resident  priest  of  Shawneetown  did  not  arrive 
until  1859,  the  early  Catholic  settlers  of  Southeastern  Illinois 
were  attended  from  St.  Vincent,  Ky.,  which  is  situated  about 
fourteen  miles  northeast  of  Shawneetown.  There  resided  the 
pioneer  priest  Elisha  J.  Durbin,  born  in  1800,  in  that  state  and 
ordained  priest  by  a  friend  of  the  "Pioneers  of  the  West,"  Bish- 
op David  September  2,  1822.  It  was  Father  Durbin  who  carried 
the  consolations  of  religion  to  the  scattered  Catholics  of  West- 
ern Kentucky,  Southern  Indiana,  and  Southeastern  Illinois.  This 
intrepid  priest  recognized  neither  state  limits  nor  river  hind- 
rances in  seeking  the  scattered  sheep  of  a  limitless  parish,  where 
five  dioceses  have  since  apportioned  his  parish  between  them.  In 
the  early  days  of  the  pioneer  priest  Durbin  a  sick-call  to  Shaw- 
neetown, Piopolis,  Vandalia,  Mt.  Carmel,  111.,  or  Paducah,  Ky., 
or  Nashville,  Tenn.  was  not  deemed  worthy  of  mention  by  the 
pioneer,  inured  to  the  saddle.  Today,  this  would  entitle  the  sad- 
dle-chafed hero  to  a  week's  rest  in  a  hospital.  Until  the  year 
1859,  when  the  first  resident  priest  arrived  at  Shawneetown,  a 
period  of  thirty-seven  years,  the  scattered  Catholics  of  South- 
eastern Illinois,  who  had  colonized  at  Shawneetown,  Walton- 
boro,  New  Haven,  Piopolis  and  Enfield  owed  to  this  indefatigable 
pioneer  priest  the  treasure  of  their  faith.    At  the  venerable  age 


*  Mary,  Johanna  and  Michael  Golden  lived  with  their  aged  mother  at 
Shawneetown  as  parishoners  of  the  writer.  All  have  since  died.  Johanna 
had  a  continuous  record  of  fifty  years  as  a  teacher  in  the  public  school  at 
Shawneetown.  Half  of  their  estate  was  left  to  the  parish  at  Shawneetown 
and  is  now,  1931,  being  applied  to  the  erection  of  a  new  church  in  this  town. 


SHAWNEETOWN  109 

of  87  he  passed  to  his  reward  in  March,  1887,  at  Shelbyville,  Ky.5 

Foreseeing  perhaps  a  better  day  for  the  Illinois  Catholic 
pioneers  and  an  independent  new  parish,  comprising  perhaps  the 
greater  part  of  the  diocese  of  Belleville,  Father  Durbin  opened 
separate  church  records  for  the  Illinois  portion  of  his  tri-state 
parish  in  1842.  Previous  to  this  date  all  Illinois  entries  were  in- 
scribed in  the  parish  records  at  St.  Vincent,  Ky.  It  seems  that 
assistance  came  at  intervals  to  Father  Durbin.  Other  priests 
appear  among  the  Illinois  Catholics  as  the  newly  opened  records 
reveal:  Father  D.  Kelly  in  1843;  J.  A.  Drew  in  1847  and  1848; 
P.  M.  McCabe  in  1850,  1851,  1852,  1854,  1857;  M.  Bouchet  in 
1854,  1855;  L.  A.  Lambert  in  1858  and  Thos.  Walsh  in  1859. 
Excepting  Fathers  McCabe,  Lambert  and  Walsh,  who  came  from 
Cairo,  111.,  and  Drew,  the  visiting  priests  appear  to  have  been 
assistants  to  Father  Durbin,  whose  name  still  continues  to  ap- 
pear on  the  record  almost  yearly  until  1859. 

Until  1853  and  1860  the  visiting  priests  found  no  church  in 
Gallatin  County,  mass  always  being  celebrated  in  private  homes : 
at  Shawneetown  in  the  home  of  Major  Aaron  Stout,  which  still 
stands;6  also  in  an  old  frame  public  school,  which  stood  on  the 
lot  now  occupied  by  the  parochial  school  and  also  in  the  old 
brick  depot  which  stood  in  the  southeast  turn  of  the  present 
levee.  At  the  present  Doherty  settlement  mass  was  said  in  the 
log  cabin  of  William  Daily,  which  was  at  the  northwest  corner 
of  the  northwest  quarter  of  Section  30,  Township  8,  Range  10. 
At  New  Haven  there  was  mass  in  the  Sheridan  house,  which 
still  stood  when  the  writer  took  charge  of  the  mission. 

Let  it  here  be  gratefully  recorded  that  the  humble  log  cabin 
of  William  Daily  and  the  more  pretentious  frame  home  of  Major 
Stout  were  the  shrines  to  which  the  pioneer  faithful  of  this  sec- 
tion of  the  state  pilgrimed  to  worship.    How  rare  and  distant 


s  Parish  records  of  Mt.  Carmel,  HI.,  reveal  the  attendance  of  this  mis- 
sion by  Father  Durbin.  Those  interested  in  this  most  remarkable  of 
pioneer  priests  of  the  United  States  may  consult  The  Centenary  of  Catho- 
licity in  Kentucky,  by  Hon.  Ben.  J.  Webb,  Louisville,  Ky.,  1884,  pp.  364-372. 
It  might  be  truly  said  that  Father  Durbin,  who  in  his  eighty-fifth  year  of 
age  and  sixty-third  in  the  priesthood,  still  objected  to  retirement,  aver- 
aged no  less  than  two  hundred  miles  a  week  on  horseback. 

e  The  Stout  residence  is  located  at  the  southeast  corner  of  the  city 
block  directly  west  and  opposite  the  church  block,  and  was  hence  only 
about  two  hundred  and  twenty-six  feet  from  the  original  location  of  the 
first  frame  church. 


HO  FREDERIC  BEUCKMAN 

were  mass  and  sacramental  opportunities  and  how  difficult  the 
performance  of  religious  duty,  yet  how  edifyingly  appreciated. 
To  the  Catholics,  eager  to  learn  of  the  next  visit  of  the  priest, 
the  message  of  his  coming  brought  cheer.  Forest  had  not  yet 
been  felled  and  marshes  drained  to  build  passable  roads,  but 
when  the  message  arrived,  oxen  were  put  to  the  yoke,  the  family 
was  placed  in  the  wagon  and  with  the  oxen's  slow  and  measured 
step,  the  lumbering  wagon  rolled  towards  its  sacred  shrine;  its 
"Magi"  appreciated  that  above  all,  "only  one  thing  is  necessary." 
Home  is  nowadays  left  a  few  minutes  before  mass  and  again 
entered  in  as  short  a  time  after.  Not  so  then.  The  distant  wor- 
shippers arrived  at  least  the  day  previous  and  remained  until 
the  day  after  the  services,  and  thus  the  home  shrine  became 
the  wayside  inn  where  the  pilgrim  obtained  not  only  spiritual 
but  also  physical  shelter  and  refreshment. 

Gratitude  owes  to  Major  Stout  and  to  William  Daily  and 
their  noble  wives  an  everlasting  and  hallowed  place  in  the  mem- 
ory of  Catholics  to  whose  pioneer  forbears  their  homes  were 
church  and  inn.  William  Daily  arrived  in  Gallatin  County  a 
young  man  of  perhaps  sixteen  years  and  probably  no  later  than 
1830;  soon  thereafter  came  Patrick  Dolan  and  wife,  both  of 
whom  were  cousins  of  the  John  Lawler  mentioned.  This  same. 
Patrick  Dolan  later  moved  to  the  vicinity  of  the  present  town  of 
Enfield,  111.,  and  was  probably  the  first  Catholic  to  settle  in  White 
County.  The  records  show  that  he  lived  there  in  1842,  but  how 
much  earlier  I  cannot  ascertain.  The  present  parish  of  St.  Pat- 
rick's, near  Enfield,  was  tnen  known  as  Dolan  Settlement.  Dolan 
had  been  a  printer,  was  well  informed,  witty  and  an  entertaining 
conversationalist  and  public  speaker.  Surnamed  the  "Old  Ro- 
man" he  was  elected  to  the  Illinois  Legislature  where  his  wit 
and  irony  gave  him  power  and  standing.7  As  early  as  1842 
several  Irish  Catholic  families  were  his  neighbors. 

But  there  lived  in  Gallatin  County  another  Catholic,  a  Ger- 


7  The  writer  met  Patrick  Dolan  at  Enfield  frequently  during  the  nine- 
ties of  the  last  century.  Although  he  was  then  physically  feeble,  he  was 
still  a  highly  animated,  homurous  and  interesting  conversationalist.  As  a 
member  of  the  Illinois  Legislature,  he  killed  a  bill  for  the  drilling  of  deep 
wells  for  water  supplies  for  various  localities  by  an  amendment  to  the  bill, 
offered  in  his  rich  brogue,  to  continue  drilling  until  China  was  struck  for 
tea.  In  public  debate  he  wielded  wit  and  sarcasm  with  disconcerting 
power  and  silenced  many  itinerant  bigoted  preachers  against  the  Church. 


SHAWNEETOWN  HI 

man,  John  Lenard  Aydt,  who  like  Lawler  and  Dolan  was  to 
prove  another  bellwether  of  the  first  Catholic  settlement  of  Ger- 
mans of  this  portion  of  the  state.  Another  Aydt,  who  in  1840 
had  landed  at  Baltimore,  visited  Ohio  and  finally  landed  at  Fer- 
dinand, Ind.  Returning  to  Germany  he  prevailed  upon  a  number 
of  the  townfolk  and  the  following  heads  of  families  of  the  vil- 
lages of  Ersingen  and  Bilsengen,  Baden  viz :  Mathew  Kauf  mann, 
Albert  Eswein,  Anton  Kaufman,  Urban  Anselmt,  William  Aydt, 
Marzell  Zachmann  and  five  single  persons,  to  venture  fortune 
with  him  in  America.  After  an  ocean  voyage  of  forty-one  days, 
they  disembarked  at  New  York  about  May  30,  1841  and  from 
Pittsburg  sailed  down  the  Ohio,  finally  reaching  Ferdinand,  Ind. 
Land  at  this  place,  at  ten  and  fifteen  dollars  an  acre,  was  beyond 
their  means.  Then  it  was  that  they  learned  that  John  Lenard 
Aydt,  who  had  peddled  wares  from  Mexico  to  Wisconsin,  which 
had  fixed  on  him  the  sobriquet  of  "Cheap  John,"  lived  at  Shaw- 
neetown.  Whilst  Cajetan  Aydt  was  sent  out  as  scout  to  locate 
John  Lenard,  these  homeless  strangers  bivouaced  in  an  old  coop- 
erage. John  Lenard,  happy  to  meet  one  of  his  countrymen,  at 
once  started  out  with  him  to  inspect  "Auxier  Prairie,"  the  pres- 
ent neighborhood  of  Piopolis.  A  few  trappers  and  hunters  lived 
here.  It  was  decided  to  locate  here  and  Cajetan  returned  to  pilot 
the  patiently  waiting  emigrants  of  the  cooperage  to  their  new 
home.  They  arrived  at  Shawneetown  to  celebrate  the  feast  of 
the  Assumption  and  reached  the  scout's  place  August  21,  1841.8 

Father  Durbin  was  the  first  priest  to  visit  this  settlement, 
but  this  was  not  until  February,  1843.  On  this  occasion  the  first 
mass  was  celebrated  in  the  log  cabin  of  Nicolas  Engel.  The 
baptismal  records  at  Shawneetown  show  that  a  number  of  chil- 
dren of  these  settlers  were  baptised  at  Shawneetown  in  1842. 


s  "Geschichte  Einer  Buschgemeinde"  by  J.  N.  Enzlberger,  Der  Fam- 
ilien-Freund,  St.  Louis,  1888  (Almanac).  Rev.  John  N.  Enzlberger  was 
probably  the  most  scholarly  priest  of  the  diocese  of  Belleville.  Exception- 
ally talented,  he  contributed  during  many  years  his  weekly  Tagesglossen 
to  the  Herold  des  Glaubens,  an  important  Catholic  German  weekly  of  St. 
Louis,  Mo.  The  Tagesglossen,  always  signed  J.  N.  E.,  were  nationally 
awaited  and  read  by  clergy  and  laity.  They  showed  insight  into  the  psy- 
chology agitating  the  minds  of  men,  in  the  virile  and  formative  period  of 
the  Church,  on  many  ecclesiastical  questions  of  the  day.  An  extremely 
valuable  historical  publication  of  real  source  value  is  his  Schematismus 
der  katholischen  Geistlichkeit  deutscher  Zunge  in  den  Vereinigten  Stouten 
Amerikas,  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  1892. 


112  TREDERIC  BEUCKMAN 

II 

We  stated  that  "John  Lawler  and  wife  were  probably  the 
first  Catholic  settlers  in  this  part  of  the  state."  As  the  richest 
mineral  ore  often  lies  close  to  the  surface  and  yet  escapes  de- 
tection, so  a  valuable  historical  leaf  long  overlooked  has  been 
discovered  by  my  friend  and  former  neighbor,  the  Rev.  J.  Rens- 
man.  This  contains  the  personal  recollections  of  General  M.  K. 
Lawler  written  by  him  many  years  ago  at  the  request  of  his 
pastor.  The  document  clearly  proves  that  even  before  the  ar- 
rival of  the  General's  parents  at  Shawneetown  several  Catholics 
resided  in  the  city.  Notwithstanding  some  repetitions  we  deem 
the  document  of  such  historical  value  as  to  deserve  reproduction 
verbatim. 

Early  recollections  of  the  Catholic  church  in  Gallatin  county,  Illinois, 
by  M.  K.  L.  In  January,  1820,  John  Lawler,  with  his  family,  located  in 
this  county.  Thomas  Morris,  his  brother  Stephen,  and  their  sister  Mrs. 
Mary  Handmore,  and  Maurice  Conner  with  his  family  located  here  about 
the  same  time.  Stephen  Duffy,  James  Dunn,  Robert  Dougherty,  Terence 
Nolan,  Edward  Butler,  single  men,  and  Mrs.  Milne  were  here  previous  to 
that  time.  Daniel  Curtin  and  wife  in  the  year  1827.  Lawrence  McKernan 
and  family,  Ignatius  Cusick  and  family  and  John  R.  Sheridan  in  1828. 
William  Daily  in  1831. 

The  first  mass  celebrated  in  the  county,  to  my  knowledge,  was  in 
May,  1824,  by  Rev.  E.  J.  Durbin,  from  the  Sacred  Heart  Parish,  near 
Morganfield,  Ky.,  who  had  sole  charge  of  the  scattered  sheep  as  far  north 
as  Vandalia  and  continued  to  be  our  pastor  up  to  the  year  1857  and  after- 
wards occasionally  visited  us  a  few  times  each  year.  Heat  or  cold,  snow 
or  ice,  was  no  bar  to  him.  He  is  worthy  to  have  inscribed  on  his  tomb- 
stone, "The  Indefatigable,"  when  God  calls  him  from  the  scene  of  his 
earthly  labors.  The  public  work  commenced  in  1837  and  the  grading  of  the 
river  bank  in  front  of  Shawneetown  brought  a  considerable  influx  of  Catho- 
lics to  this  county,  many  of  whom  settled  here.  Major  A.  K.  Stout  and 
wife,  James  Ransbottom  and  family,  William  and  Edward  Burns  and  sister, 
the  McGuires,  Cains,  Rileys,  Hickeys,  Michael  Lawler,  Dan  Murphy,  Wil- 
liam Raftus  and  John  Maloney." 

Thus  far  Lawler,  whose  testimony  is  contemporary.9 

Information  which  the  writer  has  since  received  from  the 
Rev.  James  A.  Rensman,  and  also  from  Mr.  M.  J.  Howley,  of 
Cairo,  111.,  clears-up  the  relation  of  two  of  the  early  priests  to 
the  parish  of  Shawneetown.  To  the  personal  recollections  of 
General  Lawler,  Father  J.  A.  Rensman  attached  many  years  ago 


This  transcript  is  copied  from  the  original  of  M.  K.  L. 


SHAWNEETOWN  113 

a  note,  to-wit:  "The  first  pastor  to  reside  at  Shawneetown  was 
the  Rev.  J.  A.  Drew,  of  the  diocese  of  Chicago,  1847-48."  The 
next  resident  priest  was  the  Rev.  Patrick  McCabe,  concerning 
whom  Mr.  M.  J.  Howley  states:  "In  1852  Rev.  Patrick  McCabe, 
of  Shawneetown,  began  visits  to  Cairo  and  in  1853  commenced 
collection  of  funds  for  a  second  church.  He  was  so  successful 
that  in  1854  he  secured  lots  on  the  north  west  corner  of  Ninth 
Street  and  Washington  Ave.,  then  in  the  woods,  and  built  a 
frame  church  to  the  memory  of  St.  Patrick."  The  same  in- 
formant states  that  the  first  Catholic  Church  had  been  erected 
in  Cairo  about  the  year  1838,  probably  under  the  supervision  of 
the  Rev.  Michael  Collins,  C.  M.,  of  Cape  Girardeau  or  Perryville, 
Mo.10 

The  first  church  in  Gallatin  County  was  erected  during  the 
pastorate  of  Father  McCabe  in  the  year  1853,  in  honor  of  St. 
Patrick,  at  Doherty,  known  at  various  times  as  Waltonboro, 
Pond  Settlement,  Irish  Settlement,  Ponds.  This  small  log  cabin 
church  was  erected  in  the  rear  of  the  second  frame  and  present 
brick  church.  The  building  of  a  church,  especially  the  first  one, 
is  certainly  a  most  important  and  significant  event  in  the  life 
of  a  parish;  yet  records  there  are  none  from  which  the  date  of 
the*  erection  of  this  church  of  the  pioneers  could  be  ascertained. 
Only  after  lengthy  inquiry  was  the  date  finally  established  by 
the  positive  memory  of  the  aged  Julia  Keane,  nee  Spencer,  a 
native  and  convert  and  a  member  of  the  parish,  who  had  treas- 
ured the  fact  that  the  friends  of  her  youth,  Thomas  McGuire  and 
Margaret  Deneen  for  whom  she  was  bridesmaid,  were  married 
in  this  church  on  the  first  day  on  which  the  holy  sacrifice  was 
celebrated  therein.  The  marriage  records  of  the  parish  certify 
the  marriage  to  have  taken  place  on  the  18th  day  of  August, 
1853. 

This  first  church  was  a  small  log  cabin  structure  and  its 
furnishings  were  the  most  primitive.    Log  splits  with  sticks  for 


10  John  A.  Lansden,  A  History  of  the  City  of  Cairo,  Illinois,  Chicago, 
1910,  pp.  138,  139.  Mr.  M.  J.  Howley  was  one  of  the  oldest  and  best  in- 
formed parishoners  of  Cairo  and  for  a  long  time  a  public  official  of  the  city. 
The  Fathers  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Mission  of  Perryville  and  Cape 
Girardeau,  Mo.,  rendered  most  needed  missionary  supply  work  in  the 
pioneer  days,  and  their  names  are  recorded  in  parish  registers  and  direc- 
tories along  the  entire  west  front  of  the  state  of  Illinois. 


114  FREDERIC  BEUCKMAN 

support  served  as  pews;  rail  and  altar  were  of  the  same  crude 
construction.  These  were  pioneer  days  when  pioneer  customs 
prevailed.  An  aged  parishioner,  John  Daily,  son  of  the  hos- 
pitable William  Daily,  previously  mentioned,  gave  to  the  writer 
his  clear  recollections  of  the  pioneer  life  of  this  settlement.  He 
states  that  shoes  were  as  rare  in  those  days  as  bare  feet  are 
today  and  that  the  worshipers  during  the  clement  season  carried 
what  shoes  they  had  to  church  under  their  arms,  donning  them 
when  they  entered.  The  pioneer  entered  the  woods,  felled  the 
trees  and  after  hewing  and  scoring  his  logs  with  sticks  and  mud, 
raised  the  big  hearth  and  chimney,  erected  his  one-room  log- 
cabin,  filled  in  the  crevices  between  the  logs  with  rocks  and  mud 
mortar,  furnished  the  cabin  with  a  few  stools  and  a  table  and  a 
bed  of  his  own  crude  construction.  He  then  cleared  a  small  tract 
of  timber  around  the  cabin  in  the  woods,  sufficient  to  raise  enough 
corn  for  family  wants,  turned  his  hogs  loose  to  feed  upon  the 
mast  of  the  forest,  and  transported  his  goods  upon  sledges  or 
upon  primitive  wagons  with  log  cuts  for  wheels,  drawn  by  oxen. 
His  simple  meals  were  prepared  at  the  open  fire-place  over  which 
the  large  iron  kettle,  the  housewife's  main  and  perhaps  only 
kitchen  utensil,  was  suspended.  His  bread  was  made  from  the 
meal  of  the  corn  for  which  he  received  as  little  as  eighteen  cents 
a  bushel  and  for  which  he  paid,  when  ground  into  meal,  as  high 
as  fourteen  dollars  a  barrel ;  and  as  the  old  stone  burr  mills  were 
few  and  distant,  two  or  three  days  were  often  spent  going  to 
the  mill  and  waiting  for  his  turn  to  have  the  corn  ground.  But 
meat  cost  the  pioneer  practically  nothing.  His  hogs  roamed  wild 
in  the  woods  finding  their  own  acorn  mast;  and  the  wild  turkey 
and  the  deer  were  so  plentiful  that  the  true  shot  of  the  pioneers 
musket  brought  to  the  table  his  choice  of  venison,  pork  or  tur- 
key. The  quail,  the  squirrel,  and  other  small  game,  the  much 
sought  quarry  of  the  present  day  sportsman,  were  not  considered 
a  re-imbursement  for  the  powder  of  the  pioneer's  rifle. 

Amid  these  humble  surroundings  and  beginnings,  which  in 
our  times  appear  in  the  colors  of  privation,  the  pioneer  Catholic 
reared  his  family  and  the  generations  which  have  changed  a 
wilderness  into  the  cultivated  fields  of  today  and  begot  and  nur- 
tured the  large  cities  where  the  stagnated  masses  combat  for 
existence,  and  where  they  have  surrendered  the  independence 
and  liberty  which  was  the  glory  and  joy  of  a  pioneer's  life.    It 


SHAWNEETOWN  115 

is  true  that  the  days  of  the  pioneer  were  days  that  tried  men's 
hearts,  but  they  developed  a  sturdiness  which  laid  the  founda- 
tion for  our  country's  marvelous  development.  "The  country 
and  the  times  have  undergone  a  great  change  and  development," 
said  Daily,  the  aged  pioneer  farmer  to  me,  "and  I  would  not  want 
to  return  to  the  hardship  and  privations  of  the  pioneer  farm- 
builder.  Then  we  had  no  farms — only  a  lone  cabin  in  the  woods ; 
today  the  land  lies  at  our  command,  waiting  for  the  crops  to  be 
put  in.  We  were  then  unconsciously  fighting  our  way  into  a 
promised  land  of  which  hope  could  not  even  dream  and  a  few 
of  us  remain  to  enjoy  it — it  is  the  possession  of  our  children.11 

Father  McCabe,  who  had  been  pastor  at  Shawneetown  from 
1850,  became  resident  pastor  of  St.  Patrick's  church  of  Cairo, 
probably  in  1853,  and  attended  Shawneetown  from  there  in  the 
years  1854-1857.  The  Shawneetown  and  Cairo  parishes  remained 
closely  affiliated  for  the  decade  1850-1860  through  their  pastors, 
the  two  parishes  being  alternately  parish  and  mission. 

Thirty  years  and  longer  had  Catholics  lived  in  southeastern 
Illinois  and  for  twenty-six  years  had  they  been  privileged  to 
hear  mass  and  to  receive  the  sacraments,  at  least  several  times 
a  year;  but  not  until  the  year  1850  did  a  bishop  appear  among 
them.  In  that  year,  on  the  20th  day  of  October  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Oliver  Vandevelde,  of  Chicago,  confirmed  at  Shawneetown  twen- 
ty persons. 

From  the  year  1853  when  Father  P.  McCabe  moved  to  Cairo, 
Shawneetown  was  attended  at  times  from  Cairo,  by  Fathers  P. 
McCabe,  1854-1857;  L.  A.  Lambert,  1858;  and  Thos.  Walsh, 
1859;  and  from  St.  Vincent's,  Ky.,  by  M.  Bouchet,  1854-1855; 
and  E.  J.  Durbin,  1853,  1856  and  1859.12  Again  Shawneetown 
received  a  resident  pastor,  the  Rev.  J.  A.  Jacque,  this  time  in 


n  This  John  Daily  and  wife,  nee  Stout,  celebrated  the  fiftieth  anni- 
versary of  their  wedding  during  my  pastorate.  Both  are  buried  in  the 
cemetery  of  the  Doherty  parish. 

12  During  the  writer's  pastorate  of  Shawneetown  the  Rev.  Louis  A. 
Lambert,  on  his  way  to  a  Grand  Army  Reunion  at  Metropolis,  111.,  visited 
Shawneetown,  and  was  the  guest  of  the  writer  during  the  few  hours  he 
spent  there  awaiting  passage  on  an  Ohio  River  packet.  Father  Lambert, 
returning  to  the  East,  called  on  the  Rev.  John  Brennan,  who  immediately 
requested  of  the  writer  further  information  about  Shawneetown  and  paved 
the  way  for  his  valuable  reminiscences.  The  writer  later  requested  Father 
Lambert  by  letter  to  write  his  reminiscences,  but  it  was  too  late,  for 
Father  Lambert,  as  his  secretary  notified  me,  was  then  on  his  death  bed. 


116  FREDERIC  BEUCKMAN 

1859.  Rather  than  live  in  Shawneetown,  this  pioneer  priest  built 
a  room  to  the  log  cabin  at  Doherty,  where  he  lived  the  humble 
and  retired  life  of  a  hermit.  At  Cahokia,  HI.,  to  which  place  he 
was  later  assigned,  this  lonely  recluse  died,  alone  and  far  from 
his  fatherland,  breathing  forth  a  soul  consecrated  to  the  priest- 
hood among  a  strange  people  and  in  a  strange  land.  If  not  for- 
saken— yet  alone  in  his  death  agony — a  hero  priest  finished  a 
life  of  lonely  and  humble  sacrifice.  A  passer-by  discovered  the 
remains.13 

In  1860  the  Rev.  John  J.  Brennan,  who  died  a  few  years  after 
the  date  of  this  letter  at  Utica,  N.  Y.,  succeeded  as  resident  pas- 
tor of  Shawneetown.  The  history  of  his  pastorate  is  interest- 
ingly given  in  a  letter  from  him  to  the  writer,  which  we  repro- 
duce verbatim  omitting  a  few  personal  references  to  ourselves. 

Utica,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  10,  1898. 

Dear  Father  Beuckmann: — 

Your  very  interesting  and  welcome  letter  of  the  6th  inst.  duly  to  hand 
and  I  feel  truly  grateful  for  all  the  interesting  news  it  contains. 

Now,  as  to  the  history  of  the  church  of  Shawneetown,  it  is  singular 
and  an  interesting  one.  I  was  pastor  of  Jacksonville,  where  I  had  built  a 
church,  school  and  parochial  residence  and  expected  to  make  it  my  home 
for  life.  To  my  great  surprise  and  regret  I  received  a  letter  from  my 
Bishop  (Junker)  ordering  me  to  go  forthwith  to  Shawneetown.  I  remon- 
strated and  protested  against  the  change.  Then  the  Bishop  commanded 
me  under  the  pain  of  suspension,  to  go  to  Shawneetown.  I  complied  with 
this  command.  On  arriving  there  I  found  that  the  only  respectable  hotel 
in  the  town  had  been  burned  a  short  time  before  and  I  went  to  a  very 
temporary  one  that  had  been  just  erected.  I  received  from  the  Bishop  a 
letter  of  introduction  to  Mrs.  Aaron  Stout,  whose  address  he  had  obtained 
from  Father  Jacque,  who  attended  there  merely  as  temporary  until  my 
appointment  as  resident  pastor.  As  such  I  did  not  intend  to  be  a  burden 
on  Mrs.  Stout  or  any  one  member  of  the  congregation,  and  hence  I  went 
to  the  hotel  such  as  it  was. 

I  called  on  Mrs.  Stout  and  presented  my  letter.  Her  husband  was  not 
in  at  the  time  and  after  a  short  visit,  during  which  I  learned  something 
of  the  town  and  the  number  of  Catholics  at  that  mission,  I  took  my  leave 
and  after  a  walk  through  the  town  returned  to  the  hotel,  where  I  took 


is  Flies  swarming  in  and  out  of  an  open  window  attracted  the  attention 
of  a  parishoner,  who  had  not  heard  the  mass  bell  for  several  mornings.  A 
torrid  hot  summer  prevailed.  The  body  was  badly  decomposed  and  was 
immediately  buried  by  the  Rev.  C.  Koenig  and  the  Rev.  Patrick  O'Halloran, 
both  from  East  St.  Louis,  from  whom  I  had  this  information.  It  is  as- 
sumed that  Father  Jacque  died  of  a  heat  stroke  probably  July  4,  1878. 


SHAWNEETOWN  117 

supper  about  6  P.  M.  I  had  just  returned  to  my  room  when  the  proprietor 
knocked  at  my  door  and  entered  with  Mr.  Aaron  Stout.  On  being  intro- 
duced to  that  gentleman,  he  exclaimed:  "Father  Brennan,  what  are  you 
doing  here?  Myself  and  wife  have  been  expecting  you  all  afternoon.  On 
returning  home  she  told  me  you  called  and  we  thought  you  had  only  gone 
out  to  see  the  town  and  expected  you  to  return  and  I  invited  some  friends 
to  meet  you,  who  are  now  awaiting  you  at  my  home."  I  immediately 
accompanied  him  and  found  that  they  had  prepared  a  beautiful  supper  and 
after  being  introduced  to  the  guests,  spent  a  very  pleasant  evening  with 
such  hospitable  friends  and  genial  company.  About  9  o'clock  P.  M.,  I  rose 
to  return  to  my  hotel.  On  doing  so  Mr.  Stout  requested  me  to  accompany 
him  upstairs  where  he  showed  me  the  rooms  which  he  called  the  Priest 
rooms,  and  on  looking  around  I  saw  my  trunk  and  wallet  in  the  corner 
of  the  room.  "Now,"  he  said,  "this  has  been  the  home  of  every  priest  that 
has  visited  this  mission  and  you  will  not  insult  me  and  my  wife  by  going 
elsewhere,  until  we  provide  a  home  for  yourself."  I  could  not  refuse  such 
an  appeal  like  this.  No  friend,  no  father  or  mother,  could  be  more  kind 
and  generous  than  this  noble  hearted  man  and  his  good  and  saintly  wife. 
They  had  no  family  of  their  own;  they  had  only  an  adopted  daughter. 
[Mr.  Stout  was  not  a  Catholic  at  this  time,  but  was  received  into  the 
church  about  twenty  years  later,    F.  B.] 

Old  Father  Durbin,  of  Uniontown.Ky.,  was  the  only  priest  known  in 
that  part  of  Southern  Illinois,  up  to  that  time.  The  Protestants  called 
him  "Daddy  Durbin."  Some  years  previous  to  my  going  there,  Father 
Durbin  bought  an  old  depot  that  was  built  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  out- 
side of  the  town,  when  the  company  failed  in  completing  the  railroad 
betwe'en  St.  Louis  and  Louisville.  In  this  depot  he  used  to  celebrate  mass 
when  he  visited  the  mission.  At  the  time  of  purchase  he  opened  a  sub- 
scription list,  which  he  headed,  saying:  "If  this  building  is  ever  used  for 
other  than  ecclesiastical  and  school  purposes,  I  hereby  promise  to  refund 
to  the  Catholics  of  Shawneetown,  a  sum  equal  in  amount  to  that  sub- 
scribed for  the  purchase  thereof."  Mrs.  Stout  kept  this  subscription  list 
in  her  possession.  The  first  Sunday  I  said  mass  in  the  old  depot,  I  was 
shocked  and  annoyed  by  finding  that  some  disreputable  characters  had 
found  their  way  through  the  broken  windows  into  some  of  the  basement 
rooms  in  the  building,  who  gave  great  scandal  and  annoyance  during  the 
mass. 

On  returning  to  Mr.  Stout  after  the  mass,  I  informed  him  and  his  wife 
of  my  resolve,  never  to  say  mass  in  that  place  again;  that  I  would  prefer 
to  say  mass  in  a  private  house  or  shanty  rather  than  at  such  a  place. 
It  was  then  Mrs.  Stout  remembered  the  subscription  list  which  she  found 
and  handed  to  me.  On  reading  the  heading  thereto  and  finding  that  there 
were  about  six  hundred  dollars  subscribed  thereon,  I  concluded  to  have  an 
interview  with  Father  Durbin  as  soon  as  possible.  Next  day  Mr.  Stout 
took  me  out  to  his  barn  where  he  had  several  fine  horses  and  bid  me  take 
my  choice  of  them.  As  a  matter  of  course  I  selected  the  best  he  had,  and 
I  considered  myself  a  pretty  good  judge  of  a  horse.    He  next  brought  me 


118  FREDERIC  BEUCKMAN 

a  beautiful  saddle  and  bridle,  and  saddle  bags.  Now,  he  said,  you  are 
ready  for  your  mission.  My  first  journey  with  my  beautiful  steed  was  to 
Uniontown,  Ky.  Father  Durbin  and  his  assistant,  Father  Wm.  Burke, 
received  me  very  kindly  and  in  their  company  I  spent  a  most  pleasant 
evening.  Had  a  good  supper,  comfortable  bed  and  after  saying  mass  the 
next  morning  an  excellent  breakfast.  Not  till  then  did  I  broach  a  word 
about  the  business  that  took  me  there. 

On  making  known  my  business  and  my  request  to  have  the  six  hundred 
dollars  subscribed  for  the  old  depot,  Father  Durbin  became  very  angry 
and  absolutely  refused  to  do  anything  of  the  sort.  I  told  him  I  was  very 
sorry  to  cause  him  annoyance,  but  under  the  circumstances  I  was  com- 
pelled to  do  so  and  hoped  that  he  would  not  compel  me  to  have  recourse 
to  Bishop  Spalding,  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  afterwards  Archbishop  of  Baltimore. 
This  set  him  wild.  He  said  there  was  no  standing  the  young  men  of  the 
priesthood,  etc.  I  bid  him  remember  that  he  was  once  young  himself  and 
that  there  was  no  crime  in  being  a  young  man.  As  I  got  into  my  saddle 
to  depart  he  requested  me  not  to  go  to  Louisville,  that  he  would  call  to 
see  me  at  Shawneetown  in  a  day  or  two.  He  was  equal  to  his  promise 
and  when  he  came  he  was  in  a  much  better  humor  and  before  leaving 
gave  me  a  deed  for  a  beautiful  plot  of  timber  land  outside  of  Shawneetown, 
which  I  had  no  difficulty  in  disposing  of  soon  after.  With  this  as  a  start 
I  at  once  concluded  to  build  a  new  church.  I  drew  up  the  plans  myself 
and  called  in  the  gentlemen  you  mention  in  your  letter  (Kaercher  and 
Scanlan)  and  made  a  contract  with  them  that  they  would  do  the  car- 
penter work  within  a  given  time,  I  think  one  month.  I  made  another 
contract  for  the  plastering  of  the  church  and  for  the  pews,  got  the  altar, 
built  and  painted  it  myself;  all  to  be  completed  within  the  specified  time. 
During  all  this  time  I  never  wrote  to  my  Bishop,  nor  he  to  me. 

When  I  saw  the  work  fairly  under  way,  I  decided  on  the  day  for  the 
dedication  and  wrote  to  the  Bishop's  secretary  to  let  me  know  whether 
the  Bishop  could  be  present  himself,  appoint  another  or  grant  myself 
permission  to  perform  the  dedication  ceremony.  He  answered :  "the  Bishop 
will  be  there  himself,  but  you  must  remember  the  church  must  be  plas- 
tered." He  thought,  I  suppose,  it  was  impossible  to  have  a  church  build 
and  plastered  in  such  a  short  time. 

Another  incident  I  must  mention  here.  While  the  work  was  going  on 
I  went  through  the  mission,  Pond  Settlement  and  other  places,  names  I 
cannot  remember;  I  think  one  was  Hillsboro,  [Carmi  is  meant],  where  a 
Mr.  Haynes  lived.  He  was  a  convert  who  was  received  into  the  church 
somewhere  south,  while  he  was  superintendent  on  a  plantation.  He  bought 
a  bell  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  that  was  saved  from  a  burning  steamboat.  He 
had  it  in  his  barnyard  and  would  ring  it  every  Sunday  morning,  and  all 
his  Catholic  neighbors  would  assemble  at  his  house  where  they  would  unite 
in  prayer  and  he  would  read  from  some  meditation  or  pious  book.  On  the 
occasion  of  my  first  visit  I  had  mass  there  and  a  number  of  Catholics 
attended  and  received  the  sacraments  of  Penance  and  Holy  Eucharist.  He 
told  me  he  intended  going  South  that  winter  as  he  wished  to  earn  some 


SHAWNEETOWN  119 

money  to  enable  him  to  build  a  church  at  that  place.  I  asked  him  if  he 
was  not  afraid  to  leave  that  beautiful  bell  exposed  to  be  broken  or  other- 
wise injured  during  his  absence.  I  then  requested  him  to  lend  it  for  the 
time  being  to  Shawneetown  Church  and  that  I  would  give  him  a  written 
guarantee  that  it  should  be  delivered  to  him  on  demand  at  any  time  he 
felt  disposed  to  call  for  it.  He  acceded  to  my  request  and  that  same  morn- 
ing I  found  one  of  the  farmers  who  was  present  at  the  mass,  who  con- 
sented to  take  it  ot  Shawneetown.  I  got  another  to  accompany  him  and 
thus  did  I  secure  the  bell  for  Shawneetown. 

The  war  broke  out  and  Haynes  never  returned  but  died  South  and  I 
understand  gave  all  his  property  to  the  Bishop  of  Alton,  111.  As  I  see 
from  the  paper  you  have  the  date  of  my  appointment  and  the  date  of 
dedication,  you  will  understand  how  the  work  was  accomplished  in  so 
short  a  time.  Through  the  assistance  of  Mr.  Aaron  Stout,  Protestants  as 
well  as  Catholics  contributed  most  generously  thereto,  he  finally  giving  as 
his  donation  the  beautiful  plot  of  ground  on  which  the  church  stands  and 
that  God  has  so  singularly  preserved  from  the  floods  by  which  Shawnee- 
town has  been  visited. 

After  the  dedication  was  over  and  before  the  Bishop  took  his  de- 
parture to  return  to  Alton,  I  took  the  opportunity  to  inform  him  that 
whatever  I  did  there  was  for  the  honor  and  glory  of  God  and  Holy  Church; 
but  I  was  not  disposed  to  remain  there,  and  begged  him  to  find  another 
place  for  me.  Soon  after  he  called  me  back  to  the  Cathedral  at  Alton 
and  from  there  appointed  me  the  first  pastor  of  E.  St.  Louis,  where  I 
built  St.  Patricks,  the  mother  of  churches  in  that  city.  I  secured  the 
property  there  through  Mr.  Bowman,  afterwards  Mayor  of  that  city  and 
whor  I  heard,  met  with  a  tragic  death.  I  commenced  the  church  in  1861 
when  the  war  broke  out  and  had  great  difficulty  in  completing  it.  Father 
Ryan,  now  Archbishop  of  Philadelphia,  preached  on  the  day  of  its  dedica- 
tion. That  was  my  last  mission  in  Illinois.  Failing  health  compelled  me 
to  resign  and  come  East  for  a  change  of  climate. 

I  fear  I  have  tried  you  with  a  long  narration  and  beg  your  kind 
patience  in  reading  it. 

I  remember  Judge  Bartley  very  well.  It  was  he  who  drew  up  the 
papers  for  Father  Durbin  and  myself  and  attended  to  all  such  business 
for  me.  Please  tell  him  I  never  forget  my  dear  old  friends,  living  or  dead, 
when  I  am  at  the  altar  offering  the  Sacrifice. 

Hoping  that  I  shall  be  able  to  realize  my  heartfelt  wish  to  see  you 
and  my  old  friends  in  Shawneetown  next  summer,"   I   am,   with   much 


14  Father  Brennan  did  not  realize  his  wish.  Death  intervened.  Mayor 
Bowman,  to  whom  he  refers  in  the  letter,  was  a  German  university  grad- 
uate, an  attorney,  and  a  dominant  figure  in  the  early  development  of  St. 
Clair  County.  He  fled  to  England  during  revolutionary  days  in  Germany, 
and  was  for  a  short  time  private  secretary  there  of  the  Italian  revolution- 
ist, Mazzini,  after  which  he  came  to  America.  His  assassination  November 
20,  1885,  in  East  St.  Louis,  as  he  entered  the  gate  to  his  yard  that  dusk 
Winter  evening,  has  never  been  solved.  It  has  been  assumed  to  be  a 
corporation-hired  assassination.  In  the  interest  of  East  St.  Louis  and  its 
future  security  Bowman  had  fought  in  the  courts  against  corporation 
dominance  and  confiscation.    His  daughter  entered  the  religious  life. 


120  FREDERIC  BEUCKMAN 

esteem  for  yourself, 

Yours  in  Christ, 

John  J.  Brennan. 

The  first  church  erected  at  Shawneetown  by  Father  John  J. 
Brennan  in  1860  was  a  plain  frame  structure,  quite  small,  25x50 
feet,  yet  amply  large  for  the  congregation.  It  was  a  decided  ad- 
vancement over  the  two  rude  log  cabin  churches  at  Piopolis  and 
Doherty.  It  was  erected  on  in-lot  858  donated  by  Marion  Stout. 
The  contract  for  the  erection  thereof  was  awarded  to  Kaercher 
and  Scanlan  of  the  town.  Father  Brennan  had  been  successful 
in  collecting  about  one  thousand  two  hundred  dollars  at  Shaw- 
neetown, New  Haven  and  Equality,  then  the  only  towns  of  the 
county.  The  original  subscription  list,  yet  preserved,  reveals 
but  a  few  names  familiar  at  the  present  time;  but  it  is  most 
probable  that  the  majority  of  the  subscribers  were  non-Catholics. 

The  day  of  the  dedication  brought  a  bishop  to  the  mission 
the  second  time,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Henry  Damian  Juncker,  the  first 
bishop  of  the  new  diocese  of  Alton,  who  dedicated  the  church 
to  Mary  of  the  Holy  Name.  How  the  title  was  later  changed 
to  Mary  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  the  records  do  not  in- 
dicate. On  the  day  of  the  dedication  the  pioneer  bishop  also 
confirmed  forty-six  persons.  That  this  small  church  should  be 
amply  large  to  accommodate  the  Catholics  of  Shawneetown  for 
forty-eight  years  might  seem  strange  today;  yet  the  congrega- 
tion at  no  time  numbered  perhaps  more  than  fifty  families. 

After  Father  J.  J.  Brennan's  recall  to  Alton,  the  young  priest, 
Father  L.  A.  Lambert,  who  had  served  as  assistant  to  Father 
Walsh  of  Cairo,  was  promoted,  if  it  could  be  so  considered,  to 
the  pastorate  of  Shawneetown  and  its  missions.  At  this  time 
the  slavery  question  was  heading  to  a  decision.  M.  K.  Lawler, 
who  had  served  his  country  in  the  Mexican  War  as  a  captain 
lived  near  Equality  and  was  now  a  parishioner  of  Fr.  Lambert. 
Lawler  espoused  the  cause  of  the  North  and  immediately  on  the 
outbreak  of  the  war,  tendered  his  services  to  his  country  and 
organized  the  Eighteenth  Illinois  regiment  of  Infantry  Volun- 
teers. The  young  priest  desired  to  accompany  his  parishioners 
into  the  war  and  to  attend  to  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  soldier. 
The  tender  of  his  services  was  accepted  and  a  commission  was 
issued  to  Father  Lambert  by  Richard  Yates,  Governor  of  the 


SHAWNEETOWN  121 

State,  and  A.  C.  Fuller,  Adjutant  General,  and  O.  M.  Hatch,  Sec- 
retary of  State,  to  serve  as  Chaplain  of  Lawler's  Regiment  and 
to  rank  as  captain  of  cavalry  from  July  1st,  1861.  Father  Lam- 
bert remained  with  the  regiment  through  the  campaigns  in  Mis- 
souri, Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  Mississippi,  sharing  the  perils 
and  hardships  of  the  soldiers  to  whom  he  endeared  himself  and 
among  whom  he  wielded  a  potent  and  salutary  influence.  After 
two  years  service  in  the  army  he  was  appointed  to  succeed  Fath- 
er Walsh  at  Cairo,  where  he  remained  until  1868,  when  he  re- 
moved to  the  East.  Here  he  distinguished  himself  by  his  splen- 
did journalistic  and  literary  labors  and  became  one  of  the  most 
widely  known  priests  of  the  States.  His  replies  to  Ingersoll 
familiarized  his  name  among  Protestants  as  well  as  Catholics, 
and  his  editorials  placed  the  Freeman's  Journal  in  the  fore- 
ground. 

Ingersoll  and  Lambert  were  both  residents  of  Shawneetown 
and  both  served  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion.  Father  J.  A.  Rens- 
man  pertinently  says  of  them,  "Ingersoll  and  Lambert,  two  re- 
markable men.  We  meet  both  in  Shawneetown,  the  one  a  priest 
the  other  a  lawyer;  we  find  them  again  on  the  same  battlefield, 
the  one  as  an  army  chaplain,  the  other  as  a  colonel ;  and  a  third 
time  they  come  before  the  public  on  religious  battle  ground. 
Father  Lambert,  the  defender  of  revealed  truth,  Col.  Ingersoll, 
its  scoffer."  The  intrepid  Christian  warrior  passed  to  his  re- 
ward Sunday  evening,  Sept.  25,  1910.15  Father  Lambert  attended 
Shawneetown  as  pastor  and  visited  the  mission  as  army  chap- 
lain in  1861  and  1862,  as  shown  by  the  church  records. 

Father  J.  Larmer  succeeded  as  the  next  pastor  and  continued 
as  such  until  his  successor,  Father  S.  Weggener,  was  appointed, 
probably  in  1864.  Since  the  Catholics  were  few  in  numbers, 
badly  scattered,  and  of  very  limited  means,  material  advance- 
ment of  the  parishes  could  not  be  hoped  for  and  the  priest's  in- 
come allowed  no  more  than  the  absolute  necessities  of  life.  Yet 
immortal  souls  were  to  be  saved  and  what  was  accomplished  in 
this  distinct  priestly  endeavor  will  only  be  disclosed  by  the  rec- 
ords of  eternity.     The  sheep  were  scattered  and  a  very  great 


is  The  writer  questioned  the  Rev.  Louis  A.  Lambert  whether  or  not  he 
had  become  acquainted  with  the  agnostic  Robert  Ingersoll  while  the  latter 
also  lived  at  Shawneetown,  to  which  he  replied  that  he  had  never  met 
Ingersoll. 


122  FREDERIC  BEUCKMAN 

portion  of  the  shepherd's  time  was  spent  in  the  saddle  or  stage 
coach  riding  over  his  extensive  missions. 

The  year  1864  marks  the  erection  of  a  fourth  church  in  the 
vast  southeastern  Illinois  mission  about  three  miles  north  of 
Roseclare  in  Hardin  County,  which  even  today  remains  the  only 
church  in  the  county  of  petty  mountains  and  no  railroad.  The 
cholera,  which  raged  in  St.  Louis  in  1849,  drove  the  first  Catho- 
lic settlers,  the  brothers,  George  and  Andrew  Volkert,  into  Hard- 
in County  from  that  city.  The  place  was  one  of  the  most  diffi- 
cult of  access  in  the  state  until  the  recent  entry  of  a  concrete 
highway;  whether  it  was  this  circumstance  which  determined  it 
as  a  probable  safe  refuge  from  the  plague,  or  whether  they  were 
invited  thither  by  friends  or  acquaintances,  I  did  not  ascertain. 
In  1853  George  Siegler  and  Emanuel  Herman  and  in  1854  George 
Humm  increased  this  small  Catholic  community  of  immigrants 
from  the  Rheinpfalz,  Bavaria.  These  families  erected  the  first 
church  probably  in  1863,  a  small  log  structure,  since  superseded 
by  a  larger  and  neat  frame  church,  and  since  its  destruction  by 
fire,  a  brick  church,  which  at  this  date  is  yet  the  only  Catholic 
Church  in  Hardin  County.16  This  does  not  bespeak  growth  and 
expansion;  yet  preservation  is  at  least  better  than  decay  and 
death. 

This  southeastern  Illinois  mission  can  now  boast  of  four 
churches,  two  in  Gallatin,  one  in  Hamilton,  one  in  Hardin  and 
one  in  White  County  at  Dolan  Settlement,17  about  three  miles 
west  of  Enfield,  where  a  church  was  also  built  about  1862.  Yet 
the  pastor  of  all  these  churches  and  stations  had  no  residence, 
but  lived  as  a  guest  of  Major  Aaron  Stout  at  Shawneetown.  In 
1864,  however,  a  two-story  four-room  frame  dwelling  was  erected 
and  attached  to  the  rear  of  the  church  at  Shawneetown.  One 
wall  was  saved  in  this  method  of  construction  and  this  was  an 


is  The  writer  attended  this  mission  once  a  month  in  1892  and  1893  and 
knew  most  of  the  first  pioneer  Catholics.  These  stated  that  the  Rev.  Kilian 
Schlosser,  O.  S.  F.,  of  Teutopolis  was  the  first  priest  to  visit  this  mission. 
This  Franciscan  is  listed  at  Teutopolis  in  the  church  directories  of  the  first 
half  of  the  sixties.  This  anomoly  of  attendance  from  a  distance  rather 
than  from  the  near-by  Shawneetown  is  evidently  due  to  the  fact  that 
probably  previous  to  the  arrival  of  the  Rev.  S.  Wegener  at  Shawneetown 
in  1865  none  of  the  priests  there  knew  enough  German  to  converse  with 
these  immigrants  from  Bavaria  and  the  Rheinpfalz. 

17  The  Catholic  Directory  of  1865  lists  Dolans  among  churches  and  as 
attended  from  Mount  St.  John,  Piopolis  of  today. 


SHAWNEETOWN  123 

idea  which  meager  finances  no  doubt  suggested.  It  was  humble 
and  humbly  furnished,  yet  a  man's  home  is  his  palace. 

With  church  in  four  counties,  and  stations  at  Carmi  and  New 
Haven  within  these  four  counties  and  a  few  Catholics  scattered 
over  several  other  counties,  the  Shawneetown  Mission  territory, 
as  Father  L.  A.  Lambert  told  the  writer,  included  all  the  counties 
north  of  Cairo,  between  the  Ohio,  Wabash  and  Mississippi  rivers. 
At  this  period  there  were  no  railroads  in  this  section  of  the  state 
and  all  parishes  and  stations  could  be  reached  only  by  stage 
coach  or  saddle  over  primitive  roads  or  forest  trails;  hence  it 
must  have  been  a  most  welcome  relief  to  have  two  resident  pas- 
tors assigned  to  this  vast  southeastern  Illinois  mission,  one  of 
them  to  reside  as  pastor  at  Piopolis.  Piopolis  received  its  first 
resident  pastor  in  the  person  of  Father  Edward  Hamann,  who 
was  transferred  from  Cairo  and  arrived  at  Piopolis  in  January, 
1864.18  It  is  true  that  the  two  resident  pastors  in  this  extensive 
mission  lived  forty  miles  apart;  but  this  was  quite  neighborly 
when  we  remember  that  previously  the  nearest  Illinois  priestly 
neighbors  had  been  at  Cairo.  There  were  no  railroads;  yet  this 
was  quite  near  enough  for  priestly  hearts  to  seek  priestly  con- 
solation and  companionship.  The  Catholic  people  were  at  home 
with  their  families  and  although  the  pioneer  priest  was  no 
stranger  among  them,  yet  a  true  priest  must  feel  far  from  home 
when  he  is  deprived  of  all  priestly  associations,  which  always 
refresh  and  invigorate. 

The  shadows  are  receding  and  the  day  is  growing  brighter. 
The  field  of  labor  is  now  divided;  the  counties  of  Hamilton  and 
White  and  later  Jefferson,  Wayne  and  Clay  receive  attention 
from  Piopolis  whilst  Gallatin,  Hardin,  Saline,  Pope,  Johnston, 
etc.,  are  attended  from  Shawneetown,  and  the  extreme  southern 
and  southwestern  counties  from  Cairo. 

As  yet  the  Catholics:  of  Shawneetown  had  no  distinct  Catho- 
lic cemetery.     In  those  days  many  farmers  had  private  burial 


18  "Geschichte  Einer  Bushgemeinde"  cited  previously. 


124  FREDERIC  BEUCKMAN 

plots  on  their  farms,19  all  traces  of  which  have  in  many  instances 
been  entirely  effaced  by  the  plowshare  and  obliterated  by  the 
growing  crops,  reminding  one  of  the  words  of  Bryan's  Than- 
atopsis : 

Earth  that  nourished  thee  shall  claim 
Thy  growth  to  be  resolved  to  earth  again, 
And,  lost  each  human  trace,  surrendering  up 
Thine  individual  being,  shalt  thou  go 
To  mix  forever  with  elements, 
To  be  a  brother  to  the  insensible  rock 
And  to  the  sluggish  clod,  which  the  rude  swain 
Turns  with  his  share  and  treads  up.     The  oak 
Shall  send  his  roots  abroad  and  pierce  thy  mould. 
In  1865  Major  Aaron  Stout  donated  the  site  of  the  present 
cemetery  about  three  miles  north  of  town  where  the  hills  rise 
above  the  low  lands,  which  are  subject  to  periodical  overflows. 
An  elaborate  plat  with  circular  driveways  and  ornamental  plots 
far  beyond  the  people's  ability  of  execution  and  maintenance  was 
drawn  by  an  engineer.    In  the  absence  of  a  cemetery  sexton  and 
permanent  lot-markers,  an  inevitable  confusion  arose,  which  is 
now  difficult  to  remedy. 

Since  the  southern  half  of  the  great  state  of  Illinois  became 
the  separate  diocese  of  Alton  in  1857,  episcopal  visitations  and 
confirmations  become  more  frequent  than  when  the  entire  state 
had  to  be  attended  by  the  bishop  of  Chicago.  In  1866  the  Rt. 
Rev.  H.  D.  Juncker  entered  the  Shawneetown  missions  the  second 
time  and  confirmed  at  Shawneetown,  Pond  Settlement  and  Rose- 
clare. 

Probably  in  May  1867,  Father  A.  Mueller  became  resident 
pastor  of  Shawneetown  and  its  missions.  He  was  then  a  priest 
of  advanced  years  and  was  especially  remembered  by  the  par- 
ishioners as  a  great  lover  of  little  children.  Recollection  states 
that  he  was  too  democratic  and  simple  in  his  dress  and  habits 
to  satisfy  the  rather  aristocratic  tastes  of  some  of  the  ladies  of 


is  The  private  cemetery  of  the  Michael  Kelly  Lawler  family  is  still  the 
burial  place  of  this  family.  A  rather  unique  provision  of  the  General's  last 
will  provides  that  his  homestead  farm  is  to  be  the  property  of  the  youngest 
son  of  his  youngest  son.  The  General's  youngest  son  Edward  died  leaving 
a  son  by  a  second  marriage,  who  is  perhaps  in  his  early  teens  now.  The 
State  of  Illinois  by  special  appropriation  erected  a  monument  to  the  Gen- 
eral in  the  town  of  Equality,  about  three  miles  from  the  farm  homestead. 


SHAWNEETOWN  125 

the  parish  and  that  one  of  these  took  it  upon  herself  to  write  to 
the  bishop  asking  his  removal.  When  Father  Mueller  became 
aware  of  this,  he  urged  the  bishop  to  accept  his  resignation  and 
remarked  that  she  who  had  without  reason  asked  his  removal 
would  some  day  want  a  priest  and  not  be  able  to  obtain  one. 
These  prophetic  words  were  recalled  by  the  parishioners  when 
the  lady  died  without  the  consolations  of  the  last  sacrament  be- 
cause no  priest  was  within  reach.  This  was  not  the  only  case 
in  which  an  unreasonable  and  unjustifiable  opposition  to  the 
pastor  of  the  mission  terminated  as  unfortunately;  but  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  the  disturbers  received  a  more  merciful  judgment 
than  would  appear  from  the  circumstances.  "He  who  despises 
you,  despises  me." 

As  far  as  material  development  is  concerned  the  pastorates 
of  many  pioneer  priests  were  uneventful.  The  poverty  of  the 
early  settlers  precluded  rapid  advancement  in  building  and 
where  the  most  essential  structures  were  log  churches  and  rec- 
tories financial  and  executive  genius  were  not  requisite;  but 
there  were  other  qualities  of  priestly  activity  which  were  then 
demanded  more  so  than  they  are  today,  especially  the  courage 
and  willingness  to  sacrifice  every  earthly  ambition  in  patient, 
humble  and  self-sacrificing  consecration  to  the  salvation  of  souls. 

VI 

At  this  time  a  new  feature  enters  into  the  material  develop- 
ment of  Shawneetown  and  its  immediate  vicinity.  Some  years 
previously  the  scion  of  a  wealthy  Philadelphia  family,  of  excep- 
tional endowments  and  highly  educated,  yet  eccentric,  Col.  F.  H. 
Sellers,20  immortalized  by  Mark  Twain  as  Mulberry  Sellers,  set- 
tled in  the  mineral  fields  south  of  Shawneetown.  Supported  by 
the  wealth  of  his  family  Sellers  explored  the  country  in  search 
of  mineral  deposits  and  Indian  relics  and  his  visionary  mind 
revelled  in  the  prospect  of  millions  in  the  resources  of  the  coun- 
try and  of  his  own  remarkable  and  most  valuable  inventions. 

Through  the  influence  of  Sellers  eastern  capital  was  intro- 
duced in  the  development  of  the  coal  fields  south  of  Shawnee- 
town. As  the  coal  was  of  a  high  grade,  it  readily  found  a  market 
and  an  easy  entry  into  the  South  by  way  of  the  Ohio  river,  to 


History  of  Gallatin  County,  p.  575. 


126  FREDERIC  BEUCKMAN 

which  a  private  railroad  was  built  from  the  mines.  A  number 
of  Irish  Catholics  came  to  labor  in  these  mines.  Business  flour- 
ished in  Shawneetown  and  money  freely  circulated.  Catholics 
felt  elated  at  the  prospect  of  a  growing  and  possibly  larger 
parish. 

When  the  atmosphere  was  surcharged  with  sparkling  ex- 
pectations, the  young  priest,  Father  Anton  Demming  entered 
the  mission  as  the  successor  of  Father  Mueller  in  December, 
1869.  His  naturally  sanguine  character  was  easily  kindled  with 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  promising  outlook.  The  time  was  ripe  for 
action  and  the  man  who  by  nature  was  endowed  with  the  gifts 
peculiarly  adapted  to  the  task  had  arrived.  The  activity  of 
youth  brought  the  young  priest  in  frequent  contact  with  the 
scattered  Catholics  and  bound  them  together  in  common  awak- 
ened interest.  A  new  social  consciousness  had  been  aroused  by 
the  time  and  the  man,  so  that  even  at  this  late  date  the  person- 
ality of  the  priest  yet  stands  forth  in  remarkably  clear  outlines 
in  the  memory  of  the  pioneer  Catholics  of  Shawneetown  and  its 
missions.  Unassuming,  yet  wide  awake,  with  an  unconscious 
enthusiasm  for  his  work,  he  infused  Catholics  with  new  courage 
and  confidence  in  themselves. 

Another  important  event  must  here  be  introduced,  and  that 
is  the  entry  of  the  third  resident  pastor  in  the  Southeastern  Il- 
linois mission.  In  1871  Rev.  William  O'Reilly  became  the  first 
resident  pastor  of  St.  Patrick's  congregation  near  Enfield  and 
relieved  the  pastor  of  Piopolis  of  this  congregation  and  that  at 
Carmi.  All  extreme  Southern  Illinois,  lying  between  the  Ohio 
and  the  Mississippi  rivers,  had  in  the  later  years  of  the  eighteen 
sixties  resident  pastors  at  Shawneetown,  Cairo,  Piopolis,  Anna, 
Mound  City  and  Du  Quoin.  Yet  the  erection  of  new  parishes 
has  been  very  slow  until  the  immense  coal  deposits  of  this  south- 
ern section  were  opened  in  recent  years.  What  a  contrast  is  pre- 
sented today  in  the  number  of  churches  and  resident  pastors! 

Frederic  Beuckman 

Belleville,  Illinois 


THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER,  MONTANA  PIONEER* 

I 

My  first  acquaintance  with  General  Thomas  Francis  Meagher 
was  in  Montana  in  the  fall  of  1865,  and  under  the  following  cir- 
cumstances. I  was  encamped  near  Bird- tail  Rock,  between  Sun 
River  and  Dearborn  River,  at  a  place  where  the  present  St. 
Peter's  [Blackfoot]  Mission  is  situated,  preparing  and  providing 
logs  and  rock  for  the  transfer  of  St.  Peter's  Mission  to  this  new 
place.  The  old  locality  on  the  banks  of  the  Missouri  River  near 
the  mouth  of  Sun  River  had  been  found  inadequate  on  account 
of  the  difficulty  of  irrigation,  and  this  new  place  had  been  se- 
lected. A  couple  of  white  laborers,  two  Canadian  half-breeds 
and  two  Indians  composed  the  Camp.  Two  Indian  tents,  two 
tents  for  the  Canadians  with  their  families,  my  tent  for  the 
whites,  and  a  tent  for  chapel,  Mass,  prayer,  etc.,  was  our  whole 
settlement.  One  evening  towards  dusk  a  blizzard  began  to  blow, 
and  shortly  afterwards  the  Indians  announced  the  arrival  of 
three  white  men,  who  evidently  had  strayed  from  the  beaten 
road,  had  wandered  off  in  the  hills  and  stumbled  on  our  Camp. 


*  These  recollections  (Ms.  in  St.  Louis  University  Archives)  were 
penned  in  1906  under  the  caption  "Stray  Leaves  from  the  Diary  and 
Musings  of  an  Old  Friend  of  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  Brig.  General 
of  the  United  States  Army,  and  Governor  of  Montana  Territory,  1865- 
1867."  Their  author,  the  Rev.  Francis  Xavier  Kuppens,  S.  J.,  (1838- 
1916),  a  native  of  Belgium,  was  for  some  years  an  Indian  missionary 
in  the  Rocky  Mountain  region  where  he  made  Meagher's  acquaintance. 
Though  written  down  some  forty  years  later  than  the  incidents  nar- 
rated, these  reminiscences  may  be  rated  high  in  point  of  historical 
value  as  Father  Kuppens  was  gifted  with  an  uncommonly  retentive  mem- 
ory and  was  characteristically  conservative  in  preparing  statements  for 
publication.  The  diary  which  apparently  formed  the  basis  of  this  sketch 
cannot  be  traced.  Father  Kuppens's  remarkable  horseback  ride  from  St. 
Ignatius  Mission  to  Fort  Benton  to  meet  Governor  Meagher  is  briefly 
sketched  in  L.  B.  Palladino,  S.  J.,  Indian  and  White  in  the  Northwest,  or  a 
History  of  Catholicity  in  Montana,  Baltimore,  1894,  p.  286,  which  work  has 
other  references  to  Father  Kuppens's  career  in  Montana,  especially  in 
Helena,  where  he  said  the  first  Mass. 

General  Meagher  was  Secretary  of  Montana  Territory  from  August  4, 
1865,  to  his  death,  July  1,  1867.  He  was  Acting-Governor  from  the  de- 
parture of  Governor  Edgerton,  September,  1865,  until  the  arrival  of  Green 
Clay  Smith  as  Governor  in  the  summer  of  1866.  Biographical  sketches 
of  him  may  be  read  in  History  of  Montana,  1735-1885,  Chicago,  1885,  p.  247, 
and  in  Contributions  to  the  History  of  Montana  (Montana  Historical  So- 
ciey),  VI,  119  ff.  An  impressive  equestrian  statue  of  Meagher  stands  be- 
fore the  state  capitol  building  in  Helena. 

127 


128  FRANCIS  XAVIER  KUPPENS 

At  first  greeting  I  learned  it  was  General  Meagher,  accompanied 
by  a  judge  of  the  Territory,  and  a  friend.  I  welcomed  them  to 
the  tent  and  to  the  best  in  the  Camp  (which  was  very  poor) . 
Their  horses  were  treated  like  our  own ;  they  were  securely  hob- 
bled, one  fore  foot  to  a  hind  foot,  and  given  the  liberty  of  a 
thousand  hills. 

During  the  long  evening  after  supper  and  prayers,  the  Gen- 
eral spoke  v/ith  much  feeling  of  his  college  days  under  the  care 
of  the  Jesuits  in  Ireland.  His  stay  in  Australia,  and  his  doings 
during  the  Civil  war  were  referred  to  by  his  companions.  I  was 
informed  also  that  lately  he  had  been  appointed  Secretary  of 
Montana  Territory  and  was  acting  Governor.  He  made  inquiries 
about  Montana,  the  climate,  products,  mines,  mountains,  rivers, 
the  Indians  and  their  tribes  and  dispositions.  At  that  time  I 
spoke  at  length  and  in  detail  of  the  wonders  of  the  Yellowstone 
region,  which  excited  the  Governor's  curiosity  very  much  and 
he  frequently  afterwards  returned  to  that  subject,  suggesting 
that  it  should  be  made  a  National  Park.  My  life  there  among 
the  Indians,  separated  from  the  world  and  from  civilization,  for 
the  purpose  of  spreading  the  gospel  and  saving  a  few  souls, 
brought  forth  numberless  questions  from  his  companions.  My 
tent  with  its  little  campfire  in  the  center  had  never  felt  so  com- 
fortable as  that  evening  when  the  blizzard  was  raging  and  the 
mercury  (I  heard  afterward)  went  down  to  -40°.  The  low  hard 
ground  with  a  few  pine  boughs  was  offered  as  a  couch,  and  the 
buffalo  robes  and  blankets,  which  had  done  duty  for  three  be- 
fore, now  answered  for  six.  The  next  two  days  the  storm  was 
at  its  worst,  and  perforce  the  travelers  were  kept  indoors.  Gen- 
eral Meagher  hearing  that  I  was  a  native  of  Belgium,  told  of  the 
time  of  his  college  years,  when  he  had  spent  a  vacation  of  a 
couple  of  months  at  Antwerp,  and  had  gone  over  the  compaign 
marches  and  battlegrounds  upon  which  the  Belgians  had  fought 
in  1830  a  few  years  before  and  gained  their  independence.  He 
also  said  that  at  the  beginning  of  his  patriotic  career  in  Ireland 
he  had  urged  on  his  hearers  the  example  of  the  Belgians  in 
drawing  the  sword  and  striking  for  independence ;  and  that  this 
had  so  offended  Mr.  John  O'Connell,  son  of  the  great  Daniel, 
that  he  had  been  silenced  and  rebuked  for  it  and  put  out  of  the 
hall.  During  those  two  days  I  learned  much  of  Irish  history 
and  the  character  of  the  people. 


THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER  129 

On  the  third  day  the  storm  had  passed  and  the  General  re- 
solved to  continue  his  journey.  He  had  started  from  Virginia 
City,  then  the  capital  of  Montana,  to  visit  the  northern  settle- 
ments of  the  Territory;  the  Great  Falls  of  the  Missouri  also  at- 
tracted his  curiosity ;  Fort  Benton  was  an  extensive  trading  post, 
the  head  of  navigation  on  the  Missouri,  and  the  most  northerly 
settlement  of  the  Territory.  But  the  General  and  his  party  were 
sadly  equipped  for  such  a  journey  at  that  season,  they  had 
neither  shelter,  nor  blankets,  nor  provisions,  and  if  they  had  not 
luckily  drifted  into  our  Camp  they  would  undoubtedly  have  per- 
ished during  that  blizzard.  Now  that  the  snow  had  stopped  fall- 
ing and  the  weather  had  become  calm  and  clear  the  first  look 
satisfied  me  that  great  care  and  prudence  were  needed.  Snow 
covered  the  earth,  all  signs  of  trails,  indentations  of  the  hills, 
small  ravines  were  obliterated;  only  distant  mountain  peaks,  and 
high  buttes  could  serve  as  guiding  marks ;  and  I  determined  my- 
self to  accompany  the  party  to  the  old  mission  on  the  banks  of 
the  Missouri  and  to  provide  them  there  with  the  indispensible 
bedding,  and  provisions  and  good  Indian  guides  for  their  jour- 
ney. The  few  necessary  preliminaries,  as  finding  our  horses  in 
a  sheltered  ravine,  were  happily  only  a  brief  task,  and  we  were 
soon  on  our  road.  Although  a  foot  of  snow  is  not  much,  yet 
a  continuous  stretch  of  twenty  miles  of  unbroken  trail  is  very 
tiresome  on  the  march.  We  reached  the  mission  without  mis- 
hap in  good  season  before  dark.  Father  Imoda  [S.  J.],  the  Su- 
perior, and  Father  Ravalli,  S.  J.,  made  the  party  most  welcome. 
Log  houses,  plenty  of  robes,  also  a  good  number  of  Indians, 
neighbors  and  visitors  made  the  stay  more  bearable  than  a  small 
tent. 

After  a  day's  rest  he  [Meagher]  set  out  on  his  journey  to  the 
Great  Falls  and  Fort  Benton.  Two  good  reliable  Indian  guides 
with  packhorses  accompanied  the  party,  and  they  had  little  to 
fear  where  night  or  a  blizzard  might  overtake  them.  In  fact 
the  heavy  roads  made  it  hard  on  the  horses,  and  they  camped 
out  four  times  before  reaching  Fort  Benton.  After  some  days 
the  General  returned  to  the  capital  by  the  ordinary  wagon  road; 
he  had  obtained  some  conveyance,  and  I  did  not  see  him  again 
for  some  months.  During  the  winter  I  heard  that  General  Mea- 
gher on  his  return  to  Virginia  City  had  taken  quite  an  interest 
in  church  matters  and  that  Father  Giorda,  S.  J.,  Superior  of  the 


130  FRANCIS  XAVIER  KUPPENS 

mountain  missions,  during  a  visit  to  the  capital  at  that  time 
had  purchased  the  old  log  theatre  and  had  with  a  few  altera- 
tions converted  it  into  a  church.  General  Meagher  by  his  sub- 
scription, his  influence  and  position  had  made  it  possible ;  it  was 
a  great  change  for  the  better,  as  up  to  that  time  we  had  said 
mass  and  administered  the  sacraments,  in  halls,  dining  rooms, 
stores  or  any  odd  place  that  could  be  secured  for  the  occasion 
of  the  irregular  visit  of  a  priest.  Immediately  a  certain  pride 
and  emulation  about  religion  had  made  itself  felt  in  all  classes 
of  persons,  high  and  low.  I  was  told  also  that  at  the  first  Christ- 
mas [service]  in  the  church  of  Virginia  City  General  Meagher 
himself  took  up  the  collection  during  Mass. 

II 

In  the  spring  of  1866  it  was  decided  on  account  of  certain 
difficulties  to  abandon  for  a  while  St.  Peter's  Mission  among  the 
Blackfeet  Indians  (both  the  old  and  the  new  mission  houses) 
and  to  transfer  the  little  belongings  to  St.  Ignatius  Mission 
among  the  Flathead  Indians.  It  was  a  sorrowful  journey  over 
the  Rocky  Mountain  divide,  down  the  Blackfoot  river,  down  the 
Hellgate  river,  with  their  numerous  fords  and  crossings.  The 
physical  labor  and  fatigue  were  nothing  compared  to  the  mental 
grief  occasioned  by  the  leavetaking  of  our  Indians. 

The  day  after  our  arrival  at  St.  Ignatius  Mission  a  special 
messenger  came  with  a  letter  from  General  Meagher  informing 
us  that  three  steamboats  were  near  Fort  Benton  loaded  with 
soldiers  and  all  camp  paraphernalia  for  establishing  a  new  post 
in  northern  Montana;  he  himself  would  start  at  once  from  Vir- 
ginia City  to  welcome  the  officers  and  men  and  perhaps  advise 
them  as  to  the  most  desirable  locality.  As  the  old  St.  Peter's 
Mission  houses  were  abandoned,  and  the  new  house  near  Bird- 
tail  Rock  was  nearly  ready  and  would  be  occupied  at  our  return, 
General  Meagher  suggested  that  a  goodly  compensation  might 
be  obtained  for  the  old  buildings  if  we  could  induce  the  soldiers 
to  establish  themselves  there.  The  place  was  well  suited  for 
their  purpose.  He  also  requested  that  your  humble  servant  be 
sent  at  once  and  be  given  power  of  attorney  by  his  Superiors, 
so  as  to  be  able  to  transact  the  necessary  business;  he  had  en- 
closed a  blank  all  filled  out,  requiring  only  the  signature  of 


THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER  131 

Father  Giorda,  S.  J.  The  reason  for  asking  for  me,  he  said,  was 
that  I  was  younger,  and  stronger  and  a  better  rider,  and  he  had 
some  hope  that  I  might  overtake  him  and  be  in  time  to  meet 
with  him  the  superior  officers  of  the  army  before  the  selection 
of  the  new  fort  had  been  made. 

After  a  hasty  consultation,  and  a  few  general  directions  for 
my  course,  I  was  told  to  set  out  without  delay,  and  with  only 
what  was  absolutely  necessary,  for  time  was  pressing.  That 
night  I  said  goodbye,  and  had  the  Superior's  blessing  on  myself 
and  journey.  Next  morning  mass  and  breakfast  were  finished 
by  daybreak,  and  the  herder  drove  the  mission  horses  in  the 
corral  for  selection.  All  those  we  had  brought  from  the  Black- 
foot  Mission  had  their  hoofs  worn  down  to  the  quick  and  were 
utterly  unfit  for  the  task;  those  of  St.  Ignatius  Mission  were 
tired  out  by  the  Spring  work,  a  few  colts  were  not  eligible;  only 
one  fine  bay  six  years  old,  a  broncho,  had  speed  and  strength; 
but  for  three  years  he  had  most  successfully  protested  by  might 
and  main  against  all  attempts  at  breaking,  not  without  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  diffidence  was  he  selected  for  a  trial.  In  a  few 
minutes  the  news  had  spread  in  the  sleeping  lodges  and  an  audi- 
ence of  fully  three  hundred  gathered  to  see  the  contest.  The 
lasso  brought  "Whirlwind"  to  a  standstill,  and  the  arugmenta- 
tion  began.  Most  violent  protestations  against  bridle  and  sad- 
dle, and  most  persistent  persuasions,  with  alternating  successes 
and  failures.  When  the  horse  was  saddled  and  bridled,  however, 
all  help  of  herder  and  Indians  had  to  cease,  and  the  real  contest 
had  to  be  single  handed.  I  mounted  twice  successfully  and  re- 
ceived full  measure  of  applause  of  the  appreciating  audience; 
but  before  that  subsided  I  had  twice  descended  and  very  uncer- 
emoniously, not  even  landing  on  my  feet.  The  horse  was  well 
named  "Whirlwind"  and  he  was  true  to  his  name.  But  I  be- 
lieved I  had  learned  his  trick,  and  at  my  third  attempt  he  hesi- 
tated a  moment,  then  started  off,  I  waving  a  goodbye  to  all.  The 
'  first  day's  ride  brought  me  beyond  Bear  Creek  near  Dear  Lodge 
about  80  miles  where  I  camped:  the  second  day  on  the  Prickly 
Pear  Creek  near  Clark  60  miles ;  the  third  day  I  reached  a  road 
house  at  the  Sun  River  Crossing,  50  miles.  There  I  overtook 
General  Meagher.  Next  day  we  covered  the  waterless  stretch 
of  sixty  miles  to  Fort  Benton.    This  day  had  been  made  very 


132  FRANCIS  XAVIER  KUPPENS 

pleasant  by  the  inexhaustible  supply  of  anecdotes  of  the  General. 
At  Fort  Benton  we  heard  that  the  military  would  not  come 
up  to  the  head  of  navigation;  their  large  boats  had  been  unable 
to  reach  farther  than  the  mouth  of  the  Judith  River  some  70  or 
80  miles  below.  Low  water  was  the  cause  of  their  unloading  at 
that  place.  The  soldiers  were  already  establishing  themselves 
there  and  building  he  post.  Our  horses  were  very  tired  and  the 
trail  on  the  south  side  of  the  Missouri  River  to  that  new  camp 
was  very  bad  and  very  indistinct.  We  borrowed  fresh  horses 
and  engaged  a  half-breed  Canadian  to  be  our  guide.  Mr.  Car- 
roll, a  merchant  of  Fort  Benton,  and  also  a  teamster  looking  for 
opportunities  joined  our  party  for  the  next  morning.  During 
the  night  a  small  steamboat  arrived  and  was  nearly  unloaded  in 
the  morning.  She  would  return  down  stream  at  once  as  the 
water  was  falling  fast.  The  General  and  party  received  an  in- 
vitation to  take  passage  to  our  destination,  which  was  accepted 
with  thanks.  We  went  aboard  shortly  after  noon  with  our 
horses,  and  the  General  gave  a  sly  hint  to  the  deck  hands  that 
he  was  bringing  a  priest  with  a  white  horse  aboard.  Their  cu- 
riosity was  aroused ;  preacher  with  a  white  horse,  preacher  with 
a  white  horse,  Skypilot  Jonas,  hoodoo  aboard,  was  the  sole  topic 
of  conversation.  The  poor  fellows,  darkies  most  of  them,  were 
so  bewildered  that  some  for  fear  nearly  turned  pale.  While  I 
was  reading  my  office  [breviary]  in  a  retired  corner  of  the  deck 
a  couple  of  the  boldest  had  watched  me  most  carefully  for  over 
an  hour. 

Leaving  Fort  Benton  the  man  with  the  sounding  lead  sang 
out,  "by  the  Mark  Twain,"  "by  the  Mark  Twain,"  "Quarter  less 
Twain";  but  this  changed  gradually  till  it  reached  the  sharp  cry 
of  "four  feet,"  "three  feet."  Sand  bars  were  showing  and  new 
channels  were  cutting  at  every  bend  in  the  river.  From  the  time 
that  the  boat  pointed  her  bow  down  stream,  there  were  acci- 
dents and  mishaps  without  end;  boilers  were  leaking,  engines 
were  shrieking,  steering  gear  and  pumps  were  out  of  order  and 
the  water  was  falling.  The  General  put  every  mishap  to  the 
credit  of  the  Jonas.  The  few  passengers  and  even  the  officers 
believed  him  when  he  told  them  that  the  boat  would  never  reach 
St.  Louis.  By  supper  time  we  had  hardly  made  20  miles;  the 
current  of  the  river  was  twice  as  fast  as  the  rate  we  travelled 


THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER  133 

at.  Shortly  after  rising  from  table,  the  Captain  himself  took 
the  wheel;  in  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour  we  had  stuck  on  a 
sandbar  hard  and  fast.  The  water  was  perceptibly  falling  and 
the  river  was  cutting  itself  a  new  channel  near  the  right  shore. 
The  General  tried  to  reassure  the  crew  and  passengers,  he  spoke 
of  their  senseless  superstition,  of  the  joke  he  had  played  on  me 
and  on  them;  but  for  once  all  his  blarney,  Irish  wit  and  elo- 
quency  failed.  They  worked  all  night;  the  boat  would  not  move. 
By  the  first  glimmer  of  light  one  could  see  that  the  water  had 
fallen  about  two  feet,  and  was  cutting  its  new  channel  wider 
and  deeped  near  the  right  shore  while  dry  sand  was  appearing 
all  around  the  steamboat.  By  sunrise  the  nearest  water  was 
half  a  mile  distant.  Every  one  saw  the  helplessness  of  the  sit- 
uation, and  the  General  proposed  that  we  ride  overland  to  our 
destination  some  60  miles  distant.  "We  said  a  very  sad  goodbye 
to  the  Captain  and  officers,  passengers  and  crew,  jumped  our 
horses  from  the  boat  on  dry  land,  swam  across  the  new  channel, 
and  began  our  journey  across  the  trackless  prairie  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Judith  River.  The  sun  was  fierce,  many  large  droves  of 
buffalo,  thousands  in  number,  were  roaming  at  will  in  the  prairie 
and  had  obliterated  the  few  trails  that  were  there  last  summer. 
Only  distant  peaks  of  the  Bears  Paw  Mountains  or  Judith  Range 
or  Triple  Buttes  could  serve  as  guiding  marks.  Towards  noon 
it  became  evident  that  in  spite  of  all  our  riding  we  were  making 
no  headway,  were  circling  around;  the  guide  sat  unsteady  in  his 
saddle  and  a  few  words  revealed  the  true  state  of  affairs.  Messrs. 
Carroll  and  Sheahan  had  gradually  separated  from  the  party 
and  were  now  completely  out  of  sight.  The  General  suffered 
much  from  thirst  but  insisted  that  we  hold  to  a  direct  line  to 
the  junction  of  the  two  rivers. 

Towards  five  o'clock  our  attention  was  attracted  to  a  buffalo 
wallow,  a  small  lake.  The  outskirts  for  a  hundred  yards  were 
tramped  by  innumerable  buff alos  in  mud  four  feet  deep ;  by  rid- 
ing farther  in  five  feet,  to  the  saddle,  we  found  water  that  was 
not  mud,  and  comparatively  clear.  Here  we  and  our  horses 
slaked  our  thirst.  The  hand  formed  too  small  a  cup  to  satisfy; 
our  guide  turning  his  felt  hat  inside  out  and  deftly  folding  it 
brought  a  good  quantity  of  water  to  his  lips.  The  General  see- 
ing it  was  on  the  point  of  imitating  when  I  offered  my  hat, 
which  had  done  such  service  before;  I  hoped  it  would  be  no  af- 


134  FRANCIS  XAVIER  KUPPENS 

front  seeing  the  water  was  no  better  than  the  cup.  The  pro- 
f useness  of  his  thanks  in  accepting  gave  evidence  that  his  suffer- 
ings must  have  been  very  great ;  but  withal  he  could  not  restrain 
himself  from  asking  the  question  whether  this  filled  the  condi- 
tions of  the  scriptural  drink  of  a  cup?  of  cold?  water?  His 
thanks  were  profuse  and  genuine.  In  that  little  lake  perhaps 
400  yards  across  we  cooled  ourselves  and  horses.  I  found  a  soli- 
tary sandwich  in  my  saddle  bags  five  days  old  which  we  divided 
in  three  parts  and  ate  our  dinner  share  and  share  alike.  Then 
refreshed  we  took  our  bearings  and  started  anew;  the  horses 
were  getting  tired,  but  we  had  still  three  or  four  hours  of  day- 
light. By  sunset  our  horses  were  reduced  to  a  slow  walk  and  at 
dark  we  camped  on  the  high  prairie.  It  was  well  that  I  had 
completed  my  office  in  the  early  morning,  or  it  would  have  been 
impossible  that  day  or  evening  to  read  it;  not  the  smallest  stick 
of  wood  to  make  a  fire  could  be  found.  We  held  our  horses  by 
a  short  rope  and  slept  the  sleep  of  the  just. 

Next  morning  at  the  first  glimmer  of  day  we  found  that  our 
guide  had  left  during  the  night;  and  with  no  more  delay  for 
breakfast  than  we  had  for  supper  we  saddled  our  horses  and 
after  an  hour's  ride  heard  the  morning  shot,  a  most  welcome 
sound.  The  horses  were  far  from  fresh,  and  we  proceeded  very 
slowly.  We  had  to  cross  a  small  ravine;  the  bottom,  quicksana 
and  mud,  was  covered  by  a  few  inches  of  very  bitter  alkali  water. 
With  difficulty  I  floundered  across,  my  saddle  bags  remained 
dry.  The  General's  horse  stumbled  and  fell;  he  jumped  off,  hip 
deep  in  slush.  With  hard  work,  after  many  attempts  we  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  the  horse  out  of  the  mire  and  ourselves  into 
it.  As  soon  as  we  were  on  solid  ground  he  said:  "Well,  that  is 
one  against  me;  I  am  the  Jonas  now."  Whilst  we  were  resting, 
and  breathing  after  our  exertions  interior  voices  admonished  us 
to  proceed  on  our  journey,  urgent  business  had  not  to  be  de- 
layed, no,  not  even  for  appearances,  and  so  we  set  out  again  on 
what  we  fondly  hoped  would  be  the  last  stretch.  Admiring  me 
and  my  horse,  he  observed  that  certainly  I  had  succeeded  well 
in  effecting  a  disguise  from  head  to  foot.  He  was  sure  that 
neither  my  best  friend  nor  worst  enemy  would  recognize  me 
under  my  new  covering;  he  could  not  imagine  that  he  himself 
presented  a  like  appearance.  It  was  not  a  case  of  the  pot  and 
kettle  being  black ;  we  had  to  deal  with  a  yellowish  whitish  sub- 


THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER  135 

stance  that  permeated  every  fold,  every  seam,  every  fibre  of  our 
clothing,  every  pore  of  the  skin,  stuck  to  the  hair,  and  was  un- 
comfortable to  the  ears,  nose,  lips  and  eyes.  But  interior  voices 
urged  us  not  to  delay  in  our  journey.  From  the  top  of  the  next 
elevation  we  saw  the  smoke  of  the  camp.  Soon  the  white  tents 
appeared,  and  not  long  after  we  were  halted  by  the  sentry. 
Visiting  cards  were  sadly  wanting.  Our  wet  soiled  clothes  and 
the  general  dilapidated  appearance  of  men  and  horses  must  have 
caused  a  strange  feeling  in  the  brave  U.  S.  soldier  when  we  told 
him  that  General  Meagher,  acting  Governor  of  Montana  Terri- 
tory, and  your  humble  servant  wished  to  see  the  commanding 
officer  and  asked  to  be  brought  to  his  presence.  Eyeing  us  side 
ways  he  made  the  remark,  "Begorra,  you  look  like  two  gover- 
nors." We  caused  a  genuine  surprise  in  the  camp.  Very  soon 
the  General  was  recognized  and  we  were  brought  to  the  Colonel 
commanding  the  post.  After  hasty  greetings  General  Meagher 
asked  that  scouts  be  sent  out  to  find  our  lost  guide  and  our  two 
missing  companions.  Then  a  bath,  after  which  fresh  dry  clothes 
awaited  us,  and  a  breakfast  fit  for  a  president.  During  cigars 
all  the  officers  of  the  post  had  gathered  in  the  Colonel's  tent 
and  he  asked,  "Where  the  h —  did  you  come  from?"  to  which 
General  Meagher  most  seriously  remarked  that  the  priest  came 
from  Hellgate,  five  days  ride  distant,  and  he  had  that  morning 
escaped  from  the  bottomless  pit.  He  met  several  officers  and 
men  who  had  known  him  on  the  battlefields  of  the  Potomac,  and 
we  were  most  Cordially  received  by  all.  Towards  noon  the  scouts 
brought  in  the  three  missing  members  of  the  party,  worn  out 
with  hunger,  thirst  and  fatigue.  Under  the  protecting  wing  of 
General  Meagher  I  obtained  more  than  I  had  hoped  for,  more 
than  I  dared  to  ask.  A  company  of  soldiers  was  sent  to  the  old 
mission,  who  rented  the  buildings  and  arrangements  were  made 
that  I  or  another  priest  should  visit  the  post  frequently.  A  large 
tent  or  building  was  to  be  placed  at  my  disposal  for  church  pur- 
poses, and  officers  and  men  were  anxious  to  help  me  in  my  min- 
isterial duties;  and  this  favorable  disposition  there  happily  be- 
gun lasted  for  a  number  of  years. 

After  a  couple  of  days  rest  we  started  on  our  return  to  Fort 
Benton.  The  General  and  myself  had  been  provided  with  good 
fresh  horses  by  the  officers,  and  we  made  the  journey  with  light 


136  FRANCIS  XAVIER  KUPPENS 

hearts,  and  without  circling  or  mishap  to  Fort  Benton.  There 
we  found  some  of  the  passengers,  officers,  and  crew  of  the  ill- 
fated  steamboat.  They  had  abandoned  the  boat  and  walked 
overland  to  Fort  Benton  whilst  teams  had  been  engaged  to  draw 
the  freight  and  belongings  of  men  to  that  post.  During  winter 
the  oat  was  dismantled,  and  next  spring  the  ice  demolished  the 
hull.  The  bell  of  the  boat  was  offered  for  sale  in  Helena  next 
summer.  I  bought  it  and  it  did  duty  in  the  first  church  built  in 
that  place.  I  was  able  to  say  mass  twice  at  Fort  Benton,  had  a 
mixed  congregation  but  few  in  number. 

For  our  return  trip  to  Helena  General  Meagher  was  anxious 
to  see  if  it  were  practical  to  make  a  wagon  road  that  would 
touch  the  Missouri  river  at  frequent  intervals  for  camping,  and 
avoid  the  dusty  waterless  sixty  miles  stretch  to  Sun  river.  With 
an  Indian  guide  and  also  Mr.  Sheahan,  the  freighter,  looking  for 
opportunities,  we  stayed  in  touch  of  the  river,  and  examined 
over  and  over  again  certain  difficult  points.  The  General  was 
particularly  anxious  to  have  the  new  road  touch  the  river  at 
the  Great  Falls  and  cross  Sun  river  near  its  mouth.  We  spent 
five  days  doing  those  sixty  miles,  with  the  result  that  the  Gen- 
eral thought  that  the  road  would  certainly  be  built  as  soon  as 
the  territory  would  be  better  organized,  that  now  it  was  beyond 
financial  resources,  and  the  teamsters  would  be  compelled  to 
use  the  high  prairie  road  for  a  while  longer. 

When  we  reached  Helena,  General  Meagher  had  been  absent 
about  three  weeks,  and  he  took  the  stage  coach  to  Virginia  City. 
During  these  three  weeks  I  had  been  able  to  say  my  office  daily, 
but  had  been  able  to  say  mass  only  twice  in  all.  Now  in  Helena 
I  could  say  mass  daily.  I  remained  over  two  Sundays,  called 
two  meetings  of  the  Catholics  to  urge  them  to  erect  a  church 
on  the  hill  in  the  center  of  the  town  where  I  had  preempted  a 
large  plot  of  ground  some  time  before.  The  foundations  were 
being  dug  when  I  left  for  St.  Ignatius  Mission  to  give  an  account 
of  my  jouurney,  and  return  the  power  of  attorney  to  my  Super- 
ior; I  carried  a  petition  from  the  citizens  of  Helena  asking 
Father  Giorda  that  some  priest  might  be  stationed  permanently 
in  that  promising  town.  Father  Giorda  appointed  myself,  and 
shortly  afterwards  sent  Father  Daste  [D'Asti]  to  help  me.  From 
Helena  we  were  commissioned  to  attend  to  all  the  mining  camps 


THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER  137 

within  reach.  During  the  Winter  Virginia  City  also  received  a 
resident  priest.  I  believe  that  General  Meagher  had  used  his 
influence  to  secure  that  benefit  for  the  numerous  Catholics  of 
the  Capital  city.  He  frequently  expressed  a  desire  to  have  a 
church  and  school  in  every  settlement  of  the  territory  and  he 
asked  often  where  he  should  apply  to  secure  priests.  He  also 
wanted  Sisters  and  academies,  hospitals,  orphan  asylums  in  the 
ceners  of  populaion  or  the  most  promising  places.  For  he  was 
convinced  that  few  desirable  immigrants  would  build  a  per- 
manent home  for  themselves  and  family  till  these  things  were 
secured :  and  till  then  the  territory  would  have  to  struggle  along 
with  the  shortcomings  of  its  pioneer  population. 

From  British  Columbia  to  Salt  Lake  and  Ogden,  from  the 
main  divide  of  the  mountains  to  somewhere  east  in  the  Dakotas 
where  wcjoined  the  St.  Paul  diocese  under  Bishop  Grace,  there 
were  only  three  solitary  priests;  it  was  good  that  we  had  also 
extensive  faculties,  as  recourse  to  his  Lordship  [Bishop]  O  Gor- 
man at  Omaha,  was  exceedingly  slow  and  uncertain.  In  the 
Spring  St.  Peter's  Mission  near  Bird  Tail  Rock  was  reopened  by 
two  priests  for  the  Indians. 

Ill 

We  were  only  a  few  weeks  in  Helena  after  the  opening  of 
the  church  when  General  Meagher  was  petitioned  to  come  from 
Virginia  City  and  deliver  a  lecture  for  the  benefit  of  the  church, 
and  he  most  readily  consented.  He  took  for  his  subject  "Rem- 
iniscences of  the  War."  The  new  theatre  was  offered  free  of 
charge.  Standing  room  was  at  a  premium.  In  his  introduction 
he  spoke  most  feelingly  of  the  apparent  anomaly  that  the  sword 
should  help  to  build  the  church,  that  the  warrior  should  help 
the  priest,  the  strategist  should  help  the  Jesuit.  But  this  in- 
congruity was  only  apparent;  he  considered  it  his  duty  to  show 
this  gratitude,  for  all  that  he  knew,  all  that  was  good  in  him 
had  been  planted  in  his  heart  and  fostered  by  the  sons  of  that 
famous  warrior,  Saint  Ignatius.  He  was  glad  and  he  thanked 
most  cordially  those  who  had  invited  him,  and  had  given  him  an 
opportunity  in  this  new  land  to  show  his  gratitude  to  that  fam- 
ous order.  Then  followed  one  anecdote  after  another,  breezy, 
witty,  humourous,  ludicrous,  of  the  Armies  of  the  Potomac, 
officers,  soldiers,  enemies,  scouts,  and  himself  that  kept  the 


138  FRANCIS  XAVIER  KUPPENS 

house  sepllbound  for  near  three  hours.  The  joys  and  the  sor- 
rows, the  marches  and  the  battles,  the  recruiting  and  reenlisting 
were  all  touched  upon.  His  dislike  for  soldiers,  with  long  head, 
level  heads,  square  heads  was  sustained  by  arguments  and  ex- 
perience. He  wanted  soldiers  with  heads  round  like  a  cannon 
ball.  "Their's  not  to  reason  why;  their's  but  to  do  or  die." 
These  men  never  received  a  wound  in  the  back;  they  could  al- 
ways be  depended  on  to  save  the  day  and  save  the  nation,  too. 
Sometimes  he  would  be  pathetic  and  brought  tears  to  the  bronzed 
faces  of  the  miners,  and  then  again  he  would  launch  into  flights 
of  oratory  that  brought  his  audience  of  over  a  thousand  to  their 
feet,  standing,  mouth  open,  stretching  their  necks,  oblivious  to 
all  around,  drinking  in  every  word  of  the  speaker.  Never  have 
I  heard  such  oratory.  Father  Daste  [D'Asti]  remarked  to  me 
afterwards  that  he  had  always  looked  upon  the  story  of  Cicero 
holding  his  audience  open-mouthed  and  spellbound  as  an  ex- 
aggregation,  but  here  General  Meagher  had  undoubtedly  per- 
formed that  feat.  Needless  to  say  that  financially  also  the  lec- 
ture was  a  great  success. 

During  the  fall  of  1866  after  General  Meagher  had  been  ap- 
pointed Governor  of  the  Territory  of  Montana,  rumors  of  an 
Indian  war  and  fears  of  a  probable  outbreak  were  heard  on 
every  side.  Large  parties  of  Indians  had  been  seen  reconnoiter- 
ing  near  the  sparse  settlements  of  the  Madison  and  Gallatin 
Rivers  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  Yellow  Stone  Lake,  and  peti- 
tions had  been  sent  to  General  Meagher  asking  for  protection 
for  those  isolated  inhabitants.  He  hastily  gathered  a  band  of 
volunteers,  seasoned  miners,  issued  horses  and  ammunition,  and 
placing  himself  at  their  head  prepared  to  take  the  field.  He  sent 
a  letter  offering  me  the  chaplaincy  of  the  new  army.  With 
many  thanks  I  answered  that  I  had  to  refer  the  question  of 
accepting  that  honorable  position  to  my  Superior,  but  that  when- 
ever any  of  his  soldiers  would  be  wounded  or  injured,  or  needed 
my  assistance,  I  most  gladly  offered  my  ministration  for  one  as 
well  as  many.  Only  let  me  know  when  I  should  be  needed.  But 
I  begged  as  a  favor  that  he  would  issue  strict  orders  "not  to  fire 
the  first  shot,"  and  I  commended  him  and  his  army  to  their 
Guardian  Angels.  My  Superiors  approved  my  conduct  and  di- 
rected me  not  to  accept  the  chaplaincy.    I  heard  that  General 


THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER  139 

Meagher  had  given  the  requested  order  to  his  men  at  the  very- 
start.  No  heavy  waggons  accompanied  his  army,  only  a  train 
of  pack  horses  carried  ammunition  and  provisions,  and  he  was 
able  to  follow  small  trails,  climb  side  hills,  and  ford  rivers  with 
little  delay.  His  constant  and  orderly  vigilance  by  night  or  day 
prevented  any  surprise  attack  by  the  Indians,  and  the  little  army 
rode  up  and  down  the  valleys,  crossed  over  to  the  Yellowstone 
country,  and  so  completely  overawed  the  Indians  that  after  the 
first  few  days  hardly  any  were  seen  during  the  whole  campaign. 
How  different  might  it  have  been  under  a  different  leader. 

During  the  two  years  that  General  Meagher  governed  Mon- 
tana I  met  him  repeatedly.  Whenever  he  came  to  Helena  he 
was  sure  to  give  me  a  surprise  of  some  sort  and  I  never  failed 
to  have  a  few  hours  of  genuine  recreation.  Whenever  I  visited 
Virginia  City  he  would  have  deemed  it  an  insult  if  I  should  not 
have  returned  the  visit.  When  we  met  in  our  travels  or  at  a 
mining  camp,  well,  neither  would  consent  to  be  the  guest  and 
honours  were  easy.  From  the  first  time  that  I  met  General 
Meagher  I  had  a  genuine  admiration  for  him,  which  soon  ripened 
into  a  truly  heartfelt  affection,  and  I  considered  him  a  very 
intimate  friend;  I  flatter  myself  that  his  love  for  me  was  equally 
sincere.  You  can  easily  imagine  then  how  grieved  I  was  about 
his  sudden  death.  I  was  on  a  missionary  tour  in  the  mining 
camps  in  the  Belt  Mountains,  and  at  the  ranches  at  the  Three 
Forks  when  the  sad  news  reached  me,  about  a  fortnight  after 
the  occurance.  The  General  had  gone  to  Fort  Benton  to  receive 
military  supplies  for  the  protection  of  the  territory.  On  the  first 
of  July,  1867,  he  rode  from  Sun  River  Crossing  to  Fort  Benton. 
On  his  arrival  there  he  had  at  once  gone  on  board  the  steamboat, 
and  had  retired  early  to  his  stateroom.  In  the  forepart  of  the 
night  a  sudden  piercing  cry,  "God  save  me"  and  a  splash  in  the 
water  were  heard  by  the  watchman  and  several  persons.  An 
immediate  search  revealed  the  fact  that  General  Meagher  was 
missing;  and  at  once  efforts  were  made  to  find  and  save  the 
drowning  man.  But  all  was  fruitless.  The  turbulent  Missouri 
had  closed  her  waters  over  him.  Search  for  his  body  continued 
and  rewards  for  the  finding  of  his  remains;  all  proved  unavail- 
ing. As  the  sad  news  spread  there  was  genuine  sorrow  and  grief 
among  all  classes  of  men.  The  mourning  was  universal.  At 
Virginia  City  and  Helena  the  priest  arranged  for  a  Requiem 


140  FRANCIS  XAVIER  KUPPENS 

High  Mass  for  the  repose  of  his  soul,  and  the  church  could  not 
contain  the  worshippers.  Some  rumors  had  been  started  that 
there  had  been  foul  play;  nothing  could  be  traced  or  proven,  and 
the  parties  to  whom  the  suspicions  pointed  offered  a  very  hand- 
some reward  for  the  finding  of  the  body,  and  made  great  efforts 
in  their  prolonged  search.    R.  I.  P. 

General  Meagher  was  of  commanding  appearance,  a  born 
leader  of  men.  In  politics  he  was  a  staunch  Democrat,  but 
willingly  granted  a  hearing  to  the  other  side,  and  had  sincere 
friends  in  all  parties.  In  the  army  he  was  considered  the  barvest 
of  the  brave.  After  he  had  resigned  the  high  position  of  General 
which  he  had  reached  step  by  step  by  his  bravery,  he  laid  aside 
all  distinguishing  marks  in  his  clothing ;  a  single  thread  of  gold 
woven  in  the  braid  of  his  hat  cord,  was  the  only  token  suggestive 
of  the  army.  He  revered  and  loved  his  wife  as  he  was  revered 
and  loved  in  return.  At  his  arrival  in  Montana  the  church 
started  a  new  and  vigorous  growth.  His  position  and  influence, 
as  well  as  the  zeal  of  his  estimable  wife,  were  of  immense  value; 
his  sudden  death  was  deeply  deplored.  As  Governor  he  was  in- 
exorable about  honesty  in  the  various  offices  under  his  control. 
He  came  to  Montana  at  a  time  when  lawlessness  reigned  su- 
preme. Highway  robbers,  who  styled  themselves  road  agents, 
exacted  tribute  whenever  they  pleased  from  all  who  travelled 
the  highways  to  or  from  that  territory;  and  in  the  mining  camps 
excesses  of  various  kinds  were  deplorably  frequent.  The  more 
conservative  element  of  this  pioneer  population  had  organized 
in  a  spirit  of  self  preservation  a  "Vigilance  Committee"  and  was 
gradually  bringing  a  semblance  of  order  out  of  choas;  but  all 
their  executions  were  on  their  own  responsibility  and  outside  the 
law.  General  Meagher  with  strong  hand  enforced  the  law  and 
had  it  respected.  At  his  death  the  territory  of  Montana  sus- 
tained an  irreparable  loss.  May  the  Lord  have  mercy  on  his 
soul. 

Francis  Xavier  Kuppens 


THE  GREAT  VILLAGE  OF  THE  ILLINOIS:   A 
TOPOGRAPHICAL  PROBLEM 

Within  recent  years  two  important  and  long-standing  prob- 
lems in  early  Illinois  history  have  been  definitely  disposed  of. 
On  the  one  hand  a  committee  working  in  pursuance  of  an  act  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Illinois  has  located  the 
site  of  La  Salle's  famous  Fort  de  Crevecoeur  (The  Site  of  Fort 
de  Crevecoeur,  Springfield,  III.,  1925),  while  on  the  other  hand 
two  Chicago  investigators  have  determined  definitely  the  course 
of  the  old  Chicago  Portage  Route  (Robert  W.  Knight,  M.  W.  S.  E. 
and  Lucius  H.  Zeuch,  M.  D.,  The  Location  of  the  Chicago  Portage 
Route  of  the  Seventeenth  Century,  Chicago,  1928).  It  is  highly 
desirable  that  a  third  problem  in  the  same  field  of  Illinois  his- 
tory, the  true  site  of  the  Great  Illinois  Village  associated  with 
the  names  of  Jolliet,  Marquette,  Allouez,  La  Salle,  Tonti, 
Membre,  and  other  celebrities  of  the  French  period,  be  investi- 
gated in  the  same  spirit  of  thoroughgoing  and  scientific  research 
that  has  marked  the  study  of  the  other  two. 

As  far  as  the  writer  is  aware  this  task  has  never  yet  been 
taken  in  hand.  Parkman's  identification  of  the  Great  Illinois 
Village  with  the  locality  of  Utica,  La  Salle  County,  Illinois,  is 
well  known  and  has  apparently  met  with  general  acceptance 
since  he  first  announced  it  in  his  La  Salle  and  the  Discovery  of 
the  Great  West.  At  least  one  item  of  the  evidence  which  he 
alleges  in  support  of  his  conclusion,  namely,  a  description  by 
La  Salle  of  the  physical  setting  of  the  Illinois  village,  seems  of 
itself  to  settle  the  entire  question.  However,  apart  from  the  by 
no  means  decisive  archaeological  argument  of  abundant  Indian 
finds  on  the  Utica  site,  Parkman  produces  no  other  evidence 
for  his  purpose  except  the  above-mentioned  description.  The 
writer  is  in  no  wise  bent  on  contesting  the  correctness  of  the 
New  England  historian's  conclusion;  but  he  does  think  that  the 
problem  should  be  subjected  to  new  study  in  view  of  the  cir- 
cumstance that  the  Margry  and  other  documents  supply  num- 
erous data  which  Parkman  does  not  appear  to  have  reckoned 
with  and  which  point  to  a  location  for  the  Illinois  village  farther 
up  the  river  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Ottawa.  That  docu- 
mentary sources  often  baffle  the  investigator  with  inconsistencies 

141 


142  GILBERT  J.  GARRAGHAN 

which  he  is  at  a  loss  to  reconcile  is  obvious  enough.  However, 
in  the  discussion  of  such  an  important  historical  problem  as  the 
true  site  of  the  Great  Illinois  Village  one  must  not  blink  docu- 
mentary evidence  which  runs  counter  to  accepted  opinion  but 
must  endeavor  to  square  it  with  the  same  as  far  as  logic  and 
honesty  will  allow.  (As  a  general  introduction  to  the  subject  in 
hand,  there  is  a  good  account  of  the  Great  Illinois  Village  under 
the  caption  "The  Illinois  Town  Kaskaskia"  in  Sauer,  Cady,  and 
Cowles,  Starved  Rock  Park  and  Its  Environs,  Chicago,  1918,  pp. 
61-64). 

The  necessary  and  inevitable  approach  to  the  problem  in 
hand  is  by  way  of  all  the  available  documentary  data,  direct  or 
indirect,  of  contemporary  date  which  bear  upon  it.  With  this 
end  in  view  an  attempt  will  here  be  made  to  set  down  in  chron- 
ological order  the  seventeenth-century  documentary  references 
to  the  "Illinois  Village,"  which  is  sometimes  so  designated  in 
these  references  even  when  the  context  makes  it  clear  that  the 
"Great  Illinois  Village"  is  meant. 

1.  September,  1673.  Marquette  visits  on  the  Illinois  river 
"a  village  of  Illinois  called  Kaskasia  consisting  of  74  cabins." 
Thwaites,  Jesuit  Relations,  59:161.  A  misinterpretation  of 
Thwaites's  translation  makes  Marquette  locate  the  village  on 
the  Chicago  Portage,  whereas  the  context  indicates  clearly  that 
the  missionary  located  it  on  the  Illinois.  Moreover,  the  Mar- 
quette and  Jolliet  maps  place  the  village  on  the  north  bank  of 
the  Illinois. 

2.  April,  1675.  Marquette  again  at  "the  village  of  the  Illi- 
nois." He  addresses  the  Indians  "in  a  beautiful  prairie  close  to 
a  village  which  was  selected  by  the  great  Council."  The  audi- 
ence consisted  of  five  hundred  chiefs  and  elders  and  fifteen 
hundred  young  men  besides  women  and  children,  "the  village 
being  composed  of  5  or  600  fires."  Thwaites,  Jesuit  Relations, 
59:189. 

3.  April-May,  1677.  Father  Allouez,  S.  J.,  at  "Kachkachkia, 
the  great  village  of  the  Illinois."  "It  was  not  until  the  27th  of 
April  that  I  was  able  to  arrive  at  Kachkachkia  the  great  village 
of  the  Illinois.  I  entered  at  once  the  cabin  in  which  Father 
Marquette  had  lodged.  ...  I  found  this  village  largely  in- 
creased since  a  year  ago.  Formerly  it  was  composed  of  but  one 
nation,  that  of  the  Kachkachkia;  at  the  present  time  there  are 


THE  GREAT  ILLINOIS  VILLAGE  143 

8  tribes  in  it,  the  first  having  summoned  the  others  who  in- 
habited the  neighborhood  of  the  river  Mississippi.  One  cannot 
well  satisfy  himself  as  to  the  number  of  people  who  compose 
that  village.  They  are  housed  in  351  cabins,  which  are  easily 
counted  as  most  of  them  are  situated  upon  the  banks  of  the 
river.  The  spot  which  they  have  chosen  for  their  abode  is 
situated  in  latitude  40  degrees,  41  minutes.  On  one  side  of  it 
is  a  long  stretch  of  prairie  and  on  the  other  a  multitude  of 
swamps  which  are  [render  the  atmosphere]  unhealthy  and  [are] 
often  covered  with  fog — giving  Rise  to  much  sickness  and  to 
loud  and  frequent  Peals  of  thunder;  they  delight  however  in  this 
location  as  they  can  easily  espy  from  it  their  enemies."  Thwaites, 
Jesuit  Relations ,  59:159-161.  Allouez's  account  supplies  four 
important  data:  (1)  that  the  village  was  on  the  Illinois  River; 
(2)  that  it  had  not  changed  location  since  Marquette's  visit  of 
1675;  (3)  that  since  his  visit  it  had  become  the  "Great  Illinois 
Village";  (4)  that  it  was  flanked  on  one  side  by  prairie  and  on 
the  other  by  low  lying  and  swampy  ground.  As  supplementing 
Allouez's  account  the  following  from  a  La  Salle  letter  of  date 
not  later  than  1683  (Margry,  2:201)  is  important:  "All  these 
nations  were  comprised  under  the  name  Illinois,  because  they 
are  allied  (allies)  and  because  there  were  a  few  families  of 
each  [nation]  in  the  village  of  the  Kaskaskia,  (who  are  the  true 
Illinois),  although  their  villages  were  separated  from  one  an- 
other by  more  than  100  leagues.  That  of  the  Tamaroa  alone  is 
composed  of  three  hundred  cabins.  Now  [after  the  erection  of 
Fort  St.  Louis  at  Starved  Rock]  they  are  uniting  together  and 
coming  to  establish  themselves  here  [at  the  Fort]." 

Of  the  members  of  La  Salle's  first  Illinois  expedition,  four, 
the  leader  himself,  Tonti,  and  Fathers  Hennepin  and  Membre 
make  mention  of  the  Illinois  village  in  the  respective  accounts 
of  the  expedition. 

4.  January,  1680.  "This  village  is  situated  at  40  degrees 
of  latitude  in  a  somewhat  marshy  plain  and  on  the  right  bank 
of  this  river  [which  is]  as  broad  in  this  place  as  the  Seine  before 
Paris  and  divided  by  very  beautiful  islands.  It  contains  460 
cabins  made  like  berceaux  and  covered  with  double  mats  of  flat 
rushes  so  well  sewed  together  that  they  never  admit  wind,  rain 
or  snow.  Each  cabin  has  four  or  five  fires  and  each  fire  one  or 
two  families  who  all  live  together  on  good  terms."     (From  a 


144  GILBERT  J.  GARRAGHAN 

document,  Relation  des  Descouvertes  etc.  in  Margry,  Descouver- 
tes  et  Etablissements  de  Francais,  1:466,  which,  according  to 
Margry,  was  an  official  report  of  the  expedition  of  1679-1680 
submitted  to  the  Ministry  of  Marine.  It  was  not,  however,  La 
Salle's  own  composition  but  an  account  drawn  up  by  his  friend, 
Abbe  Bernou,  on  the  basis  of  the  explorer's  personal  reports 
and  letters.  Whereas,  according  to  Hennepin,  the  party  ar- 
rived at  Lake  Peoria  on  January  1,  1680,  according  to  the  Re- 
lation des  Descouvertes,  they  reached  only  the  Illinois  Village 
on  that  day.  They  found  it  vacated,  the  Indians  having  moved 
farther  down  the  river  for  winter  quarters  at  Lake  Peoria,  where 
the  French  party  came  up  to  them.    Cf.  also  Margry,  2 :36) . 

5.  "When  we  arrived  at  the  village  of  the  savages,  they 
were  absent  hunting  and  as  we  had  no  provisions  we  opened 
some  caches  of  Indian  corn  .  .  .  We  continued  our  route  in 
order  to  join  the  savages  and  found  them  thirty  leagues  below 
the  village  ...  we  gave  them  some  merchandise  for  the  corn 
which  we  had  taken  in  their  village."  Tonti's  Memoir,  in  Kel- 
logg, Narratives  of  the  Old  Northwest,  p.  289.  The  Tonti  ac- 
count throws  no  light  on  the  location  of  the  Illinois  village  ex- 
cept to  fix  it  thirty  leagues  above  the  Illinois  winter  camp  on 
Lake  Peoria. 

6.  "We  continued  our  course  upon  the  river  very  nearly  the 
whole  month  of  December,  but  towards  the  latter  end  of  the  said 
month,  1679,  we  arrived  at  the  village  of  the  Illinois  which  lies 
near  one  hundred  and  thirty  leagues  from  Fort  Miamis  on  the 
Lake  of  the  Illinois."  Thwaites,  (ed.),  Hennepin's  New  Dis- 
covery, p.  145.  Hennepin  supplies  no  details  as  to  the  location 
of  the  Illinois  village  except  indirectly,  saying  that  four  days 
after  leaving  it  the  party  was  at  Lake  Peoria. 

7.  Father  Membre's  brief  notice  of  the  Illinois  village  (Le 
Clerc,  First  Establishment  of  the  Faith  in  New  France,  ed.  by 
Shea,  New  York,  1881,  2:118)  affords  no  help  in  locating  it 
except  (like  Tonti's)  to  fix  it  thirty  leagues  above  Pimiteoui. 
It  may  be  noted  here  that  La  Salle  (official  narrative)  fixes 
Pimiteoui  at  thirty  leagues  below  the  Illinois  provisional  camp 
of  September,  1680,  which  was  six  leagues  below  the  Illinois 
Village,  the  latter  being  thus  placed  near  Ottawa. 

8.  March,  1680.    La  Salle  on  his  famous  overland  journey 


THE  GREAT  ILLINOIS  VILLAGE  145 

from  Fort  de  Crevecoeur  to  Fort  Fontenac  to  obtain  supplies 
arrived  at  the  Illinois  Village  in  March,  1680,  leaving  it  on  the 
16th  of  that  month.  It  took  him  ten  days  to  get  from  Fort  de 
Crevecoeur  to  the  village.  This  was  at  the  time  unoccupied; 
but  he  met  there  the  friendly  Illinois  chief  Chassagooch.  Four 
leagues  above  the  village,  so  La  Salle  records,  was  a  rapids 
(Margry,  2:58).  "Meantime  the  four  Frenchmen  and  the  Sav- 
age whom  M.  de  La  Salle  had  chosen  to  accompany  him  carried 
his  canoe  and  his  effects  as  far  as  to  a  rapid  four  leagues  above 
the  village."  (Tr.  by  Anderson,  p.  155).  This  is  an  important 
detail.  There  are  two  rapids  on  the  Illinois  in  La  Salle  County, 
one  near  Starved  Rock,  the  other  at  Marseilles.  (Cf.  Baldwin, 
History  of  La  Salle  County,  Chicago,  1877,  p.  274,  for  cut  in- 
dicating the  "Grand  Rapids"  of  the  Illinois  at  Marseilles.  The 
largest  of  these  rapids  is  at  Marseilles,  the  lowermost  is  at  the 
base  of  Starved  Rock.  Sauer,  Cady,  and  Cowles,  Starved  Rock 
Park  and  Its  Environs,  Chicago,  1918,  p.  6).  It  is  somewhat 
difficult  to  determine  the  equivalent  in  modern  measurements  of 
the  French  land  league  of  the  seventeenth  century.  It  probably 
had  no  constant  value  but  varied  according  to  localities.  How- 
ever, as  used  by  La  Salle  and  his  contemporaries  in  New  France, 
the,  league  must  have  had  a  fairly  fixed  value.  Assuming  (on 
good  ground)  that  this  was  approximately  two  and  a  half  Eng- 
lish miles  and  taking  as  true  that  the  rapids  indicated  by  La 
Salle  were  the  larger  ones  at  Marseilles,  the  Illinois  village  four 
leagues  (ten  miles)  below  would  be  fixed  just  west  of  Ottawa, 
and  not  at  Utica,  which  by  rail  is  ten  miles  west  of  Ottawa, 
Marseilles  being  eight  miles  by  rail  east  of  Ottawa. 

(That  the  rapids  to  which  the  canoe  was  carried  were  ap- 
parently those  at  Marseilles  may  be  inferred  from  the  following 
data.  When  La  Salle  descended  the  Illinois  in  December,  1680, 
he  left  behind  him  at  the  Illinois  village  three  men  who  took 
up  residence  on  a  neighboring  island.  This  island,  so  La  Salle 
says,  was  "between  two  rapids."  (Anderson,  p.  229).  The  Illi- 
nois village,  which  was  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  island,  was 
therefore  above  the  first  rapids  and  below  the  second,  to  which 
latter  the  canoe  was  carried  a  distance  of  four  leagues). 

9.  1680.  "Two  men  were  sent  to  me  [Tonti]  with  orders  to 
go  to  the  old  [Illinois]  village  to  visit  a  rock  and  to  build  a 


146  GILBERT  J.  GARRAGHAN 

strong  fort  on  it."  Tonti's  Memoir  in  Kellogg,  op.  cit.}  p.  290. 
This  was  apparently  sometime  in  the  summer  of  1680.  Cf.  also 
Tonti's  other  Memoir,  November  14, 1684,  tr.  by  Anderson,  p.  33 : 
"He  [La  Salle]  sent  me  orders  to  go  back  to  the  Illinois  village 
and  build  a  fort  upon  an  eminence  a  half  league  from  there." 
Is  the  eminence  referred  to  here  Starved  Rock  or  Buffalo  Rock, 
which  was  farther  up  on  the  north  side  of  the  river? 

10.  1680.  Leaving  Fort  de  Crevecoeur  Father  Membre  and 
later  Father  De  Ribourde  began  to  reside  in  the  Illinois  village. 
"The  only  great  Illinois  village  being  composed  of  seven  or  eight 
thousand  souls  Father  Gabriel  and  I  had  a  sufficient  field  for  the 
exercise  of  our  zeal,  besides  a  few  French  who  soon  after  came 
there."    Membre  in  Cox,  Journeys  of  La  Salle. 

11.  1680.  "The  village  of  the  Illinois  was  on  the  bank  o\ 
the  river  on  the  north  side.  On  the  south  side  there  is  a  very 
high  cliff  quite  narrow  and  almost  everywhere  steep  except  for 
a  place  more  than  a  league  in  length  situated  across  from  the 
village  where  the  land,  quite  covered  over  with  fine  oaks,  ex- 
tends by  a  gentle  slope  up  to  the  river  edge.  Beyond  this  high 
land  is  a  vast  plain  which  extends  very  far  to  the  south  and 
which  is  traversed  by  the  river  Aramoni  [Big  Vermillion],  the 
banks  of  which  are  covered  with  a  narrow  fringe  of  wood." 
Letter  of  La  Salle,  August  22, 1680 — autumn  of  1681,  in  Margry, 
2:122.  As  cited  by  Parkman,  La  Salle  and  The  Discovery  of  the 
Great  West,  this  passage  is  referred  to  the  Relation  des  Des- 
couvertes,  (Official  Narrative),  in  which  it  is  also  found  but 
with  a  slight  variation  of  text.  Anderson  translates  it  as  fol- 
lows :  "The  left  or  south  bank  of  the  river  is  formed  by  a  long 
cliff  etc."  {Op.  cit.,  p.  203).  In  the  same  Relation  des  Des- 
couvertes  occur  also  these  passages:  "The  [Illinois]  village, 
which  was  situated  on  the  north  bank  of  the  river,  along  which 
it  extends  for  a  league  and  a  quarter  of  a  league  in  width,  had 
no  wall  or  entrenchment."  (P.  195.)  "This  small  [Iroquois] 
army  was  encamped  to  the  south  on  the  banks  of  the  Aramoni 
river,  which  joins  the  Illinois  two  leagues  below  the  village" 
(p.  197).  Franquelin's  map  of  1688  (Kellogg,  Early  Narratives 
of  the  Northwest)  indicates  the  Aramoni  as  a  southern  tributary 
of  the  Illinois  joining  it  a  short  distance  below  Starved  Rock,  a 
position  corresponding  exactly  with  that  of  the  Big  Vermillion. 


THE  GREAT  ILLINOIS  VILLAGE  147 

The  same  cartographer's  map  of  1684  (Thwaites,  Jesuit  Rela- 
tions, LX)  indicates  the  Aramoni  without  naming  it.  It  also 
shows  a  still  larger  southern  tributary  of  the  Illinois  joining  it 
between  Starved  Rock  and  the  Fox  River.  This  latter  stream 
(actually  smaller  in  size  than  the  Vermillion)  is  apparently  to 
be  identified  with  the  Marseilles  River.  Later  Franquelin  maps, 
for  example,  those  of  1699  and  1708,  indicate  the  Aramoni  under 
that  identical  orthographic  form,  as  also  do  de  Fonville's  map 
of  1699  and  Chaussegros  de  Lery's  of  1725.  (Karpinski  carto- 
graphical photostats,  Newberry  Library,  Chicago). 

12.  1683.  "Two  leagues  lower  down  [from  the  Pestegouki 
or  Fox  River]  is  the  old  village  of  the  Kaskaskia,  Illinois,  who 
abandoned  it  after  the  defeat  inflicted  three  years  ago  by  the 
Iroquois.  The  news  of  the  Fort  which  I  caused  to  be  built  there 
has  recalled  them  with  other  nations.  It  [the  fort]  is  situated 
six  leagues  below  the  aforesaid  village  on  the  left  bank  as  you 
ascend  the  river,  on  top  of  a  rock  perpendicular  on  almost  every 
side,  the  foot  of  which  is  washed  (by  the  river)  in  such  a  man- 
ner that  water  can  be  drawn  up  to  the  top  of  the  rock,  which 
is  about  six  hundred  feet  in  circumference  etc."  "Feuilles  de- 
tachees  d'un  lettre  de  De  Salle/'  undated,  but  written  after  the 
construction  of  Fort  St.  Louis  on  Starved  Rock  in  1683.  Margry, 
2:175.  This  is  a  disconcerting  statement  to  supporters  of  the 
Utica  site  of  the  Great  Illinois  Village.  Its  literal  and  obvious 
meaning  is  that  the  old  Kaskaskia  village  was  six  leagues  (fif- 
teen miles)  above  Starved  Rock  and  two  leagues  (five  miles) 
below  the  mouth  of  the  Fox.  This  distance  of  twenty  miles 
(by  water)  between  Starved  Rock  and  the  Fox  is  apparently  an 
exaggeration.  Possibly  La  Salle's  league  was  less  than  two 
miles  and  a  half.  At  all  events  the  village  was  (according  to 
the  passage  cited)  not  below,  but  above  Starved  Rock  and  in 
the  vicinity  of  Ottawa. 

Was  the  "old  village  of  the  Kaskaskias"  thus  pointed  out  by 
La  Salle  identical  with  the  Great  Illinois  Village  ?  For  the  period 
prior  to  the  Iroquois  invasion  of  September,  1680,  there  are 
numerous  indications  that  it  was.  (After  that  catastrophe  "the 
old  village  of  the  Kaskaskias"  was  not  reoccupied,  the  tribe, 
when  they  returned  on  the  erection  of  the  fort  at  Starved  Rock 
in  1683,  settling  across  from,  and  a  little  below,  it  on  the  Utica 


148  GILBERT  J.  GARRAGHAN 

side.  After  their  defeat  they  had  retreated  down  the  Illinois 
River  very  probably  to  the  west  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  Tonti 
having  in  March,  1683,  gone  "100  leagues  across  the  prairie  to 
induce  them  to  return"). 

a).  Marquette's  "a  village  of  Illinois  called  Kaskasia," 
(1675),  is  identical  with  Allouez's  "Kachkachkia,  the  great  vil- 
lage of  the  Illinois,"  (1677),  Allouez  on  his  visit  of  1677  having 
visited  or  occupied  the  cabin  in  which  Marquette  lodged.  Mar- 
quette's holograph  map  of  1674,  (Thwaites,  Jesuit  Relations, 
LLX) ,  shows  Kachkachkia  on  the  north  side  of  the  Illinois  River, 
no  other  Illinois  village  being  indicated.  Jolliet's  map  (1674) 
also  indicates  "Kachkachkia"  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Illinois 
(Thwaites,  Jesuit  Relations,  LIX) . 

b).  The  respective  narratives  of  La  Salle  and  his  associates 
recording  their  descent  of  the  Illinois  in  1679-1680  make  mention 
of  only  one  Illinois  village  on  the  river.  This  is  sometimes 
called  the  "Illinois  village,"  sometimes  the  "Great  Illinois  vil- 
lage." It  is  altogether  impossible  that  this  village  should  be 
other  than  Allouez's  "Great  village  of  the  Illinois,  which  is  iden- 
tical with  Kachkachkia  (Kaskaskia)."  With  its  351  cabins  in 
1677  (460  in  1680)  plainly  visible  from  the  river,  the  latter 
could  not  have  escaped  the  notice  of  La  Salle's  party.  If  the 
argument  from  silence  is  anywhere  valid  it  would  appear  to  be 
so  in  the  present  instance.  Moreover,  if  the  travellers,  pressed 
with  hunger,  had  to  appropriate  some  Indian  corn  at  the  Great 
Illinois  Village,  why  had  they  not  relieved  their  need  at  the 
Kaskaskia  village,  which,  on  the  theory  of  its  separate  existence, 
they  would  have  come  to  first? 

c.)  Shea  in  his  edition  of  Le  Clerc  (2:117)  states  that  the 
Great  Illinois  Village  was  distinct  from  the  village  of  the  Kas- 
kaskia. "The  village  of  the  Kaskaskia  proper  was  two  leagues 
below  the  mouth  of  the  Pestegouki  and  six  leagues  above  the 
Great  Village."  The  statement  is  based  upon  the  above  cited 
passage  in  Margry,  2:175.  For  reasons  already  given  the  writer 
considers  Shea's  statement  to  be  untenable;  at  any  rate,  he  can- 
not reconcile  it  with  the  various  narratives  of  the  La  Salle  ex- 
pedition of  1679-1680. 

d) .  Membre  writes  in  Le  Clerc,  2 :133 :  "There  are  moreover 
[that  is,  besides  the  Great  Illinois  Villege]  the  Miamis  .  .  .  the 
Kikapous,  and  the  Ainoves  [Iowa] ;  west  of  these  last  above  the 


THE  GREAT  ILLINOIS  VILLAGE  149 

River  Chechagoumemant  the  village  of  the  Illinois  Cascaschia 
[Kaskaskia]  situated  west  of  the  bottom  of  Lake  Dauphin 
(Michigan)  a  little  southwest  and  about  31  degrees  north."  Here 
it  is  clearly  stated  that  there  was  a  Kaskaskia  village  distinct 
from  the  Great  Illinois  Village.  It  is  to  be  noticed,  however, 
that  the  location  assigned  to  it  (31  degrees  north)  is  scarcely 
that  of  the  Kaskaskia  of  Marquette  and  Allouez,  which  was  on 
the  Illinois  river  at  40  degrees  41  minutes  latitude.  There  was, 
apparently,  besides  the  main  Kaskaskia  village  on  the  Illinois, 
one  or  other  smaller  ones  of  the  same  tribe.  Marquette  in  his 
Journal  for  January  30,  1675,  wrote  that  there  was  "an  Indian 
village"  only  six  leagues  from  his  winter  camp  on  the  Chicago 
River  (Thwaites,  59:175).  But  when  he  started  March  29  for 
Kaskaskia  proper  it  took  him  eleven  days  to  reach  it  (Thwaites, 
59:187).  If  the  "village  of  the  Illinois  Cascaschia"  of  Membre 
were  on  the  Illinois  river,  he  would  presumably  have  said  so,  as 
being  an  obvious  manner  of  indicating  its  location.  The  only 
inference  to  be  drawn  from  Membre's  words,  especially  in  view 
of  the  evidence  supplied  from  other  sources,  is  that  they  refer 
to  a  Kaskaskia  villege  other  than  the  "great"  one  on  the  Illinois 
river  described  by  Allouez. 

e).  Henepin  in  his  New  Discovery  (Thwaites,  ed.  p.  166) 
mentions  "the  village  of  the  Illinois  Kaskaskia  situated  towards 
the  source  of  the  river  Chicago  [Illinois]."  This  is  the  only 
Illinois  village  he  here  mentions  and  he  indentifies  it  with  the 
Kaskaskia. 

13.  A  dateless  old  French  map  reproduced  in  Steward,  Lost 
Marramech  and  Earlier  Chicago:  A  History  of  the  Foxes  and 
Their  Downfall  near  the  Village  of  the  Marramech,  Chicago, 
1903,  p.  44,  indicates  "Illinouek  or  Kachkachki"  on  the  north  side 
of  the  Illinois.  In  the  same  work  (p.  40)  is  a  fragment  of  a 
Hennepin  map  showing  the  "ancien  village  des  Ilinois"  with  date, 
1679,  on  the  north  side  of  the  Illinois  immediately  below  the  Fox 
and  above  "Fort  Crevecoeur,  Le  Rocher,"  by  which  latter  desig- 
nation is  evidently  meant  Fort  St.  Louis  on  Starved  Rock  as 
the  position  of  Lake  Peoria,  the  true  location  of  Fort  de  Creve- 
coeur, on  the  map  plainly  indicates.  This  detail  of  the  Hennepin 
map  is  an  important  one  for  the  present  study.  The  meaning 
of  the  French  ancien  is  "old"  or  "former,"  its  use  in  the  above 
connection  indicating  that  the  position  of  the  Kaskaskia  village 


150  GILBERT  J.  GARRAGHAN 

on  the  Illinois  river  in  1679  was  not  identical  with  that  which 
it  had  at  the  time  the  map  was  executed.  (An  undated  map  in 
the  Bibliotheque  Nationale,  Paris,  copy  in  the  Karpinski  photo- 
stats, indicates  the  "Ancien  village  des  Illinois"  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  Illinois  from  Le  Rocher.  Tonti  in  his  Memoir  also 
uses  the  term  "old"  or  "former"  (ancien)  Illinois  village,  supra 
9,  and  La  Salle,  as  was  seen,  speaks  of  the  "ancien  village"  of 
the  Kaskaskia. 

14.  The  latitude  of  the  Great  Illinois  Village  is  variously 
stated  in  the  sources.  According  to  Allouez  it  was  40  degrees 
41  minutes  (supra,  3).  Tonti  in  his  Memoir  in  Margry  (tr.  by 
Anderson,  p.  29)  says  La  Salle  found  it  to  be  "39  degrees  50 
minutes"  while  La  Salle's  so-called  "Official  Narrative"  fixes  it 
at  40  degrees  and  some  minutes. 

Collating  the  above  assembled  data  from  contemporary 
sources  one  is  led  to  the  conclusion  that  one  and  the  same 
"Great  Illinois  Village"  was  the  scene  of  Marquette's  inaugura- 
tion of  the  Illinois  Mission  in  April,  1675,  of  Allouez's  visit  of 
April-May,  1677,  and  his  erection  of  a  thirty-five  foot  cross,  of 
the  visits  of  La  Salle,  Tonti,  and  Fathers  Hennepin,  De  Ribourde, 
and  Membre,  January  1,  1680,  of  the  zealous  ministry  in  the 
summer  of  1680  of  De  Ribourde  and  Membre,  and  of  the  tragic 
Iroquois  attack  of  September  of  the  same  year  in  which  Tonti 
nearly  lost  his  life.  No  evidence  has  been  forthcoming  which 
demonstrates  or  even  suggests  that  the  Great  Illinois  Village  on 
any  of  these  occasions  was  elsewhere  than  in  the  same  identical 
location.  But  when  we  come  to  determine  this  location  we  are 
at  once  confronted  with  the  apparently  contradictory  data  set 
out  above.  A  choice  must  then  be  made  between  the  Utica  site 
and  one  near  Ottawa.  An  explicit  testimony  of  La  Salle  (supra; 
11,  Margry,  2:122)  would  appear  to  fix  it  (for  the  year  1680)  at 
Utica;  a  no  less  explicit  testimony  of  the  same  explorer  (supra, 
12)  would  appear  to  fix  it  above  Utica  and  below  the  Fox,  that 
is,  in  the  locality  of  Ottawa.  The  Utica  site  is  the  traditional 
one  and  has  behind  it  the  authority  of  Parkman,  who  rested 
his  verdict  chiefly  on  the  Relation  des  Descouvertes.  When  be 
appealed  as  further  evidence  in  support  of  the  Utica  site  to  In- 
dian relics  discovered  there,  he  was  less  happy  in  his  reasoning, 
as  the  relics  might  very  well  have  been  those  of  the  Great  Illi- 
nois Village  laid  out  at  Utica  after  the  erection  of  La  Salle's 


THE  GREAT  ILLINOIS  VILLAGE  151 

fort  (1683).  This,  then,  is  the  present  status  of  the  problem 
of  the  actual  site  of  the  Great  Illinois  Village.  The  writer  has 
undertaken  merely  to  indicate  the  historical  data  available  for 
its  solution  with  such  occasional  interpretation  of  the  same  as 
he  felt  to  be  warranted.  The  evidence  for  the  Utica  site  may  be 
characterized  as  strong  and  the  writer  has  no  mind  to  minimize 
it.  He  only  wishes  that  due  account  be  taken  of  documentary 
data  which  militate  or  seem  to  militate  against  it.  Above  all, 
what  he  does  make  bold  to  suggest  is  that  methods  of  investi- 
gation similar  to  those  employed  by  Knight  and  Zeuch  in  their 
study  of  the  Old  Chicago  Portage  Route  be  applied  to  the  prob- 
lem in  hand.  The  services  of  some  one  perfectly  familiar  with 
the  topography  of  the  Illinois  valley  and  the  physical  features 
of  the  Illinois  river  within  the  limits  of  La  Salle  and  Grundy 
Counties  must  be  utilized.  Only  in  the  light  of  such  acquaintance 
can  the  numerous  pertinent  topographical  and  physical  data  em- 
bodied in  the  Margry  and  other  contemporary  documents  be 
properly  interpreted.  When  some  one  with  this  equipment  fol- 
lows La  Salle  and  other  seventeenth-century  travellers  mile  by 
mile  up  and  down  the  Illinois  River  and,  with  the  aid  of  the 
narratives  they  have  left  behind,  checks  up  distances  and  physi- 
cal landmarks,  the  first  and  indispensible  step  will  have  been 
taken  towards  the  determination  of  the  actual  location  of  one 
of  the  outstanding  historical  spots  in  the  Middle  West,  "the 
Great  Village  of  the  Illinois." 

Gilbert  J.  Garraghan 
St.  Louis  University 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 


DOCUMENTS 

THE  DIARIES  OF  WILLIAM  J.  ONAHAN 

In  the  July,  1931,  issue  of  Mid-America  appeared  under  the 
caption  "A  Civil  War  Diary,"  an  instalment  from  a  series  of  un- 
published diaries  kept  by  Mr.  William  J.  Onahan  of  Chicago. 
Mr.  Onahan  was  a  keen  observer  of  the  currents  of  contemporary 
life  about  him,  and  his  comments  on  local  and  national  happen- 
ings are  replete  with  interest  and  insight.  The  social  circles  in 
which  he  moved,  the  numerous  contacts  he  made  with  person- 
alities, lay  and  ecclesiastical,  find  reflection  in  his  diaries,  which 
are  written  with  journalistic  ease  and  finish.  During  the  Civil 
War  period  Mr.  Onahan's  political  status  was  that  of  a  Douglas 
Democrat  with  pronounced  Southern  sympathies.  He  later  filled 
important  positions  in  Democratic  municipal  administrations  in 
Chicago,  among  others,  those  of  city  collector  and  city  comp- 
troller. His  zealous  activities  on  behalf  of  the  Church  brought 
him  in  1893  the  distinction  of  being  a  papal  chamberlain  by 
Leo  XIII.  Mr.  Onahan  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  having  been  born 
at  Leighlin  Bridge,  County  Carlow,  November  24,  1836 ;  he  died 
in  Chicago  in  1919.  The  excerpts  from  the  diaries  which  follow 
have  been  prepared  for  publication  by  his  daughter,  Mary 
Onahan  (Mrs.  Daniel)  Gallery,  1612  Chase  Avenue,  Chicago, 
who  has  also  written  his  life  (Life  of  William  J.  Onahan,  Loyola 
University  Press,  Chicago,  1929) .  The  excerpts  from  the  Onahan 
diaries  previously  published  concluded  with  the  return  to  Chi- 
cago, in  the  role  of  a  national  hero,  of  Col.  James  A.  Mulligan 
after  his  distinguished  participation  in  the  Battle  of  Lexington, 
Missouri.  The  present  installment  picks  up  the  thread  at  this 
juncture.* 

November  9,  1861.  Called  on  the  ''Colonel"  [Mulligan]  this 
morning.  A  banquet  is  now  the  topic  but  will  probably  be  dis- 
pensed with. 

November  18.  We  went  to  Bryan  Hall  tonight  where  the 
Colonel  lectured  to  a  crowded  house  on  the  "Siege  and  Surrender 
of  Lexington." 


*  In  Mid- America,  July,  1931,  p.  66,  under  date  of  November  5,  read 
California  for  Colorado.  The  ink  in  many  of  these  old  diaries  has  become 
extremely  dim,  and  "Col"  and  "Cal"  look  much  alike. 

152 


THE  DIARIES  OF  WILLIAM  J.  ONAHAN  153 

November  20.  In  national  affairs  there  is  a  new  interest 
growing  out  of  the  arrest  of  Mason  and  Slidell  on  a  British 
vessel.  Tis  feared  it  will  be  a  casus  belli.  The  government  al- 
though now  defending  the  act  would  wish  'twere  undone. 

November  21.  Naught  new  of  the  war.  The  probable  trouble 
with  England  is  the  sole  topic.  I  think  she  will  take  high  ground 
and  demand  the  release  of  Mason  and  Slidell. 

December  3.  Read  proceedings  of  Congress  which  met  yes- 
terday. The  die  is  cast  and  the  war  hereafter  assumes  an  abol- 
ition stripe  unless  perhaps  the  President's  message  should  turn 
the  tide  against  it.  This  is  improbable.  Lincoln's  antecedents 
are  all  for  abolition.  The  Union  is  now  past  all  hope  and  an- 
archy and  disintegration  inevitable. 

December  16.  There  is  warlike  news  from  England  which 
makes  the  North  tremble  and  has  excited  great  agitation. 

December  26.  In  the  afternoon  I  attended  a  gathering  at 
Healy's  the  painter.  Enjoyed  the  rare  treat  of  examining  his 
studio.  Saw  a  new  and  fine  painting  of  Jackson  intended  for 
Congress. 

January  1,  1862.  Greeting  to  the  New  Year!  May  it  re- 
store peace  and  prosperity  to  our  distracted  country  and  con- 
tinue to  give  health  and  happiness  to  all  my  little  household. 

January  5.  The  morning  was  bright  and  cold  and  the  sleigh 
ride  quite  exhilarating.  We  made  a  brief  call  on  Madam  Gall- 
way.  Thence  to  Mass  at  the  Jesuits  and  enjoyed  the  treat  of 
hearing  a  sermon  from  Father  Smarius.  The  subject  was  not 
calculated  to  develop  his  great  prowess  and  masterly  eloquence 
yet  he  invested  it  with  great  interest. 

January  8.  There  is  but  little  of  importance  today.  The 
armies  are  quiet.  No  movement  on  either  side.  Congress  is 
gabbling  away  worse  than  idly. 

January  14.  News  of  Cameron's  retirement  and  the  ap- 
pointment of  Stanton  to  the  War  Department. 

January  15.  Witnessed  a  military  parade  on  lake  front  of 
all  the  forces  at  Camp  Douglas.  Called  on  the  Bishop.  I  have 
the  Bishop's  books  and  am  now  engaged  making  up  a  summary 
of  the  year. 

January  16.  Nothing  new  in  national  affairs.  There  is  a 
great  movement  impending  from  Cairo. 


154  DOCUMENTS 

January  19.  I  spent  the  usual  time  at  my  Sunday  school 
which  is  growing  in  numbers  and  I  must  say  in  turbulence. 

January  25.  Congress  is  still  in  session.  Would  that  it  were 
in  Timbuctoo!  The  war  yet  lags.  An  affair  in  Kentucky  re- 
ported defeat  of  the  Confederates  and  death  of  Zollicoffee.  Tis 
of  doubtful  truth. 

February  3.  The  war  makes  no  progress  and  the  South  still 
presents  a  bold  and  threatening  front. 

February  7.  The  papers  report  the  expulsion  of  Bright  from 
the  Senate  and  an  attack  on  Fort  Henry.  Had  a  sharp  contro- 
versy with  the  Hales  on  this  action  of  the  Senate,  which  I  con- 
tend was  manifestly  unjust. 

February  11.  National  affairs  are  becoming  again  of  excit- 
ing importance.  On  all  hands  great  movements  are  really  im- 
pending. The  Miss,  army  and  flotilla  are  progressing  southwards. 

February  13.  Father  James  Dillon  (from  the  advance  guard 
of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac)  surprised  me  by  an  unexpected 
visit.    He  is  off  on  furlough  and  leaves  again  tonight. 

February  16.  The  great  and  all  absorbing  topic  of  the  day 
is  the  siege  of  Fort  Donelson  by  the  Federals.  They  commenced 
Thursday  and  it  is  not  yet  taken.    Great  slaughter  going  on. 

February  17.  Fort  Donelson  is  on  all  tongues.  In  the  morn- 
ing there  were  rumors  of  heavy  reverses  to  the  Federals.  At 
ten  o'clock  news  came  of  its  surrender  and  with  it  1,500  men 
and  three  generals,  Johnston,  Buckner  and  Dillon.  Report  also 
that  Savannah  is  taken.  City  wild  with  excitement.  Terrible 
slaughter  on  both  sides.  The  blow  to  the  South  is  severe.  The 
city  is  frenzied  with  enthusiasm. 

February  18.  The  news  of  yesterday  occupies  all  tongues. 
'Tis  undoubtedly  a  heavy  reverse  to  the  South,  yet  not  an  ir- 
reparable one.  Savannah  was  not  taken.  The  only  general  of 
note  captured  at  Donelson  was  Buckner.    The  rest  escaped. 

February  21.  The  Secesh  gentry  from  Fort  Donelson  arrived 
this  morning.  The  greatest  eagerness  exists  in  the  community 
to  see  them  and  much  discussion  as  to  how  they  should  be 
treated. 

February  22.  In  the  afternoon  I  rode  out  with  Joe  McDon- 
nell to  Camp  Douglas.  We  forged  a  pass  to  get  in.  Called  me 
"Mulligan."    Saw  and  conversed  with  the  redoubtable  Souther- 


THE  DIARIES  OF  WILLIAM  J.  ONAHAN  155 

ners.  They  are  generally  a  fine  lot  of  men  and  I  judge  much 
above  the  average  of  ours. 

February  24.  Reports  are  current  that  Nashville  has  been 
surrendered  to  the  Federals  without  a  blow.    I  doubt  it. 

February  27.  I  drove  Maggie  [Mrs.  Onahan]  in  the  after- 
noon to  Camp  Douglas  to  inspect  the  Secessionists.  We  saw 
Colonel  Mulligan,  who  is  now  in  command  there.  Called  on  Mrs. 
Walsh  and  chatted  treason. 

March  6.  Received  a  letter  from  General  Shields  in  reply 
to  my  invitation  to  the  St.  Patrick's  day  banquet.  The  General 
is  evidently  more  at  home  in  wielding  a  sword  than  a  pen. 

March  7.  Received  letters  from  Bishop  Timon  of  Buffalo 
concerning  banquet  on  St.  Patrick's  night,  also  from  Bishop 
Duggan,  Colonel  Mulligan  and  Doctor  McMullen. 

March  11.  Received  letter  from  Brigadier  General  Thomas 
Francis  Meagher  in  regard  to  the  banquet.  Also  letter  from 
Isaac  Arnold  transmitting  $10  to  banquet  fund.  Letter  from 
Governor  Yates  in  regard  to  the  banquet. 

March  17.  Twelfth  anniversary  of  my  arrival  in  this  coun- 
try. Landed  from  the  good  old  ship  "Montezuma"  on  a  wild 
wintry  day,  my  father  (God  have  mercy  on  his  soul)  and  we 
three  children.    Strangers  in  a  strange  land. 

This  was  a  great  day  for  Ireland  in  Chicago.  Big  procession, 
imposing  display,  etc.    Banquet  at  Tremont  was  a  success. 

March  20.  Of  the  war  the  great  topic  now  is  "Island  No.  10" 
It  is  taken  or  is  it  not?  A  desperate  attack  has  been  made  on 
it  by  the  great  mortar  boats  and  a  fleet  of  gun  boats  thus  far 
without  any  result. 

March  25.  News  of  a  victory  by  Shields  over  General  Jack- 
son.    Shields  wounded.     Island  Number  10  not  taken  yet. 

March  30.  My  article  impaling  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  appeared  in  the  Times  this  morning. 

April  7.  Occupied  all  the  afternoon  with  petition  for  Sisters 
of  Mercy.  We  got  up  an  immense  one.  I  went  with  Phil  Con- 
ley  to  the  Council.  Bigotry  was  rampant.  Our  petition  excited 
a  sensation.  We  did  not  succeed  but  lost  on  a  tie  vote,  the  Mayor 
voting  against  the  Sisters. 

April  9.  Surrender  of  Island  Number  10  announced  this 
morning.    Later  in  the  day  news  of  a  terrible  battle  at  Pittsburg, 


156  DOCUMENTS 

Tenn.  came  in.  Loss  on  both  sides  frightful.  The  most  exag- 
gerated rumors  prevail.  I  suspect  Beauregard  has  drubbed  the 
Federalists. 

May  12.  News  that  Richmond  is  taken  prevailed  for  awhile 
today  and  all  the  city  is  in  a  furore.  It  however  proved  to  be  a 
groundless  report. 

May  25.    Defeat  of  Banks  and  repulse  of  Halleck  at  Corinth. 

June  7.  This  evening  took  Maggie  to  theatre  and  saw  John 
Wilkes  Booth  in  Richard  Lalor  Shields  tragedy  of  The  Apostate. 
The  anti-Catholic  spirit  amazed  me  while  Booth  as  Peccava  was 
wonderful. 

July  1.  There  is  bad  news  for  the  Federals  from  Richmond. 
McClellan's  right  wing  has  retreated  "as  a  strategic  movement"  ? 
Really  no  doubt  and  as  I  believe  because  he  has  been  forced  by 
the  Confederates  to  do  so.  The  tide  is  turning.  McClellan  will 
be  overwhelmed  and  driven  back. 

July  2.  News  from  the  Army  only  makes  matters  worse. 
The  Federals  are  in  a  critical  position.  There  was  a  rumor  to- 
day that  Richmond  is  taken  and  for  an  hour  or  so  there  was  a 
furore  in  the  city,  bell  ringing  and  flag  raising.  'Twas  of  course 
all  bosh. 

August  5.  My  sister  Mary  left  us  and  bade  adieu  to  the  world 
today.  The  convent  henceforth  is  her  sphere.  She  leaves  I  pre- 
sume without  many  regrets  for  her  heart  and  her  desires  have 
found  no  place  outside  the  Sacred  Heart.    God  bless  her. 

September  1.  News  from  Virginia.  Federal  army  terribly 
cut  up.  Pope  outgeneralled  at  all  points.  Washington  in  danger. 
In  the  West  the  Rebels  are  having  their  own  way  also.  Battle 
at  Richmond,  Kentucky,  a  terrible  slaughter  of  the  Federals. 
Rebels  marching  on  Cincinnati. 

September  4.  Called  at  the  Sacred  Heart  Convent  this  P.  M. 
Saw  Madam  Gallwey  and  Mary.  Annie  [his  other  sister]  en- 
tered this  evening. 

September  8.  Early  this  morning  I  started  for  Alton  and 
arrived  there  duly.  Stopped  at  the  Alton  House.  'Tis  a  rocky, 
precipitous  place.  Witnessed  the  release  and  embarkation  of 
several  hundred  Confederate  prisoners.  Poor  fellows  they 
looked  rejoiced  to  end  their  confinement.  Hardy  looking  chaps 
most  of  them. 


THE  DIARIES  OF  WILLIAM  J.  ONAHAN  157 

September  23.  The  morning  papers  contain  proclamation 
from  Lincoln  declaring  Emancipation  of  slaves  of  Rebels.  Tis 
the  last  resort  of  fanaticism.  Now  let  us  see  what  will  follow. 
The  end  is  near. 

October  8.  Battle  at  Corinth.  Reported  defeat  of  the  Con- 
federates. 

November  4.  Important  results  are  pending  on  the  action  of 
today.  I  devoted  myself  to  "my  country"  and  peddled  tickets 
in  the  Tenth.  My  experience  was  suggestive  and  my  business 
enlivening.  Matters  look,  well,  one  can't  tell  how  until  night. 
A  vile  outrage  though  was  practised,  a  regiment  of  soldiers 
brought  here  from  Springfield  to  vote!  Night  came  and  with  it 
discouraging  news  locally.  Sherman  is  beat  and  Charlie  Walsh 
also  of  course. 

November  5.  Good  news  today.  Illinois  democratic.  Ditto 
New  Jersey  and  New  York.  Glorious  old  Seymour  is  elected. 
Immense  gains  everywhere. 

January  3,  1863.  Papers  today  announce  a  great  battle  near 
Murfreesboro,  Tenn.  and  it  now  looks  as  if  Rosecrans  were  badly 
whipped.    There  was  the  usual  frightful  slaughter. 

January  15.  The  Bishop  sent  up  his  book  in  order  that  I 
might  make  out  the  annual  statement. 

January  16.  Received  invitation  to  go  to  Father  Roles  this 
evening;  Dr.  Brownson  to  be  there.  O'Brien  and  I  went.  Saw 
the  Great  Reviewer.  I  have  a  certain  measure  of  respect  for 
him.    He  is  a  great  philosopher  and  talks  ad  libitum. 

January  17.  O'Brien  and  I  busied  ourselves  in  the  lecture 
plans  for  tomorrow  night.  We  find  however,  not  only  coldness 
but  absolute  hostility  on  all  sides.  Brownson's  abolitionism  can 
not  be  swallowed. 

January  18.  O'Brien  and  I  went  to  the  convent  but  failed  to 
see  Madam  Gallwey,  who  is  still  unwell.  This  is  a  matter  of 
serious  concern.  The  loss  of  Madam  Gallwey  would  be  a  great 
misfortune  and  her  frequent  illnesses  lead  us  to  fear  this  cal- 
amity. 

Brownson  lectured  on  "The  Church  and  the  Republic"  at 
Bryan  Hall  tonight.  Sold  tickets  in  the  office  and  went  after- 
wards to  Phil  Conley's  where  were  the  Reviewer  and  the  usual 
crowd.    Remained  until  the  wee  sma'  hours.  Reached  home  after 


158  DOCUMENTS 

a  weary  tramp  about  two  o'clock  this  morning.  So  much  for 
the  society  of  the  Great  Reviewer.    He  is  a  great  old  man. 

January  23.  Great  meeting  at  Bryan  Hall  tonight.  Heard 
several  Democratic  members  of  the  Legislature  discourse  on 
Democracy;  the  best  speech  of  the  evening  however  was  that  of 
Dr.  Davis.    'Twas  eloquent,  effective  and  for  Peace. 

January  26.  Burnside  has  resigned  and  Hooker  now  com- 
mands the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  So  much  the  better  for  Lee 
and  our  southern  friends.  Wrote  letter  to  Vallandigham  felici- 
tating him  on  his  great  speech. 

February  4.  News  from  Charleston.  Beauregard  has  driven 
off,  sunk  and  burnt  the  blockading  fleet  with  only  two  vessels. 

February  21.  Had  an  intimation  from  Sherlock  today  that 
I  was  to  be  nominated  for  membership  in  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion. 

February  25.  Richmond  papers  report  the  capture  of  the 
famous  Ram  "Queen  of  the  West,"  which  lately  ran  by  Vicks- 
burg. 

February  27.  Read  with  great  gusto  a  speech  of  Richard 
O'Gorman  on  the  situation  of  the  country. 

March  17.  Left  Kalamazoo  at  an  early  hour  in  a  crowded 
stage  with  the  prospect  of  a  day's  weary  travel.  I  soon  escaped 
from  the  confinement  of  an  inside  to  the  luxuries  and  dangers 
of  an  outside  one.  The  roads  were  good  and  the  travelling  tol- 
erably rapid.  I  found  staging  not  after  all  so  disagreeable  as  I 
apprehended.    Arrived  at  Grand  Rapids  in  the  evening. 

April  21.  City  election.  Union  and  Copperheadism.  Labored 
from  five  o'clock  this  morning  until  the  polls  closed  all  the  time 
with  great  fears  for  the  result.  Copperheads  triumphed.  Sher- 
man and  the  whole  ticket  elected. 

May  5.  Great  movement  in  Virginia.  Hooker  has  crossed 
the  Rappahannock  and  now  God  help  him  and  his  army. 

May  6.    Vallandigham  arrived  last  night. 

May  7.  Total  defeat  of  Hooker  and  the  Federal  Army  at 
Chancellorsville. 

May  24.  The  afternoon  was  marked  by  the  ceremonies  of 
the  dedication  of  the  University  of  St.  Mary's,  or,  I  should  say 
rather,  the  laying  of  the  corner  stone.  Bishop  Rosecrans  de- 
livered the  oration.  He  is  a  pleasant  looking  man.  The  oration 
was  fair  and  crowd  great. 


THE  DIARIES  OF  WILLIAM  J.  ONAHAN  159 

June  3.  Suppression  of  the  Times.  Vide  letter  of  "Alban" 
in  Freemans  Journal.  Great  meeting  at  the  Court  house  square 
to  denounce  the  suppression  of  the  Times. 

June  4.    Times  all  right  again. 

June  16.  Started  for  Springfield  with  the  Chicago  delegation 
to  the  Convention.  'Twas  a  beggarly  show  for  Cook  County. 
Great  crowds,  Voorhees,  Cox,  Richardson.  Heard  Merrick  in 
the  evening  deliver  an  eloquent  and  impassioned  address. 

July  3.  Great  battles  announced  in  Pennsylvania.  Lee  has 
assailed  Meade  with  evident  success. 

July  4.  We  hear  still  of  bloody  work  in  Pennsylvania  but  no 
results  announced. 

July  6.  Still  comes  the  news  of  bloody  battles.  There  was 
terrible  work  in  Pennsylvania  the  other  day  and  now  perhaps 
renewed  again.  Frightful  slaughter  on  both  sides  and  from  all 
accounts  no  decisive  results  reached.  At  least  all  is  still  in  douhj, 
and  mystery.  Surely  Lee  would  not  have  fought  this  battle  with- 
out a  certainty  of  decisive  result.  I  still  pin  my  faith  to  the  be- 
lief that  it  was  a  heavy  blow  to  Meade. 

July  13.  Great  riot  in  New  York  (anti  draft).  General 
commotion  and  disorder.  Draft  suspended,  lives  lost,  buildings 
burned.     The  beginning  of  the  end. 

July  14.  Riot  still  in  progress  in  New  York.  The  mob  has 
full  possession  of  the  city.  Tribune  office  gutted.  Horace  un- 
touched. Seymour  trying  to  calm  the  tumult.  Government 
orders  suppression  of  the  draft. 

July  15.  Riot  still  unsubdued  in  New  York.  Morgan  is  dash- 
ing through  Ohio  and  Indiana  destroying  railroads  and  bridges. 
Port  Hudson  reported  surrendered.  Things  are  going  badly 
with  the  Confederates. 

September  17.    Rumored  reverse  to  Rosecrans  army. 

September  21.  News  of  Rosecrans  defeat  at  Chickamauga. 
It  looks  disastrous.  The  tide  is  about  to  turn.  I  look  for  Con- 
federate successes  from  this  on. 

October  13.  Down  town  this  evening.  Sojourned  long 
enough  to  know  that  the  result  of  the  Ohio  and  other  elections 
has  gone  badly  against  the  Democrats.  Vallandigham  beaten 
by  50,000  on  the  Home  vote.    Woodward  also  whipped  in  Penn- 


160  DOCUMENTS 

sylvania  by  30,000.  Tuttle  in  Iowa  also  shelved.  And  so  we  go 
hopelessly  to  wreck  and  ruin. 

October  15.  I  wrote  a  contradiction  of  a  slander  en  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Cincinnati  which  appeared  in  the  Daily  Times  yester- 
day.   It  was  published  today. 

October  20.  Observe  in  Daily  Times  notice  of  my  appoint- 
ment by  the  Common  Council  to  the  Board  of  Education. 

October  28.  Took  the  oath  of  office  as  member  of  the  Board 
of  Education  of  the  city  of  Chicago. 

December  2.  Received  letter  from  James  A.  McMaster  [edi- 
tor of  the  Freeman's  Journal]  this  morning  announcing  his  de- 
parture for  Chicago.  Went  down  directly  to  the  Adams  House 
and  found  him  already  registered.  Our  meeting  was  cordial  and 
I  found  myself  at  once  at  home  with  him.  Moved  up  to  the  Tre- 
mont  in  the  evening.  Talked  over  a  great  many  things.  Spent 
several  hours  with  a  gathering  of  "distinguished"  Democrats  at 
the  Sherman  House. 

December  4.  Madam  Gallwey  has  undertaken  a  fair  to  aid 
in  building  a  school  house  for  the  parish  girls. 

December  9.  I  attended  a  meeting  of  ladies  at  the  convent 
this  afternoon  in  reference  to  the  Bazaar. 

December  12.  Garrick  and  I  started  out  today  on  a  mission 
peddling  tickets  for  McMaster's  lecture  and  during  the  forenoon 
met  with  gratifying  success.  Altogether  we  sold  nearly  two 
hundred.  In  the  evening,  whisper  it  not  in  Gath,  we  took  pail, 
paste  and  brush  and  with  great  placards  proceeded  to  the 
churches  and  pasted  away. 

December  15.  Met  McMaster  on  lake  steamer,  took  him  to 
Bryan  Hall  and  Healy's  gallery.  We  also  visited  Times  editorial 
sanctum.  In  the  afternoon  I  trotted  about  selling  tickets.  Eve- 
ning came.  Weather  pleasant  and  prospects  favorable.  When 
the  time  came  to  introduce  McMaster  the  crowd  was  not  so  great 
as  I  had  hoped  for — still  it  was  not  slim.  After  the  lecture  we 
adjourned  to  the  Tremont.  Had  a  supper  in  honor  of  McMaster. 
Merrick  presented  him  with  a  cane  on  behalf  of  friends. 

December  24.  The  New  York  Freeman's  Journal  is  at  hand 
with  a  personal  notice  of  W.  J.  O.  still  more  tickling  than  the 
last. 

December  28.     Commenced  operations  at  Metropolitan  Hall 


THE  DIARIES  OF  WILLIAM  J.  ONAHAN  161 

early  in  the  day  for  the  Bazaar.  Up  to  noon  we  had  made  little 
progress  and  there  seemed  little  promise  of  bringing  order  out 
of  chaos  by  evening.  Evening  came  however  and  we  had  made 
great  progress.  The  weather  proved  unfavorable  and  although 
our  arrangements  were  good  the  opening  night  was  a  failure. 

December  29.  Attention  devoted  exclusively  to  the  Bazaar. 
The  hall  looks  well  and  had  we  only  decent  weather  there  could 
be  no  doubt  of  its  success.  Tonight  the  tableaux  were  produced. 
They  were  very  troublesome  affairs  and  I  was  forced  to  take 
part  in  one — my  old  role  Abel.  They  seemed  to  give  great  sat- 
isfaction. 

December  30.  We  have  concluded  to  run  the  Bazaar  another 
night  and  accordingly  engaged  Metropolitan  Hall  for  tomorrow 
evening.  The  day  passes  busily  fixing  and  arranging.  Night 
came  and  for  once  we  could  felicitate  ourselves  on  a  success. 
Great  crowd  and  everything  passed  off  harmoniously.  I  am  near- 
ly worn  out  with  fatigue  and  labor. 

December  31.  1863  is  passing  away  and  yet  I  can  make  little 
note  of  it.  Labor  at  the  Bazaar  crowds  my  time  and  gives  me 
no  vacant  moments.  The  weather  at  noon  began  to  look  threat- 
ening and  soon  after  a  regular  snow  storm  set  in.  Towards  eve- 
ning it  grew  worse  and  at  the  time  when  we  thought  of  looking 
for  a  gatheirng  crowd  the  elements  were  fiercely  at  war  with 
our  hopes.  'Twas  a  wild  night.  The  hall  was  nearly  vacant  and 
we  had  to  go  on  with  our  programme  as  best  we  could  discour- 
aged and  disheartened.  To  make  the  matter  worse  many  could 
not  get  home.  No  conveyances  of  any  kind.  So  they  made  a 
virtue  of  necessity  and  remained  in  the  hall  all  night.  And  what 
a  night!  The  closing  hours  of  the  Sacred  Heart  bazaar  will  long 
be  remembered. 

January  1,  1864.  The  solemn  tolling  of  the  Court  House  bell 
marked  the  hour  of  twelve  and  as  the  echoes  of  the  last  note 
died  away  familiar  voices  merrily  shouted  "Happy  New  Year." 
groups  awaiting  in  Metropolitan  Hall  the  coming  of  daylight, 
the  cessation  of  the  wild  storm  and  an  abatement  of  the  bitter 
cold  that  had  prevailed  all  thro'  the  night.  The  New  Year  looked 
in  upon  a  curious  scene.  For  four  days  and  nights  the  "Bazaar 
and  Ladies  Soiree"  had  held  possession  of  Metropolitan  Hall  and 
now  the  finale  was  at  length  reached.  .  .  . 


162  DOCUMENTS 

January  3.  Looking  out  this  morning  I  find  the  snow  piled 
three  feet  high  and  solid  at  that.  Managed  to  get  to  church. 
Father  Smarius  preached.  Subject  St.  John.  He  did  not  indulge 
in  his  customary  high  flown  imaginative  powers  and  I  considered 
it  below  his  former  efforts. 

January  18.  Went  over  with  Dickson  tonight  to  Conley's 
John  Duffy  and  a  Mr.  Flannagan  (a  new  arrival  from  Buffalo) 
were  along  with  us.  Arrived  there  we  soon  got  at  "Vautienne" 
a  French  game  of  cards.  Finding  it  a  stupid  affair  I  dropped 
out  and  opened  a  chat  with  Dr.  McMullen  on  the  situation  of  the 
Church  in  America,  North  and  South.  He  has  some  novel  no- 
tions on  the  subject  and  is  quite  opposed  to  the  movement  of  the 
French  in  Mexico  and  on  general  principles  to  Spanish  or  Euro- 
pean domination  in  South  America.  He  goes  in  for  material 
development  and  thinks  the  Church  would  really  gain  more  than 
she  would  lose  by  the  overthrow  of  the  present  system  in  South 
America.  .  .  . 

We  talked  over  the  plan  of  the  proposed  magazine  and  the 
Doctor  renewed  his  offer  of  a  few  days  before  to  give  me  the 
"Chair  editorial."  Father  Roles  also  urged  that  I  would  join 
in  the  enterprise  but  I  had  already  concluded  to  decline.  The 
office  would  involve  too  many  embarrassments  and  distractions. 

January  22.  Dickson  and  I  have  been  looking  around  for  the 
past  week  for  a  store  with  a  tacit  understanding  of  going  into 
business  together.  The  projected  business  is  to  be  Flour  and 
Commission.  We  have  talked  matters  over  and  think  we  could 
make  some  money  in  that  line.  We  find  great  difficulty  however 
in  getting  a  suitable  location  and  rents  are  enormous.  They  ask 
$2,400  a  year  for  second  class  stores  on  Water  Street. 

March  27,  Easter  Sunday.  An  immense  throng  at  last  Mass 
[Jesuit  Church  of  the  Holy  Family].  I  acted  as  usher  for  a 
while.  Father  Van  Goch  preached,  to  the  disappointment  of 
many  who  expected  to  hear  Father  Smarius  or  at  any  rate  Fath- 
er Lawler.  In  the  evening  we  attended  Vespers  and  Benediction. 
Father  Smarius  lectured  on  "The  Immortality  of  the  Soul."  It 
was  a  learned  and  logical  discourse,  yet  I  think  it  lacked  some- 
thing of  the  clearness,  certainly  of  the  illustrative  beauty  to 
which  in  his  sermons  we  are  usually  accustomed.  The  subject 
involved  necessarily  questions  of  metaphysics  and  he  dived  into 


THE  DIARIES  OF  WILLIAM  J.  ONAHAN  163 

the  sea  of  German  philosophy  to  show  how  unsound  is  the  doc- 
trine of  infidels  and  atheists.  This  was  away  and  beyond  the 
reach  or  comprehension  of  the  vast  majority  of  the  congrega- 
tion. Few  even  of  the  cleverest  scholars  could  follow  him  closely 
into  the  depths  of  the  disquisition.  I  missed  so  much  the  charm 
of  the  fine  flower  of  imaginative  power  which  he  usually  throws 
into  a  lecture  or  sermon.  As  he  told  us  afterwards  he  is  getting 
too  old  for  that  style.  After  the  lecture  according  to  invitation 
a  half  dozen  of  us  went  into  the  Fathers  where  a  supper  was 
prepared.  Father  Lawlor  was  in  high  glee  and  gave  us  a  fund 
of  anecdotes  and  song.  Father  Smarius  even  became  for  once 
sentimental  and  poetic  and  indulged  us  also.  On  the  whole  it 
was  an  agreeable  occasion.    Wound  up  at  twelve  o'clock. 

March  28.  Today  was  appointed  for  the  opening — the  "In- 
auguration of  the  Irish  National  Fair."  For  weeks  the  papers 
have  devoted  columns  daily  to  the  coming  event  and  it  has  been 
loudly  proclaimed  that  it  would  be  a  great  day  and  an  affair  of 
unprecedented  magnificence.  In  the  hotels,  saloons,  cars,  aye 
even  in  the  churches  it  has  formed  the  leading  topic.  Curiosity 
was  all  a  tiptoe  in  excitement.  The  public  at  home  and  abroad 
were  cleverly  worked  up  to  a  fever  heat  about  it  and  public  ex- 
pectation ran  high  in  regard  to  the  proposed  affair. 

The  day  came  and  has  now  passed.  What  of  the  "Inaugura- 
tion" ?  The  skies  frowned  upon  the  Fenians.  From  early  morn- 
ing they  looked  a  premonition  of  rain  and  at  the  hour  appointed 
to  assemble  the  procession  the  rain  began  to  come  down  in  tor- 
rents. They  filed  out  however  into  the  streets  and  manfully 
struggled  on  for  a  few  blocks  wading  through  mud  and  mire 
and  drenched  in  rain.  It  was  a  dismal  spectacle  and  the  Libera- 
tors soon  grew  sick  of  it.  The  order  was  given  to  disband.  And 
soon  the  great  procession  might  be  seen  in  straggling  squads 
wending  their  weary  way  hallwards.  Governor  Yates  was  not 
present.  The  distinguished  speakers  were  Long  John  Wentworth 
and  several  smaller  obscure  nobodies.  It  was  confessedly  an 
abortion. 

News  this  morning  of  a  serious  outbreak  in  Coles  County. 
Collision  between  the  citizens  and  soldiery  in  which  the  latter 
deservedly  got  the  worst  of  it.  The  affair  has  an  alarming  as- 
pect and  bodes  trouble.  The  people  of  that  section  are  evidently 
weary  of  Federal  license  and  soldiers'  insolence  and  have  no 


164  DOCUMENTS 

doubt  properly  punished  the  offenders  in  the  present  instance. 
It  is  now  reported  that  the  "Copperheads"  are  marching  in  force 
on  Mattoon  and  that  the  district  is  under  martial  law. 

August  30.  What  an  interregnum!  How  I  shall  fill  up  the 
five  months  vacuum  is  a  poser.  I'll  dismiss  it  with  a  few  para- 
graphs and  at  some  future  time  discourse  separately  on  each  of 
its  marked  events.  In  April  I  spent  several  weeks  on  a  can- 
vassing tour — visited  Morris,  Ottawa,  Lasalle,  Peoria  and  St. 
Louis.  Travelled  from  Pekin  to  St.  Louis  by  boat  on  the  Illinois 
river.  Fell  in  with  some  of  Stonewall  Jackson's  men  in  St.  Louis, 
one  of  them  an  old  acquaintance.  In  July  I  undertook  a  trip  to 
the  East,  stopped  a  day  at  Buffalo  and  sojourned  a  few  hours 
at  Niagara  Falls  setting  foot  for  a  brief  space  on  the  free  soil 
of  Canada.  Of  course  I  breathed  easier  as  I  stepped  ashore  from 
Niagara  River  on  that  non  envied  land.  I  concluded  to  take  the 
boat  from  Albany  to  New  York  as  by  far  the  pleasantest  mode 
and  besides  I  had  never  seen  the  Hudson  and  here  was  the  long 
coveted  opportunity.  Leaving  Albany  behind  my  choice  was 
soon  justified  and  my  interest  awakened  by  the  beauty  and  var- 
iety of  the  scenery.  The  day  was  clear  and  pleasant,  the  boat 
one  of  the  finest  on  the  river  and  two  harpers  on  board  added 
the  charm  of  music  to  the  enjoyments  of  the  occasion.  There 
was  not  a  mile  passed  that  the  eye  could  not  rest  with  delight  on 
some  or  other  beauty  spot,  fit  subject  for  painter's  pencil  or 
poet's  pen.  Besides  a  multitude  of  points  of  historical  interest 
ever  and  anon  presented  to  us  so  numerous  indeed  that  I  would 
be  obliged  to  refer  to  my  guide  book  for  the  names  of  all. 

About  five  o'clock  the  tall  masts  of  the  ships  and  the  distant 
spires  of  the  great  city  began  to  loom  up  before  us.  Of  course 
I  strained  my  eyes  as  we  drew  near  endeavoring  to  note  some 
familiar  object.  Ten  years  is  a  space  that  involves  many  and 
great  changes.  And  that  period  has  elapsed  since  I  last  looked 
upon  New  York.  How  well  I  remember  the  dim  hazy  morning 
I  went  over  from  Brooklyn  with  Eugene  and  my  two  little  trunks 
containing  all  my  earthly  goods  to  the  Hudson  River  Railroad 
depot  and  there  after  a  good  bye  to  my  companions  ventured  on 
my  journey. 

How  I  marvelled  at  the  manner  of  place  I  would  find  Chicago 
to  be,  how  my  father  was  settled  and  Mary  and  Annie?    If  I 


THE  DIARIES  OF  WILLIAM  J.  ONAHAN  165 

could  now  revive  the  fancies  of  that  time  what  a  curious  chapter 
they  would  now  make!  The  boat  soon  touched  the  wharf  and 
I  leaped  ashore  looking  around  me  and  pushing  along  as  though 
I  were  quite  at  home.  With  some  new  made  acquaintances  I  got 
into  the  bus  for  the  St.  Nicholas  Hotel  and  we  were  soon  careen- 
ing up  Broadway.  There  was  one  at  least  of  our  number  who 
looked  out  rather  enquiringly  at  the  aspects  of  passing  interest, 
the  buildings,  the  people,  the  omnibuses.  I  found  myself  quite 
at  home  at  the  St.  Nicholas.  A  great  many  acquaintances  reg- 
istered from  Chicago. 

It  was  about  this  period  that  reports  came  from  the  Shen- 
andoah of  disasters  to  Mulligan's  command  and  rumors  of  his 
capture,  some  accounts  say  seriously  wounded.  Disasters  to 
the  Federal  arms  follow  each  other  thick  and  fast  and  in  the 
confusion  and  excitement  consequent  thereon  in  that  locality  it 
is  impossible  to  distinguish  how  much  of  truth  or  falsehood 
there  may  be  in  these  wild  rumors. 

Letters  from  home  added  to  the  fears  for  his  safety  and  the 
rumors  of  his  death  multiplied  in  the  papers.  I  still  held  to  the 
hope  that  he  had  escaped  at  least  death  when  on  taking  up  the 
Herald  one  morning  I  read  in  one  column  the  assurance  from 
Baltimore  that  "Colonel  Mulligan  is  certainly  not  dead  as  re- 
ported but  wounded  and  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy,"  and  in  a 
parallel  column  a  despatch  from  Chicago  coldly  and  cruelly  an- 
nouncing "The  remains  of  Colonel  Mulligan  arrived  here  today 
and  will  lie  in  state  in  Bryan  Hall." 

And  so  Mulligan,  old  friend,  companion  of  my  Club  and  In- 
stitute days  has  fallen.  Cruel,  cruel  war!  I  can  hardly  realize 
that  it  is  he.  He  who  went  forth  little  more  than  a  month  ago 
full  of  animation,  ambition  and  goodness.  'Tis  but  a  short  pe- 
riod since  he  sat  with  us  together  in  church,  dined  with  us, 
chatted  with  us  and  laughingly  bade  us  "By-By."  And  now  his 
lifeless  remains  "lie  in  state  in  Bryan  Hall." 

This  is  very  sad  news.  To  have  gone  unscathed  through 
three  years  of  this  horrible  war,  to  have  safely  passed  through 
the  perils  of  Lexington  and  the  perils  of  Western  Virginia  thus 
to  fall  perhaps  on  some  nameless  field  seems  hard  indeed.  He 
had  I  know  from  his  own  lips  looked  forward  to  a  different  re- 
sult.   There  was  so  wide  a  field  open  to  him  and  he  justly  and 


166  DOCUMENTS 

naturally  longed  for  the  opportunity  to  make  his  mark  anew, 
if  not  in  military  at  least  in  civic  life.  He  was  a  noble  and  true 
man  abounding  in  chivalric  traits  and  the  soul  of  honor.  With- 
out vices  he  was  truly  "sans  peur  et  sans  reproche." 

How  the  thoughts  of  olden  times  when  I  listened  to  him  in 
the  Club  or  consulted  with  him  in  the  Institute  come  back  upon 
me!  And  how  will  she  bear  it  who  followed  him  through  all 
this  sad  work  of  war  with  more  than  a  wife's  devotion,  an  af- 
fection truly  romantic?  Alas  for  her!  May  the  Almighty  tem- 
per this  heavy  blow  that  she  may  bear  it  for  her  childrens  sake. 

Later.  I  wrote  an  article  for  the  Freeman  on  poor  Mulligan 
and  it  was  inserted.* 

November  29.  A  movement  that  may  swell  into  important 
proportions  was  inaugurated  at  Caulfield's  office.  About  fifteen 
of  our  Catholic  acquaintances  were  present  to  discuss  a  scheme 
for  founding  a  Catholic  colony  in  Mexico  of  emigrants  from  this 
country.  After  considerable  discussion  it  was  voted  to  organize 
a  society.    "Viva  Mexico  and  Maximilian." 

December  1.  An  adjourned  meeting  of  the  Mexican  Emigra- 
tion movement  (in  embryo)  was  held  this  evening.  There  were 
not  so  many  present  as  at  the  previous  meeting  although  there 
were  some  new  faces.  The  proposed  plan  of  organization  was 
submitted  and  a  long  rigmarole  by  Charley  Walsh  tacked  on. 
The  discussions  were  not  entirely  harmonious  nor  was  the  gen- 
eral effect  of  the  meeting  in  hearty  accord  with  the  object. 

Sunday,  December  4.  Father  Lawlor  surpassed  himself  to- 
day in  a  fine  discourse  on  "Hope."  For  logical  clearness,  unity 
of  purpose  and  felicity  of  illustration  it  was  far  above  any  ser- 
mon of  the  kind  I  had  heard  in  that  church — except  perhaps  the 
sermons  of  Father  Smarius. 

Visited  the  convent  (Sacred  Heart  on  West  Taylor  street) 
this  morning.  Saw  "Madam"  Mary.  She  will  be  sent  off  to  St. 
Joseph,  Missouri,  next  week.  That  is  now  the  order  and  her 
first  knowledge  of  it  was  gained  from  Madam  Gallwey  during 
my  visit.  Of  course  the  command  was  received  with  becoming 
resignation.  And  thus  begins  Sister  Mary's  first  trials  in  a  re- 
ligious life. 


*  For  a  good  account  of  Col.  James  A.  Mulligan  and  his  regiment, 
the  Twenty-third  Illinois  Infantry  (the  Irish  Brigade),  cf.  Andreas,  History 
of  Chicago,  2:190ff. 


THE  DIARIES  OF  WILLIAM  J.  ONAHAN  167 

Made  a  pilgrimage  to  the  North  Side  this  evening.  Called 
on  Dr.  McMullen  at  the  University.  Found  him  immersed  in  the 
M.  S.  S.  [Ms.]  of  the  proposed  Catholic  magazine.  After  a  con- 
versation on  general  topics  I  broached  the  subject  of  Mexico  and 
found  the  Doctor  extremely  radical  in  his  views  of  that  country. 
Maximilian,  he  holds,  will  be  driven  out  before  long.  Visited 
Father  Roles  in  his  sanctum  and  of  course  the  articles  of  the 
latest  British  Reviews  formed  the  leading  topic  of  discourse  with 
some  reference  to  home  affairs  discussed  in  a  way  peculiar  to 
him. 

December  5.  Mexico  again  tonight,  an  abortive  meeting.  The 
attendance  grows  smaller  by  degrees  and  beautifully  less.  Dis- 
trust of  Caulfield's  fitness  and  the  fear  of  being  compromised  in 
a  movement  composed  exclusively  of  Catholic  Democrats  is  the 
main  cause  of  this  failing  interest. 

December  7.  Clouds  of  snow  falling  this  morning  and  the 
ground  is  spread  with  it  to  the  interruption  of  street  rail  cars. 
Was  obliged  to  walk  down  to  the  office  in  the  absence  of  the  cars. 

December  8.    Sherman  is  not  yet  out  of  the  fog  in  Georgia. 

December  10.  Attended  Mexican  meeting  last  night  and 
came  away  disgusted.  The  whole  affair  threatens  to  fizzle  out. 
The  gathering  last  night  was  suspiciously  "Coppery"  and  very 
few  of  the  original  interested  parties  were  present.  Went  home 
"a  sadder  and  wiser  man." 

December  11.  Remained  indoors  until  evening  owing  to  the 
storm  when  I  journeyed  on  foot  down  town  to  attend  the  meet- 
ing of  the  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  Society  at  St.  Mary's  church.  A 
slim  meeting  and  dry  reports.    Father  Roles  presided. 

September  15,  1866.  What  a  gap!  December  1864  to  Sep- 
tember 1866 !  Shall  I  attempt  to  bridge  it  over  by  a  compendium 
of  personal  history  for  the  missing  period?  No,  not  now.  I 
may  at  another  time  have  more  leisure  and  a  more  apt  disposi- 
tion for  the  task  than  at  present.  So,  bygones  remain  still  un- 
written.   Well,  what  of  the  present?  .  .  . 

In  our  lately — and  some  say  still  disunited  country,  there 
are  sad  goings  on.  The  war  over,  the  South  crushed,  Lincoln 
assassinated,  Davis  in  prison,  Lee  running  a  college,  Johnston  a 
railroad,  Johnson  President.  At  this  time  the  newspapers  are 
seriously  and  gravely  discussing  the  prospect  of  another  civil 


168  DOCUMENTS 

war,  not  a  war  of  states  but  that  most  fearful  of  all,  an  interne- 
cine war,  a  war  of  neighborhoods.  To  what  are  we  coming  ?  The 
South  kept  out  of  the  Union,  Congress  threatening  the  President 
with  impeachment  and  Johnson  hurling  back  defiance  to  them. 
We  live  in  an  era  of  tumult,  extravagance  and  crime.  Chicago 
makes  wonderful  progress.  Everywhere  improvements,  new 
blocks,  new  public  buildings,  new  streets.  Growing  wealth,  in- 
creased population.  In  Catholic  affairs  new  churches,  new  schools 
keeping  pace  with  the  growing  city. 

October  18.  The  cholera  which  has  prevailed  of  late  to  an 
alarming  extent  has  this  week  in  a  great  measure  abated. 

October  23.  News  from  Europe  reports  that  Spain  has  de- 
termined to  stand  by  the  Pope.  Grand  old  Spain !  I  fear  though 
that  the  tangled  web  of  diplomacy  may  bring  to  naught  this 
resolve.  The  resolve  and  its  fulfillment  would  be  worthy  of  the 
better  days  of  that  antique  empire. 

October  26.  Wrote  letter  endorsing  Hugh  Maher  for  office 
of  United  States  Collector  of  Customs,  for  which  post  I  learn 
he  is  a  candidate. 

October  29.  Have  just  written  letter  to  Father  Riordan  and 
commenced  one  to  Maguire.    Heard  Father  Damen  preach. 

November  24.  This  day  and  date  should  be  notable  in  these 
annals  and  memorable  in  my  life.  It  is  my  Thirtieth  birthday. 
Naturally  suggestive  of  retrospect  and  a  time  also  for  forecast- 
ing the  horoscope  of  my  future.  Thirty  years  today.  Ordinary 
birthdays  are  in  many  respects  suggestive  of  sad  and  solemn 
thoughts;  they  recall  the  memories  of  the  past,  the  changes  and 
mutations  of  life;  they  recall  years  wasted — opportunities  lost. 

January  1,  1872.  The  weather  is  auspicious  and  favorable  to 
all  who  observe  the  time  honored  custom  of  New  Years  calls. 
Contrary  to  my  usual  practice  I  confined  my  visits  today  merely 
to  the  Bishop,  the  Fathers  at  the  College,  the  Convent  and 
Father  Conway.  I  made  one  exception  amongst  the  laity,  Lizzie 
McDonald.  Mr.  Brady  of  the  Comptroller's  office  accompanied 
me  on  my  visits. 

January  2.  Received  my  first  commission  in  my  new  busi- 
ness (Real  estate)  from  Father  Damen  yesterday,  to  buy  half  a 
block  of  ground  for  him  for  a  church  site.  In  the  afternoon  by 
appointment  I  drove  him  with  Fathers  Coghlan  and  Koopman 


THE  DIARIES  OF  WILLIAM  J.  ONAHAN  169 

through  the  burnt  district.  The  ruin  and  the  resurrection  are 
alike  astounding  to  see.  Got  a  glimpse  of  the  Grand  Duke 
Alexis  on  Change. 

January  3.  Fathers  De  Blick  and  Venneman  spent  the  eve- 
ning with  us. 

January  8.  Attended  to  insurance  matters  for  Father  Da- 
men.  Went  to  surprise  party  at  Walsh's  tonight.  Quite  num- 
erous and  festive  gathering.  Occupied  myself  with  a  party  at 
game  of  "draw."  Result,  came  out  as  usual  at  the  small  end 
of  the  horn,  $15.  Did  not  get  home  until  three  o'clock  this 
morning,  hence  a  headache  and  slept  until  all  hours. 

January  11.  Fathers  Verdin  and  Venneman  came  in  and 
smoked  a  cigar.  Received  also  package  of  photographs  from 
Father  Swager.    Attended  St.  Patrick's  Fair  in  the  evening. 

January  11.  On  Change  as  usual  but  saw  none  of  my  debtors. 
Lunched  with  Caulfield  and  Forsyth.  The  afternoon  spent  main- 
ly in  procuring  tickets  for  the  Fathers  and  attending  to  their 
insurance  affairs.  In  the  evening  attended  meeting  of  the  Board 
of  Directors  of  the  Public  Library. 

January  13.  Went  to  new  theatre  with  Jones  of  St.  Louis. 
Saw  Wyndham  Company  in  "Ours." 

January  14.  Father  Corbett  perached.  Caulfield  and  Jones 
spent  the  afternoon  with  us  and  dined  with  us.  Visit  from  Miss 
Buchanan.  Called  at  Sheehan's  to  see  Mrs.  Drury,  thence  to 
Davis.    Evening  occupied  at  poker  with  a  small  party. 

January  18.  Jerry  Crowley  commenced  with  me  this  morn- 
ing. I  have  made  no  terms  with  him  as  I  hardly  know  whether 
I  can  afford  to  keep  him  for  any  length  of  time.  Attended  a 
meeting  of  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Library. 

January  19.  At  meeting  tonight  in  reference  to  project  for 
reorganizing  the  "Western  Catholic." 

January  25.  An  encouraging  day  for  business,  several  re- 
bate matters  brought  in,  divers  pieces  of  property  offered  to  me 
to  sell  and  a  large  tax  list  from  Erie  Rd.  Father  Conway 
brought  me  the  Randolph  street  property  of  the  Church.  Went 
this  evening  to  the  Library.  No  meeting  in  consequence  of  fire 
in  the  rear.    Called  in  at  Dan  O'Hara's. 

January  26.  Dick  Ennis  of  St.  Louis  called  on  me  this  eve- 
ning en  route  east. 


170  DOCUMENTS 

January  28.  The  Bishop  sent  for  me  and  gave  the  tax  matter 
into  my  charge.  After  dinner  I  made  a  journey  on  foot  to 
Maguire's  all  of  whom  I  found  pretty  well.  Thence  I  called  in 
at  Carlin's  and  saw  all  that  remained  of  the  late  Phil  Carlin. 
R.  I.  P. 

January  29.  Madam  Miller  sent  for  me  in  haste.  Mother 
Gauthreaux  is  sinking  and  a  consultation  of  physicians  is  de- 
sired. 

February  7.  Saw  Cleland  of  the  Fort  Wayne  railroad  about 
clergymen's  tickets. 

February  15.  Received  letter  from  Judge  Finney  referring 
to  a  published  letter  about  Chicago  from  Dick  Ennis. 

February  16.  Father  Masselis  paid  me  a  visit  this  afternoon. 
Called  on  Bishop  about  his  lecture.  Father  Verdin  sent  over 
the  stereoscope  today  and  I  filled  it  with  views.  'Tis  quite  inter- 
esting. Bad  news  from  the  convent  this  evening  which  I  for- 
warded to  Madam  Bourke. 

February  18.    Father  Corbet  preached.    Dry  and  dismal. 

February  19.  Received  letter  from  Father  Damen.  Twenty 
lines  of  exhortation,  three  of  business!  God  bless  him  for  his 
prayers  and  thought  of  me. 

February  22.  No  public  recognition  to  mark  that  today  is 
the  once  widely  honored  anniversary  of  the  Pater  Patriae.  Not 
even  a  newspaper  mention  of  the  circumstance.  We  had  a  card 
party  at  the  house  this  evening,  Twohey,  Bud  Tierney,  Dan 
O'Hara  and  Tom  Brennan  made  up  the  ring.  Closed  at  12.  Bank 
ahead. 

February  25.  Father  Venneman  preached  very  awkwardly 
a  halting  seromn.    I  was  in  fear  that  he  would  break  down. 

March  10.  The  News  has  my  article  on  the  Catholic  Church 
in  Chicago  three  columns  this  morning.  With  the  exception  of 
a  few  annoying  errors  of  typography  it  presents  a  fair  appear- 
ance and  will  pass  muster.  I  attended  Father  Waldron's  this 
evening  and  acted  as  sponsor  for  his  new  bell.  Had  a  big  din- 
ner afterwards,  the  Bishop  and  quite  a  number  of  the  clergy 
there. 

March  11.  The  News  republished  my  article  this  morning.  I 
presume  they  were  hard  up  for  material  although  they  say  edi- 
torially that  they  publish  it  "By  Request." 


THE  DIARIES  OF  WILLIAM  J.  ONAHAN  171 

March  17.  Today  is  a  memorable  anniversary  with  me. 
Twenty-one  years  ago  this  morning  I  landed  on  the  shores  of 
America,  my  father,  two  sisters  and  I.  Two  are  now  gone. 
Annie  and  myself  only  remain.  Attended  Mass  at  the  Jesuits. 
Father  Corbet  preached  but  not  on  St.  Patrick. 

March  19.  I  went  this  evening  to  hear  Charlotte  Cushman 
read  in  a  church.  It  was  a  treat  and  I  enjoyed  it  vastly.  The 
"Death  of  the  Old  Squire"  and  the  Trial  scene  in  Shylock 
Merchant  of  Venice  were  capital. 

March  24.  Mother  Gauthreaux  is  going  fast  but  holds  out 
beyond  all  expectation.  It  was  thought  that  her  last  hour  had 
come  this  evening  but  she  still  lingers.  Wrote  an  obituary  in 
anticipation. 

March  26.  Madame  Gauthreaux  died  at  one  o'clock  this  morn- 
ing. News  of  her  death  was  sent  to  me  at  two  o'clock  in  the 
night.  Went  to  convent  early  and  arranged  for  funeral  neces- 
saries. Telegraphed  to  Madame  Gallway  and  D.  G.  Jones.  Miss 
Buchanan  did  this  duty  for  me  to  Annie  and  Madame  Burke. 
Saw  the  Bishop  in  regard  to  use  of  metallic  casket  for  the  re- 
mains and  assisted  at  the  convent  to  place  them  therein  and  had 
the  last  glimpse  of  Madame  Gauthreaux  as  they  were  sealed  up 
finally.    Heaven  be  her  lot! 

March  27.  The  funeral  services  took  place  in  the  convent 
chapel  this  morning.  Bishop  Foley  officiated.  I  assisted  only  at 
the  final  blessing  when  he  delivered  a  short  eulogy  which  was 
neat  but  not  remarkably  touching.  Then  we  took  the  remains 
and  buried  them  in  the  lot  on  the  convent  grounds.  The  News 
had  the  obituary  I  wrote  which  was  likewise  in  the  German 
"Union." 

February  29.  Dr.  Butler  spent  an  hour  with  me  this  after- 
noon. 

March  31.  Easter  Sunday  was  ushed  in  drearily  by  a  fall  of 
sleet  and  snow.  At  early  Mass  and  offered  my  Communion  for 
Madame  Gauthreaux.  Paid  a  visit  to  the  convent  and  saw 
Mesdames  Miller  and  Neiderkorn. 

April  3.  Fathers  Damen  and  Corbett  called  on  me.  I  ac- 
companied the  former  to  look  at  some  property  which  we  think 
of  buying  jointly.    At  Library  meeting  tonight. 

April  4.    Father  Damen  closed  the  purchase  this  evening  of 


172  DOCUMENTS 

the  block  which  we  buy  jointly  and  he  left  this  evening  for  his 
missions  in  the  east. 

April  5.  Father  Van  Goch  left  this  evening.  He  promised 
to  say  several  Masses  next  week  for  Madame  Gauthreaux  on 
my  account.  Received  telegram  from  Dan  O'Hara  from  Spring- 
field announcing  arrival  of  two  Sisters  of  the  Sacred  Heart  this 
evening  and  asking  me  to  chaperone  them  on  arrival.  Which  I 
accordingly  did. 

April  7.  Father  Verdin  preached  the  best  sermon  I  have  yet 
heard  from  him.  After  dinner  I  made  a  visit  to  the  convent  and 
paid  my  respects  to  Madame  Hardy,  the  great  Superior  of  the 
Sacred  Heart  in  America.  Called  in  at  the  News  office  and  left 
a  couple  of  articles  for  puublication. 

April  8.  Wrote  to  W.  R.  Arthur  of  St.  Louis  today  for  pass 
for  Madame  Tucker. 

April  12.  Fierce  blasts  and  blinding  dust.  There  is  a  goggle 
fever  prevailing  abroad.  Every  second  person  you  meet  wears 
these  hideous  substitutes  for  eyes. 

April  14.  Molly  [Mr.  Onahan's  daughter]  in  her  new  rig 
journeyed  out  with  me  this  morning.  We  visited  the  convent 
where  she  was  presented  with  the  wreath  that  was  on  Madame 
Gauthreaux  before  she  was  consigned  to  the  tomb.  My  memento 
is  her  portfolio.  After  dinner  I  strolled  out  with  George  Glass- 
brook.    Mr.  and  Mrs.  McCarthy  paid  us  a  visit  this  evening. 

April  18.  Went  up  to  Tom  Hoyne's  office  to  see  about  release 
of  mortgage  of  Walker  property.  Called  in  at  the  office  of  the 
Post  and  had  a  chat  with  the  Minerva  of  the  Press,  Miss 
Buchanan,  chiefly  about  affairs  of  the  Western  Catholic. 

June  13.  The  event  of  the  day,  or  rather  night,  was  the 
Library  entertainment  at  Wall's  Hall.  We  had  an  elegant  little 
audience — not  so  very  small  either — and  barring  that  Father 
DeBlick's  address  was  a  little  mal  a  propos  all  else  passed  off 
well.  I  had  an  impromptu  gathering  at  the  house  afterwards. 
Lots  of  music,  singing  etc.    Miss  Buchanan  was  of  the  party. 

January  1,  1874.  Greeted  the  New  Year  in  bad  humor.  Out 
of  sorts  all  day.  Limited  my  visits  to  a  few  ecclesiastical  ones, 
with  a  few,  very  few,  to  the  lay  fraternity.  The  house  was  in 
a  bustle  all  day  I  believe  and  far  into  the  night  with  the  throng 
of  annual  Bores  and  Bibbers.    I  saw  a  few  of  them  late  in  the 


THE  DIARIES  OF  WILLIAM  J.  ONAHAN  173 

evening.    Of  course  they  were  top  heavy  and  demonstrative. 

January  3.  Arranged  for  a  small  card  party  this  evening 
but  nearly  all  the  invited  failed  to  put  in  an  appearance.  Jim 
Runnion  came  and  we  talked  and  gossipped  over  books  etc.  To 
our  surprise  who  should  stalk  along  with  Dan  O'Hara  but  Mayor 
Colvin.  The  former  was  in  jolly  humor  and  the  latter  evidently 
"out  for  a  time." 

January  18.  Wrote  letter  to  Springfield  to  several  of  the 
Legislators  concerning  tax  affairs. 

January  15.  Wrote  to  Finney  of  St.  Louis  enclosing  $10 
for  O'Connell  monument.  The  letter  was  written  for  publication 
as  per  request.  I  am,  so  he  says,  the  first  subscriber.  I  wonder 
if  they'll  ever  finish  the  monument?  Most  likely  'twill  have  the 
fate  of  most  Irish  projects. 

January  20.  The  Tribune  noticed  my  letter  to  Finney  of  St. 
Louis  enclosing  my  subscription  for  the  O'Connel  monument. 
The  letter  was  published  in  the  St.  Louis  Republican. 

March  3.  The  Tribune  today  has  a  fearful  onslaught  on 
Storey  of  the  Times  from  Dr.  Johnson. 

March  5.  Anniversary  of  John  Duffy's  death.  Went  to  the 
Mass  celebrated  for  his  repose  in  the  basement  of  the  church. 
In  the  evening  with  Maggie  [Mrs.  Onahan]  went  to  hear  Hesing 
Jr.  on  Rome.  It  was  two-thirds  Guide  Book  and  one-third 
Hesing.  'Twere  to  his  credit  had  the  latter  been  entirely 
omitted.  The  lecture  was  far  from  being  Catholic  in  tone  or 
spirit.    I  was  disgusted  with  it. 

March  17.  Weather  admirable.  Heard  Father  Lawlor  preach 
at  the  Pontificial  Mass  at  St.  Patrick's  which  was  filled  with  the 
Societies.  The  procession  was  a  great  success,  the  first  demon- 
tration  ever  seen  here.  I  drove  Dr.  Johnson  to  the  college.  In 
the  evening  went  to  the  Irish  banquet  and  ball  at  the  Mattison 
House.  I  responded  to  the  toast  of  the  evening  "The  Day  we 
Celebrate."  The  banquet  was  a  tame,  spiritless  affair.  The  ball 
was  quite  a  success. 

March  20.  Today  is  the  settlement  day  with  the  County 
Treasurer  but  by  appointment  we  averted  it  until  1st  prox.  Busy 
at  my  west  side  office  getting  ready  the  books.  I  do  nothing 
except  answer  the  office  seekers  who  daily  bore  me.  Met.  Dr. 
Nolan,  editor  of  the  Vindicator,  who  seeks  my  aid  and  sanction 


174  DOCUMENTS 

for  his  joint  stock  company.    Worked  for  a  couple  of  hours  in 
the  office  this  evening  at  the  footing  of  tax  books. 

March  22.  Had  a  visit  from  Dr.  Nolan,  whilom  editor  of  the 
Catholic  Vindicator,  who  seeks  to  organise  a  Catholic  newspaper 
for  Chicago — a  forlorn  hope. 

March  26.  Attended  a  meeting  of  Real  Estate  Dealers  this 
afternoon  which  contemplated  organisation  of  Real  Estate 
Board.  In  the  evening  with  Maggie  [Mrs.  Onahan]  drove  over 
to  Hesing's  where  we  spent  the  evening.  Gossipped  on  politics 
and  newspapers  with  A.  C.  H.  He  has  a  palatial  mansion  and 
lives  like  a  Dutch  nabob. 

March  27.  Met  Sheehan  on  my  way  to  office.  He  informed 
me  of  his  resignation  as  a  member  of  the  Free  Library  Board 
and  of  my  probable  nomination  as  his  successor.  While  at  City 
Hall  was  informed  that  Judge  Tree  had  been  approached  on  my 
behalf  to  induce  the  D.  D.  Storey  to  "let  up"  on  me  in  the  event 
of  my  nomination  as  Town  Collector.  Per  Contra  Dan  showed 
me  a  copy  of  a  letter  which  he  had  sent  to  the  Judge  dissuading 
him  from  doing  anything  of  the  kind. 

March  30.  I  was  nominated  by  the  Mayor  and  confirmed  as 
a  member  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Public  Library.  Very 
busy  closing  up  books  and  preparing  for  a  settlement  with  the 
County  Treasurer. 

April  3.  The  Town  Board  meeting  tonight  was  held — a  full 
Board  present.  The  result  was  far  from  being  satisfactory. 
The  J.  P.s  are  a  set  of  miserable  idiots,  cowardly  and  as  far  as 
they  dare  dishonest.  I  am  beat  by  their  action  out  of  several 
thousand  dollars. 

April  4.  Attended  meeting  of  Public  Library  Board  this  after- 
noon. It  is  quite  a  dignified  committee.  Talked  with  Poole  the 
Librarian,  who  seems  unobjectionable.  Rode  home  with  Dan, 
who  seems  a  little  on  the  "go." 

April  6.  The  Post  and  Mail  this  evening  published  my  note 
disclaiming  the  honor  of  candidacy  for  the  office  of  Town  Col- 
lector in  the  election  tomorrow. 

April  7.  Town  election  today.  Notwithstanding  my  pub- 
lished protest  I  find  that  my  name  appears  on  one  of  the  tickets 
for  Town  Collector.  Confound  their  impudence!  Had  a  party 
of  half  a  dozen  at  poker  this  evening  Sheehan,  Alex  Sullivan, 


THE  DIARIES  OF  WILLIAM  J.  ONAHAN  175 

Dan  O'Hara,  Tom  Brennan  and  Father  Conway.* 

Madame  Burke  gave  me  a  photograph  of  dear  old  Madame 
Gallway,  a  speaking  picture. 

April  8.  Father  Damen  sent  for  me  this  morning.  He  sug- 
gested something  about  a  German  religious  recently  added  to  the 
convent  staff,  an  exile  from  Germany.  He  was  as  always  fertile 
of  thoughts  in  other  regards,  always  for  Church  interests. 

April  14.  Received  a  letter  from  Madam  Hardy  from  Paris, 
thanks  and  compliments.  Was  summoned  by  an  urgent  message 
to  visit  Colonel  Cleary  whom  I  found  abed  suffering  from  news- 
paper and  political  extinction !  Meeting  of  Catholic  Library  this 
evening  which  I  attended.  Protracted  session  and  much  gabble, 
to  which  I  contributed  an  undue  share. 

April  15.  We  gave  a  farewell  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Paulsen,  the 
only  hospitable  thing  we  have  done  for  them  since  they  became 
neighbors. 

April  23.  Committee  from  Catholic  Library  came  to  notify 
me  of  my  nomination  for  President  thereof,  which  I  at  once 
declined. 

April  24.  Received  letter  from  Keogh  of  the  Catholic  Pub- 
lication Society,  which  I  turned  over  to  Poole  of  the  Public 
Library.  Called  on  Father  Riordan  to  ask  his  acceptance  of 
Presidency  of  the  Catholic  Library.  Will  answer  tomorrow. 
Went  to  Library  Hall  and  witnessed  the  tail  end  of  a  dramatic 
entertainment.  "The  Boys"  seem  to  insist  that  I  shall  run  any- 
how. 

April  26.  Walked  over  to  the  Library  in  the  afternoon.  I 
have  been  placed  in  nomination  by  the  "Regulars"  for  the  presi- 
dency contrary  to  my  positive  refusal. 

May  2.  Attended  meeting  of  Directors  of  the  Public  Library 
which  developed  a  first  class  row  on  the  subject  of  the  intro- 
duction of  Catholic  books.     Raster  and  Rosenthal  being  par- 


*  The  frequent  mention  of  poker  parties  in  these  diaries  may  occa- 
sion with  some  a  smile,  with  others  adverse  criticism,  according  to  the 
temperament  of  the  reader.  As  a  matter  of  fact  home  amusements  were 
much  more  common  in  those  days  than  they  are  in  our  town.  There  were 
no  motor  cars  to  take  people  about  and  there  were  fewer  places  to  go  to. 
And  so  card  parties  at  home  were  a  frequent  occurence.  The  women  did 
not  play  in  those  days  as  they  do  now.  The  parties  were  almost  exclusively 
masculine  affairs  and  the  clergy  sometimes  participated.  (Mary  Onahan 
Gallery.) 


176  DOCUMENTS 

ticularly  demonstrative  and  offensive.  I  gave  them  my  mind 
boldly  and  broadly.  We  shall  hear  more  of  this.  The  German 
Hibernian  alliance  may  possibly  be  endangered. 

May  3.  The  "Times,"  nothing  if  not  sensational,  devotes  a 
column  and  a  half  to  the  Library  controversy,  distorting  and 
embellishing  of  course. 

May  4.  Easter's  letter  changing  front  entirely  appears  in 
the  Times.  I  added  a  P.  S.  by  way  of  rejoinder  to  my  communi- 
cation and  handed  it  in  at  the  Times  office.  The  Evening  Journal 
had  a  criticism  of  my  action  at  Library,  so  I  wrote  them  a  letter 
for  publication. 

May  5.  More  letters  on  Library  issue  in  the  Tribune — Raster 
and  Rosenthal.  My  letter  to  the  Journal  is  published  and  an 
editorial  reiteration  of  yesterday's  comment  so  I  have  now  cor- 
rected the  newspaper  accounts  of  my  position  as  far  as  I  can. 

May  6.  Copeland  was  in  and  came  home  with  me  at  noon. 
He  is  a  strange,  old  genius  and  seems  not  to  know  what  to  do 
or  how  to  decide  his  future.  Fell  in  with  Father  Dorney  who 
was  the  victim  of  a  runaway  or  breakdown.  Drove  him  out 
and  we  made  the  tour  of  the  boulevards.  Lalor  translated  for 
me  an  article  in  the  Staats  Zeitung  by  Raster  which  reflects  on 
me  in  the  Library  affair.  Tis  a  bald  and  barefaced  lie  all 
through.  Engaged  revising  and  enlarging  the  list  of  books  to 
be  purchased  by  the  Library. 

May  7.  I  interviewed  Raster,  editor  of  the  Staats  Zeitung, 
on  the  question  of  his  editorial  attack  on  me.  I  wrote  and  sent 
him  a  rejoinder.  Mr.  Eagle  was  here  this  evening  on  the  subject 
of  By  Laws  for  the  Catholic  Library.  Made  lists  for  Public 
Library  for  submission  to  Committee  on  Library. 

May  8.  The  Staats  Zeitung  published  my  letter  today  oc- 
cupying nearly  a  column. 

May  10.  Miss  Buchanan's  editorial  appeared  in  the  Times 
this  morning.  Big  Humbug.  The  Public  Library  discussed  the 
imbroglio  from  the  same  standpoint  that  I  did. 

May  12.  The  election  for  officers  of  the  Board  occurred 
today  and  although  a  candidate  against  my  wish  I  took  no  part.* 
Went  there  at  a  late  hour,  voted  for  my  opponent  M.  J.  Dunne. 


*  This  was  probably  the  Catholic  Library. 


THE  DIARIES  OF  WILLIAM  J.  ONAHAN  177 

The  regular  ticket  was  chosen  and  I  am  the  President  of  that 
body. 

May  14.  There  appeared  in  the  Tribune  this  morning  the 
correspondence  between  Hayes  and  O'Hara  on  the  question  of 
interest.    Dan  is  in  an  awkward  fix. 

May  15.  Dined  with  Raster  and  that  gent  disposed  of  the 
vexed  question  of  the  "List."  Then  followed  meeting  of  Rosen- 
thal's committee  of  Administration.  So  far  I  have  come  out 
ahead  on  the  Library  affair. 

May  19.  The  inauguration  of  officers  at  the  library  took 
place  this  evening.  Hesing  made  a  formal,  set  speech  and  I  was 
forced  to  speak.    Everything  went  off  fairly. 

May  20.  Attended  Requiem  Mass  for  Reid  ordered  by  Cath- 
olic Library.  Condon  and  myself  the  only  members  of  the 
Library  present  as  far  as  I  could  observe. 

(An  entry  dated  August  21,  1875,  closes  the  early  diaries  of 
my  father.  From  1876  to  1904  there  is  an  interim  for  which  no 
diaries  can  be  found.  He  may  have  tired  of  the  habit  of  keeping 
a  daily  journal  or,  as  seems  more  likely,  he  may  have  devoted  the 
time  once  given  up  to  the  keeping  of  a  diary  to  the  writing  of 
newspaper  articles  and  speeches.  Indeed  that  his  attention  was 
already  being  diverted  into  these  channels  is  evidenced  from  the 
fact  that  many  of  the  pages  of  the  diaries  from  1874  to  1876  are 
devoted  to  first  drafts  of  these  articles  and  speeches.  He  was 
always  a  ready  writer  and  his  newspaper  articles  alone  would 
fill  many  volumes.  Fortunately  they  are  preserved  in  scrap 
books  and  they  are  an  eloquent  witness  that  he  stood  ever  ready 
to  defend  the  Faith  which  to  him  was  the  most  precious  thing 
in  life. — Mary  Onahan  Gallery) . 


NEWS  AND  COMMENTS 

On  the  banks  of  the  Kankakee  River  near  Custer  Park,  Illi- 
nois, were  disinterred  in  July,  1930,  two  human  skeletons,  having 
about  them  a  number  of  silver  objects.  These  were  three  silver 
crosses,  ten  large  circular  ornaments,  a  crescent  shaped  silver 
ornament  with  rude  carving  of  a  fox  and  some  metal  rings.  The 
word  "Montreal"  and  the  initials  "P.  H."  were  stamped  on  one 
of  the  crosses.  The  eminent  archeologist,  F.  W.  Hodge,  of  the 
Museum  of  the  American  Indian,  Heye  Foundation,  New  York, 
having  forwarded  a  newspaper  story  of  the  find  to  his  fellow- 
archeologist,  Arthur  Woodward  of  the  Los  Angeles  Museum  of 
History,  Science  and  Art,  the  latter  wrote  July  22,  1930,  to  the 
editor  of  Mid-America: 

"It  so  happens  that  for  the  past  three  years  I  have  studied  the  silver 
ware  of  the  eastern  and  middle  western  tribes  and  this  find  intrigues 
me.  ...  I  should  judge,  following  the  newspaper  description  of  the  items 
that  the  bodies  were  those  of  Potawattomie  or  Shawnee  Indians.  The 
dating  of  the  burial  might  range  from  1755  to  1810-12.  The  crosses  were 
the  usual  type  trade  crosses;  the  circular  objects,  one  of  the  type  brooches; 
and  the  gorget  a  trade  piece  following  the  degeneration  of  that  particular 
type  of  insignia.  My  impression  is  that  these  Indian  burials  date  from 
around  1775  or  probably  later.  .  .  .  The  history  of  the  distribution  of  the 
trade  and  native  manufactured  silver  ware  of  the  eastern  and  middle 
western  tribes  is  somewhat  complicated.  ...  In  the  meantime  such  finds 
as  you  have  examined  interest  me.  You  were  correct  in  assuming  the 
bodies  were  not  those  of  missionaries.  They  were  Indians,  and  the  amount 
of  silver  trappings  as  well  as  the  nature  of  the  specimens  appear  to  place 
them  as  Potawattomie  or  Shawnee,  more  likely  the  former.  The  crosses 
of  the  type  discovered  were  common  trade  objects,  and  had  no  special 
religious  significance  at  that  particular  time." 

Mr.  Woodward  is  an  acknowledged  authority  on  the  silver 
ware  of  the  eastern  and  middle  western  Indian  tribes,  his  first 
paper  on  the  subject  being  "The  Indian  Use  of  the  Silver  Gor- 
get," which  appeared  in  Indian  Notes,  October,  1926.  It  has  been 
conjectured  that  one  of  the  bodies  found  might  be  that  of  the 
Franciscan  missionary,  Father  Gabriel  de  la  Ribourde,  who  was 
killed  by  Indians  in  1680  somewhere  along  the  Illinois  River. 
Mr.  Woodward's  comments  do  not  support  this  conjecture. 


178 


NEWS  AND  COMMENTS  I79 

The  year  1931  marks  the  centennial  of  the  beginning  of 
Bishop  Frederick  Baraga's  remarkable  missionary  labors  among 
the  Indians  of  Michigan.  On  May  28,  1831,  he  arrived  among 
the  Ottawa  of  Arbre  Croche,  Michigan,  having  been  assigned 
to  that  post  by  Bishop  Fenwick  of  Cincinnati,  to  whose  juris- 
diction he  had  attached  himself.  Born  in  Lower  Carniola,  June 
29,  1797,  Baraga,  after  earnest  studies,  first  in  law  and  then  in 
theology,  followed  by  the  reception  of  the  priesthood,  was  led 
to  devote  himself  to  missionary  labor  in  the  United  States  by 
the  founding  in  1829  of  the  Leopoldine  Society  of  Vienna  for 
the  support  of  the  German  missions  in  North  America.  His 
labors  in  the  missionary  field  were  incessant,  revealing  a  degree 
of  apostolic  energy  and  zeal  that  embraced  not  only  the  redmen 
but  the  white  as  well  and  led  to  his  appointment  as  first  incum- 
bent of  the  see  of  Marquette.  Bishop  Baraga's  outstanding 
career  as  missionary  priest  and  bishop  is  the  subject  of  an  in- 
forming volume  by  Rev.  Chrysostom  Verwyst,  O.  F.  M. 


Preparations  for  Chicago's  World  Fair  of  1933  go  on  apace. 
The  great  spectacle  will  commemorate  the  centennial  year  of  the 
city's  career  as  an  incorporated  town.  It  is  not  to  be  over- 
looked that  1933  also  marks  the  centennial  of  organized  Catholic 
life  in  the  same  metropolis.  One  hundred  years  ago  saw  the 
building  of  Chicago's  first  Catholic  church,  St.  Mary's,  and  the 
arrival  of  the  first  resident  priest,  the  Rev.  Irenaeus  Mary  St. 
Cyr.  The  handful  of  Chicago  Catholics,  less  than  a  hundred  in 
number,  to  whom  he  ministered,  has  since  grown  into  a  sizeable 
body  of  a  million  and  over.  The  church  which  he  erected  and 
which  served  the  needs  of  his  parishoners  for  almost  a  decade 
of  years  has  been  reinforced  by  other  Catholic  houses  of  worship 
until  today  their  number  reaches  the  amazing  total  of  almost 
two  hundred  and  fifty.  The  proverbial  mustard  seed  has  grown 
with  a  rapidity  probably  unequalled  in  history  into  a  tree  of 
majestic  and  towering  proportions.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the 
Catholic  side  of  the  events  of  1833  will  not  fail  of  adequate  com- 
memoration by  the  great  religious  body  who  have  entered  into 
the  humble  pioneer  labors  of  Father  St.  Cyr. 


The  current  year  witnesses  the  sixtieth  anniversary  of  the 


180  NEWS  AND  COMMENTS 

great  Chicago  fire  of  October  8-9,  1871.  The  cause  of  the  dis- 
aster has  never  been  satisfactorily  explained;  in  lieu  of  authen- 
ticated fact  the  classic  story  of  Mrs.  O'Leary  and  her  cow  will 
no  doubt  do  service  in  the  popular  mind  as  a  key  to  the  mystery 
for  generations  to  come.  Not  a  shred  of  reliable  evidence  has 
ever  been  adduced  to  substantiate  the  alleged  bovine  origin  of 
the  tremendous  conflagration.  A  municipal  official  investigation 
in  which  more  than  fifty  sworn  witnesses  were  heard,  including 
Mrs.  O'Leary  herself,  disclosed  that  neither  this  estimable  lady 
nor  her  "harmless,  necessary  cow,"  had  anything  to  do  with 
the  affair.  Apparently  some  wag  at  the  moment  when  public 
curiosity  as  to  the  cause  of  the  calamity  was  at  a  white  heat 
fabricated  the  O'Leary  story  and  threw  it  out  on  a  receptive 
world.  It  caught  the  popular  fancy,  traveled  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth,  and  today  still  shows  a  vitality  which  sober  historical 
truth  cannot  always  duplicate.  The  dull  drab  attire  of  estab- 
lished fact  is  frequently  no  match  for  the  picturesqueness  of  a 
popular  myth.  And  yet  the  historian  must  continue  to  ply  his 
often  thankless  task.  If  fable  and  legend  were  to  have  it  all 
their  own  way,  what  a  phantom  and  illusory  world  we  should 
come  to  live  in. 


Mrs.  Bedelia  Kehoe  Garraghan,  widow  of  Gilbert  Garraghan, 
who  died  in  1904,  passed  away  in  Chicago  on  August  6,  1931, 
having  reached  her  eighty-ninth  year.  How  comparatively  re- 
cent are  Chicago  beginnings  as  compared  with  those  of  the  other 
great  cities  of  the  world,  is  revealed  by  the  story  of  her  career. 
At  the  time  of  her  decease  she  was,  with  perhaps  one  exception, 
the  oldest  native-born  resident  of  the  metropolis.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  Michael  Kehoe,  of  County  Carlow,  Ireland,  one  of 
Chicago's  first  alderman,  who  settled  in  the  growing  town  in 
1839,  and  as  an  employee  of  the  Canal  Land  Office  was  instru- 
mental in  unearthing  the  famous  canal-scrip  fraud  of  the  fifties. 
Her  mother,  Ellen  Fennerty  Kehoe,  a  native  of  Dublin,  was  re- 
lated by  marriage  with  the  kin  of  Jean  Baptiste  Beaubien,  out- 
standing Catholic  layman  of  the  eighteen-twenties  and  thirties, 
whose  claim,  allowed  at  one  time  by  the  Illinois  State  Supreme 
Court,  to  the  choicest  section  of  downtown  Chicago,  is  a  cause 
celebre  among  American  land-suits.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kehoe  both 
died  in  1890  and  at  the  same  age,  eighty-four. 


NEWS  AND  COMMENTS  181 

Mrs.  Garraghan's  long  life  synchronized  significantly  with 
the  extraordinary  development  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the 
western  metropolis.  At  her  birth,  March  2,  1843,  in  her  father's 
home  on  the  river-bank  between  Randolph  and  Washington 
Streets,  Chicago,  the  town  was  in  the  diocese  of  Vincennes,  the 
diocese  of  Chicago  having  been  erected  only  in  the  following 
November.  She  was  baptised  in  St.  Mary's  Church  on  Madison 
Street  near  Wabash  Avenue,  then  the  only  Catholic  house  of 
worship  in  Chicago.  Today  the  city  counts  within  its  limits 
nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty  Catholic  churches.  Among  her 
earliest  recollections  was  that  of  the  day  on  which  her  mother 
lifted  her  in  her  arms  to  view  the  remains  of  Chicago's  first 
Catholic  bishop,  the  Rt.  Rev.  William  Quarter,  laid  out  in  St. 
Mary's  Cathedral  after  his  premature  death  in  1848.  She  was  a 
pupil  in  the  old  St.  Xavier's  Academy  on  Wabash  Avenue,  where 
among  her  schoolmates  were  the  children  of  families  associated 
with  Chicago  pioneer  history,  among  them  the  two  daughters 
of  Alexander  Robinson,  the  well-known  Potawatomi  chief.  It 
was  only  ten  years  before  Mrs.  Garraghan's  birth  that  the 
Potawatomi  Indians  ceded  the  last  of  their  lands  around  Chicago 
to  the  government,  celebrating  the  event  by  a  long-remembered 
pow-wow  on  the  streets  of  the  village.  She  was  well-known  in 
the 'social  life  of  the  metropolis  as  an  interesting  living  link 
between  Chicago's  slender  beginnings  and  its  tremendous  devel- 
opment of  today  and  in  view  of  her  unique  history  was  made 
an  honorary  member  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society. 


At  the  28th  annual  convention  of  the  National  Catholic  Edu- 
cational Association,  held  in  Philadelphia,  June  22-25,  1931,  a 
new  organization  to  be  known  as  The  Catholic  Library  Associa- 
tion was  formed.  Since  the  year  1923,  the  librarians  of  the 
Catholic  colleges,  academies  and  high  schools  had  been  function- 
ing as  a  section  of  the  College  Department  of  the  N.  C.  E.  A. 
The  expanding  program  of  this  Library  Section,  the  work  al- 
ready in  hand  and  the  new  projects  to  be  undertaken,  made  it 
advisable  to  ask  separation  from  the  N.  C.  E.  A.,  in  order  that 
the  work  of  the  Catholic  libraries  might  be  more  definitely  and 
efficiently  carried  on.  This  request  was  acted  upon  at  the  closing 
meeting  of  the  N.  C.  E.  A.  on  Thursday,  June  25th,  and  on  that 


182  NEWS  AND  COMMENTS 

day  The  Catholic  Library  Association  began  to  function,  with 
the  following  officers  in  charge:  President,  Rev.  William  M. 
Stinson,  S.  J. ;  Vice-President,  Rev.  Paul  J.  Foik,  C.  S.  C. ;  Sec- 
retary, Rev.  Peter  J.  Etzig,  C.  SS.  R. ;  Treasurer,  Francis  E. 
Fitzgerald. 

The  preamble  of  the  constitution  of  The  Catholic  Library 
Association  states:  "The  purpose  of  this  organization  shall  be 
to  initiate,  foster  and  encourage  any  movement  directed  toward 
the  progress  of  Catholic  library  work."  All  persons  interested 
in  the  purposes  of  The  Catholic  Library  Association  are  eligible 
for  membership.  The  annual  dues  for  institutional  membership 
are  five  dollars  a  year,  and  for  individual  membership,  two  dol- 
lars; these  dues  include  subscription  to  the  official  organ  of  the 
Association,  the  monthly  publication,  "The  Catholic  Library 
World."  The  organization  is  now  soliciting  membership  and  it 
is  hoped  that  this  invitation  will  meet  with  a  ready  and  generous 
response.  It  is  only  by  such  a  hearty  response  that  The  Catholic 
Library  Association  will  be  able  to  continue  the  two  great  works 
on  which  it  now  centers  its  efforts,  the  editing  of  the  Catholic 
Periodical  Index  and  the  Catholic  Library  World.  The  Catholic 
Periodical  Index,  which  contains  an  author  and  subject  index 
to  current  articles  in  some  fifty  representative  Catholic  maga- 
zines of  American  and  Europe,  has  been  referred  to  as  "one  of 
the  most  progressive  steps  taken  in  Caholic  education  since  the 
opening  of  the  present  century."  New  and  renewal  subscriptions 
for  the  second  year  of  this  Periodical  Index  are  now  being  so- 
licited. Subscriptions  for  membership  in  The  Catholic  Library 
Association,  as  well  as  for  the  Catholic  Periodical  Index,  should 
be  addressed  to  Mr.  Francis  E.  Fitzgerald,  Treasurer,  Queens 
Borough  Public  Library,  Jamaica,  New  York. 

Col.  Michael  J.  Mulvihill,  Vicksburg,  Miss.,  author  of  Vicks- 
burg  and  Warren  County,  Mississippi:  Tunica  Indians:  Quebec 
Missionaries:  Civil  War  Veterans,  has  written  to  Mid- America, 
August  25,  1931,  in  regard  to  a  notice  of  his  brochure  which  ap- 
peared in  the  July  issue  of  the  Review: 

I  note  especially  your  criticism  on  page  101: — 

"Unfortunately  the  inscription  contains  some  inaccuracies.  The  Que- 
bec missionaries  arrived  in  the  Lower  Mississippi  in  the  January  of  1698, 
not  1699.  Moreover,  they  did  not  return  to  Canada,  as  stated,  but,  leaving 
Davion  behind  them,  moved  up  the  river  to  found  at  Cahokia  what  is  now 
the  oldest  permanent  settlement  in  the  state  of  Illinois.  De  La  Source  was 
a  deacon,  not  a  priest." 


BOOK  REVIEWS  183 

As  to  your  criticism  for  inaccuracies  in  the  inscription  it  is  more  than 
strange  to  me,  why  you  inserted  the  year  1699,  in  parenthesis,  and  then 
made  your  criticism  of  that  date,  when  the  bronze  tablet,  erected  on  the 
site  of  Fort  St.  Peter,  does  not  contain  the  year  (1699) ;  nor  does  it  appear 
on  its  photographic  reproduction,  on  page  2  two  of  my  brochure,  as  you 
say  it  does,  but  gives  the  time  of  arrival  as  January  11,  1698,  which  I 
agree  with  you  as  being  the  correct  date. 

As  to  some  other  "inaccuracies" — The  inscription  you  published  gave 
the  initial  P  instead  of  R  in  the  name  of  the  Smithsonian  Ethnologist, 
John  R.  Swanton. 

In  quoting  some  of  the  authorities  I  gave,  in  brochure,  you  listed  a 
"Dunbar"  which  is  only  a  part  of  the  name  of  Dunbar  Rowland,  Missis- 
sippi's State  Historian. 

You  state — "The  Quebec  Missionaries  did  not  return  to  Canada  and 
left  Davion  behind  them;  and  that  De  La  Source  was  a  deacon,  not  a 
priest." 

Father  De  La  Source  in  his  letter,  in  Shea's  "Early  Voyages  Up  and 
Down  the  Mississippi"  wrote: — "We  left  there  (the  Taensa,  Louisiana  In- 
dians) on  the  27th  to  bring  down  the  things  left  at  Chicagou  and  arrived 
on  Maunday  Thursday  at  Chicagou."  "We  are  to  start  from  Chicagou  on 
Easter  Monday." 

Rev.  Patrick  W.  Browne,  S.  T.  D.,  of  the  Catholic  University  of  Amer- 
ica, in  his  translation  of — "Beginnings  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United 
States,"  by  Father  Jean  Dilhet,  on  page  155,  gives: — 

"The  ecclesiastical  history  of  Louisiana  begins  May  1,  1698,  when 
Bishop  St.  Vallier  authorized  the  Seminary  of  Quebec  to  establish  missions 
in  the  west.  This  authorization  was  conferred  by  letters  patent  on  July  14, 
and  endorsed  by  Frontenac,  Governor  of  New  France,  on  July  17,  1698." 

"In  December  of  that  year  three  missionaries  of  the  Seminary,,  Jacques 
de  Montigny,  Antoine  Davion  and  Jean  Francois  Buisson  de  St.  Cosme 
reached  the  Mississippi,  and  sailed  down  stream  to  the  villages  of  the 
Arkansas,  Tonicas  and  Tacusas,  planting  crosses  at  several  points." 

Rev.  Father  St.  Cosme  in  his  letter  in  Shea's  "Early  Voyages  Up  and 
Down  the  Mississippi,  gives  the  time  of  leaving  Michillimakinac  as  Sep- 
tember 15th,  and  of  their  entering  the  Mississippi  river  from  the  Illinois 
river  as  December  5th,  1698,  and  their  arrival  at  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas 
as  on  January  2,  1699,  which  date  is  also  given  by  Rev.  Father  De. 
Montigny. 

The  Catholic  Encyclopedia  says  in  its  articles,  on  the  Tonica  and 
Taensa  Indians,  that  La  Source  was  a  priest: 

"Tonica  Indians:  Their  definite  history  begins  in  the  summer  of  1698 
with  the  visit  of  the  Missionary  priests  of  the  Quebec  Seminary  of  Foreign 
Missions,  Fathers  Montigny,  Davion  and  La  Source." 

"Taensa  Indians :  A  tribe  of  Muskhogean  stock  and  somewhat  superior 
culture,  living  when  first  known  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  within 
the  present  limits  of  Taensa  Parish,  Louisiana,  and  numbering  perhaps 
1200  souls,  in  several  villages." 

"In  the  same  year,  1698,  Fathers  F.  J.  De  Montigny,  Antoine  Davion, 
and  Thaumur  de  La  Source  were  sent  out  from  Quebec  by  the  Seminary 


184  BOOK  REVIEWS 

of  Foreign  Missions  (Missions  Etrangeres)  which  had  undertaken  work 
among  the  southern  tribes." 

"After  a  preliminary  reconnaissance,  Father  Montigny,  with  powers 
of  Vicar-general  from  the  Bishop  of  Quebec,  went  in  1699  to  the  Taensa, 
and  assigned  Davion  to  the  Tonica." 

"Later  on  Father  Buisson  de  St.  Cosme,  of  the  same  Seminary,  arrived 
and  was  assigned  to  the  Natchez." 

Shea,  in  his  note  52,  to  La  Source's  letter  wrote:  "The  Rev.  Dominic 
Thaumur  de  le  Source  had  been  a  pupil  of  Father  Charlevoix  at  Quebec, 
and  was  ordained  there.    Charlevoix  found  him  at  Cahokia  in  1721." 

The  authorities  I  gave  in  brochure,  and  now  repeat;  as  to  the  return 
of  the  priests  to  Canada  and  that  Davion  also  went  with  them  and  that 
De  La  Source  was  a  priest,  will  be  sufficient,  in  my  opinion,  for  readers  to 
judge  as  to  whether  the  inscription  I  drew  was  based  on  facts  or  "con- 
tains inaccuracies."  .  .  . 

Mid-America  comments  upon  Col.  Mulvihill's  letter  as  fol- 
lows: The  criticism  embodied  in  the  review  of  the  brochure  in 
question  is  correct  in  each  of  its  three  salient  points. 

I.  The  year  of  the  arrival  of  the  Quebec  Seminary  priests  in  the  Lower 
Mississippi  was  1699,  not  1698.  In  the  last  paragraph  of  the  review  (p. 
101)  these  two  dates  were  inadvertently  interchanged.  The  reviewer's 
mind  in  the  matter  is  clearly  expressed  by  his  inserting  1699  in  the  in- 
scription in  brackets,  which  indicates,  of  course,  merely  an  editorial  in- 
terpolation or  correction,  and  by  no  means  suggests  that  the  bracketed 
matter  is  to  be  found  in  the  original  document. 

That  the  Seminary  priests  arrived  at  the  Arkansas  January  2,  1699, 
is  so  stated  by  Father  de  St.  Cosme  in  his  classic  narrative  of  the  journey. 
Moreover,  that  this  was  the  fiist  expedition  of  the  Seminary  priests  to  the 
Mississippi  is  certain.  In  all  the  contemporary  correspondence  bearing  on 
the  subject  there  is  not  the  slightest  reference  to  a  "preliminary  recon- 
naissance" in  the  summer  of  1698  by  Montigny,  Davion  and  LaSource  in 
the  Lower  Mississippi  region  as  alleged  by  Col.  Mulvihill  on  the  authority 
of  John  R.  Swanton  (Bulletin  43,  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology)  and  the 
Catholic  Encyclopedia  XIV,  777.  The  latter  work  cites  no  direct  authority 
for  its  statement  but  includes  Swanton's  monograph  in  its  bibliography. 
Swanton,  on  the  other  hand,  cites  in  a  footnote  as  his  authority  for  the 
statement  in  question  Shea's  Early  Voyages  on  the  Mississippi,  pp.  75-86. 
Shea,  however,  as  may  be  verified  by  turning  to  the  pages  indicated,  does 
not  give  the  date  January  4,  1698,  for  the  departure  of  the  missionaries 
from  the  Arkansas.  Neither  in  his  footnotes  nor  in  the  letters  reproduced 
is  any  such  date  indicated.  What  Shea  really  held  on  the  point  in  dispute 
is  indicated  in  his  Catholic  Church  in  Colonial  Days,  p.  538  ff.,  where  (by 
implication)  he  dates  the  first  trip  of  the  Seminary  priests  to  the  Lower 
Mississippi  in  1699,  being  absolutely  silent  about  any  "preliminary  recon- 
naissance" in  the  summer  of  1698.  Further,  and  this  ought  to  be  decisive 
in  the  matter,  the  Abb6  (later  Cardinal)  Taschereau  in  his  detailed 
Memoir  (based  on  material  in  the  Quebec  Seminary  Archives),  Histoire 
du  Seminaire  de  Quebec  Chez  Les  Tamarois  ou  Illinois  sur  les  bords  du 


BOOK  REVIEWS  185 

Mississippi,  has  not  a  word  about  any  "preliminary  reconnaissance"  made 
by  the  Seminary  priests  in  1698. 

n.  That  the  missionaries  "returned  to  Canada  for  all  necessaries  to 
make  permanent  the  places  selected  for  missions"  cannot  be  substantiated. 

(a).  Neither  the  contemporary  letters  cited  by  Col.  Mulvihill  nor  his 
quotations  from  secondary  sources  make  any  mention  whatever,  directly 
or  by  implication,  of  a  return  of  the  missionaries  to  Canada  to  obtain 
supplies.  According  to  Taschereau,  Montigny's  party  when  they  left  Que- 
bec in  July,  1698,  had  three  lay  assistants,  and  two  blacksmiths,  these  being 
provided  with  all  the  necessary  tools  for  building  houses  and  chapels. 

(b).  A  return  journey  of  the  missionaries  to  Canada  cannot  be  made 
to  fit  in  with  the  known  chronology  of  their  movements.  Their  letters- 
patent  from  Bishop  St.  Vallier  are  dated  May  1  and  July  14,  their  pass- 
ports from  Fontenac  July  17,  and  their  departure  from  Quebec  took  place 
July  16,  all  in  1698.  All  documentary  evidence  of  contemporary  date 
bearing  upon  the  episode  is  overwhelming  in  its  witness  to  the  fact  that 
the  missionaries  were  going  to  a  strange  country,  which  they  had  never 
visited  before.  (For  a  correct  chronology  of  the  Quebec  Seminary  expe- 
dition of  1698-1699  to  the  Mississippi,  worked  out  mainly  on  the  basis  of 
the  Seminary  correspondence  and  other  contemporary  material,  see  the 
Illinois  Catholic  Historical  Review,  October  1928-99  ff.).  The  journey 
from  Quebec  to  the  Arkansas  took  nearly  six  months,  July  16,  1698,  to 
January  2,  1699.  Manifestly  it  was  impossible  for  Montigny  and  his  com- 
panions to  have  been  on  the  Lower  Mississippi  in  the  summer  of  1698  and 
to  have  then  returned  to  Canada  and  later  made  a  second  journey  to  the 
Lower  Mississippi,  arriving  there  as  early  as  January  2,  1699.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  Montigny's  party  was  leaving  Quebec  in  July,  1698,  (a  fact  no  one 
calls  into  question)  at  the  very  time  they  are  alleged  to  have  been  making 
a  "reconnaissance"  on  the  Lower  Mississippi. 

III.  The  statement  that  Thaumur  de  la  Source  was  not  a  priest  is 
based  on  the  following  grounds:  (a).  LaSource  is  nowhere  referred  to  in  the 
Seminary  letters  as  a  priest  or  missionary.  Montigny,  superior  of  the  mis- 
sionary band,  assigns  him  no  mission  as  he  does  St.  Cosme  and  Davion.  La- 
Source  says  in  his  letter:  "Mr.  de  Montigny  inclines  to  put  me  at  the  Tam- 
aroa  with  Mr.  St.  Cosme."  Why  he  is  to  be  placed  with  Mr.  St.  Cosme  is  not 
stated.  It  may  be  mentioned  incidentally  that  Father  Gravier,  the  Jesuit, 
narrating  the  visit  of  the  missionaries  to  Mackinac  on  their  way  down 
from  Canada,  mentions  by  name  only  three  priests,  Montigny,  Davion  and 
St.  Cosme,  as  being  of  the  party.  Jesuit  Relations  (ed.  Thwaites)  65:61. 
(b).  The  Abbe  Tanguay  in  his  Dictionnaire  Genealogique  des  Families 
Canadiennes,  1:564,  gives  February  20,  1717,  as  date  of  ordination  of 
Dominique  Antoine-Rene  de  la  Source.  No  other  priest  named  La  Source 
is  listed  by  Tanguay.  (According  to  Tanguay  Dominique  de  La  Source, 
the  priest,  was  baptized  August  1,  1692.  His  parents  were  married  in  1689 
and  he  was  a  second  son;  hence  there  could  not  have  been  a  very  long 
interval  between  birth  and  baptism.  This  would  make  La  Source  only 
seven  or  eight  years  of  age  at  the  time  he  wrote  his  letter!  Or  was  the 
author  of  the  letter  not  the  same  person,  though  bearing  the  same  name, 
as  the  priest  who  came  down  from  Canada  in  1719  and  was  living  at 


186  BOOK  REVIEWS 

Cahokia  when  Charlevoix  visited  there  in  1721?  (Charlevoix  arrived  in 
Canada  for  the  first  time  in  1705.)  However,  only  one  Dominique  de  la 
Source  is  listed  by  Tanguay,  if  we  except  the  priest's  father,  also  named 

Dominique,  a  surgeon,  who  was  possibly  the  author  of  the  letter  in  ques- 
tion.) (c).  "Thaumur  de  la  Source  (alias  La  Source)  was  neither  a  priest 
nor  an  ecclesiastic.  He  was  one  of  the  engages  (or  hired  men)  who  ac- 
companied the  Seminary  missionaries.  (See  From  Quebec  to  New  Orleans 
by  Bishop  J.  H.  Schlarman,  1929,  p.  141,  note.)  This  error,  namely,  that 
La  Source  was  a  priest  or  deacon,  has  been  perpetuated  for  fifty  years  and 
more.  I  have  corrected  it  wherever  I  could."  Letter  of  Msgr.  Amedee 
Gosselin,  Archivist  of  Laval  University,  Quebec,  September  21,  1931. 

Two  other  points  call  for  mention:  (a).  January  2,  1699,  (though 
given  by  Shea)  is  an  impossible  date  for  the  Montigny  letter  cited  as  a 
source  on  the  matter  in  dispute.  Montigny  writes  therein:  "for  the  present 
I  reside  among  the  Taensas."  But  on  the  date  mentioned  the  party  had 
arrived  only  at  the  Arkansas  and  had  not  yet  gone  as  far  as  the  Taensas. 
Moreover,  Montigny  writes:  "as  to  Mr.  St.  Cosme  he  remains  at  the 
Tamarouois  [i.  e.  at  Cahokia]."  But  on  January  2,  1699,  St.  Cosme  was 
at  the  Arkansas,  his  well-known  letter  written  from  this  river  bearing 
precisely  that  date.  The  Montigny  letter  in  question  is  very  probably  to 
be  assigned  to  the  early  summer  of  1699,  that  is,  to  Montigny's  second 
visit  to  the  Taensas.  (b).  The  assumption  that  the  St.  Cosme  and  La 
Source  letters  deal  with  different  trips  is  not  tenable.  St.  Cosme  and  La 
Source  made  the  trip  of  1698-1699  from  Canada  together.  (See  La  Source's 
statement  that  he  was  with  St.  Cosme's  party  at  Chicago  when  the  little 
boy  was  lost  in  the  prairies.)  St.  Cosme's  narrative  covers  the  trip  as  far 
as  the  Arkansas;  La  Source  takes  up  the  narrative  where  St.  Cosme  drops 
it,  i.  e.  at  the  Arkansas,  saying  explicitly  that  he  will  not  concern  himself 
with  the  "route"  from  Michilimackinac  to  the  Arkansas,  this  stage  having 
been  dealt  with  in  a  letter  sent  by  "our  Gentlemen,"  that  is,  priests,  to 
Canada.  La  Source  tells  of  what  occurred  below  the  Arkansas,  especially 
the  incidents  connected  with  the  visits  of  the  missionaries  to  the  Lower 
Mississippi  tribes.  St.  Cosme  and  La  Source  are  therefore  merely  dealing 
with  two  different  stages  of  one  and  the  same  journey.  One  detail  in 
La  Source's  letter  (strangely  confused  at  times)  to  suggest  that  the  two 
letters  in  question  deal  with  different  journeys  entirely  is  the  date  he  gives 
for  the  arrival  of  the  missionary  party  at  the  Arkansas,  i.  e.  December  17, 
St.  Cosme's  date  (apparently  the  correct  one)  for  the  same  incident  being 
January  2.  It  is  not  easy  to  explain  La  Source's  date  satisfactorily.  Of 
course  one  may  assume  that  it  is  merely  a  slip  of  memory  on  La  Source's 
part  or  perhaps  a  copyist's  mistake. 


BOOK  REVIEWS 

The  Great  Plains.    By  Walter  Prescott  Webb.    Ginn  and  Com- 
pany, Boston,  1931,  pp.  xv-f-525. 

Professor  Webb's  volume  is  not  alone  an  historical  narrative 
of  the  settling  of  the  Great  Plains.  It  is  a  study  in  physical  and 
historical  geography  as  well,  and  to  a  lesser  extent,  perhaps,  in 
the  literature  and  sociology  of  the  plains  country. 

When  the  westward  advance  of  the  frontier  reached  the 
country  of  the  Great  Plains,  which  the  author,  for  want  of  any 
other  more  concrete  line  of  demarcation,  accepts  as  starting, 
roughly,  at  the  ninety-eighth  meridian,  it  was  forced  to  abandon 
the  methods  and  instruments  of  frontier  advance  which  had 
served  it  east  of  that  line,  and  to  adopt  an  almost  entirely  new 
technique  of  exploration  and  settlement.  East  of  the  Great 
Plains  the  frontiersman  had  made  his  way  in  a  land  of  forests, 
of  rolling  and  broken  surface,  and  of  abundant  rainfall — a  land 
not  unlike  that  with  which  himself  or  his  ancestors  had  been 
acquainted  in  the  old  world.  But  when  he  went  west  of  the 
ninety-eighth  meridian  he  emerged  into  a  land  dissimiliar  in  all 
of  these  respects — a  land  of  comparatively  level  surface  of  vast 
extent,  a  practically  treeless  land,  and  a  region  of  insufficient 
rainfall  for  the  normal  type  of  agricultural  and  economic  enter- 
prise to  which  he  had  been  accustomed.  The  pioneer  was,  in 
consequence,  compelled  to  adjust  his  technique  of  pioneering 
to  the  new  conditions  before  he  was  able  to  make  economic  life 
successful  in  the  plains  country.  The  story  of  this  adjustment 
constitutes  the  bulk  of  Professor  Webb's  study. 

The  settling  of  the  Great  Plains  occurred  after  the  industrial 
revolution,  and  by  the  mechanical  contributions  of  the  industrial 
era  intensive  economic  and  social  life  was  made  physically  pos- 
sible on  the  plains.  This  physical  adaptation  to  life  on  the 
plains  is  in  large  part  the  history  of  the  invention  and  use  of 
the  "six-shooter,"  barbed  wire,  the  windmill,  and  farm  ma- 
chinery suitable  to  large  scale  farming.  To  the  discussion  of 
these  factors  Professor  Webb  brings  an  understanding  at  once 
comprehensive  and  sympathetic.  One  of  the  most  interesting 
and  fundamental  sections  of  the  work  is  that  treating  of  the 
struggle  of  the  plainsman  for  water.  Out  of  that  struggle  re- 
sulted eventually  the  modification  and  in  some  cases  even  the 

187 


138  BOOK  REVIEWS 

abrogation,  of  the  provisions  of  the  English  common  law  re- 
specting riparian  rights. 

The  Great  Plains,  like  Turner's  famous  essay  on  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  frontier,  Alvord's,  The  Mississippi  Valley  in  British 
Politics,  and  other  like  studies  of  new  and  challenging  viewpoint, 
must  await  the  mature  consensus  of  historical  scholars  ere  its 
ultimate  place  in  American  historiography  can  be  assigned  it. 
Professor  Webb  writes  with  enthusiasm.  Perhaps  his  enthusi- 
asm will  not  be  shared  on  all  points  by  the  generality  of  his- 
torians. The  final  chapter,  in  one  or  more  of  its  sections,  does 
not  measure  up  to  the  standard  of  the  rest  of  the  volume.  Yet 
it  is  the  reviewer's  opinion  that  the  major  contentions  of  the 
work  will  be  sustained. 

The  mechanical  makeup  of  the  volume  is  all  that  could  be 
desired  in  a  work  of  that  nature.  The  bibliographies,  which  are 
appended  to  the  successive  chapters,  portray  the  wide  range  of 
the  author's  researches,  and  constitute  an  exceptionally  fine 
working  list  for  the  student  anxious  to  continue  further  this 
fascinating  study. 

Thomas  F.  O'Connor,  M.  A. 

St.  Louis  University 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 

The  Sisters  of  Mercy,  Historical  Sketches,  1831-1931.    By  Sister 
Mary  Josephine  Gately.    The  Macmillan  Co.,  N.  Y. 

In  1846  the  Chicago  Daily  Democrat,  quoted  by  the  Rev.  Gil- 
bert J.  Garraghan,  S.  J.,  in  his  Catholic  Church  in  Chicago,  said: 
"A  school  for  young  ladies  is  this  day  opened  by  these  Sisters  of 
Mercy  (than  whom  none  are  more  competent  to  teach)  in  the 
old  chapel  in  the  rear  of  their  residence  on  the  Lake  Shore.  They 
also  visit  the  sick  and  distressed  and  dispense  mercies  to  the 
wretched  and  those  whom  poverty  has  chained  to  her  car.  Ere 
long,  too,  they  contemplate  forming  an  Orphan  Asylum.  What 
citizen  is  there  who  will  not  hail  the  coming  of  these  Sisters  of 
Mercy  as  among  the  choicest  of  blessings  for  our  city."  The  fol- 
lowing year  St.  Xavier's  Academy  was  incorporated  and  that 
same  year  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  opened  the  first  free  school  for 
girls  in  the  city  of  Chicago.  Within  the  next  five  years  they  had 
established  an  orphan  asylum  and  the  well  known  Mercy  Hos- 
pital. 

The  rapid  growth  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  is  astonishing.  The 


BOOK  REVIEWS  189 

Chicago  community  came  from  the  original  Mother  House  in 
the  United  States,  located  in  Pittsburgh.  That  house  had  been 
founded  in  1843  from  St.  Leo's,  Carlow,  Ireland.  Only  eleven 
years  before  the  first  reception  of  the  Institute  had  been  held 
in  Dublin,  and  it  was  as  late  as  1835  that  the  Rule  was  approved 
by  Pope  Gregory  XVI.  Within  ten  years  the  Community  had 
spread  throughout  Ireland,  had  entered  England,  had  established 
houses  in  Australia,  in  New  Foundland,  and  New  York  City. 
Since  then  progress  has  been  continuous.  The  Sisters  of  Mercy 
have  schools,  hospitals,  and  asylums  in  Scotland,  Wales,  Canada, 
and  in  nearly  every  state  in  the  Union. 

The  Community  was  founded  by  Catherine  McAuley,  born 
in  the  suburbs  of  Dublin.  From  childhood  she  saw  the  Christian 
spirit  of  charity  exemplified  in  the  life  of  her  father.  Ireland 
as  well  as  England  suffered  severely  after  the  Napoleonic  war. 
Not  only  was  there  poverty,  destitution  also  was  widespread. 
With  no  market  for  her  products  unemployment  was  prevalent. 
Many  people  were  wandering  on  the  streets  homeless  and  starv- 
ing. Mr.  McAuley  gathered  the  poor  and  ignorant  around  him, 
fed  them,  and  on  Sunday  mornings  taught  the  principles  of  their 
religion  to  the  hungry  children.  Catherine  helped  him  in  his 
unselfish  work,  and  at  an  early  age  determined  to  devote  her  life 
to  the  care  of  the  poor,  sick,  and  those  who  craved  for  education 
but  had  not  the  means  to  acquire  it.  After  the  death  of  her 
parents  she  resided  with  wealthy  relatives  who  made  her  their 
heir.  She  was  now  able  to  realize  some  of  her  girlhood  dreams. 
Like  her  father  she  was  impressed  with  economic  conditions 
around  her  and  determined  to  establish  an  institution  where  re- 
spectable working  women  might  find  a  home  during  intervals  of 
unemployment.  In  1824  the  corner  stone  of  a  large  building  was 
laid  in  Baggot  Street,  Dublin,  and  after  making  the  building 
larger  by  the  addition  of  a  home  for  orphans,  the  edifice  was 
solemnly  blessed  and  opened  on  the  Feast  of  Our  Lady  of  Mercy, 
September  24,  1827. 

The  history  of  religious  organizations  in  the  Catholic  Church 
is  a  fascinating  part  of  Church  history.  All  of  them  were  formed 
to  satisfy  some  need  of  the  times,  so  that  their  history  is  a  sec- 
tional history  of  modern  religious  and  social  civilization.  This 
enables  us  to  understand  why  the  number  of  religious  organiza- 
tions in  the  Church  is  very  large.  So  long  as  time  brings  forth 
new  problems  just  so  long  will  new  religious  organizations  be 


190  BOOK  REVIEWS 

formed.  The  Church  is  a  living  organism,  and  like  all  living 
organisms  is  productive.  That  the  organizations  are  genuine 
Christian  products  is  clearly  seen  from  what  perplexes  those 
who  are  not  members  of  the  Church.  They  have  been  founded 
by  men  and  women  and  yet  are  never  antagonistic  one  to  an- 
other. They  have  been  founded  to  meet  particular  social  and 
religious  conditions,  they  have  their  own  individual  methods, 
they  have  their  individual  ideals,  they  have  distinctive  names 
given  them  by  their  founders  or  by  mankind,  but  all  together 
they  are  one  solid,  harmonious  mass  of  Catholic  men  and  women. 

In  1831  there  was  room  in  Ireland  and  in  all  English-speaking 
countries  for  a  new  religious  society  of  women.  The  machine 
age  had  begun  and  with  it  were  the  portents  of  economic  changes 
very  familiar  to  us  today.  Women  were  coming  in  from  the 
farms  and  seeking  employment  in  the  cities.  The  movement 
had  not  yet  progressed  very  far,  but  the  impetus  had  been  given 
and  modern  conditions  were  inevitable.  In  Dublin  were  many 
unemployed  women,  many  sick,  and  nearly  all  very  poor.  The 
needs  of  these  women  were  primarily  in  the  mind  of  Miss  Mc- 
Auley.  She  and  her  associates  spent  a  year  in  the  novitiate  of 
the  Presentation  Order  in  Dublin,  and  then  with  the  willing  con- 
sent of  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  established  themselves  in 
their  own  building  and  organized  a  new  Institute.  The  principal 
objects  of  the  Rule  of  the  Community  were  education,  visitation 
of  the  sick  poor,  and  the  protection  of  women  of  good  character. 

The  energetic  spirit  of  their  founder  has  become  a  dominant 
force  in  the  lives  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy.  It  was  that  spirit 
that  led  them  to  the  battlefields  of  the  Civil  War  in  this  country, 
and  many  years  later  to  the  improvised  wards  of  Mafeking  in 
South  Africa.  For  their  heroic  work  among  the  sick  and  wounded 
Boers,  Britons,  and  Blacks  they  were  honorably  mentioned  in 
dispatches  sent  to  England,  and  the  Sisters  who  returned  were 
decorated  with  the  golden  Royal  Red  Cross  in  an  audience  of  the 
Queen  of  England.  Over  the  great  door  of  St.  Paul's  in  London 
is  the  inscription :  "Let  him  who  would  know  what  we  have  done 
look  around."  It  is  only  by  looking  over  the  English-speaking 
world  and  seeing  the  hospitals,  orphan  asylums,  colleges,  high 
schools  and  parochial  schools  conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  Mercy 
that  we  are  able  to  form  an  adequate  idea  of  the  work  the  Com- 
munity is  doing.  In  the  early  days  of  the  Church  one  of  the 
most  important  letters  ever  written  by  the  hand  of  man  was 
carried  from  Corinth  to  Rome  by  a  woman.    The  letter  was  that 


BOOK  REVIEWS  191 

written  by  St.  Paul  to  the  Romans  and  the  woman  was  Phebe, 
deaconess  of  the  church  at  Cenchrea.  The  message  she  carried 
contained  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Christian  religion, 
and  we  may  believe  she  was  well  able  to  expound  them.  The 
Sisters  of  the  Catholic  Church  are  her  successors.  They  are 
ceaselessly  and  laboriously  strengthening  the  foundations  of  re- 
ligion in  a  special  organization  that  seems  to  have  lost  its 
stability. 

Sister  Mary  Josephine  Gately  has  produced  a  book  that 
should  be  read  by  all  the  women  of  the  country.  It  is  the  story 
of  a  woman  who  did  great  things.  And  it  is  the  story  of  a 
modern  religious  association  of  women  that  will  do  still  greater 
things.    There  is  not  a  dull  line  in  the  book. 

Eneas  B.  Goodwin,  S.  T.  B.,  J.  D. 
Loyola  University 
Chicago,  111. 


A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest.  By  George  W.  Fuller,  Li- 
brarian, Spokane  Public  Library;  Secretary,  Eastern  Wash- 
ington State  Historical  Society.  Alfred  A.  Knopf,  New  York, 
1931,  pp.  xvi+383. 

Mr.  Fuller  has  written  a  book  packed  full  of  information 
about  the  exploration,  settlement  and  development  of  the  terri- 
tory out  of  which  have  been  created  the  states  of  Oregon,  Wash- 
ington, Idaho  and  Montana.  He  begins  with  the  geological 
formation  of  that  part  of  the  continent,  describes  the  aborigines, 
and  then  takes  up  the  history  by  topics,  such  as  explorers  by 
land  and  by  sea,  fur  trading  companies,  missionary  pioneers, 
Indian  wars. 

The  great  fur  trading  companies  played  an  important  part 
in  the  history  of  the  Northwest.  They  conducted  explorations 
and  encouraged  settlement.  Even  in  early  days  there  was  keen 
rivalry  between  the  English  and  the  Americans  and  to  a  large 
extent  the  settlement  of  the  Oregon  boundary  dispute  hinged 
upon  early  settlements  by  representatives  of  one  nation  or  the 
other. 

The  chapter  on  missionary  pioneers  brings  in  the  story  of 
the  Indian  pilgrimage  to  St.  Louis.  The  first  knowledge  of 
Christianity  was  brought  to  the  Flathead  Indians  by  a  band  of 
Iroquois  from  near  Montreal,  and  later  the  Indians  desired  teach- 


192  BOOK  REVIEWS 

ers  of  the  new  faith,  "the  'black  robes'  of  whom  they  had  been 
told."  There  is  little  first-hand  information  about  this  pilgrim- 
age; an  account  was  published  in  1833  which  is  stated  to  be  "a 
highly  imaginative  account  written  to  please  Protestant  readers 
and  destined  to  have  far-reaching  results."  The  first  mission- 
aries were  Methodists,  who,  however,  passed  by  the  Indians  who 
had  asked  for  them,  and  founded  a  mission  for  the  white  settlers. 
Later  there  were  missions  led  by  such  men  as  Dr.  V/hitman  and 
others.  The  first  Catholic  missionaries  were  sent  from  Montreal 
as  the  new  Jesuit  school  at  St.  Louis  had  not  enough  available 
priests. 

Dr.  John  McLoughlin  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  one  of 
the  greatest  figures  of  his  time,  gave  aid  to  the  Catholic  mis- 
sions as  well  as  to  Protestant  missions.  Though  he  did  not  be- 
come a  Catholic  until  1842,  he  established  a  school  for  teaching 
prayers  and  canticles  to  Catholic  women  and  children,  a  school 
which,  the  author  says,  furnished  an  excellent  foundation  for 
the  work  of  the  priests.  The  first  two  Catholic  missionaries 
were  the  Abbe  Francois  Norbet  Blanchet,  who  was  Vicar  General 
of  the  Oregon  country,  and  the  Abbe  Modeste  Demers,  his  as- 
sistant. In  1841  the  Jesuits  entered  the  field.  Fathers  Pierre 
Jean  De  Smet,  Nicholas  Point,  and  Gregory  Mengarini  were  sent 
in  that  year  from  St.  Louis. 

The  Indian  wars  form  a  grim  chapter  of  the  history  of  the 
Northwest.  Massacres  were  frequent  and  often  the  men  who 
were  doing  the  most  to  help  the  Indian  were  the  victims  of  his 
cruelty  and  treachery.  The  early  settlers  had  to  cope  not  only 
with  Indian  wars.  Outlaws,  bandits  and  gamblers  were  numer- 
ous. Conditions  grew  so  bad  that,  lacking  settled  law  and  order, 
the  citizens  formed  vigilance  committees.  Gradually  the  politi- 
cal and  social  development  of  the  territory  brought  improved 
conditions,  followed  by  the  growth  of  industries  and  the  build- 
ing of  railroads,  until  at  last  four  great  states  came  into  ex- 
istence. 

The  book  has  good  illustrations,  including  portraits  of  nota- 
ble pioneers,  and  maps.  At  the  end  of  the  volume  is  a  list  of 
references  to  documents,  society  records,  journals,  etc.  The  list 
is  arranged  by  chapters,  a  somewhat  inconvenient  method  for 
the  reader  who  may  wish  to  check  up  on  the  references,  as  it 
necessitates  looking  to  see  what  chapter  is  being  read.  The 
topical  development  is  interesting  and  valuable  to  readers  study- 


BOOK  REVIEWS  193 

ing  one  phase  of  history,  as  for  instance,  fur  trading,  but  it 
creates  a  slight  confusion  as  to  chronology. 

Ethel  Owen  Merrill 
Oak  Park,  Illinois 


Excelsior,  the  story  of  Lucien  Delorme  (1905-1926),  a  college 
boy  of  today.  Translated  from  the  French  of  Rev.  A.  Dragon, 
S.  J.,  by  Robert  Glody,  A.  M.,  with  a  foreword  by  Rt.  Rev. 
Edmund  F.  Gibbons,  D.  D.,  Bishop  of  Albany.  Loyola  Uni- 
versity Press,  1930,  $1.00  net. 

Historically  the  narrative  tells  how  a  youth  of  today  who  died 
in  his  twenty-first  year,  conquered,  with  the  aid  of  a  Divine  ally, 
the  most  difficult  of  worlds,  himself.  Early  in  life  this  Lucien 
Delorme  felt  the  call  of  the  Master  to  higher  things  and  de- 
termined to  enlist  at  the  appointed  time  under  the  Excelsior 
banner  of  the  soldier-saint,  Loyola.  The  preliminary  training  at 
high  school  and  college  was  not  easy.  Lucien  possessed  only 
mediocre  talent  for  books.  He  was  conditioned  in  some  studies. 
Driven  back,  but  never  defeated,  he  "plugged"  the  harder,  begged 
reinforcement  from  Almighty  God,  and  in  each  case  went  for- 
ward to  victory.  All  the  while  Lucien  was  a  normal  youth,  a 
member  of  the  college  hockey  team,  a  leader  of  his  fellows,  and 
was  stopped  and  threatened  by  a  traffic-officer  for  speeding  fifty 
miles  an  hour.  Quite  naturally  a  girl-friend  enters  on  this  stage 
of  his  life.  Did  he  then  really  have  a  vocation?  Again  grace 
answered  his  call  for  help.  He  applied  for  admission  into  the 
Society  of  Jesus. 

In  it  the  Divine  Leader  trained  Lucien  for  the  voluntary  ac- 
ceptance of  the  supreme  sacrifice.  Tuberculosis  brought  this 
novice  of  a  year  to  death's  door.  He  was  allowed  to  return  home 
in  the  hope  that  the  disease  might  be  stopped.  But  the  Master's 
campaign  was  different.  Lucien  accepted  the  chalice,  despite  the 
cry  of  his  youth  for  life.  He  was  allowed  to  make  the  three  vows 
of  a  Jesuit  scholastic  and  from  the  earthly  Society  of  Jesus 
Luciene  Delorme  then  passed  to  the  heavenly. 

The  reviewer  earnestly  recommends  Excelsior  to  the  atten- 
tion of  Sodality  directors  and  deans  of  men. 

Daniel  M.  O'Connell,  S.  J. 

Loyola  University 
Chicago,  111. 


194  BOOK  REVIEWS 

Catholic  Culture  in  Alabama:  Centenary  Story  of  Spring  Hill 
College  1830-1930.  By  M.  J.  Kenny,  S.  J.,  Ph.  D.,  Litt.  D. 
Preface  by  Dr.  James  J.  Walsh,  K.  C.  St.  G.,  M.  D.,  Ph.  D., 
Litt.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Sc.  D.  American  Press,  New  York,  1931, 
pp.  400. 

Catholic  Culture  in  Alabama  is  a  most  welcome  accession  to 
the  ever  growing  body  of  Americana.  Combining  careful  re- 
search with  engaging  literary  presentation,  it  approximates  with 
much  success  the  ideal  of  what  a  work  of  this  type,  a  college 
history,  should  be.  In  reality  the  life  story  of  an  educational 
institution,  Spring  Hill  College,  Mobile,  Alabama,  it  is  also  the 
record  of  Catholic  culture  over  the  entire  area  of  that  state,  for 
the  cultural  influence  of  the  institution  named  has  been  state- 
wide, to  say  the  least.  Spring  Hill  College  began  its  career  in 
1830  with  diocesan  clergy  in  charge ;  it  continued  it  subsequently 
to  1847  under  Jesuit  management.  As  the  obvious  approach  to 
his  subject,  Father  Kenny  leads  the  reader  along  the  main  high- 
way of  French  colonial  history  in  the  South  up  to  the  period  of 
the  American  occupation  and  beyond.  Only  the  high  lights  are 
pointed  out;  there  is  no  need  to  multiply  detail. 

In  the  handling  of  the  main  theme — the  vicissitudes,  the 
faculty  and  student  personnel,  the  physical  equipment  at  various 
stages,  the  academic  successes  of  a  century-old  institution — the 
author  is  particularly  happy.  A  college  history,  as  a  distinct 
and  recognized  genre  in  historiography,  has  its  own  problems 
and  perplexities  not  always  satisfactorily  solved.  To  say  that 
the  present  work  disposes  of  its  problems  with  complete  success 
might  be  an  extreme  statement  to  make;  but  it  disposes  of  them 
remarkably  well.  A  chronological  scheme  was  inevitable;  but 
the  narrative  has  not  suffered  thereby  and  there  is  no  suggestion 
of  the  merely  annalistic  type  of  history  to  plague  the  reader. 
The  story  moves  along  smoothly  and  rapidly,  and  important  and 
interesting  personalities,  as  Bishops  Portier,  Loras  and  Bazin, 
and  the  Jesuits  Gautrelet,  Curioz  and  de  la  Moriniere  are  por- 
trayed with  vividness.  Especially  is  the  reader  made  to  feel 
the  atmosphere  of  a  distinctly  Catholic  college;  he  sees  steadily 
at  work  the  various  influences,  cultural  and  religious,  which 
operate  in  those  schools  in  the  United  States  (and  elsewhere)  of 
which  Spring  Hill  is  an  outstanding  type. 


BOOK  REVIEWS  195 

The  book  is  attractive  in  format  and  typographical  feaures 
and  is  profusely  illustrated. 

Gilbert  J.  Garraghan,  S.  J. 
St.  Louis  University 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Four  cents  an  acre:  the  story  of  Louisiana  under  the  French. 
From  "Notre  Louisiane."  By  George  Oudard.  Translated  by 
Margery  Bianco.  Brewer  &  Warren  Inc.,  New  York,  1931, 
pp.  316. 

The  tremendous  difficulties  of  exploration  have  been  written 
of  at  great  length  in  many  volumes.  In  the  work  under  con- 
sideration the  equally  tremendous  difficulties  of  colonization  and 
organization  of  a  new  territory  are  emphasized. 

"Four  cents  an  acre"  tells  the  story  of  an  empire  won  for 
France  by  the  heroism  and  perseverence  of  missionaries  and 
other  explorers  and  lost  through  political  intrigue  and  govern- 
mental short-sightedness.  The  story  of  the  exploration  of  the 
Mississippi  and  St.  Lawrence  valleys  is  a  fascinating  and  glori- 
ous chapter  of  history.  From  the  little  settlement  of  Quebec, 
founded  by  Champlain,  went  forth  explorers,  fur-seekers  and 
missionaries  seeking  to  extend  the  sway  of  the  church.  Soon 
posts  were  scattered  here  and  there,  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  Saint 
Francis  Xavier,  Point  Saint-Esprit,  Point  St.  Ignatius  and  other 
strategic  sites.  Talon,  the  first  intendant  of  New  France, 
dreamed  of  founding  a  great  empire  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to 
Florida;  had  Louis  XV  appreciated  the  possibilities  of  New 
France,  as  had  Louis  XTV  and  the  great  Cardinal  Richelieu,  the 
history  of  North  America  might  have  lieen  far  different. 

The  discovery  of  the  Mississippi  River  was  the  essential  fac- 
tor in  the  development  of  the  Louisiana  territory.  First  known 
by  rumor  only,  it  became  the  object  of  search  and  finally  the 
famous  expedition  of  Pere  Jacques  Marquette  and  Louis  Jolliet 
was  organized.  Pere  Marquette  was  recommended  to  Talon  by 
Pere  Dablon,  Superior-General  of  the  Jesuits  in  New  France. 
One  chapter  of  the  book  is  devoted  to  the  description  of  the 
voyage  down  the  river,  the  explorers'  experiences  with  the  In- 
dians, the  return  to  Sault  Ste.  Marie  after  going  as  far  south  as 
the  Arkansas,  Jolliet's  journey  to  Quebec  and  the  loss  of  one 
copy  of  Marquette's  journal  in  the  rapids  of  La  Chine,  and  Pere 
Marquette's  return  to  the  Illinois  country  to  die  among  the  In- 


196  BOOK  REVIEWS 

dians.  Again  is  told  the  dramatic  story  of  the  voyage  of  the 
Indians,  some  years  subsequenly,  to  Saint  Ignace,  with  the  bones 
of  their  beloved  Pere  Marquette. 

The  author  next  takes  up  the  relation  of  the  heroic  adven- 
tures of  La  Salle  in  his  exploration  of  the  Mississippi  River  and 
the  discovery  of  its  mouth,  ending  with  his  tragic  death  at  the 
hands  of  his  own  associates.  The  antagonism  between  La  Salle 
and  the  Jesuits  is  attributed  by  the  author  to  the  influence  of 
Frontenac. 

With  the  beginning  of  the  colonization  period  in  Louisiana, 
the  name  of  Le  Moyne  appears  frequently.  Several  members  of 
that  family,  especially  Iberville  and  Bienville,  played  important 
roles  in  the  development  of  the  new  colony.  Iberville  was  sent  to 
complete  La  Salle's  work  and  he  built  a  fort  in  Biloxi  Bay.  After 
his  death  Bienville  succeeded  him  as  governor  of  Louisina.  It 
was  an  extremely  difficult  position.  There  was  much  intrigue 
and  many  petty  quarrels  occurred  among  the  men  who  should 
have  cooperated  in  the  organization  of  the  new  government. 
The  court  at  Versailles  frequently  acted  in  a  short-sighted  man- 
ner, sending  settlers  who  were  not  desirable,  and  sometimes 
causing  terrible  hardships  for  the  colonists  by  holding  back 
needed  food  supplies  or  military  aid.  When  Cadillac  was  re- 
moved from  Detroit  and  sent  to  Louisiana  as  governor,  much 
against  his  will,  he  spent  a  good  deal  of  time  quarreling,  both 
with  Bienville,  and  with  Crozat  who  at  that  time  held  an  ex- 
clusive commercial  privilege  in  Louisiana.  Later  Crozat  re- 
linquished this  privilege,  Cadillac  was  recalled  and  Bienville 
again  became  governor. 

The  next  chapter  of  Louisiana's  history  is  connected  with 
the  "Mississippi  bubble"  and  John  Law's  schemes  of  finance  and 
colonization.  The  colony  grew  rapidly  during  this  period,  but 
conditions  were  bad.  Too  many  criminals  had  been  sent  as 
colonists,  food  supplies  were  insufficient  and  there  was  great 
need  of  a  good  harbor.  It  was  not  until  1718  that  Bienville  was 
enabled  to  carry  out  his  project  of  making  New  Orleans  a  port. 

In  1731  the  Company  of  the  Indies  requested  the  French  king 
to  take  over  Louisiana.  Under  the  new  regime  the  administra- 
tion of  the  colony  was  reorganized,  troops  and  munitions  were 
furnished,  and  Bienville  was  again  made  governor.  When  he 
asked  to  be  recalled  in  1742  conditions  had  been  very  greatly 
improved.  Succeeding  governors  were  hampered  by  intrigues, 
quarrels  and  dishonest  officials,  insomuch  that  it  seems  remark- 


BOOK  REVIEWS  197 

able  that  the  colony  could  develop  at  all.  Dangers  were  threat- 
ening on  all  sides.  By  1760  Canada  had  passed  into  the  posses- 
sion of  Great  Britain,  and  in  1762  Louisiana  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi was  ceded  to  Spain.  The  Spaniards  were  slow  in  taking 
formal  possession  and  peculiar  conditions  resulted,  culminating 
in  an  unsuccessfull  revolt.  In  1803,  three  years  after  Louisiana 
had  been  retroceded  to  France,  it  was  purchased  by  the  United 
States,  during  the  administration  of  President  Jefferson. 

Speaking,  in  conclusion,  of  the  loss  to  France  of  its  immense 
possessions  in  America,  the  author  says:  "The  fatherland  of 
Marquette,  of  Jolliet,  of  Cavelier  de  la  Salle,  Iberville  and  Bien- 
ville, which  opened  up  to  the  future  United  States  the  valley  of 
the  Mississippi  and  the  path  to  the  Pacific,  has  lost  the  benefit 
of  the  austerity  of  its  pioneers  through  the  mistake  of  over- 
feeble  and  badly  organized  colonization." 

There  is  a  bibliography  at  the  end  of  the  book,  but  no  index, 
a  serious  drawback  in  a  work  of  this  kind. 

Ethel  Owen  Merrill 

Oak  Park,  Illinois. 

Ymago  Mundi  de  Pierre  D'Ailly,  Cardinal  de  Cambrai  et  Chan- 
celier  de  L'Universite  de  Paris  (1350-llf20).  Texte  latin  et 
traduction  frangaise  des  quatre  traites  cosmographiques  de 
d'Ailly,  et  des  notes  marginales  de  Christophe  Colomb. 
fflude  sur  les  sources  de  Vauteur.  Par  Edmond  Buron  M.  A. 
(archiviste  de  Gouvernment  Canadien,  ancien  eleve  a 
L'Ecole  Normale  Superieure).  3  volumes  in  8  jesus  reliure, 
editeur,  sur  papier  alfa  anglais,  comprenant  une  introduction 
sur  d'Ailly  et  Colomb,  d'abondantes  notes;  un  appendice  et 
un  index.  Illustres  de  60  planches  hors  texte  avec  en  frontis- 
pice  le  portrait  de  d'Ailly  reproduit  en  couleur  d'apres  la 
celebre  tableau  de  A.  Lefebvre,  existant  a  Compiegne  (Eglise 
Saint- Antoine)  et  des  illustrations  dans  le  texte.  Prix,  375  fr. 

This  monumental  work  of  three  volumes  contains  the  original 
Latin  text  with  French  translation  of  four  scientific  treatises  of 
Pierre  d'Ailly,  Cardinal-Archbishop  of  Cambray  and  Chancellor 
of  the  University  of  Paris,  and  a  great  theological  luminary  of 
his  age.  The  first  of  these  treatises  and  the  most  important, 
sixty  chapters  in  length  and  bearing  the  title  Ymago  Mundi  or 
World  Survey,  presents  the  status  of  geographical  knowledge  at 
the  close  of  the  middle  ages.    Its  significance  today  lies  in  the 


198  BOOK  REVIEWS 

fact  that  together  with  the  other  treatises  of  d'Ailly  included  in 
the  present  work,  it  was  the  chief  source  on  which  Columbus 
drew  for  his  ideas  in  the  field  of  geography  and  cosmography. 

Somewhere  about  1481-1483  there  appeared  at  Louvain  a 
printed  volume  containing  sixteen  treatises,  twelve  of  them  by 
d'Ailly  and  four  by  John  Gerson,  the  well  known  Chancellor  of 
the  University  of  Paris.  This  volume,  which  is  without  title  or 
date  or  place  of  publication,  became  known  as  the  Ymago  Mundi 
from  the  title  of  the  first  of  the  opuscula  embodied.  Columbus 
got  hold  of  a  copy  and  made  a  thoroughgoing  study  of  it,  en- 
tering with  his  own  hand  more  than  eight  hundred  notes  on  its 
margins.  His  son,  Fernando,  at  his  death  bequeathed  the  book 
to  the  Chapter  of  Seville  together  with  all  his  father's  papers 
and  books.  The  collection  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  Columbina 
Library  of  Seville.  The  annotated  copy  of  the  Ymago  Mundi, 
now  carefully  preserved  in  this  library  in  a  crystal  urn,  has  been 
examined  by  Washington  Irving,  Navarette,  Harrisse,  and  other 
historians;  but  no  attempt  has  been  made  until  now  to  edit  it 
scientifically  or  reproduce  it  in  any  modern  language.  Accord- 
ing to  Las  Casas,  the  famous  Bishop  of  Chiapas  and  Columbus's 
friend  and  biographer,  "of  the  ancient  writers  d'Ailly  did  most 
to  inspire  Columbus  to  realize  his  great  project."  The  hundreds 
of  marginal  notes  written  by  Columbus  into  his  copy  are  evi- 
dence enough  of  the  decisive  part  played  by  the  Ymago  Mundi 
in  the  shaping  of  his  scientific  ideas  and  theories.  In  this  work 
he  familiarized  himself  with  such  conceptions  as  the  rotundity 
of  the  earth,  parallels  of  latitude  and  longitude,  climatic  zones, 
the  equator,  the  poles,  terrestial  degrees,  the  zodiac,  the  solar 
year,  etc.  For  the  student  of  the  history  of  geographical  knowl- 
edge the  Ymago  Mundi  and  accompanying  treatises  are  of  the 
first  importance,  presenting,  as  they  do,  a  universe  which  is  still 
that  of  Aristotle,  Pliny,  Isidore  of  Seville  and  Roger  Bacon.  At 
the  same  time,  as  the  editor  points  out,  the  work  is,  after  all,  a 
mere  compilation  and  a  superficial  one  at  that.  D'Ailly  was  no 
original  investigator  or  professional  student  of  scientific  sub- 
jects. "Having  at  hand  no  source  material  (documentation)  on 
France,  he  passes  on,  for  he  is  under  pressure  to  publish  a  'Sur- 
vey of  the  World,'  and  he  has  no  leisure  for  research"  (I,  234). 

The  plan  of  the  present  edition  comprises  elaborate  intro- 
ductory studies  on  various  aspects  of  Columbus,  especially  his 
standing  as  a  man  of  science,  and  scholarly  footnotes  indicating 
the  sources  for  all  important  statements  in  d'Ailly's  text.    This 


BOOK  REVIEWS  199 

latter  feature  is  the  most  valuable  contribution  made  by  the  edi- 
tor to  the  history  of  geographical  science.  To  cite  one  instance, 
the  passage  on  Arabia  is  shown  to  be  borrowed  almost  textually 
from  Roger  Bacon  with  no  acknowledgement  by  d'Ailly  (I,  276) . 
(The  editor,  however,  states  that  in  general  d'Ailly  cites  his 
sources.)  Aligning  himself  with  George  C.  Nunn  in  his  Geo- 
graphical Conceptions  of  Columbus,  M.  Buron  refutes  "the  legend 
of  the  scientific  incompetency  of  Columbus,"  as  set  forth  by 
certain  historians,  especially  Vignaud,  who,  by  the  way,  held 
that  Columbus  read  the  Ymago  Mundi  after  and  not  before  his 
memorable  discovery.  An  interesting  item  mentioned  by  the 
editor  is  the  recent  identification  (1926)  of  a  map  in  the  Na- 
tional Library  of  Paris,  previously  thought  to  be  anonymous,  as 
really  a  production  of  Columbus.  The  identification,  which  was 
made  by  M.  Charles  de  la  Ronciere,  historian  of  the  French 
Navy,  is  held  to  be  certain.  The  work  is  profusely  illustrated, 
numerous  original  cuts  in  the  first  edition  of  the  Ymago  Mundi 
being  reproduced,  as  also  portraits  of  Pierre  d'Ailly  and  other 
scientific  celebrities  of  the  medieval  or  post  medieval  world. 

The  editor  has  done  his  work,  particularly  the  tracing  of 
d'Ailly's  data  to  their  sources,  with  precision  and  thoroughness. 
One  error  has  been  noted.  Fiske,  Acta  Concilii  Constancensis 
(I,  82)  should  read  Finke.  The  same  error  occurs  in  the  bibli- 
ography. 

D'Ailly's  views  in  philosophy  and  theology,  as  the  editor  is 
at  pains  to  point  out,  were  not  always  orthodox  in  the  Catholic 
sense.  "Here  are  theories  which  lead  to  scepticism  (I,  98)." 
"He  [d'Ailly]  .  .  .  may  be  considered  a  champion  of  Gallican- 
ism."  At  the  same  time  M.  Buron's  attempt  (I,  85)  to  explain 
d'Ailly's  doctrinal  vagaries  is  not  an  altogether  happy  one,  the 
citation  from  Renan  carrying  with  it  implications  which  are  at 
variance  with  the  Catholic  theological  position. 

Gilbert  J.  Garraghan,  S.  J. 
St.  Louis  University 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Sister  Louise  (Josephine  Van  Der  Schrieck,  1813-1886),  Ameri- 
can Foundress  of  the  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame  de  Namur.  A 
dissertation  submitted  to  the  faculty  of  the  Graduate  School 
of  Arts  and  Sciences  of  the  Catholic  University  of  America 
in  partial  fulfillment  of  the  requirement  for  the  degree  of 


200 


BOOK  REVIEWS 


doctor  of  philosophy.  By  Sister  Helen  Louise  (Nugent), 
M.  A.  The  Catholic  University  of  America,  Washington, 
D.  C,  1931. 

In  this  doctoral  dissertation  a  Sister  of  the  Congregation  of 
Notre  Dame  de  Namur  aims  to  make  known  the  life-work  of  the 
American  foundress  of  her  Congregation.  Good  use  has  been 
made  of  the  rich  mass  of  source  material  available  in  the  Mother- 
house  at  Namur  in  Belgium  and  at  the  Provincial  house  at 
Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

The  author  having  already  to  her  credit  (1928)  a  Life  of 
Sister  Julia  (Susan  McGroarty,  one  of  the  first  pupils  of  Sister 
Louise  and  later  her  successor  in  the  office  of  Provincial),  was 
able  to  bring  to  her  task  a  maturity  of  judgment  which  has  re- 
sulted in  a  work  at  once  edifying  and  instructive.  The  book 
though  primarily  intended  for  members  of  her  own  Congregation 
will  undoubtedly  be  read  with  interest  by  all  students  of  our 
ecclesiastical  and  educational  history.  It  gives  a  sympathetic 
and  well-balanced  account  of  the  life-work  and  achievements  of 
a  remarkable  woman  who  has  left  her  mark  not  only  on  the 
annals  of  her  own  Congregation  but  on  the  educational  history 
of  this  country. 

"Ninety  years  have  passed  since  the  Sisters  opened  their 
first  school  in  Cincinnati  on  January  18,  1841.  During  forty- 
five  of  these  years,  until  1886,  Sister  Louise  watched  and  guided 
the  progress  of  her  Congregation,  founded  twenty-six  houses 
that  were  added  to  the  first  one  in  Cincinnati,  and  firmly  estab- 
lished the  spirit  of  Notre  Dame  de  Namur  in  each  house."  The 
houses  of  the  Congregation  were  established  in  the  states  of 
Ohio  and  Massachusetts  and  in  the  cities  of  Philadelphia  and 
Washington.  When  Sister  Louise  died  in  1886  the  Congregation 
numbered  800  Sisters  and  their  pupils  reached  far  into  thousands. 

No  less  significant  has  been  the  progress  which  has  been 
made  by  the  Congregation  during  the  past  forty-five  years.  The 
number  of  houses  in  this  country  has  increased  to  sixty-three. 
The  main  interest  of  the  Sisters  is  still  popular  free  education. 
Hence  they  have  been  chiefly  concerned  with  parochial 
schools  both  elementary  and  secondary,  but  in  response  to  the 
new  demands  of  the  age  they  have  also  established  academies 
and  even  colleges.  Many  people  regard  the  opening  of  Trinity 
College  during  the  administration  of  Sister  Julia  as  a  landmark 


BOOK  REVIEWS  201 

in  the  history  of  the  higher  education  of  Catholic  women  in 
this  country. 

Hugh  Graham,  Ph.  D. 
John  Carroll  University 
Cleveland,  Ohio 

Marquette  Memorials.  By  (Sister)  Mary  Arth,  S.  N.  D.  Re- 
printed from  Mid-America,  April,  1931. 

This  is  a  remarkable  collection,  practically  complete,  of  all 
known  attempts  in  art,  geographical  nomenclature  and  other 
media  to  perpetuate  the  name  of  the  famous  seventeenth  century 
missionary-explorer  of  the  middle  United  States.  It  is  a  re- 
markable verification  of  Bancroft's  prophecy  "the  West  will  build 
his  monument." 

The  Solis  Diary  of  1767.  Translated  from  the  Spanish  by  the 
Rev.  Peter  P.  Forrestal,  C.  S.  C,  A.  M.,  Litt.  D.,  Professor  of 
Spanish,  St.  Edward's  University  (Austin,  Texas).  Edited 
by  Rev.  Paul  J.  Foik,  C.  S.  C,  Ph.  D.,  Chairman  of  the  Com- 
mission, President  of  the  Society.  (Preliminary  studies  of 
-  the  Texas  Catholic  Historical  Society,  Vol.  I,  No.  VI,  March, 
1931.  Distributed  under  the  auspices  of  the  Texas  Knights 
of  Columbus  Historical  Commission.) 

This  diary  was  written  by  the  Rev.  Fray  Jose  de  Solis, 
O.  F.  M,  during  his  visitation,  1767,  of  the  missions  of  the  Prov- 
ince of  Texas.  It  is  a  valuable  contemporary  source  for  condi- 
tions among  the  Texas  Indians  as  also  in  the  Franciscan  Spanish 
missions  in  the  mid-eighteenth  century. 

Chicago  Under  the  French  Regime.  By  Gilbert  J.  Garraghan, 
S.  J.,  St.  Louis  University.  Reprinted  from  the  Transactions 
of  the  Illinois  State  Historical  Society,  Springfield,  111.,  1930. 
Publication  No.  37,  pp.  18. 

This  is  an  attempt  to  assemble  between  the  pages  of  a  single 
monograph  all  available  authentic  data  concerning  Chicago  under 
French  rule.  The  story  begins  with  the  arrival  of  the  Jolliet- 
Marquette  party,  September,  1673,  and  ends  with  the  Treaty  of 
Paris  1763,  by  which  the  "Illinois  Country,"  including  the  Chi- 
cago terrain,  passed  from  the  French  into  British  hands.    The 


202  BOOK  REVIEWS 

monograph  discusses  among  other  interesting  topics  the  ex- 
istence of  a  French  fort  as  also  of  a  French  Jesuit  mission  on 
the  site  of  Chicago. 

Old  Vincennes:  A  Chapter  in  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the 
West.  By  Gilbert  J.  Garraghan,  S.  J.,  Ph.  D.,  St.  Louis  Uni- 
versity.   Reprinted  from  Mid-America,  April,  1931,  pp.  19. 

This  monograph,  which  deals  with  the  pioneer  Catholic  his- 
tory of  historic  Vincennes,  Indiana,  supplements  on  the  religious 
side  the  oft  told  story  of  the  stirring  civic  events  culminating  in 
the  surrender  of  Vincennes  by  the  British  to  George  Rogers 
Clark  in  1777  and  the  origin  of  the  old  Northwest  territory. 

An  Historical  Sketch  commemorating  the  Golden  Jubilee  of  the 
Third  Parish  Church  dedicated  to  the  Immaculate  Conception, 
1881-1931,  St.  Marys,  Kansas,  pp.  34. 

Probably  no  Catholic  parish  of  the  trans-Mississippi  West 
has  a  more  colorful  history  behind  it  than  the  one  the  story  of 
which  is  sketched  in  the  present  booklet.  Founded  in  1838  by 
Jesuit  missionaries  among  the  Potawatomi  Indians  of  Sugar 
creek  in  southeastern  Kansas,  it  was  transferred  to  its  present 
location  on  the  banks  of  the  Kaw  with  the  removal  of  the  tribe 
thither  in  1848.  The  Potawatomi  disappeared  with  the  break-up 
of  their  reservation  in  the  seventies  and  the  whites  took  their 
place.  A  whole  chapter  of  heroic  and  on  the  whole  fruitful  mis- 
sionary effort  is  written  around  this  historic  parish,  the  vicis- 
situdes of  which  the  Rev.  William  T.  Doran,  S.  J.,  has  told  in 
these  pages  accurately  as  well  as  interestingly. 


Contributors  to  this  Issue 

The  Reverend  Frederic  Beuckman,  contributing  editor  of  Mid- 
America  and  author  of  "A  History  of  the  Parishes  of  the 
Diocese  of  Belleville,  Illinois"  has  been  long  engaged  in  re- 
search-study in  the  early  history  of  Illinois. 

The  Reverend  Francis  Xavier  Kuppens,  S.  J.,  (1838-1916)  was 
the  last  surviving  missionary  associate  of  Father  Peter  De 
Smet  in  his  historic  evangelization  of  the  western  Indian 
tribes. 

The  Reverend  Gilbert  J.  Garraghan,  S.  J.,  Ph.  D.,  is  managing- 
editor  of  Mid- America. 

Robert  Knight,  C.  E.,  and  Lucius  Zeuch,  M.  D.,  are  joint  authors 
of  a  definitive  topographical  research-study  "The  Location  of 
the  Chicago  Portage  Route  of  the  Seventeenth  Century/' 
published  by  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  1928. 

John  W.  Curran,  M.  A.,  LL.  M.,  is  professor  of  law  at  De  Paul 
University,  Chicago. 

Thomas  F.  O'Connor,  M.  A.,  is  a  teaching  fellow  in  the  Depart- 
ment of  History,  Graduate  School,  St.  Louis  University. 

William  Stetson  Merrill,  A.  B.,  contributing-editor  of  Mid- Amer- 
ica and  expert  in  library  science  and  classification,  is  on  the 
staff  of  the  John  Crerar  Library,  Chicago,  Illinois. 


cTMD-c^MERICA 

Vol.  XIV  JANUARY,  1932  Number  3 

New  Series,  Vol.  Ill 

Journal  of  the  Illinois  Catholic  Historical  Society 
28  North  Franklin  Street,  Chicago 

MANAGING  EDITOR 
Gilbert  J.  Garraghan St.  Louis 

CONTRIBUTING  EDITORS 

Frederick   Beuckman Belleville      William    Stetson    Merrill Chicago 

John  B.  Culemans Moline       Paul  J.  Foik Austin,  Texas 

Francis  Borgia  Steck Quincy 


28  NORTH  FRANKLIN  STREET,  CHICAGO 

HONORARY  PRESIDENTS 
His  Eminence  George  Cardinal  Mundelein,  Chicago 
Rt.  Rev.  Edward  F.  Hoban,  D.  D.,  Eockford      Rt.  Rev.  Henry  Althoff,  D.  D.,  Belleville 
Rt.  Rev.  James  A.  Griffin,  D.  D.,  Springfield  Rt.  Rev.  Joseph  H.  Schlarman,  D.  D.,  Peoria 

OFFICERS 

Pbesident  Financial  Secbetaby 

Rev.  Frederic  Siedenburg,  S.  J.,  Chicago  Francis  J.  Rooney,  Chicago 
Fibst  Vice-Pbesident 

Rt.  Rev.  F.  A.  Purcell,  Chicago  Recording  Secbetaby 

Second  Vice-Pbesident  Agnes  Van  Driel,  Chicago 
James  M.  Graham,  Springfield 

Tbeasubeb  Abchiyist 

John  P.  V.  Murphy,  Chicago  Rev.  Frederick  E.  Hillenbrand,  Mundelein 

TRUSTEES 
Very  Rev.  James  Shannon,  Peoria  Michael  F.  Girten,   Chicago 

Rev.  Robert  M.  Kelley,  S.  J.,  Chicago  James  A.  Bray,  Joliet 

Mrs.  Daniel  V.  Gallery,  Chicago  Frank  J.  Seng,  Wilmette 

D.  F.  Bremner,  Chicago  Mrs.  E.  I.  Cudahy,  Chicago 

John  Coleman,  Lake  Forest 


Published  by 

The  Illinois  Catholic  Historical  Society 

Chicago,  III. 


CONTENTS 


The  Noese  Voyages  to  America  William  Stetson  Merrill  207 

The  Dawn  of  Christianity  in  Mexico  Mariano  Cuevas  228 

Gonzalo  de  Tapia:    Un  Conquistador  de  Dios, 

1561-1594  TV.  Eugene  Shiels  241 

The  Shawneetown-to-Cairo  Mission  Trail  Frederic  Henchman  253 

Vaeia  :  263 

The  Birthplace  of  Father  Marquette;  A  Jesuit  School  in  Seventeenth 
Century  New  York. 

Documents — The  First  Catholic  Missions  in  Nebraska  269 

News  and  Comments  '  276 

Book  Beviews:  283 

Jacks,  La  Salle;  Thorning,  Beligious  Liberty  in  Transition;  Sister  M. 
Eleanore,  On  the  King's  Highway:  A  History  of  the  Sisters  of  the  Holy 
Cross  of  St.  Mary  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  Notre  Dame,  Indiana; 
Sherwood,  The  Oblates'  Hundred  and  One  Tears;  Butler,  Lives  of  the 
Saints;  McNamara,  The  Catholic  Church  on  the  Northern  Indiana  Fron- 
tier; De  La  Ronciere,  Jacques  Cartier;  Baumgartner,  Catholic  Journalism  : 
A  Study  of  Its  Development  in  the  United  States,  17 89-1930;  Williamson, 
The  Story  of  Fope  Pius  XI;  Rawleigh,  Freeport's  Lincoln;  Lyons,  The 
True  Story  of  George  Schumann;  Schafer  (ed.),  California  Letters  of 
Lucius  Fairchild;   Cather,   Shadows   on   the  Rock;   Lockridge,   La   Salle. 


c7HID  -  AMERICA 

c/4n  Historical  Review 


Vol.  XIV  JANUARY,  1932  Number  3 

New  Series,  Vol.  Ill 


THE  NORSE  VOYAGES  TO  AMERICA 

One  of  the  most  fascinating  but  apparently  baffling  problems 
of  American  history  is  the  subject  of  the  voyages  of  Norsemen, 
in  the  late  tenth  and  early  eleventh  century  of  our  era,  to  a  re- 
gion called  in  the  Icelandic  sagas  "Vinland"  or  "Wineland."  This 
problem  has  engaged  the  attention  of  modern  scholars  for  three 
hundred  years.  The  results  of  research  and  of  criticism  of  the 
sources  have  been  so  divergent  upon  many  points  that  certainty 
has  even  been  declared  by  some  writers  to  be  unattainable.  Yet 
all  competent  historians  today  agree  that  it  is  certain  or  highly 
probable  that  the  Norsemen  reached  the  eastern  shores  of  North 
America.  The  matters  in  dispute  are:  where  they  landed;  how 
many  voyages  were  made  and  when ;  who  were  the  leaders ;  who 
were  the  natives  with  whom  the  Norsemen  came  in  contact,  In- 
dians or  Eskimo;  what  interpretation  shall  be  put  upon  certain 
terms  and  phrases  that  occur  in  the  sagas.  The  solution  of  these 
and  other  questions  depends  upon  the  credibility  to  be  attributed 
to  the  original  sources,  upon  the  right  identification  to  be  made 
of  various  localities  described  in  the  narratives,  and  upon  the 
correct  order  of  the  events.  As  a  bird's-eye  view  of  these  sources 
is  indispensable  for  a  right  understanding  of  the  subject,  the 
reader's  indulgence  is  asked  while  we  present  a  few  bibliographi- 
cal data. 

The  sources  of  our  information  may  be  grouped  somewhat  as 
follows : 

I.   Narratives  (manuscript). 

A.  Hauk's  Book.  (Ms.  no.  AM  544,  4to,  in  the  library  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Copenhagen).  Written  1304  or  before  1334.  The 
portion  relating  to  the  Vinland  voyages  is  entitled  Saga  of 
Thorfinn  Karlsefne  (Thorfinns  Saga  Karlsefnis). 

207 


208  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

B.  Saga  of  Eric  the  Red  (Saga  Eireks  Rautha)    (Ms.  no.  AM  557, 

4to,  in  the  same  library).  Written  about  1400.  This  saga  is 
to  be  distinguished  from  the  Tale  of  Eric  the  Red  in  the 
Flatey  Book. 

C.  Flatey  Book.     (Ms.  no.  1005  of  the  Old  Royal  Collection  in  the 

same  library).  Written  1387-1395.  The  portion  relating  to 
the  Vinland  voyages  is  interpolated  in  the  Saga  of  Olaf 
Tryggvason  and  comprises  two  tales  or  short  stories: 

a.  Tale  of  Eric  the  Red  (Thattr  Eireks  Rautha). 

b.  Tale  of  the  Greenlanders  (Groenlendinga  Thattr). 

II.    Minor  notices  and  allusions. 

These  have  been  found  in  the  works  of  Adam  of  Bremen  (ca.  1070), 
and  of  Ari  the  Learned  (12th  cent.),  in  certain  other  sagas, 
in  a  geographical  treatise,  and  in  Icelandic  annals. 

These  sources  were  first  collected  in  their  entirety  by  Charles 
C.  Rafn,  secretary  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  the 
North,  and  printed  in  a  volume  entitled  Antiquitates  Americanae 
(Copenhagen,  1837).  Just  before  the  celebration  of  the  tercen- 
tenary of  the  discovery  of  America,  Arthur  M.  Reeves  issued 
what  has  remained  the  classic  work  on  the  subject :  The  Finding 
of  Wineland  the  Good  (London,  1890),  comprising  the  Icelandic 
texts  in  facsimile  and  in  transcription,  accompanied  by  an  ac- 
count of  the  manuscripts,  translations  into  English,  and  annota- 
tions. The  translations  of  the  sagas  used  in  this  paper  are  taken 
from  his  book. 

The  Hauk's  Book  and  the  Saga  of  Eric  the  Red  have  many 
points  in  common,  while  they  differ  from  the  narratives  in  the 
Flatey  Book  which,  when  brought  together,  form  the  Flatey 
Book  account  of  the  Vinland  voyages.  A  recent  writer,  Gray,* 
has  characterized  these  two  divergent  accounts  as  follows: 


*  In  order  not  to  burden  the  text  of  this  paper  with  numerous  footnotes, 
since  it  is  intended  to  be  a  readable  sketch  rather  than  an  erudite  treatise, 
the  titles  of  works  cited  are  collected  in  the  bibliographical  note  at  the  end 
of  the  paper.  Students  interested  in  tracing  the  history  of  the  various 
theories  and  opinions  that  have  been  voiced  in  this  mooted  problem  will 
have  no  difficulty  in  locating  them  in  these  works. 


THE  NORSE  VOYAGES  TO  AMERICA  209 

The  GREENLAND  version.  The  ICELAND  version. 

Sources:    (a)  The  Tale  of  Erik  the  Sources:    (a)  The  Saga  of  Thorfinn 

Red,  and  (b)  The  Tale  of  the  Green-  Karlsefne,   in  HAUK'S  BOOK,   and 

landers,  in  the  FLATEY  BOOK.  (b)   The  Saga  of  Erik  the  Red,  in 

Six  voyages.  A.  M.  557. 

1.  Bjarni  Herjulfsson,  who  did  not  Three  voyages. 

land  in  Vinland.  1.    Leif    Eriksson,    mentioned   quite 

2.  Leif    Eriksson,    1    ship    and    35  briefly. 

men.  2.    Thorstein  Eriksson  and  20  men. 

3.  Thorvald  Eriksson,  1  ship  and  30  (Failed.) 

men.  3.    (a)    Thorfinn  Karlsefne,  Gudrid, 

4.  Thorstein  Eriksson.    (Failed.)  and     Snorri     Thorbrandsson,     1 

5.  Thorfinn    Karlsefne,     Gudrid,     1  ship,  40  men. 

ship,  60  men,  5  women.  (b)  Bjarni  Grimolfsson,  Thorhall 

6.  (a)     Thorvard    and    Freydis,    1  Gamlison,  1  ship  and  40  men. 
ship,  35  men.  (c)  Thorvard  and  Freydis,  Thor- 
(b)   Helgi  and  Finnbogi,  1  ship,  vald  Eriksson  and  Thorhall  the 
30  men,  5  women.  Hunter:    1  ship  and  80  men. 
(Total:    2  ships,  65  men,  and  5  (Total:    3  ships,  160  men.) 
women.)  Voyage    1,    2,    and    3(c)    led   by 

All  ships,  except  5  and  6(b)  com-      Greenlanders ;  3(a)  and  (b)  by  Ice- 
manded  by  Greenland  Colonists.  landers. 

The  main  outlines  of  the  account  given  in  the  Flatey  Book  are 
as  follows :  "After  that  sixteen  winters  had  lapsed  from  the  time 
when  Eric  the  Red  went  to  colonize  Greenland  (A.  D.  985)  Leif, 
Eric's  son,  sailed  from  Greenland  to  Norway  ...  to  visit  the 
king  (Olaf  Tryggvason).  King  Olaf  expounded  the  faith  to 
him  ...  it  proved  easy  to  persuade  Leif,  and  he  was  accord- 
ingly baptized,  together  with  all  his  shipmates."  The  narrative 
now  goes  back  to  the  year  985  and  states  that  Biarni,  son  of  one 
of  the  settlers  who  went  to  Greenland  with  Eric,  on  a  voyage 
from  Iceland  to  Greenland  to  join  his  father,  was  driven  out  of 
his  course  by  north  winds  and  sighted  in  succession  three  strange 
lands.  The  first  land  was  level  and  covered  with  woods  with 
small  hillocks  upon  it.  Leaving  this  shore  on  his  larboard  he 
sailed  until  he  sighted  another  land  that  was  flat  and  wooded; 
then  he  sailed  out  upon  the  high  sea  with  southwesterly  gales 
till  he  came  to  a  third  land  that  was  high  and  mountainous,  with 
ice-mountains  upon  it.  He  held  his  course  off  the  land  and  saw 
that  it  was  an  island.  Finally  he  reached  Greenland.  The  de- 
tails of  this  voyage  have  significance  when  we  come  to  plot  the 
course  of  Leif  Ericsson,  who  followed  Biarni  in  the  reverse  di- 
rection. 

Eric  the  Red  with  his  family  lived  at  Brattahlid  on  Ericsfiord 


210  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

in  the  so-called  Eastern  Settlement,  which  was  on  the  west  coast 
of  Greenland,  where  Julianehaab  is  now  situated.  Eric's  son, 
Leif,  bought  Biarni's  ship  from  him  and,  with  a  crew  of  thirty- 
five  men,  set  out  to  explore  the  lands  seen  but  not  visited  by 
Biarni.  The  year  was  1003  according  to  the  chronology  worked 
out  by  Storm  from  the  saga  narratives.  The  first  land  sighted 
was  a  table-land  of  flat  rock  all  the  way  from  the  sea  to  great 
ice  mountains  that  lay  inland.  Leif  named  it  Helluland  (Land 
of  Flat  Stone).  The  next  landfall  was  a  level  wooded  land  with 
broad  stretches  of  white  sand;  Leif  named  it  Markland  (Forest 
Land) .  They  "sailed  away  upon  the  main  with  northeast  winds 
and  were  out  two  'doegr'  " — i.  e.  two  days'  sail  of  either  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  or  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles — "before  they 
sighted  land.  They  sailed  toward  this  land  and  came  to  an 
island  which  lay  to  the  northward  off  the  land.  There  they  went 
ashore."  Dew  upon  the  grass  was  sweet  to  the  taste.  "They 
went  aboard  their  ship  again  and  sailed  into  a  certain  sound, 
which  lay  between  the  island  and  a  cape,  which  jutted  out  from 
the  land  on  the  north,  and  they  stood  in  westering  past  the  cape. 
At  ebb-tide  there  were  broad  reaches  of  shallow  water  there  and 
they  ran  their  ship  aground  there,  and  it  was  a  long  distance 
from  the  ship  to  the  ocean ;  yet  they  were  so  anxious  to  go  ashore 
that  they  could  not  wait  until  the  tide  should  rise  under  their 
ship,  but  hastened  to  the  land,  where  a  certain  river  flows  out 
from  a  lake.  As  soon  as  the  tide  rose  beneath  their  ship,  how- 
ever, they  took  the  boat  and  rowed  to  the  ship,  which  they  con- 
veyed up  the  river  and  so  into  the  lake,  where  they  cast  anchor 
and  carried  their  hammocks  ashore  from  the  ship,  and  built 
themselves  booths  there.  They  afterwards  determined  to  estab- 
lish themselves  there  for  the  winter  and  they  accordingly  built 
a  large  house.  There  was  no  lack  of  salmon  there  either  in  the 
river  or  in  the  lake.  .  .  .  There  was  no  frost  there  in  the  winters 
and  the  grass  withered  but  little.  The  days  and  nights  there 
were  of  more  nearly  equal  length  than  in  Greenland  or  Iceland. 
On  the  shortest  day  of  winter  the  sun  was  up  between  'eyktar- 
stad'  and  'dagmalastad'  " — terms  to  be  explained  presently.  They 
then  for  a  time  divided  the  men  into  two  groups  and  explored 
the  country  around.  One  of  the  party,  a  German  named  Tyrker, 
discovered  grapes.  The  men  proceeded  to  gather  grapes,  to  cut 
vines  and  fell  trees,  all  of  which  were  stored  till  the  next  spring, 
when  the  expedition  returned  to  Greenland  in  1004.  On  the  re- 
turn voyage  Leif  rescued  a  shipwrecked  party  among  whom  was 


THE  NORSE  VOYAGES  TO  AMERICA  211 

a  young  woman  named  Gudrid,  who  was  to  play  a  prominent  part 
in  subsequent  events.  Leif  was  thereafter  called  Leif  the  Lucky. 
His  voyage  was  referred  to  after  his  return  as  Leif 's  Vinland 
journey,  and  in  other  accounts  he  is  said  to  have  discovered 
Vinland. 

Before  relating  the  subsequent  voyages,  let  us  review  the 
course  of  opinion  as  to  the  lands  reached  by  Biarni  and  Leif,  and 
the  discussions  regarding  the  interesting  details  mentioned  in 
this  story.  The  Tale  of  Eric  the  Red  and  the  Tale  of  the  Green- 
landers,  both  contained  in  the  Flatey  Book,  were  made  the  basis 
for  the  researches  of  Rafn.  He  located  Leif's  booths  on  Nar- 
ragansett  Bay  in  Rhode  Island.  He  attempted  to  confirm  his 
identification  of  the  various  localities  by  correspondence  with 
members  of  the  Rhode  Island  Historical  Society  regarding  the 
local  topography.  But  the  point  upon  which  he  laid  most  stress 
was  the  passage  giving  the  length  of  the  shortest  day  in  Vin- 
land, because  from  it  he  believed  he  had  figured  the  precise  lati- 
tude, which  he  made  to  be  41°  24'  10".  This  parallel  passes 
across  the  southern  coast  of  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut,  west- 
ward from  Cape  Cod.  Other  writers,  both  preceding  Rafn  and 
in  recent  years,  however,  have  reached  figures  showing  a  lati- 
tude of  49°,  as  the  northern  limit  of  Vinland  as  determined  by 
this  passage,  which  would  place  the  country  in  the  St.  Lawrence 
valley  or  around  the  mouth  of  that  river.  How  far  south  of  that 
limit  Vinland  was  located,  cannot  be  exactly  determined  from 
the  data;  the  discrepancy  is  to  be  explained  thus.  "The  Ice- 
landers, having  no  clocks  or  scientifically  constructed  dials,  were 
in  the  habit  of  estimating  the  time  of  day  by  the  position  of  the 
sun  above  the  horizon.  With  this  object  they  marked  eight 
points  upon  the  horizon,  utilizing  hills  and  natural  objects  where 
such  were  conveniently  situated,  and  erecting  cairns  in  places 
which  were  otherwise  undistinguished"  (Hovgaard).  "Eykt" 
was  one  of  these  day-marks,  or,  as  Gray  suggests,  "meal-marks," 
because  the  principal  divisions  of  the  day  were  the  times  for 
meals.  What  "dagmalastad"  indicated  we  do  not  know;  but  we 
fortunately  do  know  about  "eykt."  In  an  ancient  collection  of 
Icelandic  laws  called  Grdgds  has  been  found  a  passage  that 
reads:  "Divide  the  .  .  .  southwest  octant  (i.e.  eighth)  of  the 
circle  of  the  horizon  into  three  equal  parts.  When  the  sun  has 
traversed  two  of  these  and  has  still  one  to  go,  that  is  the  posi- 
tion of  'eykt.'  "     The  reader  may  visualize  this  definition  ap- 


212  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

proximately  by  drawing  a  circle,  marked  with  four  points  of 
the  compass,  to  represent  the  whole  horizon ;  this  circle  will  also 
represent  the  24  hours  of  the  day  from  midnight  to  midnight. 
Divide  the  circle  into  eight  parts;  mark  the  top  segment  "mid- 
night," the  east  one  6:00  A.M.;  the  bottom  one  "midday,"  and 
the  west  one  6:00  P.M.  The  octant  at  the  point  "southwest" 
will  be  the  one  mentioned  in  the  Gragas,  covering  the  hours  1:30 
to  4:30;  two-thirds  of  the  way  westward  from  the  compass  point 
SSW,  or  1:30  P.  M.,  is  a  point  on  the  compass  52°  30'  west  of 
south  or  3:30  P.  M.  That  is  "eykt."  Professor  Geelmuyden  cal- 
culated that  on  the  shortest  day  of  the  year  in  the  eleventh 
century,  the  latitude  in  which  the  sun  actually  set  in  this  direc- 
tion was  49°  55',  which  is  the  latitude  of  the  northern  portion 
of  Newfoundland.  Captain  R.  L.  Phythian,  U.  S.  N.,  arrived  at 
the  latitude  49°  50'  02"  or  farther  south.  But  there  are  two 
factors  that  modify  this  result.  The  first  is  that  the  reports  of 
the  voyagers  to  Vinland  could  not  have  been  based  upon  accur- 
ate observations  or  precise  placing  of  the  meal-mark  "eykt";  the 
second  is  that  the  definition  of  "eykt"  given  in  the  Laws  may, 
according  to  M.  M.  Mjelde,  be  taken  more  loosely  to  mean  the 
point  two-thirds  of  the  way  across  the  quarter  of  the  horizon 
from  midday  to  6:00  P.  M.,  which  would  locate  it  at  4:00  P.  M. 
on  the  circle  and  indicate  a  latitude  considerably  more  to  the 
south. 

We  see  that  this  passage  does  not  furnish  the  data  by  which 
to  fix  with  precision  the  latitude  of  Vinland;  but  the  fact  is  un- 
deniable that  the  length  of  the  day  there  differed  enough  from 
that  of  the  day  in  Greenland  or  Iceland  to  impress  the  voyagers, 
and  also  lead  the  sagamen  to  hand  down  the  significant  phrase 
from  generation  to  generation  until  it  was  finally  written  into 
the  saga.  Vinland  must  have  been  south  of  Labrador  and  was 
probably  south  of  Newfoundland.  As  wild  grapes  were  found 
there,  it  could  not  have  been  in  Nova  Scotia,  because  "except 
in  the  Annapolis  basin  on  the  west,  which  does  not  suit  the  re- 
quirements of  the  saga,  no  wild  grapes  can  be  found  there" 
(Gathorne-Hardy).  The  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  New 
England  both  meet  the  requirements  of  latitude  and  wild  grape 
bearing.  Which  region  was  Vinland?  Or  was  it  the  name  of  a 
region  extensive  enough  to  cover  both  New  England  and  part  of 
Canada?  We  will  hold  these  questions  in  abeyance  while  we 
follow  the  fortunes  of  Leif's  successors. 


THE  NORSE  VOYAGES  TO  AMERICA  213 

The  narrative  proceeds:  "Now  Thorvald,  with  the  advice  of 
his  brother  Leif ,  prepared  to  make  this  voyage  with  thirty  men." 
Sailing  doubtless  by  directions  supplied  them  by  Leif,  they 
reached  his  booths,  and  remained  there  during  the  winter  (of 
1005) ,  living  by  fishing.  In  the  spring  "Thorvald  said  that  they 
should  put  their  ship  in  order,  and  that  a  few  men  should  take 
the  after-boat  and  proceed  along  the  western  coast  and  explore 
(the  region)  thereabouts  during  the  summer.  They  found  it  a 
fair,  well-wooded  country;  it  was  but  a  short  distance  from  the 
woods  to  the  sea,  and  (there  were)  white  sands,  as  well  as  great 
numbers  of  islands  and  shallows.  .  .  .  The  following  summer 
Thorvald  set  out  toward  the  east  with  the  ship,  and  along  the 
western  coast."  Meeting  with  rough  weather  they  damaged  the 
keel  of  the  ship  and  after  repairing  the  damage,  set  up  the  keel 
on  a  cape,  which  Thorvald  named  Keelness.  "Then  they  sailed 
away  to  the  eastward  off  the  land  and  into  the  mouth  of  the 
adjoining  firth,  and  to  a  headland  which  projected  into  the  sea 
there."  Upon  returning  to  the  ship,  they  discovered  nine  na- 
tives lying  under  three  skin-canoes.  They  killed  eight  but  the 
ninth  "escaped  with  his  canoe."  This  detail  has  a  bearing  upon 
whether  these  canoes  belonged  to  Indians  or  Eskimo.  The  In- 
dians used  birchbark  for  canoes,  which  were  light  enough  to  be 
carried  by  a  man  in  hurried  flight.  The  Eskimo,  on  the  other 
hand,  used  sealskin  for  their  boats,  which  were  of  two  kinds: 
kayaks  and  umiaks.  The  kayak  carried  only  one  man,  whose 
body  was  tightly  enclosed  by  the  skin  stretched  over  the  top  of 
the  canoe.  Under  a  kayak  three  men  could  not  lie.  But  a  umiak, 
or  women's  boat  of  the  Eskimo,  which  carried  sixteen  or  twenty 
men  or  women,  could  not  be  grabbed  up  by  one  man  in  a 
hurry.  This  incident  indicates  that  Thorvald  found  Indians. 
Other  natives  now  arrived  in  canoes,  attacked  the  Norsemen,  and 
Thorvald  was  killed.  His  companions  buried  him  on  the  head- 
land and  named  the  spot  Crossness.  The  next  spring  (1006) 
they  returned  to  Greenland.  The  visitor  to  Point  Allerton,  the 
hill  north  of  Nantasket  Beach  in  Boston  Harbor,  will  find  a  small 
marker  placed  there  by  some  local  antiquary,  recording  that 
Norsemen  landed  near  that  spot  about  the  year  1000  and  that 
Thorvald  was  killed.  But  this  identification  is  but  one  out  of 
many  others.  Leif 's  booths  must  be  taken  as  the  starting-point 
from  which  to  lay  Thorvald's  course,  and  these  we  have  yet  to 
locate. 


214  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

Thorstein,  another  brother  of  Leif,  next  undertook  to  go  to 
Vinland.  After  losing  his  bearings  and  tossing  about  on  the 
ocean  through  the  summer  of  1007,  he  at  last  returned  to  Green- 
land. Thorstein  had  married  the  same  Gudrid  whom  Leif  has 
rescued  from  shipwreck,  and  she  accompanied  him  on  this  voy- 
age. The  Western  Settlement  where  they  lived,  located  at  the 
modern  Godthaab,  was  that  winter  attacked  by  sickness,  Thor- 
stein died,  and  his  widow  went  to  live  with  Leif. 

Thus  far  we  have  been  following  the  two  Greenland  narra- 
tives of  the  Vinland  voyages  found  in  the  Flatey  Book.  A  dif- 
ferent story  is  told  in  the  Saga  of  Eric  the  Red  in  Hauk's  Book, 
which  gives  the  Iceland  version.  After  tracing  the  ancestry 
of  Eric  the  Red  and  the  events  which  led  up  to  his  settlement  of 
Greenland  in  985  A.  D.,  this  saga  brings  Gudrid  into  the  story, 
first  as  taking  part  with  a  heathen  soothsayer  in  an  interesting 
ceremony  in  Iceland,  and  later  arriving  at  Brattahlid,  Eric's 
home,  with  her  father.  Nothing  is  said  about  their  being  rescued 
from  shipwreck.  Leif  Ericsson  is  said  to  have  gone  first  to  the 
Hebrides  before  reaching  the  court  of  Olaf  Tryggvason  and  there 
to  have  had  a  love  affair  with  a  high-born  woman.  He  sailed 
for  Greenland  in  the  year  1000  for  the  express  purpose  of  carry- 
ing out  the  bidding  of  King  Olaf  to  introduce  Christianity  into 
that  country.  He  was  driven  out  of  his  course,  and  "came  upon 
lands  of  which  he  had  previously  had  no  knowledge.  There  were 
self-sown  wheat  fields  and  vines  growing  there.  There  were  also 
those  trees  there  which  are  called  'mausur,'  and  of  all  these  they 
took  specimens.  Some  of  the  timbers  were  so  large  that  they 
were  used  in  building."  Nothing  is  said,  be  it  noted,  about  a 
previous  voyage  of  Biarni,  or  of  a  voyage  of  exploration  by  Leif 
and  of  his  wintering  in  Vinland  after  passing  and  naming  Hellu- 
land  and  Markland.  Thorstein's  voyage  and  marriage  to  Gudrid 
are  next  mentioned.  Thorvald  is  mentioned  only  as  taking  part 
in  the  voyage  now  to  be  described. 

In  1008  according  to  the  Flatey  Book  chronology,  but  1002 
by  this  saga,  there  arrived  at  Ericsfirth  a  wealthy  Icelander 
named  Thorfinn  Karlsefne.  He  was  entertained  by  Eric  with 
whom  he  spent  the  winter.  Karlsefne  married  Gudrid,  Thor- 
stein's widow. 

"About  this  time  there  began  to  be  much  talk  at  Brattahlid 
to  the  effect  that  Vinland  the  Good  should  be  explored.  .  .  . 
And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  Karlsefne  and  Snorri  fitted  out  their 


THE  NORSE  VOYAGES  TO  AMERICA  215 

ship  for  the  purpose  of  going  in  search  of  that  country  in  the 
spring.  Biarni  and  Thorhall  joined  the  expedition  with  their 
ship  and  the  men  who  had  borne  them  company."  These  com- 
panions of  Karlsefne  had  come  with  him  to  Greenland.  On  the 
expedition  were  also  Thorvald,  who  had  made  a  separate  voyage 
according  to  the  Flatey  Book  but  here  joins  Karlsefne;  another 
Thorhall  called  the  Hunter;  and  a  couple  named  Thorvard  and 
his  wife  Freydis,  who  was  a  natural  daughter  of  Eric.  Here 
again  there  is  a  conflict  in  the  story,  because  in  the  Flatey  Book, 
as  we  shall  soon  see,  this  couple,  accompanied  by  two  brothers, 
Helgi  and  Finnbogi,  went  to  Vinland  on  a  separate  voyage,  the 
last  of  the  series  of  six.  Karlsefne's  party  set  out  in  three  ships 
and  had  in  all  one  hundred  and  sixty  men.  Gudrid  accompanied 
her  husband.  The  date  was  1009  by  the  Flatey  Book  but  1003 
by  this  account.  Gathorne-Hardy,  alone  of  more  recent  writers, 
believes  that  the  voyage  could  not  have  been  undertaken  before 
1020,  basing  his  argument  upon  the  long  gap  that  there  would 
otherwise  be  between  the  birth  of  Snorri,  Karlsefne's  son  born 
in  Vinland,  and  Snorri's  grandson,  who  was  born  (by  actual 
record)  in  1085. 

The  voyage  of  Karlsefne  is  narrated  in  both  the  Saga  of  Eric 
the  Red  in  Hauk's  Book  and  in  the  Tale  of  the  Greenlanders  in 
the  Flatey  Book,  but  with  significant  variations,  which  we  will 
outline  as  we  proceed,  abbreviating  the  two  sources  as  the 
"Saga"  and  the  "Tale."  Karlsefne,  according  to  the  "Tale,"  ar- 
rived safe  and  sound  at  Leif's  booths,  which  Leif  had  agreed 
to  lend  him.  No  details  of  his  voyage  thither  are  given.  The 
"Saga,"  however,  relates  that  the  expedition  sailed  first  up  the 
Greenland  coast  to  the  Western  Settlement,  thence  to  Bear 
Island,  and  "thence  they  bore  away  to  the  southward  two 
'doegr'  "  to  a  land  characterized  by  "large,  flat  stones"  and 
"Arctic  foxes."  "They  gave  a  name  to  the  country  and  called  it 
Helluland.  Then  they  sailed  with  northerly  winds  two  'doegr,' 
the  land  then  lay  before  them,  and  upon  it  was  a  great  wood 
and  many  wild  beasts ;  an  island  lay  off  the  land  to  the  southeast 
and  there  they  found  a  bear,  and  they  called  this  Biarney  (Bear 
Island) ,  while  the  land  where  the  wood  was  they  called  Mark- 
land.  Thence  they  sailed  southward  along  the  land  for  a  long 
time  and  came  to  a  cape ;  the  land  lay  upon  the  starboard ;  there 
were  long  strands  and  sandy  banks  there.  They  rowed  to  the 
land  and  found  upon  the  cape  there  the  keel  of  a  ship  and  they 


216  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

called  it  there  Kiarlarnes  (Keelness) ;  they  also  called  the 
strands  Furdustrandir  (Wonder  Strands),  because  they  were  so 
long  to  sail  by."  The  reader  will  recall  that  in  the  other  account 
Leif  had  named  these  lands  and  that  Thorvald  had  set  up  the 
broken  keel  of  his  ship  on  a  cape  and  called  the  spot  Keelness. 
No  explanation  is  offered  in  the  "Saga"  of  how  that  keel  got 
there,  which  looks  as  though  it  were  not  as  circumstantial  as 
the  "Tale."  "Then  the  country  became  indented  with  bays  and 
they  steered  their  ships  into  a  bay."  Two  Gaelic  scouts,  a  man 
and  a  woman,  who  had  been  given  to  Leif  by  King  Olaf  and 
"lent"  to  Karlsefne,  were  here  set  ashore  and  told  to  explore  the 
country  to  the  southward.  At  the  end  of  three  days  they  re- 
turned; "and  when  they  came  again,  one  of  them  carried  a  bunch 
of  grapes  and  the  other  an  ear  of  new-sown  wheat."  This  would 
indicate  that  the  party  was  not  far  from  Vinland  or  Winerand, 
the  land  of  grapes;  and  the  "Tale"  expressly  says  that  Karlsefne 
reached  Leif's  booths  and  gathered  grapes.  But  we  shall  soon 
see  that  neither  then  nor  later  did  Karlsefne  find  grapes,  accord- 
ing to  the  "Saga."  If  the  scouts  could  find  them  in  a  day  and 
a  half,  why  could  not  Karlsefne?  Is  it  possible  that  we  have 
here  an  incident  that  really  belongs  to  the  voyage  of  Leif,  as 
related  in  the  "Tale"  ?  If  the  scouts  were  given  to  him  to  use, 
why  were  they  not  used  by  him?  Recent  opinion  tends  to  ac- 
cept Gathorne-Hardy's  contention  that  the  incident  of  the  Gaelic 
scouts  belongs  in  the  voyage  of  Leif  and  became  transposed  in 
the  tradition. 

The  "Saga"  now  continues:  Resuming  their  course  "Karlsefne 
and  his  companions  held  on  their  way  until  they  came  to  where 
the  coast  was  indented  with  bays.  They  stood  into  a  bay  with 
their  ships.  There  was  an  island  at  the  mouth  of  the  bay  about 
which  there  were  strong  currents,  wherefore  they  called  it 
Straumey  (Stream  Isle).  There  were  so  many  birds  there  that 
it  was  scarcely  possible  to  step  between  the  eggs.  They  sailed 
through  the  firth  and  called  it  Straumfiord  (Stream  Firth)  and 
carried  their  cargoes  ashore  and  established  themselves  there. 
They  had  brought  with  them  all  kinds  of  live-stock.  .  .  .  There 
were  mountains  thereabouts.  They  occupied  themselves  with 
the  exploration  of  the  country.  They  remained  there  during  the 
winter.  .  .  .  The  fishing  began  to  fail  and  they  began  to  fall 
short  of  food."    A  whale  was  cast  ashore  and  when  the  people 


THE  NORSE  VOYAGES  TO  AMERICA  217 

ate  of  it,  they  were  made  ill.  Later  the  fishing  improved  and 
game  was  obtained. 

A  verse  is  now  introduced  into  the  saga  that  is  generally 
admitted  to  bear  the  earmarks  of  being  very  ancient.  In  it  Thor- 
hall  the  Hunter  complains: 

When  I  came,  these  brave  men  told  me, 

Here  the  best  of  drink  I'd  get, 
Now  with  water-pail  behold  me — 

Wine  and  I  are  strangers  yet. 

This  verse  shows  that  Vinland  had  not  yet  been  reached  by  the 
party.  Moreover,  the  "Saga"  continues,  "Thorhall  wished  to 
sail  to  the  northward  beyond  Wonder  Strands  in  search  of  Vin- 
land, while  Karlsefne  desired  to  proceed  to  the  southward,  off 
the  coast."  Thorhall  sailed  to  the  northward  and  was  lost. 
Karlsefne  cruised  southward  with  Snorri  and  Biarni.  "They 
sailed  for  a  long  time  and  until  they  came  at  last  to  a  river, 
which  flowed  down  from  the  land  into  a  lake,  and  so  into  the 
sea.  There  were  great  bars  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  so  that 
it  could  be  entered  only  at  flood-tide.  Karlsefne  and  his  men 
sailed  into  the  mouth  of  the  river  and  called  it  Hop  (a  small 
land-locked  bay) .  When  they  had  been  there  two  weeks,  "one 
morning  early  .  .  .  they  saw  a  great  number  of  skin-canoes, 
and  staves  were  brandished  from  the  boats  with  a  noise  like 
flails,  and  they  were  revolved  in  the  same  direction  in  which 
the  sun  moves.  .  .  .  The  strangers  rowed  toward  them  and  went 
upon  the  land.  .  .  .  They  were  swarthy  men  and  ill-looking  and 
the  hair  of  their  heads  was  ugly.  They  had  great  eyes  and 
were  broad  of  cheek.  They  tarried  there  for  a  time  .  .  .  then 
rowed  away,  and  to  the  southward  around  the  point." 

Karlsefne  built  huts,  some  near  the  lake,  in  which  they  spent 
the  winter.  "No  snow  came  there  and  all  their  live-stock  lived 
by  grazing."  The  next  spring  the  natives  reappeared  in  skin 
canoes  and  began  to  offer  peltries  and  "grey  skins"  in  exchange 
for  strips  of  red  cloth  proffered  to  them  by  the  Norsemen.  Then 
a  bull  belonging  to  Karlsefne  ran  out  bellowing  and  the  Skrael- 
ings,  as  they  are  called  in  the  "Saga,"  hastily  rowed  away  "to 
the  southward  along  the  coast."  At  the  end  of  three  weeks, 
however,  they  returned  in  large  numbers  and  a  fight  ensued. 
The  Skraelings  had  war-slings  and  a  weapon  described  as  "a 
great  ball-shaped  body,  almost  the  size  of  a  sheep's  belly  and 


218  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

nearly  black  in  color,"  fastened  to  the  end  of  a  pole.  This 
weapon  they  would  bring  down  upon  the  ground  with  a  crash, 
causing  the  Norsemen  "in  great  fear"  to  retreat  up  the  river, 
until  they  came  to  certain  jutting  crags.  Thorbrand  was  found 
dead,  "his  skull  cleft  by  a  flat  stone"  (tomahawk?),  and  two 
others  killed.  The  Skraelings,  frightened  at  a  strange  gesture 
made  at  them  by  the  warlike  Freydis,  ran  to  their  canoes  and 
rowed  away. 

Karlsefne,  believing  that  the  region  was  too  dangerous  for 
settlement,  returned  with  his  party  to  Streamfirth.  Later  he 
sailed  in  search  of  Thorhall.  His  course  was  "northward  around 
Keelness  and  then  bore  to  the  westward,  having  land  to  the  lar- 
board. The  country  there  was  a  wooded  wilderness  .  .  .  with 
scarcely  an  open  space;  and  when  they  had  journeyed  a  con- 
siderable distance,  a  river  flowed  down  from  the  east  toward  the 
west.  They  sailed  into  the  mouth  of  the  river  and  lay  to  by 
the  southern  bank." 

The  "Saga"  now  relates  the  death  of  Thorvald  as  an  incident 
of  this  voyage  of  Karlsefne  to  the  north,  attributing  his  death 
to  an  arrow  shot  by  a  "Uniped."  "They  sailed  away  back  to- 
ward the  north  and  believed  they  had  got  sight  of  the  land  of 
the  Unipeds.  .  .  .  They  concluded  that  the  mountains  of  Hop 
and  those  which  they  now  found  formed  one  chain.  .  .  .  They 
sailed  back  and  passed  the  third  winter  at  Streamfirth.  Then 
the  men  began  to  divide  into  factions,  of  which  the  women  were 
the  cause.  When  they  sailed  away  from  Vinland  they  had  a 
southerly  wind  and  so  came  upon  Markland,  where  they  found 
five  Skraelings,  of  whom  one  was  bearded,  two  were  women  and 
two  were  children.  Karlsefne  and  his  people  took  the  boys  but 
the  others  escaped."  The  boys  were  taken  to  Greenland  and 
taught  to  speak  Norse.  "They  said  that  their  mother's  name 
was  Vaetilldi  and  their  father's  Uvaegi.  They  said  that  kings 
governed  the  Skraelings,  one  of  whom  was  called  Avalldamon 
and  the  other  Valldidida.  They  stated  that  there  were  no  houses 
there  and  that  the  people  lived  in  caves  or  holes." 

Much  learning  has  been  bestowed  upon  the  statements  here 
attributed  to  these  Skraeling  boys,  in  the  belief  that  perhaps 
they  may  convey  in  cryptic  fashion  some  information  about  the 
natives  with  whom  the  Norsemen  came  in  contact;  but  nothing 
definite  can  be  made  of  either  the  names  or  the  statements.  If 
the  boys  or  their  parents  really  bore  Indian  or  Eskimo  names, 


THE  NORSE  VOYAGES  TO  AMERICA  219 

these  names  have  become  hopelessly  changed  in  the  process  of 
being  handed  down  by  Norse  tradition. 

Let  us  now  compare  the  account  of  Karlsefne's  adventure  as 
given  in  the  "Tale"  (in  the  Flatey  Book) .  In  the  first  place,  the 
events  narrated  there  all  happen  at  Leif's  booths;  there  is  no 
mention  of  Karlsefne  landing  on  Keelness,  going  first  to  Stream- 
firth,  where  there  was  lack  of  food,  then  cruising  southward  to 
Hop,  then  going  north  in  search  of  Thorhall  with  Thorvard  as 
one  of  the  company,  meeting  the  Uniped,  returning  to  Stream- 
firth  and  from  there  setting  forth  for  their  return  to  Greenland. 
The  two  engagements  with  the  Skraelings,  however,  are  related 
with  some  variations  that  we  need  not  pause  here  to  consider. 

The  Saga  of  Eric  the  Red  is  silent  as  to  any  further  voyage ; 
but  the  Tale  of  the  Greenlanders  relates  that  Freydis  and  her 
husband,  together  with  two  brothers,  Helgi  and  Finnbogi,  who 
arrived  in  Greenland  from  Norway  the  same  summer  in  which 
Karlsefne  returned  from  Vinland,  undertook  a  voyage  to  Vin- 
land  in  two  ships.  The  brothers  had  the  larger  ship  and  after 
the  arrival  at  Leif's  booths  Freydis  tried  to  exchange  her  ship 
for  theirs.  As  she  had  smuggled  aboard  in  Greenland  five  more 
men  than  the  thirty  agreed  upon  for  each  ship,  the  brothers 
yielded  to  her  demand.  But  she,  intent  upon  picking  a  quarrel, 
in  a  scene  too  long  to  quote  here,  incited  her  husband  to  have 
his  men  seize  and  put  to  death  the  two  brothers  and  their  fol- 
lowers. Freydis,  being  unable  to  get  her  men  to  kill  the  women 
also,  did  so  herself  with  an  axe.  Threatening  to  wreak  vengeance 
upon  any  one  who  should  reveal  this  dreadful  deed,  Freydis  with 
her  company  sailed  back  to  Greenland.  Leif  finally  heard  of 
the  guilt  of  his  sister  but  said  he  could  not  punish  her  as  she 
deserved.  "Hence  it  came  to  pass  that  no  one  from  that  time 
forward  thought  them  worthy  of  aught  but  evil." 

Writers  on  the  Vinland  voyages,  until  Storm  wrote  his  epoch- 
making  Studies  on  the  Vinland  Voyages  in  1887,  accepted  the 
texts  of  the  saga  narratives  just  as  they  have  come  down  to  us, 
and  as  of  equal  value,  whatever  might  be  their  inherent  credi- 
bility; the  problem  was  to  reconcile  the  two  divergent  narratives. 
The  Flatey  Book  narrative  was  largely  followed,  as  giving  the 
fullest  account  of  Vinland. 

The  course  of  opinion  as  to  the  identification  of  the  localities 
reached  by  the  Norsemen  is  traced  by  Winsor  in  his  admirable 
survey  of  the  literature.    His  own  opinion  is  that  the  historical 


220  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

data  are  too  vague  to  permit  of  any  identification.  After  study- 
ing the  narratives,  he  says,  "we  end  with  the  conviction  that 
all  attempts  at  consistent  unravelment  leave  nothing  but  a  vague 
sense  of  something  somewhere  done."  A  summary  of  the  more 
important  opinions  as  to  the  regions  visited  by  the  Norsemen, 
covering  the  period  from  Torfaeus  to  Winsor  (1705-1889) ,  is  as 
follows : 

Undetermined.  "Estotiland." 

Labrador  and  Newfoundland. 

Newfoundland. 

South  as  far  as  Carolina. 

Greenland  ( ! ) 

Labrador  or  Newfoundland. 

Doubts  the  assigning  of  Vinland  to 

America. 
New  England. 

Long  Island  Sound.    Rhode  Island. 
"May   have   reached   the   shores   of 

Labrador." 
Somewhere  on  the  American  coast. 
"Legends  in  which  a  little  truth  is 

mingled  with  much  fiction." 
"Did  not  pass  Davis  Strait." 
"A  myth."    Leif  Ericsson  compared 

to  Agamemnon. 

In  the  Memoirs  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  the 
North  (1888),  Gustav  Storm,  professor  at  the  University  of 
Copenhagen,  presented  a  critical  study  of  all  the  sources  of  the 
Vinland  voyages  and  reached  the  conclusion:  "Weighing  all  that 
has  been  said,  it  will,  I  certainly  think,  be  safest  henceforth  to 
treat  the  account  in  GTh  [Tale  of  the  Greenlanders  in  the  Flatey 
Book]  with  great  circumspection.  Whatever  has  its  only  basis 
in  GTh  must  be  rejected  as  doubtful,  and  whatever  is  there 
found  at  variance  with  early  tradition,  as  wanting  historical 
foundation.  Accordingly,  Bjarni  Herjulfsson's  voyage  should 
no  doubt  be  omitted,  to  make  room  for  Leif  Ericsson's  voyage, 
and  the  voyages  of  Thorvald  Ericsson  and  of  Freydis  should  be 
comprised  in  the  great  exploratory  expedition  under  Thorfinn 
Karlsefni.  Geographical  data  and  description  relying  for  sup- 
port solely  upon  GTh  must  be  sifted  with  great  care  and  never 
admitted  save  when  borne  out  by  the  Saga  of  Eric  the  Red  (in 


1705 

Torfaeus 

1755 

Mallet 

1778 

Robertson 

1782 

Sprengel 

1793 

Munoz 

1818 

Barrow 

1829 

Murray 

1831 

Wheaton 

1837 

Rafn 

1840 

Bancroft  (3rd  edi- 

tion) 

1862 

Wilson 

1882 

Nadaillac 

1884 

Weise 

1887 

Massachusetts  His- 

torical Society 

THE  NORSE  VOYAGES  TO  AMERICA  221 

Hauk's  Book).    Not  till  this  has  been  done,  can  we  venture  on 
a  critical  investigation  of  the  geography  of  Vineland." 

This  position  of  Storm  has  been  approved  and  adopted  by 
many  later  writers  upon  the  subject.  The  latest  (1930)  Ice- 
landic contributor  to  the  problem,  Matthias  Thordarson,  director 
of  the  National  Museum  of  Iceland,  supports  Storm's  views,  yet 
says  that  the  Flatey  Book  "cannot  be  disregarded  entirely." 
Storm,  taking  Leif's  voyage  to  be  one  of  landfalls  only,  traces 
Karlsefne's  voyages  along  Labrador  and  the  northern  peninsula 
of  Newfoundland  (Helluland),  past  Newfoundland  (Markland) 
on  the  ocean  side  to  Cape  Breton  (Keelness),  thence  southwest 
past  the  sandy  shores  of  Cape  Breton  Island  (Wonder  Strands) 
to  one  of  the  bays  (Canso  Bay?)  in  Nova  Scotia.  Thorvald  was 
killed  on  one  of  the  rivers  flowing  into  the  bay  north  of  Nova 
Scotia. 

Reeves,  in  his  now  classic  work,  The  Finding  of  Wineland  the 
Good  (1890) ,  relying  upon  Captain  Phythian's  calculation  of  the 
latitude  as  49°,  based  upon  the  passage  about  the  length  of  the 
day,  contents  himself  with  saying  that  "if  we  may  rely  upon 
the  accuracy  of  this  astronomical  observation,  it  is  clear  that 
thus  far  south  it  (i.  e.  Wineland)  must  have  been." 

The  position  of  Professor  Storm  as  to  the  relative  value  of 
the  sources  was  attacked  by  a  competent  scholar  in  1914.  Wil- 
liam Hovgaard,  late  commander  in  the  Danish  navy  and  at 
present  professor  in  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology, 
based  his  work,  The  Voyages  of  the  Norsemen  to  America, 
(1914),  upon  both  of  the  main  narratives,  which  he  attempts  to 
reconcile.  His  work  was  the  first  to  introduce  illustrations, 
taken  from  photographs  of  the  spots  on  the  Atlantic  coast  with 
which  he  identifies  the  scenes  described  in  the  sagas ;  his  knowl- 
edge of  shipbuilding  makes  his  observations  on  the  seacraft  of 
the  early  Norsemen  valuable. 

Leif,  according  to  Hovgaard,  in  his  voyage  of  exploration, 
starting  from  Greenland,  sighted  Baffin  Land  with  Grinnell 
Glacier  in  the  background,  coasted  past  Labrador  and  New- 
foundland, then  turning  out  to  sea  in  a  southwesterly  direction 
reached  Cape  Cod.  The  climate  and  the  azimuth  of  the  sun 
mentioned  in  the  sagas  may  be  reconciled  with  this  region,  which 
abounds  in  grapes.  Thorvald  rounded  Cape  Cod,  crossed  Cape 
Cod  Bay  and  reached  some  headland  on  its  west  coast  (Nahant? 
Marblehead?).    When  he  comes  to  Karlsefne,  Hovgaard  intro- 


222  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

duces  a  new  theory  that  this  explorer  never  reached  Leif's 
booths.  Leaving  Greenland  he  coasted  Labrador  until  he  reached 
Sandwich  Bay  (Streamfirth),  then  continued  on  to  White  Bay 
(Hop,  Karlsefne's  Vinland)  on  the  east  coast  of  Newfoundland. 
On  his  voyage  northward  in  search  of  Thorhall  he  passed  around 
Cape  Bauld  (Keelness)  southward  to  Bonne  Bay  on  the  west 
shore.  The  Skraelings  were  Red  Indians  of  Newfoundland.  He 
spent  his  third  winter  at  Sandwich  Bay.  Hovgaard  insists  that 
any  claim  to  the  Cape  Cod  region  as  the  location  of  Hop  is  met 
by  the  absence  of  mountains  in  that  region.  The  Blue  Hills  are 
the  nearest  approach  to  a  mountain  in  eastern  Massachusetts. 

Professor  H.  P.  Steensby  of  Copenhagen  made  the  next  im- 
portant contribution  in  his  Norsemen's  Route  from  Greenland 
to  Wineland  (1918),  in  which,  relying  solely  upon  the  Saga  of 
Eric  the  Red  (in  Hauk's  Book) ,  he  describes  two  voyages,  Leif's 
and  Karlsefne's.  Vinland  cannot  have  been  Nova  Scotia  because, 
according  to  Fernald,  neither  wild  grapes  nor  wild  rice  grow 
there.  "Navigation  with  the  Norseman,"  says  Steensby,  "had 
the  character  of  coasting.  .  .  .  The  coast  lines  were  guides  for 
the  ancient  Norsemen  and  they  must  be  ours."  Hence  he  claims 
that  the  Vinland  voyagers  hugged  the  shore,  along  Labrador  on 
its  east  and  south  coasts,  up  the  St.  Lawrence  River  to  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Saguenay  (Keelness  headland).  Hop  was  at  St. 
Thomas  on  the  south  bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence  below  Quebec; 
Vinland  was  the  neighboring  region;  the  Skraelings  were  In- 
dians. 

Our  next  authority,  G.  M.  Gathorne-Hardy,  fellow  of  the 
Royal  Geographical  Society  of  London,  in  his  The  Norse  Dis- 
coverers of  America  (1921)  has  some  pointed  criticisms  of  the 
authors  we  have  just  reviewed:  both  narratives  are  to  be  con- 
sidered; the  climate  of  Nova  Scotia  with  a  low  temperature  of 
20°  below  zero  and  the  absence  of  vines  and  "corn"  rule  that  out 
as  the  site  of  Vinland;  "Wonder  Strands"  must  have  been  long 
indeed  to  impress  the  Norsemen  and  Karlsefne's  explorations 
through  three  years  and  cruises  of  "a  long  time"  call  for  a  wider 
stretch  of  coastline  than  Nova  Scotia;  at  Nain  in  Sandwich  Bay 
Karlsefne's  expedition  would  have  been  '"maddened  by  mos- 
quitoes in  the  summer  and  hopelessly  frozen  in  during  the  long 
winter";  the  "coasting  voyage"  claimed  for  the  Norsemen  by 
Steensby  is  not  borne  out  by  the  text  of  the  sagas;  Hop  could 
not  have  been  on  the  south  bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence  because 


THE  NORSE  VOYAGES  TO  AMERICA  223 

the  Skraelings  approached  by  canoes  from  the  south;  its  dif- 
ference in  climate  from  that  of  Streamfirth,  if  both  were  on  the 
St.  Lawrence,  would  have  been  inconsiderable,  yet  by  the  sagas 
this  difference  was  marked;  the  climate  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
valley  does  not  at  all  correspond  to  the  mild  winters  at  Vinland. 
Gathorne-Hardy's  critique  will  apply  to  the  theories  of  others 
who  locate  Vinland  in  the  St.  Lawrence  region.  Gathorne-Hardy 
accepts  as  a  fact  that  Karlsefne  did  reach  Leif 's  booths  in  Vin- 
land, and  proceeds  to  locate  the  latter  by  plotting  Thorvald's 
voyage  from  a  coast  facing  south.  "To  the  east  of  the  base  the 
land  must  soon  have  turned  towards  the  north,"  to  agree  with 
the  saga;  the  south  shore  of  the  Barnstable  peninsula  best  fits 
the  requirements;  Cape  Cod  was  Keelness.  "The  river  flowing 
from  east  to  west,"  which  Dieserund  declared  not  to  be  found 
anywhere  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  is  identified  as  Pamet  River, 
south  of  Provincetown.  Streamfirth  may  be  Long  Island  Sound 
and  Hop  may  have  been  located  on  the  west  tip  of  Long  Island 
on  New  York  harbor.  As  regards  the  "mountains  at  Hop," 
Gathorne-Hardy  thinks  the  text  possibly  corrupt  and  that  it  may 
not  refer  to  Thorvald's  voyage  at  all. 

The  limits  of  this  paper  will  permit  us  but  one  more  inter- 
pretation of  the  Vinland  voyages,  that  of  Edward  F.  Gray,  re- 
cently British  Consul  at  Boston,  in  his  Leif  Eriksson,  Discoverer 
of  America,  A.  D.  1003  (1930).  Mr.  Gray's  is  one  of  the  most 
comprehensive  treatises  on  the  subject  that  have  appeared,  and 
is  as  intensive  and  original  in  its  treatment  as  was  Storm's.  His 
theory  is,  as  concerns  the  Icelandic  texts,  that  incidents  that 
really  occurred  on  Leif's  voyage  of  exploration,  as  recorded  in 
the  Flatey  Book,  are  in  the  Hauk's  Book  attributed  to  Karlsefne, 
due  to  a  deliberate  intent  to  magnify  the  deeds  of  that  Icelander 
and  to  disparage  those  of  the  Greenlander,  Leif  Ericsson.  The 
reader  will  recall  that  the  Flatey  Book  narrative  has  been  called 
the  Greenland  version  and  the  Hauk's  Book  narrative  the  Ice- 
land version.  The  altered  passages  occur  in  the  Saga  of  Eric 
the  Red,  which  Storm  and  his  followers  have  contended  to  be 
the  only  reliable  version  of  the  Vinland  narratives.  In  present- 
ing the  account  of  Karlsefne's  voyage — he  reprints  Reeves'  texts 
— Mr.  Gray  has  rearranged  the  successive  incidents  in  a  very  in- 
genious and  plausible  way. 

"In  Iceland,"  says  Mr.  Gray,  "Biarni  was  apparently  unknown 
or  forgotten;  and  the  Iceland  narrator  was  thus  left  with  the 


224  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

necessity  of  finding  some  one  else  to  be  credited  with  the  first 
discovery.  This  he  does,  in  a  passage  obviously  interpolated, 
by  attributing  it  to  Leif  Eriksson,  whose  name  was  better  known 
in  Iceland.  ..."  In  the  Iceland  version  of  Karlsefne's  voyage 
appear  passages  that  relate  to  Leif's:  (a)  the  allusion  to  Leif's 
two  Gaelic  scouts;  (b)  the  move  from  Leif's  temporary  booths 
to  the  island  where  Leif  built  his  stone  house;  and  (c)  Leif's 
rescue  of  a  shipwrecked  crew  on  his  return  voyage  from  Vinland 
to  Greenland.  The  incident  marked  "b"  is  mentioned  only  in 
the  manuscript  AM  557;  the  confusion  caused  by  "c"  led  to 
statements  in  the  sagas  that,  as  Reeves  says:  "Leif  upon  two 
different  voyages  saved  the  lives  of  a  crew  of  ship-wrecked 
mariners  for  which  he  twice  received  the  same  title  (Leif  the 
Lucky)  from  the  same  people!"  Incidents  of  Thorvald's  voyage 
are  given  under  Karlsefne's,  that  really  belong  to  Thorvald's  in- 
dependent voyage:  (a)  the  story  of  Thorhall  the  Hunter;  (b) 
the  start  of  Thorvald's  relief  expedition  to  look  for  Thorhall; 
(c)  Thorvald's  death  at  Crossness.  Coming  now  to  Karlsefne's 
expedition,  we  find,  according  to  Gray,  that  the  Greenland  ver- 
sion mentions  but  one  ship;  Karlsefne's  voyage  is  called  "the 
beginning  of  the  Vinland  voyages,"  thus  ignoring  those  of 
Biarni,  Leif,  and  Thorvald;  also  we  find  allusions  to  persons  who 
took  part  in  Freydis'  separate  voyage.  Gray  claims  that  the 
Greenland  tradition  held  to  six  voyages,  which  became  merged 
into  three  in  the  Iceland  version. 

The  geography  of  the  Norse  voyages  is  treated  by  Gray  with 
evidence  of  wide  study  of  the  local  topography  of  the  Cape  Cod 
region,  where  he  locates  Vinland,  and  his  work  is  enriched  by 
many  reproductions  of  photographs.  His  reconstruction  of  the 
voyages  is  as  follows:  Biarni  sighted  in  succession  Newfound- 
land and  Labrador  and  Hudson  Strait;  Leif's  chance  discovery 
of  "strange  lands"  was  a  transfer,  to  Leif,  of  Biarni's  voyage. 
Leif  retraced  Biarni's  course  to  Newfoundland,  which  was  Bi- 
arni's first  landfall,  not  his  second;;  thence  Leif  coasted  Nova 
Scotia,  which  he  named  Markland  and,  putting  out  to  sea,  sailed 
on  until  he  sighted  Cape  Cod  and  landed  on  the  old  island  of 
Nauset,  now  washed  away;  then  southward  and  westward  into 
Nantucket  Sound,  where  he,  not  Karlsefne,  put  ashore  the  two 
Gaelic  scouts.  The  grapes  are  abundant  enough  in  that  region 
today;  the  self-sown  wheat  is  unidentified.  Leif,  again  not  Karl- 
sefne, sailed  westward  in  the  strong  currents  about  Martha's 


THE  NORSE  VOYAGES  TO  AMERICA  225 

Vineyard,  and  ran  his  ship  aground  at  Gay  Head  on  that  island. 
"Here  they  found  a  river  flowing  out  of  a  lake — the  old  Weiwatik 
River,  now  partially  replaced  by  Menemsha  Creek,  a  very  short 
distance  up  which  there  opens  out  the  tidal  lake  or  Pond  of 
Menemsha.  .  .  .  On  the  tide  rising  they  took  the  ship  up  the 
river  past  the  site  of  the  present  fishing  village  of  Menemsha 
and  anchored  her  in  the  lake."  This,  then,  was  Hop.  The  manu- 
script AM  557  here  adds  the  passage:  "Then  they  went  out  to 
the  island."  Which  island?  No  Man's  Land,  says  Gray,  just 
southwest  of  Martha's  Vineyard. 

The  scene  of  Thorvald's  adventure  is  Barnstable  Harbor. 
Kaiisefne's  expedition  is  said  in  the  Iceland  version  to  have  in- 
cluded three  ships,  in  one  of  which  there  must  have  been  eighty 
men — an  astonishing  number — apparently  due  to  the  merging 
of  Freydis'  independent  voyage  with  Karlsefne's.  The  expedi- 
tion of  Karlsefne  followed  the  track  of  Leif's  voyage  to  the 
island  of  No  Man's  Land,  mentioned  above. 

The  Skraelings  of  the  narratives  were  Eskimo,  not  Indians, 
Gray  believes.  In  a  conversation  that  he  had  with  Vilhjalmur 
Stefansson,  the  distinguished  authority  on  Eskimo,  he  was  told 
by  Stefansson  that  "it  is  a  common  custom  today  among  the 
Eskimo  ...  to  break  up  the  bones  of  any  animal  left,  extract 
the  marrow,  and  put  it  into  the  animal's  bladder  to  be  kept  as 
emergency  rations  on  the  journey.  With  the  jolting  of  travel- 
ling, the  marrow  becomes  mixed  with  the  blood,  unavoidably 
left  in  the  bladder,  and  the  result  is  just  what  is  described  in 
the  saga."  The  five  Skraelings  killed  by  Karlsefne  had  such 
vessels  lying  beside  them. 

Our  rather  lengthy  survey  of  varying  opinion  on  the  Vinland 
voyages  has  shown  the  difficulties  and  uncertainties  connected 
with  the  problems  involved,  which  may  be  grouped  thus:  (a) 
textual  uncertainties;  (b)  historical  credibility  of  the  sagas; 
(c)  geographic  identification. 

The  critical  study  of  the  texts  has  yielded  some  interesting 
results,  which  are  yet  to  be  "proved."  The  identification  of 
places  is  rendered  uncertain  partly  by  the  vagueness  of  the  saga 
descriptions  and  partly  by  the  many,  not  the  few,  localities  that 
have  been  sought  out  by  investigators  of  the  Vinland  voyages, 
each  one  of  which  localities  seems  to  "fit."  Finality  will  be 
reached  when  criticism  shall  have  expended  all  of  its  arrows; 


226  WILLIAM  STETSON  MERRILL 

but  that  situation  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  yet  been  reached. 
The  Catholic  contribution  to  the  subject  has  been  treated  by  the 
present  writer  in  1928. 

The  credibility  of  the  narratives  was  attacked  most  danger- 
ously by  the  eminent  explorer  and  scholar,  Fridtjof  Nansen,  in 
his  In  Northern  Mists  (1911).  Dr.  Nansen,  while  admitting  the 
great  probability  that  the  early  Norsemen  did  reach  the  shores 
of  North  America,  held  that  the  whole  literature  in  which  their 
voyages  to  Vinland  are  described  is  not  history  but  the  Norse 
version  of  classic  legends  of  the  Fortunate  Isles,  in  which  there 
are  also  incidents  derived  from  Irish  tales  of  legendary  voyagers 
— St.  Brandan  and  others. 

Gathorne-Hardy  devotes  twenty-one  pages  to  examining  and 
refuting  Dr.  Nansen's  conclusions.  Professor  F.  Jonsson  has 
pointed  out  that  while  resemblance  may  be  found,  the  difference 
between  fiction  and  fact  is  also  apparent  in  the  character  of  the 
Icelandic  narratives.  Yet  Hovgaard  seems  to  surmise  that  some 
elements  have  crept  into  the  narratives  that  show  the  influences 
to  which  Nansen  calls  attention.  Little  attention  seems  to  have 
been  paid  to  the  length  of  time  that  elapsed  between  the  dis- 
covery of  Vinland  in  1003  or  thereabouts,  and  the  earliest  possi- 
ble date  at  which  the  narratives  could  have  been  reduced  to 
writing,  about  1250.  The  Icelanders  were  noted  for  the  accuracy 
of  their  oral  traditions ;  but  to  determine  just  how  far  details  of 
events  have  been  preserved  in  their  first  integrity  through  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  is  no  easy  task.* 


*  Sources  cited  in  the  Text. 

Dieserud,  Juul.     Norse  discoveries  in  America..   New  York,  1901. 

Gathorne-Hardy,  Geoffrey  Malcolm.  The  Norse  discoverers  of  America,  the 
Wineland  sagas;  tr.  .  .  .  by  G.  M.  Gathorne-Hardy.     Oxford,  1921. 

Gray,  Edward  F.  Leif  Eriksson,  discoverer  of  America  A.  D.  1003.  New 
York,  1930. 

Hovgaard,  William.  The  voyages  of  the  Norsemen  to  America. .  New  York, 
1914. 

J6nsson,  Finnur.    Erik  den  Rbdes  Saga  og  Vinland.    Kristiania,  1911. 

Merrill,  William  Stetson.  "The  Catholic  contribution  to  the  history  of  the 
Norse  discovery  of  America."  Catholic  Ristorical  Review,  n.  s.  vol.  vii, 
pp.  589-619.     Washington,  January,  1928. 

Nansen,  Fridtjof.  In  northern  mists;  Arctic  exploration  in  early  times  .  .  . 
tr.  by  Arthur  G.  Chater.    New  York,  1911.     2  vols. 

Rafn,  Carl  Christian.  Antiqvitates  americanae;  sive,  Scriptores  septen- 
trionales  rerum  ante-columbianarum  in  America.  .  .  .  Hafniae,  1837. 

Reeves,  Arthur  Middleton,  ed.  The  finding  of  Wineland  the  good:  the  his- 
tory of  the  Icelandic  discovery  of  America;  ed.  and  tr.  from  the  earliest 
records  by  Arthur  Middleton  Reeves.  .  .  .  London,  1890. 

Steensby,  H.  P.  The  Norsemen's  route  from  Greenland  to  Wineland.  Co- 
penhagen, 1918. 


THE  NORSE  VOYAGES  TO  AMERICA  227 

Storm,  Gustav.  "Studies  on  the  Vineland  voyages."  In  Memoires  de  la 
Soci&te  Royale  des  Antiquaires  du  Nord.    Copenhagen,  1888. 

Th6rdarson,  Matthias.  The  Vinland  voyages,  tr.  by  Thorstina  Jackson 
Walters.  American  Geographical  Society  research  series  no.  18.  New 
York,  1930. 

Torfaeus,  Thormodus.  "The  history  of  ancient  Vinland.  .  .  .  tr.  by  Prof. 
Charles  G.  Herbermann.  ..."  In  United  States  Catholic  historical 
magazine,  v.  2  (1888)  no.  8  [appendix].     New  York,  1888. 

Winsor,  Justin.  Narrative  and  critical  history  of  America,  vol.  i.  Boston, 
1889. 

William  Stetson  Merrill 
Oak  Park,  Illinois 


THE  DAWN  OF  CHRISTIANITY  IN  MEXICO* 

Though  at  first  sight  it  would  seem  as  if  the  shipwreck  of 
1511  had  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  the  history  of  the  Church 
in  Mexico,  in  reality  it  is  closely  associated  with  the  origin  of 
Christian  civilization  in  this  country. 

For  Mexcans  it  is  a  great  honor  and  a  great  consolation  to 
be  able  to  say,  in  all  historical  truth,  that  the  first  words  of 
civilization  and  the  real  beginning  of  their  history  were  the 
praises  of  the  Most  Blessed  Virgin,  and  that  the  first  object 
known  to  have  reached  their  shores  was  a  book  of  the  Hours 
of  Our  Lady. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  year  1511,  a  Spanish  caravel,  under 
the  command  of  Captain  Valdivia,  on  its  way  from  Darien  to 
Hispaniola,  was  lost  on  what  was  known  as  the  Snake  or  Alli- 
gator Shoals.  With  great  difficulty  nineteen  men  without  bread 
or  water  entered  the  little  lifeboats,  poorly  equipped  with  oars.1 

After  suffering  great  mental  anguish,  seven  of  these  died. 
The  rest  succeeded  in  landing  "in  a  province  called  Maya,"  that 
is,  on  the  coast  of  what  is  now  known  as  Yucatan. 

All  of  them  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  very  cruel  cacique,  who 
sacrificed  Valdivia  and  four  others,  offering  them  to  his  idols. 
Their  bodies  were  eaten  amidst  great  festivities  and  rejoicing. 
The  seven  who  remained  were  locked  up  in  a  cage,  there  to  be 
fattened  and  to  be  used  later  in  solemnizing  other  festivals.  But 
these  prisoners  were  determined  to  end  their  lives  in  a  different 
manner;  they  broke  open  the  cage  in  which  they  were  enclosed 
and  fled  to  the  hills. 

Before  long  five  of  them  perished  and  the  only  ones  who  re- 
mained were  Jeronimo  de  Aguilar  and  Gonzalo  Guerrero. 
Jeronimo  de  Aguilar  lost  everything  in  the  shipwreck  except  the 
Hours  of  Our  Lady,  which  he  always  carried  with  him,  even  at 
the  risk  of  his  life.  In  the  daily  recital  of  these  Hours  he  found 
great  consolation  and  strength  during  his  eight  years  of  captiv- 
ity and  solitude.  In  the  year  1519,  Hernan  Cortez  found  him, 
and  thereafter  always  retained  him  as  his  interpreter.    Jeronimo 


*  Mariano  Cuevas,  S.  J.,  Historia  de  la  Iglesia  en  Mexico,  1921,  I,  pp. 
101-118.  The  translation  from  the  Spanish  text  is  by  Peter  P.  Forrestal, 
C.  S.  C,  Litt.  D.,  Saint  Edward's  University,  Austin,  Texas. 

i  See  Herrera,  D6cada  II,  Bk.  IV,  Chap.  VTI ;  and,  De'cada  I,  Bk.  DC, 
Chap.  II,  §§  1,  2. 

228 


THE  DAWN  OP  CHRISTIANITY  IN  MEXICO  229 

played  such  an  important  role  in  the  conquest  that  without  him 
it  is  very  probable  that  it  would  have  been  a  failure. 

In  the  spiritual  conquest  and  in  the  ecclesiastical  history, 
Aguilar  is  the  good  Christian  preserved  from  that  horrible  ship- 
wreck, who,  strong  in  faith  and  piety,  brought  down  the  mercies 
of  heaven  upon  Mexico.  He  was  the  first,  after  so  many  cen- 
turies of  abominable  idolatry,  to  entone  the  praises  of  the  true 
God  and  His  Most  Holy  Mother. 

The  way  to  salvation  began  to  be  prepared  from  another 
direction  six  years  later.  Among  the  adventurers  who  resided 
in  the  island  of  Cuba,  about  1517,  were  some  far-sighted  and 
courageous  men,  anxious  to  distinguish  themselves  in  the  service 
of  their  king.  These,  not  satisfied  that  the  sole  recompense  for 
so  many  hardships  should  be  the  narrow  limits  of  that  land,  an 
unhealthful  climate  and  a  miserable  existence,  conceived  the  idea 
of  setting  forth  on  an  expedition  of  new  conquest.  Among  these 
adventurers  there  was  an  old  Spaniard  who  was  a  good  Chris- 
tian, and  a  brave,  trusty,  frank  and  sincere  warrior.  His  name 
was  Bernal  Diaz  de  Castillo.    It  is  he  who  writes : 

"We  decided  to  muster  one  hundred  and  ten  companies.  ...  It  was 
agreed  that  a  rich  nobleman,  Francisco  Fernandez  de  Cordoba,  was  to  be 
our  Captain  in  the  task  of  seeking  and  discovering  new  lands.  In  order 
that  our  expedition  might  be  carried  on  in  the  right  spirit  we  decided  to 
take  with  us  a  cleric  from  the  town  of  San  Cristobal  [Havana],  whose 
name  was  Alonso  Gonzalez.  After  uttering  words  of  encouragement,  he 
went  along  with  us.  We  made  all  arrangements,  heard  Mass,  recommended 
ourselves  to  Our  Lord  God  and  to  His  Most  Blessed  Mother,  and  com- 
menced our  voyage  on  the  eighth  day  of  February  in  the  year  1517. 

"Once  on  the  high  seas  we  ventured  toward  the  west,  without  any 
knowledge  of  shoals  or  currents  or  winds  that  are  wont  to  prevail  in  that 
latitude.  Our  lives  were  in  great  danger,  because  soon  a  storm  arose  which 
lasted  two  days  and  two  nights.  Twenty-one  days  after  we  had  left  the 
Island  of  Cuba  we  came  within  sight  of  land,  and  we  were  very  happy 
and  gave  thanks  to  God.  One  morning,  March  4,  1517,  we  saw  five  canoes 
coming  toward  us.  .  .  .  and  the  following  morning  we  landed." — Bernal. 

The  secular  cleric  Alonso  Gonzalez  was,  then,  the  first  priest 
of  God  to  set  foot  upon  Mexican  soil,  landing  at  the  Cape  of 
Catoche,  March  5,  1517. 

The  adventurers  were  given  a  very  hostile  reception  by  the 
the  Indians,  and  the  very  first  day  saw  the  beginning  of  that 
series  of  combats  with  which  all  of  us  are  familiar  from  our 
general  history. 

"In  those  skirmishes,"  says  the  above-mentioned  witness,  "we 


230  MARIANO  CUEVAS 

captured  two  Indians,  who  later  on  were  baptized  and  became 
Christians,  one  being  named  Melchor  and  the  other  Julian."  It 
is  to  be  regretted  that  we  do  not  know  the  exact  date  upon  which 
the  first  sacrament  was  administered,  that  upon  which  the  first 
Mexican  received  supernatural  grace,  and  upon  which  the  first 
prize  was  snatched  from  the  tyrannical  dominion  of  Satan  in 
our  land.2 

The  fate  of  that  expedition  was  a  sad  one.  Driven  out  of 
their  course  by  the  tempests,  sick  and  poor,  they  resolved  to 
return  to  Cuba,  where  they  arrived  after  incredible  hardships. 
Their  unsuccessful  efforts  should  not,  however,  deprive  them  of 
a  place  in  our  history  nor  of  our  gratitude.  They  were  the  first 
to  imperil  their  lives,  and,  by  that  first  expedition,  furnished 
the  information  necessary  for  the  two  that  followed. 

The  first  one  who  took  advantage  of  this  information  was 
Juan  de  Grijalva,  a  brave,  quiet  hidalgo  from  Cuellar,  of  whom 
Fray  Bartolome  de  las  Casas  said  that  he  would  have  made  a 
good  friar. 

Juan  Diaz,  chaplain  of  the  fleet  organized  by  Grijalva,  kept  a 
diary  of  the  expedition.  We  have  made  use  of  the  Italian  trans- 
lation found  in  the  Colombina  Library  in  Seville,3  and  from  it 
have  culled  the  following : 

"On  Saturday,  May  1st  of  the  year  mentioned  (1518)  the  said  Captain 
Juan  de  Grijalva  set  out  from  Fernandina  Island  [Cuba]  .  .  .  and  on  the 
following  Monday  .  .  .  we  saw  land,  and  because  it  was  the  feast  of  the 
Holy  Cross  ...  we  called  it  Santa  Cruz.4  On  Thursday,  May  6th,  the 
Captain  ordered  one  hundred  men  to  be  armed  and  prepared.  These  leaped 
into  the  canoes  and  later  on  disembarked,  taking  a  cleric  with  them.  They 
reached  the  tower  in  an  orderly  manner.  .  .  .  The  Captain  climbed  the 
tower  together  with  the  ensign,  who  carried  the  standard,  which  he  planted 
in  a  suitable  place  in  honor  of  the  Catholic  King.s    He  took  possession  in 


2  In  a  letter  written  in  New  Seville,  November  7,  1519,  and  addressed 
to  Juan  de  la  Pefia,  we  read  that  fifty  Indians  were  taken  along  on  this 
expedition.  .  This  is  not  incredible,  and  when  we  consider  the  sufferings 
the  members  of  this  expedition  had  to  undergo  on  their  return,  it  would 
be  still  less  surprising  if  they  retained  them.  Trois  Lettres  sur  la  Decou- 
verte  de  Yucatan  et  les  Merveilles  de  ce-Pays.    Amsterdam,  1871. 

3  Itinerio  de  la  Armada  del  Rey,  Catolico  a  la  Isla  de  Yucatan  en  la 
India.  1518.  MS.  in  the  Colombina  Library.  Viajes  de  Ludovico  Varthema. 
New  designation:    12-3-34. 

4  The  document  is  defective  but  the  meaning  is  clear  and  should  be 
interpreted  as  noted. 

s  The  standard  of  Castile  was  violet,  the  color  which  modern  scholars 
have  given  it.  When  we  speak  of  Castile  in  the  time  of  the  conquest  we 
mean  all  of  Spain,  exclusive  of  the  kingdom  of  Aragon. 


THE  DAWN  OF  CHRISTIANITY  IN  MEXICO  231 

the  name  of  His  Majesty  and  desiring1  to  leave  evidence  of  said  seizure, 
placed  a  document  in  the  side  of  the  tower.  This  tower  was  terraced  and 
was  eighteen  steps  in  height.  Its  base  was  solid  and  was  eighty  feet  in 
circumference.  Above  it  there  was  another  small  tower  the  height  of 
two  men,  and  on  the  inside  were  certain  figures,  bones  and  ashes,  which 
were  the  idols  they  adored.s  The  tower  was  prepared  for  services  im- 
mediately and  Mass  was  said." — Juan  Diaz. 

Jesus  Christ  took  possession  of  His  Mexico.  Because  of  this 
the  sixth  of  May  should  be  a  day  of  great  solemnity  throughout 
this  country.7 

Grijalva  returned  to  Cuba,  a  defeated  man  and  broken  in 
spirit.  His  expedition  had  failed,  but  he  and  his  followers,  hav- 
ing discovered  the  grandeur  of  this  new  land,  encouraged  and 
in  great  part  went  to  make  up  the  third  and  final  expedition. 

With  eleven  vessels  manned  with  one  hundred  and  nine  sailors 
and  at  the  head  of  five  hundred  and  eight  soldiers,  Hernan  Cor- 
tez  weighed  anchor  in  the  port  of  Havana  on  February  18,  1519, 
and  struck  out  for  the  Cape  of  San  Anton  and  the  coast  of 
Yucatan  under  the  protection  of  his  special  advocate,  the  apostle 
Saint  Peter. 

Diego  Velazquez,  governor  of  Cuba,  although  regretting  that 
he,  had  entrusted  the  command  to  Cortez,  had  on  the  25th  of 
October  of  the  previous  year  given  him,  among  other  instruc- 
tions, the  following  of  a  religious  character.  These  exemplified 
the  faith  and  practices  of  the  conquistadors,  and  embodied  those 
ideals  which  were,  more  or  less,  put  into  practice. 

"First  of  all,"  the  instructions  State,  "the  prime  motive  which  should 
actuate  you  and  your  followers  is  that  this  voyage  redound  to  the  service 
and  praise  of  Our  Lord  God  and  to  the  spread  of  our  Holy  Catholic  faith. 
You  must  permit  no  one,  whatsoever  be  his  rank  or  condition,  to  speak  ill 
of  Our  Lord,  His  Most  Blessed  Mother  or  His  saints,  or  to  utter  any  sort 
of  blasphemy  against  His  most  holy  Name;  before  all  else  you  must  warn 
them  against  this,  and  those  who  commit  such  a  crime  are  to  be  punished 
according  to  law  with  all  possible  rigor. 

"You  shall  permit  no  public  sin,  such  as  prostitution,  and  you  shall 
see  to  it  that  no  Spanish  Christians  of  your  company  have  access  to  or 
carnal  relation  with  any  woman  contrary  to  our  law,  because  it  is  a  sin 
which  God  detests  and  which  is  prohibited  by  both  laws,  divine  and  human. 
You  shall  proceed  with  all  rigor  against  whosoever  commits  such  a  sin  or 


e  The  pyramid  discovered  in  Cozumel  by  the  Carnegie  Commission  in 
1925  seems  to  warrant  this  description. 

7  These  words  of  the  celebrant  himself  disprove  the  assertions  of  all 
who  maintain  that  the  first  Mass  was  offered  on  April  17th  or  March  25th. 
Either  of  these  dates  would  refer  to  a  Mass  said  by  the  chaplains  of  Cortez 
at  a  date  later  than  that  we  have  given  above. 


232  MARIANO  CUEVAS 

crime  and  chastise  him  according  to  justice,  being  guided  by  what  the  laws 
ordain  in  such  a  case. 

"You  must  endeavor  not  to  have  in  your  company  any  person  whom 
you  know  not  to  be  zealous  for  the  service  of  Our  Lord  God  and  their 
Majesties,  or  who  is  turbulent  and  fond  of  innovations  or  a  disturber  of 
peace;  and  you  shall  prohibit  dice  and  cards  on  all  your  vessels. 

"Because  in  many  parts  of  the  said  island  of  Santa  Cruz  and  on  top 
of  certain  tombs  and  burying  places  crosses  have  been  found  which  are 
said  to  be  held  in  great  veneration,  you  shall  find  out  by  all  possible  means 
and  with  great  care  and  diligence  what  significance  they  have  and  why 
it  is  the  natives  probably  have  had  or  have  some  knowledge  of  Our  Lord 
God  and  of  a  man  that  suffered  on  the  cross.  In  this  matter  you  shall 
exercise  the  utmost  care  and  you  shall  make  an  exact  report  on  all  this 
before  your  notary,  not  only  in  this  island  but  in  any  others  in  which  you 
find  the  said  crosses. 

"You  shall  use  great  diligence  in  investigating  and  learning,  by  every 
means  and  form  at  your  command,  if  the  natives  of  said  island  or  of  any 
of  these  islands  have  any  sect  or  creed  or  rite  or  ceremony  in  which  they 
believe  or  any  person  whom  they  adore,  or  if  they  have  mosques  or  any 
houses  of  prayer  or  idols  or  other  things  of  this  nature,  or  if  they  have 
persons  that  administer  their  ceremonies,  such  as  doctors  of  the  law  or 
other  ministers;  and  you  shall  make  a  very  extensive  and  detailed  report 
on  all  this  in  the  presence  of  your  notary  so  that  it  may  bear  the  marks 
of  credibility.  For  you  realize  that  the  principal  reason  why  their  Majes- 
ties permit  the  discovery  of  new  lands  is  because  in  these  parts  there  are 
so  many  souls  that  have  been  lost  to  our  faith  so  long  a  time  for  want  of 
someone  who  might  bring  them  the  true  light.  You  must  do  all  in  your 
power  to  explain  this  faith  to  them,  so  they  may  know  that  there  is  but 
one  God,  Creator  of  heaven  and  earth  and  of  all  things  in  heaven  and  in 
the  world.  You  must  tell  them  all  else  that  you  may  be  able  to  explain 
under  the  circumstances  and  of  which  time  will  permit." — Norm  of  action 
outlined  by  Velazquez.s 

We  do  not  claim  to  describe  the  conquest  of  Mexico.  It  is  a 
collection  of  historical  truths,  which,  like  a  heroic  poem,  is 
worthy  of  Spain  and  of  its  age.  We  must  limit  ourselves  to  a 
description  of  its  ecclesiastical  aspect,  that  is  to  the  more  or 
less  religious  characteristics  of  its  conquerors  and  such  acts 
of  theirs  as  bear  relation  to  the  propagation  of  the  Catholic 
faith. 

Hernan  Cortez  is  the  first  personage  of  our  political  and  mili- 
tary history,  and  he  also  plays  a  very  important  role  in  the 
ecclesiastical  history  of  the  period  we  are  considering. 

Hernan,  or  Fernando  Cortez  was  born  in  the  noble  little  town 
of  Medellin  in  the  province  of  Extremadura.    His  father  was  the 


s  A.  G.  I.  -1-1-12.    Apud  Alaman,  Disertaciones  sobre  la  Historia  de  la 
Republica  Mexicana,  265-270. 


THE  DAWN  OF  CHRISTIANITY  IN  MEXICO  233 

poor  but  honorable  nobleman,  Martin  Cortez  de  Monroy,  and  his 
mother,  Catalina  Pizarro  Altamirano.  During  the  years  1499 
and  1500  he  studied  at  Salamanca,  though  without  the  inclina- 
tion or  progress  which  his  father  had  expected  of  him.9 

In  1504,  when  on  the  point  of  sailing  for  Italy,  he  changed 
his  plans  and  set  out  for  Hispaniola,  where  the  commander 
Ovando,  a  relative  of  his,  gave  him  Indians  as  his  portion  of  the 
spoils  of  victory,  a  favor  which  he  enjoyed  until  the  year  1510. 
The  following  year  he  accompanied  Velazquez  in  the  conquest  of 
Cuba,  in  the  capacity  of  assistant  treasurer  to  Pasamonte. 

In  the  year  1517,  and  in  the  following  year  news  was  re- 
ceived of  the  unsuccessful  expeditions  of  Fernandez  de  Cordoba 
and  Juan  de  Grijalva;  but  at  the  same  time  it  was  learned  that 
those  regions  were  extremely  rich.  Because  of  this,  Cortez  de- 
termined to  enlist  in  the  armada  which  was  being  organized  by 
Diego  de  Velazquez  for  the  purpose  of  undertaking  these  con- 
quests. Intimate  friends  as  they  were,  Cortez  won  the  confi- 
dence of  Velazquez,  who  finally  appointed  him  captain  of  that 
armada. 

Sooner  than  Velazquez  had  expected,  and  against  his  will, 
Cortez  left  Havana  on  February  18,  1519.  After  touching  sev- 
eral parts  of  the  islands  of  Yucatan  and  Tabasco,  on  Good  Fri- 
day of  the  same  year  he  landed  in  what  is  now  known  as  Vera 
Cruz.  Two  years  later,  on  the  13th  of  August,  he  completed  the 
conquest  of  the  Montezuma  empire. 

In  1524,  driven  on  by  thirst  for  conquest,  he  undertook  the 
unfortunate  expedition  to  Hibueras,  or  Honduras.  He  returned 
to  Mexico  in  1526,  finding  everything  in  a  state  of  turmoil  as  a 
result  of  his  absence.  The  following  year  he  was  ordered  back 
to  Spain,  but  he  failed  to  carry  out  these  orders  until  the  year 
1528.  He  was  shown  every  sign  of  affection  and  gratitude  by 
Charles  V.  A  little  later  he  visited  the  sanctuary  of  Guadalupe 
in  Extremadura.  In  Extremadura  he  became  acquainted  with 
Juana  de  Zuiiiga,  whom  he  married  in  1529.  In  July,  1530,  he 
was  back  in  New  Spain,  though  he  did  not  reach  the  capital, 
being  prevented  from  doing  so  by  the  oidores,  judges  of  the 
Audiencia,  who  had  received  a  royal  decree  for  the  purpose. 


a  He  made  progress  in  Latin,  however.  The  conquistador  Luis  de 
Cardenas  tells  us  that  when  Cortez  did  not  want  certain  people  to  under- 
stand him  he  used  to  speak  Latin.  Zumarraga  wrote  long  sentences  to  him 
in  this  language. 


234  MARIANO  CUEVAS 

Once  more,  in  1532,  he  assumed  the  command  of  the  armada, 
which  was  setting  out  to  conquer  the  islands  and  the  lands  of 
the  South  Sea,  an  expedition  which  failed  also. 

Until  1540  his  life  was  a  series  of  disappointments  and  con- 
troversies, most  of  which  were  the  result  of  the  Juicio  de  Resi- 
dencia,  which  was  begun  in  1527,  renewed  in  1530,  and  lasted 
without  any  satisfactory  settlement  until  his  death.  He  returned 
to  the  court  in  1540,  and  the  following  year  accompanied  Charles 
V  on  the  famous  Algiers  expedition,  from  which  he  barely  es- 
caped with  his  life. 

A  series  of  quarrels,  rebuffs  and  contradictions  embittered 
the  rest  of  his  days  which,  as  he  himself  tells  us,  were  spent 
going  from  town  to  town  and  from  inn  to  inn,  and  which  came 
to  a  close  in  a  Christian  manner  on  December  2,  1547,  in  Cas- 
tilleja  de  la  Cuesta,  a  town  near  Seville.  For  some  time  his  re- 
mains were  kept  in  Santiponce ; ;  later  on  they  were  brought  back 
to  Mexico  and  buried,  not  in  Coyoacan,  as  he  had  requested,  but 
in  the  Hospital  Church  of  Nuestra  Sefiora,  now  called  Jesus 
Nazareno.  Were  it  not  for  the  levity  of  his  youth,  the  relations 
he  had  had  for  some  time  with  Dona  Marina,  certain  actions  of 
his  in  the  conquest  and  his  unjustifiable  and  cruel  conduct  to- 
ward Cuahutemoc,  Cortez  might  be  regarded  as  a  truly  famous 
man  in  the  world's  history. 

He  understood  and  lamented  his  outburst  of  passion.  Al- 
ready an  old  man  and  beset  by  persecutions,  we  hear  him  ex- 
claim :  "For  this  I  give  thanks  to  God  who  wishes  to  punish  me 
for  all  the  offenses  I  have  committed  against  Him.  May  He  be 
pleased  to  consider  it  thus  for  the  final  reckoning."  If,  as  we 
believe,  God  pardoned  him,  let  us  also  pardon  his  mistakes  in 
consideration  of  the  great  service  he  has  rendered  us  and  which 
all  Mexicans  should  acknowledge.    This  is  a  noble  attitude.10 

Speaking  in  general,  that  is,  not  including  certain  details  of 
the  conquest,  (since  historians  do  not  discuss  rights,  but  nar- 
rate facts),  we  have  all  the  documents  and  data  necessary  to 
show  that  Cortez,  and  a  fortiori  his  men,  acted  in  good  faith,  at 
least  subjectively. 


io  The  crime  of  uxoricide  of  which  Cortez  has  been  accused  could  not 
be  proved  at  that  time  nor  can  it  be  proved  today.  Nemo  malus  nisi  pro- 
betur.  The  fact  that  witnesses  mention  certain  marks  which  would  indi- 
cate choking  or  strangling  is  not  sufficient  proof.  They  may  have  given 
this  description  from  marks  they  had  observed  on  persons  murdered  in  this 
way  or  from  accounts  of  such  deaths.  They  themselves  were  not  eye- 
witnesses. 


THE  DAWN  OF  CHRISTIANITY  IN  MEXICO  235 

Hear  what  Don  Hernando  proclaimed  in  his  ordinances  of 
1524  and  1525: 

"I  exhort  and  beseech  all  Spaniards  of  my  company  who  are  going  to 
this  present  war  or  who  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty  go  under  my  command 
to  any  other  wars,  that  their  chief  motive  and  intention  be  to  withdraw 
and  wrest  all  the  natives  of  these  parts  from  the  aforesaid  idolatries  and 
to  convert  them  or,  at  least,  to  desire  their  salvation,  and  that  they  be 
brought  to  the  knowledge  of  God  and  of  His  Holy  Catholic  faith;  because 
if  this  war  were  carried  on  with  any  other  intention  it  would  be  unjust, 
and  whatever  might  take  place  in  it  would  be  censurable,  restitution  would 
have  to  be  made,  and  His  Majesty  would  not  be  justified  in  ordering  any 
recompense  for  those  who  served  in  it.  This  I  place  upon  the  conscience 
of  said  Spaniards,  and  from  this  moment  I  protest  in  the  name  of  His 
Majesty  that  my  principal  intention  and  motive  in  carrying  on  this  war 
and  any  future  wars  is  to  bring  and  to  convert  these  natives  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  our  holy  faith." — Cortez.n 

Through  these  fragments  and  through  others  of  the  same 
character  which  we  shall  reproduce  in  part,  it  is  clear  that 
Cortez  was  a  man  of  deep  faith  and  piety. 

"The  said  marquis,"  says  Bernal  in  speaking  of  Cortez,  "car- 
ried a  banned  on  which  was  a  device  representing  white  and  blue 
fires,  with  a  red  cross  in  the  center.  It  bore  the  inscription: 
Amici,  sequamur  crucem  et  si  nos  fidem  hahemus,  vere  in  hoc 
signo  vincemus.12  He  did  not  carry  large  gold  chains,  but  only  a 
little,  gold  chain,  beautifully  fashioned,  with  a  small  jewel  and 
the  image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  holding  her  precious  Son 
in  her  arms.  It  bore  a  Latin  inscription  to  Our  Lady  on  one 
side,  and  on  the  reverse  side  there  was  a  picture  of  Saint  John 
the  Baptist  with  another  inscription. 

"Cortez  prayed  several  hours  every  morning  and  heard  Mass  with  de- 
votion; he  had  Our  Blessed  Lady  as  his  special  patroness,  whom  all  faithful 
Christians  should  hold  as  their  intercessor  and  advocate;  and  he  had  like- 
wise great  devotion  to  Saint  Peter,  Saint  James,  and  Saint  John  the  Bap- 
tist. He  was  also  very  charitable  to  the  poor.  May  God  pardon  him  his 
sins  and  may  he  pardon  me  also  and  grant  me  a  happy  death,  which  is 
more  important  than  the  conquest  and  victories  we  have  had  over  the 
Indians." 

In  the  Cortez  statutes  we  read  the  following:  "The  same  is 
to  be  observed  in  respect  to  Our  Lady  and  all  the  saints,  under 


ii  Ordenanzas  de  Cortes.    Icazbalceta,  Vol.  I,  446. 

12  "Friends,  let  us  follow  the  cross,  and  if  we  have  faith  we  shall  con- 
quer with  this  sign."  Relation  de  Andres  Tapia  sobre  la  Conquista  de 
Mexico.    Col.  Icazbalceta,  11,  p.  554. 


236  MARIANO  CUEVAS 

pain  of  incurring  not  only  the  penalty  established  by  the  laws 
of  the  kingdom  against  blasphemers,  but  also  of  paying  fifteen 
gold  castellanos,  one-third  for  Our  Lady's  sodality  that  shall  be 
organized  in  this  region."13 

Cortez  ordained,  likewise,  that  "on  the  farms  and  in  other 
places  where  the  Spaniards  made  use  of  the  Indians  there  is  to 
be  a  special  place  for  the  image  of  Our  Lady.  Every  morning 
before  the  Indians  go  out  to  work  they  are  to  be  taken  there 
and  instructed  in  matters  of  our  holy  faith  and  are  to  be  taught 
the  Our  Father,  Hail  Mary,  Creed  and  Salve  Regina.  In  this 
way  it  will  be  evident  that  they  receive  the  doctrines  of  our 
holy  faith.  Failure  to  do  this  will  result  in  a  penalty  of  six  gold 
pesos,  to  be  applied  as  stated  above."14 

In  treating  of  his  companions,  those  that  followed  him  until 
1521,  and  considering  them  in  this  period  alone,  no  absolute 
statement  can  be  made,  as  is  always  true  of  human  beings  taken 
collectively. 

A  priori,  it  might  be  taken  for  granted  that  among  the  great 
numbers  that  came  to  Mexico  there  were  many  of  reproachable 
lives.  It  is  hardly  credible  that  all  the  seducers,  revellers,  pro- 
fligates, plotters,  and  the  rest  of  the  vagabonds  and  knaves  could 
have  remained  in  Spain ;  nor  does  it  seem  possible  that  they  were 
converted  by  enchantment,  as  it  were,  merely  because  the  sea 
lay  between  them  and  their  native  homes.  This  explains  many 
incidents  of  the  conquest  as  related  in  the  political  histories. 

There  is  a  very  curious  book  in  the  Archives  of  the  Indies, 
compiled  by  order  of  the  royal  council,  in  which,  apropos  of  the 
demands  made  on  the  Crown  by  the  first  conquistadors  and 
colonizers,  a  succinct  account  is  given  of  their  merits  and  serv- 
ices, and  also  data  on  the  lives  of  these  conquistadors  before  they 
crossed  the  sea.15 

After  studying  it  one  can  see  that  for  the  most  part  the  con- 
quistadors were  men  of  low  type;  many  of  them  had  fought  in 
one  faction  or  another  during  the  Comunero  wars  of  Castile,  in 
the  Italian  wars,  or  in  the  conquest  of  Granada.  These  came 
from  the  territory  subject  to  the  Crown  of  Castile;  for  to  this 
kingdom,  excluding  that  of  Aragon,  was  accredited  the  conquest 


13  Documentos  In&ditos  (Torres  de  Mendoza).  Orders  issued  by 
Hernan  Cortez  for  the  good  treatment  and  government  of  the  Indians, 
XXVI,  168. 

14  Idem. 

is  Archivo  General  de  Indias  en  Sevilla,  87-5-1. 


THE  DAWN  OF  CHRISTIANITY  IN  MEXICO  237 

of  America.  Most  of  the  conquistadors  of  Mexico  were  from 
Andalucia  and  Extremadura,  the  leaders  being  from  this  latter 
province  and  from  Castile.  There  were  many  Basques,  especial- 
ly among  the  sea-faring  men,  a  limited  number  of  Portuguese 
and  very  few,  if  any,  from  Aragon  and  Catalonia.  But,  prac- 
tically all  of  them  came  over  to  the  Indies  imbued  with  an 
Andalucian,  and,  to  a  still  greater  extent,  a  Sevillian  civilization. 
Prom  that  time  down  to  the  XVIII  century  the  heart  of  Amer- 
ica was  in  Seville,  and  Seville  offered  the  standard  of  culture 
and  even  of  ecclesiastical  discipline  to  the  secular  clergy. 

As  their  deeds  proved,  the  conquistadors  were  military  ad- 
venturers of  unexampled  valor  and  daring.  That  some  of  them 
were  cruel  can  not  be  denied.  To  their  rude  mentality  the  con- 
quest was  a  sort  of  continuation  of  the  Moorish  war.  Standing 
before  the  Indian  temples,  which  they  called  mosques,  and  with 
the  blood  of  the  victims  and  the  innocent  before  their  eyes,  with 
little  difficulty  they  convinced  themselves,  as  did  also  their  cap- 
tains, that  they  were  engaged  in  a  holy  war,  although  they 
realized  and  admitted  that  they  themselves  were  not  holy. 

From  the  study  of  the  above-mentioned  book  on  Ivlerits  and 
Services  it  is  also  evident  that  many  though  poor  indeed  in 
earthly  goods,  were  honorable  men,  of  good  birth  and  rightly 
married.  When,  later  on,  after  the  din  of  battle  had  died  away, 
we  shall  see  how,  as  it  were,  honor  sprang  up  among  them 
anew  and  how,  in  contrast  to  the  rabble  that  came  after  them, 
they  were  the  best  ecomenderos,  or  land-holders,  of  the  colony 
and  the  most  beloved  friends  of  the  Indians.  A  large  number 
of  them  even  took  the  religious  habit. 

"Among  the  conquistadors,"  says  Bernal  Diaz  in  one  of  his 
beautifully  constructed  paragraphs,  "there  was  a  certain  Alonzo 
Duran,  who  was  rather  old,  whose  sight  was  defective  and  who 
assisted  in  the  sacristy.  He  became  a  Mercedarian  friar.  And 
there  was  a  soldier  named  Sindos  de  Portillo,  a  native  of  Portillo, 
who  had  good  Indians  and  was  wealthy,  but  who  gave  up  his 
Indians,  sold  his  possessions,  distributed  all  he  had  among  the 
poor,  became  a  Mercedarian  friar  and  led  a  holy  life.  Another 
good  soldier  called  Quintero,  a  native  of  Moguer,  who  had  good 
Indians  and  who  was  very  wealthy,  relinquished  all  for  God's 
sake  and  became  a  Franciscan  friar  and  a  holy  religious.  An- 
other soldier,  Alonso  de  Aguilar,  who  owned  the  inn  which  is 
now  known  as  Aguilar  Inn,  located  between  Vera  Cruz  and 


238  MARIANO  CUEVAS 

Puebla,  was  a  very  wealthy  man  and  had  a  good  repariimiento. 
He  sold  everything,  distributed  the  money  for  the  glory  of  God, 
became  a  Dominican  friar  and  led  an  exemplary  life.  Another 
soldier,  a  certain  Burguillos  by  name,  had  good  Indians,  was 
well-to-do  and  left  all  to  become  a  Franciscan.  This  Burguillos 
left  the  Order  later.  Another  good  soldier,  named  Escalante, 
who  was  chivalrous  and  an  excellent  rider,  became  a  Franciscan 
friar.  Later  he  left  the  monastery  and  returned  to  his  triumphs ; 
but  after  a  month  had  elapsed  he  took  the  habit  once  more  and 
became  a  virtuous  religious.  Another  soldier,  Gaspar  Diaz,  a 
native  of  Old  Castile,  wealthy  in  Indians  and  successful  in  busi- 
ness, left  everything  for  God's  sake  and  went  off  to  the  lonely 
pine  groves  of  Huejocingo,  where  he  built  a  hermitage  and  lived 
as  a  recluse.  He  led  such  a  saintly  life,  fasted  so  much  and  used 
such  strict  discipline  that  he  became  emaciated  and  weak;  and 
he  is  said  to  have  slept  on  some  straw  strewn  over  the  ground. 
When  the  Bishop,  Fray  Juan  de  Zumarraga,  learned  of  this  he 
ordered  him  not  to  practice  such  rigorous  discipline.  The  hermit 
Gasper  Diaz  attained  such  fame  that  other  hermits  came  to  join 
him,  and  all  of  these  led  good  lives.  After  he  had  been  there 
for  four  years  God  saw  fit  to  grant  him  the  crown  of  glory." 

This  large  percentage  of  religious  vocations  sheds  much 
light  on  the  rest  of  the  conquistadors  because  we  judge  the  spirit 
of  a  community  by  the  proportionate  number  of  vocations  to  a 
more  perfect  life.  In  any  case,  whatever  may  have  been  the 
lives  and  faults  of  the  men  accompanying  Cortez,  they  were  full 
of  the  Spanish  faith  of  their  day,  a  faith  that  was  simple,  pious 
and  deep-rooted. 

There  were  only  two  ecclesiastics  on  the  Cortez  expedition. 
The  first,  and  the  one  whose  authority  bears  more  weight,  was 
Fray  Bartolome  de  Olmedo  of  the  Order  of  Mercy,  a  prudent, 
energetic  apostolic  man,  a  good  theologian,  a  preacher  and  a 
singer.  He  was  not  a  mere  troop  chaplain,  but  a  counsellor, 
though  in  important  matters  his  advice  was  not  always  followed 
by  Captain  Cortes.  In  religious  matters  he  always  spoke  with 
authority  and,  when  necessary,  protested  with  all  the  energy 
that  could  be  expected  from  one  of  his  character  and  calling. 
Shortly  after  having  taken  possession  of  Mexico  City,  Pedro  de 
Alvarado  set  out  on  his  conquest  of  the  South  and  of  the 
Zapotecs;  and  the  good  Fray  Bartolome  de  Olmedo,  "who,"  ac- 
cording  to   Bernal,    "was    a   holy   friar,    toiled    among   them, 


THE  DAWN  OF  CHRISTIANITY  IN  MEXICO  239 

preached  to  them,  taught  them  the  articles  of  faith  and  baptized 
more  than  five  hundred  Indians  in  those  provinces.  Indeed,  he 
v/as  weary  and  old  and  could  no  longer  walk;  he  was  occupied 
in  preaching  the  holy  faith  to  the  Indians  and  used  to  say  Mass 
on  an  altar  which  they  built  and  on  which  they  placed  a  cross 
which  they  had  already  worshipped,  because  they  had  noticed 
we  worshipped  it.  Then  the  friar  erected  an  image  of  Our  Lady 
which  Garay  had  brought  and  had  given  him  when  he  was  dying. 
It  was  small  but  very  beautiful  and  the  Indians  loved  it  very 
much.    The  friars  told  them  whom  it  represented." 

Olmedo  died  in  Mexico  City  at  the  end  of  October  or  the  be- 
ginning of  November,  1524.  The  lawyer  Zuazo  communicated 
this  knowledge  to  Cortez  in  a  letter  which  reached  the  latter 
when  he  was  on  his  way  to  Honduras.  The  letter  stated  that  the 
good  friar  Bartolome  had  died,  that  he  was  a  holy  man  and  that 
all  Mexico  bewailed  his  loss;  that  he  had  been  enterred  with 
great  pomp  in  Sefior  Santiago;  that  from  the  time  of  his  death 
until  his  burial  the  Indians  had  not  eaten  a  morsel;  that  the 
Franciscan  Fathers  had  preached  in  his  honor  at  the  burial  and 
had  stated  that  he  was  a  saintly  man  and  that  the  Emperor  was 
greatly  indebted  to  him,  but  that  the  Indians  were  indebted  to 
him-  still  more;  because,  if  Olmedo,  like  Cortez  and  the  other 
old  conquistadors,  had  given  vassals  to  the  Emperor,  he  had 
given  the  Indians  a  knowledge  of  God  and  won  over  their  souls 
for  heaven.  The  letter  stated  that  he  had  converted  and  bap- 
tized more  than  two  thousand  five  hundred  Indians  in  New  Spain 
and  that  Fray  Bartolome  de  Olmedo  had  on  more  than  one  oc- 
casion remarked  this  to  the  preacher  himself.  It  stated  also 
that  he  was  greatly  missed  because  with  his  authority  and  holi- 
ness he  was  wont  to  put  an  end  to  many  dissensions  and  disputes, 
and  because  he  was  very  good  to  the  poor. 

If  it  could  be  proved,  the  data  given  us  by  Veitia  about  Fray 
Bartolome  de  Olmedo's  having  written  a  catechism  would  be  very 
interesting. 

The  secular  priest  Juan  Diaz  was  also  one  of  those  who  came 
over  with  Cortez.  Don  Juan  de  Zumarraga  tells  us  that  Juan 
Diaz  was  an  old  and  honorable  cleric,  and  that  he  had  appointed 
him  to  hear  the  confession  of  Cristobal  de  Angulo  before  the 
latter  underwent  the  torture.  In  1649,  Bishop  Don  Juan  de 
Palafox  learned  from  Juan  Juarez,  who  had  it  from  hearsay  and 
who  was  very  far  distant  from  the  scene,  that  the  cleric  Juan 


240  MARIANO  CUEVAS 

Diaz  had  been  killed  in  Quechulac  for  having  destroyed  with 
flint  knives  the  idols  belonging  to  the  Indians.  Nicholas  de 
Villanueva,  another  witness  much  like  the  former,  heard  that 
they  had  stoned  him  to  death.  In  1608  Torquemada  learned 
from  the  Indians  that  they  had  made  him  suffer  a  violent  death, 
not  knowing  he  was  a  priest.  The  fact  is  that  the  manner  in 
which  he  suffered  Christian  martyrdom  is  not  certain.  His  body 
was  said  to  have  been  preserved  in  the  hermitage  of  San  Esteban 
in  Tlaxcala.  At  the  end  of  the  XVI  century,  in  several  of  the 
Franciscan  convents,  there  were  paintings  that  represented  him 
baptizing  the  principal  citizens  of  Tlaxcala  and  Texcoco. 

In  1521,  another  Mass  cleric,  who  had  arrived  with  Narvaez, 
was  hanged  because  he  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  conspirators 
against  Cortez.  In  1524,  two  Mercedarian  friars  accompanied 
Zuazo,  but  only  one  of  them  reached  Mexico.  That  was  Fray 
Juan  de  las  Varillas,  "who  was  wont  to  say  that  he  had  studied 
his  theology  in  the  college  of  Santa  Cruz  in  Salamanca,  his  birth 
place,  and  that  he  was  considered  of  very  noble  lineage."  An- 
other cleric  came  also.  This  might  have  been  Pedro  de  Villagran, 
mentioned  in  the  Cabildo  records  of  May  30,  1535,  as  parish 
priest  for  Mexico  City.  Among  the  first  clerics,  mention  is  also 
made  of  Marcos  de  Melgarejo,  Juan  Godinez,  Juan  Ruiz  de 
Guevara,  and  a  certain  Martin,  who  had  a  bachelor's  degree  and 
who  said  his  first  Mass  in  Mexico.  Those,  however,  who  can 
rightfully  be  regarded  as  pioneers  were  Fray  Bartolome  de 
Olmedo  and  the  licentiate  Juan  Diaz.  Fray  Juan  de  Zumarraga 
mentions,  besides  Juan  Diaz,  Francisco  Martinez,  Luis  Mendez 
Tollado  and  Diego  Velazquez  among  the  clerics  of  the  conquest, 
although,  as  Bishop  Palafox  imagines,  all  of  these  might  not 
have  come  with  Cortez. 

Mariano  Cuevas 


GONZALO  DE  TAPIA 

Un  Conquistador  de  Dios 
1561-1594 

Hubert  Howe  Bancroft  tells  us  that  from  1591  to  1767  north- 
western Mexico  writes  its  history  from  the  records  of  the  Jesuit 
missionaries1  Now  this  opinion  was  written  without  knowledge 
of  the  government  archives  in  Seville,  and  hence  should  be  modi- 
fied to  some  extent,  but  it  states  the  major  point  of  importance 
to  the  student  of  our  southwestern  history.  For  the  missionaries 
not  only  preserved  the  best  account  of  the  Spanish  advance  up 
the  Pacific  slope,  but  they  actually  made  much  of  the  history  of 
that  movement.  The  beginning  of  that  advance  is  the  subject  of 
this  story.  The  start  in  Sinaloa  formed  the  nucleus  of  a  wide 
system  'that  in  its  maturity  brought  the  colonies  of  Spain  to 
the  distant  borderlands  of  Arizona  and  California. 

The  earliest  permanent  settlements  in  New  Spain  were  the 
product  of  conquest.  The  natives  naively  enough  could  not  un- 
derstand the  mixed  imperial  motives  of  colonizing,  Christian- 
izing, protecting  and  exploiting  the  despoiled  peoples,  and  they 
resisted  to  death  the  coming  of  the  white  man.  Philip  II  saw  the 
inhumanity  and  the  waste  in  the  military  policy,  and  in  1573 
gave  orders  that  henceforth  only  peaceful  weapons  might  be 
used  in  expanding  the  dominions  of  his  majesty.2 

Such  weapons  were  lying  plentiful  in  the  arsenals  of  his 
country.  The  religious  orders  were  in  their  heyday.  It  is  a 
curious  commentary  on  the  much-heralded  evils  of  the  sixteenth 
century  that  that  same  century  witnessed  a  burst  of  Christian 
zeal  such  as  had  not  been  seen  since  the  days  of  Gregory  the 
Great.  Thousands  of  men  and  women  who  lived  under  vows  of 
high  resolve  yearned  to  give  their  fullest  efforts  for  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  those  whom  they  called  "the  heathen."3 

This  missionary  work  had  early  fallen  to  the  good  fortune 
of  the  Franciscans  and  other  orders,  and  the  followers  of  the 
holy  man  of  Assisi  merited  well  the  esteem  and  trust  in  which 
they  were  held.4  The  day  came,  however,  when  the  field  was  too 
large  for  their  numbers,  and  a  combination  of  Pope,  King,  Vice- 


i  North  Mexican  States  and  Texas,  I,  119. 

2  Cf .  Bolton,  Spanish  Borderlands,  C.  vi. 

s  Cf .  Thurston,  No  Popery  on  the  point. 

*  Introduction  to  Engelhardt's  Missions  and  Missionaries  of  California. 

241 


242  w-  EUGENE  SKIELS 

roy,  and  local  clergy  brought  the  Jesuits  to  Mexico.5  Their  first 
settled  habitation  was  taken  over  in  Mexico  City  in  1572.  For 
eighteen  years  they  put  their  chief  interest  into  works  of  educa- 
tion and  assistance  of  the  local  parishes  in  cities  and  semi- 
civilized  neighboring  pueblos.  (The  term  "civilized"  is  used  in 
a  restricted  sense,  as  is  proper  when  one  considers  the  attain- 
ments of  the  Nahuas  before  the  white  man  ruled  them.) 

The  distinctly  missionary  work  of  the  Jesuits  owes  much  of 
its  impetus  to  Rodrigo  del  Rio  y  Loza,  the  companion  of  Fran- 
cisco Ibarra  and  the  one  who  reaped  much  of  his  harvest.6  This 
dashing  hidalgo  had  settled  down  after  his  roamings,  in  the  gov- 
ernorship of  Nueva  Vizcaya,  the  seat  of  which  was  Zacatecas. 
He  ruled  over  the  districts  of  Zacatecas  and  Sinaloa,  embracing 
the  present  province  of  Durango  and  extending  up  until  they 
were  lost  in  the  Northern  Mystery.  He  took  a  special  interest 
in  Sinaloa,  where  he  and  his  illustrious  forbears  in  the  list  of 
exploring  conquistadores  had  begun  or  ended  most  of  their  ex- 
peditions. His  youth  gone,  his  pastures  grazing  more  cattle  than 
any  ranchero  of  his  time,  his  reputation  made,  Rio  y  Loza  gave 
thought  to  the  larger  things  of  life.  He  would  see  the  province 
of  Sinaloa  a  flourishing  civilization  and  its  Indians  brought  to 
Christianity.  From  1585  to  1590  he  appealed  to  the  provincial 
of  the  Jesuits  in  Mexico,  Father  Mendoza,  to  send  him  some 
missionaries.7  A  colony  of  Jesuits  had  been  at  Zacatecas  for 
some  years,  and  he  liked  their  work.  He  had  spoken  to  one  of 
their  number  about  going  far  north  to  New  Mexico. s  Perhaps 
his  appeals  to  Mendoza  asked  the  two-fold  mission — the  wise 
petitioner  requesting  twice  what  he  hopes  to  receive. 

Now  Mendoza  was  reluctant  to  send  any  Jesuits  on  such  an 
enterprise,  and  so  was  his  successor,  Father  Pedro  Diaz,  who 
took  office  in  1590.°  But  there  was  then  present  in  Mexico  a 
representative  of  the  Jesuit  Father  General,  Father  Avellaneda, 


■r»  Florencia  Historia  de  la  Provincia  de  la  Compania  de  Jesus  en  Nueva 
Espafia.  Also  Astrain,  Flistoria  de  la  Compania  de  Jesus  en  la  Assistencia 
de  Espafia,  IV,  403  sq.,  and  Alegre,  Historia  de  la  Compania  de  Jesus  in 
Provincia  Mexicana,  I,  passim.    The  latter  is  the  best  work. 

e  Perez  de  Ribas,  Historia  de  los  Triumphos  de  la  Santa  Fe  in  Sinaloa. 
Ribas  was  a  personal  friend  of  Rio  y  Loza. 

?  Tapia  to  the  Father  General,  August  2,  1592. 

s  Albieuri,  Historia  de  los  Missiones  Apostolicos  de  Compania  de  Jesus 
in  Indos  Orientales  y  Nueva  Vizcaya.  Manuscript  work  of  1633  now  in  the 
Bancroft  Library,  University  of  California. 

s  Astrain,  IV,  427,  et  seq.  Cuevas,  Historia  de  la  Iglesia  in  Mexico, 
II,  345-352,  opposes  the  view  of  Astrain  with  some  force. 


GONZALO  DE  TAPIA  243 

sent  as  a  Visitor  to  look  over  the  affairs  of  the  new  province. 
His  authority  overruled  the  reserve  of  Diaz  and  he  gave  the  word 
that  began  the  mission  of  Sinaloa.  Accordingly  Diaz  informed 
Rio  y  Loza  that  he  might  have  two  Fathers,  Martin  Perez  and 
Gonzalo  de  Tapia,  for  whatever  work  he  desired  among  the  sav- 
ages. As  superior  of  the  newly  constituted  domus  he  named 
Father  Tapia. 

Tapia,  then,  was  the  founder  of  the  Jesuit  missions  on  the 
Pacific  slope  of  New  Spain,  and  he  likewise  became  their  first 
martyr.  Only  three  years  did  he  spend  in  constructing  the  basis 
of  this  edifice,  but  he  did  it  remarkably  well,  and  he  gave  his 
life's  blood  to  make  it  permanent.  As  the  leading  figure  in 
the  first  hundred  years  of  these  missions,  and  one  of  the  best 
known  Jesuits  in  the  world  of  those  days,  his  biography  demands 
attention.10 

He  was  born  in  1581  at  Leon  in  Castile,  just  over  the  moun- 
tains from  historic  Covadonga.11  His  parents  were  of  noble 
blood.  His  brothers  all  followed  the  career  of  arms  and  died 
young  in  the  service.  Gonzalo,  sole  heir  to  the  name  and  rev- 
enues of  his  house,  received  a  thorough  classical  course  at  the 
local  Jesuit  college,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  forswore  his  worldly 
possessions  for  a  life  as  a  Jesuit  priest.  He  finished  his  course 
of  studies  in  the  Order  in  eight  years,  and  then  further  dispos- 
sessed himelf  by  leaving  his  own  country  and  going  to  Mexico  as 
a  missionary.  After  a  year  of  lecturing  as  substitute  for  a  dis- 
abled professor  of  philosophy  he  was  ordained  priest.  His  su- 
periors wished  him  to  go  on  for  the  doctorate  of  theology,  so 
unusual  were  his  talents  and  personality.12  But  his  pleading  re- 
leased him  from  this  duty  and  he  entered  on  the  immediate 
preparation  for  his  mission  work. 

At  Patzcuaro  was  a  school  for  Indians  and  a  curriculum  for 
Jesuits  studying  native  languages.13  Sickness  had  made  a  va- 
cancy here,  and  Tapia  was  given  the  place.  He  intended  to  leam 
the  languages,  and  in  practical  contact  with  the  natives  to  come 
to  understand  their  way  of  thinking.     A  year  of  this  effort 


10  Confer  the  Menologies  S.  J.  of  Tanner,  Drews,  Nadas,  Guilhermy, 
Patrignani,  etc.,  for  July  10  or  July  11.  The  Anuas  from  1595  onward 
record  July  11  as  the  correct  date. 

ii  Albieuri  has  the  best  data  on  his  early  life. 

12  Father  Ramirez,  a  schoolmate  of  Tapia,  and  others  from  Leon  are 
quoted  in  Albieuri.     Perez  de  Ribas  concurs  with  them. 

13  Letter  of  Tarascan  Indians  in  Documentos  para  la  Historia  de 
Sinaloa/'  45a,  in  Bancroft  Library. 


244  W-  EUGENE  SHIELS 

merited  high  commendation  from  his  provincial,  who  then  or- 
dered him  into  retirement  for  ten  months  to  make  his  tertianship 
and  prepare  for  his  last  solemn  vows.  This  final  step  in  his 
Jesuit  course  was  taken  in  the  spring  of  1587. 

Now  Tapia  was  assigned  to  itinerary  mission  work  among 
the  Tarascans  and  Mexico  mountain  Indians.  His  charges  were 
those  employed  in  mines  or  on  plantations,  and  were  called 
"peones,"  a  term  meaning  laborers  and  then  devoid  of  its  present 
ugly  connotation.  The  Chichimecos  of  the  Zacatecas  country 
heard  of  him  and  got  their  governor  to  have  him  assigned  to 
care  for  them.  He  made  marked  progress  with  this  tribe  and 
his  reputation  had  become  so  great  that  he  was  summoned  to 
Mexico  to  represent  the  conditions  of  the  missions  in  the  pro- 
vincial congregation  of  the  Order  in  1588-89.  Returning,  he 
found  that  the  Franciscan  Fathers  had  taken  over  the  pueblos 
which  he  had  inaugurated  for  these  Chichimecos,  so  he  turned 
to  class  work  in  the  Jesuit  Indian  college  of  Zacatecas.14  He  was 
here  when  he  got  the  message  to  report  to  Rio  y  Loza  early  in 
1591.15 

The  interview  over,  Tapia  and  Perez  rode  out  alone  south- 
westward  to  Acaponeta,  to  avoid  the  Indian  war  at  Topia  on  the 
ordinary  trail  to  Sinaloa.16  Thence  they  turned  and  followed 
the  coastline  through  San  Miguel,  Culiacan  and  Mocorito  to  San 
Felipe  y  Santiago  where  they  fixed  their  permanent  head- 
quarters.17 San  Felipe  was  the  remnant  of  an  old  foundation 
of  Ibarra  that  had  since  been  decimated  by  the  natives  so  badly 
that  only  five  Spaniard  backwoodsmen  were  there  in  1591.  About 
a  month  was  spent  in  learning  the  Sinaloa  dialect,  and  then  the 
missioners  divided  the  field  and  began  work.  The  Indians  were 
hostile  at  first,  mindful  of  earlier  meetings  with  white  men,  but 
they  softened  when  they  recognized  the  unselfishness  of  the 
priests'  purposes.  Soon  chapels  were  erected,  hundreds  were 
baptized,  and  the  civilizing  influence  of  Christianity  made  itself 
felt.18 

Next  year  two  more  men  joined  Perez  and  Tapia.  Tapia 
himself,  after  reallocating  his  workers  and  mapping  plans,  trav- 


i*  Albieuri,  265. 

is  They  met  at  Durango,  then  called  Guadiana. 
i6  Tapia  to  Acquiviva  as  noted  above. 

i7  On  contemporary  geography  cf.  Purchas,  His  Pilgrimes,  IV. 
is  The   Annas,  or  Litterae  Annnae,  from   the  Mexican  provincial   to 
Acquaviva,  1591  to  1595,  give  long  accounts  of  the  work. 


GONZALO  DE  TAPIA  245 

eled  back  to  Mexico  to  report  to  his  provincial  and  to  the  vice- 
roy. The  latter  agreed  to  give  a  stipend  to  support  the  mission.19 
This  journey  was  also  a  success  in  the  interest  it  roused  in  the 
city,  regarding  the  new  venture  that  promised  so  much  for  the 
future  of  Spanish  aims. 

Returning  in  1593  Tapia  reattacked  the  labor  and  furthered 
the  organization  of  the  mission.  At  Christmas  the  four  Fathers 
held  a  reunion  of  joy  and  mutual  encouragement  and  promise. 
The  work  went  on  with  energy  and  the  reward  of  conversions 
and  the  beginnings  of  some  semblance  of  culture.  There  was 
opposition,  as  one  would  expect,  especially  from  the  older  In- 
dians, who  were  found  generally  intractable.  One  of  them, 
Nacabeba  of  Tovorapa,  plotted  the  death  of  Tapia;  and  on  July 
11,  1594,  at  sundown,  as  he  knelt  to  say  his  rosary  and  prepare 
for  sleep,  he  was  struck  with  a  sword.  Dying  he  crawled  toward 
the  church  to  end  his  life  on  the  altar,  but  a  native  cut  off  his 
head.  His  relics  are  held  in  veneration  and  he  is  listed  as  a 
martyr  in  the  annals  of  his  day.20 

Tapia's  death  brought  the  government  to  establish  a  presidio 
at  San  Felipe,  and  to  adopt  this  protection  as  a  regular  thing 
for  the  future  missions.21  Tapia  organized  the  first  really 
thorough  mission  work  of  the  Jesuits  of  New  Spain.  He  wrote 
catechisms  and  grammars  in  the  native  tongues.  He  outlined  the 
method  of  grouping  the  savages  in  pueblos  round  the  central 
church  of  the  district.  He  got  the  head  of  the  Jesuit  province 
to  establish  a  school  for  his  young  converts,  thus  to  perpetuate 
his  work  and  in  time  to  set  up  a  native  clergy.  But  more  effec- 
tive than  his  scheme  of  administration  was  his  personality,  that 
welded  his  men  into  a  vigorous  group  and  convinced  the  Indians 
that  all  that  was  Spanish  was  not  bloodly  and  avaricious.  He 
was  an  inspiring  example  of  what  he  taught  them  to  be.  It  was 
men  like  Tapia  who  roused  the  Indian  to  elevate  himself,  until 
in  later  times  we  see  direct  descendants  of  these  same  barbarians 
in  the  highest  positions  of  church  and  state  in  Mexico. 

W.  Eugene  Shiels,  S.  J. 
San  Francisco,  California. 


is  Astrain,  ib.,  432. 

20  Santiago  to  Diaz,  July,  1594.    Albieuri,  ib. 

2i  Letters  of  Perez,  Santiago,  Velasco  to  provincial  Father  Paez,  1595. 


THE  SHAWNEETOWN-TO-CAIRO  MISSION  TRAIL 

In  the  early  half  of  the  last  century  and  later  there  came 
from  Ireland  and  Germany  and  from  England  to  a  lesser  extent, 
immigrants  of  a  sturdy  Catholic  faith  to  seek  a  homestead  some- 
where in  the  state  of  Illinois.  A  perusal  of  the  Catholic  Direc- 
tories of  those  years  evidences  that  an  effort  was  made,  evident- 
ly by  priests  and  bishops,  to  secure  such  immigration  and  settle- 
ment within  the  state  of  Illinois  by  the  offer  of  fertile  and  cheap 
land.  Many  of  these  pioneer  immigrants,  however,  drifted,  as 
chance  might  lead  them,  to  some  spot  in  the  wilderness  where 
they  built  their  one-room  cabins  to  shelter  a  family.  Too  many 
of  these  earliest  pioneers  passed  over  the  most  fertile  soils  to 
choose  at  a  greater  distance  the  very  poorest.  While  it  is  true 
that  much  of  the  richest  soil  then  was  undrained  and  swampy, 
large  areas  of  richly  wooded,  higher,  selfdrained  areas  remained 
to  become  the  possession  of  later  immigrants,  oft  times  for  a 
mere  bit  or  two  bits  an  acre.  The  earliest  German  immigrants, 
arriving  by  way  of  New  Orleans  up  the  Mississippi  river,  passed 
over  the  deep,  rich  soil  of  St.  Clair  County,  to  establish  them- 
selves on  the  shallow,  hard-panned  soil  of  other  counties  in 
Illinois. 

The  pioneer  Catholics  who  settled  in  the  southeastern  sec- 
tion of  Illinois,  in  the  counties  of  Johnson,  Saline,  Hardin,  and 
Pope,  might  then  have  secured  the  richest  lands  of  the  state  as 
cheaply  as  their  own.  A  comparison  of  the  population,  cul- 
tivated farms,  villages,  towns,  and  parishes  of  these  counties 
with  Monroe,  Randolph,  Clinton,  and  the  rural  districts  of  St. 
Clair  presents  an  unmistakable  answer  to  the  question,  why  so 
many  counties  in  southern  and  southeastern  Illinois  lagged  so 
far  to  the  rear  in  growth  of  population  and  the  establishment  of 
Catholic  parishes. 

The  answer  is  found  in  the  extreme  inequality  in  the  fertil- 
ity of  the  soil.  The  great  areas  of  thin  soils  in  southeastern 
Illinois  failed  to  attract  the  early  immigrants,  and  this  accounts 
for  the  paucity  of  Catholic  settlements  and  parishes  in  that  large 
section  of  the  present  diocese  of  Belleville. 

With  the  map  of  Illinois  before  us,  let  us  follow  the  mission 
trail  from  Shawneetown  to  Cairo,  and  halt  about  midway,  where 
New  Burnside,  Stonefort,  Vienna,  and  Oak  spot  the  map  in 
Johnson,  Pope,  and  Saline  counties,  and  pause  to  read  the  story 

246 


THE  SHAWNEETOWN-TO-CAIRO  MISSION  TRAIL  247 

of  Catholic  beginnings  of  eighty  years  ago,  as  unfolded  to  us 
by  the  oldest  son  of  the  first  pioneer  Catholic  family  which 
settled  along  this  approximately  one  hundred-mile  mission  trail. 

Upon  request  Thomas  McCabe  formulated  his  reminiscences 
in  the  year  1911.  The  writer  enjoyed  the  pleasure  of  a  personal 
acquaintance  with  this  sturdy  Catholic  pioneer,  a  gentleman  of 
excellent  mind  and  memory,  who  was  born  February  9,  1851, 
was  a  resident  of  the  New  Burnside  mission  since  February, 
1854,  and  died  here  August  2,  1925. 

The  footnotes  which  have  been  added  to  this  vivid  historical 
legacy  of  Thomas  McCabe  will  serve  to  verify  and  amplify  cer- 
tain data  in  these  memoirs. 

Grouped  settlements  of  adjoining  farmers  were  unknown  in 
pioneer  days,  and  many  miles  separated  the  pioneer  family,  log- 
cabined  within  a  small  timbered  clearing  of  a  wilderness,  from 
its  nearest  neighbors.  On  our  far  flung  mission  trail,  from 
Shawneetown  to  Cairo,  the  communal  life  of  a  mere  hamlet 
seems  to  have  been  only  at  the  federal  and  later  state  salt  reser- 
vations of  the  hamlet  of  Equality.  Antedating  the  merchant 
shop  and  the  way-side  inn,  the  Irish  and  German  Pedler  Boys 
carried  their  wares  from  cabin  to  cabin,  listened  to  folklore  of 
the  pioneers,  and  returned  to  winter  quarters  like  Ulysses  to  tell 
the  tale  of  that  year's  Odyssey.  A  number  of  the  Irish  Pedler 
Boys  went  into  winter  quarters  at  New  Burnside,  and  during  the 
pastorates  of  Father  James  Mamer  and  Peter  Goelzhauser  the 
writer  was  fortunate  enough  to  meet  these  Boys  gathered  at 
the  priest's  log-cabin  fire-side,  telling  the  tale  of  pioneer  days. 
The  memoirs  of  Thomas  McCabe  evidence  that  these  Boys  rend- 
ered valuable  service  in  establishing  acquaintanceship  between 
the  pioneer  Catholic  families  and  again  between  these  and  the 
priest  whom  they  chanced  to  meet  in  their  wanderings. 

REMINISCENCES  OF  THOMAS  McCABE 

"On  the  22nd  day  of  February,  1854,  my  parents,  John  and 
Ellen,  nee  Cunningham,  my  infant  self,  and  my  mother's  brother, 
Patrick  C,  arrived  at  Reynoldsburg,  Johnson  County,  and  be- 
came the  first  Catholic  settlers  of  Johnson  and  neighboring 
counties.  They  erected  a  one-room  cabin  about  four  and  one- 
half  miles  north  of  Reynoldsburg.  Until  about  1872  when  the 
C.  C.  C.  &  St.  L.  R.  R.  was  built  the  Catholic  mission  was  known 
as  Reynoldsburg  P.  O.,  which  was  located  about  one  and  one- 


248  FREDERIC  BEUCKMAN 

half  miles  from  the  present  New  Burnside.  My  father  was  born 
in  Kings  County,  Ireland,  in  1824,  and  emigrated  to  New  York 
in  1847,  with  his  oldest  sister  Mary,  where  he  obtained  employ- 
ment at  his  trade  of  stone  mason,  and  his  sister  as  a  domestic. 
Through  his  sister  he  became  acquainted  with  Ellen  Cunning- 
ham, a  sister  of  the  priests  Thomas  and  Michael  Cunningham  of 
Elmira,  N.  Y.  She  was  born  in  1819  in  County  Cavan,  Ireland, 
and  emigrated  in  1847.  After  three  days'  courtship  my  father 
married  her  at  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  and  on  February  9,  1851,  the 
narrator  was  born.  A  short  time  after,  my  parents  and  my 
father's  sister  moved  to  my  mother's  brother,  Patrick,  in  Ten- 
nessee, where  they  remained  a  short  time,  and  then  moved  to 
Island  No.  10  in  the  Mississippi  River  below  Cairo,  and  remained 
there  about  two  years. 

"My  mother's  brother  Patrick,  then  visited  us  and  he  and 
father  went  to  Illinois  in  search  of  a  location,  and  selected  a 
place  about  four  miles  north  of  Reynoldsburg  P.  O.,  and  moved 
there  by  way  of  the  river  landing  Metropolis,  111.,  and  arrived  at 
their  new  home  February  22,  1854.  They  began  the  erection 
of  a  one-room  log-cabin  which  was  completed  for  occupation  in 
about  two  months. 

"My  paternal  grandparents,  Mathew  McCabe  and  Catherine, 
nee  Quinn,  with  their  six  sons  and  three  daughters  left  Kings 
County,  Ireland,  and  by  way  of  Baltimore  and  Dayton,  Ohio, 
landed  at  Golconda,  from  which  place  they  were  transferred  by 
an  ox  wagon,  which  had  just  been  unloaded  of  its  burden  of 
tobacco  to  my  father's  log  cabin.  Again  grandparents  and  their 
entire  family  of  nine  children,  Michael,  Mary,  John,  Ann,  James, 
Patrick,  Catherine,  William,  and  Joseph,  the  youngest  ten  years 
old,  were  united  in  the  new  land  of  promise.  Then  my  father 
was  the  only  married  child  of  grandparents'  family. 

"Now  came  the  awful  drought  of  1854.  To  keep  the  family 
from  starvation  the  able  bodied  men  had  to  seek  employment  in 
the  public  works.  Michael  and  James,  with  their  sister  Ann  as 
cook,  secured  work  at  the  old  Illinois  Furnace  &  Iron  Works  in 
Hardin  County.  My  father  obtained  employment  as  a  stone 
mason  in  the  building  of  the  abutments  of  the  I.  C.  R.  R.  bridge 
across  the  Big  Muddy.  With  his  earnings  he  bought  corn  at  one 
dollar  per  bushel  near  Shawneetown,  forty-five  miles  distant, 
for  food  for  the  family  and  the  stock.  Half  of  the  corn  he  had 
to  pay  to  the  man  who  had  hauled  it  with  his  oxen  team.  Father 


THE  SHAWNEETOWN-TO-CAIRO  MISSION  TRAIL  249 

built  stone  chimneys  for  the  farmers,  who  were  able  to  have  it 
done,  and  turned  over  his  earnings  to  mother,  who  hired  help 
and  managed  the  farm.  Mother  was  a  courageous  and  energetic 
woman  who  proved  herself,  as  many  pioneer  wives,  not  merely 
a  companion  but  a  true  helpmate  to  her  husband.  To  her  faith- 
ful perseverance  and  labors  is  to  be  ascribed  to  a  very  great 
measure  the  preservation  of  the  faith  among  the  early  pioneers. 
In  the  absence  of  a  priest  she  taught  the  catechism  and  consoled 
and  encouraged  those  early  Catholic  settlers.  Her  family  con- 
sisted of  five  boys  and  two  girls,  myself  being  the  oldest. 

"My  Aunt  Ann,  who  was  serving  as  cook  to  my  brothers 
Michael  and  James  at  the  Illinois  furnace,  became  engaged  there 
to  a  Pennsylvania  German,  a  non-Catholic.  The  marriage  took 
place  in  1856  at  grandfather's  house,  a  half  mile  from  ours. 
It  was  then  I  saw  the  first  priest.  Father  Thomas  McCabe,  no 
relative,  who  rode  up  on  horseback  from  Cairo,  married  them  at 
grandfather's  cabin  and  there  also  celebrated  the  first  Mass  and 
administered  the  sacraments.1  This  marriage  was  blessed  with 
two  boys  and  five  girls.  Five  of  these  children  had  each  again 
families  from  five  to  seven  children,  who  are  all  living  and  all 
Catholics. 

"Father  Thomas  McCabe  visited  us  perhaps  three  times.  Un- 
til 1858  the  McCabes  were  the  only  Catholic  families  in  the  coun- 
ties mentioned.  Then  came  the  family  of  Dennis  Dwyer,  who 
moved  from  Ohio  to  the  neighboring  town  of  Vienna ;  then  from 
Ohio  Patrick  Murphy  who  settled  about  five  miles  from  us  near 
Stonefort;  also  the  families  of  Dr.  Thos.  Murry  and  Patrick 
Hughes,  who  settled  in  Pope  County  about  fifteen  miles  from  us, 
and  the  family  of  Arthur  O'Keefe,  who  settled  in  Pope  County, 
about  twenty  miles  from  us,  and  the  German  family  of  Steven 
Zimmer,  who  settled  in  Pope  County  near  Oak  P.  O.,  about  five 
miles  from  O'Keefe's.2  All  these  families  located  about  1858- 
1859,  and  although  badly  scattered  constituted  what  we  were 
happy  to  consider  the  parish  of  Reynoldsburg,  midway  between 
the  other  nearest  parishes  of  Shawneetown  and  Cairo. 


i  Cf.  Mid- America,  XIV,  123,  line  14,  and  correct  Father  Edward 
Hamann  to  Father  Edward  Herrmann.  This  first  pastor  of  Piopolis,  one 
time  Franciscan,  had  joined  the  ranks  of  the  secular  clergy  of  the  diocese 
of  Alton. 

2  Stephen  Zimmer  and  his  wife,  Louigard,  emigrated  from  Baden,  Ger- 
many, and  settled  in  Pope  County  in  1856;  Dr.  Thomas  Murry,  Patrick 
Hughes,  and  the  family  of  Arthur  O'Keefe  settled  there  in  1857. 


250  FREDERIC  BEUCKMAN 

"About  1859  Fr.  Thomas  Walsh  of  Cairo  began  to  visit  us.3 
He  came  perhaps  three  times,  and  went  from  house  to  house 
where  families  lived  too  far  apart.  The  children  were  then 
baptised  and  we  had  the  opportunity  to  hear  Mass  and  receive 
the  sacraments.  The  visits  of  the  priests  were  months  and 
sometimes  more  than  a  year  apart.  Then  came  the  Civil  War 
with  its  agitation  and  we  were  without  the  visit  of  a  priest  for 
some  time.  Only  for  the  part  which  the  Catholic  Irish  Pedler  Boys 
played,  Catholicity  might  have  died  in  its  infancy.4  They  would 
tell  the  Catholics  where  they  had  seen  a  priest,  where  other 
Catholics  lived,  and  would  then  in  their  migrations  inform  the 
priest  of  our  needs.  Through  them  Catholics  became  acquainted, 
and  associations  were  formed. 

"My  grandfather,  Mathew  McCabe,  died  April  1,  1861,  and 
the  following  September  my  father,  my  three  uncles,  Michael, 
James,  and  David  Bayles,  also  Patrick  Hughes  and  Dr.  Murry's 
son  and  two  other  Irishmen,  staying  at  my  father's,  joined  the 
Union  Army.  All  served  three  years  and  returned  home.  Those 
were  trying  times. 

"Now  the  noted  Father  L.  A.  Lambert,  army  chaplain,  in 
1863,  learning  from  the  Cairo  Church  records  of  the  Catholics  at 
Reynoldsburg,  mounted  his  horse  on  a  Monday  morning  at  6 
A.  M.  and  started  in  search  of  us.5  Inquiring  at  Reynoldsburg 
for  us  he  was  informed  that  we  lived  some  four  miles  north,  in 
a  double  log  cabin  with  two  glass  windows  facing  the  road,  the 
only  house  so  equipped.  As  mother  was  out  in  the  road  that 
evening,  milking  the  cows,  the  stranger  accosted  her,  asking 
whether  McCabes  lived  here.  I  was  standing  by  mother,  whose 
joy-illumined  countenance  I  yet  see  when  she  said,  'Yes,  father, 
are  you  not  a  Catholic  priest.'  He  had  ridden  fifty  miles  that 
day,  was  fatigued  and  thirsty. 

"Tired  and  hungry  Father  L.  A.  Lambert  dismounted,  after 
his  fifty-miles  horseback  ride  that  day.     Mother  gave  him  a 


s  Rev.  Thomas  Walsh  was  at  Cairo  from  September,  1858,  until  his 
sudden  death  in  church  while  about  to  give  Benediction  at  an  evening 
devotion,  March  15,  1863. 

4  Cf.  Mid-America,  XIV,  111.  John  Leonard  Aydt,  a  German  Pedler 
Boy,  located  immigrants  from  Baden,  Germany,  at  Piopolis. 

s  Rev.  Louis  A.  Lambert,  served  as  assistant  to  Rev.  Thomas  Walsh 
at  Cairo  from  April  until  September,  1859,  and  then  became  pastor  of 
Shawneetown,  and  chaplain  to  General  Michael  Kelly  Lawler.  He  suc- 
ceeded Father  T.  Walsh,  after  his  sudden  death,  as  pastor  of  Cairo,  re- 
maining there  until  1868  when  he  left  the  diocese,  and  I  think  entered 
immediately  the  diocese  of  Buffalo. 


THE  SHAWNEETOWN-TO-CAIRO  MISSION  TRAIL  251 

drink  of  water  from  a  long-handled  gourd,  a  fact  which  he  yet 
recalled  in  reply  to  my  letter  of  congratulation  on  the  occasion 
of  his  golden  sacredotal  jubilee.  I  was  then  twelve  years  old. 
After  Father's  horse  had  been  cared  for  and  supper  served,  I 
was  sent  to  notify  grandmother's  folks,  then  walked  five  miles 
after  dark  to  notify  Murphy's  that  there  would  be  Mass  Wednes- 
day morning.  Murphy  immediately  saddled  his  mule  and  rode 
twelve  miles  to  notify  Murry's  and  Hughes' ;  they  in  turn  sent  a 
messenger  to  O'Keefe's,  and  they  in  turn  to  Zimmer's,  and  by 
Tuesday  morning  all  Catholics  within  a  radius  of  twenty  miles 
were  notified.  All  these  families  hitched  up  their  oxen  teams 
Tuesday  morning,  took  along  bedding  and  provisions  for  their 
families,  and  by  night  they  arrived  at  my  father's  house.  Father 
Lambert  heard  confessions  until  11  o'clock  that  night.  Through 
the  country  the  news  had  gone  that  a  priest  had  come,  and 
Wednesday  morning  there  were  gathered  about  two  hundred 
people.  Catholics  and  Protestants,  among  them  seven  preachers. 
Some  one  was  overheard  to  say,  'I  never  saw  the  priest's  horns, 
he  just  looks  like  a  smart  man.'6  He  preached  a  very  fine  ser- 
mon and  referred  to  the  absent  ones  on  the  battlefield,  and  re- 
quested the  prayers  of  all  for  the  safety  of  the  soldiers.  He  did 
so  in  such  a  way  that  there  was  many  a  wet  eye  among  the  non- 
Catholics  as  well  as  the  Catholics.  One  old  lady,  who  had  three 
sons  in  the  army,  was  so  affected  that  she  began  to  shout,  and 
wanted  to  give  her  hand  to  join  the  Church  in  the  real  Methodist 
fashion.  It  seems  to  me  now  that  that  was  the  most  devout  and 
sincere  gathering  of  Catholics  I  ever  saw.  The  distance  traveled 
by  the  members  then  present  embraced  the  present  church  at 
Oak  in  Pope  County,  the  church  at  Stonefort  in  Williamson,  the 
church  at  Vienna  in  Johnson  County,  as  well  as  the  church  at 
New  Burnside.7 

"Father  L.  A.  Lambert  was  the  first  priest  I  ever  attempted 
to  serve  Mass  for.  I  did  not  know  the  words,  but  mother  was  at 
my  side  and  she  repeated  the  words,  and  I  poured  the  wine  and 
water.  After  that,  when  I  was  working  with  mother  in  the  field, 
she  would  teach  me  how  to  serve  Mass  as  she  knew  it,  having  to 


e  Bigoted  traditions  about  priests  had  survived  to  some  extent  when 
the  writer  entered  on  this  mission  field  in  1892. 

i  This  church  was  destroyed  a  few  years  ago  by  fire,  and  has  not  been 
rebuilt.  It  was  the  gift  of  the  first  settler,  Stephen  Zimmer,  and  was  built 
in  1884  during  the  attendance  of  this  mission  by  Rev.  Charles  Eckert  of 
Mound  City. 


252  FREDERIC  BEUCKMAN 

hear  her  brothers  Thomas  and  Michael  Cunningham  recite  their 
Latin  lessons  in  Ireland,  and  particularly  the  Mass  prayers.  From 
Father  Lambert's  time  in  1863  to  Father  J.  Mammer's  time  in 
1893,  I  acted  as  server  and  companion  of  the  priest  at  church 
and  on  sick-calls,  till  I  raised  sons  big  enough  to  take  my  place, 
the  youngest  of  whom  is  now  serving  at  the  age  of  fifteen.  My 
family  consisted  of  three  girls  and  four  boys.  When  a  choir 
was  started,  my  family  constituted  the  choir  and  furnished  the 
altar  boy. 

"Now  here  I  may  note  with  reference  to  Father  L.  A.  Lam- 
bert, that  I  noticed  an  account  of  his  golden  jubilee  in  Scotts- 
ville,  N.  Y.  The  account  recalled  childhood  memories  of  him. 
I  immediately  wrote  him  a  letter,  relating  incidents  of  his  visits, 
and  the  names  of  the  pioneers  present,  and  what  had  become  of 
them,  and  that  at  present  old  Mrs.  Murry  and  myself  were  the 
only  pioneers  living,  that  were  then  present  at  the  Mass  when 
the  altar  stone  was  laid  on  top  an  old  fashioned  dresser,  which 
had  to  serve  as  an  altar.  Now  I  scarcely  expected  an  answer  to 
my  letter,  but  to  my  surprise  and  joy  I  very  promptly  received 
a  long  letter  even  recalling  incidents  on  that  occasion  I  had  for- 
gotten. He  remember  the  different  individuals  and  described 
our  old  drinking  gourd,  saying  he  still  remembered  the  odor  of 
that  water  gourd,  and  how  good  the  water  tasted.  He  sent  his 
regards  to  Mrs.  Murry,  and  said  he  had  received  many  letters 
and  tokens  on  his  Jubilee,  but  none  he  appreciated  more  than 
my  letter,  coming  from  me,  with  memories  so  vivid,  nearly  half 
a  century  old.  He  sent  me  his  button  photo  of  himself,  and  after 
a  few  days  a  large  photo  inscribed :  'To  Thos.  F.  McCabe  from 
L.  A.  Lambert  for  old  time  sake.'  I  only  remember  seeing  Father 
Lambert  once,  but  others  speak  of  him  being  at  their  house  in 
1863.    He  was  at  Mr.  P.  W.  Redden's,  Sr.,  then  at  Desota. 

"Mr.  Redden  has  been  a  member  of  the  New  Burnside  mission 
since  July,  1877,  when  he  moved  here  with  a  large  family  of 
boys  and  girls.s  Mr.  Redden  is  still  living  at  his  hotel  in  New 
Burnside,  and  entered  his  ninetieth  year  last  August  12th.  He 
came  from  Ireland  in  1847. 

"Now  in  1865,  I  think  it  was,  Father  O'Halloran  came  to  see 


s  Mr.  P.  T.  Redden,  became  personally  known  to  the  writer,  when  he 
was  conducting  the  hotel  at  New  Burnside.  This  mellowed,  pleasant  old 
gentleman,  an  intelligent  and  fervent  Catholic,  and  a  respected  and  in- 
fluential citizen,  and  formed  railroad  section  boss,  wielded  a  quiet  power 
of  example  and  word  for  his  faith  among  men  of  all  creeds. 


THE  SHAWNEETOWN-TO-CAIRO  MISSION  TRAIL  253 

us  two  or  three  different  times  from  Cairo,  111.9  Then  in  1886, 
I  think,  Father  Grant  from  Mound  City,  111.,  attended  us;10  also 
Cabe  brought  to  us  in  a  buggy  to  perform  the  marriage  between 
by  uncle,  Joseph  McCabe  and  Catherine  Connolly,  my  mother's 
niece.11  The  roads  were  rough.  We  had  no  priest  for  some  time 
and  the  buggy  horse  had  sore,  swollen  shoulders.  I  was  forced 
to  hitch  a  two  year  old  mule  to  the  buggy  and  take  him  to 
O'Keefe's,  eighteen  miles  away.  We  started  late,  and  having  no 
moonshine  or  lantern,  we  made  slow  progress.  When  crossing 
the  Saline  Creek  it  was  so  dark  we  could  not  see  our  mule.  He 
had  proved  a  trusty  in  the  buggy  service,  although  the  first  time 
hitched  to  one.  We  let  him  drink  and  pulled  to  the  right  to 
make  the  ford  crossing,  but  the  mule  refused  to  turn;  we  were 
going  to  force  him,  but  I  thought  something  was  wrong,  and 
climbed  out  on  his  back  to  the  rings,  and  found  we  had  let  the 
lines  change  in  the  hand  while  he  was  drinking.  Had  he  made 
one  step  to  the  left,  as  the  line  was  pulling  him,  it  would  have 
turned  mule  and  buggy  off  the  ford  crossing  into  some  ten  feet 
of  water,  in  the  dark,  and  I  doubt  much  that  I  would  be  writing 
about  this  today.  Well  we  arrived  at  O'Keefe's  after  eleven 
o'clock,  shouted  and  called  till  Mrs.  O'Keefe  came  to  the  door, 
and -taking  us  for  coon-hunters,  said  Mr.  O'Keefe  was  not  at 
home;  but  when  we  made  her  understand' who  we  were,  and  that 
we  had  nothing  to  eat  since  dinner,  and  that  Father  wanted  to 
say  Mass  in  the  morning,  you  can  bet  that  she  called  her  husband 
out  of  bed  quickly.  Then  and  there  on  that  old  time  logfire 
hearth,  with  skillet  and  pan,  she  prepared  a  meal,  as  I  have 
often  said,  in  the  shortest  time,  which  tasted  the  best  I  ever 
ate.  The  priest,  my  Uncle  Patrick  and  myself  just  finished  sup- 
per before  midnight. 

"The  next  morning  after  Mass  and  dinner  were  over,  Mr. 
O'Keefe  was  to  hitch  his  mare  to  the  buggy  and  take  the  priest 


9  Rev.  P.  J.  O'Halloran  was  pastor  at  Cairo  from  October,  1869,  until 
November,  1873.  He  was  not  stationed  in  1865  at  Mound  City  or  Anna. 
In  that  year  the  Catholic  Directories  register  Rev.  F.  Chmelecek  as  assis- 
tant to  Rev.  L.  A.  Lambert  and  also  Rev.  Patrick  Brady  at  Cairo.  Fr. 
O'Halloran  died  as  pastor  of  St.  Patrick's,  East  St.  Louis,  111.,  December 
29,  1898. 

io  Rev.  Richard  Grant  was  pastor  at  Mound  City  November,  1873,  to 
May,  1874.     After  that  he  was  assistant  to  Rev.  P.  J.  O'Halloran  at  St. 
Patrick's,   East   St.   Louis,  where  he  died  a  sudden  death   in   1890.     My 
records  do  not  disclose  his  presence  in  Cairo  or  Mound  City  in  1866. 
Father  Wegener  from  Shawneetown,  whom  uncle  Patrick  Mc- 

ii  Rev.  S.  Weggener  was  pastor  at  Shawneetown,  1865-1867. 


254  FREDERIC  BEUCKMAN 

to  Zimmer's,  and  let  me  return  home.  They  attempted  to  put 
the  mare  into  the  shafts.  Well,  I  have  seen  animals  scared  in 
my  time,  but  I  do  not  remember  seeing  anything  so  near 
frightened  to  death  as  that  mare.  I  was  again  obliged  to  harness 
my  faithful  mule  for  the  extra  eight  miles  to  Zimmer's.  I  stayed 
there  until  after  Mass  next  morning.  Zimmer  took  Father  to 
Shawneetown,  and  I  came  home  about  2  P.  M. 

"It  seems  to  me  there  was  a  priest  from  Shawneetown  named 
Wiedeman,  who  came  to  see  us  whilst  visiting  the  different  rail- 
road camps  in  1871. 12  He  was  collecting  for  some  church  at 
the  time. 

"Father  Joseph  Hellhake,  stationed  at  Anna,  HI.,  attended  our 
mission  in  1868.13  He  would  ride  through  on  horse-back,  stop- 
ping to  say  Mass  at  the  different  houses  where  he  would  gather 
three  or  more  families.  Then  Father  Foekele  took  his  place  at 
Anna  to  attend  this  mission.14 

"I  will  always  remember  Easter  Sunday  in  1870.  My  uncle, 
Joseph  McCabe,  was  afflicted  with  the  bleeding  scurvy,  as  Dr. 
Murry  called  it.  He  had  bled  so  much  that  his  blood  would  not 
stain  a  linen  cloth.  His  voice  was  weakened  to  a  whisper.  Mother 
and  I  were  at  his  house  sitting  up  the  rest  of  the  night.  There 
was  no  man  there,  and  it  was  decided  to  send  for  a  priest.  Uncle 
motioned  me  to  his  bed.  I  had  to  hold  my  ear  close  to  his  mouth 
to  hear  what  he  said,  which  was,  'Tom,  you  go  for  a  priest;  I 
place  my  last  dependence  on  you  to  bring  him  quickly.'  I  had 
never  been  to  Anna  nor  knew  the  roads  any  distance  in  that  di- 
rection. The  distance  was  said  to  be  forty  miles,  and  I  have 
never  doubted  it  from  my  experience.  I  left  his  house  at  4  P.  M., 
too  full  of  grief  to  eat  anything.  I  kept  my  mule  steadily  urged 
to  a  fast  walk  till  I  was  close  enough  to  Anna  to  hear  the  train 
whistle,  when  the  thought  struck  me  that  the  priest  might  be 
going  away  on  that  train.  I  urged  the  mule  to  a  trot  and  gallop, 
for  a  mile  or  more,  asking  every  one  I  met,  for  the  road  to  the 
priest's  house.  When  I  got  in  sight  of  it,  I  met  Father  at  the 
gate,  with  a  grip  in  hand  ready  to  take  the  train  to  Murphysboro. 
I  told  him  I  was  on  a  sick  call  from  Reynoldsburg.  He  turned 
back  when  he  heard  my  story,  ordered  dinner,  fed  my  mule,  and 


12  My  records  fail  to  locate  a  priest  by  the  name  of  Wiedeman.  Rev. 
H.  liegeman  was  pastor  at  the  Dolan  settlement  near  Enfield  from  1876 
till  1880. 

is  Rev.  H.  Hellhake  was  pastor  at  Anna  in  1872  and  1873. 

i*  Rev.  F.  Foekele  was  stationed  at  Anna,  1868-1871. 


THE  SHAWNEETOWN-TO-CAIRO  MISSION  TRAIL  255 

sent  me  to  the  livery  stable  for  the  best  horse  and  saddle  to  be 
ready  at  1  P.  M.  When  he  went  to  Mount,  two  men  held  the 
horse,  for  it  was  high-spirited,  and  ran  all  of  the  first  fifteen 
miles.  My  mule  was  forced  to  travel  in  a  fast  trot,  and  yet  at 
times  Father  was  out  of  sight.  I  did  not  know  the  road  either 
way,  and  v/hen  it  got  dark,  I  asked  the  priest  if  he  did  not  wish 
to  put  up  for  the  night.  He  said :  'We  will  ride  farther  if  your 
mule  can  hold  out,'  and  so  we  continued  our  journey  as  he  knew 
the  road.  When  within  seven  miles  of  home,  we  came  to  a  field 
which  had  been  cleared  and  fenced  up  since  his  last  visit.  The 
roads  had  been  altered,  and  we  chose  the  wrong  one  and  got  lost 
in  the  woods.  Father  said :  'My  boy,  I  have  led  you  astray,  now 
you  lead  the  way.' 

"It  was  God  who  guided  the  weary  travelers.  I  looked  up  to 
the  sky  and  chose  a  direction.  We  rode  through  the  thick  un- 
derbrush a  half  mile,  and  to  our  joy  entered  upon  a  road  leading 
in  the  direction  we  were  going.  It  proved  afterwards  to  be  a 
new  road  some  two  miles  shorter  than  the  road  Father  used  to 
travel.  We  reached  mother's  in  time  to  eat  before  midnight,  and, 
learning  of  uncle's  improvement,  we  went  to  uncle's  next  morn- 
ing, when  Father  administered  the  sacraments.  Then  I  learned 
that  rny  mother's  brother,  James  Cunningham,  who  was  teaching 
school  some  fifteen  miles  distant  near  Marion,  HI.,  was  also  sick; 
so  we  continued  our  journey,  and  Father  administered  the  sacra- 
ments also  to  him  in  a  Protestant's  house,  but  we  could  not  have 
been  treated  with  greater  respect  and  kindness.  We  stayed 
there  all  night,  and  the  next  morning  rode  to  where  the  roads 
parted,  Father  going  to  Anna,  111.,  and  I  came  home.  Contrary 
to  expectation  Uncle  James  Cunningham  died,  whilst  Uncle  Joe 
McCabe  got  well  and  lived  till  1875.  The  next  time  Father 
Foekele  came  back  he  brought  me  a  pocket  compass,  which  I 
carried  for  ten  years. 

"Now  in  1868  the  first  effort  was  made  to  build  a  Catholic 
church.  I  made  collections  of  eggs,  dried  fruit,  and  poultry,  etc., 
hauled  it  to  Carbondale,  thirty-six  miles  distant,  sold  the  collec- 
tions and  gave  each  donor  credit  for  the  amount  of  the  sales, 
bought  lumber  and  had  it  hauled  to  the  present  cemetery 
grounds,  where  we  erected  the  hewed  log  walls,  20x24  feet 
square.  For  the  want  of  means  the  church  was  not  completed 
and  the  lumber  rotted.  The  prospective  building  of  a  railroad 
also  delayed  further  efforts  on  church  building,  since  we  were 


256  FREDERIC  BEUCKMAN 

anxious  to  ascertain  where  the  town  would  be  located. 

"Some  years  later,  October  14,  1870,  John  McCabe  and  wife 
made  a  deed  to  St.  Francis  de  Sales  Congregation  of  Reynolds- 
burg  of  the  cemetery  containing  two  and  one-half  acres  of  land. 
It  had  answered  as  the  only  Catholic  cemetery  for  the  present 
parishes  of  Vienna,  Stonefort,  Harrisburg,  and  New  Burnside 
where  the  cemetery  is  located  and  I  have  acted  as  the  only 
cemetery  sexton  from  the  beginning. 

"Now  in  1870  came  the  first  opportunity  the  mission  children 
had  for  confirmation.  Fathers,  mothers,  and  children  drove  in 
wagons  drawn  by  mules  and  some  by  oxen  to  Murphysboro  forty- 
five  miles  distant.  We  surely  looked  like  a  band  of  emigrants  or 
traveling  gypsies,  supplied  as  we  were  with  feed,  provisions,  and 
bedding.  We  lodged  in  an  old  factory  over  night  and  prepared 
ourselves  to  receive  the  sacrament  of  Confirmation.  The  Bishop 
praised  us  for  our  zealous  faith,  which  seems  to  me  was  greater 
in  those  former  days,  in  spite  of  difficulties  and  hardships,  than 
it  is  now  with  all  our  conveniences  and  accommodations. 

In  1871  we  were  attended  by  Father  Wegbann  from  Murphys- 
boro who  made  his  mission  journey  in  a  buggy.15  Fathers  Weg- 
mann  and  Hellhake  called  to  see  me  at  St.  Francis  Solanus  Col- 
lege in  Quincy,  111.,  where  I  attended  eight  months  of  school  in 
1873.  In  1873  I  think  a  Father  Hoffman  at  Mound  City  attended 
us  a  short  time;16  then  in  1874  Rev.  Thos.  Masterton  was  sta- 
tioned at  Mound  City,  111.17  He  celebrated  his  first  mission  Mass 
in  my  father's  house  and  there  the  first  marriage  ceremony  took 
place  on  February  9,  1875,  when  he  joined  my  eldest  sister  Mary 
Ann  McCabe  and  P.  G.  McEvoy  in  marriage.  He  attended  the 
mission  regularly  once  a  month  till  1880,  when  he  was  moved 
to  Cairo,  111.  He  endured  many  hardships  on  his  trips  to  sick 
calls  and  services. 

"Father  tried  various  ways  to  reach  the  scattered  families, 
celebrating  Mass  now  at  one  house,  then  at  another,  until  Mass 
had  been  celebrated  in  every  house.  The  home  at  which  Mass 
was  celebrated  served  dinner  to  the  entire  congrgation,  and  often 
times  the  Mass  was  celebrated  on  one  side  of  the  board  partition 


is  Rev.  Theodore  Wegmann  was  pastor  at  Murphysboro  from  Septem- 
ber, 1871,  till  April,  1873. 

is  Rev.  Cornelius  Hoffman  was  the  organizer  and  first  pastor  of  St. 
Joseph's  Church,  Cairo,  the  second  Catholic  parish  of  Cairo.  It  was  for 
the  Germans,  who  previously  were  affiliated  with  St.  Patrick's. 

17  Rev.  Thomas  Masterson,  pastor  of  Mound  City  from  January,  1S75, 
until  December,  1879,  then  at  St.  Patrick's,  Cairo,  until  July,  1882. 


THE  SHAWNEETOWN-TO-CAIRO  MISSION  TRAIL  257 

of  the  log  cabin,  whilst  dinner  was  preparing  on  the  other.  This 
custom  of  serving  dinner  was  continued  until  it  was  abused  by 
a  certain  class  of  non-Catholics,  who  came  merely  to  get  the  fine 
meals.  After  the  services  the  priest  and  server  took  dinner  with 
the  family  and  the  others  brought  their  meals.  The  dinner  was 
spread  on  the  greensward  and  the  congregation  resembled  a 
happy  picnic  gathering. 

"The  visits  of  the  priests  and  the  sick-calls  to  the  mission 
then  meant  real  hardship  and  often  Father  would  not  collect 
enough  to  pay  his  railroad  fare. 

"The  several  attempts  to  build  a  church  were  not  successful 
until  about  1879.  We  collected  to  build  at  New  Burnside,  but 
there  being  more  members  at  Stonefort  at  the  time,  the  Bishop 
granted  permission  to  build  there,  and  all  moneys  collected  in 
the  four  counties  were  applied  to  the  erection  of  this  church  and 
all  the  Catholics  of  the  four  counties  attended  there. 

"About  1882  the  next  church  of  the  original  Reynoldsburg 
mission  was  built  at  Oak  in  Pope  County,  in  the  Zimmer  settle- 
ment and  especially  by  this  family.18 

"In  the  winter  of  1878  I  drove  Father  Maesterson  in  what 
we  called  a  Yankee  jumper,  a  self  constructed  sleigh,  the  seat  of 
which  was  attached  to  two  long  hickory  poles,  which  served  as 
shaft  and  runners,  to  visit  P.  T.  Redden,  Sr.,  railroad  section 
foreman,  who  had  donated  sixty  dollars  to  the  new  church.  On 
our  return  over  rough  roads  our  jumper  was  upset  and  Father 
was  thrown  against  a  large  rock  and  painfully  injured  so  that 
he  could  not  rise  to  his  feet.  It  was  dark  and  I  could  summon  no 
help  within  a  half  mile.  I  finally  managed  to  place  him  back  in 
our  jumper,  and  drove  him  to  my  father's  home,  where  he  lay 
crippled  two  weeks  before  being  able  to  return  to  Mound  City. 
His  cousin  Kate  Sheridan,  who  kept  house  for  him,  was  worried 
and  mother  invited  her  to  come  to  visit  Father,  which  she  did. 
NoW  don't  condemn  me.  I  was  then  twenty-seven  and  single, 
and  immediately  fell  captive,  and  in  the  course  of  a  year  I  had 
her  as  my  wife,  and  Father  lost  his  good  cousin  housekeeper. 


is  This  church  was  destroyed  by  fire  from  lightning  August  12,  1925. 
Rev.  J.  B.  Henken  was  the  last  resident  pastor  of  New  Burnside.  He  was 
transferred  in  May,  1919,  to  Dorrisville  and  jointly  Harrisburg,  and  from 
there  this  Zimmers  Settlement  was  attended  by  him  once  a  month  on  week 
days.  He  writes,  "Some  of  the  old  stock  died,  some  of  the  families  moved 
away,  the  young  people  invariably  married  out-siders,  the  larger  part  of  the 
original  population  has  simply  moved  to  other  parishes."  It  is  stated  that 
this  mission  numbered  at  its  best  about  twenty  families. 


258  FREDERIC  BEUCKMAN 

Another  young  man  who  also  thought  well  of  her  accused  me  of 
crippling  Father  to  secure  his  cousin.  I  have  never  regretted 
that  fortune  decreed  her  mine.  She  came  of  a  priestly  Irish 
stock,  having  six  cousins  priests. 

"Father  Maesterson  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Henry  Becker  in 
February,  1880,  at  Mound  City.19  When  the  priest  came  to 
Stonefort  he  would  also  go  to  Zimmer's  before  returning.  Then 
in  1882  Father  C.  J.  Eckert,  successor  to  Father  Becker,  attended 
us.20.  During  his  time  we  accomplished  the  often  discussed  in- 
tention to  survey  and  plat  the  cemetery  and  set  the  price  at  six 
dollars  a  lot.  T.  F.  McCabe  was  appointed  cemetery  sexton  and 
remains  so  until  now.  In  1885  Father  J.  Harkins  became  pastor 
of  Mound  City  and  attended  us.21  Now  the  Catholics  living  in 
the  neighborhood  of  New  Burnside,  Vienna,  Tunnelhill,  and  San- 
burn  began  an  agitation  for  a  church  at  New  Burnside,  as  a 
railroad  was  being  built  at  the  time  from  Marion,  111.,  to  Pa- 
dueah,  Ky.,  which  crossed  the  Big  Four  two  miles  south  of  New 
Burnside.  We  expected  to  obtain  considerable  assistance  from 
the  various  construction  camps.  My  father  donated  the  building 
site,  two  acres,  and  his  cash  contribution.  The  site  was  accepted 
by  the  priest  and  Bishop.  We  decided  to  build  a  frame  church, 
24x28  feet,  without  gallery  and  special  sacristies. 

"Father  J.  Harkins  always  remained  over  a  day  or  two  on 
the  occasion  of  his  monthly  visits,  and  I  was  selected  to  drive 
him  to  the  various  construction  camps.  One  trip  I  especially 
recall.  It  was  harvest  time  and  I  could  not  spare  any  of  my 
teams,  nor  could  the  other  farmers.  However,  we  managed  to 
secure  a  broken  down,  emaciated  Texas  pony  and  a  wobbly, 
rattling  buggy  of  colonial  design,  and  harness  equally  antiquated. 
Father  and  I  became  unusually  prominent  as  long  as  we  occupied 
this  rig.  We  escaped  no  eye  and  very  seldom  a  greeting,  such 
as,  'Which  way,  to  the  bone-yard  or  the  poor-house?'      Father 


i9  Rev.  Henry  Becker,  D.  D.,  was  stationed  at  Mound  City  from  Feb- 
ruary until  November,  1880. 

20  Rev.  Charles  Eckert  was  pastor  of  Mound  City  from  November, 
1880,  until  December,  1884,  when  he  assumed  the  pastorate  of  Shawnee- 
town,  holding  it  until  July,  1892.  On  his  return  from  Europe  in  November 
he  was  assigned  to  the  pastorate  of  Chester,  retaining  it  until  his  accidental 
death,  November  24,  1925,  while  returning  from  his  ministrations  at  the 
state  prison.  His  record  is  one  of  great  personal  sacrifices  and  of  a  saintly 
life. 

21  Rev.  John  Harkins  was  pastor  of  Mound  City  from  August,  1886, 
until  September,  1889,  when  he  was  transferred  to  East  St.  Louis  to  or- 
ganize St.  Mary's  parish,  of  which  he  remained  pastor  until  his  death, 
December  17,  1913. 


THE  SHAWNEETOWN-TO-CAIRO  MISSION  TRAIL  259 

Wanted  to  know  whether  the  people  suspected  that  I  was  taking 
him  to  the  poor  house.  I  said,  'Father,  I  fear  you  will  come  to 
the  conclusion,  that  we  have  not  visited  one  poor  house  but  a 
number  of  them,  when  we  finish  our  rounds.'  We  finally  arrived 
at  Mr.  Keenan's  camp.  He  went  with  us  and  secured  a  subscrip- 
tion of  one  hundred  and  twenty  dollars  from  the  men,  which 
was  to  be  collected  from  their  next  pay.  Then  we  took  dinner 
with  the  men  at  the  camp  table.  Father  being  given  the  place  of 
honor  at  the  head  of  the  table  with  the  contractors  and  bosses. 
Mr.  Keenan  came  out  to  see  us  off,  and  when  he  saw  our  pony 
and  rig,  he  laughed  heartily  and  remarked,  'Father  the  very 
looks  of  your  outfit  would  put  charity  into  a  stone.'  We  then 
started  for  Marion  over  the  rough  roads  made  by  the  building 
of  the  railroad  grade.  We  had  to  cross  a  twenty-foot  grade. 
Poor  pony!  Father  and  I  got  out  and  pushed  the  buggy,  when 
finally  after  various  efforts  and  rests  we  reached  the  top,  Father 
and  I  blowing  as  hard  as  the  pony.  We  reached  Marion  after 
dark,  located  our  friend  Dr.  Bentley,  who  lodged  and  fed  us. 
At  Marion  with  the  assistance  of  Dr.  Bentley  and  Tom  Dwyer 
of  Craborchard  we  secured  eighty  dollars  cash,  and  started 
homeward,  lightening  the  pony's  burden  by  getting  out  at  every 
hill.  The  pony  did  its  best,  then  why  not  praise  the  ship  that 
carries  you  safely.  Father  Harkins  remarked  that  during  his 
course  of  studies  such  experiences  had  not  been  part  of  the  in- 
struction, but  he  thought  that  young  priests  ought  to  be  en- 
lightened concerning  such  missionary  labors.  With  much  per- 
servance  and  labor  we  finally  accumulated  eight  hundred  dollars, 
and  awarded  the  contract  for  the  building  of  the  church  to  John 
English  of  Anna.  The  first  Mass  was  celebrated  there  July  22, 
1888,  at  which  the  choir  of  Mound  City  assisted.  Thus  Johnson 
County  received  its  first  church,  which  was  dedicated  to  St.  John 
the  Baptist.  John  McCabe  died  March  26  of  that  year,  and 
hence  did  not  see  the  church  he  so  longed  for. 

"Father  Harkins  attended  New  Burnside  and  Stonefort  every 
month  until  about  1889,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Father  Wil- 
liam Van  Delft,  also  of  Mound  City,  who  continued  monthly 
visits,  and  attended  Vienna  and  Metropolis,  in  which  cities  there 
was  no  church.22 

"About  the  year  1893  Father  James  Mamer  was  assigned  as 
first  resident  pastor  of  the  original  Reynoldsburg  Mission  with 


22  Rev.  William  Van  Delft  is  present  pastor  of  Prairie  du  Rocher. 


260  FREDERIC  BEUCKMAN 

residence  at  New  Burnside.23  Stonefort,  Zimmer's,  Vienna,  and 
Metropolis  were  his  charges  and  his  territory  included  all  of 
Johnson,  Saline,  Pope,  and  Massac  Counties.  The  present  rec- 
tory at  that  time  belonged  to  my  mother  who  gave  its  free  use 
to  the  priest  but  in  1901  at  her  death,  deeded  it  to  my  sister 
Mrs.  M.  McEvoy  who  in  turn  deeded  it  to  the  parish  in  the 
year  1906.  Father  Mamer  planted  a  number  of  maple  trees  on 
the  grounds  about  this  residence;  these  trees  now  are  admired 
by  every  passer-by. 

"In  1895  Rev.  John  Duffy  succeeded  him.24  He  lived  at  New 
Burnside  about  a  year.  Father  Duffy  built  a  church  at  Vienna 
and  another  at  Metropolis.25  He  then  purchased  a  house  next 
to  the  church  at  Vienna  and  took  up  his  residence  there.  He 
installed  new  pews,  an  organ  and  a  bell  in  the  church  and  started 
a  choir.  He  blessed  the  bell,  St.  George,  and  bestowed  on  my 
mother  the  honor  of  ringing  it  for  the  first  time. 

"In  1897  Father  P.  Goelzhauser  succeeded  him.26  He  con- 
tinued to  live  at  Vienna  until  1902,  when  he  moved  back  to 
Burnside.    From  the  latter  place  he  could  more  easily  reach  his 


23  Rev.  James  Mamer  is  at  present  pastor  of  a  large  parish  in  the 
diocese  of  St.  Paul.  He  had  requested  his  exeat  to  return  to  his  native 
diocese. 

24  Rev.  John  Duffy  is  at  present  pastor  of  the  Holy  Name  parish  of 
Sheridan,  Wyoming. 

25  Judge  Mulkey,  a  distinguished  jurist  and  member  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  state  of  Illinois,  and  a  convert,  was  a  member  of  this  small 
parish  of  Metropolis,  and  was  buried  from  its  church.  The  funeral  services 
were  conducted  by  the  pastor  of  this  mission,  Rev.  Francis  Pieper.  He  was 
a  priest  of  outstanding  scholarship,  a  recognized  pulpit  orator  of  solid 
deep  piety,  and  withal  a  gentleman  of  a  cheerful  and  delightful  reserve. 
In  stature,  proportions,  bearing  and  disposition  he  carried  himself  with  the 
gracious  ease  and  reassuring  gentle  approach  of  the  saintly  bishop  of  the 
diocese,  John  Janssen,  whom  he  followed  closely  in  death,  the  former  dying 
July  2,  the  latter  September  19  of  the  same  year,  1913.  From  the  year 
1906  until  his  death  there,  he  had  been  pastor  of  St.  Patrick's  church  of 
Ruma,  111.,  and  chaplain  and  instructor  of  the  candidates  of  the  Sisters  of 
the  Precious  Blood,  whose  mother-house  is  located  there;  he  is  to  be 
credited  with  a  very  marked  advance  of  the  standards  of  this  teaching 
sisterhood.  Among  priests  he  towered  not  by  his  height,  which  did  not 
exceed  five  and  a  half  feet,  but  by  the  benignity  of  a  privileged  soul,  for- 
tified with  native  and  acquired  abilities,  and  consecrated  with  a  singular 
conscientiousness  to  priestly  ministrations.  He  was  frequently  referred 
to  by  his  conferees  as  a  man  of  apostolic  mould.  He  was  summoned  at 
high  noon  of  a  most  beneficent  priestly  career,  at  the  age  of  about  forty- 
three  years. 

26  Rev.  Peter  Goelzhauser  died  as  pastor  of  Equality,  111.,  January  27, 
1928.  A  smile  always  illumined  his  face,  and  a  pleasantry  was  always  on 
his  tongue.  I  believe  him  to  be  the  most  successful  man  in  avoiding  the 
giving  of  offence  to  anyone  I  have  known  in  my  long  priestly  life,  es- 
sentially a  perfect  gentleman,  as  Cardinal  Newman  defines  a  gentleman. 


THE  SHAWNEETOWN-TO-CAIRO  MISSION  TRAIL  261 

missions,  being  quite  near  to  the  crossing  of  the  Big  Four  and 
I.  C.  Railroads.  He  repaired  the  old  residence,  attending  to  most 
of  the  work  himself.  With  the  assistance  of  the  Irish  Pedler 
Boys  he  built  the  sacristy  and  choir-gallery  and  ceiled  the  in- 
terior of  the  church  and  floored  the  same;  he  cleared  the  ceme- 
tery of  timber  and  undergrowth  and  built  a  fence  about  it.  He 
also  gave  the  church  at  Stonefort  the  necessary  repairs  and 
finished  the  church  at  Metropolis.  To  do  all  this  required  a  great 
sum  of  money,  much  of  which  he  himself  donated.  He  did  not 
keep  house  but  boarded  at  Mr.  P.  Redden's  hotel.  Mr.  Redden 
was  very  kind  to  the  priest  at  all  times. 

"During  Father  Goelzhauser's  and  Father  Duffy's  times  mis- 
sions were  conducted  that  were  well  attended  by  non-Catholics 
also,  several  of  whom  were  converted.  After  Father  Goelzhauser 
had  put  all  the  property  in  a  fairly  good  condition  he  was  trans- 
ferred, April  15,  1907,  to  East  St.  Louis  and  was  succeeded  by 
Father  D.  D.  Miller,  who  remained  with  us  till  the  following 
November. 

"Then  came  Father  A.  J.  Kuhls,  January  1,  1908.27  He  at- 
tended all  the  missions  and  built  a  brick  church  at  Harrisburg. 
He  made  the  day  of  dedication  a  memorable  one.  Rt.  Rev.  J. 
Jan-ssen  with  the  assistance  of  many  priests,  dedicated  the 
church;  the  St.  Joseph's  Choir  of  Cairo  sang,  and  the  uncle  of 
Father  Kuhls,  the  aged  and  venerable  pioneer  priest  of  the  west, 
Monsignor  Kuhls  of  Kansas  City,  preached  the  sermon.  Father 
Kuhls  then  moved  to  Harrisburg  and  was  succeeded  at  New 
Burnside  by  Father  Voll,  October  27,  1908,  who  attended  Stone- 
fort,  Vienna,  and  Metropolis.  He  repaired  the  Stonefort  church 
and  built  a  sacristy  to  the  Vienna  church.  He  remained  with 
us  until  his  successor,  C.  V.  Collins  came,  September  26,  1910, 
from  East  St.  Louis. 

"The  five  surviving  members  of  the  original  pioneers  are 
Mrs.  Kate  Cunningham,  aged  70;  Mr.  Patrick  McCabe,  aged  75; 
Mrs.  Dennis  Dwyer,  aged  85;  Mrs.  Dr.  T.  Murry,  aged  90;  Mr. 
Thos.  McCabe,  aged  60.  There  are  others  who  were  either  babes 
at  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  their  parents,  or  were  born  shortly 
after  the  arrival  of  their  parents;  they  are  rather  to  be  classed 
as  descendants  of  the  pioneers. 

"What  a  change  since  the  arrival  of  the  first  Catholics  in 
1854.    All  southeastern  Illinois  was  without  a  priest  or  church 


st  Rev.  A.  Kuhls  is  now  pastor  of  Trenton,  111. 


262  FREDERIC  BEUCKMAN 

then  except  Cairo  and  Shawneetown.  After  fifty-seven  years  we 
now  have  twenty  churches  and  fourteen  priests,  and  as  many 
members  in  each  parish  as  we  then  had  in  the  entire  territory. 
Beginning  at  Cairo,  St.  Joseph's  and  St.  Patrick's,  there  are 
churches  at  Mounds,  Mound  City,  Grand  Chain,  Metropolis, 
Vienna,  New  Burnside,  Delwcod,  Stonefort,  Harrishurg,  Eldor- 
ado, Equality,  Ridgeway,  Doherty,  Carmi,  Enfield,  Rose  Clare 
and  Shawneetown. 

"Let  us  thank  God,  his  priests  and  people  for  this  spread  of 
Catholicity  in  the  vast  southeastern  mission  of  Illinois  and  let 
us  not  ignore  the  aid  given  by  the  Irish  Pedler  Boys." 

What  is  the  status  of  this  pioneer  group  of  missions  today? 
The  little  frame  mission  church  built  and  donated  by  the  pioneer 
Stephen  Zimmer,  at  Oak  in  Pope  County,  has  since  been  de- 
stroyed by  fire  and  has  not  been  rebulit,  and  again  we  must 
register  Pope  County  without  a  Catholic  church  structure.  As 
far  as  has  been  ascertained  only  two  Catholic  families  remain 
in  this  original  Zimmer  settlement.  A  resident  pastor  is  no 
longer  located  in  these  missions,  and  New  Burnside,  Stonefort, 
Vienna,  and  Metropolis  have  since  been  attended  from  Equality. 

Reverting  to  our  introduction  to  this  contribution,  the  eco- 
nomic problem  of  the  standstill  or  the  waning  of  these  missions 
is  answered.  The  soil  lacks  the  productivity  to  promote  and 
increase  prosperous  farming  communities.  On  this  trail  are 
today  located  the  phenominally  developed  cities,  Eldorado  and 
Harrisburg,  in  which  are  located  struggling  Catholic  parishes. 
The  rich  coal  fields,  opened  in  that  section  some  years  last,  laid 
the  economic  basis  for  this  mushroom  prosperity.  King  Coal 
also  waved  the  magic  wand  over  other  large  areas  of  thin  soils 
in  the  south-central  section  of  Illinois,  built  new  cities  and 
established  new  parishes,  but  held  them  subject  and  dependent 
on  his  out-put.  The  status  of  these  parishes  fluctuates  with  the 
ebb  and  tide  of  the  coal  industry.  These  parishes  lack  the  per- 
manent backing  of  a  substantial  farming  community. 

Frederic  Beuckman 
Belleville,  Illinois 


VARIA 

THE  BIRTHPLACE  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE 

The  city  of  Laon,  which  in  ancient  times  was  the  capital  of 
Picardy  in  France,  has  a  special  interest  for  all  Americans  of  the 
Middle  West  because  of  the  associations  it  has  with  the  life  of 
Father  Marquette.  In  this  little  city  he  was  born  and  here  most 
of  his  youth  was  spent.  No  one  who  has  followed  the  account 
of  his  meanderings  as  recorded  by  this  seventeenth  century 
"saint  of  the  wilderness,"  devoted  to  the  task  of  bringing  the 
message  of  the  "Prince  of  Peace"  to  the  benighted  savages,  can 
but  be  conscious  of  the  tremendous  spiritual  force  that  moved 
a  man  to  suffer  such  severe  hardships  to  enlighten  a  race  less 
capable  of  understanding  than  a  tyro  of  the  civilized  world.  The 
enterprise  demanded  total  self-effacement  and  an  outstanding 
idealism  to  withstand  privations  such  as  have  been  endured  by 
missionaries  since  the  dawn  of  the  Christian  era.  Physical  suf- 
fering meant  nothing  to  Father  Marquette  bent  on  his  great 
mission,  and  death  in  its  quest  was  but  a  realization  of  a  hope 
that  he  would  die  in  pursuit  of  its  fulfillment.  To  do  reverence 
to  his  memory  two  students  of  mid-west  history  made  Laon  one 
of  their  principal  objectives  during  a  trip  abroad  in  1930. 

The  average  tourist  generally  follows  the  beaten  path  as  laid 
out  by  the  travel  agencies  in  order  to  cover  the  greatest  number 
of  points  of  interest  commensurate  with  the  time  at  his  disposal. 
Rarely  does  an  itinerary  such  as  this  take  one  into  France  to 
any  great  distance  from  Paris.  But  by  automobile  travel  with  a 
privately  owned  car  Laon  can  be  reached  by  the  expenditure  of 
a  little  additional  mileage  and  time  when  one  is  touring  through 
the  World  war  battlefields  along  the  Marne  and  Aisne  rivers.  If 
one  visits  England  first,  as  we  did,  and  enters  France  by  cross- 
ing the  English  Channel  from  Dover  to  Calais,  the  auto  route 
passes  through  Amiens  and  Compiegne  to  Soissons.  From  here, 
by  taking  a  road  forming  the  west  side  of  a  triangle,  at  the  apex 
of  which  is  Laon,  and  the  base  of  which  connects  Soissons  with 
Rheims,  one  can  reach  the  home  town  of  Father  Marquette  with- 
out much  loss  of  time  and  with  no  inconvenience.  The  eighty- 
seven  miles  of  beautiful  country  intervening  have  the  added 
charm  that  little  used  thoroughfares  reveal  to  those  who  enjoy 
back  country  scenes. 

263 


264  VARIA 

An  intensive  study  of  the  places  visited  by  Father  Marquette 
during  his  ministry  in  North  America  created  a  great  desire 
within  us  to  visit  Laon.  We  were  made  very  happy  by  finding 
the  original  portion  of  the  city  little  changed  by  the  flight  of 
centuries.  The  charm  of  this  very  old  city,  rich  in  tradition,  is 
much  enhanced  by  its  location  on  a  hill  almost  six  hundred  feet 
in  height,  that  arises  from  a  fertile  plain.  Above  all  other  struc- 
tures of  the  city  is  the  cathedral,  which  dominates  the  eastern 
extremity  of  the  elevation.  Here  and  there  in  the  plain  below 
are  newer  additions  to  the  city.  Fortunately  for  lovers  of  his- 
toric atmosphere  the  old  city  has  not  been  disturbed  by  modern 
innovations.  The  approach  is  up  a  zigzag  rural  road,  over  which 
ox  cart  transportation  of  produce  going  to  market  lends  a  seven- 
teenth century  aspect  to  the  landscape,  such  as  must  have  de- 
lighted Father  Marquette  in  his  youth.  The  peasants  we  meet 
have  not  been  influenced  by  modern  notions  of  dress,  but  are 
still  wearing  the  same  style  of  blouses,  heavy  shoes  and  beret 
that  have  served  their  ancestors  for  generations. 

The  top  of  the  steep  slope  is  crowned  by  partly  ruined  ram- 
parts and  from  the  promenade  along  the  line  of  ramparts  there 
is  an  extensive  view  northward  to  beyond  St.  Quentin,  west- 
ward to  the  Forest  of  St.  Gobian  and  southward  over  the  wooded 
hills  of  Laonnais  and  Soissons. 

Within  the  city  itself,  as  one  passes  through  narrow  streets 
without  sidewalks,  the  thought  comes  to  mind  that  perhaps  this 
contracted  existence  may  have  had  something  to  do  with  the 
creation  of  a  desire  in  the  youthful  Marquette  to  seek  open 
spaces  as  a  place  for  his  ministry  rather  than  labor  in  the  nar- 
row confines  of  the  city.  The  very  narrow  Rue  Chatelaine,  seem- 
ingly the  principal  business  street,  leads  to  the  church  of  Notre 
Dame  built  during  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  and  still 
called  the  "Cathedral,"  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  the 
churches  in  Northern  France.  It  is  in  a  better  state  of  preserva- 
tion than  the  more  famous  one  in  Rheims.  The  facade  is  a 
masterpiece  of  pure  Gothic,  flanked  by  two  graceful  towers, 
which  originally  were  surmounted  by  spires.  The  interior  of 
the  church  inspires  profound  reverence.  The  transepts  are  di- 
vided into  nave  and  aisles,  which  like  those  of  the  nave  itself, 
are  separated  by  substantial  cylindrical  columns,  from  the  cap- 
itals of  which,  each  sculptured  differently,  slender  columns  arise 
to  the  vaulting.     The  aisles  are  furnished  with  lofty  galleries 


varia  265 

beneath  the  triforium.  The  chapels  at  the  sides  were  added 
in  the  century  following  its  erection.  At  the  end  of  each 
transept  is  an  ancient  chapel  of  two  stories.  The  stained  glass 
in  the  rose-windows  enhance  the  beauty  of  the  sanctuary  and  a 
carved  wooden  pulpit  made  in  1681,  brings  one  back  to  a  period 
when  infinite  care  and  pride  in  their  work  was  exhibited  by 
craftsmen.  In  common  with  all  the  large  churches  throughout 
France  and  Italy  there  are  no  pews  within  the  edifice,  which 
adds  greatly  to  its  beauty  and  dignity;  however,  during  mass  a 
"prie-dieu"  is  brought  forth  for  each  worshiper. 

We  were  greatly  impressed  when  the  caretaker  who  acted 
as  our  guide  made  us  understand  that  Father  Marquette  had 
celebrated  mass  in  this  church.  It  was  also  in  this  very  House 
of  God  the  impressionable  youth  Marquette  received  his  inspira- 
tion that  later  urged  him  to  prepare  at  Nancy  for  the  task  that 
has  made  his  name  pre-eminent  in  the  annals  of  mid-western 
history. 

Throughout  this  city  of  his  birth  one  looks  in  vain  for  a 
memorial  to  the  gifted  son  of  Laon,  who  is  so  liberally  remem- 
bered in  the  country  of  his  adoption  and  death;  but  there  is  a 
recent  encouraging  report  that  a  movement  by  mid-westerners 
is  underway  to  locate  the  building  in  which  he  was  born  and 
fulfill  this  duty. 

The  writers  of  this  message  advise  all  who  make  a  trip 
abroad  to  pass  through  Laon,  for  they  too  by  such  a  visit  can 
experience  like  emotions  as  made  the  sojourn  memorable  to  us, 
who  repaired  to  this  city  of  Father  Marquette's  nativity  to  do 
him  homage  as  Chicago's  first  resident,  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
five  years  after  his  stay  in  the  wilderness  where  now  is  situated 
our  marvelous  city. 

Robert  Knight,  C.  E. 

Chicago,  111.  Lucius  H.  Zeuch,  M.  D. 


A  JESUIT  SCHOOL  IN  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 
NEW  YORK 

The  earliest  recorded  instance  of  the  presence  of  Catholics 
in  colonial  New  York  dates  from  the  period  of  Dutch  rule.  In 
1626  Portuguese  soldiers  were  residing  at  Fort  Orange,  and  in 
1643  Saint  Isaac  Jogues,  on  his  journey  through  the  province, 


266  VARIA 

met  a  transient  Irishman  and  a  Portuguese  woman.1  It  is  also 
likely  that  there  were  some  Catholics  from  the  Netherlands 
living  at  Albany  in  1667,  since  Father  Hennepin,  the  Franciscan 
missionary,  was  invited  to  visit  them.2  In  an  affidavit  made  in 
London  in  1675,  the  Rev.  Peter  Smith,  a  Catholic  priest,  declared 
that  he  had  been  in  New  York  in  1665.3  Father  Smith  probably 
returned  again  to  New  York,  for  a  baptism,  apparently  per- 
formed by  him,  is  noted  in  1685.4  It  is  not  improbable  that 
transient  teachers,  traders,  and  others  of  the  Catholic  faith, 
came  to  the  colony  during  the  course  of  the  century,  but  the 
lack  of  adequate  records  makes  it  virtually  impossible  to  offer 
any  trustworthy  account  of  the  existence  of  Catholics  in  colonial 
New  York  during  the  greater  part  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

The  incident  of  greatest  significance  for  the  history  of  Catho- 
lic activity  in  New  York  during  that  century  is  that  connected 
with  the  establishment,  during  the  administration  of  Governor 
Dongan,  of  a  Jesuit  school  in  New  York.  Curiously  enough,  it 
is  an  incident  that  has  generally  been  neglected  or  superficially 
treated  by  those  who  have  written  about  the  history  of  toleration 
in  the  colonies.  Sylvester  Cobb,  in  his  Rise  of  Religious  Liberty 
in  America,  states  that  three  Jesuits  are  said  to  have  been  in 
the  colony  during  Governor  Dongan's  administration,  and  that 
one  of  them  is  thought  to  have  been  a  teacher  in  the  Latin  school 
opened  by  the  governor.5  In  presenting  the  fact  merely  as  a 
matter  of  belief,  Cobb  was  probably  only  following  what  older 
authors  had  written  on  the  matter.6  But  documentary  evidence 
attests,  not  only  to  the  presence  of  three  Jesuits  in  New  York 
during  those  years,  but  likewise  reveals  their  identity,  along 
with  the  fact  that  the  "Latin  school"  was  in  very  truth  a  Jesuit 
school. 

In  the  Roman  Catalogue  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  it  is  recorded 
that  Father  Thomas  Harvey,  S.  J.,  was  in  New  York  from  1683 
until  1690,  and  again  in  1696.    Father  Henry  Harrison,  S.  J.,  also 


i  John  G,  Shea,  History  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States, 
I,  86;  J.  R.  Brodhead,  History  of  the  State  of  New  York,  I,  169. 

2  Shea,  op.  cit.,  I,  88. 

s  Shea,  op.  cit.,  I,  88.  (Letter  of  Edward  Antill  to  James  Alexander, 
18,  April,  1752.) 

4  E.  B.  O'Callaghan  and  B.  Fernow  ( ed. ) ,  Documents  Relating  to  the 
Colonial  History  of  the  State  of  New  York,  Albany,  1861-1865,  III,  610,  747; 
IV,  398. 

s  P.  335. 

e  William  Smith,  History  of  New  York,  I,  90. 


VARIA  267 

labored  in  the  colony  during  1686  and  1687. 7  Father  Warner, 
the  provincial  of  the  English  province  of  the  Jesuits,  writing,  on 
February  26,  1683,  to  the  General  of  the  Society,  said:  "Father 
Thomas  Harvey,  the  missioner,  passed  to  New  York  by  consent 
of  the  governor  of  the  colony.  In  that  colony  is  a  respectable 
city,  fit  for  the  foundation  of  a  college,  if  facilities  are  given,  to 
which  college  those  who  are  now  scattered  throughout  Maryland 
may  betake  themselves  and  make  excursions  from  thence  into 
Maryland.  The  Duke  of  York,  the  lord  of  that  colony,  greatly 
encourages  the  undertaking  of  a  new  mission.  He  did  not  con- 
sent to  Father  Thomas  Harvey's  sailing  until  he  had  advised 
with  the  provincial,  the  consultors  and  other  grave  fathers."8 

It  appears  that  Father  Harvey  sailed  for  New  York  in  the 
party  of  Governor  Dongan.  Fathers  Harrison  and  Gage,  who 
followed  later,  were  accompanied  by  two  lay  brothers.  Of  Father 
Harrison  we  are  told  that  though  of  English  parents,  he  was 
born  in  the  Netherlands,  and  was  probably  selected  for  the  New 
York  mission  on  account  of  his  familiarity  with  the  Dutch.9 

Much  of  our  knowledge  of  these  early  Jesuits  and  of  their 
school  comes  to  us  from  Jacob  Leisler,  a  German  merchant 
settled  in  New  York  and  identified  with  the  partly  anti-Catholic 
movement  known  as  the  Revolt  of  Leisler  (1689) .  It  is  probable 
that  the  school  was  well  received,  and  we  are  told  that  it  was 
patronized  by  prominent  residents  of  the  city,  including  the  town 
clerk,  Mr.  West,  Judge  Palmer,  Mr.  Graham,  a  member  of  the 
Council,  and  others.10  Shea  states  that  the  school  was  apparent- 
ly located  on  the  King's  Farm,  which  was  afterwards  leased  by 
Governor  Fletcher  to  Trinity  Church.11  The  same  opinion  is  ex- 
pressed by  Hughes.12  Finally,  we  are  told,  even  the  bell  of  the 
Dutch  Reformed  Church  was  rung  at  eight  o'clock  each  morning 
to  call  the  children  to  class.13 


7  E.  B.  O'Callaghan  (ed.),  The  Documentary  History  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  Albany,  1850,  III,  73. 

s  Henry  Foley,  S.  J.,  Records  of  the  English  Province  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus,  VII,  343. 

a  Foley,  ibid.,  VII,  335,  342 ;  Shea,  History  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the 
United  States,  I,  90,  91;  Thomas  Hughes,  History  of  the  Society  of  Jesus 
in  North  America,  Documents,  I,  No.  6,  43. 

io  Hughes,  ibid.,  Text,  II,  147;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  U,  22. 

ii  Op.  cit.,  I,  91;  Col.  Docs.  N.  Y.,  IV,  490. 

12  Op.  cit.,  Text,  II,  147. 

is  Hugh  Hastings  (ed.),  Ecclesiastical  Records  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  Albany,  1901,  I,  247. 


268  VARIA 

The  success  of  such  an  enterprise,  and  even  its  very  existence, 
at  such  a  stage  in  the  history  of  the  colony  naturally  depended 
to  a  very  large  degree  upon  the  friendly  attitude  and  patronage 
of  the  royal  authorities.  With  the  displacement  of  Dongan  in 
1688,  such  broad  toleration  of  Catholics  was  at  an  end.  At  the 
time  of  Leisler's  usurpation  Father  Harrison  left  the  colony  and 
went  to  Europe.  After  undergoing  many  risks  at  sea  he  was 
taken  captive  by  Dutch  pirates  and  robbed,  but  eventually  found 
his  way  to  France.14  Father  Harvey  took  refuge  for  a  while  in 
the  home  of  Mr.  Pinhorne,  a  councillor,  a  fact  which  Bellomont 
later  charged  against  Pinhorne.15  Father  Harvey  later  went  to 
Maryland,  where  he  seems  to  have  become  known  as  Father 
Smyth,  of  Talbot  County,  on  the  eastern  shore.  In  1690  he  was 
back  again  in  New  York,  under  the  name  of  Thomas  Barton,  and 
remained  there  for  several  years  until  expelled  by  Governor 
Fletcher.16 

There  are  many  facts  which  we  would  like  to  learn  about 
this  seventeenth  century  school — its  curriculum,  the  academic 
standing  of  its  students,  its  discipline,  its  treatment  of  the  mat- 
ter of  religious  instruction — but  the  ravages  of  time  and  the 
carelessness  of  men  have  obliterated  whatever  records  may  have 
been  kept  in  a  school  operating  under  such  unusual  conditions. 

Thomas  F.  O'Connor,  A.  M. 
St.  Louis  University 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 


14  Hughes,  Documents,  I,  No.  8L2. 

is  Col.  Docs.  N.  Y.,  IV,  398. 

is  Hughes,  Text,  I,  149-150;  Documents,  I,  No.  8L2 


DOCUMENTS 
THE  FIRST  CATHOLIC  MISSIONS  IN  NEBRASKA 

The  text  of  the  following  letters  of  the  Reverend  Jeremiah  F. 
Trecy  is  reproduced  from  typed  copies  found  in  the  papers  of 
the  late  Msgr.  Michael  Shine  of  Plattsmouth,  Nebraska.  These 
papers,  containing  a  vast  amount  of  data  on  the  pioneer  Catholic 
history  of  Nebraska,  are  now  in  the  archives  of  the  Lincoln 
diocese.  Father  Trecy's  letters  bring  out  the  interesting  cir- 
cumstance that  the  pioneer  diocesan  priests  of  the  West,  while 
not  formally  assigned  to  the  duties  of  Indian  missionaries,  were 
often  called  upon  to  deal  with  the  redmen  as  well  as  with  the 
whites. 

Father  Jeremiah  F.  Trecy  was  born  about  1823  in  County 
Tyrone,  Ireland,  educated  at  Emmitsburg,  Maryland,  and  or- 
dained to  the  priesthood  by  Bishop  Loras  of  Dubuque.  During 
the  period  July-August,  1851,  he  was  attached  to  St.  Raphael's 
Cathedral,  Dubuque,  and  later  served  various  parishes  in  the 
diocese  as  Garryowen,  Jones  County,  Cascade,  and  Independence. 
He  appears  to  have  organized  and  conducted  a  colony  of  his  Iowa 
parishioners  to  St.  John's,  now  Jackson,  Dakota  County,  Ne- 
braska, the  earliest  parish  to  be  established  in  the  state.  Father 
Trecy  died  March  4,  1889,  in  the  Alexian  Brothers  Hospital  in 
Saint  Louis,  Missouri. 

For  permission  to  publish  this  correspondence  the  editor  is 
indebted  to  the  courtesy  of  the  Lincoln  diocesan  authorities.  He 
has  also  to  thank  Sister  Mary  Bernadette  Riefert,  O.  S.  U.,  of 
the  Ursuline  Convent  of  Divine  Providence,  Falls  City,  Neb.,  for 
having  brought  the  letters  to  his  attention  and  furnished  him 
with  the  above  biographical  data  about  Father  Trecy. 


Rev.  Jeremiah  F.  Trecy  to  Bishop  O'Gorman,  Vicar- Apostolic 
of  Nebraska,  August  4,  1859. 

Rt.  Rev.  and  Dear  Bishop: 

In  reply  to  your  request,  I  haste  to  give  an  accurate  account 
of  the  Missions  that  have  grown  up  from  my  first  coming  to  the 
Territory,  to  the  present  time  (now  over  four  years) . 
1st. — The  oldest  Mission  in  the  Territory  is  St.  Johns.    It  was 

commenced  on  the  24th.  June,  1855,  with  a  congregation  of  11 

souls;  the  number  today  is  over  1500  souls. 

269 


270  DOCUMENTS 

2nd. — Mission  in  point  of  time  is  Omaha  City.  In  July  of  the 
year  above  mentioned  I  visited  this  place.  Father  Emmonds 
had  visited  this  place  a  day  or  two  before.  I  left  it  to  him 
during  his  stay  at  C.[ouncil]  B. [luffs].  The  number  of 
Catholics  here  then  was  about  one  hundred — the  present 
number  of  Catholics  is  better  known  to  your  Lordship  than 
to  me. 

3rd. — August  of  this  same  year  I  visited  a  village  of  Canadian 
French,  Half-Bloods  and  Indians  on  the  Big  Sioux  now  in 
Dahkotah  Territory;  had  present  during  the  Holy  Sacrifice 
over  300  Indian  Warriors — After  Mass  I  administered  the 
Sacrament  of  Baptism  to  20  Half -Bloods,  10  Indian  women 
and  6  young  warriors.  (This  village  goes,  or  is  known,  by 
the  name  of  White  Bull's  Village.) 

4th. — In  September  I  visited  Smutty  Bear's  Camp,  or  village,  also 
in  Dahkotah  Territory.  Baptized  32,  can't  now  say  how 
many  of  them  were  adults. 

5th. — In  same  month  visited  the  Camp  or  Village  of  Strike  the 
Ree.  (The  word  Ree  was  given  this  Chief  and  his  band  on 
account  of  a  deadly  wound  he  received  from  an  Indian  of 
the  Ree  tribe. ) *  Baptized  12  Half-bloods.  Here  my  life  for 
the  first  time  was  threatened  by  three  young  warriors,  one 
of  whom  wished  to  marry  one  of  the  Half-bloods  I  had  just 
baptized,  and  being  filled  with  a  superstitious  idea  that  by 
Baptism  she  became  a  white  woman  and  that  she  would  not 
be  let  marry  him.  Immediately  after  the  ceremony  had  been 
completed  these  three  young  warriors  started  mounted  on  the 
way  I  was  to  go.  After  they  had  left,  the  Half-blood  who  I 
had  with  me,  to  show  me  the  road  came  to  me  [and]  related 
the  case;  to  which  after  a  moment's  reflection  I  replied — Go 
tell  them,  they  have  arrows.  I  have  none;  I  came  not  for 
war,  but  that  I  love  a  Great  Father  and  that  they  have  no 
Father  and  I  wish  them  to  be  children  of  my  and  their  Great 
Father  which  cant  be  by  so  wicked  an  act.    My  guide  went 


i  Strike  the  Ree  (Pa-Ha-Ne-A-Pa-Pe),  head  chief  of  the  Yankton 
Sioux,  had  his  village  near  the  site  of  Yankton,  S.  Dak.  He  was  born 
August  29,  1804,  and  the  next  day  was  wrapped  in  an  American  flag  by 
Captain  Lewis  of  the  Lewis  and  Clark  expedition.  He  was  baptized  in 
1866  by  Father  DeSmet,  S.  J.,  who  calls  him  "Pananniapapi"  or  "man  who 
strikes  the  Ree"  (Chittenden  and  Richardson,  De  Smet,  4:1526).  He  died 
July  29,  1888,  aged  eighty-four,  his  funeral  sermon  being  preached  by  the 
Reverend  John  P.  Williamson,  a  Protestant  minister.  (Marginal  note  by 
Msgr.  Michael  Shine  on  typed  copy  of  the  present  letter.) 


DOCUMENTS  271 

immediately  to  one  of  the  Chiefs  whose  daughter  I  had  bap- 
tized, he  was  a  Half-blood. 

In  a  few  moments  I  saw  the  Chief  at  the  door  of  his  wigwam 
and  [sic]  in  a  suppliant  tone  exclaimed  Yeho?  Yeho?  Yeho? 
At  the  conclusion  a  number  of  young  men  assembled  around 
him;  his  actions  were  violent,  he  pointed  towards  me  and  to 
the  sun.  Immediately  six  of  these  young  men  ran,  got  their 
ponies  and  started  as  I  supposed  after  the  others — 

In  about  an  hour  after  I  started  with  my  guide,  went  on  very 
well  for  two  or  more  miles,  when  he  hallowed  out  at  the  top 
of  his  voice  "Stop,"  all  at  once  he  jumped  out  of  my  carriage, 
desired  me  to  turn  back,  I  declined,  he  left  me.  I  was  then 
at  the  edge  of  a  large  body  of  timber,  along  which  I  should 
skirt  for  3  miles.  In  about  a  mile  after  my  guide  left  me, 
I  met  the  three  first  referred  to.  The  moment  they  hove  in 
sight,  I  stopped  my  team,  commenced  unhitching,  as  it  were 
determined  to  run  on  there.  They  came  up  in  full  run,  two 
of  them  with  the  usual  salutations  of  a  friend  "How,  How," 
the  two  shook  hands  but  the  third  did  not  speak.  Thus  we 
parted. 

6th.-*— Mission.  The  same  month  I  visited  the  Ponca  Indians, 
Baptized  only  seven  my  first  visit,  they  were  Half-bloods.  I 
was  more  pleased  with  the  general  bearing  of  these  than  any 
of  the  other  Indians  I  visited.  I  hope  soon  to  see  a  permanent 
Mission  established  amongst  them. 

7th. — Mission — Fort  Randall,  a  U.  S.  Military  Post.  I  visited 
this  place  a  first  time  October  2nd.  1856,  found  in  all,  here, 
over  600  Catholics  mostly  Irish.  Married  two  couple;  bap- 
tized 9  children;  heard  over  500;  had  to  Holy  Communion 
about  400. 

8th. — From  here  at  the  request  of  some  Traders,  I  visited  White 
Earth  River  Station  or  Trading  Post.  Baptized  8  Half-blood 
white,  and  3  Half-blood  negroes. 

9th. — Mission — In  November  of  this  year  I  for  the  first  time  de- 
termined to  perform  a  Mission  in  Covington  and  Sioux  City. 
Baptized  several  children.  This  Station  has  been  attended 
regularly  since. 

10th. — On  the  15th.  of  this  same  month  I  visited  Galena  on 
Ayoway  Creek.  There  are  about  30  Catholic  families  there. 
There  are  several  other  Missions  that  should  be  seen  to. 


272  DOCUMENTS 

varying  from  50  to  100  miles  from  this  place,  namely  Fon- 
tenelle,  Pasyfic,  Santalena  [St.  Helena],  St.  James,  North 
Bend,  etc.  The  Missions  south  of  the  42d.  Paralell,  Fr. 
C  [Cannon,  O.  S.  B.]  can  better  give  than  I. 

The  following  is  the  general  character  of  the  country  and  cli- 
mater  on  the  various  Missions. 

Mission — 1 — Climate  healthy,  soil  of  a  sanded  clay,  very  fertile, 
partially  level,  partly  broken  and  partly  undulating,  well 
watered,  well  timbered,  an  abundance  of  lime  and  standstone 
rock,  gypsum,  iron  and  coal  (of  an  inferior  quality)  are 
found  in  large  bodies. 

No.  2 — Of  its  wood  and  mineral  sources  I  cannot  say  much,  in 
every  other  regard  I  believe  it  corresponds  with  no.  1. 

No.  3 — As  No.  1,  in  every  respect.    15  miles  from  here. 

No.  4 — Climate  healthy,  soil  of  a  dark  sandy  loam,  very  light  to 
the  eye,  the  face  of  the  country  looks  well,  undulating,  but 
filled  with  gravel  knolls  and  large  rocks  called  bowlders,  tim- 
ber very  sparse,  water  also.  This  Mission  from  St.  Johns  is 
about  100  miles. 

No.  5 — Will  compare  with  No.  1,  being  more  undulating,  less 
broken,  but  less  favored  with  timber,  water  and  back  coun- 
try. This  place  is  expected  to  be  the  Capital  of  the  new 
Territory  of  Dahkotah;  about  80  miles  from  here. 

No.  6 — Of  the  country  in  the  vicinity  of  this  Mission,  I  feel 
rather  unfavorably  impressed,  being  low  and  swampy.  From 
St.  Johns  it  is  about  170  miles. 

No.  7 — Is  in  a  valley,  surrounded  by  immense  sand-hills,  extend- 
ing for  miles  on  every  side;  without  timber,  water  or  stone; 
saw  a  small  strip  of  the  Missouri  Bottom  of  about  from  one 
mile  to  a  mile  and  a  half  wide.  The  only  thing  those  hills 
seem  able  to  produce  is  the  prairie  dog,  which  seem  to  be  in 
abundance.  So  barren  is  the  country  that  I  never  as  yet 
although  I  have  been  10  or  12  times  to  the  Post,  [have]  seen 
a  single  living  quadruped  save  a  wolf,  and  of  fowls,  none. 
This  Post  from  here  is  by  river  about  300  miles  and  about 
180  by  land. 

No.  8 — This  locality  will  favorably  compare  with  the  4th.  in 
every  respect,  save  it  is  well  watered  and  well  timbered.  Dis- 
tant 470  miles. 


DOCUMENTS  273 

No.  9 — As  the  1st.  save  its  minerals  and  water. 
No.  10 — Still  more  rich  than  the  first,  but  more  distant  from  the 
river.    From  St.  John's  20  miles. 

Yours  in  Ct.  obediently 

J.  F.  Trecy 
St.  Johns,  Aug.  4th,  1859 
or  Feast  of  Saint  Dominick. 

Catholic  School  for  the  Ponca  Indians 
Dept.  of  the  Interior 
Office  of  Indian  Affairs 

January  27,  1860 
Rev.  J.  F.  Tracy, 
Bait.  Md. 

Sir, 

I  have  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  the  Prop- 
ositions submitted  by  you  to  the  Department  on  the  24th.  in- 
stant, to  establish  a  Catholic  Mission  among  the  Ponca  Indians 
under  the  4th.  clause  of  the  Treaty  made  with  them  on  the  12th. 
of  March  1858,  and  would  reply  that  before  taking  any  action  in 
the  premises  it  is  desirable  that  the  Agent  of  the  tribe  should  be 
conferred  with,  who  is  expected  to  arrive  in  this  city  within  the 
course  of  a  very  short  time. 

Very  respectfully, 
Your  Obt.  Servt. 

A.  B.  Greenwood 

Commissioner. 

St.  Patricks, 

Washington,  (D.  C.) 

Feb.  1st.  1860. 
Rt.  Rev.  Bishop: 

Inclosed  please  find  the  Ponca  Treaty,  in  the  2nd.  article  of 
which,  you  will  see  the  provisions  made  for  schools  etc.  Under 
the  4th.  Clause  of  this  Art.  I  have  made  a  proposition  in  sub- 
stance as  follows:  To  take  the  children  as  half -boarders,  con- 
ditioned that  the  Department  erect  or  authorize  us  to  so  do  the 
necessary  buildings  for  school  and  Teachers  houses.  Also  to 
furnish  us  with  the  necessary  implements  for  the  instruction  in 
the  manual  labor  department  of  said  schools.  The  proposition 
is  under  consideration  at  present  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Int. 


274  DOCUMENTS 

I  have  not  been  able  to  reach  the  War  Dept.  as  yet.  Every  thing 
is  confusion  here.  If  there  be  a  Sodom  or  Gomorra  it[s]  then 
the  Great  Capital  of  the  Nation  or  Confederacy  Yesterday  they 
came  within  one  of  electing  a  Rep.  Speaker.  I  think  for  certain 
they  will  today.  I  was  to  Baltimore  to  see  the  Archbishop  last 
week,  I  was  much  pleased  with  the  interview  I  had  with  his 
Grace, — I  will  write  in  a  few  days  again.  I  stop  with  Rev. 
Father  O'Toole. 

Your  Obedient  Servant  in  Christ, 

J.  F.  Trecy 

N.B. — Snow  fell  last  night  full  4  inches. 
Today  very  cold.2 

St.  Patricks 

Washington  (D.  C.) 

Feb.  12th,  1860. 
Rt.  Rev.  Dear  Bishop: 

This  morning  I  received  your  favor  written  at  the  Im. 
Cone [e]pt [ion].  St.  Louis  on  the  8th  inst. 

In  reply  I  can  but  say  our  position  with  the  Govt,  for  the  In- 
dians is  now  or  never.  To  fulfill  any  contract  with  certainty 
is  not  ours :  nor  do  I  suppose  that  He,  who  give  [s]  those  wander- 
ing creatures  Grace  to  demand  to  know  His  Divine  Truths  will 
fail  to  afford  means  equal  to  the  emergency  that  they  may  come 
to  a  knowledge  of  Him.  Grant,  we  cannot  get  Sisters  of  Bro- 
thers at  present,  neither  at  all,  even  so  have  we  not  the  same 
means  Protestants  have:  or  with  the  like  material  can  we  not 
do  as  much  as  they :  whose  end  is  but  here  below.  Had  we  Sis- 
ters and  Brothers  we  are  not  prepared  for  them  nor  will  we  for 
6,  9  or  12  months  to  come.  Houses  for  Schools  Dwellings  etc. 
are  to  be  erected.  This  being  the  state  of  the  case  it  is  not  my 
intention  to  make  any  contract  with  the  Govt,  we  cannot  fulfill 
did  we  never  get  a  Brother  or  Sister.  But  surely  surely  the 
burning  zeal  of  the  good  Sisters  of  [the]  Ever  Blessed  Mother 
Immaculate  longs  as  I  feel  satisfied  their  Father  does  for  a  par- 
ticipation in  bringing  to  a  knowledge  of  Jesus,  Mary  and  Joseph 
those  who  never  heard  those  sacred  and  holy  Names.  By  yes- 
terdays Mail  I  sent  you  very  important  Documents,  received 
from  the  War  Dept.  with  reference  to  Ft.  Randall.     I  directed 


2  This  and  the  following  letter  appear  to  have  been  written  to  Bishop 
Loras  of  Dubuque,  to  whose  diocese  Father  Trecy  belonged. 


DOCUMENTS  275 

them  in  care  of  the  ArchBishop  of  St.  Louis.  My  regards  to  the 
good  Sisters,  hoping  they  will  pray  for  me  and  the  Miss,  with 
the  poor  Indians. 

Assure  Father  Donohoe  of  fond  remembrance  of  him  and  as- 
sure further  although  I  have  not  often  written  to  him  he  is  none 
the  less  fondly  remembered  by  me.3 

Hoping  your  health  is  on  the  improve  believe  me 

Truly  and  sincerely  yours 
in  Christ. 

J.  F.  Trecy 

On  the  back  of  this  letter  was  the  following : 
T.  Lynch,  Glassnevin,  Dubuque  Co. 


s  Father  Donohoe  (Donaghoe)  of  Dubuque,  founder  of  the  Sisters  of 
Charity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 


NEWS  AND  COMMENTS 
Father  Marquette  and  his  two  voyageurs,  Pierre  Porteret  and 
Jacques  Le  Castor,  enjoy  the  distinction  of  having  been  the  first 
group  of  white  men  known  to  have  resided  on  the  site  of  Chicago. 
This  circumstance  fixes  their  name  indelibly  on  the  very  first  page 
of  the  city's  history,  and  ensures  them  permanence  of  fame  as 
long  as  the  great  center  of  population  remains  on  the  map.  The 
prestige  of  Marquette  in  particular  gathers  in  volume  as  the 
years  roll  on.  Abundant  evidence  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the 
remarkable  study,  "Marquette  Memorials,"  which  appeared  in 
the  April,  1931,  issue  of  Mid-America.  One  instance  in  this  con- 
nection may  be  noted.  According  to  resolutions  adopted  by  the 
Chicago  City  Council  in  1924,  "the  fourth  day  of  December" 
has  been  set  aside  as  "Marquette  Day"  to  commemorate  the 
first  day  (December  4,  1674)  of  the  great  missionary's  period 
of  residence  on  Chicago  soil.  In  1931,  Marquette  Day,  Chi- 
cago's official  tribute  to  the  missionary,  was  celebrated  with 
appropriate  ceremonies  at  the  Michigan  Avenue  Link  Bridge. 
Students  of  Loyola  University,  Mundelein,  Rosary,  and  St.  Xavier 
Colleges  participated.  President  Robert  M.  Kelley  of  Loyola 
University  sketched  the  career  of  the  missionary-explorer;  M. 
Edward  Meier,  vice-consul  of  the  French  Republic,  delivered  an 
address;  and  Mayor  Cermak  read  the  official  Marquette  Day 
Proclamation  of  the  City  Council.  The  ceremony  concluded  with 
the  placing  of  a  wreath  at  the  foot  of  the  Marquette  pylon  of 
the  Michigan  Avenue  Bridge  by  Teresa  Dougherty,  "Miss  Chi- 
cago." Then  followed  exercises  at  the  Damen  Avenue  Marquette 
monument  where  a  paper  was  read  by  L.  Hubbard  Shattuck,  di- 
rector of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society. 


We  reproduce  the  following  item  from  The  Wisconsin  Maga- 
zine of  History,  September,  1931,  p.  108: 

The  dedication  of  the  heroic  statue  entitled  "The  Spirit  of  the  North- 
west" on  the  Court-house  grounds  of  Green  Bay,  occurred  June  10  [1931] 
and  was  a  noteworthy  occasion,  the  consummation  of  the  plans  of  several 
years.  The  artist,  Sidney  Bedore,  is  a  descendant  of  the  early  French 
inhabitants  of  Green  Bay  and  designed  his  statue  to  represent  the  romantic 
period  of  Wisconsin's  early  days.  Three  great  figures,  an  Indian,  Claude 
Allouez,  a  missionary,  and  Nicolas  Perrot,  a  trader,  symbolize  the  primitive, 
the  religious,  and  the  industrial  spirit  of  the  Northwest  during  the  first 
century  of  our  history.  Governor  La  Follette  was  present  and  spoke  on 
the  lessons  of  courage  which  we  could  learn  from  the  early  explorers. 
Dr.  Schafer  and  Bishop  Rhode  also  gave  appropriate  addresses. 

276 


NEWS  AND  COMMENTS  277 

The  choice  of  Father  Allouez  to  represent  the  missionary 
spirit  of  the  Old  Northwest  was  happily  made.  No  other  of  his 
contemporaries  in  the  historic  preaching  of  the  Gospel  to  the 
redmen  of  the  upper  Mississippi  Valley  and  the  Great  Lakes  re- 
gion in  the  seventeenth  century  rises  to  a  more  commanding 
height.  His  appointment,  1665,  by  Bishop  Laval  as  Vicar- 
General  in  the  West  marks  the  first  organization  of  the  Church 
in  that  part  of  the  United  States.  His  missions,  which  included 
among  others,  La  Pointe  on  Lake  Superior,  St.  Francis  Xavier's 
on  Green  Bay,  St.  Mark's  on  or  near  the  Fox  River,  and  probably 
St.  Joseph's  on  the  site  of  Niles,  Michigan,  are  evidence  of  his 
organizing  ability  and  the  unceasing  energy  with  which  he  plied 
his  apostolic  tasks  in  the  West  over  a  period  of  twenty-four 
years.  A  glamor  similar  to  the  one  that  overhangs  the  brilliant 
apostolic  career  of  St.  Francis  Xavier  attaches  to  his  name. 
Thousands  of  the  aborigines  were  drawn  by  him  into  the  Church. 
Historical  geography,  too,  owes  him  a  debt  of  gratitude.  His 
mention  of  the  Mississippi  in  the  Relation  of  1665  was  the  first 
to  find  its  way  into  print  and  in  the  preliminary  investigations 
and  studies  that  paved  the  way  for  the  Jolliet-Marquette  ex- 
pedition of  1673  he  took  an  active  and  leading  part. 


The  great  figure  of  Robert  Cavalier  De  La  Salle  continues  to 
grip  the  popular  imagination.  Parkman  drew  the  first  large 
scale  picture  of  him  for  the  English  reading  public.  Attempts 
have  lately  been  made  to  fix  the  lineaments  of  the  famous  ex- 
plorer in  historical  fiction  or  biography.  Sir  Gilbert  Parker's 
The  Power  and  the  Glory  is  a  fanciful  reconstruction  of  the  past 
with  La  Salle  as  the  chief  actor  on  the  stage.  Recently  a  suc- 
cession of  La  Salle  biographies  has  come  on  the  market,  among 
others,  those  by  Lockridge,  1930;  Jacks,  1930;  and  Gaither,  1931. 
The  latest  attempt  to  portray  the  exployer's  career  is  by  the 
eminent  authority  on  Mississippi  Valley  history  of  the  French 
period,  the  Baron  Marc  De  Villiers  du  Terrage,  L'Expedition  De 
La  Salle,  168^-1687.  De  Villiers's  book,  which  appeared  in  the 
fall  of  1931  in  Paris,  is  concerned  only  with  the  closing  episode 
of  the  explorer's  life,  his  expedition  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Re- 
cent books  on  La  Salle  tend  to  glorify  him  at  the  expense  of  his 
enemies,  real  or  so-called.  De  Villiers's  book,  which  is  based  on 
documentary  research  in  the  French  Archives,  utilizing,  among 


278  NEWS  AND  COMMENTS 

other  sources,  a  hitherto  unpublished  journal  of  the  expedition 
in  question,  attempts  to  seize  and  present  the  objective  truth 
of  things  amid  the  welter  of  jarring  interests  and  personalities 
in  which  De  La  Salle  was  involved.  Beaujeu,  in  particular,  who 
has  generally  served  as  little  more  than  a  foil  to  La  Salle's 
greatness  in  previous  portrayals  of  the  latter,  appears  in  a  more 
favorable  light  than  has  heretofore  been  his  lot. 


The  Kansas  Knights  of  Columbus  have  recently  erected  at 
Council  Grove,  Kansas,  a  memorial  to  Padre  Padilla,  proto- 
martyr  of  the  United  States.  It  would  be  intensely  gratifying 
to  be  able  to  identify  with  precision  the  spot  or  even  general 
locality  where  this  glorious  trailblazer  of  the  Faith  laid  down 
his  life.  With  no  documents  available  other  than  the  con- 
temporary accounts  of  the  Coronado  expedition,  all  of  which 
have  been  published  in  Winship's  monograph,  it  seems  unlikely 
that  the  problem  will  ever  be  definitely  solved.  These  documents 
have  been  subjected  in  recent  years  to  thoroughgoing  and  ex- 
haustive criticism  and  as  happens  so  often  in  the  critical  exam- 
ination of  historical  sources  have  led  to  the  most  diverse  results. 
Quivira,  the  celebrated  region  which  Coronado  explored  and  in 
or  close  to  which  Padre  Padilla  met  his  end,  has  been  placed  by 
Winship  and  Hodge  in  central  Kansas;  by  Bandelier  along  the 
Kansas-Nebraska  line;  by  the  late  Monsignor  Shine  well  within 
the  limits  of  Nebraska;  by  Houck  in  eastern  Missouri;  and  by 
the  most  recent  student  of  the  problem,  Mr.  David  Donaghoe,  of 
Fort  Worth,  Texas,  in  the  Texas  Pan-handle.  The  determina- 
tion, however,  of  the  actual  site  of  Padilla's  martyrdom  is  not 
a  matter  of  grave  importance.  Wherever  it  may  have  been,  the 
memory  of  the  zealous  follower  of  St.  Francis  is  secure  in  the 
memory  of  posterity,  and  his  heroic  passing  remains  one  of  the 
great  glories  of  pioneer  Catholicism  in  the  United  States. 


M.  Edmond  Buron's  recent  scholarly  edition  of  Pierre  D'Ail- 
ly's  Ymago  Mundi  (reviewed  in  Mid-America,  October,  1931)  is 
a  work  to  challenge  attention  in  critical  and  academic  circles. 
M.  Buron's  work,  says  Mr.  George  E.  Nunn,  the  well  known 
authority  on  Columbus,  in  the  Canadian  Historical  Review,  Sep- 


NEWS  AND  COMMENTS  279 

tember,  1931,  p.  307,  "is  so  well  done  that  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 
it  will  be  possible  for  him  to  clarify  further  the  history  of 
Columbus  by  similiarly  treating  the  copies"  of  other  ancient 
authors  which  Columbus  had  in  his  hands.  M.  Buron,  a  Cana- 
dian scholar  now  attached  to  the  Paris  office  of  the  Dominion 
Archives  at  Ottawa,  has  been  active  for  many  years  in  docu- 
mentary researches  bearing  on  Canadian  history  of  the  pre- 
British  period.  As  a  collateral  line  of  research  he  was  also  en- 
gaged for  years  on  this  critical  edition  of  the  Ymago  Mundi,  the 
chief  source  drawn  upon  by  Columbus  for  his  cosmographical 
and  geographical  conceptions.  Buron  as  against  Vignaud  and 
his  school  represents  the  sympathetic  attitude  towards  Colum- 
bus, with  its  tendency  to  bring  into  sharp  relief  the  scientific  and 
other  attainments  of  the  great  discoverer.  Mid-America  repeats 
the  wish  expressed  by  Mr.  Nunn  that  M.  Buron  will  continue  his 
scholarly  investigations  in  the  field  of  Columbian  sources.  Prob- 
ably not  until  this  field  has  been  thoroughly  worked  will  the  true 
lineaments  of  the  illustrious  discoverer  be  available  for  accurate 
portrayal  by  historians  and  biographers. 


In  the  diary  of  William  J.  Onahan  (Mid- America,  October, 
1931,  p.  70)  occurs  a  contemporary  reference  to  the  interesting 
circumstance  that  Stephen  A.  Douglas  was  received  into  the 
Catholic  Church  on  his  deathbed.  Mr.  Onahan  a  few  months 
before  his  death  in  1919  put  on  record  additional  data  which 
supplement  the  meagre  entry  in  the  diary  {Illinois  Catholic  His- 
torical Review,  I,  p.  177)  : 

"Bishop  O'Regan  was  succeeded  by  Bishop  Duggan,  whom  I  have  rea- 
son to  remember  gratefully  as  my  boyhood  friend.  I  became  on  occasions 
a  sort  of  a  lay  secretary  and  did  a  great  deal  of  writing  for  him.  I  re- 
member sitting  up  in  the  Palace  one  night  writing  out  the  address  the 
Bishop  delivered  at  the  grave  of  Senator  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  Of  course 
the  address  I  wrote  was  for  the  Bishop's  notes  or  copy.  It  was  scarcely 
known  at  the  time  or  since  that  the  Senator  was  received  into  the  Church 
and  baptized.  Mrs.  Douglas  was  a  Catholic,  and  when  in  the  city  a  regular 
attendant  at  old  St.  Mary's,  where  I  often  saw  her.  She  induced  the  Bishop 
to  come  to  the  Tremont  House  in  the  Senator's  last  hours,  and  so  it  was 
he  had  the  grace  of  dying  a  Catholic.  As  this  fact  has  been  questioned, 
I  may  say  I  have  the  most  unequivocal  testimony  of  the  truth  of  what  I 
assert.  The  physician  who  was  in  attendance,  Dr.  Hay,  afterwards  for  a 
long  time  my  own  physician,  and  a  Sister  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  who  at 
the  time  was  in  the  Tremont  House  and  not  then  a  religious,  both  cor- 
roborate my  assertion.  I  stood  near  Bishop  Duggan  when  he  delivered 
the  address  when  Douglas  was  laid  in  his  last  resting  place.  The  Douglas 
monument  now  surmounts  the  grave." 


280  NEWS  AND  COMMENTS 

Interest  in  this  incident  has  lately  been  revived  in  view  of 
the  fact  that  Mr.  Milton,  editor  of  the  Chattanooga  Times,  and 
author  of  a  notable  Andrew  Johnson  biography,  is  now  engaged 
on  what  promises  to  be  the  most  satisfactory  account  of  the 
"Little  Giant"  yet  written.  A  comparison  of  the  accounts  of 
the  Douglas  funeral  appearing  respectively  in  the  Chicago  Times 
and  Chicago  Tribune  for  June  8,  1861,  reveals  some  highly  inter- 
esting discrepancies.  According  to  the  Times,  a  Douglas  organ, 
there  was  an  impressive  religious  service  conducted  by  Bishop 
Duggan  and  his  clergy,  while  according  to  the  Tribune,  hostile 
to  Douglas,  there  was  no  religious  service  at  all,  the  Bishop  and 
his  clergy  appearing  in  only  "half -canonical  attire,"  and  the 
Bishop  speaking  at  the  grave  as  a  friend  only,  and  not  as  a 
minister  of  religion,  as  Douglas  had  died  outside  the  pale  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  The  historian  of  today  collating  all  the  exist- 
ing evidence  on  the  point  will  scarcely  evade  the  conclusion  that 
Douglas  was  really  buried  according  to  the  Catholic  rite,  which 
would  not  have  been  the  case  had  he  not  died  a  member  of  the 
Catholic  Church. 


The  National  Catholic  Welfare  Council  News  Service  sent  out 
from  Tucson,  Arizona,  in  July,  1931,  the  following  story,  which 
through  the  courtesy  of  the  Service  is  here  reproduced: 

When  Father  Eusebio  Francisco  Kino,  Jesuit  missionary  and  pioneer, 
set  out,  at  the  dawn  of  the  seventeenth  century  to  prove  that  there  was 
an  overland  route  from  Sonora  to  California,  well-wishing,  but  perhaps 
skeptical  friends  declared  that  they  would  have  to  build  a  monument  to 
his  memory  if  his  expedition  proved  successful.  That  promise,  apparently, 
never  was  fulfilled,  but  today,  more  than  200  years  later,  a  group  of  men 
and  women  headed  by  a  non-Catholic  of  this  city  are  laboring  patiently  to 
see  it  realized. 

The  men  and  women  who  seek  to  honor  Father  Kino  are  the  members 
of  the  Kino  Memorial  Committee.  The  genesis  and  growth  of  their  work 
has  just  been  explained  in  an  interview  granted  the  N.  C.  W.  C.  News  Serv- 
ice by  Dr.  Frank  C.  Lockwood,  dean  of  the  Liberal  Arts  College  of  the 
University  of  Arizona  and  chairman  of  the  committee. 

Dean  Lockwood  paid  tribute  to  Professor  Herbert  R.  Bolton  of  the 
University  of  California,  author  of  Kino's  Historical  Memoirs  of  Pimeria 
Alta,  for  having  disclosed  "in  firm  clear  outline  one  of  the  great  characters 
of  American  history"  and  for  revealing  him  in  "his  truly  monumental 
character." 

"Father  Kino,"  Dean  Lockwood  continued,  "now  stands  before  us  in 
solid  reality  as  a  religious  genius,  a  saintly  missionary,  a  mighty  spiritual 


NEWS  AND  COMMENTS  281 

captain— the  most  potent  individual  and  most  worthy  in  the  civilization  of 
the  Southwest.  It  was  he  who  first  explored  and  mapped  Northern  Sonora 
and  Southern  Arizona;  he  first  brought  domestic  animals  into  Arizona;  he 
founded  San  Xavier  Mission,  and  he  was  the  first  to  discover  that  California 
could  be  reached  by  land  from  Sonora.  He  was  contemporaneous  with 
La  Salle  and  Marquette  and  his  achievements  are  no  less  distinguished 
than  the  deeds  of  these  fellow  Jesuits."  [La  Salle  had  been  a  Jesuit  for 
some  years,  but  withdrew  from  the  Order.] 

In  describing  how  he  first  came  to  recognize  the  greatness  of  Father 
Kino  and  in  recounting  the  efforts  put  forth  in  Arizona  to  honor  his  name, 
Dean  Lockwood  said: 

"Six  years  ago  I  made  my  first  trip  into  Sonora.  As  we  traveled 
southward  toward  Magdalena  past  the  old  Spanish  missions  of  San  Xavier, 
Tumacuri  and  San  Ignacio,  their  beauty  and  antiquity  were  for  the  first 
time  impressed  upon  my  mind.  However,  even  then,  the  name  of  Father 
Eusebio  Francisco  Kino  was  strange  to  my  ear,  and  I  was  almost  blind 
to  the  fact  that  the  heroic  man  who  bore  that  name  had  planted  a  chain 
of  about  25  missions  in  what  is  now  Northern  Sonora  and  Southern  Arizona 
more  than  two  centuries  ago. 

"It  was  not  until  the  winter  of  1928  when  it  was  my  good  fortune 
to  travel  for  nine  days  in  company  of  Professor  Bolton  over  the  desert 
trails  that  Father  Kino  had  made  almost  two  and  a  half  centuries  before, 
that  I  fully  awoke  to  the  fact  that  Father  Kino  was  not  only  the  first  to 
plant  Christian  civilization  in  the  Southwest,  but  that  the  chain  of  missions 
founded  by  him,  both  in  beautiy  and  antiquity  is  still  of  surpassing  interest. 
"  "It  occurred  to  me  that  winter  visitors  in  the  Southwest  would  find 
much  pleasure  and  instruction  in  a  three-day  tour  through  this  region.  I 
wrote  to  Governor  George  W.  Hunt  and  to  Governor  Fauto  Topete  of 
Sonora,  suggesting  that,  if  the  crossing  of  the  border  were  made  easy  and 
certain  stretches  of  road  improved,  hundreds  of  tourists  each  year  would 
visit  the  chain  of  missions.  I  proposed  too,  that  a  program  of  co-operation 
be  undertaken  between  the  executives  of  Sonora  and  Arizona  and  the 
officers  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  the  cities  that  would  be  visited. 

"Both  Governor  Hunt  and  Governor  Topete  at  once  took  steps  to  carry 
out  the  plan.  Governor  Hunt  became  sponsor  of  an  exploration  tour,  the 
purpose  of  which  was  to  determine  what  missions  might  be  included  in 
the  circuit  and  what  were  the  conditions  of  the  roads.  The  two  Governors 
met  at  Nogales,  Sonora,  and  accompanied  by  residents  of  both  Arizona 
and  Sonora,  visited  the  principal  missions.  The  following  places  were 
decided  upon  as  constituting  an  ideal  three-day  tour:  San  Xavier, 
Tamacuri,  Imuris,  San  Ignacio,  Magdalena,  Tubutama,  Oquitoa,  Pitiquito, 
and  Caborca. 

"By  the  autumn  of  1928  the  grandeur  and  energy  of  Kino's  personality 
and  the  significance  of  his  pioneer  achievements  in  Pimeria  Alta  had  so 
fired  my  imagination  that  I  made  this  suggestion  in  a  lecture  delivered 
in  the  auditorium  of  the  University  of  Arizona:  'On  May  28,  1700,  Em- 
manuel Gonzales  commenting  on  Kino's  belief  that  California  could  be 
entered  by  land,  wrote :  "If  you  accomplish  this,  we  must  erect  a  rich  and 
famous  statue."    I  have  longed  to  find  some  trace  of  any  likeness  of  him. 


282  NEWS  AND  COMMENTS 

What  would  be  a  finer  tribute  to  this  greatest  of  all  Arizona  pioneers  than 
the  erection  even  at  this  late  date  of  an  idealized  statue  of  him  at  San 
Xavier,  which  he  founded,  or  in  Tucson.' 

"There  was  a  prompt  response.  A  committee  was  quickly  brought 
together.  It  is  known  as  the  Kino  Memorial  Committee.  For  three  years 
now  this  Committee  has  been  functioning,  gathering  funds,  informing  the 
public  of  Kino's  remarkable  character  and  great  service,  encouraging  tours 
of  the  mission  chain  and  establishing  an  annual  commemorative  service  in 
his  honor  on  March  15,  the  date  of  his  death." 

Today,  Dean  Lockwood  said,  about  $5,000  of  the  $10,000  needed  for 
the  memorial  has  been  raised.  Protestant  students  on  the  campus  of  the 
University  of  Arizona  contributed  $300  to  the  fund  in  the  last  few  weeks. 


BOOK  REVIEWS 

La  Salle.  By  L.  V.  Jacks.  Scribner's,  New  York,  1931,  pp.  282, 
$3.00. 

The  general  reader  will  enjoy  this  new  book  by  Dr.  Jacks. 
The  greatness  and  tragedy  of  La  Salle's  career  are  presented  in 
an  impressive  manner.  The  reader  will  feel  that  he  too  has 
strained  at  the  oars,  has  tugged  at  the  ropes,  has  peered  across 
the  misty  waters  in  a  vain  attempt  to  sight  the  lost  Griffin,  has 
gazed  with  horror  upon  the  charred  bodies  of  the  helpless  Illinoi, 
and  has  wandered  through  trackless  forests  trying  to  find  the 
elusive  Mississippi.  The  author  at  times  describes  scenes  in 
prose  of  poetic  beauty.  Over  a  framework  of  minimum  facts  he 
has  constructed  an  ornate,  colorful,  and  connected  account. 

The  historian  who  reads  this  volume  will  be  disappointed  and 
perhaps  annoyed.  Although  the  author  has  used  some  first  class 
books  such  as  Margry,  Shea,  and  Gravier,  he  has  overlooked 
many  writers  who  have  made  contributions,  such  as  Bolton, 
Winsor,  and  Cox.  The  numberless  descriptions  of  weather,  loca- 
tions, and  thoughts  are  not  only  of  dubious  authenticity,  but 
they  become  monotonous.  It  is  easier  to  distribute  halos  and 
halters  thari  to  weigh  character  in  the  scales  of  justice.  The 
author,  apparently  conscious  of  this  fact,  has  placed  halos  upon 
La  Salle,  Frontenac,  and  DeTonty  and  halters  upon  LaBarre, 
Beaujeu,  and  Duhaut. 

The  book  contains  a  map  showing  La  Salle's  forts,  a  brief 
bibliography,  an  appendix,  and  an  index. 

Edgar  B.  Wesley,  Ph.  D. 

University  of  Minnesota 
Minneapolis,  Minn. 

On  the  King's  Highway.  A  History  of  the  Sisters  of  the  Holy 
Cross  of  St.  Mary  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  Notre 
Dame,  Indiana,  by  Sister  M.  Eleanore.  D.  Appleton  &  Co., 
New  York. 

"Whatever  be  the  faults  of  young  America,"  says  Sister 
Eleanore,  "she  has  a  large  measure  of  gratitude."  Young  Amer- 
ica implies  the  large  portion  of  the  population  who  are  members 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  we  may  say  most  emphatically  that 
the  Catholic  people  of  this  country  are  grateful  for  the  ines- 

283 


284  BOOK  REVIEWS 

timable  benefits  they  have  received  from  the  self-sacrificing  and 
self-effacing  Sisters  of  the  Church.  In  earlier  days  nearly  all 
the  secular  education  the  mass  of  the  Catholic  people  received 
was  obtained  in  the  parish  schools  conducted  by  the  Sisters.  It 
has  often  been  said  that  the  school  building  is  as  important  as 
the  church.  If  that  be  so  then  the  work  of  the  Sisters  may  be 
placed  along  side  the  work  of  the  clergy,  and  the  Sisters  are 
entitled  to  equal  praise  for  preserving  the  spirit  and  the  knowl- 
edge of  Christ  in  this  country. 

A  short  time  ago  we  reviewed  a  history  of  the  Sisters  of 
Mercy.  The  present  book  is  a  history  of  the  Sisters  of  the  Holy 
Cross.  Both  books  were  written  by  members  of  their  respective 
Communities.  We  hope  these  two  books  will  be  an  incentive  to 
other  religious  communities  of  women  to  write  histories  of  their 
organizations.  And  we  can  assure  the  interested  public  that,  if 
the  other  works  measure  up  to  these  two  books,  they  will  well 
repay  careful  reading,  and,  undoubtedly,  will  suggest  the  thought 
that,  if  the  country  had  more  women  as  culturly  and  technically 
educated,  and  as  capable  of  managing  large  organizations  as  are 
these  Sisters,  perhaps  some  of  the  governmental  difficulties  that 
are  embarrassing  us  today  might  be  avoided. 

The  Community  of  the  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Cross  was  founded 
by  the  Reverend  Basil  Moreau  in  1839.  He  had  clearly  in  mind 
the  mission  of  the  Community.  They  were  to  labor  in  a  special 
field  of  the  Church,  and  were  to  be  distinguished  by  their  labor 
and  even  by  their  habit.  He  had  decided  what  that  habit  should 
be.  "Masculine  and  feminine  tastes  naturally  clashed,"  says 
Sister  Eleanore,  but  with  rather  an  unusual  result.  The  Found- 
er's taste  was  respected  to  the  extent  at  least,  that  "a  sort  of 
consolidated-interests  habit  was  finally  achieved."  Although 
the  Congregation  had  been  complete  before  that  time  the  per- 
fected Constitution  of  the  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Cross  was  not 
promulgated  until  1859.  The  governmental  form  of  the  Society 
was  adopted  from  the  centralized  system  of  St.  Ignatius.  The 
dominant  motive  was  faith  in  Christ  Crucified  and  in  His  guid- 
ance in  the  field  of  foreign  missions. 

In  July,  1843,  the  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Cross  arrived  in  New 
York  City.  Among  those  who  accompanied  them  was  the  Rev- 
erend Francois  Cointet.  Shortly  after  his  arrival  he  wrote  Father 
Moreau  a  letter  that  is  a  real  historical  document.  It  contains  a 
narrative  of  the  voyage  that  is  reminiscent  of  a  more  famous 


BOOK  REVIEWS  285 

voyage  across  the  Mediterranean  from  Caesarea  to  Puteoli.  Like 
St.  Paul  Father  Cointet  and  his  companions  were  missionaries  to 
a  new  land  of  which  they  had  heard  much.  But  unlike  the  evan- 
gelical author  of  the  Book  of  Acts  Father  Cointet  gives  a  de- 
scription of  the  new  world  city  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century  most  interesting  to  those  living  in  the  twentieth. 

After  a  short  rest  in  New  York  the  Sisters  started  westward 
by  way  of  the  Great  Lakes  to  Indiana.  Father  Sorin  had  already 
begun  the  foundations  of  the  great  educational  and  missionary 
institution  that  was  to  rise  on  the  quiet  shores  of  St.  Mary's 
Lake.  In  a  small  room  of  "a  dilapidated  building  in  which  their 
trunks  and  boxes  served  as  furniture  and  their  umbrellas  as  first 
aid  to  the  roof  in  wet  weather"  the  first  Sisters  of  the  Holy 
Cross  in  the  United  States  lived.  From  there  they  soon  moved 
to  a  more  commodious  convent  over  the  old  log  chapel  that  had 
been  erected  many  years  before,  and  immediately  began  the  work 
that  has  made  them  well  known  throughout  the  United  States. 
They  had  difficulties,  but  they  overcame  them,  and  we  may  be- 
lieve that  their  prayers  were  many  times  granted  when,  says 
Sister  Eleanore,  "they  talked  both  French  and  English  to  the 
statue  of  Our  Lady." 

The  great  school  of  the  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Cross  at  Notre 
Dame  is  so  well  known  that  it  would  be  superfluous  to  describe 
it  or  to  praise  the  work  done  there.  What  may  not  be  super- 
fluous is  to  direct  attention  to  the  astonishing  growth  of  the 
Congregation.  In  nearly  every  state  of  the  Union  is  a  convent 
and  school  conducted  by  the  Holy  Cross  Sisters.  "It  would  be 
contrary  to  the  spirit  of  Holy  Cross,"  says  Sister  Eleanore,  "to 
confine  itself  within  the  limits  of  one  country,  for  our  Father 
Founder  dreamed  of  a  world-wide  conquest  of  souls  for  Christ 
by  his  sons  and  daughters."  At  a  very  early  date  in  the  history 
of  the  Congregation  priests  and  Brothers  were  sent  to  India. 
Soon  after  Sisters  went  there,  and  established  communities  in 
Calcutta,  and,  after  many  pathetic  vicissitudes,  in  Bengal.  Some 
of  those  who  went  to  the  far  east  were  from  the  Convent  of  St. 
Mary  at  Notre  Dame. 

Although  in  comparison  with  the  great  Orders  of  the  Church 
the  Congregation  of  the  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Cross  is  of  such  late 
date  as  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  yet  so  much  has 
been  accomplished  that  it  seems  indeed  to  be  very  old.  It  is  in 
reality  very  old.    It  began  when  the  Cross  was  raised  on  Calvary 


286  BOOK  REVIEWS 

and  it  has  grown  because  it  has  within  it  the  sacrificing  and  en- 
nobling and  divine  Spirit  of  Christ  on  the  Cross. 

Sister  Eleanore  has  produced  a  charming  book.  It  is  one  of 
those  books  that  make  the  reader  forget  he  is  reading  a  book 
and  believe  he  is  hearing  the  story  of  a  great  and  successful 
enterprise  told  by  one  who  has  taken  a  great  part  in  the  enter- 
prise. This  story  of  the  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame  should  be  in  all 
libraries.  It  may  well  be  a  source  of  inspiration  to  those  who 
are  trying  to  do  the  best  that  men  and  women  can  do  on  "The 
King's  Highway." 

Eneas  B.  Goodwin,  S.  T.  B.,  J.  D. 

Loyola  University 
Chicago 

Religious  Liberty  in  Transition.  A  Study  of  the  Removal  of 
Constitutional  Limitations  on  Religious  Liberty  as  part  of 
the  Social  Progress  in  the  Transition  Period.  By  Rev.  Joseph 
Francis  Thorning,  S.  J.,  Ph.  D.  Benziger  Brothers,  New 
York,  1931,  pp.  252,  $2.50. 

It  is  only  within  comparatively  recent  years  that  the  investi- 
gation of  the  rise  of  religious  liberty  in  America  has  been  under- 
taken in  anything  approaching  a  scientific  manner.  We  have 
long  prided  ourselves  on  our  liberality  in  respect  to  freedom  of 
conscience,  but  few  have  undertaken  to  examine,  in  the  light  of 
the  most  rigid  canons  of  scientific  history,  the  successive  pro- 
cesses by  which  this  freedom  has  been  attained.  Of  late  how- 
ever, a  few  scholars  have  been  turning  their  attention  to  this 
important  feature  of  American  culture.  Thorn's,  The  Struggle 
for  Religious  Freedom  in  Virginia;  the  Baptists,  Maria  Louise 
Greene's,  The  Development  of  Religious  Liberty  in  Connecticut, 
and  Meyer's,  Church  and  State  in  Massachusetts:  From  17IfO- 
1833,  to  mention  but  a  few,  are  examples  of  the  newer  and  more 
objective  study  of  the  subject. 

Father  Thorning's  work  is  more  ambitious  in  intent  than  the 
majority  of  the  previous  studies.  He  essays  to  cover  in  this  and 
subsequent  volumes  a  field  coextensive  in  geographical  extent 
with  that  treated  by  Sylvester  H.  Cobb  in  his  study,  The  Rise  of 
Religious  Liberty  in  America.  Unlike  Cobb,  however,  Father 
Thorning  is  not  concerned  with  the  history  of  religious  toleration 
in  the  colonies,  but  rather  with  the  transition  from  intolerance 
of  varying  degrees  to  tolerance  and  equality  for  all  creeds  which 


BOOK  REVIEWS  287 

characterized  the  half  century  following  the  American  Revolu- 
tion. 

In  this,  the  first  volume  of  his  projected  series,  Father  Thorn- 
ing  restricts  his  study  to  the  New  England  states.  New  England 
was  a  geographical  area  possessing,  with  a  few  local  units  ex- 
cepted, a  religious  consciousness  singularly  homogeneous.  In 
adopting  such  a  plan  of  treatment  the  author  has  been  enabled 
to  demonstrate  a  continuity  of  attitude  and  policy  throughout  a 
comparatively  significant  section  of  the  original  states  of  the 
union.  Several  factors  conspired  to  bring  about  this  transition 
to  a  state  of  tolerance,  and  to  these  factors — political,  social  and 
intellectual — the  author  has  accorded  due  consideration.  The 
outstanding  battles  for  toleration  were  waged  in  Massachusetts 
and  New  Hampshire,  and  it  is  to  these  two  states  that  the  major 
portion  of  the  volume  is  devoted. 

The  plan  of  treatment  followed  by  the  author  leaves  little  to 
be  desired,  either  in  the  mechanical  factors  of  bibliographical 
material  or  in  judicious  interpretation  of  a  most  bewildering 
type  of  documentary  material.  Only  one  who  has  himself  ex- 
perienced by  personal  research  the  complicated  nature  of  early 
American  legislation  on  the  matter  of  religious  toleration,  can 
appreciate  the  success  achieved  by  Father  Thorning  in  his  in- 
vestigation. 

The  question  of  inclusion  and  exclusion  is  one  that  is  never 
absent  from  the  mind  of  a  worker  in  such  a  field,  and  Father 
Thorning  has  undoubtedly  given  careful  consideration  to  his 
general  outline  of  treatment.  Yet  to  the  reviewer  it  appears 
that  a  greater  balance  might  have  been  secured  to  the  present 
volume  if  the  author  had  seen  fit  to  include  a  separate  treatment 
of  the  State  of  Vermont.  After  all,  Vermont  became  a  state  in 
1791,  and  the  battle  for  toleration  was  waged  in  that  state  as 
well  as  in  the  neighboring  states  of  the  New  England  group. 
Yet  the  author  restricts  his  treatment  of  the  Green  Mountain 
State  for  the  most  part  to  a  footnote.  However,  despite  this  lack 
of  what  some  might  wish  to  see  accorded  fuller  treatment,  Father 
Thorning  has  produced  an  outstanding  work,  and  one  for  which 
students  of  history  and  social  institutions  have  long  been  wait- 
ing. They  will  eagerly  await  the  remaining  volumes  of  the  series. 

Thomas  F.  O'Connor,  A.  M. 
Saint  Louis  University 


288  BOOK  REVIEWS 

The  Oblates'  Hundred  and  One  Years.    By  Grace  H.  Sherwood. 
The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1931,  pp.  xiii+288,  $2.50. 

Mrs.  Sherwood  in  the  three  hundred  pages  of  this  book  makes 
a  substantial  contribution  to  American  Church  history,  to  the 
history  of  the  American  Negro,  and  specifically,  to  the  history  of 
the  Oblate  Sisters  of  Providence.  Genuine  source  material  is 
defltly  used,  being  woven  into  a  readable  account,  satisfying 
both  the  historical  sense  and  human  interest.  Twenty  years  ago 
Katherine  Hughes  in  her  "Father  Lacombe"  anticipated  some  of 
the  best  features  of  the  Strachey-school  of  biography.  Mrs. 
Sherwood  uses  a  similar  method  to  that  of  Miss  Hughes  but  with 
a  difference.  Miss  Hughes  remained  completely  in  the  back- 
groun,  letting  her  Father  Lacombe  tell  his  story.  Mrs.  Sherwood 
like  a  refined  hostess  cannot  be  overlooked  though  she  never  ob- 
trudes herself  nor  strives  to  impress  us  with  her  sayings  and 
doings. 

The  Oblates  are  fortunate,  indeed,  in  having  so  sympathetic 
and  understanding  a  historian.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  a 
member  of  the  Community  could  have  treated  more  feelingly  or 
adequately  the  chronicle  of  events  that  make  up  the  century  of 
their  progress.  The  Oblates  of  Providence  are  our  first  religious 
Community  of  Negro  women.  In  view  of  historical  facts  it  may 
well  occasion  surprise  in  many  minds  today  that  such  an  estab- 
lishment should  have  been  launched  as  early  as  1829.  If  it  re- 
quired rare  courage  thirty  years  before  the  Civil  War  to  envisage 
a  religious  congregation  for  the  education  of  Negro  children, 
what  must  have  been  the  courage  of  those  who  ventured  to  con- 
ceive a  religious  congregation  of  Negro  women  for  such  a  pur- 
pose? Stout  of  heart  they  were  indeed,  Father  Joubert,  of  the 
Sulpicians,  who  helped  organize  and  who  directed  the  incipient 
Community  for  fourteen  years,  and  the  four  pioneer  Sisters. 
Father  Joubert's  diary  supplied  superb  data,  detailed  and  often 
poignant,  which  the  author  turned  to  splendid  account. 

There  is  sunshine  and  shadow  in  abundance.  Difficult  be- 
ginnings, fair  progress  followed  by  reverses,  the  dark  prospect 
of  total  extinction,  again  raised  hopes,  better  days  and  renewed 
progress,  a  miniature  of  the  Church's  history,  in  fact.  Perhaps 
no  other  religious  Community  has  had  a  harder  fate  than  the 
Oblates  during  the  four  years  following  the  death  of  their 
founder,  1843  to  1847.    No  annual  retreat,  Mass  in  their  chapel 


BOOK  REVIEWS  289 

very  rarely,  no  director;  an  almost  total  deprivation,  in  fact,  of 
regular  external  spiritual  helps  marked  this  dark  period.  Yet 
they  never  flinched.  Quietly  they  went  about  their  work  and 
prayer  hoping  for  better  days,  patiently  bearing  their  cross  even 
as  their  kinsfolk  in  bondage  bore  the  yoke  of  slavery.  Happily 
the  Redemptorists  came  to  the  rescue  and  proved  the  staunchest 
friend  of  the  Oblates  for  a  period  of  fourteen  years  (1847-1880) . 
Father  Anwander  was  almost  a  second  founder.  The  Jesuits, 
especially  Father  Peter  Miller,  directed  the  Oblates  from  1860 
to  1878,  and  were  followed  by  the  Josephite  Fathers  in  the  latter 
years.  Father  Leeson,  first  as  a  Josephite  Father  and  later  as 
a  secular  priest,  directed  the  Community  until  his  death  in  1911. 
Directors  of  the  Oblates  in  subsequent  years  were  appointed 
from  the  ranks  of  the  diocesan  clergy. 

The  ramifications  of  the  educational  work  of  the  Oblates  are 
interestingly  traced  in  the  various  foundations,  New  Orleans, 
Philadelphia,  St.  Louis,  Leavensworth,  Cuba,  etc.  Since  1926 
the  care  of  orphans  has  been  discontinued,  except  at  one  or  other 
house,  leaving  the  Sisters  free  to  devote  their  attention  entirely 
to  strictly  educational  work.  Adequate  preparation  of  the  Sis- 
ters for  teaching  is  receiving  considerable  attention  in  spite  of 
the  handicaps  which  even  these  devoted  women  have  to  suffer 
on  account  of  race  prejudice.  Novices  with  advanced  educational 
standing  are  joining  the  Community.  Like  all  our  sisterhoods, 
the  Oblates  are  in  need  of  far  more  subjects  than  they  receive 
to  carry  on  the  noble  work  of  Catholic  education. 

A  regrettable  error  has  slipped  into  the  account  of  the  St. 
Louis  Mission.  The  night  school  for  colored  children — if  school 
it  really  was — opened  in  1856  was  under  the  direction  of  the 
Sisters  of  Mercy,  who  had  but  just  arrived  in  St.  Louis.  The 
Notre  Dame  Sisters,  to  whom  the  author  assigns  the  role,  did 
not  arrive  in  St.  Louis  until  a  later  date. 

The  general  format  of  the  book,  the  illustrations,  an  adequate 
index,  together  with  the  low  price,  all  show  that  author  and 
publisher  have  collaborated  in  a  worthwhile  addition  to  our 
growing  library  of  Catholic  Americana. 

St.  Louis  University  Henry  H.  Regnet,  S.  J. 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 


290  BOOK  REVIEWS 

The  Lives  of  the  Saints.  Originally  Compiled  by  Alban  Butler, 
Now  Edited,  Revised  and  Copiously  Supplemented  by  Herbert 
Thurston  and  Norah  Leeson.  Vol.  Ill,  March.  P.  J.  Kenedy 
and  Sons,  1931. 

The  reviewer  has  a  vivid  remembrance  of  Butler's  Lives  of 
the  Saints.  The  impressions  take  me  back  to  the  time  when  I 
was  an  acolyte,  and  the  parish  missions  were  in  full  action.  I 
may  have  forgotten  the  sermons,  but  I  still  recall  the  display  of 
mission  goods.  I  can  see  the  holy  pictures,  the  boxes  of  beads, 
the  assortment  of  prayer-books,  and  finally  the  sets  of  the  Lives 
of  the  Saints. 

Equally  well  do  I  recall  the  display  at  the  close  of  the  mis- 
sions. The  supply  of  beads  and  prayer-books  was  all  but  ex- 
hausted, the  packages  of  holy  pictures  were  considerably  dimin- 
ished, but  the  stately  row  of  Butler's  Lives  of  the  Saints  re- 
mained undisturbed. 

Now,  I  often  wondered  why  people  did  not  buy  the  Lives  of 
the  Saints.  As  a  boy  I  reveled  in  juvenile  stories  of  adventure 
and  I  am  sure  that  I  would  have  made  myself  familiar  with  some 
of  the  lives  of  the  saints,  had  the  books  been  handy.  Take  the 
volume  before  me.  I  would  have  read  the  life  of  Saint  Joseph, 
for  that  was  the  name  of  our  parish  church.  I  am  equally  sure 
that  I  would  have  been  interested  in  St.  Patrick.  Even  when  a 
boy  I  had  heard  much  of  the  great  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  and 
would  gladly  have  made  myself  better  acquainted  with  the  de- 
tails of  his  life.  There  is  much  deep  theology  connected  with 
the  feast  of  the  Annunciation,  but  with  some  encouragement  I 
no  doubt  would  have  opened  the  pages  at  the  feast  on  or  near 
the  25th  of  March. 

Later  when  I  went  to  high  school  and  college  I  would  have 
turned  to  the  life  of  St.  Benedict  who  did  so  much  to  build  up 
the  Christian  civilization  of  Europe,  and  St.  John  Capistran  who 
was  so  instrumental  in  saving  it  against  the  onslaughts  of  the 
Turks.  I  would  have  been  interested  in  the  lives  of  St.  John 
Joseph,  St.  John  of  God,  St.  Frances  of  Rome,  St.  Gregory  the 
Great,  The  Forty  Martyrs  of  Sebaste,  and  others — many  others. 

The  new  edition  of  Butler's  Lives  of  the  Saints  has  many  im- 
provements over  the  old  one.  The  name  of  Father  Thurston  will 
give  assurance  that  every  life  is  edited  with  scholarship.  Not  all 
the  fables  and  fiction  have  been  eliminated ;  but  one  knows  in  the 


BOOK  REVIEWS  291 

new  edition  what  is  fable  and  what  is  fact,  at  least  as  far  as 
erudition  can  separate  the  two. 

Father  Thurston  in  the  preface  reminds  his  readers  that 
March  is  not  "prolific  in  great  feasts,"  and  yet  to  one  who  is  in- 
terested in  serious  reading,  there  is  matter  for  many  a  pleasant 
and  instructive  hour. 

Not  only  have  many  of  the  accounts  of  the  saints  been  en- 
larged, but  new  names  have  been  added  to  the  calendar.  We  of 
America  cannot  as  yet  claim  many  saints,  but  the  long  account 
of  "The  Martyrs  of  North  America"  is  not  only  of  special  inter- 
est to  us,  but  connects  our  own  country  with  every  nation  of 
Europe  in  winning  the  aureola  of  sainthood. 

We  sincerely  hope  that  this  attractive  and  scholarly  edition 
of  the  Lives  of  the  Saints  will  in  future  not  only  adorn  the  mis- 
sion tables,  but  will  diminish  in  number  of  copies  as  the  missions 
draw  to  a  close. 

Henry  S.  Spalding,  S.  J. 

St.  John's  College 
Toledo,  Ohio 

The  Catholic  Church  on  the  Northern  Indiana  Frontier,  1789- 
18U.  By  Rev.  William  McNamara,  C.  S.  C.  The  Catholic 
University  of  America,  Washington,  D.  C,  1931,  pp.  vii-(-85. 

In  preparing  this  dissertation,  the  author,  a  native  of  Chi- 
cago and  an  alumnus  of  Notre  Dame  University,  has  made  good 
use  of  manuscripts  preserved  in  the  Archives  of  Notre  Dame 
University  and  of  the  Community  of  the  Holy  Cross,  as  well  as 
of  printed  sources. 

The  work  deals  quite  as  much  with  the  Indians  who  formerly 
occupied  the  territory  as  with  the  early  white  settlers.  The  mis- 
sions of  the  seventeenth  and  early  eighteenth  centuries  are  not 
covered  in  this  dissertation ;  but  even  the  earliest  priests  who  fol- 
lowed toward  the  close  of  the  latter  century  had  mixed  congre- 
gations composed  of  both  Indinas  and  whites.  The  outstanding 
figures  among  these  early  clergy  were:  Stephen  Badin,  pioneer 
and  the  first  Catholic  priest  to  be  ordained  within  the  limits  of 
the  United  States;  Simon  Brute,  who  became  the  first  Bishop 
of  the  new  diocese  of  Vincennes,  a  jurisdiction  that  covered  all 
of  the  state  of  Indiana  and  about  one-third  of  Illinois  in  their 
present  boundaries;  Fathers  Louis  Deseille  and  Benjamin  Petit; 
and  Bishop  Rene   de  la  Hailandiere.     Their  letters,   liberally 


292  BOOK  REVIEWS 

quoted  by  the  author,  give  vivid  and  often  dramatic  pictures  of 
the  journeys  and  mode  of  life  of  the  clergy  and  of  the  pioneers 
of  Catholicity  in  Indiana  in  the  'thirties. 

The  narrative  closes  with  the  year  1844,  in  which  the  charter 
of  Notre  Dame  University  was  granted  by  the  state  to  Father 
Sorin  and  his  associates  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Holy  Cross. 

William  Stetson  Merrill,  A.  B. 

Oak  Park,  111. 

Jacques  Cartier.    By  Charles  de  la  Ronciere.    Plon,  Paris,  1931. 

This  is  the  second  volume  of  a  series,  Les  Grandes  Figures 
Coloniales,  the  purpose  of  which  is  to  recreate  the  great  figures 
who  have  been  instrumental  in  the  expansion  of  the  French 
colonial  empire. 

Jacques  Cartier,  the  discoverer  of  Canada,  could  have  found 
no  historian  more  thoroughly  trained  and  equipped  to  write  his 
biography  than  the  author  of  UHistoire  de  la  Marine  Frangaise 
(five  vols.) .  Making  full  use  of  extant  documents  and  contribu- 
tions of  historians  of  other  nationalities,  M.  de  la  Ronciere  has 
produced  a  book  of  genuine  importance.  In  a  dramatic  manner 
he  describes  the  youth  of  the  discoverer,  his  first  voyage  to 
Brazil,  and  the  four  voyages  to  Canada;  throughout  the  book, 
Cartier  is  pictured  both  as  a  great  patriot  working  in  the  pur- 
suit of  his  ideal  under  the  clash  of  rivalry  and  jealousy,  and  as 
a  great  Catholic,  human  in  his  dealings  with  the  Indians  and 
devout  in  the  expression  of  his  faith.  The  author  is  especially 
adroit  in  presenting  historical  facts  with  narrative  skill  and  the 
book  reads  like  a  drama.  He  visualizes  the  facts  assimilated 
through  patient  investigation  and  describes  the  hardships  of  the 
sailors  during  the  winter  they  spent  in  Canada,  the  sufferings 
of  the  crew  from  scurvy,  the  mistrust  of  the  Indians  and  the 
failure  of  rival  companies.  Chapter  XI  will  be  of  interest  to 
literateurs;  the  author  traces  the  sources  of  the  navigations  of 
Pantagruel  to  the  relation  of  Cartier's  voyages. 

The  book  is  supplied  with  a  bibliography,  one  map,  and  five 
drawings.  More  attention  should  have  been  given  to  the  quality 
of  the  paper.  There  is  no  index,  and  no  footnote  references  are 
given  in  the  text.  These  are  blemishes  which  can  be  corrected 
in  a  later  edition. 

Paul  A.  Barrette,  A.  M. 

Saint  Louis  University 


BOOK  REVIEWS  293 

Catholic  Journalism;  A  Study  of  Its  Development  in  the  United 
States,  1189-1930.  By  Apollinaris  W.  Baumgartner,  Colum- 
bia University  Press,  1931,  pp.  xvi-(-113. 

This  work,  a  thesis  presented  in  partial  fulfillment  of  the 
requirements  for  the  degree  of  Master  of  Science  in  Journalism 
at  Columbia  University,  was  done  by  Father  Apollinaris, 
O.  M.  Cap.,  a  graduate  of  St.  Lawrence  College,  Mt.  Calvary, 
Wisconsin. 

The  volume  is  divided  into  seven  principal  sections,  compris- 
ing the  formative  years  (1789-1840),  the  second  period  (1840- 
1884) ,  the  third  period  (1884-1919) ,  Catholic  journalistic  educa- 
tion (1910-1930),  the  present  state  of  the  Catholic  press  (1919- 
1930),  a  table  of  unrecorded  journals,  and  a  bibliography. 

In  the  treatment  of  the  early  years  of  Catholic  journalism 
the  Courier  de  Boston,  which  appeared  on  April  23,  1789,  oddly 
enough  under  the  editorship  of  a  French  instructor  at  Harvard 
University,  is  noted  as  the  first  Catholic  journal  in  the  United 
States.  Then  follows  an  appreciative  account  of  journalistic  be- 
ginnings in  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  Cincinnati. 
The  aggressiveness  of  the  second  period  is  emphasized  in  the 
names  of  James  White,  Eugene  Casserly,  John  Devereaux,  James 
McMaster,  Orestes  Brownson,  John  O'Reilly,  Martin  Spalding, 
Benjamin  Webb  and  D'Arcy  McGee.  The  Catholic  immigration 
and  the  provincial  and  plenary  councils  of  Baltimore  also  con- 
tributed to  an  expanded  and  more  effective  Catholic  press.  The 
next  period  brought  with  it  a  movement  within  the  Catholic 
Church  to  establish  "a  more  truly  representative  press."  Leo 
XIII  in  his  Longinqua  oceani,  the  Bishops  and  many  sincere 
Catholic  journalists  strove  to  obtain  the  above  aim.  The  Catho- 
lic Press  Association  formed  in  1889  foretold  the  future  accom- 
plishment of  united  Catholic  action.  In  the  field  of  journalistic 
education  brief  remarks  are  made  on  Marquette  University, 
Notre  Dame  University,  St.  Mary's  College,  Notre  Dame,  In- 
diana, St.  Joseph's  College,  Emmitsburg,  Maryland,  Marygrove, 
University  of  Detroit,  and  thirteen  other  Catholic  institutions  of 
higher  learning,  present  day  leaders  in  Catholic  journalism. 

In  developing  the  present  status  of  the  Catholic  press  con- 
siderable attention  is  given  to  the  news  service  of  the  N.  C.  W.  C, 
and  Catholic  journals.  A  table  of  Catholic  papers  conclude  the 
chapter.  Curiously  enough,  the  circulation  of  Our  Sunday 
Visitor  is  recorded  as  500,000,  perhaps  the  largest  of  any  Catho- 


294  BOOK  REVIEWS 

lie  paper  in  the  United  States.    A  list  of  unrecorded  journals,  a 
bibliography  and  an  index  bring  the  dissertation  to  an  end. 

Among  the  defects  of  the  volume  are  the  lack  of  specific 
examples,  such  as  quotations  indicating  the  style  and  thought 
especially  of  the  earlier  journalists,  absence  of  interest  caused 
by  excessive  listing  of  papers  and  a  too  chronological  treatment, 
at  times  sacrificing  the  continuity  of  thought.  Webster  College 
was  not  included  in  the  list  of  Catholic  institutions  having 
courses  in  journalism.  On  the  whole  the  work  is  scholarly, 
exact,  and  shows  a  vast  amount  of  historical  investigation  and 
experience. 

George  F.  Donovan,  Ph.  D. 
Webster  College 

Webster  Grove,  Mo. 

The  Story  of  Pope  Pius  XL  By  Benedict  Williamson.  P.  J. 
Kenedy  and  Sons,  New  York,  1931,  pp.  174,  $2.00,  postpaid 
$2.15. 

Pius  XI  is  a  dominant  figure  of  this  country.  His  biography 
therefore  is  both  timely  and  valuable.  The  present  life  by  Bene- 
dict Williamson  does  not  claim  indeed  to  be  a  biography  but 
merely  a  popular  sketch  giving  some  idea  of  the  life  and  work 
of  a  great  pontiff. 

The  opening  chapter  is  headed,  "Who  the  Pope  Is,"  and  deals 
with  the  position  of  the  Pope  in  the  world  today.  In  answer  to 
the  question,  "Why  should  the  Pope  whose  mission  is  wholly 
spiritual  be  possessed  of  temporal  sovereignty?"  it  quotes  Mus- 
solini, whom  it  characterizes  as  the  greatest  statesman  of  mod- 
ern times.  He  says:  "On  our  part  we  have  loyally  recognized 
the  sovereignty  of  the  Holy  See  not  merely  because  it  existed  in 
fact,  or  on  account  of  the  comparatively  trifling  territory  asked 
for,  but  from  the  conviction  that  the  Supreme  Head  of  a  uni- 
versal religion  can  not  be  the  subject  of  any  State  without  in- 
jury to  Catholicity,  which  signifies  Universality." 

The  three  dominant  facts  in  the  pontificate  of  Pope  Pius  XI 
are  the  canonization  of  Therese  of  Lisieux,  the  Missionary  Ex- 
hibit and  the  Treaty  of  the  Lateran. 

The  year  of  Jubilee  1925  was  also  the  year  of  the  canoniza- 
tion of  the  Little  Flower.  Always  devoted  to  St.  Therese  the 
Pope  had  a  shrine  erected  to  her  in  the  Vatican  gardens  and 
here  he  stops  daily  to  pray  during  his  walk.    Of  the  ardent  mis- 


BOOK  REVIEWS  295 

sionary  enthusiasm  which  inflamed  her  heart  the  letters  and 
autobiography  of  St.  Therese  bear  abundant  witness.  It  was 
therefore  not  surprising  that  in  reply  to  the  petition  of  many 
missionary  bishops  he  named  the  Carmelite  Virgin  of  Lisieux 
Protectress  and  Patroness  of  the  Missions  with  the  same  title  as 
that  of  St.  Francis  Xavier. 

One  of  the  needs  of  the  Far  Eastern  Missions  of  India,  China, 
and  Japan  is  that  of  presenting  to  these  peoples,  all  essentially 
contemplative,  as  the  vast  monastic  institutions  among  them 
testify,  the  contemplative  life  as  exemplified  by  the  cloistered 
orders  of  the  Church.  Pope  Pius  realized  that  hitherto  only  the 
active  side  of  the  Church  had  been  presented  by  the  Catholic 
missionaries.  The  great  success  of  the  Trappist  foundation  in 
China  is  only  one  of  the  many  evidences  of  the  wisdom  of  the 
Holy  Father.  In  the  belief  that  the  best  missionaries  are  those 
who  speak  to  their  own  people  the  first  six  native  Chinese 
bishops  have  been  consecrated  and  Carmelite  convents  founded 
in  India  and  China  with  the  happiest  results. 

The  magnificent  Missionary  Exhibit  which  the  Holy  Father 
opened  during  the  Jubilee  year  in  the  Vatican  gardens  and  to 
which  all  the  commercial  houses  of  Italy  sent  samples  of  their 
manufactures  was  a  tremendous  success. 

The  most  important  fact  of  all  in  the  pontificate  of  the  pres- 
ent Pope  was  the  signing  of  the  Lateran  treaty,  which  acknowl- 
edged the  Head  of  the  Church  as  a  temporal  sovereign  and 
created  the  Vatican  state.  The  significance  of  the  Papacy  had 
early  impressed  itself  on  Mussolini  and  on  the  day  of  the  Pope's 
election  he  called  it  "The  only  universal  idea  existing  in  the 
world  today."  The  account  of  the  signing  of  the  treaty  is 
graphically  told. 

The  book  is  well  gotten  out  and  greatly  enriched  by  a  large 
number  of  attractive  pictures  in  sepia. 

Mary  Onahan  Gallery 

Chicago,  111. 

Freeporfs  Lincoln.    By  W.  T.  Rawleigh.     Published  by  W.  T. 
Rawleigh,  Freeport,  Illinois. 

On  the  cover  of  this  book  appears  the  sub-title,  "The  Fate  of 
a  Nation  was  Decided  at  Freeport/'  This  suitably  characterizes 
the  event  commemorating  the  seventy-first  anniversary  of  the 
Lincoln-Douglas  debate.     The  book  contains  the  debate  itself, 


296  BOOK  REVIEWS 

several  addresses,  statements  from  the  survivors  who  heard  the 
debate,  and  other  miscellaneous  material.  The  occasion  was 
marked  by  the  unveiling  of  a  statue  of  Lincoln,  designed  by 
Leonard  Crunelle.    The  donor  was  W.  T.  Rawleigh. 

The  book  is  deficient  in  its  general  failure  to  make  any  new 
historical  contribution  on  this  important  subject.  Fred  L. 
Holmes,  author  of  Abraham  Lincoln  Traveled  This  Way,  gives 
well  the  historical  background  for  the  debate.  The  event  was 
made  a  veritable  rally  for  political  liberals.  The  principal  ad- 
dress was  delivered  by  Senator  Norris.  Very  little  in  his  speech 
relates  to  Lincoln.  He  flays  the  imaginary  power  trust,  attacks 
national  preparedness,  inveighs  against  great  combinations  of 
wealth,  derides  the  federal  judiciary,  and  in  general  uses  this 
occasion  for  political  propaganda.  Even  the  officiating  clergy- 
man in  his  invocation  seems  more  thankful  for  Norris's  career 
than  for  Lincoln's.  Although  there  appears  quite  a  number  of 
statements  from  survivors  who  heard  the  debate,  very  little  of 
merit  or  interest  is  brought  out. 

R.  H.  Baldwin,  A.  M. 

St.  Louis  University 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 

The  King's  Steward:  the  True  Story  of  George  Schumann.  By 
George  N.  Lyons.  Published  for  the  Dujarie  Institute,  Notre 
Dame,  Indiana,  1931,  pp.  xvi+  100,  $1.10. 

This  short  biography  of  Mr.  Schumann  is  a  sturdy  tale  of 
high  courage  simply  told  in  language  such  as  the  subject  would 
himself  have  used  had  he  chosen  to  relate  it.  It  is  a  story  of 
true  bravery  whose  only  stimulant  was  the  joy  of  a  task  well 
done  for  Christ  and  for  humanity. 

George  Schumann  was  born  nearly  a  century  ago  in  a  little 
village  of  Germany  whence  he  emigrated  to  the  United  States  to 
escape  the  military  service  of  his  fatherland.  The  next  few 
years  were  devoted  to  mastering  the  building  trade.  Shortly 
after  serving  an  apprenticeship  he  married  and  approximately  a 
year  later  took  over  the  faltering  business  of  a  deceased  rela- 
tive. To  this,  at  the  instance  of  a  lay  Brother  who  had  previous- 
ly handled  them,  he  added  a  line  of  religious  articles  for  sale. 
This  business  expanded  so  rapidly  that  new  quarters  were  neces- 
sary in  1882  and  its  proceeds  only  a  few  years  later  enabled  Mr. 
Schumann  to  carry  on  his  many  and  world-wide  charities.    At 


BOOK  REVIEWS  297 

one  time  he  gave  forty-one  thousand  dollars  to  foreign  missions 
while  between  October  and  January  of  another  year  he  gave 
fifty  thousand  to  charitable  causes. 

However,  the  phenomenal  material  success  of  this  man  is 
not  the  central  theme  of  the  book,  which  is  rather  the  constant 
and  untiring  devotion  of  Mr.  Schumann  to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  to  His  saints.  When  three  successive  days  witnessed  four 
deaths  in  his  immediate  family  he  was  able  to  say  "Just  what- 
ever God  wills!"  (p.  18) ,  a  phrase  that  was  ever  his  watchword 
on  the  battlefront  of  life.  His,  indeed,  was  a  courage  of  which 
too  little  is  made. 

His  life  was  a  model  of  devotion  to  family  and  business,  to 
Christ's  kingdom  in  Heaven  and  on  earth.  It  may  well  be  read 
by  every  Catholic  business  man. 

Harold  E.  Young,  A.  M. 

Paola,  Kansas 

California  Letters  of  Lucius  Fairchild.    Edited  with  Notes  and 
Introduction  by  Joseph  Schafer,  Superintendent  of  the  State 
Historical  Society  of  Wisconsin.     (Wisconsin  Historical  Pub- 
lications— Collections  Vol.  XXXI.)     Madison,  Wis.,  1931,  pp. 
.  xix+212. 

The  letters  of  this  youngster,  later  to  be  governor  of  his 
state,  give  a  graphic  account  of  the  tribulations  of  the  gold 
seeker  of  '49.  His  experiences  were  those  common  to  the  ad- 
venturous souls  of  that  time  whose  quest  for  the  "pot  of  gold" 
brought  them  to  the  Rainbow's  End  in  the  California  "diggings." 
The  hardships  undergone,  exposures  to  the  elements,  to  plagues, 
Indians,  and  to  the  worst  of  all  of  man's  enemies — evil  com- 
panions, were  those  which  had  been  endured  by  thousands  of 
others  with  varying  effects.  He  saw  the  complexion  of  his 
"train"  constantly  changing  as,  at  each  stopping-place — St. 
Louis,  St.  Joseph,  Old  Fort  Kearney,  and  Laramie — his  old 
friends  dropped  out  and  turned  their  faces  once  more  toward 
"civilization,"  and  their  places  were  taken  by  the  new  groups 
which  swung  in  to  line. 

Hopes  were  soon  dampered  as  the  "diggings"  at  "Big  Bar" 
and  the  "Consumnes  River"  failed  to  yield  a  profit.  His  few 
remaining  friends,  one  after  another,  gave  up  in  sheer  despair; 
his  parents  pleaded  with  him  to  come  home;  ;but  he  had  deter- 
mined to  remain  until  he  had  "made  his  pile."     "Hope  is  the 


298  BOOK  REVIEWS 

most  prominent  Bump  on  my  Cranium."  Tired  of  digging,  he 
turns  his  hand  to  other  ventures — becomes  co-proprietor  of  the 
"Queen  City,"  "one  of  the  finest"  hotels  in  Sacramento  City;  he 
is,  in  turn,  teamster,  table-waiter,  "digger,"  and  butcher,  but 
fortune  eludes  him.  Eventually  he  enters  into  that  fortunate 
partnership  with  "Elijah  Steele  of  Kenosha";  he  becomes  ranch- 
er, farmer,  sawmill  operator,  horsetrader,  yet  always  remains  a 
"miner."  After  six  weary  years  he  has  achieved  that  goal  which 
he  set  for  himself  and,  in  May,  1655,  departs,  by  way  of  Panama 
and  New  York  City,  for  his  home  in  Wisconsin. 

Though  he  had  overstayed  his  limit  in  California,  there  were 
many  things  there  which  held  his  interest:  California's  first 
election  day — the  "chief  issues,"  "No  Banks,  No  Slavery  &  Mar- 
ried women's  Rights."  The  "only  law  in  the  Mines  is  hanging 
for  stealing";  "Hangtown"  had  earned  its  name.  Though  the 
cost  of  living  is  very  high,  "we  live  like  princes  on  deer  meat 
and  bread." 

The  letters  are  the  typical  missives  of  a  boy  of  seventeen, 
and  they  seem  to  hold  that  tenor  all  during  his  stay  in  California. 
Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  they  contain  some  matter  which 
has  historical  value,  the  epistles  are  so  fully  crammed  with  much 
that  is  of  an  almost  sacredly  intimate  nature,  that  one's  curi- 
osity is  aroused  as  to  why  it  was  ever  deemed  desirable  to  give 
them  to  print. 

Richard  D.  Doyle,  A.  M. 

St.  Louis  University 

High  School 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Shadows  on  the  Rock.    By  Willa  Cather.    Alfred  A.  Knopf,  New 
York,  1931,  pp.  280.* 

In  Shadows  on  the  Rock,  Miss  Willa  Cather  tells  of  the  ex- 
perience of  a  little  girl  living  in  Quebec  during  the  period  when 
the  once  powerful  Count  Frontenac  was  nearing  the  end  of  his 
striking  career,  and  the  great  Bishop  Laval,  although  aged  and 
infirm,  was  still  laboring  diligently  among  his  people.  Through 
the  eyes  of  Cecile  Auclair  and  her  father,  Euclide,  an  apothecary 
and  protege  of  Count  Frontenac,  we  see  old  Quebec,  built  on 
solid  rock,  with  no  two  buildings  in  the  Upper  Town  on  the  same 


*  A  notice  of  this  piece  of  fiction,  essentially  an  attempt  at  historical 
reconstruction  is  not  out  of  place  in  the  pages  of  Mid- America. 


BOOK  REVIEWS  299 

level,  and  Lower  Town  two  hundred  feet  below,  reached  by  a 
single  steep  winding  street.  In  the  spring  we  see  the  ships  from 
France  come  in,  with  every  ablebodied  inhabitant  out  to  welcome 
them  after  the  long  winter  with  no  news  or  supplies  from  home. 

Cecile  calls  on  the  governor  to  ask  him  to  furnish  shoes  for 
a  poor  waif  whom  she  has  befriended.  She  goes  to  the  cobbler 
with  an  order  from  Frontenac  for  the  shoes,  and  the  cobbler  tells 
her  about  his  hero,  Robert  Cavelier  de  la  Salle.  One  of  her 
great  friends  is  Pierre  Charron,  a  coureur  de  bois,  who  has  tales 
to  relate  about  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  primeval  forests,  into 
which  he  has  penetrated.  Cecile  is  thrilled  by  the  story  of  the 
Jesuit  martyrs,  Fathers  Brebeuf,  Lalemant,  Jogues,  Noel  Cha- 
banel  and  their  brave  companions.  She  visits  the  Hotel  Dieu 
and  Mother  Juschereau  tells  wonderful  stories  about  Mother 
Catherine  de  Saint-Augustin  who,  inspired  by  the  Relations  of 
the  Jesuit  missionaries,  came  to  Quebec  when  barely  sixteen 
years  old,  and  became  Superior  of  the  Hotel  Dieu,  at  an  early 
age. 

When  Cecile  goes  to  visit  the  churches  on  All  Souls  Day,  her 
mind  is  filled  with  recollections  of  the  illustrious  dead.  To  quote 
the  author:  "When  one  passed  by  the  Jesuits',  those  solid  walls 
seemed  sentinelled  by  a  glorious  company  of  martyrs,  martyrs 
who  were  explorers  and  heroes  as  well ;  at  the  Hotel  Dieu,  Mother 
Catherine  de  Saint-Augustin  and  her  story  rose  up  before  one; 
at  the  Ursulines',  Marie  de  l'lncarnation  overshadowed  the  liv- 
ing." 

Among  Cecil's  favorite  stories  were  those  about  Jeanne  le 
Ber,  who  gave  up  wealth  and  family  to  become  a  recluse  in  Mon- 
treal, where  she  devoted  her  life  to  prayer,  to  the  embroidery 
of  beautiful  altar-cloths  and  vestments  for  churches,  and  to  the 
knitting  of  socks  for  the  poor. 

Of  course,  Cecile  had  gone  to  school  at  the  Ursuline  convent 
and  had  many  friends  among  the  courageous  sisters.  The  au- 
thor, speaking  of  the  nuns,  says:  "The  Ursulines  and  the  Hos- 
pitalieres,  indeed,  were  scarcely  exiles.  ...  In  whatever  little 
wooden  vessel  they  had  labored  across  the  sea,  they  .  .  . 
brought  to  Canada  the  Holy  Family,  the  saints  and  martyrs,  the 
glorious  company  of  the  Apostles,  the  heavenly  host.  Cour- 
ageous these  sisters  were,  accepting  good  and  ill  fortune  with 
high  spirit, — with  humour,  even." 

We  hear  echoes  of  the  strife  between  Governor  Frontenac 


300  BOOK  REVIEWS 

and  Bishop  Laval,  chiefly  over  the  brandy  traffic  with  the  In- 
dians; between  Frontenac  and  Saint- Vallier,  Quebec's  second 
bishop;  and  between  Monsignor  Laval  and  his  successor,  Saint- 
Vallier,  who  unfortunately  upset  many  of  Laval's  cherished 
plans,  especially  those  relating  to  his  Seminary.  Bishop  Laval 
is  represented  as  rather  grim  and  autocratic,  "but  no  one  could 
deny  that  he  shephered  his  sheep.  .  .  .  Seventy-four  years  of 
age  and  much  crippled  by  his  infirmities,  going  about  in  a  rusty 
cassock,  he  yet  commanded  one's  admiration  in  a  way  that  the 
new  Bishop,  with  all  his  personal  elegance,  did  not.  One  believed 
in  his  consecration,  in  some  special  authority  won  from  fasting 
and  penances  and  prayer;  it  was  in  his  face,  in  his  shoulders,  it 
was  he." 

Shadows  on  the  Rock  is  not  so  much  a  story  as  a  picture  of 
the  last  decade  of  the  seventeenth  century  in  Quebec.  It  is 
notable  for  its  clear-cut  presentation  of  the  customs  and  the 
people  of  that  interesting  period. 


Ethel  Owen  Merrill 


Oak  Park,  111. 


La  Salle.    By  Ross  F.  Lockridge.     World  Book  Company,  New 
York,  1931,  pp.  xvi+312. 

In  this  book  the  author  tells  the  story  of  Robert  Cavelier 
La  Salle,  the  "impersonation  not  only  of  the  adventurous  spirit 
of  the  French  but  of  the  most  intrepid  spirit  of  wilderness  ex- 
ploration." The  first  five  chapters  tell  of  the  earlier  career  of 
the  great  explorer :  his  youth  in  Normandy,  a  fitting  birth-place 
for  such  an  adventurer;  his  arrival  in  New  France  at  the 
auspicious  moment  when  Louis  XIV  became  actively  interested 
in  his  American  colony ;  his  exploration  of  La  Belle  Riviere;  his 
enjoyment  of  the  patronage  of  "the  Iron  Governor";  and  his 
preparatory  years  as  knight  and  seignior  at  Fort  Frontenac. 

The  succeeding  chapters  relate  to  La  Salle's  visions  of  em- 
pire and  the  innumerable  difficulties  and  adventures  that  he  met 
with  in  attempting  to  realize  these  visions.  How  largely  his 
later  career  was  an  adventure  in  the  forest  is  evident  from  such 
chapters  heads  as  these:  "Wilderness  Perils,"  "Wilderness  Deso- 
lation," "Wilderness  Diplomacy,"  "Wilderness  Empire."  The  au- 
thor makes  frequent  direct  quotations  from  the  sources  the 
kernel  of  the  story  hoping  thereby  to  create  an  atmosphere  of 


BOOK  REVIEWS  301 

time  and  place  and  to  give  personal  contact  with  La  Salle  and 
the  interesting  people  that  moved  with  him. 

Sister  Mary  Borgias,  S.  N.  D.,  Ph.  D. 
Notre  Dame  College 
of  John  Carroll  University 
Cleveland,  Ohio 

Earliest  Catholic  Activities  in  Texas.  By  Carlos  E.  Castafieda, 
A.  M.  (Preliminary  Studies  of  the  Texas  Catholic  Historical 
Society,  I,  No.  8,  October,  1931.  Distributed  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Texas  Knights  of  Columbus  Historical  Commis- 
sion.) 

This  is  a  scholarly  and  informing  account  of  the  work  of  the 
early  Franciscan  missionaries  within  the  limits  of  what  is  now 
the  state  of  Texas.  These  energetic  and  zealous  pathfinders  of 
the  Gospel  first  made  their  way  into  the  region  in  the  seven- 
teenth century.  The  missionary  movement  was  set  on  foot  in 
answer  to  invitations  coming  from  the  Texas  tribes,  who  had 
been  miraculously  directed  by  Mother  Maria  d'Agreda  to  call  for 
missionaries.  This  connection  of  the  famous  Spanish  ecstatica 
with  the  inauguration  of  Catholic  missionary  enterprise  in  the 
Texas  region  appears  to  be  well  vouched  for  by  contemporary 
evidence. 

Souvenir  of  the  Diamond  Jubilee  of  the  Founding  of  St.  Bene- 
dict's Parish,  Thursday,  September  24,  1931,  Nebraska  City, 
Nebr. 

Among  the  necessary  preliminaries  to  the  compilation  of 
comprehensive  regional  or  state  histories  of  the  Catholic  Church 
in  the  United  States  is  a  thorough  study  of  the  parochial  units 
which  enter  into  diocesan  organization.  A  good  part,  one  almost 
says,  the  bulk  of  diocesan  happenings  gathers  around  the  par- 
ishes, the  history  of  which  must  accordingly  be  put  on  record 
with  precise  and  informing  details.  This  booklet  deals  with  a 
Nebraska  parish  the  history  of  which  begins  at  a  period  when 
the  region  was  still  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  first  Catholic 
bishop  between  the  Missouri  River  and  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
This  was  the  Right  Reverend  J.  B.  Miege,  Vicar  Apostolic  of  the 
"Indian  Country."  St.  Benedict's  parish  passed  into  the  hands 
of  the  Benedictine  Fathers  in  1858  and  has  remained  under  their 
zealous  care  to  the  present  day. 


Contributors  to  this  Issue 

William  Stetson  Merrill,  A.  B.,  contributing  editor  of  Mid- 
America,  expert  in  library  science  and  administration  and 
author  of  "Code  for  Classifiers"  (American  Library  Associa- 
tion, Chicago,  III.,  1928)  is  on  the  staff  of  the  John  Crerar 
Library,  Chicago. 

The  Reverend  Mariano  Cuevas,  S.  J.,  is  author  of  the  outstanding 
history  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  Mexico. 

The  Reverend  Frederic  Beuckman,  contributing  editor  of  Mid- 
America,  is  author  of  "A  History  of  the  Parishes  of  the 
Diocese  of  Belleville/' 

The  Reverend  W.  Eugene  Shiels,  S.  J.,  is  a  graduate-student  in 
the  University  of  California. 

Robert  Knight,  C.  E.,  and  Lucius  Zeuch,  M.  D.,  are  joint  authors 
of  a  definitive  topographical  research-study,  "The  Location 
of  the  Chicago-Portage  Route  of  the  Seventeenth  Century," 
published  by  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  1928. 

Thomas  F.  O'Connor,  A.  M.,  is  a  teaching-fellow  in  the  Depart- 
ment of  History,  Graduate  School,  St.  Louis  University. 


■' 


cTWID-cAMERICA 


Vol.  XIV 

New  Series,  Vol.  Ill 


APRIL,  1932 


Number  4 


Journal  of  the  Illinois  Catholic  Historical  Society 
28  North  Franklin  Street,  Chicago 

MANAGING  EDITOR 
Gilbert  J.  Garraghan St.  Louis 

CONTRIBUTING  EDITORS 

Frederick   Beuckman Belleville      William    Stetson    Merrill Chicago 

John  B.  Culemans Moline      Paul  J.  Foik Austin,  Texas 

Francis  Borgia  Steck Quincy 


28  NORTH  FRANKLIN  STREET,  CHICAGO 

HONORARY  PRESIDENTS 
His  Eminence  George  Cardinal  Mundelein,  Chicago 
Rt.  Rev.  Edward  F.  Hoban,  D.  D.,  Bockford      Rt.  Rev.  Henry  Althoff,  D.  D.,  Belleville 
Rt.  Rev.  James  A.  Griffin,  D.  D.,  SprmgfieldRt.  Rev.  Joseph  H.  Schlarman,  D.  D.,  Peoria 


OFFICERS 


President 

Rev.  Frederic  Siedenburg,  S.  J.,  Chicago 

First  Vice-President 

Rt.  Rev.  F.  A.  Purcell,  Chicago 

Second  Vice-President 
James  M.  Graham,  Springfield 

Treasurer 
John  P.  V.  Murphy,  Chicago 


Financial  Secretary 
Francis  J.  Rooney,  Chicago 

Recording  Secretary 
Agnes  Van  Driel,  Chicago 

Archivist 
Rev.  Frederick  E.  Hillenbrand,  Mundelein 


TRUSTEES 

Very  Rev.  James  Shannon,  Peoria 

Rev.  Robert  M.  Kelley,  S.  J.,  Chicago 

Mrs.  Daniel  V.  Gallery,  Chicago 

D.  F.  Bremner,  Chicago 


John  Coleman,  Lake  Forest 


Michael  F.  Girten,   Chicago 

James  A.  Bray,  Joliet 

Frank  J.  Seng,  WUmette 

Mrs.  E.  I.  Cudahy,  Chicago 


Published  by 

The  Illinois  Catholic  Historical  Society 

Chicago,  III. 


CONTENTS 

Venerable  Antonio  Maegil  de  Jesus  Peter  P.  Forrestal  305 

The  Erection  of  the  Diocese  op  Davenport  Charles  F.  Griffith  335 

The  First  Mission  to  the  Sioux  Nancy  Ping  344 

Documents — The  Quarter-Pioquet  Correspondence  352 

News  and  Comments  369 

Book  Reviews:  374 

Engeihardt,  Missions  and  Missionaries  of  California;  Thomas,  Forgotten 
Frontiers;  Fuller,  A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest ;  Spalding,  Catholic 
Colonial  Maryland;  Hinsdale  (ed.),  Archaeological  Atlas  of  Michigan; 
Gaither,  The  Fatal  Biver;  Eoy,  Archives  de  la  Province  de  Quebec,  1930- 
1931;  Roy,  Le  Yieux  Quebec;  Roy,  Les  Petites  Choses  de  Notre  Histoire; 
Hagedorn,  The  Franciscans  in  Nebraska  and  Historical  Sketches  of  Mid- 
Nebraska;  Mourret,  A  History  of  the  Catholic  Church;  Dehey,  Beligious 
Orders  of  Women  in  the  United  States;  Leturia,  Bolivar  y  Leon  XII; 
Hulbert,  The  Forty-Niners;  Ghent,  The  Early  Far  West. 


Copyright,  1932 

by 

Mid-America 


oMID  -  AMERICA 

cAn  Historical  Review 


Vol.  XIV  APRIL,  1932  Number  4 

New  Series,  Vol.  Ill 


VENERABLE  ANTONIO  MARGIL  DE  JESUS 

I 

How  beautiful  upon  the  mountains  are  the  feet  of  him  that  preacheth 
the  gospel  of  peace.    Isaias  LIT,  7. 

Very  few  missionaries  in  the  history  of  the  Catholic  Church 
have  labored  with  such  indefatigable  zeal  in  winning  souls  for 
God  as  did  Fray  Antonio  Margil  de  Jesus,  one  of  the  pioneers  in 
New  Spain.  Although  during  his  life  his  name  was  held  in  rev- 
erence and  benediction  by  the  inhabitants  of  practically  every 
town  from  Panama  to  Louisiana,  and  although  at  the  time  of 
his  death  his  obsequies  were  celebrated  in  many  cities  both  in 
the  Old  and  in  the  New  World,  today,  strange  to  say,  only  an 
occasional  scholar  north  of  the  Rio  Grande  is  acquainted  with 
the  missionary  activities  of  this  humble  but  valiant  soldier  of 
Christ. 

In  presenting  the  following  brief  sketch  of  the  life  and  labors 
of  this  great  servant  of  God  we  shall  aim  at  historical  accuracy 
primarily.  With  this  end  in  view  we  have  made  a  very  careful 
study  of  the  letters  of  this  venerable  priest,  the  numerous  ser- 
mons preached,  both  in  America  and  in  Europe,  at  the  time  of 
his  death,  the  Peregrine*  Septentrional  Atlante  and  Nuevas  Em- 
presas,  published  by  Espinosa  in  1737  and  1747  respectively,  the 
Vida  del  V.  P.  Fr.  Antonio  Margil  de  Jesus,  published  by 
Vilaplana  in  1763,  the  Vida  compiled  by  Arricivita  in  1792,  and 
published  in  the  second  part  of  the  Cronica  del  Apostolico  Cole- 
gio  de  Queretaro,  the  various  documents  presented  to  the  Roman 
curia  during  the  process  of  beatification  and  canonization  in  the 
last  half  of  the  XVIII  century,  and  works  of  several  modern 
historians  to  which  reference  is  made  in  the  footnotes. 

305 


306  PETER  P.  FORRESTAL 

In  thfe  present  article  we  do  not  propose  to  give  a  comprehen- 
sive treatment  of  our  subject ;  we  shall  do  little  more  than  intro- 
duce it  to  our  readers,  and  this  with  the  hope  that  before  long 
another  and  a  more  fluent  pen  may  in  a  befitting  manner  describe 
the  activities  of  this  great  missionary  of  New  Spain. 

Antonio  Margil,  son  of  Juan  Margil  Salumaro  and  Esperanza 
Ros,  was  born  in  Valencia,  Spain,  on  August  18,  1657,  and  two 
days  later  was  baptized  in  the  beautiful  church  of  San  Juan  del 
Mercado,  which  afterwards  came  to  be  known  as  los  Santos 
Juanes  Bautista  y  Evangelista.  When  still  only  a  mere  boy  he 
showed  promise  of  rare  talent  and  virtue,  and,  because  of  this, 
his  truly  Christian  parents  procured  for  him  teachers  capable 
of  developing  in  him  studious  and  virtuous  habits.  When  not  at 
school,  where  he  made  rapid  progress  in  his  studies,  he  spent 
most  of  his  time  in  building  miniature  altars  at  home  or  in 
serving  Mass  and  making  visits  to  the  Blessed  Sacrament  in 
one  of  the  many  churches  of  Valencia.  According  to  several 
witnesses,  whose  declarations  were  recorded  by  the  public  and 
apostolic  notary  in  the  city  of  Valencia  shortly  after  his  death, 
his  one  desire  during  time  of  vacation  was  to  visit  the  churches 
in  which  the  Blessed  Sacrament  was  exposed.  There  he  would 
become  so  rapt  in  prayer  and  meditation  that  oftentimes  he  did 
not  return  home  till  after  nightfall.  When  his  mother,  realizing 
that  he  had  been  fasting  the  entire  day,  used  to  reprove  him  for 
this  Antonio  would  answer  respectfully  that  in  the  presence  of 
the  Blessed  Sacrament  all  this  time  seemed  but  an  instant  and 
that  he  would  not  have  left  even  then  had  he  not  been  obliged  to 
do  so  by  the  sacristan  who  wished  to  lock  the  church.1 

Wishing  to  consecrate  himself  entirely  to  God,  at  the  age  of 
fifteen  and  with  his  parents'  consent  he  called  at  the  Convent  of 
La  Corona  de  Cristo2  in  Valencia  and  asked  to  join  the  ranks  of 
the  Friars  Minor.  The  official  records  containing  the  names  of 
those  admitted  into  that  monastery  state  that  "after  Compline, 
between  5  and  6  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  April  22,  1673, 
Brother  Antonio  Margil,  a  native  of  Valencia,  who  had  com- 
pleted the  fifteenth  year  of  his  age,  asked  to  be  admitted  as  a 
choir  religious  into  the  Convent  of  La  Corona  de  Cristo;  and, 
in  the  presence  of  the  community  that  had  assembled  for  this 


i  Vilaplana,  Vida  del  V.  P.  Fr.  Antonio  Margil  de  Jesus,  p.  8  (Madrid, 
1775). 

2  So-called  because  in  that  convent  was  preserved  half  of  one  of  the 
thorns  from  the  crown  of  Our  Savior. 


VENERABLE  ANTONIO  MARGIL  DE  JESUS  307 

purpose,  received  the  habit  from  Fray  Jose  Salellas,  actual 
Guardian  of  said  convent."3 

In  the  novitiate  Antonio  was  an  exemplar  of  virtue.  He  took 
delight  in  performing  the  most  menial  services,  and  imposed 
upon  himself  such  severe  penances  that  the  Master  of  Novices 
took  away  from  him  the  hair-shirt  and  forbade  him  to  use  the 
discipline  and  other  instruments  of  torture  with  which  he  was 
wont  to  lacerate  his  flesh.  On  April  25,  1674,  before  completing 
his  seventeenth  year,  he  made  his  religious  profession  in  this 
same  convent  of  La  Corona  de  Cristo.  As  a  professed  religious 
Antonio  made  even  greater  efforts  to  advance  in  perfection  and 
to  detach  himself  entirely  from  the  world  with  its  allurements. 
One  day,  not  knowing  that  he  was  being  observed,  he  slipped 
off  quietly  to  the  church,  and  walking  over  to  one  of  the  tombs, 
raised  the  slab  concealing  a  body  that  had  been  buried  there 
for  some  time  and  that  was  already  in  a  state  of  decomposition. 
He  remained  there  beside  that  tomb  until  the  Master  of  Novices, 
who  had  followed  him  down  to  the  church,  drew  near  and  asked 
what  he  was  doing.  The  young  novice  replied :  "Reminding  this 
brute  of  a  body  of  what  it  now  is  and  of  what  it  will  one  day 
be."* 

When  he  was  eighteen  years  of  age  the  superiors,  convinced 
that  he  had  a  vocation  to  the  priesthood,  sent  him  to  the  Con- 
vent of  San  Antonio  in  Denia,  where,  according  to  the  sworn 
declaration  of  Fray  Vicente  Andani,  who  had  been  a  seminarian 
with  him  in  the  aforesaid  convent  and  who  testified  in  Guatemala 
on  March  6,  1727,  young  Margil  made  constant  progress  in  vir- 
tue and  was  greatly  respected  and  admired  by  all  because  of 
his  deep  humility,  his  jovial  disposition  and  winning  ways. 
After  he  had  completed  a  three  years'  course  in  philosophy  at 
Denia  he  was  sent  back  to  La  Corona  Convent  for  his  theology. 
Here  during  the  time  not  devoted  to  study  he  followed  the  regu- 
lar exercises  of  the  novitiate,  and  every  night  after  Matins  went 
down  quietly  to  the  garden,  where,  laden  with  a  heavy  cross,  he 
followed  in  the  footsteps  of  the  Crucified  Christ,  pausing  to 
meditate  before  each  of  the  fourteen  Stations  erected  within  the 
convent  walls.  When  twenty-four  years  of  age  he  was  ordained 
to  the  priesthood,  and  after  his  first  holy  Mass,  for  which  he 


a  Summarium  beatificationis  et  canonizationis  Ven.  Servi  Dei  Antonii 
Margil  a  Jesu,  no.  5,  p.  50,  sec.  48. 
4Vilaplana,  op.  cit.,  p.  12. 


308  PETER  P.  FORRESTAL 

had  prepared  by  prayer,  penance,  and  a  humble  confession  of 
even  the  slightest  faults,  received  from  the  Provincial  Chapter 
an  obedience  as  confessor  and  preacher  in  the  town  of  Onda. 
Here  his  labors  bore  such  abundant  fruit  that  a  short  time  after 
his  arrival  to  this  town  his  superiors  decided  to  change  him  to 
Denia,  a  Mediterranean  port  much  frequented  by  profligates 
from  various  parts  of  Europe  and  greatly  in  need  of  the  min- 
istrations of  a  zealous  priest. 

II 

He  had  not  been  here  long  before  he  learned  that  Fray  An- 
tonio Linaz,  who  belonged  to  the  Majorca  Province  and  who  had 
recently  been  preaching  with  remarkable  success  in  many  cities 
of  the  peninsula,  had  obtained  permission  to  take  with  him 
twenty-five  volunteers  for  the  missions  in  America.  Burning 
with  zeal  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  souls,  and 
realizing  that  in  the  far-off  Indies  the  harvest  was  ready  but  the 
laborers  were  few,  young  Margil  decided  to  enlist  in  this  little 
band  of  missionaries.  He  took  leave  of  his  companions  at  the 
Convent  of  San  Antonio,  after  having  asked  them  to  pray  for 
the  success  of  his  undertaking,  and  set  out  for  Valencia  in  order 
to  pay  a  visit  to  the  religious  at  La  Corona  de  Cristo  and  to  bid 
good-bye  to  his  aged  mother,  who  was  now  a  widow. 

His  departure  was  felt  keenly  by  all  those  religious,  who  had 
come  to  love  him  from  the  very  day  he  first  called  at  the 
novitiate,  and  it  was  felt  still  more  keenly  by  that  pious  mother 
who  had  watched  over  and  guided  him  during  his  childhood  and 
who  had  hoped  that  he  would  be  present  to  comfort  and  console 
her  in  her  declining  years.  Informed  that  Fray  Antonio  was 
determined  to  leave  for  the  Indies,  she  was  deeply  affected,  and 
when  he  came  to  bid  her  good-bye  the  poor  old  lady  said  to  him : 
"Son,  how  is  it  that  you  decide  to  go  off  and  to  leave  me  now 
when  I  was  expecting  from  you  some  comfort  and  consolation, 
when  I  was  hoping  that  at  the  time  of  my  death  you  would 
assist  me,  that  you  would  be  at  my  bedside  in  that  hour  of 
trial?"5 

Antonio,  stifling  the  sentiments  of  filial  love  and  affection 
that  were  welling  up  in  his  breast,  answered:  "Mother,  when  I 
entered  the  monastery  I  left  you,  and  I  took  the  Blessed  Virgin 
as  Mother  and  Jesus  as  Father,  for  at  that  time  I  renounced 


s  Espinosa,  El  Peregrino  Septentrional  Atlante,  p.  37. 


VENERABLE  ANTONIO  MARGIL  DE  JESUS  309 

all  earthly  ties.  I  am  going  to  labor  in  the  vineyard  of  the 
Master,  to  see  if  I  can  please  my  beloved  Jesus.  You  will  find 
consolation  in  the  Lord,  for  His  Divine  Majesty  will  take  care 
of  you  and,  if  He  so  permit,  I  shall  not  fail  to  assist  you  at  the 
hour  of  your  death.  Do  not  be  afflicted,  mother,  by  these  natural 
sentiments;  we  must  leave  all  in  the  hands  of  Providence.  Take 
this  habit,  which,  with  my  superior's  permission,  I  leave  you  in 
order  that  you  may  be  buried  in  it.  The  fact  that  my  brother- 
in-law  and  my  sister  remain  here  is  for  me  a  source  of  consola- 
tion.6 With  all  my  heart  I  commend  you  to  their  care  and,  in 
case  you  be  deprived  of  their  assistance,  my  Father  Jesus  will 
take  care  of  my  mother  Esperanza."7 

Antonio  cast  himself  at  his  mother's  feet,  and,  having  re- 
ceived her  last  blessing,  turned  his  back  upon  his  childhood's 
home  and  took  the  road  leading  to  Cadiz.  Shortly  afterwards 
he  and  the  other  missionaries  sailed  from  the  aforesaid  port, 
and  after  a  three  months'  voyage,  during  which  their  lives  were 
frequently  in  peril,  they  landed  at  Vera  Cruz  on  June  6,  1683. 
At  this  port  a  most  sad  spectacle  met  their  gaze.  Shortly  before 
their  arrival  the  pirate  Lorencillo8  had  sacked  the  city,  desecrat- 
ing the  churches,  and  murdering  or  crippling  great  numbers  of 
the  inhabitants.  Margil,  deeply  pained,  hastened  to  the  assist- 
ance of  that  wretched  people,  and  spared  no  sacrifice  in  minister- 
ing to  the  dying,  in  burying  the  dead  and  in  consoling  the 
afflicted. 

A  few  days  later,  accompanied  by  one  of  his  companions  and 
provided  with  nothing  but  a  staff,  a  breviary  and  a  crucifix,  he 
set  out  for  Santa  Cruz  Convent  in  the  City  of  Queretaro.  On 
August  13th,  after  having  given  missions  at  all  the  towns  and 
ranches  along  the  way,  he  walked  into  the  Convent  of  Santa 
Cruz,  which,  now  erected  into  a  college  and  seminary,  was  soon 


sVilaplana  uses  the  plural.  Antonio  had  two  sisters,  one  that  was 
married  and  another  that  later  on  entered  La  Puridad  Convent. 

7  Espinosa,  op.  cit.,  p.  38. 

s  Fray  Rogerio  Conde  Martinez,  O.  F.  M.,  in  his  brochure  on  Margil 
states  that  the  pirate  was  English  and  that  his  real  name  was  Lawrence 
Jacome.  At  the  celebration  held  in  the  Spanish  capital  in  1928,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  VII  centennial  of  the  death  of  Saint  Francis  this  work 
(Madrid,  Imprenta  Minuesa,  1929)  was  awarded  the  prize  for  the  best 
treatise  on  Margil,  offered  by  His  Excellency  Dr.  Francisco  Orozco  y 
Jimenez,  beloved  Archbishop  of  Guadalajara,  noted  benefactor  of  an  af- 
flicted people  and  humble  but  fearless  apostle  of  Christ. 


310  PETER  P.  FORRESTAL 

to  send  forth  missionaries  to  all  parts  of  the  New  World.9  On 
the  first  Sunday  of  the  following  month  he  opened  a  mission  in 
Queretaro,  and  the  inhabitants,  observing  that  he  spoke  to  them 
with  all  the  unction  and  sincerity  of  the  anointed  of  God,  and 
learning  that  he  was  accustomed  to  spend  the  entire  day  and 
most  of  the  night  in  works  of  penance  and  in  acts  of  charity, 
of  humility  and  of  love  of  God,  flocked  to  the  churches,  con- 
fessed their  sins  and  made  a  firm  purpose  of  amendment.  This 
mission  finished,  he  set  out  for  Mexico  City,  the  emporium  of 
the  Western  Hemisphere,  where,  with  the  assistance  of  several 
other  religious,  he  succeeded  in  eradicating  vice  and  in  implant- 
ing such  beautiful  virtues  as  might  have  incited  to  emulation  the 
most  Catholic  communities  in  Christendom. 

Leaving  the  capital,  he  retraced  his  steps  to  Santa  Cruz  Col- 
lege, where  he  was  most  punctual  in  his  attendance  at  the  re- 
ligious exercises,  and  where  each  night  after  Matins  he  made 
the  Stations  with  a  heavy  cross  over  his  shoulder  and  a  crown 
of  thorns  upon  his  head,  thereby  unconsciously  impressing  upon 
his  saintly  companions  the  necessity  of  exemplifying  in  their 
own  lives  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  and  of  trampling  under 
foot  the  world  with  its  seductions  before  hoping  to  bring  the 
pagan  nations  of  America  under  the  yoke  of  Christ. 

Ill 

Fray  Antonio  had  been  here  about  three  months  when  he 
and  three  other  religious  received  the  obedience  to  labor  for  the 
spread  of  the  faith  among  the  barbarous  tribes  of  Campeche  or 
Yucatan.10  Responsive  to  that  call,  the  four  zealous  missionaries 
left  immediately  for  Vera  Cruz,  and  while  waiting  for  the  boat 
to  weigh  anchor  gave  a  mission  at  the  Castle  of  San  Juan  de 
Uhia.11 

Accompanied  by  their  Commissary-General,  Fray  Juan  Luzu- 
riaga,  who  was  making  his  visitation  of  the  American  missions 
and  who  was  soon  to  preside  at  the  Chapter  in  Merida,  they 
crossed  Campeche  Bay,  arriving  at  their  new  field  of  labor  on 


o  At  Santa  Cruz  College,  with  which  Margil  was  now  connected  and 
which,  as  other  Apostolic  Colleges,  was  under  the  supervision  of  a  Com- 
missary-General for  the  Indies,  the  friars  received  special  training  for  the 
work  on  the  missions. 

10  Campeche  and  Yucatan  are  now  separate  states. 

ii  This  fortress  overlooks  and  defends  the  port  of  Vera  Cruz. 


VENERABLE  ANTONIO  MARGIL  DE  JESUS  3H 

Holy  Saturday,  April  1st  of  the  same  year,  1684.12.  Losing  no 
time,  they  gave  a  mission  at  the  port  and  at  each  of  the  towns, 
villages  and  haciendas  along  the  road  to  Merida,  capital  of  the 
province. 

At  the  Chapter  now  being  held  in  this  city  the  Commissary- 
General  proposed  that  the  Recollection-Institute,  which  for  so 
many  years  had  flourished  there,  be  reestablished  and  that  one 
of  the  four  missionaries  that  had  accompanied  him  from  Vera 
Cruz  be  appointed  as  Guardian.  But,  finding  that  not  one  of 
these  cared  to  accept  the  office  and  that  all  were  burning  with 
the  desire  to  carry  the  light  of  the  gospel  to  nations  that  for 
centuries  had  sat  in  the  darkness  of  paganism  and  superstition, 
he  allowed  them  to  leave  for  the  Kingdom  of  Guatemala. 

Happy  in  the  thought  that  they  were  soon  to  bring  to  in- 
numerable pagan  tribes  a  knowledge  of  Christianity,  they  set 
out  on  their  journey,  but  on  reaching  the  mouth  of  the  Tabasco 
River  three  pirate  vessels  gave  them  chase,  and  only  by  a  miracle 
of  God  were  they  able  to  escape  with  their  lives  and  to  return, 
after  eight  days  of  mental  and  physical  anguish,  to  the  Port  of 
Campeche.  They  presented  themselves  before  the  Commissary- 
General,  who  was  stopping1  at  this  port,  and  who,  apprised  of 
their  ill  fortune,  addressed  them  in  these  words:  "To  me  this 
seems  a  chastisement  from  God  for  not  having  remained  here 
to  establish  the  institute.  I  now  command  you  to  offer  up 
special  prayers  in  order  that  God  may  enlighten  you  as  to  the 
course  you  are  to  follow."13 

Without  the  slightest  manifestation  of  reluctance,  they  re- 
paired to  the  choir,  and  after  they  had  prayed  there  for  a  long 
time  the  superior  called  them,  and  in  their  presence  had  a  little 
child  draw  lots  in  order  to  determine  the  will  of  God  with  regard 
to  their  future  activities.  On  slips  of  paper  drawn  by  the  hand 
of  that  innocent  child  it  was  indicated  that  Fray  Antonio  Margil 
and  Fray  Melchor  Lopez  were  to  go  to  the  missions  and  that 
the  other  two  religious  were  to  remain  in  Merida. 

Imbued  with  the  spirit  of  Paul  and  Barnabas,  these  two  apos- 
tles of  Christ,  destined  to  be  inseparable  companions  for  four- 
teen years  in  the  work  of  planting  the  good  seed  in  the  fallow 


12  Vilaplana,  on  page  25,  states  that  they  landed  here  in  March,  1686. 
Here  there  is  an  evident  discrepancy;  Vilaplana  himself,  on  page  31,  tells 
us  that  after  leaving  Campeche  they  went  to  Guatemala  and  arrived  there 
on  September  21,  1685. 

13  Espinosa,  op.  cit.,  p.  45. 


312  PETER  P.  FORRESTAL 

lands  of  Guatemala,  went  forth  once  more  on  their  sacred  mis- 
sion and  arrived  happily  in  the  Province  of  Tabasco.  For  one 
whole  year  their  days  were  spent  in  announcing  the  truths  of 
Christianity  in  the  towns  and  hamlets  of  this  province  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  nights  in  keeping  vigil  before  a  beautiful 
crucifix  which  had  been  given  to  them  at  the  aforesaid  port  and 
which  they  were  to  carry  with  them  on  all  their  travels. 

Famished  with  hunger,  drenched  with  rain,  broken  in  health, 
but  undaunted  in  spirit,  these  barefooted  sons  of  Saint  Francis, 
leaving  behind  them  the  Province  of  Tabasco,  trudged  along 
southward  as  far  as  Tuxtla  in  the  present  State  of  Chiapas. 
Here  they  became  gravely  ill,  and  Fray  Antonio  was  given  the 
last  sacraments;  but,  miraculously  cured,  they  continued  on  as 
far  as  Ciudad  Real,  where  their  deep  humility  and  their  burning 
zeal  for  souls  made  such  an  impression  on  the  inhabitants  that 
many  of  both  sexes  dressed  in  sackcloth  and  joined  the  Third 
Order  of  Saint  Francis.  After  converting  the  people  of  Ciudad 
Real  they  entered  Soconusco  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  and 
as  they  passed  through  this  province,  announcing  the  glad  tid- 
ings of  salvation,  thousands  of  people,  with  green  branches  in 
their  hands  and  with  holy  joy  in  their  hearts,  came  forth  to 
receive  those  angels  of  peace,  the  fame  of  whose  sanctity  had 
already  reached  the  utmost  confines  of  Spanish  America.14 

Traveling  by  a  circuitous  route  for  a  distance  of  more  than 
one  hundred  leagues  and  preaching  the  word  of  God  in  all  the 
towns  through  which  they  passed,  Fray  Antonio  and  Fray 
Melchor  reached  the  capital  of  Guatemala,  and  entered  the  Con- 
vent of  San  Francisco  a  little  after  1  o'clock  on  the  morning  of 
September  21,  1685. 15  But,  shortly  after  their  arrival  these  mes- 
sengers of  peace  were  summoned  to  Itzquintipeque  to  put  an 
end  to  dissension  and  discord  that  had  arisen  between  two  com- 
panies of  Spanish  soldiers  stationed  on  that  coast,  and  as  a  re- 
sult not  until  the  beginning  of  the  new  year  were  they  able  to 
open  the  mission  in  the  capital  of  Guatemala.  For  more  than 
six  months  they  preached  in  the  cathedral,  convents  and  other 
churches,  and  long  after  the  mission  had  closed  all  the  priests 


i*  Fray  Juan  L6pez  Aguado,  Voces  que  Hicieron  Eco.,  p.  20  (Mexico, 
1726).    "Laurea  Funeral  Americana,"  in  Garcia  Library,  Texas  University. 

is  Conde,  page  60,  tells  us  that  on  September  21,  1685,  Margil  was  back 
in  Queretaro.  This  is  obviously  an  oversight,  for  on  page  46  of  the  same 
work  he  states  that  on  this  date  he  arrived  in  Guatemala.  Strange  to  say, 
he  falls  into  exactly  the  same  error  with  regard  to  December  2,  1691. 


VENERABLE  ANTONIO  MARGIL  DE  JESUS  313 

of  the  city  were  still  busy  hearing  the  confessions  of  the  multi- 
tudes that,  actuated  by  the  fear  and  love  of  God,  hastened  to 
wash  away  their  sins  in  the  sacrament  of  penance. 

From  the  capital  they  continued  their  journey  southward, 
and,  in  1688,  entered  Nicaragua,  Nicoya  and  Costa  Rica,  pro- 
claiming the  kingdom  of  God  and  exercising  such  a  salutary  in- 
fluence that  the  natives,  of  their  own  accord,  destroyed  their 
idols  and  cut  down  the  trees  from  which  they  had  been  gathering 
the  fruit  for  their  chicha  and  for  their  other  intoxicating  bev- 
erages. Whenever  possible,  they  reached  a  pueblo  about  sun- 
down, and,  with  crucifix  in  hand,  walked  through  the  streets 
announcing  the  mission  and  warning  the  inhabitants  to  hearken 
to  the  voice  of  God  and  to  confess  their  sins.  In  each  of  those 
towns  they  erected  the  Way  of  the  Cross,  taught  the  people  to 
recite  the  rosary  and  to  sing  the  Alabado.16 

Learning  that  there  still  remained  vast  regions  in  which  the 
light  of  faith  had  not  as  yet  penetrated,  the  discalced  sons  of 
the  poor  little  man  of  Assisi  turned  east,  and,  suffering  untold 
hardships  in  crossing  bleak  mountains  and  barren  deserts,  with 
scarcely  enough  food  to  keep  them  from  starvation  and  with  no 
guide  other  than  the  position  of  the  sun  and  the  stars,  made 
their  way  into  the  interior  of  Talamanca.17  With  the  assistance 
of  some  of  the  natives,  who  from  contact  with  the  Christians 
of  Costa  Rica  had  come  to  appreciate  the  blessings  of  our  holy 
faith  and  through  the  good  offices  of  several  caciques,  who  real- 
ized that  men  who  at  such  sacrifice  had  entered  the  territory  of 
an  unfriendly  people  with  no  weapon  but  the  cross  could  be  none 
others  than  messengers  of  the  true  God,  they  succeeded  in  estab- 
lishing eleven  pueblos  and  in  making  thousands  of  converts. 

Success  seemed  to  attend  their  labors  in  this  new  vineyard  of 
the  Lord,  until  certain  tribes,  incited  to  rebellion  by  their  pagan 
priests,  burned  the  church  of  San  Miguel  and  threatened  to  take 
the  lives  of  the  missionaries.  Saved  from  certain  death  only 
by  a  miracle,  those  two  living  exemplars  of  Christian  fortitude, 
following  the  example  of  their  illustrious  prototypes  at  An- 


ie  During  our  recent  sojourn  in  Spain  it  was  for  several  months  our 
happy  privilege  to  celebrate  Mass  at  the  Patronato  de  los  Enfermos  in 
Madrid  and  to  hear  this  beautiful  hymn  of  praise  to  the  Blessed  Sacrament 
sung  on  Sundays  and  feast  days  by  the  poor  children  and  working  classes 
of  the  capital,  whose  spiritual  and  corporal  needs  are  ministered  to  by 
faithful  and  devout  chaplains  and  by  the  self-sacrificing  Damas  Apost61icas 
founded  by  Dona  Lus  Casanova. 

17  A  long  strip  of  territory  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard  of  Costa  Rica. 


314  PETER  P.  FORRESTAL 

tioch,18  gathered  up  from  the  ground  handfuls  of  dust  and,  cast- 
ing it  into  the  air  as  a  sign  of  their  unworthiness  of  eternal  life, 
left  them  and  went  off  to  preach  to  the  Terrabas.19 

After  they  had  instructed  the  friendly  Borucas  on  the  boun- 
dary of  Costa  Rica  they  came  to  the  land  of  the  Terrabas.  These, 
struck  with  holy  awe  at  the  sight  of  the  saintly  missionaries, 
cast  at  their  feet  the  weapons  with  which  they  had  gone  forth 
to  receive  them,  and  learning  that  they  could  not  be  saved  until 
they  had  abandoned  their  ancient  rites  and  practices,  they  burnt 
their  idols,  razed  to  the  ground  their  places  of  pagan  worship, 
and  built  two  temples  to  the  God  of  the  Christians.  Fray  Melchor 
remained  here,  while  Fray  Antonio  journeyed  back  to  convert 
the  incendiaries  of  San  Miguel;  but,  on  August  25,  1691,  when 
both  were  about  to  leave  for  Panama,  they  recieved  from  their 
Commissary-General  an  order  to  report  to  Santa  Cruz  College 
in  Queretaro.  Though  regretting  to  leave  those  missions,  the 
barefooted  friars  began  immediately  that  long  journey  of  more 
than  six  hundred  leagues,  and  that  they  did  so  in  the  spirit  of 
perfect  obedience  is  evident  from  a  letter  which  they  sent  to  the 
Guardian  of  said  college  from  one  of  the  towns  of  Costa  Rica.20 

As  soon  as  they  walked  into  the  capital  of  Guatemala,  on 
December  2nd,  the  President  of  the  Audiencia  of  that  city  noti- 
fied them  that  their  Commissary-General,  informed  of  their 
great  apostolic  labors  and  of  the  work  yet  to  be  done,  had  sent  a 
counter  order  instructing  them  to  remain  in  Central  America. 
They  did  not  advance  another  step,  but,  at  the  request  of  Bishop 
Andres  de  las  Navas,  set  out  for  Vera  Paz  to  pacify  certain 
pueblos  that  had  revolted,  and  about  five  months  later  were 
called  back  to  the  capital  to  establish  a  hospice  for  missionaries. 
While  awaiting  the  royal  cedula  authorizing  this  foundation, 
they  suffered  great  hardships  and  imperiled  their  lives  in  leading 
back  to  the  fold  the  apostate  Choles  of  El  Manche,  and  in  en- 
deavoring to  convert  the  ferocious  savages  of  the  mountains  of 
Lacandon,  that  long  before  had  martyred  two  Dominican  priests, 
Fray  Andres  Lopez  and  Fray  Domingo  de  Vico. 

Undertaking  the  last  journey  he  was  to  make  with  that  zeal- 
ous apostle  who  for  fourteen  years  had  been  his  inseparable 
companion  on  the  missions  and  who  was  soon  to  be  appointed 


is  Acts,  XIII. 

19  Terrabas  and  Borucas :     tribes  inhabiting-  the  southern  portion  of 
Costa  Rica. 

20  Espinosa,  op.  cit.,  p.  83. 


VENERABLE  ANTONIO  MARGIL  DE  JESUS  315 

President  of  the  new  hospice,  Margil  made  his  way  into  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Lacandones ;  but,  after  enduring  extreme  hunger  and 
thirst  for  several  months  and  after  braving  death  itself  in  the 
hope  of  evangelizing  that  indomitable  people,  he  realized  that 
the  hour  for  their  conversion  had  not  as  yet  arrived,  and  de- 
cided to  return  to  the  City  of  Guatemala.21 

One. year  later,  January  17,  1695,  that  zealous  missionary, 
accompanied  by  the  President  of  the  Audiencia  and  six  hundred 
soldiers,  again  walked  barefooted  up  the  craggy  heights  of 
Lacandon,  and  after  a  sojourn  of  two  years,  during  which  he 
always  spent  from  midnight  till  daybreak  on  his  knees  in  com- 
munion with  God,  succeeded  in  exterminating  idolatry  and  in 
establishing  the  Christian  faith  in  all  that  country. 

Here  he  labored  with  marked  success  until  March,  1697, 
when,  to  the  deep  sorrow  of  his  spiritual  children,  who  had 
come  to  love  him  as  a  father  and  who  were  now  to  be  deprived 
of  his  ministrations,  he  was  recalled  to  Queretaro  as  Guardian 
of  Santa  Cruz.  Without  hesitation  he  answered  the  call  of 
obedience,  and  after  preaching  in  all  the  towns  along  his  route, 
that  great  apostle  of  America,  so  fittingly  titled  Atlante  Pereg- 
rino  by  his  illustrious  colaborer  and  biographer,22  reached 
Queretaro  on  the  afternoon  of  April  22nd  of  this  same  year.23 
That  day  the  entire  community  and  all  others  that  had  gone 
forth  to  welcome  him  at  the  entrance  to  the  city  beheld,  indeed, 
a  novel  spectacle  as  the  far-famed  missionary  came  along  that 
dusty  road  in  the  patched  habit  which  he  had  worn  in  Guate- 
mala, with  an  old  hat  thrown  over  his  back  and  a  skull  hanging 
from  his  girdle. 

As  superior  of  Santa  Cruz  College,  he  evinced  those  admir- 
able virtues  of  charity  and  humility  that  had  characterized  his 
work  on  the  missions.  He  looked  after  the  corporal  as  well  as 
the  spiritual  needs  of  his  subjects,  built  an  infirmary  for  the 
sick  religious,  and  considered  himself  merely  as  a  weak  instru- 
ment of  the  divine  will,  each  night  offering  the  keys  of  the 


21  Fray  Francisco  de  S.  Esteban  y  Andrade,  Titulo  Glorioso  del  Cru- 
cificado  con  Cristo  y  Seyunda  Azucena  de  la  Religidn  Serdfica,  p.  15  (Mex- 
ico, 1729).    See  "Laurea  Funeral  Americana." 

22  Fray  Isidro  Felix  de  Espinosa  and  Fray  Antonio  Margil  worked  to- 
gether on  the  missions  in  Texas,  Espinosa  as  superior  of  the  missionaries 
from  Santa  Cruz  and  Margil  as  superior  of  those  from  Nuestra  Sefiora  de 
Guadalupe. 

23  Conde  states  that  Margil  arrived  here  on  April  2nd.  This  is  prob- 
ably a  typographical  error. 


316  PETER  P.  FORRESTAL 

cloister  and  of  the  hearts  of  his  subjects  to  Jesus  and  Mary, 
the  true  Guardians  of  that  convent.24  During  the  period  of  his 
guardianship  at  this  college  his  days  and  nights,  save  three 
hours  given  to  repose,  were  spent  in  penance  and  prayer,  and  in 
gaining  souls  for  Christ,  not  only  by  his  work  in  the  confes- 
sional, but  by  the  simple  yet  heart-stirring  sermons  which  he 
preached  on  the  streets  of  Queretaro.  On  several  occasions  his 
insatiable  zeal  led  him  out  of  this  city  to  distant  places,  and 
numberless  souls  resolved  to  abandon  sin  and  turn  to  God  as 
he  thundered  forth  the  warning  to  repentance  in  the  churches 
and  on  the  plazas  of  Valladolid,  Mexico  City  and  Celaya. 

IV 

In  1700,  he  finished  his  term  as  Guardian,  and  in  April  of 
the  following  year  was  called  to  Guatemala  to  establish  peace 
between  the  people  and  the  Royal  Audiencia.  Without  taking 
leave  of  the  citizens  of  Queretaro,  once  more  he  set  out  on  that 
long  journey  of  almost  four  hundred  leagues,  and  toward  the 
end  of  May  or  the  beginning  of  June,  after  having  preached  and 
heard  confessions  along  the  way,  that  messenger  of  peace 
reached  the  capital  of  Guatemala,  where  he  settled  the  disputed 
questions  to  the  satisfaction  of  both  parties. 

On  June  13th  he  founded  in  this  city  a  seminary  de  Propa- 
ganda Fide,  the  nucleus  of  which  was  to  be  composed  of  the  re- 
ligious until  then  living  at  the  Calvario  Hospice,  and,  prompted 
by  those  same  motives  which  at  the  age  of  seven  had  led  him 
to  place  himself  in  the  arms  of  Christ  Crucified,  named  it  El 
Colegio  de  Cristo  Crucificado.25  In  the  Provincial  Chapter  held 
soon  afterwards  he  was  elected  Guardian  of  this  college  by  those 
saintly  religious,  who,  acquainted  with  his  missionary  activities 
of  fourteen  years  in  Central  America,  realized  that  no  other 
could  direct  so  successfully  the  destinies  of  the  new  institute. 
Those  virtuous  men  had  cast  their  votes  according  to  the  dic- 
tates of  conscience  and  they  were  not  to  be  disappointed  in  their 
choice.  Fray  Antonio,  by  his  faithful  adherence  to  the  rules  of 
Saint  Francis,  inspired  them  to  exemplify  in  their  own  lives  the 
beautiful  virtues  of  charity  and  humility,  and  by  his  continuous 
and  arduous  labors  in  the  confessional  and  pulpit,  aroused  in 
them  that  spirit  of  self-sacrificing  zeal  so  necessary  for  the  work 
of  the  missions.    Like  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  he  preached 

24  Espinosa,  op.  cit.,  p.  125. 

25  Vilaplana,  op.  cit.,  p.  7. 


VENERABLE  ANTONIO  MARGIL  DE  JESUS  317 

Christ  in  season  and  out  of  season,  and  on  Christmas  night  spoke 
for  several  hours  on  the  plaza  of  the  capital  city  endeavoring 
to  prevent  the  scandalous  abuses  so  common  on  this  most  sacred 
of  festivals. 

On  a  certain  occasion,  when  preaching  in  the  Cathedral  of 
Guatemala,  he  took  as  his  text  the  brevity  of  life  and  the  un- 
certainty of  death.  In  the  course  of  the  sermon  he  remarked, 
to  the  astonishment  of  his  audience,  that  all  those  then  present 
would  not  hear  him  on  the  following  day,  because  before  that 
time  one  of  them  would  have  been  called  to  render  a  strict  ac- 
count before  the  Supreme  Judge.  Scarcely  had  he  uttered  the 
last  words  of  the  sermon  when,  according  to  the  testimony  of 
Father  Jeronimo  Varona  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  who  was  pres- 
ent at  the  time,  a  woman  fell  dead  between  the  Main  Altar  and 
Socorro  Chapel,  not  having  had  even  enough  time  to  make  her 
confession.26 

Satisfied  that  the  rules  of  the  Order  were  being  faithfully 
observed  by  all  the  subjects  of  that  holy  institute  and  that  the 
doctrines  of  Christianity  were  being  practiced  by  the  inhabitants 
of  Guatemala,  he  set  out  for  Nicaragua  and,  after  a  journey  of 
some  two  hundred  leagues,  reached  the  City  of  Leon  about  the 
end  of  May,  1703.  He  left  this  capital,  and  in  a  torrential  rain 
made  his  way  through  swamps  and  over  swollen  creeks  to  the 
towns  of  Telica,  Sevaco,  and  Granada,  denouncing  witchcraft, 
demon  worship  and  superstitution,  and  awakening  in  the  luke- 
warm Christians  of  those  parts  a  sincere  detestation  of  idolatry 
and  a  deep  sense  of  their  obligations  as  followers  of  the  Cru- 
cified Christ.27 

In  about  three  months  he  was  back  in  the  City  of  Guatemala, 
but  he  had  been  here  only  a  short  time  when  summoned  to  the 
Pacific  Coast  to  correct  certain  flagrant  abuses  that  had  crept 
into  the  provinces  of  San  Antonio  Suchitepequez2S  and  Zapo- 
titlan,  whose  inhabitants,  Christians  only  in  name,  still  clung  to 
the  ancient  rites  and  ceremonies  of  their  ancestors.29    That  his 


26  Espinosa,  op.  cit.,  p.  174. 

27  Later  on  the  capital  was  changed  to  Managua,  which,  as  Le6n,  is 
situated  on  the  Pacific. 

28  On  the  Pacific  in  the  southwestern  part  of  Guatemala. 

29  Even  at  the  present  day  much  the  same  may  be  said  of  several  of 
the  Indian  pueblos  of  New  Mexico.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  before  long  the 
work  of  the  zealous  Franciscan  Fathers  of  this  state  will  be  crowned  with 
the  success  that  in  Central  America  attended  the  labors  of  their  illustrious 
coreligious. 


318  PETER  P.  FORRESTAL 

mission  was  entirely  successful  is  evident  from  the  report  which 
the  corregidor  of  Zapotitlan  made  to  the  Royal  Audiencia  of 
Guatemala  on  October  12,  1704.  This  report  states  that  with 
the  visit  of  Fray  Antonio  the  province  became  a  veritable  para- 
dise of  God,  for  at  all  hours  the  people,  that  until  then  had  been 
steeped  in  the  most  shameful  vices,  could  be  seen,  both  in  the 
homes  and  on  the  streets,  chanting  the  Alabado,  or  reciting  the 
rosary  and  other  prayers  in  honor  of  their  Eucharistic  Lord  and 
of  His  Most  Blessed  Mother.30 

V 

As  soon  as  his  term  of  office  had  expired  this  giant  pilgrim 
of  America,  accompanied  by  another  religious,  started  out  once 
more  for  Costa  Rica  with  the  hope  of  advancing  farther  south- 
ward and  of  bringing  into  the  faith  the  numerous  tribes  of 
Panama  and  Peru;  but,  on  July  25,  1706,  as  he  was  about  to 
climb  the  Talamanca  Mountains  he  received  from  the  Commis- 
sary-General an  order  to  return  to  Mexico  for  the  purpose  of 
establishing  a  new  college  on  the  outskirts  of  Zacatecas.  Though 
he  yearned  for  the  conversion  of  those  pagan  nations  and  though 
his  companion  urged  him  to  continue  on  his  way,  that  slave  of 
holy  obedience,  retracing  his  steps,  began  the  long,  wearisome 
journey  to  the  scene  of  his  future  labors.31  Upon  reaching  the 
City  of  Guatemala  he  called  at  the  College  of  Cristo  Crucificado 
to  visit  the  religious,  of  whom  he  had  been  a  kind  superior  and 
whom  he  was  never  more  to  see,32  and  after  addressing  to  them 
words  of  counsel  and  comfort  bade  them  good-bye  and  continued 
his  journey  northward. 

Faithful  to  his  custom  of  preaching  the  word  of  God  in  all 
the  towns  and  ranches  through  which  he  passed,  the  tireless 
apostle  continued  on  until  he  came  to  Mexico  City,  where  he 
spent  a  few  days  consulting  the  Commissary-General  on  certain 
points  relative  to  the  new  foundation.  During  the  months  of 
November  and  December  he  was  at  Santa  Cruz  in  Queretaro, 
and  from  this  college  took  with  him  to  Zacatecas  five  religious, 


so  Espinosa,  op.  cit.,  pp.  207,  208. 

3i  Fray  Francisco  de  S.  Esteban  y  Andrade,  op.  cit.,  p.  20. 

32  In  1708,  upon  the  death  of  Fray  Tomas  de  Arrivillaga,  Guardian  of 
the  College  of  Cristo  Crucificado,  the  Royal  Audiencia  of  Guatemala  begged 
Margil  to  accept  this  office.  He  wrote  back  that  his  heart  was  in  Guate- 
mala and  that  if  possible  he  would  fly  to  that  kingdom,  but  that  this  was 
impossible,  since  the  Commissary-General  held  him  bound  by  the  wel- 
riveted  chains  of  obedience. 


VENERABLE  ANTONIO  MARGIL  DE  JESUS  319 

who,  with  those  already  living  at  the  Hospice  of  Nuestra  Sefiora 
de  Guadalupe,  were  to  form  the  little  community  at  the  Apostolic 
Institute  about  to  be  established. 

January  12,  1707,  should  always  be  a  memorable  day  in  the 
history  of  the  Church  in  Mexico,  for  it  was  on  this  day  that  her 
greatest  of  apostles  entered  the  College  of  Nuestra  Sefiora  de 
Guadalupe  at  the  foothills  of  the  Zacatecas  Mountains  and,  cast- 
ing himself  on  his  knees  before  the  image  of  Our  Blessed  Mother, 
thanked  her  for  having  watched  over  him  during  that  long  jour- 
ney of  more  than  six  hundred  leagues  from  the  wilds  of  Costa 
Rica  and  commended  to  her  care  the  destinies  of  an  institute 
that  was  soon  to  play  an  important  part  in  the  work  of  evan- 
gelization in  North  America.33 

From  the  very  outset  the  new  foundation  began  to  grow 
both  in  a  spiritual  and  a  material  way,  and  within  a  decade  able 
and  zealous  missionaries  from  Zacatecas  were  spreading  the 
doctrines  of  Christ  in  Northern  Mexico,  Texas,  and  Louisiana. 
In  August  of  this  same  year,  1707,  Margil,  at  the  request  of  the 
Bishop  of  Guadalajara,  left  his  college  for  three  months  to  give 
missions  in  the  capital  and  in  several  towns  of  Jalisco,  and  he 
spent  the  spring  and  summer  of  the  following  year  laboring 
throughout  the  diocese  of  Durango. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  year  1708,  he  went  to  Queretaro  to 
confer  with  the  Commissary-General  on  certain  matters  of  im- 
portance, and  while  there  was  asked  to  preside  at  the  Chapter 
of  the  Zacatecas  Province.  Prior  to  the  Chapter,  which  was  con- 
voked in  San  Luis  Potosi  on  February  23, 1709,  and  which  proved 
to  be  most  successful  in  every  way,  Margil  preached  missions  in 
this  capital  and  in  many  of  the  neighboring  towns.  At  the  close 
of  the  Provincial  Chapter  he  left  for  Zacatecas  and  preached 
and  heard  confessions  at  each  of  the  towns  and  ranches  at  which 
he  happened  to  pass  the  night.  He  reached  Guadalupe  College 
about  the  middle  of  Lent,  and  as  religious  from  several  of  the 
provinces  had  entered  the  new  institute  a  short  time  previously, 
he  decided  to  spend  the  following  year  at  the  college  in  order  to 
train  for  the  work  of  the  missions  the  young  men  committed  to 
his  care.  During  this  year  his  voice  was  frequently  heard  in  the 
churches  and  on  the  plaza  of  Zacatecas,  and  on  one  occasion  he 
miraculously  escaped  death  at  the  hands  of  certain  comedians, 


33  The  royal  cedula  authorizing  the  erection  of  the  Hospice  into  an 
Apostolic  College  was  granted  by  Philip  V  in  1704,  but  did  not  reach 
America  till  1706.     See  Sotomayor,  Ibid.,  vol.  1,  p.  32. 


320  PETER  P.  FORRESTAL 

whose  performances  he  denounced  publicly  and  whom  he  finally- 
induced  to  abandon  that  life  of  sin  and  turn  to  God. 

During  March  of  1711,  in  obedience  to  a  cedula  of  Philip  V, 
Margil  undertook  the  conversion  of  certain  barbarous  tribes  in 
the  mountains  of  Nayarit.  Accompanied  by  another  religious 
from  Guadalupe  College  and  by  four  Indians,  he  set  out  for  those 
mountains,  and  on  May  9th  sent  from  the  town  of  Santa  Maria 
de  Guazamota  a  letter  informing  the  barbarians  of  his  coming 
and  assuring  them  that  no  motive  other  than  the  desire  to  save 
them  from  hell  induced  him  to  enter  their  province.  After  five 
days  two  Indians  whom  he  had  dispatched  with  this  message 
returned  with  the  information  that  those  barbarians,  in  answer 
to  Fray  Antonio's  letter,  had  stated  that  they  would  at  all  costs 
cling  to  their  pagan  practices,  that  they  were  not  afraid  of  the 
Spanish  soldiers,  and  that  under  no  condition  would  they  em- 
brace Christianity.  Nothing  daunted,  both  missionaries  entered 
those  mountains,  but,  though  ready  for  every  sacrifice,  even  that 
of  life  itself,  in  the  effort  to  convert  that  obstinate  people,  they 
came  to  realize  that  the  hour  of  their  conversion,  according  to 
the  inscrutable  designs  of  God,  had  not  as  yet  arrived,  and 
decided  to  return  to  their  college. 

For  two  years  Margil  endeavored  to  prevail  upon  the  Viceroy 
in  Mexico  City  and  upon  the  Royal  Audiencia  of  Guadalajara  to 
assist  him  in  the  work  of  converting  the  pagans  of  Nayarit ;  but, 
seeing  that  the  proposed  expedition  to  that  province  was  being 
postponed  indefinitely  he  decided,  after  being  relieved  of  his 
duties  as  Guardian  in  November,  1713,  to  carry  his  spiritual  con- 
quests into  the  New  Kingdom  of  Leon  and  across  the  Rio 
Grande.34 

With  the  permission  of  the  Commissary-General  and  of  the 
new  Guardian,35  and  accompanied  by  another  Friar,  once  more 
he  left  the  College  of  Guadalupe,  and  during  the  early  part  of 
1714,  gave  missions  in  Mazapil,  Saltillo  and  Monterrey  and  in 
several  other  towns  of  Zacatecas,  Coahuila  and  Nuevo  Leon.  In 
the  month  of  May  he  reached  the  Sabinas  River  and  on  its  banks 
established  and  dedicated  to  Our  Lady  of  Guadalupe  the  first 
mission  founded  among  the  pagan  Indians  by  the  Zacatecas  In- 
stitute.   He  had  been  here  but  a  short  time  when  the  Tobosos 


34  Only  a  few  years  later  missionaries  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  to  their 
great  glory  be  it  said,  succeeded  in  spreading  the  Gospel  throughout  most 
of  this  territory. 

35  Fray  Jose  Guerra. 


VENERABLE  ANTONIO  MARGIL  DE  JESUS  321 

swooped  down  upon  the  neighboring  pueblo  of  San  Miguel,  tore 
to  pieces  the  sacred  vestments,  and  stripped  and  threatened  to 
take  the  life  of  the  missionary.  Through  the  assistance  of  cer- 
tain members  of  this  tribe  that  had  once  been  Christians,  the 
Padre,  almost  naked,  succeeded  in  making  his  escape  to  the 
Mission  of  Nuestra  Sefiora  de  Guadalupe.  He  reached  the 
thatched  hut  constructed  by  Fray  Antonio,  who,  learning  of  his 
happy  escape  and  considering  this  a  signal  victory  for  the  cause 
of  Christianity,  led  him  in  triumph  into  the  church,  ordered  that 
the  bells  be  rung,  and  entoned  the  Te  Deum  in  thanksgiving. 

As  the  Tobosos  still  continued  their  depredations,  the  Indians 
that  had  been  congregated  at  Guadalupe  fled  back  to  the  moun- 
tains, and  the  three  missionaries,  seeing  that  under  the  circum- 
stances any  effort  to  reestablish  the  pueblos  was  useless,  left  for 
the  Dolores  Mission  at  Punta  de  Lampazos.36  Though  all  hope 
of  erecting  a  mission  near  the  Sabinas  had  vanished,  Fray  An- 
tonio was  not  discouraged.  Awaiting  the  opportunity  to  labor 
among  the  Texas  across  the  Rio  Grande,  he  spent  the  remainder 
of  that  year  and  the  beginning  of  1715,  in  preaching  and  hearing 
confessions  among  the  Christians  in  Nuevo  Leon.  Toward  the 
close  of  1715,  or  in  the  early  part  of  1716,  he  set  out,  with  a 
military  escort,  for  the  Mission  of  San  Juan  Bautista,  located 
on  the  Rio  Grande  del  Norte,  near  the  present  town  of  Piedras 
Negras.  Though  suffering  from  double  hernia,  he  walked  all 
the  way  from  Lampazos  to  the  Sabinas  River,  where,  in  spite  of 
all  protestations,  the  corporal  of  the  guard  insisted  that  he  make 
the  rest  of  the  journey  on  horseback.  Having  reached  the  Rio 
Grande,  he  preached  to  the  soldiers  at  the  presidio  and  intro- 
duced the  Third  Order  at  the  Mission  of  San  Juan;  but,  finding 
that  he  could  not  establish  here  a  mission  for  the  pagan  Indians, 
he  decided  to  return  to  the  scene  of  his  recent  labors  in  Coahuila 
and  in  the  New  Kingdom  of  Leon.37 


36  The  Dolores  Mission  was  seven  leagues  north  of  that  erected  by 
Margil  and  was  founded,  in  1698,  by  Fray  Francisco  Hidalgo  and  Fray 
Diego  de  Salazar.  It  should  not  be  confused  with  the  Dolores  Mission 
founded  ten  years  previously  at  Boca  de  Leones,  or  modern  Villa-Aldama. 

37  Because  of  the  scarcity  of  priests  on  the  San  Xavier  missions  and 
in  order  to  take  care  of  the  new  missions  among  the  Apaches,  Santa  Cruz 
College,  in  1751,  was  obliged  to  turn  over  to  the  secular  clergy  that  of 
San  Juan  Bautista,  founded  about  fifty  years  previously.  See  Bolton, 
Texas  in  the  Middle  Eighteenth  Century,  p.  239. 


322  PETER  P.  FORRESTAL 

VI 

In  the  fall  of  1715,  steps  had  been  taken  to  reestablish  the 
long  neglected  missions  on  the  Neches  and  thus  to  prevent  fur- 
ther encroachment  of  the  French  upon  Spanish  territory.  To  ac- 
complish this  an  escort  of  twenty-five  soldiers,  under  Captain 
Domingo  Ramon,  was  to  accompany  into  the  country  of  the 
Hasinai,  or  Texas,  Indians  a  mission  band  from  the  College  of 
Santa  Cruz  in  Queretaro  and  another  from  the  College  of 
Nuestra  Sefiora  de  Guadalupe  in  Zacatecas.  The  former,  com- 
posed of  five  priests,  was  to  have  as  superior  Fray  Isidro  Felix 
de  Espinosa,  and  the  latter,  made  up  of  three  priests,  two  lay- 
brothers  and  one  Donado,  was  to  be  under  the  direction  of  Fray 
Antonio  Margil  de  Jesus.  The  superior  of  the  Zacatecas  band 
was  still  busy  visiting  the  towns  and  ranches  of  Nuevo  Leon 
when,  in  the  spring  of  1716,  word  reached  him  that  the  expedi- 
tion was  already  on  the  Rio  Grande  and  was  about  to  leave  for 
Texas.  Wtihout  delay  he  set  out  to  join  his  companions,  but 
along  the  way  he  became  gravely  ill  and  had  to  be  taken  to  the 
Mission  of  San  Juan  Bautista,  where  his  condition  became  so 
critical  that  he  was  given  the  last  sacraments.  Urged  by  Margil 
himself  not  to  postpone  the  entrada,  on  April  25th,  the  mission- 
aries of  both  colleges  bade  farewell  to  their  beloved  friend  and 
colaborer,  and  the  expedition,  having  crossed  the  Rio  Grande, 
moved  northeastward  to  the  country  of  the  Hasinai,  which  had 
originally  comprised  nothing  more  than  the  strip  of  territory 
between  the  Trinity  and  Red  rivers  and  part  of  what  is  now  the 
State  of  Louisiana.38 

The  founder  of  Guadalupe  College  and  superior  of  its  little 
band  of  Texas  missionaries  had  for  many  years  yearned  for  the 
conversion  of  the  Hasinai;  he  had  redoubled  his  fasts,  watched 
late  into  the  night,  and  sacrificed  everything  life  holds  dear  that 
one  day  he  might  be  able  to  bring  to  this  and  to  kindred  tribes 
a  knowledge  of  the  true  faith.  His  heartfelt  prayer  for  the  con- 
version of  this  people  was  born  of  the  ardent  zeal  which  had  led 


3s  Informe  que  se  did  al  Excmo.  Sr.  Presidente  de  la  Republica  Mejicana 
sobre  limites  de  la  Provincia  de  Tejas,  p.  6.  (Zacatecas,  1828;  Imprenta  del 
Supremo  Gobierno.)  Dr.  Bolton,  op.  cit.,  p.  2,  tells  us  that  the  Hasinai 
"comprised  some  ten  or  more  tribes,  of  which  the  best  known  were  the 
Hainai,  Nacogdoche,  Nabedache,  Nasoni  and  Nadaco."  He  states  also,  p.  1, 
that  "early  in  the  eighteenth  century  the  boundaries  [of  Texas]  were  ex- 
tended westward  to  include  the  settlements  on  the  San  Antonio  River  and 
Matagorda  Bay."  See  also  Bancroft,  The  North  Mexican  States,  Vol.  I, 
p.  604,  note  2. 


VENERABLE  ANTONIO  MARGIL  DE  JESUS  323 

him  into  Talamanca,  Lacandon  and  Nayarit,  and,  at  least  in 
part,  that  prayer  was  not  to  remain  unanswered.  Margil,  com- 
pletely recovered,  soon  left  the  San  Juan  Mission  and,  following 
the  route  taken  by  the  Ramon  expedition,  advanced  toward  the 
territory  of  the  Texas  Indians.  When  he  overtook  his  com- 
panions he  learned,  to  his  great  joy,  that  they  had  been  well 
received  by  the  natives  and  had  been  meeting  with  remarkable 
success  in  explaining  to  them  the  truths  of  Christianity  and  in 
inducing  them  to  abandon  their  wild,  nomadic  life.39 

The  expedition  reached  the  country  of  the  Hasinai,  in  the 
eastern  section  of  the  present  State  of  Texas,  in  the  summer  of 
1716,  and,  setting  to  work  immediately,  the  missionaries  from 
both  colleges  made  every  effort  to  instruct  the  natives  and  to 
induce  them  to  establish  pueblos.  The  Friars  from  Zacatecas, 
in  whom  we  are  especially  interested,  began  their  labors  with 
the  Nacogdoches,  and  among  them,  near  the  banks  of  the 
Angelina,  established  their  first  mission,  dedicated  to  Our  Lady 
of  Guadalupe.40  At  this  mission  Fray  Antonio  and  his  com- 
panions spent  the  remainder  of  this  year,  using  a  thatched  hut 
as  a  dwelling,  enduring  every  kind  of  hardship,  mingling  with 
the  rude  and  illiterate  natives,  and  endeavoring  to  impress  upon 
their  rude  mentalities  the  grandeur  and  sublimity  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  with  the  hope  of  gaining  souls  for  heaven. 

Informed  by  the  Nacogdoches  that  certain  neighboring  and 
friendly  tribes  might  willingly  receive  the  light  of  faith,  in  Jan- 
uary of  the  following  year  Margil  journeyed  eastward  to  the  ter- 
ritory of  the  Ais,  and  among  them,  at  what  is  at  present  the 


39  The  date  of  Margil's  arrival  to  East  Texas  is  not  at  all  clear;  the 
fact  that  he  is  not  mentioned  in  either  the  Espinosa  or  the  Ramon  Diaries 
after  the  expedition  had  crossed  the  Rio  Grande  would  seem  to  indicate 
that  he  did  not  rejoin  the  expedition  until  after  it  had  reached  the  territory 
of  the  Hasinai.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Informe  cited  in  note  38  states, 
page  19,  that  the  expedition,  accompanied  by  Margil,  entered  the  Province 
of  Texas  on  June  28th.  Espinosa  tells  us  that  Margil  did  not  leave  San 
Juan  Bautista  till  the  feast  of  Saint  Anthony  of  Padua,  which  falls  on 
June  13th.  There  is,  however,  in  the  Zacatecas  Archives  a  letter  written 
by  Margil  to  Fray  Antonio  Andrade,  and  dated  May  29,  1716,  desde  el 
camino  hacia  los  Texas.  From  several  of  his  letters,  which  are  preserved 
in  the  said  archives  and  which  state  that  "we  entered  Texas  with  only 
twenty-five  men,"  it  would  seem  clear  that  he  overtook  the  expedition 
somewhere  along  the  route. 

40  in  the  center  of  the  present  town  of  Nacogdoches  Doctor  Bolton  has 
located  the  site  of  the  old  Mission  of  Guadalupe.  See  Southwestern  His- 
torical Quarterly,  April,  1908.  At  this  same  time  the  Santa  Cruz  mission- 
aries founded  San  Francisco  de  los  Tejas,  La  Purisima  Concepcion,  and 
San  Jose  de  los  Nazones,  somewhat  north  of  the  Zacatecas  missions. 


324  PETER  P.  FORRESTAL 

Town  of  San  Augustine,  established  the  Mission  of  Nuestra 
Sefiora  de  los  Dolores.  During  March  he  crossed  the  Sabine, 
and  at  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  Town  of  Robeline,  Louisiana, 
fifty  leagues  due  east  from  Dolores  and  not  far  south  of  Sham- 
rock and  Spanish  Lake,41  founded  San  Miguel  de  los  Adaes  and 
left  at  this  mission  Fray  Agustin  Patron,  one  of  the  Friars  that 
had  accompanied  him  from  Mexico.42  From  Dolores,  for  which 
he  had  a  special  affection  and  at  which  he  spent  the  greater 
part  of  the  year,  he  made  regular  visits  to  the  other  missions, 
and  on  several  occasions,  carrying  with  him  the  sacred  vest- 
ments, walked  from  San  Miguel  to  the  French  presidio  at  Natchi- 
toches, a  distance  of  about  ten  leagues,  and  there  said  Mass, 
preached,  and  heard  the  confessions  of  the  soldiers. 

Those  were,  indeed,  years  of  trial  for  the  religious  in  East 
Texas.  Since  their  arrival  they  had  received  no  letters  from 
their  brethren  in  either  Spain  or  Mexico,  and  when,  in  August 
of  1718,  Margil  learned  that  almost  two  years  previously  he  had 
again  been  elected  Guardian  of  Guadalupe  College  he  wrote  to 
his  superior,  requesting  that,  as  the  term  was  then  drawing  to 
a  close  and  as  he  was  hundreds  of  leagues  distant  from  Zaca- 
tecas,  his  resignation  be  accepted  and  that  he  be  permitted  to 
remain  on  the  missions.  Here  Margil  and  the  other  missionaries 
suffered  untold  hardships  and  at  times  had  scarcely  enough  food 
to  keep  body  and  soul  together.  1717  and  1718  were  years  of 
veritable  famine  in  East  Texas ;  the  corn  and  bean  crops  were  a 
failure,  the  scant  supply  of  provisions  the  missionaries  had 
brought  with  them  from  Mexico  had  become  exhausted  a  few 
months  after  their  arrival,  and  for  a  time  all  they  could  secure 
to  stave  off  starvation  was  the  flesh  of  crows.43  In  1717,  the 
Queretaro  and  Zacatecas  colleges,  with  authorization  of  the 
Viceroy,  sent  a  supply  of  provisions  to  the  Padres.  The  expedi- 
tion, comprised  of  a  few  missionaries  with  an  escort  of  fifteen 
soldiers,  reached  the  Trinity  before  Christmas  of  the  same  year, 
but,  as  this  river  was  overflowing  its  banks  for  a  distance  of 


4i  For  further  data  on  the  location  of  these  missions  consult  Bolton, 
op.  cit.;  also  his  letter  to  Father  Engelhardt,  published  in  the  Franciscan 
Herald,  August,  1915. 

42  With  regard  to  the  Friars  that  accompanied  this  expedition  there 
seems  to  be  some  divergence  of  opinion.  Consult  the  Espinosa  Diary  for 
April  25th,  the  Cronica,  I,  417,  and  the  Ram6n  Diary  for  April  22nd. 

43  Mexicana  Beatificationis  et  canonizationis  Ven.  Servi  Dei  Antonii 
Margil  a  Jesu:  De  Temperantia,  XXX,  32,  (Typographia  Rev.  Camerae 
Apostolicae).  Consult  also  Informacidn  de  Sucedidos  a  N.  V.  P.,  article 
186.     (Proceso  de  Guadalajara.) 


VENERABLE  ANTONIO  MARGIL  DE  JESUS  325 

about  two  leagues  and  as  there  was  little  hope  of  its  waters 
subsiding,  the  supplies  were  buried  in  a  woods  west  of  the  river, 
and,  by  means  of  some  Texas  Indians  that  happened  to  be  in 
those  parts,  a  letter  was  sent  to  the  missionaries  with  informa- 
tion as  to  the  location  of  the  hidden  supplies.  The  expedition 
returned  to  the  Rio  Grande,  but,  due  to  impassable  roads,  the 
letter  did  not  reach  its  destination  until  July  22nd  of  the  fol- 
lowing year. 

In  these  pages  we  cannot  dwell  at  length  upon  this  glorious 
chapter  in  the  History  of  the  Church  in  Texas,  but  those  of  our 
readers  acquainted  with  the  Castilian  tongue  can  find  in  the  first 
part  of  the  Cronica  Apostolica  y  Serdfica,  written  by  Fray  Isidro 
Felix  de  Espinosa,  superior  of  the  religious  from  Queretaro,  a 
simple,  yet  beautiful  and  detailed,  account  of  the  sufferings  and 
hardships  endured  by  those  zealous  pioneers1  during  their  first 
two  years  of  missionary  activities  among  the  Hasinai. 

In  1719,  war  broke  out  between  Spain  and  France,  and  in 
June  of  this  year  the  commandant  of  the  French  fort  at  Natchi- 
toches, without  orders  from  superior  officers,  made  an  unex- 
pected attack  upon  San  Miguel,  captured  a  lay-brother  and  an 
unarmed  soldier,  the  only  persons  present  at  the  time,  and  seized 
the  sacred  vestments  and  whatever  else  was  to  be  found  at  the 
mission.  On  the  way  back  to  the  fort  the  commandant  was 
pitched  from  his  mount,  and  in  the  confusion  that  resulted  the 
lay-brother,  putting  spurs  to  his  horse,  dashed  into  a  nearby 
woods,  eluded  his  pursuers,  and,  making  his  escape  to  one  of 
the  neighboring  missions,  warned  Fray  Antonio  and  the  other 
Padres  of  the  impending  danger.  The  religious  from  both  col- 
leges and  the  few  soldiers  stationed  at  those  missions  recognized 
at  once  the  utter  impossibility  of  coping  with  an  enemy  so  well 
equipped  and  retired  to  a  place  of  relative  safety;  but,  seeing 
that,  in  spite  of  repeated  and  insistent  appeals,  the  royal  officials 
in  Mexico  were  taking  no  active  measures  to  restore  those  mis- 
sions, on  October  3rd  all  withdrew  to  the  Mission  of  San  Antonio, 
located  more  than  two  hundred  leagues  to  the  southwest  of 
Natchitoches.  In  the  meantime  another  and  a  more  pressing 
appeal  for  assistance  was  sent  to  the  Viceroy,  and  while  await- 
ing results  Fray  Antonio  ministered  to  the  spiritual  wants  of 
the  soldiers  at  the  presidio,  and  on  the  banks  of  the  San  Antonio 


326  PETER  P.  FORRESTAL 

River  established  the  Mission  of  San  Jose,  which  was  soon  to 
become  one  of  the  most  famous  of  the  Zacatecas  Province.44 

Finally,  on  April  4,  1721,  the  long  expected  expedition,  made 
up  of  five  hundred  men,  under  the  Marquis  of  San  Miguel  de 
Aguayo,  Governor  of  Coahuila,  reached  the  presidio  of  San  An- 
tonio.45 Here  it  was  joined  by  Father  Margil  and  by  the  other 
Texas  missionaries  from  Santa  Cruz  and  from  Guadalupe.  On 
May  13th  the  entire  expedition  left  San  Antonio,  and,  during  the 
march,  each  morning  several  Masses  were  celebrated,  and  at 
night  a  catechetical  instruction  was  given,  followed  by  the  sing- 
ing of  the  ATabado.*6  Traveling  in  a  northeasterly  direction,  the 
expedition  passed  close  to  the  sites  at  present  occupied  by  the 
towns  of  New  Braunfels,  San  Marcos,  Austin,47  Rockdale  and 
Waco,  and,  having  crossed  the  Trinity,  toward  the  end  of  July 
entered  the  territory  of  the  Hasinai.  Both  missionaries  and 
soldiers  received  a  warm  welcome  from  the  natives,  and  the 
cacique  of  the  Adaes,  whom  all  Texas  tribes  recognized  as  their 
leader,  assured  them  that  all  had  been  impatiently  awaiting  the 
return  of  the  Spaniards  and  that  had  they  delayed  any  longer 
he  himself  would  gladly  have  gone  to  San  Antonio  to  seek  them.48 

Shortly  after  the  arrival  of  Aguayo,  the  French  commandant, 
reluctlantly  but  without  offering  any  resistance,  agreed  to  evac- 
uate all  Spanish  territory  and  to  withdraw  to  his  fort  at  Natchi- 
toches; a  presidio,  garrisoned  with  a  hundred  men,  was  built 
among  the  Adaes,  and  the  abandoned  missions,  of  which  scarcely 
a  vestige  had  remained,  were  restored  and  supplied  with  min- 
isters.   Fray  Antonio  took  charge  of  San  Miguel,  and  in  the  hope 


44  Arricivita,  op.  cit.,  p.  101 ;  Espinosa,  Cronica,  p.  467.  Consult  also 
the  Solis  Diary  of  1767.  This  Diary,  translated  for  the  first  time  by  the 
author  of  the  present  article,  was  published  in  the  Preliminary  Studies  of 
the  Texas  Catholic  Historical  Society  in  March,  1931.  Another  translation, 
by  Miss  Margaret  Kenney  Kress,  of  the  Department  of  Spanish  of  Texas 
University,  appeared  in  the  July,  1931,  issue  of  the  Southwestern  Historical 
Quarterly. 

45  Pena,  Derrotero  de  la  Expedicion  en  la  Provincia  de  los  Texas. 
(Museo  Nacional  de  Mexico;  Departamento  de  la  Biblioteca  Nacional, 
Legajo  94,  No.  20).  This  Diary  has  not  as  yet  been  translated,  but  num- 
erous references  to  it  can  be  found  in  the  scholarly  article,  "The  Aguayo 
Expedition  into  Texas  and  Louisiana,"  written  by  Miss  Eleanor  Claire 
Buckley  and  published  in  the  July,  1911,  issue  of  the  Southwestern  His- 
torical Quarterly. 

46  Arricivita,  op.  cit.,  p.  101. 

47  Miss  Buckley,  op.  cit.,  p.  38,  states  that  toward  the  end  of  May  "the 
expedition  camped  on  what  is  now  Onion  Creek,  and  crossed  it  later,  ap- 
parently at  the  site  of  the  present  McKinney  Falls." 

48  Pena,  op.  cit. 


VENERABLE  ANTONIO  MARGIL  DE  JESUS  327 

of  reaping  a  rich  harvest  in  that  land  that  had  lain  fallow  during 
his  long  period  of  absence,  he  became,  so  to  say,  one  of  the  na- 
tives, helped  them  in  their  daily  tasks,  and  shared  their  joys 
and  their  sorrows.  Faithful  always  to  his  religious  exercises, 
early  each  morning  he  said  the  Divine  Office  and  Holy  Mass  with 
scrupulous  attention  and  devotion,  and  spent  several  hours  daily 
in  mental  prayer,  spiritual  reading  and  visits  to  the  Blessed 
Sacrament.  His  bed  was  a  black  sheet  spread  over  the  ground 
and  his  pillow  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  but  frequently  he  denied  him- 
self even  the  three  hours  set  apart  for  repose,  for,  as  one  of  the 
religious  who  had  labored  with  him  on  those  missions  testified 
years  afterwards,  on  many  occasions  Fray  Antonio  passed  the 
entire  night  on  his  knees  in  communion  with  God.  On  Good 
Friday  of  1722,  he  spent  several  hours  in  retirement,  meditating 
upon  the  mystery  of  the  Redemption;  at  5  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon he  left  his  cell,  gathered  the  natives  into  the  church,  and 
there,  after  speaking  for  one  hour  on  the  sufferings  and  death 
of  Christ,  made  the  Stations,  explaining  in  the  most  touching 
terms  the  excruciating  pains  endured  by  the  God-Man  along  the 
Sorrowful  Way  to  Calvary. 

About  this  time  the  Royal  Audiencia  of  Guatemala  informed 
the  Commissary-General  for  the  Indies  that  much  dissension  and 
discord  had  broken  out  in  that  kingdom  and  requested  that 
Margil  be  sent  there  as  mediator;  but,  after  consultation  with 
the  Guardian  and  Council  of  Zacatecas  College,  the  General  con- 
cluded that  for  the  present  his  services  could  not  be  spared  at 
the  new  foundations,  and  decided  to  leave  him  in  Texas.  Ap- 
pointed Prefect  of  the  Missions  de  Propaganda  Fide  upon  the 
death  of  Fray  Francisco  Estevez,  one  of  Margil's  first  acts  was 
to  establish,  with  the  assistance  of  Fray  Agustin  Patron,  and 
near  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  Town  of  Victoria,  the  Mission 
of  Espiritu  Santo  de  Zuhiga  for  the  savage  Karankawas.49 

VIII 

Margil  continued  his  efforts  to  congregate  the  Indians  of  East 
Texas;  he  continued,  by  word  and  example,  his  efforts  to  bring 
back  into  the  fold  the  sheep  that  for  two  years  had  been  left 
without  a  shepherd,  that  had  wandered  off  to  the  woods  and  to 
the  mountains  during  his  forced  absence  at  San  Antonio;  but, 
in  the  summer  of  1722,  when  most  busily  occupied  in  these  truly 


49  Bolton,   op.   cit.,  p.   284.     Consult  also   Engelhardt's   article   in  the 
April,  1916,  number  of  the  Franciscan  Herald. 


328  PETER  P.  FORRESTAL 

pastoral  duties,  he  received  the  obedience  to  report  to  Zacatecas 
as  Guardian  of  the  College  of  Guadalupe.  Having  appointed  a 
successor  as  superior  of  the  Texas  missions,  he  set  out  on  his 
journey,  and  in  June  arrived  in  Zacatecas,  where,  after  that  long 
absence  of  eight  years,  he  was  given  an  enthusiastic  and  hearty 
welcome  by  the  inhabitants  and  also  by  his  fellow-religious  at 
Guadalupe. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  new  year  he  visited  Mexico  City,  ac- 
companied by  Fray  Isidro  Felix  de  Espinosa,  who  was  now 
Guardian  of  the  college  in  Queretaro,  and  during  his  stay  of 
three  months,  awaiting  certain  concessions  in  behalf  of  the  Texas 
missions,  addressed  large  audiences  in  the  Convento  Grande  de 
San  Francisco  and  in  other  churches  of  the  capital.  With  the 
Viceroy's  assurance  that  the  interests  of  those  missions  would 
not  be  neglected,  he  set  out  again  for  Zacatecas,  but  upon  reach- 
ing Queretaro  he  stopped  to  visit  the  religious,  and  at  their 
request  preached  several  sermons  in  that  city.  A  few  days  after 
his  return  to  Zacatecas  he  was  taken  ill  with  ulcers  of  the  liver, 
and  his  condition  became  so  alarming  that  the  doctors  gave  up 
all  hope  of  his  recovery  and  advised  that  he  be  given  the  last 
sacraments.  But,  in  answer  to  the  fervent  prayers  offered  by  the 
Friars  at  Guadalupe  and  Santa  Cruz  and  by  all  with  whom  he 
had  come  in  contact,  and  who  had  learned  of  his  illness,  God  saw 
fit  to  restore  him  to  health  in  order  that  he  might  continue  his 
work  in  the  monastery  and  on  the  missions. 

There  is  no  need  of  recounting  here  his  many  acts  of  virtue 
and  penance  in  the  cloister  or  his  apostolic  labors  in  the  pulpit 
and  confessional  during  his  term  as  Guardian;  suffice  it  to  say 
that  in  the  former  he  practiced  to  an  eminent  degree  those  vir- 
tues of  prudence,  charity  and  self-denial  that  had  always  won 
for  him  the  love  and  esteem  of  his  fellow-religious,  and  in  the 
latter  that  spirit  of  self-sacrificing  zeal  that  had  always  char- 
acterized his  work  on  the  missions. 

In  keeping  with  the  rules  of  the  Order,  at  the  Chapter,  con- 
voked on  February  17,  1725,  new  officers  were  named  for  the 
College  of  Guadalupe;  but,  as  Fray  Ignacio  Herice,  the  newly 
elected  Guardian,  was  then  in  Texas  the  community  requested 
that  Margil  remain  in  office  until  his  successor  reached  Zaca- 


VENERABLE  ANTONIO  MARGIL  DE  JESUS  329 

tecas.50  When  Father  Herice  arrived,  six  months  later,  Margil, 
to  prepare  for  further  work  on  the  missions,  took  leave  of  his 
companions,  and,  with  the  approval  of  his  superiors,  retired  to  a 
place  of  solitude  about  five  leagues  from  the  college.  Here  he 
spent  several  weeks  in  prayer  and  penance,  and  left  this  retreat 
only  on  feast  days  in  order  to  devote  himself  to  the  work  of  the 
ministry. 

Upon  his  return  to  the  college  he  learned  that  the  people  of 
Guadalajara  had  solicited  his  mediation  in  the  adjustment  of 
serious  differences  existing  between  certain  factions  in  their 
city,  and,  on  the  advice  of  his  superior  and  that  of  one  of  the 
Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  he  decided  to  act  as  arbiter  and 
to  pay  a  visit  to  that  capital.  On  the  afternoon  of  October  18th 
he  bade  good-bye  to  his  fellow-religious,  begged  them  to  pardon 
any  faults  or  offenses  of  which  he  might  have  been  guilty,  and 
left  that  holy  institute.  The  following  day,  upon  reaching  the 
summit  of  a  hill  that  dominated  the  surrounding  country,  he 
stopped  for  a  few  moments,  looked  back  upon  the  College  of 
Guadalupe,  which  loomed  up  in  the  distance,  and  which  he  was 
never  again  to  see,  and,  imparting  to  it  his  last  blessing  and 
having,  no  doubt,  a  foreknowledge  of  the  glorious  work  still  to 
be  accomplished  by  its  members  and  of  the  cruel  persecution  to 
which  they  were  one  day  to  be  subjected,  he  turned  his  back 
upon  the  City  of  Zacatecas,  and,  with  a  heavy  heart,  continued 
his  journey  toward  the  southwest.  The  impartial  student  of 
history  cannot  but  admire  and  appreciate  the  stupendous  work 
done  by  those  saintly  religious  in  Tarahumara  and  in  Upper 
and  Lower  California  after  the  enactment  of  that  iniquitous 
decree  which  banished  the  sons  of  the  great  Ignatius  from  all 
Spanish  dominions  in  1767;  and  he  is  of  necessity  filled  with 
righteous  indignation  when,  little  less  than  a  century  later,51  he 
finds  a  similar  decree  of  secularization  levelled  at  the  mission- 
aries of  Zacatecas  and  when  he  pictures  those  poor,  barefooted 
followers  of  Saint  Francis,  men  that  had  sacrificed  everything 
the  world  holds  dear  in  order  to  consecrate  themselves  entirely 
to  the  service  of  God,  leaving  the  College  of  Guadalupe  and, 


so  Vilaplana,  who  has  taken  most  of  his  data  and  much  of  his  phrase- 
ology from  Espinosa,  states  that  this  Chapter  was  held  on  February  22nd. 
Espinosa  states  that  the  election  took  place  on  this  date.  Sotomayor,  in 
his  list  of  the  Chapters  of  the  Zacatecas  Province,  tells  us  (op.  cit.,  Vol.  n, 
p.  367)  that  the  fifth  was  convened  on  February  17,  1725. 

si  August  1,  1859. 


330  PETER  P.  FORRESTAL 

possessed  of  nothing  but  their  breviaries,  making  their  way 
southward  toward  the  Town  of  Cholula. 

On  November  3rd  Margil  reached  Guadalajara,  where  he  re- 
mained for  more  than  six  weeks,  reestablishing  peace  and  har- 
mony among  its  citizens,  preaching  the  word  of  God  in  the  vari- 
ous churches,  and  bringing  cheer  and  comfort  to  the  inmates 
of  the  prison  and  to  the  sick  in  the  hospitals.  On  December 
20th  he  left  this  city,  and  for  more  than  four  months  gave  mis- 
sions in  Ascatan,  Piedad,  Puruandiro  and  other  towns  in  the 
vicinity  of  Lake  Chapala.  At  some  of  these  places  the  inhab- 
itants swept  and  strewed  with  flowers  the  roads  over  which  he 
was  to  pass;  at  others  they  erected  triumphal  arches  in  his 
honor,  walked  long  distances  to  meet  him  and,  with  bands  play- 
ing, accompanied  him  to  the  churches  in  procession.  In  order 
to  escape  these  outward  manifestations  of  veneration  and  in 
order  to  reach  the  numerous  souls  still  in  need  of  his  ministra- 
tions, on  more  than  one  occasion  that  humble  and  zealous  Friar 
was  compelled  to  leave  a  town  under  the  cover  of  darkness ;  but, 
though  sorely  in  need  of  rest  and  though  suffering  from  double 
hernia  and  from  an  ulcer  in  one  of  his  arms  and  another  in  one 
of  his  feet,  at  the  end  of  the  day's  journey  he  never  failed  to 
spend  long  hours  in  the  pulpit  and  in  the  confessional. 

vni 

On  the  night  of  May  1st  Margil  arrived  in  Valladolid,  and 
there  was  so  busily  engaged  for  the  remainder  of  the  month 
that  he  became  dangerously  ill,  developed  a  malignant  fever  and 
was  confined  to  bed  for  several  days.52  Partly  restored  to  health, 
he  left  for  Acambaro,  where  he  opened  a  two  weeks'  mission  on 
June  15th.  On  July  7th  he  reached  the  College  of  Santa  Cruz 
in  Queretaro.  Here  his  condition  became  so  alarming  that  the 
Commissary-General,  hoping  that  with  proper  medical  attention 
he  might  find  some  alleviation  from  his  sufferings,  suggested 
that  he  go  to  the  community  infirmary  at  the  Convento  Grande 
in  Mexico  City.  One  of  the  Fathers  at  Santa  Cruz  tried  out  of 
compassion  to  dissuade  him  from  making  that  long  journey, 
warning  him  that  if  he  persisted  in  doing  so  he  would  probably 
die  along  the  way,  without  a  doctor,  medicine,  or  Christian 
burial.    To  this  Fray  Antonio  replied:   "That  is  what  I  deserve; 


52  The  present  City  of  Morelia,  capital  of  the  State  of  Michoacan. 


VENERABLE  ANTONIO  MARGIL  DE  JESUS  331 

I  am  not  entitled  to  Christian  burial;  I  ought  to  die  out  in  the 
wilds,  where  the  beasts  can  devour  me."53 

On  July  21st  he  left  Santa  Cruz,  that  institute  from  which, 
some  forty  years  previously,  he  had  been  sent  to  the  missions 
in  Central  America,  and,  in  compliance  with  the  wishes  of  his 
superior,  began  the  long,  wearisome  journey  to  Mexico  City.  He 
preached  at  San  Juan  del  Rio  on  the  24th,  at  Cazadero  on  the 
27th,  and,  burning  with  fever,  traveled  on  past  Ruano  and 
Capulapa  till,  on  the  30th,  he  came  to  the  Town  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, sixteen  leagues  from  the  capital.  The  afternoon  of  his 
arrival  to  San  Francisco  he  was  obliged  to  leave  the  confes- 
sional because  of  an  attack  of  chills  and  fever,  but,  although 
unable  to  sleep  that  night,  he  went  to  the  church  on  the  follow- 
ing day,  feast  of  Saint  Ignatius  of  Loyola,  and  for  the  last  time 
in  his  life  offered  up  the  Holy  Sacrifice.  A  heavy  rain  had  fallen 
during  the  night,  and  on  the  way  to  the  church  in  which  he  was 
to  celebrate  Fray  Antonio  contracted  a  severe  cold,  which  soon 
developed  into  pneumonia.  This  same  day,  however,  he  mounted 
a  horse,  rode  as  far  as  Tepeji  that  night,  and  on  the  following 
day,  August  1st,  reached  the  Town  of  Cuautitlan.  The  next 
morning  he  felt  too  weak  to  continue  the  journey  on  horseback, 
but,  having  secured  a  carriage,  he  traveled  on,  and  that  evening, 
as  the  sun  was  sinking  back  of  the  Cordillera  de  las  Cruces, 
reached  the  Convento  Grande  de  San  Francisco.  Casting  him- 
self on  his  knees  at  the  door  of  the  convent  church,  he  adored 
his  Eucharistic  Lord,  present  in  the  tabernacle,  and  then,  as- 
sisted by  two  of  the  religious,  climbed  the  steps  leading  to  one 
of  the  cells  in  the  community  infirmary. 

Informed  that  there  was  no  chance  of  his  recovery,  that 
saintly  religious,  weighed  down  by  old  age  and  infirmities,  but 
happy  in  the  thought  that  he  was  soon  to  be  united  with  Him 
for  whom  he  had  labored  so  long  and  so  faithfully,  rose  from 
his  death  bed,  knelt  down  on  the  bare  floor,  and  made  a  general 
confession  of  his  whole  life  to  Fray  Manuel  de  las  Heras,  who 
for  several  years  had  been  professor  of  sacred  theology  in  the 
Province  of  San  Pedro  y  San  Pablo  in  Michoacan  and  who,  later 
on,  had  assisted  Fray  Antonio  on  the  missions.  But,  the  servant 
of  God  had  little  of  which  to  accuse  himself  before  appearing 
before  the  Supreme  Tribunal,  for  at  the  age  of  discretion  he  had 


53Vilaplana,  op.  cit.,  p.  177.    Navarro,  Oracion  FUnebre,  p.  38:    apud 
"Laurea  Funeral  Americana."     (Valencia,  1729.) 


332  PETER  P.  FORRESTAL 

placed  himself  in  the  arms  of  Christ  Crucified  and,  according 
to  the  testimonies  of  Fray  Manuel  de  las  Heras,  Fray  Isidro 
Felix  de  Espinosa  and  his  other  spiritual  advisers,  he  had 
modeled  his  life  after  that  of  Saint  Anthony  of  Padua  and  had 
never  lost  his  baptismal  innocence. 

On  August  4th  he  received  the  Holy  Viaticum  with  that  same 
fervor  and  devotion  that  he  had  always  manifested  in  the  cele- 
bration of  the  Holy  Sacrifice.  On  the  5th  one  of  the  Friars  ad- 
ministered Extreme  Unction,  and  after  receiving  this  sacrament 
Fray  Antonio  addressed  a  few  words  of  parting  to  the  brethren 
that  had  gathered  into  his  cell,  thanked  them  for  the  tender  care 
with  which  they  had  nursed  him  during  his  illness,  and  begged 
them  not  to  grow  tepid  or  lukewarm  in  the  discharge  of  their 
religious  duties  and  never  to  abandon  the  institute.  Finally, 
shortly  before  2  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  following  day, 
August  6,  1726,  feast  of  the  Transfiguration,  with  the  words 
Paratum  cor  meum,  Deus,  paratum  cor  meum5i  upon  his  lips, 
and  as  the  community  entoned  the  canticle,  Nunc  dimittis  servum 
tuum,  Domine,  secundum  verbum  tuum  in  pace/5  he  yielded  up 
his  soul  in  peace  to  its  Creator. 

An  hour  later,  after  the  tolling  of  the  cathedral  and  convent 
bells  had  announced  to  the  people  of  the  capital  the  passing  of 
the  great  missionary  of  America,  words  of  sympathy  and  sor- 
row were  exchanged  in  all  parts  of  the  city,  and  the  children 
in  the  streets  and  on  the  plazas  could  have  been  heard  crying: 
"The  Saint  has  died!  Holy  Fray  Antonio  is  dead!"  Anxious  to 
apply  medals,  rosaries  and  other  articles  to  those  hands  that  had 
so  often  been  raised  in  benediction  and  to  kiss  those  feet  that 
for  so  many  years  had  trodden  the  ways  of  peace,  both  clergy 
and  laity  flocked  in  such  numbers  to  the  small  infirmary  chapel 
in  which  the  body  was  being  waked  that  the  superior,  to  satisfy 
their  pious  devotion,  ordered  that  it  be  taken  down  to  the  con- 
vent church.  On  August  8th  the  Viceroy,  the  judges  of  the 
Audiencia  and  many  other  royal  officials,  as  well  as  large  repre- 
sentations from  all  the  religious  Orders,  repaired  to  the  Con- 
vent© Grande  de  San  Francisco;  and  there,  after  the  Solemn 
Mass  of  Requiem,  which  was  attended  by  the  largest  concourse 
that  had  ever  gathered  in  the  capital,  the  mortal  remains  of  him 


54  "My  heart  is  ready,  O  God,  my  heart  is  ready,"  Psalm  CVTI,  2. 

55  "Now  Thou  dost  dismiss  Thy  servant,  O  Lord,  according  to  Thy 
word  in  peace,"  Canticle  of  Simeon,  Luke  II,  29. 


VENERABLE  ANTONIO  MARGIL  DE  JESUS  333 

who  during  life  had  sought  neither  honors  nor  distinctions,  and 
who  had  always  styled  himself  la  misma  nada,  were  laid  to  rest 
in  a  vault  near  the  foot  of  the  altar  of  San  Diego  on  the  Gospel 
side  of  the  sanctuary.  In  1861,  they  were  removed  to  the  cathe- 
dral, to  be  placed  in  a  niche  in  the  Chapel  of  la  Virgen  de  la 
Soledad,  and  today  they  repose  in  that  of  la  Inmaculada  Con- 
cepcion.  Engraved  on  a  metal  plate  affixed  to  the  coffin  could 
have  been  read  the  following  inscription: 

HIC  JACET  SEPULTUS,  VENERABILIS  SERVUS  DEI 

PATER  FRATER  ANTONIUS  MARGIL,  MISSIONARIUS, 

PRAEFECTUS,  ET  GUARDIANUS  COLLEGIORUM  DE 

PROPAGANDA  FIDE  SANCTAE  CRUCIS  DE  QUERE- 

TARO,  SANCTISSIMI  CRUCIFLXI  DE  GUATEMALA, 

ET  SANCTAE  MARIAE  DE  GUADALUPE  IN  HAC 

NOVA  HISPANIA  ERECTORUM:    FAMA  UTIQUE 

VIRTUTUM,  MIRACULORUMQUE  ILLUSTRIS. 

OBIIT  IN  HOC  PERCELEBRI 

MEXICANO  CONVENTU 

Die  VI.  Augusti  Anno 

Dni.  M.DCC.XXVL56 

We  had  proposed  to  present  here  a  compendious  life  of  Fray 
Antonio  Margil  de  Jesus,  but,  we  have  come  to  realize  the  im- 
possibility of  such  a  task ;  we  have  come  to  realize,  perhaps  more 
fully  than  any  of  our  readers,  the  utter  impossibility  of  recount- 
ing in  these  few  pages  the  activities  of  one  who  spent  more  than 
forty  years,  journeying  thousands  of  leagues,  climbing  dizzy 
heights,  crossing  swollen  rivers,  and  making  his  way,  barefoot, 
over  the  burning  sands  of  the  deserts,  in  the  endeavor  to  win 
souls  for  God.  Of  his  theological  and  moral  virtues,  of  his 
power  of  working  miracles,  of  his  gift  of  tongues  and  of  his 
other  gratiae  gratis  datae,  so  beautifully  and  so  minutely  de- 
scribed by  Espinosa  and  by  his  other  biographers  and  contemp- 
oraries, we  have  said  almost  nothing.  We  trust,  however,  that 
the  ardent  hope  expressed  at  the  beginning  of  this  treatise  may 
soon  be  realized,  that  another  and  a  finer  pen  may  before  long 


56  Here  lies  buried  the  Venerable  servant  of  God,  Father  Fray  Antonio 
Margil,  Missionary,  Prefect,  and  Guardian  of  the  colleges  de  Propaganda 
Fide  of  Santa  Cruz  in  Queretaro,  Cristo  Crucificado  in  Guatemala,  and  Our 
Lady  of  Guadalupe,  erected  in  this  New  Spain.  Famous  for  his  virtues  and 
miracles,  he  died  in  this  celebrated  Convent  of  Mexico  on  the  6th  day  of 
August,  in  the  year  of  Our  Lord,  1726. 


334  PETER  P.  FORRESTAL 

depict  in  a  befitting  manner  the  life  and  activities  of  this  great 
soldier  of  Christ. 

Shortly  after  Fray  Antonio's  death  the  Sacred  Congregation 
of  Rites,  in  answer  to  persistent  appeals  from  the  peoples  of 
Central  and  of  North  America,  ordered  that  the  preliminary 
processes,  or  judicial  inquiries,  for  the  cause  of  beatification  and 
canonization  be  begun  in  the  principal  centers  in  which  he  had 
carried  on  his  missionary  labors,  and,  in  compliance  with  this 
order,  postulators  were  appointed  for  Mexico  City,  Guadalajara 
and  Guatemala.  The  results  of  these  processes  having  been 
taken  to  Rome,  several  of  the  miracles  wrought  through  his 
intercession  were  approved  by  Pope  Pius  VII,  and  it  is  our  hum- 
ble opinion  that  at  that  time  he  would  have  been  beatified  had 
not  important  documents  relating  to  the  processes  been  lost  upon 
the  entrance  of  the  French  armies  into  the  Eternal  City  in  1797. 
These  documents  reappeared  miraculously  later  on,  and,  in  1836, 
the  Sacred  Congregation  approved  the  introduction  of  his  cause, 
the  virtues  of  the  noted  missionary  were  declared  heroic,  and  a 
decree  conferring  upon  him  the  title  of  Venerable  was  promul- 
gated by  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  Pope  Gregory  XVI. 

At  the  present  time  interest  has  been  reawakened  in  the 
cause  of  this  servant  of  God,  with  the  hope  that  in  1936,  cen- 
tennial of  the  promulgation  of  the  decree  of  Gregory  XVI,  he 
may  be  elevated  to  the  dignity  of  our  altars.  It  is  in  the  belief 
that  our  readers  will  by  their  prayers  hasten  that  blessed  day 
that  we  have  undertaken  to  publish  this  simple,  yet  faithful, 
account  of  the  life  of  him  who  civilized  nations,  established 
pueblos,  erected  churches  and  baptized  innumerable  souls,  and 
who,  nevertheless,  always  styled  himself  la  misma  nada. 

Peter  P.  Forrestal 

St.  Edward's  University 
Austin,  Texas 


THE  ERECTION  OF  THE  DIOCESE  OF  DAVENPORT 

I 

The  Catholic  Directory  for  the  year  1881  gives  the  situation 
that  necessitated  another  diocese  in  Iowa  at  that  time.  There 
was  only  one  diocese  in  all  Iowa,  namely,  the  Diocese  of  Dubuque. 

SUMMARY  FOR  THE  YEAR  1881 

Bishop    1 

Priests    212 

Religious  [members  of  religious  orders]   (a)  Men 70 

Religious  [members  of  religious  orders]  (b)  Women 446 

Church  Students 60 

Churches    169 

Chapels  where  mass  was  said 125 

Monasteries 3 

Convents    20 

Seminary  for  Church  Students 1 

while  making  a  visit  to  Rome,  requested  that  a  division  of  his 
diocese  of  Dubuque  be  made.    The  reasons  he  then  gave  were  the 


Number  Pupils 

College  (Boys)    1  80 

Academies  (Girls)   14  1,954 

Parochial  Schools :    (a)  Boys    6  685 

(b)  Girls    4  554 

(c)  Both     69  8,262 

Total 94  9,735 

Number  Inmates 

Orphanages    3  56 

Hospitals    3 

Asylums    1  50 

Catholic  Population 117,080* 

Considering  the  necessary  visit  of  a  bishop  once  in  three  or 
four  years  to  every  congregation  of  his  diocese,  together  with 
the  vast  extent  of  Iowa  and  the  presence  of  Catholics  in  every 
part  of  it,  the  creation  of  a  new  diocese  was  rendered  not  only 
proper  but  also  quite  imperative. 

In  some  ways,  however,  a  like  situation  prevailed  for  many 
years  prior  to  1881.  As  early  as  1862  Bishop  Clement  Smyth, 
while  making  a  visit  to  Rome,  requested  that  a  division  of  his 

i  The  Catholic  Directory,  1881,  pp.  273-74. 

335 


336  CHARLES  F.  GRIFFITH 

diocese  of  Dubuque  be  made.  The  reasons  he  then  gave  were  the 
vastness  of  his  diocese,  the  rapid  increase  of  its  Catholic  popu- 
lation by  immigration,  and  physical  inability  to  meet  the  re- 
quirements of  his  office.2 

In  1870  efforts  were  renewed  to  found  a  new  diocese  in  Iowa. 
A  letter  to  the  Apostolic  Delegate  in  the  episcopal  archives  at 
Davenport  acquaints  us  with  the  efforts  then  made.  "For  many 
years  prior  to  the  division  of  the  Diocese  of  Dubuque,  especially 
during  the  session  of  the  Ecumenical  Council  in  1870,  Right  Rev- 
erend John  Hennessy  being  in  attendance  and  the  Very  Reverend 
J.  A.  M.  Pelamourgues  also  being  present,  the  question  of  the 
division  of  the  Diocese  of  Dubuque  was  being  agitated  before 
the  Propaganda.  .  .  .  "3  This  quotation  is  significant  in  this 
that  it  implies:  first,  that  Father  Pelamourgues  who  was  "pas- 
tor of  St.  Anthony's  Parish  [Davenport,  Iowa],  from  1838  to 
1868"4  was  interested  in  the  division  of  the  Diocese  of  Dubuque. 
At  that  time  he  was  Vicar-General  of  the  Diocese  of  Dubuque 
and  it  was  probable  that  he  would  be  the  choice  as  bishop  of  the 
new  diocese.  For  some  reason  Father  Pelamourgues,  in  1857, 
had  been  unwilling  to  be  consecrated  Bishop  of  St.  Paul  even 
though  the  papers  of  appointment  had  been  received.5  Possibly 
he  thought  that  a  new  diocese  would  be  soon  erected  in  Iowa 
with  himself  as  its  first  bishop. 

Again  in  1875  the  question  was  discussed.  A  communication 
from  the  Apostolic  Delegate  contained  this  significant  informa- 
tion: "The  Bishops  of  the  province  of  St.  Louis,  in  1875,  sub- 
mitted a  proposition  to  the  Propaganda  for  the  division  of  the 


2  J.  J.  McGovern,  The  Life  and  Writings  of  the  Right  Reverend  James 
McMullen,  D.  D.,  p.  262. 

3  Letter  written  by  the  Right  Reverend  Henry  Cosgrove,  Bishop  of  the 
Diocese  of  Davenport,  to  the  Apostolic  Delegation,  Washington,  D.  C, 
March  20,  1900.    Episcopal  archives  of  the  Diocese  of  Davenport,  Iowa. 

*  Ibid. 

s  Louis  De  Cailly,  Memoirs  of  Bishop  Loras,  New  York,  1897.  It  is  to 
be  noted  that  De  Cailly  does  not  give  his  reference.  J.  F.  Kempker  in  his 
study,  Father  Pelamourgues,  Winterset,  Iowa,  1901,  p.  10,  corroborates  the 
above.  In  an  article  which  appeared  in  The  Catholic  Messenger,  Davenport, 
Iowa,  January  27,  1894,  by  the  Very  Reverend  Philip  Laurent,  the  words  of 
Father  Pelamourgues  are  quoted  in  this  connection.  The  latter  actually 
visited  Rome  in  1857. 


DIOCESE  OF  DAVENPORT  337 

diocese  of  Dubuque."6  This  recommendation  was  an  important 
one  for  generally  it  is  the  word  of  the  bishops  of  a  province  that 
effects  changes  of  this  kind.  But  a  new  diocese  was  not  created 
in  1875. 

By  another  letter,  a  part  of  the  correspondence  already 
quoted,  it  is  seen  that  another  French  priest,  the  Reverend 
Andrew  Trevis,  petitioned  Rome  for  a  new  diocese  in  Iowa  both 
in  1875  and  1880:  "It  should  be  here  stated  that  the  Very 
Reverend  A.  Trevis,  who  was  pastor  of  St.  Margaret's  Church 
in  Davenport,  from  1856  to  1881  .  .  .  represented  and  presented 
the  claims  of  Davenport  for  the  See  City  before  the  Propaganda 
in  1875  and  1880.  .  .  .  "7  The  project  of  a  new  diocese  in  Iowa 
had  thus  been  presented  before  the  two  most  important  agencies 
in  the  Catholic  Church  government  of  the  United  States,  the 
Ecumenical  Council  of  Baltimore  and  the  Congregation  of  the 
Propagation  of  the  Faith.  And  yet  in  1880  there  was  only  one 
Catholic  diocese  in  Iowa.  Then  the  unusual  happened.  Pope 
Leo  XIII  personally  examined  the  whole  matter.  "When  the 
question  came  up  before  the  Propaganda  this  time,  His  Emin- 
ence, the  Most  Reverend  Cardinal  Simeoni  was  Prefect  .  .  .  the 
questions  were  examined  with  great  deliberation  and  even  by 
His  Holiness,  Leo  XIII.  .  .  .  "8  After  many  years  of  waiting, 
years  filled  no  doubt  with  much  discussion  as  to  the  final  out- 
come, a  new  diocese  was  finally  erected  in  southern  Iowa. 

n 

Manifestly,  then,  a  diocese  other  than  that  of  Dubuque  might 
well  have  been  erected  in  Iowa  long  before  1881.  Objective  con- 
ditions demanded  it  and  surely  sufficient  discussion  and  pressure 
were  had  to  constitute  a  new  diocese.  Why  was  its  coming 
delayed  till  1881  ?  Where  should  the  see  city  of  the  new  diocese 
be  located?    These  two  questions  were  intimately  connected. 


e  The  Right  Reverend  Henry  Cosgrove,  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  Daven- 
port, to  the  Apostolic  Delegation,  September  20,  1899.  Episcopal  archives 
of  the  Diocese  of  Davenport,  Iowa.  The  data  presented  in  this  letter  are 
of  primary  source  value  as  the  letter  itself  indicates:  "For  greater  par- 
ticularity reference  is  made  to  the  records  of  Propaganda  [in  Rome]  which 
are  made  part  thereof."  The  "Propaganda"  referred  to  in  this  place  is  a 
congregation  or  church  institution  which  cares  for  the  activities  of  the 
Catholic  Church  in  countries  which  are  officially  on  a  missionary  basis. 
Until  a  few  years  ago  the,  United  States  was  considered  a  "missionary 
country." 

7  Ibid. 

s  Ibid. 


338  CHARLES  F.  GRIFFITH 

The  correspondence  which  passed  between  the  Apostolic 
Delegate  to  the  United  States  and  Bishop  Henry  Cosgrove  some 
years  later  and  which  has  already  been  quoted  in  part,  gives 
much,  light  on  the  choosing  of  Davenport  as  the  see  city  of  the 
new  diocese.  It  was  this  matter  alone,  the  choosing  of  a  see  city, 
which  so  long  delayed  the  erection  of  a  new  Iowa  diocese.  The 
contest  was  between  Davenport  and  Council  Bluffs.9  A  letter 
which  embodies  data,  procured  from  the  archives  of  the  Propa- 
ganda, makes  the  matter  very  clear : 

For  many  years  prior  to  the  division  of  the  Diocese  of  Dubuque, 
especially  during  the  Ecumenical  Council  in  1870  .  .  .  the  question  of  the 
division  of  the  Diocese  of  Dubuque  was  being1  agitated  before  the  Propa- 
ganda, and  the  question  as  to  the  mode  of  making  the  division  caused  much 
discussion.  One  party  advocated  the  dividing  line  should  run  north  and 
south,  and  Council  Bluffs  should  be  the  See  City,  and  the  other  party 
advocated  the  line  of  division  should  run  east  and  west,  and  that  Davenport 
should  be  the  See  City.  Father  Pelamourgues,  having  been  pastor  of  St. 
Anthony's  Parish  from  1838  to  1868,  presented  the  claims  of  Davenport 
for  the  See  City  before  the  Propaganda  and  advocated  the  dividing  line 
should  run  east  and  west  and  that  Davenport  should  be  the  See  City.io 

This  letter  states  that  Bishop  Hennessy  of  Dubuque  was 
present  also,  although  it  does  not  state  his  position  on  the  ques- 
tion under  discussion.  The  same  question  was  thoroughly  dis- 
cussed in  1875: 

The  Bishops  of  the  Province  of  St.  Louis,  in  1875,  submitted  a  propo- 
sition to  the  Propaganda,  for  the  division  of  the  Diocese  of  Dubuque,  by  a 
north  and  south  line  and  recommended  Council  Bluffs  for  the  See  City, 
but  the  Reverend  Father  Trevis,  and  others,  presented  the  claims  of  Daven- 
port for  the  See  City,  and  urged  the  cause  upon  the  ground,  among  others, 
that  the  revenues  derived  from  said  "Church  Square"  and  other  property 
in  Davenport,  could  be  used  by  the  Bishop  for  his  support,  as  well  as  for 


9  Ibid. 

io  The  Right  Reverend  Henry  Cosgrove,  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  Dav- 
enport, to  the  Apostolic  Delegation,  March  20,  1900.  Episcopal  archives  of 
the  Diocese  of  Davenport,  Iowa. 


DIOCESE  OF  DAVENPORT  339 

the  support  of  the  diocesan  institutions.*!  These  questions  were  discussed 
.  .  .  and  after  due  consideration  the  case  was  sent  back  to  the  Bishops  of 
the  Province  of  St.  Louis,  to  be  again  examined  by  them,  and  they  answered 
by  sending  it  back  to  Rome  in  1879,  and  again  recommending  Council 
Bluffs  for  the  See  City.  When  the  question  came  up  before  the  Propa- 
ganda this  time,  His  Eminence,  the  Most  Reverend  Cardinal  Simeoni,  was 
Prefect,  and  the  Very  Reverend  Canonica  Sanebercetti  was  Minutante,  and 
the  questions  were  examined  with  great  deliberation  and  even  by  His  Holi- 
ness, Leo  Xm,  and  at  last  .  .  .  the  question  coming  on  for  final  decision 
and  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  income  that  was  received  from  said 
"Church  Square"  and  other  property  could  be  used  by  the  Bishop  for  his 
own  support  and  for  the  support  of  Diocesan  institutions,  and  for  other 
minor  reasons,  Davenport  was  chosen  for  the  new  Episcopal  See.12 

The  same  correspondence  contains  the  following  statement 
which  corroborates  the  above: 

Further,  it  is  evident  from  the  letter  of  His  Eminence  Cardinal 
Ledochowsky,  Prefect  of  the  Propaganda,  dated  December  21st,  1899,  and 
now  in  your  possession,  that  the  Propaganda,  at  some  period  during  the 
pendency  of  the  case  for  the  division  of  the  Diocese  of  Dubuque,  and  prior 
to  its  final  decision  did  decide  the  question  at  issue  in  this  case  in  favor 
of  the  Bishop,  otherwise  why  should  the  records  of  the  Propaganda  show 
that  one  of  the  reasons  for  establishing  the  new  See  at  Davenport  was 


-  11  "The  Church  Square."  From  the  following  deed  the  meaning  of  the 
above  term  will  be  made  clear:  "This  deed  made  and  entered  into  this  sec- 
ond day  of  December  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty  nine  by  and  between 
Anthony  LeClaire  and  Margaret  his  wife  of  Scott  County  and  Territory  of 
Iowa  parties  of  the  first  part,  and  Matthias  Loras  first  Catholic  Bishop  of 
Iowa  Territory,  of  Dubuque  County  party  of  the  second  part  witnesseth: 
That  the  said  parties  of  the  first  part  for  and  in  consideration  of  the  sum 
of  two  thousand,  and  five  hundred  dollars  to  them  paid  by  the  said  party 
of  the  second  part,  the  receipt  of  which  is  hereby  acknowledged,  do  by 
these  presents  grant,  bargain,  and  sell,  convey  and  confirm  unto  the  said 
party  of  the  second  part  all  their  right,  title  and  interest  in  and  to  a  cer- 
tain piece  of  land  situated  in  LeClaire's  Addition  to  the  town  of  Davenport, 
Scott  County,  Iowa  Territory,  and  marked  and  designed  on  the  plat  of  said 
town  as  "Church  Square"  and  bounded  as  follows  on  the  North  by  Chip- 
pewa street,  on  the  East  by  Brady  street,  on  the  South  by  Ottaway  street, 
and  on  the  West  by  Miller  street.  To  have  and  to  hold  the  same  together 
with  the  right,  immunities,  privileges  and  appurtenances  to  the  same  be- 
longing unto  the  said  party  of  the  second  part  as  the  Catholic  Bishop  of 
Iowa  Territory  and  to  his  successors  for  ever  legally  appointed  according 
to  the  rules  of  the  Catholic  Church,  for  the  use  of  the  Catholic  Congre- 
gation of  Davenport,  Scott  County,  Iowa  Territory,  the  said  parties  of 
the  first  part  hereby  convenanting  that  their  heirs,  executors  and  admin- 
istrators shall  and  will  warrant  and  diffend  the  title  to  the  premises  of  the 
said  party  of  the  second  part  and  to  his  heirs  and  assigns  for  ever  against 
the  lawful  claim  of  all  persons  whatsoever. 

In  witness  whereof  the  said  parties  of  the  first  part  have  hereunto  set 
their  hands  and  seals  the  day  and  year  first  above  written. 
In  presence  of, 

John  Forrest  Antoine  Le  Claire 

Samuel  Mazzuchelli  Margueretta  Le  Claire" 

12  Cosgrove,  Letter,  March  20,  1900. 


340  CHARLES  F.  GRIFFITH 

because  the  income  from  "Church  Square"  might  be  used  by  the  Bishop 
for  the  benefit  of  his  diocese.is 

In  pursuing  further  the  question  as  to  the  reason  of  Daven- 
port's having  been  chosen  as  the  see  city,  the  Catholic  Directory 
of  1881  is  helpful.  The  relative  merits  of  the  two  cities,  Daven- 
port and  Council  Bluffs,  can  there  be  seen. 

"Davenport,  Scott  County,  St.  Marguerite's,  Reverend  H. 
Cosgrove,  St.  Anthony's,  Reverend  Laurence  Roche,  and  P. 
Burke,  Assistant.  St.  Mary's,  Reverend  M.  Flavin.  St.  Peter's, 
Buffalo,  Scott  County,  attended  from  St.  Mary's.  St.  Cune- 
gunda's,  Reverend  A.  Nierman." 

"Council  Bluffs,  Pottawatamie  County,  St.  Francis  Xavier's, 
Reverend  P.  B.  McMenomy,  pastor;  Reverend  Thos.  O'Reilly, 
assistant.  Glenwood  and  Pacific  Junction,  Mills  County ;  Plumer 
Settlement,  Mills  County;  Neola  and  Honey  Creek,  Pottawatamie 
County;  and  Shelby,  Shelby  County,  attended  from  Council 
Bluffs."14 

These  figures  indicate  clearly  Davenport's  superior  merits. 
It  had  four  parishes  and  only  one  mission  outside  the  city  to  be 
attended  from  the  Davenport  parishes.  Council  Bluffs  had  but 
one  parish  and  besides,  the  two  priests  in  charge  had  to  divide 
their  time  among  it  and  six  missions  outside  the  city  of  Council 
Bluffs. 

A  statistical  study  has  been  made  by  the  writer  of  two  some- 
what equally  divided  sections  of  southern  Iowa.  Des  Moines  in 
Polk  County  was  taken  as  the  dividing  point  and  a  line  was 
drawn  north  and  south.  The  territory  east  of  Des  Moines  is 
designated  the  Davenport  section  and  that  to  the  west,  the 
Council  Bluffs  section.  The  findings  of  the  study,  and  these  are 
based  on  the  Catholic  Directory  for  the  year  1881,  show  that 
in  the  year  1881  there  were  forty-four  parishes  with  resident 
pastors  in  the  Davenport  section  and  only  eleven  such  parishes 
in  the  Council  Bluffs  section.15  Clearly  on  this  score  the  com- 
parison favors  Davenport  very  much.  Closeness  to  the  scene  of 
action  is  surely  an  important  element  in  the  administration  of 
a  diocese.  Conferences  between  the  bishop  and  pastors  can  thus 
be  carried  on  with  greater  convenience  and  less  expense. 


13  ibid. 

14  The  Catholic  Directory,  1881,  p.  264. 
is  Ibid.,  pp.  274-78. 


DIOCESE  OF  DAVENPORT  341 

III 

With  great  difficulty  then,  and  after  many  years  of  discus- 
sion, the  choice  of  the  see  city  in  the  new  diocese  of  Iowa  fell  to 
Davenport.  It  was  a  contest  between  cities,  one  in  the  extreme 
eastern  part  of  Iowa  and  the  other  in  the  extreme  western  part 
of  the  same  state. 

But  why  was  not  a  more  centrally  located  city  officially  con- 
sidered as  a  likely  see  city,  especially  since  the  capital  of  Iowa, 
Des  Moines,  was  so  admirably  located  geographically?  It  is  a 
fact  that  the  official  correspondence  at  hand  does  not  consider 
Des  Moines  for  the  new  see  city.  From  the  newspapers  of  the 
day  and  some  public  correspondence  in  them  between  two  prom- 
inent priests,  we  do  know  there  was  much  dissatisfaction  in  Des 
Moines  when  that  city  was  not  chosen.  At  the  time,  1881,  it  had 
two  Catholic  parishes,  St.  Ambrose's,  the  Reverend  John  F. 
Brazil!,  pastor,  and  the  Reverend  James  Quinn,  assistant,  and 
St.  Mary's  (German),  the  Reverend  Al.  Nic.  Sassel,  pastor.16 
For  many  years  previous  Father  Brazill  had  been  Vicar-General 
of  the  Diocese  of  Dubuque.17 

The  Reverend  Philip  Laurent,  writing  in  the  Muscatine  Jour- 
nal, January  9, 1882,  has  this  to  say  of  Des  Moines :  "The  Catho- 
lics of  Iowa  are  of  [?]  the  rehashed  and  so  often  warmed  up 
rumor  of  an  'Episcopal  See'  being  established  in  Des  Moines. 
...  It  is  not  a  Diocese  in  Des  Moines  we  want  .  .  .  but  united 
effort  to  build  up  the  new  diocese  of  Davenport.  Let  the  people 
of  the  capital  do  as  those  of  Davenport  and  hold  their  peace. 
Before  Des  Moines  has  four  churches,  an  Episcopal  See  will  be 
a  great  deal."18  This  correspondence  is  significant  for  two 
things.  In  the  first  place  it  took  place  in  January,  1882,  a  few 
months  after  Davenport  had  been  chosen  the  new  see  city.  Sec- 
ondly, it  indicates  the  lack  of  material  progress  of  Catholicism 
in  the  capital  city.    The  latter  circumstance  suggests  the  reason 


is  Ibid.,  p.  275. 

17  The  term  "Vicar  General"  refers  to  an  ecclesiastic  who  acts  in  the 
place  of  the  bishop  when  requested  to  do  so.  Hence,  in  authority  he  is 
next  to  the  bishop.  His  powers,  and  they  are  important,  extend  over  the 
entire  diocese. 

is  The  Muscatine  [Iowa]  Daily  Journal,  January  9,  1882.  This  article 
was  written  under  the  non  de  plume,  "Too  High."  Cf.  The  Muscatine  Daily 
Journal,  January  31,  1882. 


342  CHARLES  F.  GRIFFITH 

why  Des  Moines  was  not  officially  considered.19  It  simply  had 
not  progressed  as  Davenport  had. 

An  interview  given  to  Father  Kempker  by  the  Reverend  A. 
Niermann  on  December  16,  1885,  asserts  that  there  was  a  new 
agitation  for  an  episcopal  see  at  Des  Moines  at  the  time  of 
Bishop  McMullen's  death,  July  4,  1883:  "After  the  death  of 
Bishop  McMullen  some  actions  were  taken  by  certain  parties 
favoring  Des  Moines  for  [an]  episcopal  see.  Father  Niermann 
was  acquainted  with  this,  and  one  day  when  the  Reverend  A. 
Trevis  called  on  him,  Father  Niermann  advised  that  something 
ought  to  be  done  to  represent  the  matter  to  Rome  in  the  proper 
light."20  The  aspirations  of  Des  Moines  at  this  time,  less  than 
two  years  after  the  creation  of  the  new  diocese,  indicate  a  well 
grounded  hope  of  realizing  its  ambition  of  having  a  "Diocese  of 
Des  Moines." 

This  hope  was  expressed  clearly  by  a  Des  Moines  corre- 
spondent to  the  Catholic  Messenger: 

"The  grand  wish  which  has  for  years  lived  in  the  Christian  breast  of 
the  good  people  of  Des  Moines  is  once  more  animated  with  new  life.  That 
is,  that  Des  Moines  would  take  her  place  and  be  organized  as  the  metropolis 
and  Catholic  center  of  Catholicity  in  the  state.  Des  Moines  was,  and  is, 
the  great  center  of  Catholicity  of  the  State.  She  is  the  metropolis  of 
Iowa.  .  .  .  All  must  agree  that  Des  Moines  should  have  a  Bishop.  If  Des 
Moines  had  a  Bishop  today,  the  growth  of  Catholicity  in  Iowa's  metropolis 
during  the  next  five  years  would  be  unprecedented  in  the  history  of  our 
city."2i 


19  This  correspondence  was  stopped  by  the  first  Bishop  of  the  Diocese 
of  Davenport,  the  Right  Reverend  John  McMullen.  Writing  Father 
Laurent,  February  18,  1882,  he  said  in  part:  "In  my  opinion  these  things 
in  general  are  apt  to  cause  hard  and  uncharitable  feelings  and  nothing 
more — and  your  letter  in  particular  I  judged  too  severe.  .  .  .  Life  is  too 
short  to  trouble  ourselves  over  such  trifles."  In  this  connection  we  must 
note  an  anomalous  situation.  The  editor  of  The  Iowa  State  Register  gave 
Father  Brazzil  what  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  longest  obituary  notice 
in  that  newspaper  up  to  that  time.  He  looked  upon  Father  Brazzil  as  the 
greatest  man  Iowa  ever  knew.  And  all  this  despite  the  adverse  views  of 
Father  Laurent!  Cf.  The  Iowa  Messenger  (Davenport,  Iowa),  September 
12,  1885,  and  The  Iowa  State  Register  (Des  Moines,  Iowa),  August  30,  1885. 

20  Interview  by  Father  John  F.  Kempker  of  Father  Niermann,  St. 
Cunegunda's  Parish,  Davenport,  Iowa.  The  truth  and  accuracy  of  this 
material  are  vouched  for  by  Father  Kempker  in  an  appended  note  in  which 
he  says  Father  Niermann  gave  out  this  interview  knowing  it  would  be  used 
for  historical  purposes.  The  data,  in  substance,  are  corroborated  by  other 
sources. 

21  The  Iowa  Messenger  (Davenport,  Iowa),  May  31,  1884.  The  Ioioa 
Messenger  and  The  Catholic  Messenger  are  titles  used  at  different  times  for 
one  and  the  same  publication.    This  paper  began  publication  in  1882. 


DIOCESE  OF  DAVENPORT  343 

About  the  same  time  another  article  appeared  referring  to 
the  same  matter.22  Without  doubt,  then,  Des  Moines  was  anxi- 
ous to  be  made  the  see  city  at  the  time  of  the  erection  of  the 
Diocese  of  Davenport  in  1881. 

It  has  already  been  shown  that  the  influence  and  activities 
of  the  French  priests  in  the  southern  half  of  Iowa  were  respon- 
sible for  the  founding  of  the  Diocese  of  Davenport.  Those  same 
priests  were  not  at  all  interested  in  locating  the  see  city  at  Des 
Moines.  The  absence  of  an  advocate  for  Des  Moines  at  this 
time,  coupled  with  the  French  influence  favoring  Davenport, 
affords  a  probable,  and  at  present  the  only  worthwhile  explana- 
tion why  Des  Moines  was  not  officially  considered  as  a  likely 
see  city  for  the  new  diocese  of  southern  Iowa. 

On  May  9,  1881,  a  cablegram  was  sent  from  Rome  to  the 
Very  Reverend  A.  Trevis:  "On  Sunday  May  9,  1881,  the  feast 
of  the  Patronage  of  St.  Joseph,  it  pleased  our  Holy  Father,  Pope 
Leo  Xm,  first  to  ratify  the  creation  of  the  Diocese  of  Davenport, 
Iowa,  cut  off  from  the  Diocese  of  Dubuque,  which  comprised  the 
whole  state  of  Iowa;  second  to  name  the  Very  Reverend  John 
McMullen,  D.  D.,  Vicar-General  of  Chicago,  to  be  the  first  Bishop 
of  Davenport.  This  See  will  be  a  suffragan  of  the  Metropolitan 
See  of  St.  Louis."23 

The  Catholic  Directory  for  1883  gives  the  specific  boundaries 
of  the  new  diocese.  It  comprised  "that  part  of  Iowa  bounded  on 
the  east  by  the  Mississippi  River,  on  the  west  by  the  Missouri 
River,  and  on  the  south  by!  the  State  of  Missouri,  and  on  the 
north  by  the  northern  bounds  of  the  counties  of  Harrison, 
Shelby,  Audubon,  Guthrie,  Dallas,  Polk,  Jasper,  Poweshiek,  Iowa, 
Johnson,  Cedar  and  Scott." 

Charles  F.  Griffith,  A.  M. 

Saint  Ambrose  College 
Davenport,  Iowa 


22  ibid. 

23  The  Iowa  Messenger,  November  21,  1891.  "Suffragan  See."  By  this 
term  is  meant  that  a  diocese,  that  is,  a  well  defined  and  generally  a  large 
district  presided  over  by  a  bishop,  is  a  part  of  a  larger  ecclesiastical  dis- 
trict called  a  province.  The  highest  one  in  authority  in  a  province  is  called 
an  archbishop.    The  bishop,  however,  has  full  authority  in  his  own  diocese. 


THE  FIRST  SIOUX  MISSION 

The  whole  history  of  exploration  in  North  America  can  be 
written  around  the  search  for  a  water  route  to  the  Orient.  The 
story  of  Minnesota's  first  settlement  of  white  men  and  its  ac- 
companying mission  is  properly  a  chapter  in  this  history.  By 
way  of  preface  we  read  in  the  Journal  des  Jesuites  under  date  of 
August  7,  1720:  "Father  Charlevoix  arrived  from  France  by 
order  of  the  court,  to  collect  information  for  the  discovery  of  the 
Western  sea."1 

America  was  not  a  new  land  to  Father  Francis  Xavier  Char- 
levoix. After  his  novitiate  in  Paris  he  had  spent  four  years  in 
Canada,  teaching  in  the  college  of  Quebec  from  1705  to  1709. 
He  returned  to  France  to  complete  his  studies  and  at  the  age  of 
thirty-eight  was  sent  to  make  a  tour  of  inspection  of  the  French 
posts  and  missions  in  the  New  World  with  a  view  to  planning 
new  establishments  in  the  most  advantageous  sections,  with  the 
ultimate  aim  of  opening  a  route  to  the  Western  Sea.  There  had 
long  been  a  belief  that  a  way  could  be  found,  mainly  by  means 
of  water-routes,  by  which  the  sea  to  the  west  of  New  France 
could  be  made  accessible.  In  the  preceding  century  D'Iberville 
had  hoped  to  make  the  discovery  of  this  route,  and  when  Du 
Luth  in  1679  reached  Mille  Lacs  in  the  Sioux  country  he  ex- 
pected to  push  on  across  the  continent  to  the  salt  water.2  The 
explorers  themselves  had  no  idea  of  the  greatness  of  the  distance 
to  be  covered  in  order  to  cross  North  America,  and  the  home 
government  had  still  less  knowledge  of  the  geography  of  the 
country.  So  it  is  not  strange  that  the  Due  d'Orleans,  the  regent, 
should  think  the  discovery  of  the  Western  Sea  not  only  a  de- 
sirable, but  a  fairly  feasible  project,  and  in  1720  should  send 
Father  Charlevoix  to  make  a  careful  investigation  and  report 
on  the  most  likely  routes. 

Father  Charlevoix  spent  the  winter  in  Quebec  and  in  Mon- 
treal where  he  diligently  sought  out  travelers  who  might  give 
him  useful  information.3  Early  in  May,  1721,  he  set  out  from 
Montreal  and  made  the  journey  around  the  lower  lakes,  reaching 
Mackinac  on  June  28.    At  La  Baye  [Green  Bay]  he  met  a  dele- 


1  R.  G.  Thwaites,   The  Jesuit  Relations  and  Allied  Documents,  LXIX, 
235. 

2  Camille  de  Rochemonteix,  S.  J.,  Les  Jesuites  et  la  Nouvelle-France  au 
XVIII  Steele,  I,  172. 

3  Pierre  Margry,  D6couvertes  et  Etablissements  des  Frangais,  VI,  532. 
Letter  of  Father  Charlevoix  to  Monseigneur  le  Comte  de  Morville. 

344 


TSHE  FIRST  SIOUX  MISSION  345 

gation  of  the  Sioux  who  told  him  that  some  branches  of  their 
tribe  traded  with  western  tribesmen  who  lived  on  salt  water.4 
He  visited  missions  and  posts  throughout  the  whole  country,  not 
only  Canada  but  Louisiana  as  well,  and  on  his  return  to  France 
made  a  detailed  report.  We  are  concerned,  however,  with  but 
one  of  his  recommendations.  He  urged  the  establishment  of  a 
mission-post  among  the  Sioux  so  that  this  tribe  might  be  bound 
to  the  French  and  the  post  became  a  step  toward  the  discovery 
of  the  Western  Sea.5  It  would  be  a  grave  mistake  to  overlook 
the  apostolic  spirit  which  was  apparent  in  Father  Charlevoix's 
letters  concerning  this  new  mission.  He  said  himself  that  he 
had  been  repaid  for  the  hardships  and  dangers  of  his  three  years' 
tour  of  inspection  because  he  had  been  able  to  baptize  a  little 
girl  who  was  dying.6  Further,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  offer  to 
establish  the  new  mission  and  put  the  missionaries  in  possession 
of  it  despite  his  lack  of  the  youth  and  strength  needed  for  the 
life  of  a  missionary.7  Father  Charlevoix's  generous  offer  was 
not  accepted,  but  his  suggestion  of  a  settlement  among  the  Sioux 
on  the  upper  Mississippi  was  approved.*  At  length  in  1727, 
after  a  temporary  truce  with  the  Fox  Indians  had  been  arranged, 
the  Marquis  de  Beauharnois,  governor  of  Canada,  gave  orders 
to'  prepare  the  expedition  to  the  Sioux  country.  Two  Jesuit 
fathers  were  requested  for  the  mission.  That  their  work  was  to 
be  useful  to  science  as  well  as  to  religion  we  may  surmise  from 
a  letter  dated  April  30,  1727,  from  the  Marquis  de  Beauharnois 
to  the  Minister  of  the  Marine : 

The  reverend  Jesuit  Fathers  who  are  going  to  the  Sioux  request  some 
mathematical  instruments.  The  ones  which  are  now  in  their  house,  and 
which  belong  to  the  king,  will  serve  them  if  His  Majesty  will  have  others 
sent  for  Quebec,  namely:  a  mathematics  case,  a  dial  plate  of  universal 
astronomy,  a  graduated  semi-circle  with  the  degrees  indicated,  a  spirit 
level,  a  chain  with  stakes,  and  a  telescope  six  or  seven  feet  long.     This 


*  Margry,  op.  cit.,  VI,  526. 
s  Margry,  op.  cit.,  VI,  534. 

e  Rochemonteix,  op.  cit.,  footnote,  I,  178. 

"i  Margry,  op.  cit.,  VI,  535.  Letter  of  Charlevoix  to  the  Minister  of  the 
Marine. 

*  This  was  not  the  first  contact  of  the  Sioux  with  the  missionaries.  At 
Sault-Ste-Marie,  1641,  Saint  Isaac  Jogues,  and  his  companion,  Father 
Charles  Raymbault,  the  first  Jesuits  to  visit  the  Middle  United  States, 
heard  of  the  Sioux  Nadouessis  or  Sioux  in  the  War  West.  Later,  Father 
Allouez  met  members  of  the  tribe  and  on  May  8, 1689,  Father  Joseph  Marest, 
"missionary  among  the  Sioux,"  was  present  at  Nicolas  Perrot's  famous 
prise  de  possession  of  Lake  Pepin  and  the  surrounding  Sioux  country  in 
the  name  of  Louis  XTV.  Father  Joseph  Marest  was  the  first  Jesuit  to 
preach  the  Gospel  to  the  Dakota  or  Sioux  in  their  native  habitat. 


346  NANCY  RING 

telescope  does  not  belong  to  the  king,  but  they  are  taking  away  one  from 
their  house  and  ask  for  another  from  the  king  to  take  its  place. 

It  would  be  well,  my  lord,  if  they  could  receive  these  instruments  by 
this  year's  ships,  if  this  letter  reaches  you  soon  enough  for  that. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be  with  great  respect, 

My  lord, 
Your  very  humble  and  very  obedient  servant, 
Beauharnois.s 

Apparently  the  instruments  were  not  sent  at  once,  for  the 
Governor  repeats  the  request  in  September  of  the  same  year  in 
the  name  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers  who  had  gone  to  the  Sioux  the 
previous  Spring. 

In  order  to  finance  the  proposed  Siouan  foundation  a  com- 
mercial company  was  formed.  The  colonial  treasury  was  always 
impoverished:  but  the  merchants  of  New  France  were  eager  to 
participate  in  opening  the  vast  territory  of  the  Sioux,  which  had 
a  high  reputation  for  rich  furs.  The  contract  signed  on  the  6th 
of  June,  1727,  stipulated  that  the  promoters  were  to  have  a  com- 
plete monoply  of  the  trade  of  the  Sioux  country  for  three  years, 
with  a  preference  for  future  years.  In  return — and  this  is  the 
part  which  is  of  particular  interest  to  our  story — they  agreed 
to  build  a  fort  of  stakes,  a  chapel,  a  house  for  the  commanding 
officer,  and  one  for  the  missionaries,  the  amount  and  weight  of 
the  cargoes  being  specifically  stipulated;  and  they  were  to  buy 
at  Mackinac  three  or  four  extra  canoes  in  order  to  transport 
these  goods  over  the  Fox-Wisconsin  waterway.  This  contract 
is  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society.9 
It  was  signed  by  Beauharnois,  Longueuil,  La  Corne,  D'Aigre- 
mont,  Saint-George  Dupre,  Youville,  Pierre  Daillay,  Marin, 
Etienne  Petit,  Garrau,  Frangois  Campeau,  Frangois  du  May, 
Pierre  Richard,  Jean-Baptiste  Boucher  de  Montbrun,  Frangois 
Boucher  de  Montbrun  and  Jean  Garrau. 

The  commandant  of  the  expedition  was  Rene  Boucher,  Sieur 
de  la  Perriere,  member  of  a  well-known  family  and  a  distin- 
guished officer  in  the  colonial  troops.  He  had  visited  the  Sioux 
country  in  1715  as  a  preliminary  to  Louvigny's  expedition 
against  the  Foxes.  He  was  now  nearly  sixty  years  of  age  and 
he  was  to  find  the  hardships  of  the  journey  too  great  for  his 
strength.    The  two  missionaries  were  Fathers  Michael  Guignas 


s  Margry,  op.  cit.,  VI,  544. 

9  Louise  Phelps  Kellogg,  Minnesota  History,  "Fort  Beauharnois,"  VIII, 
(1927),  234. 


ipE  FIRST  SIOUX  MISSION  347 

and  Nicholas  de  Gonnor.  Father  Guignas  was  a  man  of  about 
forty-six  years  of  age  and  had  been  stationed  in  Canada  for  the 
previous  eleven  years.  He  had  had  missionary  experience,  hav- 
ing been  stationed  at  the  Ottawa  mission  at  Mackinac.  He  was, 
says  Rochemonteix,  a  religious  of  an  ardent  nature,  a  keen  and 
open  mind  and  a  generous  heart,  possessed  of  the  gift  of  elo- 
quence and  the  qualities  of  a  true  missionary.10  Father  de  Gon- 
nor was  ten  years  younger  than  Father  Guignas  and  had  been 
in  Canada  for  only  two  years.    This  was  his  first  mission. 

At  length  all  was  ready  for  the  departure.  A  letter  from 
Father  Guignas  to  the  Marquis  de  Beauharnois  under  date  of 
May  29,  1728,  gives  a  graphic  account  of  the  journey  and  the 
foundation  of  "Fort  Beauharnois"  and  "The  Mission  of  St. 
Michael  the  Archangel." 

On  the  17th  of  September,  1727,  at  noon,  we  reached  this  lake  [Pepin] , 
which  had  been  chosen  as  the  end  of  our  voyage.  We  established  ourselves 
toward  evening  about  the  middle  of  the  Northern  shore  upon  a  low  point 
whose  soil  is  excellent.  The  woods  were  very  dense  there,  but  they  are 
already  thinned  on  account  of  the  rigor  and  length  of  the  winter,  which  has 
been  severe  for  the  climate,  for  we  are  here  in  latitude  43°  51'.  It  is  true 
that  the  difference  in  the  winter  is  great  compared  with  that  of  Quebec 
and  Montreal,  whatever  certain  poor  judges  may  say  of  it.  The  day  after 
landing  axes  were  applied  to  the  trees  and  four  days  later  the  fort  was 
entirely  finished.  It  is  a  plat  of  ground  a  hundred  feet  square  surrounded 
by  stakes  twelve  feet  high  with  two  good  bastions.  For  such  a  small  space 
there  are  large  buildings,  detached  and  not  crowded,  each  30,  38  and  25  feet 
long  by  16  feet  wide.  All  would  go  well  there  if  the  place  were  not  subject 
to  inundations;  but  this  year,  on  the  15th  of  the  month  of  April,  we  were 
obliged  to  go  and  camp  outside  and  the  water  rose  in  the  houses  to  the 
height  of  two  feet  eight  inches;  and  it  is  useless  to  say  that  it  was  the 
quantity  of  snow  that  fell  this  year.  The  snow  about  the  fort  was  melted 
a  long  time  before;  and  there  was  certainly  not  more  than  a  foot  and  a 
half  from  the  8th  of  February  until  the  15th  of  March;  all  the  rest  of  the 
winter  one  could  not  have  used  snowshoes.  I  have  good  reason  for  believing 
that  this  place  is  inundated  every  year.  I  always  had  the  same  opinion  of 
it;  but  they  were  not  obliged  to  believe  me,  because  old  people  who  said 
they  had  lived  here  fifteen  or  twenty  years  asserted  that  it  was  never 
inundated.  We  could  not  re-enter  the  rather  dilapidated  houses  until  the 
30th  of  the  same  month  of  April,  and  even  today  the  damages  are  hardly 
repaired. 

Before  the  end  of  October  all  the  houses  were  finished,  and  furnished; 
and  everyone  found  himself  lodged  peacefully  in  his  own  home.  Nothing 
was  thought  of  then  but  to  go  and  reconnoitre  the  neighboring  districts 
and  rivers,  to  see  those  herds  of  fallow-deer  of  all  species  of  which  they 


io  Rochemonteix,  op.  cit.,  I,  183. 


348  NANCY  RING 

tell  such  tales  in  Canada.  They  must  have  disappeared  or  have  greatly 
diminished  since  the  time  these  former  travelers  left  the  country.  They 
are  no  longer  in  such  great  numbers  and  it  is  hard  to  kill  any. 

After  having  wandered  about  the  country  for  some  time  everybody 
returned  to  the  fort,  and  only  thought  of  enjoying  for  a  little  the  fruits  of 
their  labors.  On  the  4th  of  the  month  of  November  it  was  not  forgotten 
that  this  was  the  fete  day  of  Monsieur  the  General.  Holy  Mass  was  said 
for  him  in  the  morning,  and  we  were  much  inclined  to  celebrate  the  holiday 
in  the  evening;  but  the  slowness  of  the  Pyrotechnist,  and  the  changeable- 
ness  of  the  weather  caused  the  celebration  to  be  postponed  until  the  14th 
of  the  same  month,  when  some  very  fine  rockets  were  fired  off  and  the  air 
was  made  to  resound  with  a  hundred  shouts  of  "Long  live  the  King,"  and 
"Long  live  Charles  de  Beauharnois."  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  the  wine 
of  the  Sioux  was  made  to  flow,  and  it  was  most  excellent,  although  there 
are  no  finer  vines  here  than  in  Canada.  What  contributed  much  to  the 
amusement  was  the  terror  of  some  cabins  of  Indians  who  were  then  around 
the  fort.  When  these  poor  people  saw  the  fireworks  in  the  air  and  the 
stars  falling  from  heaven,  women  and  children  took  to  flight,  and  the  most 
courageous  of  the  men  cried  for  mercy,  and  urgently  asked  that  the  aston- 
ishing play  of  this  terrible  medicine  should  be  made  to  cease. 

As  soon  as  we  had  arrived  among  them  they  assembled  in  a  very  few 
days  around  the  French  fort  to  the  number  of  95  cabins,  which  would 
amount  in  all  to  150  men,  for  there  are  at  the  most  two  men  each  in  their 
portable  cabins  of  dressed  skins,  and  in  many  there  is  only  one.  These 
were  all  that  we  have  seen,  except  a  band  of  about  60  men  who  came  on 
the  26th  of  the  month  of  February  and  were  of  those  Nations  that  are 
called  the  Sioux  of  the  Prairies.  At  the  end  of  November  the  savages 
departed  for  their  winter  quarters.  It  is  true  that  they  did  not  go  far 
away  and  that  there  are  always  some  to  be  seen  during  the  winter.  But 
since  the  2nd  of  last  April,  when  several  cabins  of  them  repassed  here  to 
go  to  their  spring  hunting,  none  of  them  have  been  seen.  One  canoe  of 
ten  men,  detailed  to  go  and  find  them,  looked  in  vain  for  a  week  even  for 
more  than  sixty  leagues  up  the  Mississippi;  it  arrived  yesterday  without 
hearing  any  tidings  of  them.n 

St.  Michael  the  Archangel  had  been  chosen  as  patron  of  the 
Mission,  for  Father  Guignas  dated  his  letter  from  there.  Surely 
the  gallant  little  mission  needed  a  powerful  heavenly  guardian. 
The  health  of  the  commandant,  La  Perriere,  was  so  badly  af- 
fected by  the  hardships  of  the  winter  and  the  flood  that  he  was 
obliged  to  return  to  Quebec,  taking  Father  de  Gonnor  with  him. 
He  was  so  ill  on  reaching  Montreal  that  he  was  unable  to  make 
his  own  report  to  the  governor.12    Then  the  Foxes  went  on  the 


«  Margry,  op.  cit.,  VI,  552-58.  English  translation  reprinted  from  Wis- 
consin Historical  Collections,  17:22-28,  in  Minnesota  History,  VI,  (1925), 
364-69. 

12  Rochemonteix,  op.  cit.,  I,  455.  Letter  of  Beauharnois  to  the  Minister 
of  the  Marine. 


THE  FIRST  SIOUX  MISSION  349 

war  path  again  and  a  large  French  expedition  under  Lignery  set 
out  to  punish  them  for  breaking  the  truce.  The  savages  were 
warned,  however,  and  when  the  French  arrived  at  their  villages 
not  a  Fox  was  to  be  found.  Knowing,  then,  that  the  little  post 
on  Lake  Pepin  would  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  angry  Foxes, 
Lignery  managed  to  get  word  through  to  Pierre  Boucherville 
(who  was  now  in  command  of  Fort  Beauharnois)  and  after  due 
consideration  it  was  decided  on  September  18, 1728,  that  the  post 
could  not  be  held.  On  October  3,  just  a  little  more  than  a  year 
after  its  foundation,  Father  Guignas,  Boucherville,  and  ten 
others  took  to  canoes  and  were  captured  by  a  band  of  Fox  allies, 
Kickapoo  and  Mascoutens.  At  first  it  seemed  certain  that  they 
would  be  killed,  but,  after  being  held  captive  for  five  months,  all 
were  released.  There  seems  little  doubt  that  this  happy  outcome 
was  due  in  large  measure  to  the  efforts  of  Father  Guignas.  An 
account  of  the  incident  is  given  in  a  letter  from  Father  le  Petit 
to  Father  d'Avaugour,  New  Orleans,  July  12,  1730 : 

We  always  felt  a  distrust  of  the  Renard  Savages,  although  they  did  not 
longer  dare  to  undertake  anything,  since  Father  Guignas  has  detached 
from  their  alliance  the  Tribes  of  the  Kikapous  and  the  Maskoutins.  You 
know,  my  Reverend  Father,  that,  being  in  Canada,  he  had  the  courage  to 
penetrate  even  to  the  Sioux,  wandering  Savages  near  the  source  of  the 
Mississippi,  at  the  distance  of  about  eight  hundred  leagues  from  New  Or- 
leans, and  six  hundred  leagues  from  Quebec.  Obliged  to  abandon  this  in- 
fant Mission,  by  the  unfortunate  result  of  the  enterprise  against  the 
Renards,  he  descended  the  river  to  repair  to  the  Illinois.  On  the  15th  of 
October,  in  the  year  1728,  he  was  arrested  when  half-way,  by  the  Kikapous 
and  the  Maskoutins.  For  five  months  he  was  a  captive  among  these 
Savages,  where  he  had  much  to  suffer  and  everything  to  fear.  The  time 
at  last  came  when  he  was  to  be  burned  alive,  and  he  prepared  himself  to 
finish  his  life  in  this  horrible  torment,  when  he  was  adopted  by  an  old  man, 
whose  family  saved  his  life,  and  procured  him  his  liberty.  Our  Mission- 
aries, who  were  among  the  Illinois,  were  no  sooner  acquainted  with  his  sad 
situation,  than  they  procured  him  all  the  alleviations  they  were  able. 
Everything  which  he  received  he  employed  to  conciliate  the  Savages,  and 
succeeded  even  to  the  extent  of  engaging  them  to  conduct  him  to  the 
Illinois,  and  while  there  to  make  peace  with  the  French  and  the  Savages 
of  that  region.  Seven  or  eight  months  after  this  peace  was  concluded,  the 
Maskoutins  and  the  Kikapous  returned  again  to  the  Illinois  country,  and 
took  away  Father  Guignas  to  spend  the  winter  with  them,  from  whence, 
in  all  probability,  he  will  return  to  Canada.  He  has  been  exceedingly 
broken  down  by  these  fatiguing  journeys,  but  his  zeal,  full  of  fire  and 
activity,  seems  to  give  him  new  strength.^ 


is  Thwaites,  op.  cit.,  LXVIII,  208-09. 


350  NANCY  RING 

In  1731  the  post  among  the  Sioux  was  reestablished.14  Things 
seemed  to  go  better  for  a  time.  Godefroy  de  Linctot  was  in 
command;  a  new  commercial  company  had  been  formed  to 
finance  the  post  and  Father  Guignas  was  again  its  missionary.15 
The  Sioux  chiefs  expressed  their  joy  at  the  return  of  the  French 
and  plans  were  made  for  them  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  Governor. 
Then,  too,  the  post  managed  to  swell  the  fur  trade  in  1735.16 

But  bad  times  were  again  in  store ;  it  is  doubtful  if  times  were 
ever  very  good  for  the  little  mission.  In  a  letter  from  Father 
Nau  to  Father  Bonin,  dated  August  2,  1735,  Sault  St.  Louis, 
there  is  mention  of  the  hardships  of  Father  Guignas: 

Father  Guignas  is  in  the  Sioux  country,  at  a  little  French  fort  with  but 
six  men  with  him.  Scarcely  a  month  ago  the  Marquis  de  Beauharnois 
governor-general  of  New  France,  sent  twenty-two  men  in  four  canoes  with 
supplies  of  which  he  stood  absolutely  in  need,  for  the  Sioux  refuse  to  pro- 
vide for  him.  It  is  not  at  all  certain  that  the  relief  party  will  reach  him 
without  molestation,  their  route  lying  close  to  the  country  of  the  renards. 
...  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  father  Aulneau  will  find  more  docile  savages 
than  the  Outaouais  and  the  Sioux,  among  whom  fathers  Saint  Pe  and 
Guignas  are  laboring  with  little  success.  They  have  managed  to  convert 
but  a  few  old  men  and  women  who  are  beyond  the  age  of  sinning.  The 
greatest  good  they  can  effect  is  to  Baptize  children  when  they  think  they 
are  on  the  point  of  death;  those  who  recover  seldom  fail  later  to  fall  away 
from  the  faith." 

Still  another  letter,  this  one  from  Father  Aulneau  to  Father 
Bonin,  gives  us  an  idea  of  Father  Guignas's  life: 

We  received,  just  a  few  days  ago,  news  of  Father  Guignas;  since  1732  he 
had  not  been  heard  from.  He  is  in  a  helpless  state.  The  hunger  he  has 
had  to  endure,  the  imminent  danger  to  which  he  has  been  continually  ex- 
posed, of  being  massacred  by  the  sakis  [Sauk]  and  the  renards  [Foxes], 
and  numberless  other  hardships,  borne  heroically,  have  brought  him  so 
low,  that  even  the  savages,  who  have  little  pity  for  us,  are  forced  to  look 
upon  him  with  feelings  of  compassion.  We  are,  however,  in  the  impossibil- 
ity of  attempting  anything  for  his  relief,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  mission- 
aries. Pray  God,  my  reverend  father,  to  send  laborers  to  this  needy 
mission.is 

St.  Pierre  replaced  Linctot  as  commandant  of  the  post  of  the 
Sioux  in  1735.    In  1736  the  Sioux  of  the  Prairies  terrorized  the 


14  Margry,  op.  cit.,  VI,  569.     Letter  of  Beauharnois  to  Minister  of  the 
Marine. 

is  Rochemonteix,  op.  cit.,  I,  198. 
is  Margry,  op.  cit.,  VI,  574. 
17  Thwaites,  op.  cit.,  LXVTII,  281,  285. 
is  Thwaites,  op.  cit.,  LXVTII,  257. 


THE  FIRST  SIOUX  MISSION  351 

traders  and  made  a  raid  in  which  they  seized  a  large  quantity 
of  beaver  skins.  Finally,  in  1737,  war  broke  out  between  the 
Sioux  and  two  neighboring  tribes.  The  account  of  the  incidents 
which  preceded  the  evacuation  of  the  post  is  given  in  St.  Pierre's 
report  to  the  Marquis  de  Beauharnois  under  date  of  October  14, 
1737.  First  a  band  of  Sioux  killed  two  Frenchmen.  The  Sioux 
were  openly  on  the  war  path  and  a  band  of  Puans  who  had 
brought  timely  warning  to  the  French  fort  sought  protection 
from  the  French  and  built  a  camp  nearby.    Then 

on  December  18  there  arrived  thirty-six  [Sioux]  men  with  their  families. 
The  young  men  took  the  lead  and  set  fire  to  the  fort  of  the  Puans.  St. 
Pierre  demanded  of  Ouakantape  if  he  was  not  content  to  have  given  the 
French  two  grievous  wounds  without  coming  again  to  insult  them  in  their 
fort  by  burning  that  of  the  Puans,  their  brothers.  He  replied  that  he  had 
done  this  with  reflection  and  on  purpose.  Then  they  tore  up  the  stakes  in 
Father  Guignas's  garden,  set  them  afire  and  ran  away.is 

The  situation  steadily  became  more  dangerous.  The  Puans 
also  deserted  the  French.  After  consultation  with  Linctot,  the 
second  in  command,  with  Father  Guignas  and  the  French  in- 
habitants of  the  post,  it  was  decided  to  abandon  it.  On  the 
30th  of  May,  1737,  the  decision  was  carried  into  effect. 

So  ended  the  first  mission  on  the  soil  of  Minnesota.  It  was 
a  gallant  attempt  and  the  people  of  Minnesota  have  not  for- 
gotten it. 

The  Goodhue  County  Historical  Society  arranged  and  successfully  car- 
ried into  effect  an  appropriate  celebration  at  Frontenac  on  September  17th 
(1927)  for  the  200th  anniversary  of  the  building  of  Fort  Beauharnois  on 
the  shore  of  Lake  Pepin.  The  central  feature  of  the  program  was  the 
unveiling  of  a  bronze  tablet  bearing  the  inscription: 

"Near  this  spot  Fort  Beauharnois  was  erected  by  the  French  in  September, 
1727.  Here  also  stood  the  Mission  of  St.  Michael  the  Archangel,  the  first 
Christian  Chapel  in  the  present  boundaries  of  Minnesota."?*) 

Nancy  Ring,  A.  M. 
St.  Louis,  Missouri 


is  Margry,  op.  cit.,  VI,  577. 

20  Minnesota  History,  VIII,  No.  4,  p.  432.  The  Mission  of  St.  Michael 
the  Archangel  was  in  the  locality  of  Frontenac,  Minnesota,  probably  on 
or  near  the  site  of  the  Ursuline  Convent  of  that  place. 


DOCUMENTS 


THE  QUARTER-PICQUET  CORRESPONDENCE* 

I 

Chicago,  Illinois 
June  12,  1844 
Dear  Sir:- 

Your  kind  letter  of  the  19th  Ult.,  is  this  day  received  and 
now  before  me.  It  grieves  me  to  learn  that  you  have  been  so 
long  without  a  clergyman,  and  thereby  deprived  the  opportunity 
of  complying  with  your  religious  obligations  at  Easter. 

At  this  moment  I  have  not  a  single  clergyman  that  I  could 
send  you,  but  in  a  few  weeks,  I  hope  to  be  able  to  make  such 
arrangements  as  will  enable  me  to  furnish  you  with  a  pastor. 

Pray  that  our  divine  Master  may  please  to  send  laborers  into 

his  vineyard,  for  in  every  part  of  this  extensive  diocese  are  they 

craved  most  earnestly  and  as  yet  they  are  not  here  to  be  sent. 

Accept  the  assurances  of  my  best  wishes  for  your  spiritual 

and  temporal  prosperity. 

Yours  in  Christ, 

William  [Quarter],  Bishop  of  Chicago1 
To 

Mr.  Joseph  Picquet,  Esq.2 
Ste.  Marie 
Jasper  County,  111. 


*  These  letters,  addressed  by  the  Right  Reverend  William  Quarter,  first 
Bishop  of  Chicago,  to  Joseph  Picquet,  founder  of  the  Sainte  Marie  settle- 
ment, Jasper  County,  Illinois,  are  in  the  possession  of  his  daughter,  Miss 
Marie  Picquet,  who  is  living  in  her  father's  old  home  in  Sainte  Marie.  The 
letters  are  published  with  her  kind  permission.  Copies  from  the  originals 
together  with  accompanying  explanatory  notes,  have  been  furnished  Mid- 
America  by  Sister  Mary  Salesia  Godecker,  O.  S.  B.,  Ph.  D.,  author  of  the 
recently  published  notable  biography,  Simon  Brute  De  Re'mur,  First  Bishop 
of  Vincennes,  St.  Meinrad,  Indiana,  1931. 

i  William  Quarter,  first  Bishop  of  Chicago,  was  born  at  Killurine, 
King's  County,  Ireland,  on  January  24,  1806.  He  came  to  America  as  a 
young  man  and  made  his  ecclesiastical  studies  at  Mount  St.  Mary's,  Em- 
mitsburg,  Maryland.  Father  Quarter  was  ordained  by  Bishop  Dubois  of 
New  York  City,  and  served  the  Church  faithfully  at  both  St.  Peter's  and 
St.  Mary's  in  the  same  city.  He  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Chicago  on  the 
feast  of  the  Forty  Martyrs,  March  10,  1844,  in  the  Cathedral  of  New  York 
at  the  hands  of  Bishop  Hughes.  Bishop  Quarter  repaired  immediately  to 
his  field  of  labor  where  a  period  of  scarcely  four  years  was  to  round  out 
his  career  as  ordinary  of  the  diocese.  At  the  early  age  of  forty-two  he 
was  claimed  by  death,  expiring  on  April  10,  1848.  Cf.  Garraghan,  The 
Catholic  Church  in  Chicago,  1673-1871. 

352 


DOCUMENTS  353 

II 

Chicago,  Illinois 
August  30,  1844 
Dear  and  respected  sir:- 

Your  esteemed  favour  of  the  19th  Inst.,  came  to  hand  this 
morning  with  the  letter  of  Miss  E.  Bentdell  enclosed.  It  rejoiced 
me  to  hear  of  your  safe  return  and  that  you  were  surrounded  by 
friends,  so  near  and  dear  to  you.  I  had  information  of  your 
arrival  in  New  York  and  of  your  having  selected  as  a  partner 
in  the  cares  and  solicitudes  of  life,  a  lady,  remarkable  for  her 
piety,  amiability,  and  interesting  manners.  I  beg  you  will  pre- 
sent her  my  most  respectful  regards  and  permit  me  to  present  to 
you  both  my  cordial  congratulations  and  my  very  best  wishes 
for  your  mutual  happiness. 

Previously  to  the  receipt  of  your  letter  I  had  written  to  the 
Reverend  Mr.  St.  Cyr,  of  Kaskaskia,  a  very  worthy  and  ex- 
emplary clergyman,  to  endeavor  to  make  such  arrangements 
with  his  neighbor  clergyman  as  would  enable  him  to  go  and  take 
charge  of  the  Catholic  congregation  in  your  Settlement.  I  have 
had  no  answer  from  him  as  yet.  If  he  cannot  leave  his  present 
mission,  I  will  write  immediately  to  the  Reverend  Mr.  Guth.  If, 
however,  you  think  both  could  be  there  supported  having  also 
Teutopolis  and  the  other  adjacent  missions,  please  inform  me 
and  I  shall  request  of  Reverend  Mr.  Guth  to  come  also  and  take 


2  Joseph  Picquet,  the  founder  of  Sainte  Marie,  Jasper  County,  Illinois, 
was  the  son  of  Mr.  James  Picquet  and  wife,  Cleophe  Picquet,  nee  Schif- 
fenstein,  and  was  born  at  Mommenheim,  Lower  Rhine,  Alsace,  France,  on 
March  17,  1816.  He  received  his  early  education  in  the  common  schools  of 
Haguenau.  In  1828  he  entered  the  Jesuit  College  at  Fribourg,  Switzerland, 
where  he  was  in  attendance  until  1833.  During  the  following  year  he  con- 
tinued his  studies  under  private  tutors.  In  1835  he  left  his  home  in 
Haguenau,  Alsace,  France,  to  come  to  the  United  States.  After  spending 
more  than  a  year  in  America  he  returned  to  his  home.  A  year  later  a 
company  of  ten  with  Joseph  Picquet  as  their  leader  arrived  in  Illinois  and 
founded  the  village  of  Sainte  Marie. 

Mr.  Picquet  was  twice  married,  in  1844,  to  Miss  Rose  Muller,  whose 
death  occurred  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  and  in  1850,  to  her  sister, 
Miss  Caroline  Muller.  Both  marriages  took  place  at  Mr.  Picquet's  old  home 
in  France.  He  died  at  his  home  in  Sainte  Marie  on  Saturday,  November 
30,  1912,  in  the  ninety-seventh  year  of  his  age. 


354  DOCUMENTS 

charge — or  you  may  write  to  him  and  tell  him  I  shall  feel  most 
happy  to  receive  him  into  the  diocese. 

Reverend  Mr.  Fisher  is  no  longer  attached  to  this  diocese.3 
In  accordance  with  the  directions  of  Bishop  de  la  Hailandiere,4 
he  left  here  and  is  gone  to  the  Mission  appointed  for  him  at 
Logansport.5  As  soon  as  I  can  possibly  escape  from  this  place, 
where  I  have  now  much  to  do,  I  shall  pay  you  and  your  inter- 
esting family  a  visit.  Please  present  to  each  member  thereof, 
my  affectionate  regards  and  if  your  friend,  Mr.  Thomas,  be  in 
your  neighborhood  I  desire  to  him  an  affectionate  remembrance 
also. 

With  sentiments  of  high  regard  and  esteem,  I  have  the 
honor  to  remain, 

Yours  sincerely  in  Xto., 

William,  Bishop  of  Chicago 
To 

Mr.  Joseph  Picquet 

Ste.  Marie,  111. 


3  Francis  Joseph  Fischer  was  born  in  Alsace  and  made  his  studies  in 
Strassburg.  He  joined  the  missionary  band  accepted  by  Bishop  de  la 
Hailandiere  for  Vincennes  and  arrived  in  New  York  with  this  group  under 
the  lead  of  Reverend  Augustine  Martin,  chaplain  of  the  Royal  College  of 
Rennes,  on  September  11,  1839. 

Francis  Fischer  received  minor  orders  at  Vincennes  on  January  18, 
1840.  He  was  ordained  subdeacon  on  April  5,  deacon  on  August  16,  and 
raised  to  the  holy  priesthood  on  September  19,  1840.  In  the  fall  of  1840  he 
was  sent  to  take  charge  of  the  German  congregation  in  Chicago  where  he 
remained  until  1844.  During  the  following  nine  years  he  served  the  Church 
very  devotedly  at  Lottaville,  Logansport,  Lanesville,  Madison,  and  Vin- 
cennes. In  1853  he  joined  the  Chicago  diocese  and  was  pastor  at  Sainte 
Marie,  Jasper  County,  Illinois,  until  November  1,  1855,  when  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  Waterloo,  Illinois,  where  he  stayed  until  October,  1861.  Father 
Fischer  returned  to  his  native  country,  Alsace,  in  the  spring  of  1862. 

4  Bishop  de  la  Hailandiere,  the  second  Bishop  of  Vincennes,  was  born 
at  Combourg,  in  Brittany,  May  2,  1798.  He  studied  law  to  fit  himself  for 
the  magistracy.  At  the  age  of  twenty-four  he  entered  the  seminary  at 
Rennes  and  was  ordained  at  Paris  on  May  28,  1825.  He  came  to  America 
in  1836  and  became  the  Vicar  General  of  the  diocese  of  Vincennes.  Two 
years  later  he  returned  to  France  in  the  interests  of  the  diocese.  While 
thus  engaged  Bishop  Brute  de  Remur  died  and  de  la  Hailandiere  was  ap- 
pointed bishop.  He  was  consecrated  at  Paris  on  August  18,  1839,  by  Bishop 
de  Forbin  Janson.  Bishop  de  la  Hailandiere  was  a  man  of  restless  activity 
and  his  energy  made  him  unpopular  with  many.  He  resigned  his  see  in 
1847  and  returned  to  his  native  country  where  he  died  on  an  estate  belong- 
ing to  the  family,  at  Triandin,  on  May  1,  1882. 

s  A  flourishing  post  town  in  1833  and  the  seat  of  justice  of  Cass  Coun- 
ty, Indiana.  Situated  at  the  confluence  of  the  Wabash  and  Eel  rivers,  it  is 
surrounded  by  an  extensive  tract  of  rich  land. 


DOCUMENTS  355 

III 

Chicago,  Illinois 
November  4, 1844 
Dear  and  respected  Sir:- 

Your  kind  letter  of  the  10th  Ult.,  was  before  me  when  I  re- 
turned a  few  days  since  from  the  visitation  of  a  large  portion 
of  the  diocese.  Shortly  after  the  receipt  of  your  first  letter  I 
wrote  to  Reverend  Mr.  Guth,  inviting  him  to  this  diocese  and 
telling  him  where  he  would  be  stationed,  namely,  in  your  Settle- 
ment. I  have  had  no  answer  up  to  this  date.  You  had  better 
write  as  soon  as  possible,  and  maybe  you  will  be  more  success- 
ful. I  fear  Reverend  Mr.  St.  Cyr  cannot  be  induced  to  leave  St. 
Louis.  I  have  lately  written  to  Bishop  Kenrick,  requesting  him 
to  urge  him  to  go  to  your  place,  at  least  until  spring,  when  I 
hope  to  have  three  or  four  young  gentlemen  for  ordination  from 
Emmitsburg.  I  expect  the  Bishop's  answer  after  a  few  days. 
I  have  had  a  letter  today  from  some  Reverend  Gentleman  of  the 
name  of  Opperman,  who  has  been  officiating,  he  tells  me,  in  that 
district.6    I  never  heard  the  name  of  this  clergyman  before. 

I  feel  very  anxious  to  have  those  Missions  supplied,  and  shall 
take  care  to  send  you  the  first  clergyman  of  worth  that  presents 
himself  to  me. 

I  am  thankful  for  the  kindly  feelings  of  your  family  towards 
me  as  expressed  in  your  letter.  To  your  respected  lady  and  to 
each  member  of  your  worthy  family  please  present  me  cordially 


e  Charles  Oppermann  was  born  in  Duderstadt,  Hanover,  Germany,  in 
1808.  After  his  preparatory  studies  in  Germany  he  went  to  St.  Sulpice, 
Paris,  France,  to  study  theology.  He  was  a  highly  educated  young  man. 
He  spoke  French  as  fluently  as  his  own  mother  tongue.  In  Paris  he 
answered  Vincennes'  call  for  German  priests  and  crossed  over  to  America 
in  1840,  coming  directly  to  St.  Gabriel's  College,  Vincennes,  where  he  fin- 
ished his  studies.  Tonsure  and  minor  orders  had  been  received  in  Paris. 
He  was  ordained  subdeacon  on  June  5,  deacon  on  August  15,  and  priest  on 
September  12,  1841,  by  Bishop  de  la  Hailandiere  at  Vincennes.  On  a  special 
invitation  from  Father  Kundek  he  celebrated  his  first  Mass  at  Jasper, 
Indiana,  on  September  19,  1841.  The  pastor  of  Jasper  retained  the  young 
priest  as  a  helper  on  his  many  missions  for  several  months,  but  shortly 
before  Christmas  Father  Opperman  was  called  to  take  care  of  the  German 
parishioners  of  St.  Francis  Xavier's,  Vincennes. 

Oldenburg,  Lanesville,  New  Albany,  Dover,  and  Union  County,  Ken- 
tucky, witnessed  the  fruitful  labors  of  this  intrepid  toiler  in  the  Master's 
vineyard.  He  fell  ill  in  the  spring  of  1849  and  went  south  to  New  Orleans 
where  he  died  six  months  later  on  September  10. 


356  DOCUMENTS 

and  affectionately,  also  to  Mr.  Thomas,  if  you  please,  for  whom  I 
entertain  a  warm  regard  and  please  accept  for  yourself  the 
assurance  of  the 

Sincere  esteem  and  respectful  regards  of 
Yours  devotedly  in  Xto., 

William,  Bishop  of  Chicago 
To 

Mr.  Joseph  Picquet 

Ste.  Marie,  111. 

IV 

Chicago,  Illinois 
February  7,  1845 
My  dear  Mr.  Picquet :- 

On  opening  The  Catholic  Herald  of  the  23rd.,  Ult.,  which  I 
have  received  this  morning,  the  melancholy  announcement  of 
your  bereavement  met  my  eye.7  Had  I  known  the  amiable  soul 
that  is  already  called  to  enjoy  forever  the  bright  scenes  above  I 
could  not  have  felt  more  pained  at  the  separation — for  it  is  pain- 
ful for  flesh  and  blood  to  lose  sight,  even  for  a  while,  of  those 
we  love  and  cherish — and  although  we  indulge  the  hope,  nay 
feel  the  conviction  that  their  condition  is  bettered,  and  that  they 
will  rejoice  to  welcome  us  soon  to  the  participation  of  that 
felicity  in  which  we  believe,  but  which  they  experience.  Still 
do  we  mourn  their  absence.  I  need  not  tell  you  how  much  I 
sympathise  with  you  and  the  other  members  of  your  respected 
family.  What  I  most  regret,  is  that  I  could  not  have  been  with 
you  at  this  trying  moment.  Indeed,  had  I  anticipated  that  you 
would  be  afflicted  I  would  have  travelled  night  and  day  to  lend 
my  feeble  aid  to  afford  you  the  least  consolation.  All  I  can  say 
now,  is,  Thy  Will,  O  Lord  be  done! 

Altho'  I  have  no  doubt  but  the  sweet  canticle  of  praise,  in 
honor  of  the  saints  that  sitteth  on  the  Throne,  and  liveth  forever 
and  ever,  are  at  this  moment  chanted  by  the  one,  whose  sudden 
departure  from  among  us  still  wrings  our  hearts  with  sorrow 
and  bedews  our  cheeks  with  tears,  still  there  is  a  consolation  in 
offering  up  the  Immaculate  Victim,  in  expiation  of  the  least  stain 
of  imperfection  that  might  not  be  atoned.  If  all  be  pure  and  the 
fortunate  soul  has  reached  everlasting  glory — may  we  not  fancy, 
we  hear  that  sweet  voice  swelling  the  chorus  with  thousands  of 


7  A  Catholic  newspaper  published  in  Philadelphia.  Its  first  number 
appeared  in  1833.  This  paper  continued  until  1856  when  it  was  consolidated 
with  another  Catholic  journal,  the  Visitor. 


DOCUMENTS  357 

others,  of  the  angelic  choir,  of  GlorQ  be  to  God  in  the  Highest. 
Hosanna,  Hosanna,  Hosanna. 

Altho'  I  shall  often  make  a  memento,  yet  on  the  26th  of  this 
month,  at  7:00  a.  m.,  I  shall  offer  up  the  Divine  Mysteries — the 
Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass.  You  and  your  family  may  then 
unite  in  prayer. 

It  pains  me  very  much  not  to  have  been  able  to  send  you  a 
clergyman  before  this.  It  was  not  my  fault.  I  had  no  one  to 
send.  I  expect  some  young  men  for  ordination  next  spring  and 
then,  you  shall  have  a  priest  permanently. 

Please  present  my  respectful  regards  to  each  member  of  your 
family.  That  I  condole  with  you,  deeply,  and  sincerely,  as  I 
would  with  a  brother,  I  am  sure  you  are  aware — that  I  shall 
pray  to  our  Heavenly  Father  to  grant  you  patience  to  bear  your 
cross  with  a  proper  spirit  and  to  submit  patiently  to  whatever 
trials  it  may  please  Divine  Providence  to  send  you  and  this  one 
especially,  I  need  hardly  assure  you. 

Respectfully  and  affectionately, 
Yours  in  Xto., 

William,  Bishop  of  Chicago 
To 

Mr.  Joseph  Picquet 

Ste.  Marie,  111. 


V 


Galena,  Illinois 
November  18, 1845 


Dear  and  respected  friend :- 

Your  kind  letter  addressed  to  me  at  Chicago  was  duly  re- 
ceived. I  have  been  much  engaged  for  the  last  two  months  in 
visiting  this  northern  section  of  the  diocese,  where  Catholicity 
is  springing  up  very  fast  and  where  new  churches  are  being 
built  in  various  settlements,  whilst  new  congregations  are  form- 
ing and  crying  aloud  for  priests.  In  attending  to  the  spiritual 
wants  of  those  poor  people,  I  have  been  obliged  to  neglect  my 
correspondents,  and  in  visiting  carefully  this  portion  of  the  flock 
I  have  as  yet,  apparently  neglected  other  portions  equally  be- 
loved if  not  more  so,  and  equally  dear  to  my  heart. 

If  Providence  gives  me  health  and  strength,  I  hope  soon  to 
be  able  to  visit  every  congregation  in  the  diocese,  and  allow  me 
to  assure  you  that  you  would  not  have  been  so  long  neglected 
were  it  not  for  the  important  undertaking,  a  new  ecclesiastical 


358  DOCUMENTS 

seminary,  that  I  have  had  in  hands.  Although  I  was  not  present 
with  you,  you  are  aware  I  did  not  lose  sight  of  you,  and  en- 
deavored to  secure  for  your  place,  the  services  of  that  pious 
clergyman,  that  you  had  in  some  of  your  former  letters  spoken 
of  so  favorably.  1  feel  very  grateful  to  those  gentlemen  of  the 
College  at  Vincennes  for  visiting  you  so  regularly.  The  proposi- 
tion made  by  the  Superior  as  well  as  by  yourself  shall  receive 
my  earnest  consideration.  It  is  my  desire  to  do  what  I  can  for 
the  best  interests  of  religion  throughout  the  diocese  but  upon 
all  matters  of  this  nature  I  require  time  for  prayer  and  reflec- 
tion. Please  present  my  respectful  regards  to  each  member  of 
your  family  and  also  to  my  friend  Mr.  Thomas,  when  you  see 
him  and  believe  me  to  remain  with  the  warmest  feelings  of 
affection, 

Sincerely  yours  in  Xto., 

William,  Bishop  of  Chicago 
To 

Mr.  Joseph  Picquet 

Ste.  Marie,  111. 


VI 


Chicago,  Illinois 
March,  1846 


Dear  and  respected  friend  :- 

Your  esteemed  letter  of  the  24th.,  Ult.,  was  duly  received. 
Three  or  four  times  during  the  winter  did  I  make  preparations 
to  set  out  for  your  settlement  and  was  as  often  disappointed, 
either  by  the  badness  of  the  weather  or  urgent  calls  of  a  busi- 
ness nature  here,  that  could  not  be  put  off.  I  wrote  to  the 
Bishop  of  Vincennes,  that  I  was  going,  but  the  affairs  of  the 
new  college  and  seminary  of  the  diocese  which  were  then  in  a 
critical  way  detained  me  here  in  spite  of  my  best  efforts  and 
intentions.  You  will  be  pleased  to  hear  that  our  new  diocesan 
seminary  is  ready  for  the  plasterers  and  will  be  finished  in  one 
or  two  months.  I  had  much  to  regulate  here — many  things  to 
set  in  order.  Being  the  See,  it  was  all  important  that  order  and 
regularity  prevail  as  soon  as  possible,  and  that  Institution  be 
founded  whence  could  flow  to  the  diocese  at  large  all  religious 
blessings.  And  whilst  these  matters  were  in  active  progress  of 
arrangement  I  could  not  give  to  the  other  parts  of  the  diocese 
as  much  of  my  presence  as  I  could  desire,  altho'  my  attention 
was  directed  to  every  section — neither  would  a  flying  visit  of  my 


DOCUMENTS  359 

own  be  so  profitable  as  to  have  clergymen  to  station  where  there 
were  none,  and  where  they  were  much  needed.  Henceforth  I 
hope  to  be  able  to  do  more  and  with  permanency  for  the  mis- 
sions. I  have  not  been  idle  since  I  came.  I  worked  as  hard  as 
I  could  and  yours  is  the  only  section  of  the  diocese  that  I  have 
not  visited,  but  I  knew  the  Bishop  of  Vincennes  would  not  leave 
you  forsaken  until  I  could  come  to  your  relief. 

I  have  no  objection  to  the  Eudists8  taking  charge  of  the  con- 
gregation in  your  settlement,  but  as  I  am  not  acquainted  with 
the  nature  of  their  obligations  as  Religious  I  must  inquire  be- 
fore I  would  induct  them  canonically  into  the  diocese.  I  thought 
I  would  wait  until  I  saw  the  Superior  and  then  make  inquiries 
of  him.  I  hope  they  will  continue  to  attend  to  your  spiritual 
wants  meanwhile,  and  when  we  have  some  correspondence  with 
each  other,  we  may  adjust  matters  to  their  satisfaction  and  the 
religious  benefit  of  your  settlement.  I  will  do  all  I  can  for  you 
Mr.  Picquet,  rest  assured  of  it.  Beg  the  Superior  to  write  to  me. 
He  and  any  priest  he  sends  will  have  all  the  faculties  enjoyed 
by  any  other  priest  of  the  diocese.  It  is  now  so  near  Easter  I 
fear  I  will  not  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  until  I  return 
from  the  Council.  Your  Settlement  is  the  first  I  will  then  visit. 
I  hope  to  be  with  you  in  June.  That  is  not  long — so  be  not 
uneasy.  I  know  nothing  of  the  rumors  you  heard  and  to  which 
you  allude  regarding  a  division.  It  may  take  place  hereafter, 
but  perhaps  not  as  soon  as  you  intimate.  I  think  you  will  be 
mine  yet  a  while.  I  thank  you  very  much  for  your  polite  offer 
to  me  with  your  carriage.  I  shall  avail  myself  of  your  kindness 
after  a  little  while.  Present  me  affectionately  and  respectfully 
to  every  member  of  your  family  and  to  my  respected  friend,  Mr. 
Thomas,  when  you  see  him,  and  pray  for 

Yours  devotedly  in  Xto., 

William,  Bishop  of  Chicago 
To 

Mr.  Joseph  Picquet,  Esqr. 

Ste.  Marie,  111. 


s  An  ecclesiastical  society  founded  at  Caen,  France,  on  March  25,  1643, 
by  St.  Jean  Eudes.  The  principal  works  of  the  society  are  the  education  of 
priests  in  seminaries  and  the  giving  of  missions.  A  colony  of  Eudists  came 
to  America  for  the  diocese  of  Vincennes,  in  1836.  After  spending  one  year 
in  educational  institutions  in  Maryland  they  arrived  at  Vincennes  and  took 
charge  of  the  new  St.  Gabriel's  College  in  that  town. 


360  DOCUMENTS 

VII 

Chicago,  Illinois 
June  7,  1846 
Dear  and  respected  Sir:- 

Had  I  taken  the  advice  of  the  Bishop  of  Vincennes  I  would 
have  visited  you  on  my  way  home  from  the  Council,  but  I  feared 
to  do  so  lest  engagements  that  I  had  made  here  before  my  de- 
parture might  be  interfered  with,  and  to  the  prejudice  of  re- 
ligion. I  have  heard  from  Reverend  Mr.  Hamilton  how  matters 
are  in  that  section  of  the  diocese,  and  I  have  already  sent  a 
priest  who  will  attend  to  St.  Francisville,  Coffee,  and  Mt.  Carmel, 
and  who  will  reach  his  destination  in  a  few  days.  Your  Settle- 
ment I  have  not  lost  sight  of.  When  at  Buffalo  I  had  a  conver- 
sation with  the  Reverend  Mr.  Bayard,  who  stated  that  some 
clergymen  (Benedictines)  were  anxious  to  make  a  foundation 
in  this  diocese.9  I  spoke  of  your  place,  and  he  thought  they 
would  be  pleased  to  settle  there,  if  sufficient  encouragement  were 
held  out.  Will  you,  dear  sir,  be  so  kind  as  to  inform  me  how 
much  land  you  felt  disposed  to  give  to  a  religious  order,  and  also 
what  other  grants  of  money  or  materials  for  building  etc.  These 
particulars  I  wish  to  communicate  to  the  Reverend  Mr.  Bayard, 
who  will  write,  when  he  receives  them,  to  the  Principal  of  the 
Order — and  who  has  already  consulted  him  about  the  removal 
of  these  clergymen  to  this  country — or  if  it  were  convenient  you 
might  address  a  few  lines  to  Reverend  Mr.  Bayard,  Ste.  Mary's 
Church,  Buffalo. 

I  should  be  very  happy  could  you  induce  the  Very  Reverend 
Mr.  Hamilton  to  remain  with  you  for  some  time.  I  have  assigned 
him  another  Mission  but  I  know  yours  is  most  in  need  at  pres- 
ent; therefore,  he  would  have  my  full  permission  to  remain 
there. 

When  in  conversation  with  the  Bishop  of  Vincennes  he  re- 
quested that  I  write  to  Mr.  Thomas  to  make  out  the  deeds  of 
such  church  property  as  is  by  him  (the  Bishop  of  Vincennes) 
to  be  transferred  to  me.  Will  you  kindly  at  your  convenience 
ask  of  Mr.  Thomas  to  please  make  them  out  agreeably  to  the  act 
past  by  the  Legislature  of  this  State  in  favor  of  the  Bishop  of 


9  A  colony  of  Benedictines  who  had  contemplated  coming  to  Sainte 
Marie  arrived  in  this  country  from  Einsiedeln,  Switzerland,  under  Abbot 
Wimmer  as  their  leader.  Upon  arriving  at  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania, 
Bishop  O'Connor  kept  them  in  his  diocese,  placing  them  at  St.  Vincent, 
Pennsylvania. 


DOCUMENTS  361 

the  diocese  holding  property  in  trust  for  Religious  Societies,  etc., 
except  the  Deed  of  the  lot  upon  which  my  own  house  stands,  that 
I  would  retain  as  personal  property  for  the  present,  owing  to 
certain  circumstances  that  I  may  explain  to  you  hereafter. 

If  V.  Reverend  Mr.  Hamilton  be  still  in  your  section  of  the 
country  he  would  attend  to  those  matters  and  save  you  the 
trouble.  I  hope  you  will  pardon  the  liberty  I  take  in  writing  to 
you  on  these  matters.  I  would  not  presume  were  I  not  already 
aware  of  your  kindness  to  me — together  with  that,  I  hope  Mr. 
Hamilton  may  be  still  in  your  neighborhood  and  he  will  attend 
to  all.  Altho'  he  wrote  me  he  did  not  tell  me  when  a  letter  would 
reach  him.  Let  me  then  beg  of  you  one  favor  more  and  that  is 
to  request  of  V.  Reverend  Mr.  Hamilton  to  make  a  thorough 
visitation  of  that  section  of  the  diocese  before  he  leaves,  and 
write  to  me  all  the  particulars — this  would  save  me  a  long  jour- 
ney at  present,  especially  as  there  are  no  children  to  be  Con- 
firmed. 

Please  present  me  most  respectfully  to  each  member  of  your 
family  and  believe  me, 

Your  attached  friend  in  Xto., 

William,  Bishop  of  Chicago 
To 

Mr.  Joseph  Picquet,  Esq. 

Ste.  Marie,  Illinois 

vin 

Chicago,  Illinois 
July  13,  1846 
Dear  and  respected  friend :- 

Together  with  this  will  be  deposited  in  the  post  office  today, 
a  letter  for  Reverend  Mr.  Bayard  of  Buffalo.  I  have  extracted 
from  your  letter  those  paragraphs  that  specify  the  amount  of 
the  donation  you  are  willing  to  bestow  on  a  religious  community, 
together  with  the  conditions  subject  to  which  such  donation 
would  be  made,  and  sent  them  to  the  Reverend  Gentleman  for 
his  consideration.  I  accompanied  them  not  with  comment,  as  I 
wish  to  have  his  opinion  who  himself  belongs  to  a  religious  com- 
munity. To  avoid  the  difficulties  to  which  you  allude  in  your 
letter,  it  is  no  doubt  necessary  to  proceed  with  just  prudence  and 
caution  in  this  matter,  therefore,  I  shall  not  speak  further  on  the 
affair  until  I  hear  from  Rev.  Mr.  Bayard — but  you  will  at  the 
same  time  be  assured  of  my  most  anxious  wish  to  do  whatever 


362  DOCUMENTS 

I  think  will  advance  the  interest  of  our  holy  religion  in  all  parts 
of  the  diocese  and  especially  do  I  feel  inclined  to  second  your 
pious  wishes  to  the  full  extent  of  my  ability. 

You  cannot,  dear  sir,  feel  more  anxious  for  a  visit  from  your 
Bishop,  than  he  is  desirous  of  paying  it — but  the  good  of  re- 
ligion, at  least  in  his  humble  opinion,  obliged  him  to  forego  a 
pleasure,  and  defer  a  duty  for  a  while,  and  entrust  the  visiting 
of  a  portion  of  his  diocese  to  his  Vicar  General,  whilst  he  gave 
his  care  to  the  forwarding  of  an  Institution  upon  which  the 
future  hopes  of  the  diocese  mainly  rest,  and  without  which  the 
field  of  the  Church  here  must  necessarily  be  left  an  uncultivated 
waste.  The  seminary  is  now  built  and  already  inhabited.  The 
diocese  has  at  length  an  ecclesiastical  seminary,  thank  God,  and 
by  and  by  you  will  see  me,  I  trust,  free  from  apprehension  lest 
the  work  should  be  discontinued,  ready  to  pass  whole  days  in 
your  agreeable  society  and  under  your  hospitable  roof.  I  must 
however  defer  my  visit  South  until  the  oppressive  heat  moder- 
ates, for  altho'  I  am  pretty  much  fire  proof,  yet  I  don't  relish 
being  scorched  too  much. 

I  thank  you  kindly  for  your  prompt  attention  to  that  part  of 
my  letter  which  related  to  the  Deeds  of  the  Church  property. 
I  have  written  to  the  V.  Reverend  Mr.  Hamilton  requesting  him 
to  remain  with  you.    I  hope  he  will  consent. 

With  best  wishes  for  the  health  and  happiness  of  yourself 
and  each  member  of  your  respected  family,  I  have  the  honor  to 
remain, 

Your  obedient  servant  in  Xto., 

William,  Bishop  of  Chicago 
To 

Mr.  Joseph  Picquet,  Esq. 

Ste.  Marie,  Illinois 

IX 

Chicago,  Illinois 
August  1,  1846 
My  dear  friend :- 

I  am  just  in  receipt  of  a  letter  from  Reverend  Mr.  Hamilton, 
telling  me  that  he  is  appointed  pastor  of  a  church  in  St.  Louis. 
At  your  request  and  his  own  [Ms.?]  I  had  given  him  an  ap- 
pointment to  your  Settlement.  Whereas  he  will  not  content  him- 
self in  this  poor  diocese,  we  must  still  not  lose  courage,  but  en- 
deavor to  get  some  one  to  fill  his  place  at  Ste.  Marie.     I  will 


DOCUMENTS  363 

appoint  another  then,  after  two  or  three  weeks  and  hereafter  I 
trust  you  shall  not  have  cause  to  complain  of  being  forgotten 
or  neglected. 

I  take  leave  to  send  you  a  view  of  our  new  University  erected 
during  the  present  year.     I  may  say  I  shall  be  down  towards 
the  close  of  September  or  the  beginning  of  October.     My  re- 
spectful regards  to  each  member  of  your  family.    Do  pray  for, 
Your  devoted  friend  and  bishop, 

William,  Bishop  of  Chicago 
To 

Mr.  Joseph  Picquet,  Esqr. 

Ste.  Marie,  Illinois 

X 

Chicago,  Illinois 
November  22, 1846 
My  dear  friend  :- 

I  avail  myself  of  the  first  moment  of  leisure  since  my  return, 
to  make  my  most  grateful  acknowledgements  to  you — to  your 
honored  parents — and  to  your  amiable  sisters,  for  the  kind  at- 
tentions I  received  from  all  during  my  most  agreeable  and  happy 
visit  to  Ste.  Marie.  The  few  days  I  spent  in  the  society  of  your 
esteemed  family  are  a  sunny  spot  in  my  life,  to  which  the  mind 
will  often  revert  with  pleasure. 

You  know  my  warm  attachment  for  yourself.  Assure  your 
parents  and  sisters  that  prayers  shall  be  offered  up  for  their 
temporal  and  eternal  happiness. 

The  polite  attentions  of  those  gentlemen  that  escorted  me  to 
your  Settlement,  and  again  accompanied  us  on  the  morning  of 
our  departure,  are  also  remembered  by  me  with  much  gratitude. 

I  have  not  since  heard  from  the  Lazarists.  I  hope  you  have 
come  to  some  terms  favorable  to  your  pious  views.  We  have 
had  yesterday  in  our  Cathedral  the  solemn  profession  of  a  nun. 
The  church  was  crowded  to  overflowing  and  chiefly  by  Protes- 
tants. All  the  wealth,  intelligence  and  respectability  of  the  city 
was  there  fairly  represented.  The  grandeur  of  our  Catholic 
ceremonial  was  displayed  to  full  perfection  and  fully  sustained 
itself.  All  departed  when  the  profession  was  over — struck, 
awed,  and  favorably  impressed.  Oh!  how  sublime  is  our  holy 
Religion!  What  resources  has  she  always  at  her  command! 
All  others,  cold,  lifeless — She  full  of  dignity,  of  grandeur,  of 
sublimity — of  life — of  soul! 


364  DOCUMENTS 

Tell  Miss  Mary,  if  you  please,  we  have  a  delightful  little 
room,  or  what  nuns  call  a  cell  in  reserve  for  her  when  she  has 
fully  made  up  her  mind.  Misses  Matilda  and  Amelia  are  not 
forgotten  either.  How  is  Reverend  Mr.  Griffin  ?  Please  remem- 
ber me  to  him  affectionately  and  accept  the  assurance  of  the 
unaltered  regard  of 

Your  devoted  friend  in  Xto., 

William,  Bishop  of  Chicago 
P.  S.    Please  ask  your  pious  Father  and  Mother  to  pray  for  me 
and  the  diocese  under  my  charge.    Kind  regards  to  Rev. 
Mr.  Vabret. 
To 

Mr.  Joseph  Picquet,  Esqr. 

Ste.  Marie,  HI. 

XI 

Chicago,  Illinois 
March  18,  1847 
Dear  Sir:- 

Your  kind  and  welcome  letter  was  received  yesterday.  I 
hasten  to  acknowledge  it  lest  the  pressure  of  duties  incident  to 
the  approaching  last  week  of  Lent  might  prevent  my  doing  so 
for  some  time.  I  am  happy  to  learn  from  you  that  religious 
matters  look  well  and  are  prosperous  at  Ste.  Marie.  It  is  indeed 
consoling  to  hear  such  good  news,  but  I  have  little  fears  for 
Ste.  Marie.  The  Patroness  you  have  chosen  will  not  cease  to 
watch  over  you  and  intercede  for  you,  and  happily  you  of  her 
can  have  the  proper  sentiments  and  right  devotion.  Ste.  Marie 
is  a  select  spot,  and  selected,  too,  are  those  who  have  settled 
there.    May  you  prosper,  is  my  earnest  prayer. 

It  gratifies  me  also  to  learn,  you  may  be  sure,  that  I  was  not 
deceived  in  my  estimate  of  the  piety  and  strict  devotion  to  his 
duty  of  Reverend  Mr.  Griffith,  but  as  I  promised  to  give  him 
another  Mission  after  some  time  I  do  not  wish  to  violate  my 
promise  or  disappoint  his  expectations,  so  I  have  just  written 
him  to  come  to  the  Retreat  and  come  prepared  not  to  return.  I 
intend  sending  in  his  place  a  young  clergyman  who  is  very 
familiar  with  the  French  language  and  who  may  be  more  useful 
at  Ste.  Marie  amongst  the  great  bulk  of  settlers  than  Reverend 
Mr.  Griffith  could  be,  owing  to  his  deficiency  in  that  language. 
Now  you  see  I  am  determined,  God  willing,  that  you  shall  not 
be  strangers  to  my  care  any  longer. 


DOCUMENTS  365 

You  say  that  you  will  visit  St.  Louis  in  April.  Can  you  not 
extend  your  journey  a  little  farther  and  come  and  see  us  in 
Chicago?  The  clergy  will  be  all  assembled  for  Retreat — the 
Jubliee  will  be  opened  for  them  and  the  week  following  for  the 
laity,  and  you  will  have  a  week  or  two  of  spiritual  and  religious 
enjoyment  the  equal  of  which  you  may  not  have  enjoyed  since 
you  left  Europe.  I  should  be  also  delighted  to  see  your  Ven- 
erable and  honored  Father  and  Mother.  You  might  bring  one  or 
both  of  them  along.  It  would  refresh  them  and  make  them  feel 
youthful  again. 

I  hope  you  will  accept  this  invitation  both  for  yourself  and 
parents.  Your  Father,  if  he  comes  will  take  his  apartments 
next  to  my  own — your  Mother  with  the  Sisters  of  Mercy.  Your 
own  self  amongst  the  clergy.  Now  you  see  I  have  it  all  fixed. 
So  don't  disappoint  me  for  this  is  not  a  mere  matter  of  form 
invitation.  I  give  none  such.  I  know  a  religious  festival  such 
as  we  hope  to  have  here  for  two  weeks  would  rejoice  the  hearts 
of  your  pious  and  worthy  parents  and  I  would  be  most  anxious 
that  they  be  with  us.  The  journey  can  be  easily  performed  for 
the  navigation  is  now  open.  You  must  come  by  all  means.  Let 
not  your  excellent  sisters  imagine  I  overlook  them,  by  no  means. 
I  shall  be  happy  to  see  them,  they  may  be  assured,  at  any  time, 
but  it  might  be  supposed  if  I  invited  them  too  at  this  time, 
happy  as  I  would  be  to  see  them,  I  was  not  in  earnest.  Your 
parents  I  do  want  to  see  at  this  Retreat. 

Accept  the  assurance  of  the  sincere  regard  of, 
Your  devoted  friend  in  Xto., 

William,  Bishop  of  Chicago 
To 

Mr.  Joseph  Picquet,  Esqr. 

Ste.  Marie,  Illinois 

xn 

Chicago,  Illinois 
September  8, 1847 
Dear  and  respected  friend :- 

This  will  be  handed  you  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Plathe  whom  I  have 
appointed  your  pastor  at  least  for  some  time.  I  am  certain  you 
will  be  pleased  with  him,  for  he  is  both  pious  and  zealous,  and 
capable  of  doing  much  good  on  the  Missions.  I  recall  the  Rev- 
erend Mr.  Sheaf er  [Schaeffer]  here.  It  may  not  be  long  until  I 
have  the  pleasure  of  visiting  again  your  Settlement  and  of  en- 


366  DOCUMENTS 

joying  for  a  time  the  delightful  society  of  your  excellent  family, 
to  each  member  of  which  I  beg  a  kind  and  respectful  remem- 
brance, especially  to  your  honored  Parents. 

Pray  my  dear  sir  for  this  diocese  and  for  him  who  has  the 
pleasure  to  subscribe  himself, 

Your  friend  in  Xto., 

William,  Bishop  of  Chicago 
P.  S.    I  send  this  by  post  that  it  may  reach  you  sooner  than  the 

arrival  of  Reverend  Mr.  Plathe. 
To 

Mr.  Joseph  Picquet,  Esqr. 

Ste.  Marie,  Illinois 

XIII 

Chicago,  Illinois 
December  6,  1847 
Dear  Sir:- 

Your  kind  and  welcome  letter  is  this  day  received.  It  is  long 
since  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  a  line  from  you,  altho'  I  desired 
it  much.  My  disappointment  was  indeed  great  not  to  be  present 
at  the  consecration  of  Doctor  Bazin,  but  it  was  not  my  fault.10 
So  close  to  Vincennes  and  yet  unable  to  reach  there.  At  Paris, 
almost  in  view  of  Ste.  Marie,  and  of  my  dear  and  respected 
friends,  and  not  able  to  exchange  with  them  one  word  of  salu- 
tation or  of  friendship.  Was  it  not  provoking?  But  I  took  it 
that  it  was  the  Will  of  God  and  that  his  Providence  had  regard 
to  some  poor  soul  that  might  have  been  benefitted  that  Sunday, 
and  I,  altho'  unworthy,  was  to  be  his  happy  instrument.  May  it 
not  have  been  so  ?  For  how  unsearchable  are  the  ways  of  God ! 
At  Vincennes  I  would  have  had  the  pleasure — at  Paris  the  poor 
souls  that  assembled  there  enjoyed  to  all  appearance  this  dis- 
appointment of  mine  and  seemed  happy.  I  must  reserve  the 
details  of  that  half  week's  adventure,  if  I  may  use  the  expres- 
sion, for  some  fine  evening  when  I  have  the  pleasure,  next  spring, 


io  John  Stephen  Bazin,  third  Bishop  of  Vincennes,  was  born  in  1796,  in 
the  diocese  of  Lyons,  France,  where  he  entered  the  priesthood.  In  1830  he 
came  as  a  missionary  to  the  diocese  of  Mobile,  where  for  a  period  of  seven- 
teen years  he  labored  with  great  zeal  and  devotedness  for  the  Church  in 
the  city  of  Mobile.  He  was  Vicar  General  to  Bishop  Portier.  Upon  the 
recommendation  of  the  sixth  Provincial  Council  of  Baltimore,  he  was  ap- 
pointed Bishop  of  Vincennes.  His  consecration  took  place  in  the  Cathedral 
of  Vincennes,  on  October  24,  1847,  Bishop  Portier  being  the  consecrator. 
In  the  Providence  of  God  he  was  almost  immediately  stricken  down  and 
expired  on  April  23,  1848. 


DOCUMENTS  367 

to  be  surrounded  by  my  revered  friends  at  Ste.  Marie  and  then 
I  shall  narrate  all. 

I  am  happy  to  learn  from  your  letter  that  you  are  so  much 
pleased  with  the  Reverend  Mr.  Plathe.  The  Reverend  Mr. 
Sheaf er  [Schaeffer]  is  well  and  when  I  see  him  I  shall  present 
him  your  compliments  as  you  desire.  When  are  we  to  hope  for 
that  long  promised  visit?  You  may  be  sure  that  you  will  be 
welcome. 

To  each  and  every  one,  especially  to  your  honored  parents 
do  I  desire  a  kind  and  affectionate  remembrance — whilst  I  re- 
main as  ever, 

Yours  most  devotedly, 

William,  Bishop  of  Chicago 
To 

Mr.  Joseph  Picquet,  Esqr. 

Ste.  Marie,  Illinois 

XIV 

Chicago,  Illinois 
December  8, 1847 
My  dear  Mr.  Picquet :- 

*  I  have  just  received  your  kind  letter  postmarked  Vincennes, 
December  1.  How  very  kind  of  you  to  translate  that  false  letter. 
The  origin  of  Reverend  Mr.  Plathe's  difficulty  here  was  his 
having  denounced  a  man  of  the  name  of  Bumgarter  from  the 
altar,  on  Sunday,  in  his  church.  I  reproved  him  and  he  acknowl- 
edged his  error.  But  then  came  his  persecution.  I  can  call  it 
by  no  other  name,  because,  altho'  I  sat  patiently  (?)  seven  days, 
to  hear  witnesses  and  their  accusations  against  him,  nothing 
appeared  in  evidence  to  cause  me  even  to  reprove  him.  That 
affair  to  which  allusion  is  made  in  the  letter  you  translated  was 
the  burden  of  all.  But  no  proof — all  hearsay,  suspicion,  etc., 
etc. ! ! !  I  told  them  I  would  not  send  him  from  his  congregation 
as  there  was  no  proof  of  guilt.  Then  the  few  that  were  against 
him  became  desperate,  Divusy  [Diversey?]  especially!  Oh!  it 
was  soul  harrassing  to  me.  He,  Plathe,  asked  to  go.  I  gave  him 
leave  for  they  would  not  pay  him.  Yet  the  majority  of  the  con- 
gregation were  petitioning  me  in  his  behalf.  He  did  not  leave 
stealthily  or  by  night  fearing  any  consequence.  The  stage  starts 
and  he  might  have  left  before  day.  We  apprehended  nothing  of 
what  is  in  that  letter  intimated.  I  rather  think  the  writer  has 
transferred  his  own  fears  to  another. 


368  DOCUMENTS 

Divusy  has  just  left  me,  after  making  complaints  against 
poor  Reverend  Mr.  Sheafer  too.  I  fear  I  shall  not  be  able  to 
keep  any  priest  with  these  unfortunate  people.  The  priest  will 
fear  for  their  character,  to  approach  them.  There  is  some  evil 
spirit  at  work,  I  fear  in  the  mind  of  that  man.  May  God  convert 
him.  I  shall  have  to  send  Reverend  Mr.  Sheafer  off  now.  Divusy 
says,  and  he  is  the  leader  of  a  faction,  they  will  not  have  him. 

I  had  a  letter  from  Reverend  Mr.  Plathe  asking  his  letters. 
I  take  leave  to  enclose  them  herein.  I  suppose  since  those 
rumors  have  gone  abroad  his  usefulness  in  this  diocese  is  de- 
stroyed— be  he  innocent  or  not. 

I  lose  not  a  moment  in  answering  your  kind  letter  so  I  can 
scarcely  tell  what  I  have  written  so  hastily  have  I  written,  but 
I  hope  it  will  satisfy  you  that  I  did  not  send  you  a  priest,  sup- 
posing him  guilty  of  any  faults  of  a  base  or  material  nature — no 
I  sent  him  because  I  believed  him  innocent  and  to  protect  his 
character  if  I  could. 

My  most  respectful  regards  to  all  your  family  and  believe  me, 
Yours  sincerely  and  devotedly, 

William,  Bishop  of  Chicago 
To 

Mr.  Joseph  Picquet,  Esqr. 

Ste.  Marie,  Illinois 


NEWS  AND  COMMENTS 

The  sketch  of  the  Venerable  Padre  Fray  Antonio  Margil  de 
Jesus  (1657-1726)  in  the  current  issue  of  Mid- America  brings 
to  the  notice  of  its  readers  one  of  the  most  appealing  figures  in 
the  history  of  Catholic  missionary  enterprise  within  the  present 
limits  of  the  United  States.  Franciscan  missionary  zeal  was 
conspicuously  instrumental  in  planting  the  first  seeds  of  Ca- 
tholicism in  the  old  Spanish  Southwest  and  the  record  of  its 
activities  may  well  become  one  of  the  most  inspiring  chapters 
in  history.  The  significance  of  the  achievement,  the  appalling 
hardships  under  which  it  was  carried  through,  the  notable  re- 
sults in  which  it  issued,  are  all  gathered  up  and  reproduced  in 
the  career  of  the  holy  Franciscan  friar,  Antonio  Margil,  already 
declared  Venerable  by  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  Gregory  XVI,  and, 
it  is  hoped,  to  be  raised  in  no  long  time  by  the  Holy  See  to  the 
ranks  of  the  Blessed.  It  is  to  interest  Catholics  in  the  cause  of 
the  beatification  of  the  Venerable  Margil  and  to  engage  their 
prayers  for  its  promotion,  that  Dr.  Forrestal  has  compiled  his 
splendid  sketch,  which,  subsequently  to  its  appearance  in  Mid- 
America,  will  be  given  additional  publicity  through  the  pious 
enterprise  of  the  Texas  Knights  of  Columbus  Historical  Com- 
mission. May  the  cause  of  the  Venerable  Margil  meet  with 
every  success  and  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States  be  privi- 
leged soon  to  invoke  and  honor  as  thdr  intercessor  in  heaven 
this  glorious  figure  of  an  ideal  missionary  who  lived  and  labored 
for  a  span  within  the  limits  of  the  country  that  we  call  our  own. 


The  initial  issue  of  the  Archivum  Historicum  Societatis  Jesu, 
a  review  devoted  to  the  history  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  made  its 
appearance  January  20, 1932.  It  is  published  in  Rome  under  the 
editorial  management  of  Father  Peter  Leturia,  S.  J.,  with  whom 
are  associated  as  cooperators  eminent  Jesuit  historians  of  vari- 
ous lands.  Contributions  from  non-Jesuit  writers  will  be  ad- 
mitted. Writers  will  be  free  to  use  Latin,  English,  French,  Ger- 
man, Italian,  Portuguese,  or  Spanish.  The  contents  of  the  re- 
view will  range  over  a  great  variety  of  topics  including  the  con- 
stitutional history  of  the  Jesuit  Order,  its  activities  in  the  de- 
fense and  propagation  of  the  Faith,  its  works  on  behalf  of  souls, 
its  endeavors  in  the  fields  of  education  and  science,  its  relations 
with  governments,  peoples,  etc.     As  regards  manner  of  pre- 

369 


370  NEWS  AND  COMMENTS 

sentation  the  review  will  endeavor  to  avoid  polemics,  restricting 
itself  to  publication  of  original  sources  with  objective  evaluation 
of  the  same.  Five  sections  are  contemplated :  scientific  articles, 
unpublished  and  not  easily  accessible  sources,  shorter  contribu- 
tions and  texts,  bibliographical  surveys,  and  finally  a  chronicle 
of  persons  and  things.  The  review  will  appear  twice  a  year,  in 
January  and  September.  For  libraries,  universities,  colleges, 
historical  periodicals,  as  also  for  students  and  investigators  in- 
terested in  the  important  field  to  be  covered,  it  promises  to  be 
of  the  utmost  utility  and  value.  It  may  be  noted  that  the  June, 
1932,  issue  of  the  Archivum  will  contain  an  exhaustive  bibli- 
ography of  the  recent  literature  on  Jesuit  missions  in  the  Amer- 
icas. 

The  price  of  subscription  (outside  of  Italy)  is  thirty  lire  the 
year;  for  the  single  issue,  eighteen  lire.  Subscriptions  and  all 
other  communications  to  the  review  should  be  addressed  to  the 
"Sign.  Dirretore  Arch.  Hist.  S.  I.,  Borgo  S.  Spirito  5,  Roma, 
(113)  Italy." 


Interest  in  the  frontier  chapter  of  American  history  is  peren- 
nial. The  circumstance  is  impressed  on  us  anew  by  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  impending  publication  of  two  important  doc- 
umentary series.  One  of  the  two,  Narratives  of  the  Trans- 
Mississippi  Frontier,  will  comprise  reprints  of  Western  Amer- 
icana, most  of  them  journals  and  books  of  travel  of  the  frontier 
period.  The  other,  Overland  to  the  Pacific,  a  Documentary  and 
Narrative  History  of  the  Great  West,  1819-1869,  will  be  pub- 
lished by  the  Stewart  commission  of  Colorado  College  under  the 
editorship  of  the  well-known  specialist  in  western  history, 
Archer  Butler  Hulbert.  Part  first  of  this  elaborate  series  will 
bear  the  title,  The  Crusaders  of  the  Northwest,  and  will  run  to 
eight  volumes,  with  index.  The  material  to  be  reproduced  in 
these  eight  volumes  would  cost  today  at  rare  book  prices,  so  it 
has  been  estimated,  over  forty-six  thousand  dollars.  As  show- 
ing the  interesting  new  documentary  material  to  be  made  avail- 
able in  the  Crusaders  of  the  Northwest,  the  three  hundred  docu- 
ments never  printed  before  will  include  Samuel  Parker's  report 
to  the  American  Board  after  his  tour  of  1835  in  which  the  state- 
ment is  made  that  the  "wise  men  from  the  West"  went  to  St. 


NEWS  AND  COMMENTS  371 

Louis  in  1831  not  for  the  "white  man's  book  but  merely  out  of 
curiosity,"  a  very  significant  statement  omitted  from  Parker's 
published  Journal.  Again,  "here  are  documents  to  prove  that 
Doctor  Whitman  rode  east  in  1843  neither  to  seek  political  in- 
fluence nor  merely  to  save  his  mission  but  rather  to  overcome 
Father  DeSmet's  propaganda  at  home  and  abroad." 


The  recently  published  report  (1930-1931)  of  Doctor  Jame- 
son, Chief  of  the  Division  of  Manuscripts,  Library  of  Congress, 
on  the  European  Historical  Commission  now  engaged  in  secur- 
ing photographic  reproductions  of  manuscript  material  in  Euro- 
pean libraries  bearing  on  American  history,  is  replete  with  in- 
terest. As  a  result  of  the  activity  of  the  commission  over  a  hun- 
dred thousand  documents  are  being  annually  added  to  the  Li- 
brary's great  fund  of  unpublished  papers.  The  reproductions 
received  during  the  twelve  months  ending  June  30, 1931,  amount 
to  48,333  from  Great  Britain,  66,659  from  France,  79,237  from 
Spain,  81,231  from  Germany,  9,823  from  Austria,  3,378  from 
Canada,  and  32,113  from  Mexico  and  2,863  from  elsewhere,  al- 
most all  these  last  from  places  in  the  United  States.  The  total 
is  323,637.  As  accessions  of  this  type  of  documentary  papers 
have  been  in  progress  for  a  few  years,  a  vast  amount  of  his- 
torical material  has  so  far  been  accumulated.  The  value  of  this 
material  for  the  purposes  of  students,  investigators  and  writers 
in  the  field  of  American  history  is  inestimable.  To  illustrate, 
the  diplomatic  history  of  the  American  Revolution  as  regards 
France  and  the  United  States  has  still  to  be  written  with  ade- 
quacy in  view  of  the  mass  of  pertinent  and  hitherto  unutilized 
data  which  are  now  being  brought  within  reach  in  the  Library 
of  Congress.  To  the  distinguished  doyen  of  American  historical 
scholars,  Dr.  J.  Franklin  Jameson,  under  whose  uniquely  com- 
petent direction  this  great  project  is  being  carried  forward,  all 
students  in  the  field  of  American  colonial  history  will  find  them- 
selves in  lasting  debt. 


Baron  Marc  de  Villiers,  eminent  living  specialist  in  the  field 
of  Mississippi  Valley  history  of  the  French  period,  has  recently 
given  to  the  public  a  notable  study,  L'Expedition  de  Cavelier  De 
La  Salle  dans  Le  Golfe  Du  Mexique  (168If-1687)  (Maisonneuve, 


372  NEWS  AND  COMMENTS 

Paris,  1931).  This  is  a  fresh  treatment  based  partly  on  unpub- 
lished material  of  the  final  chapter  in  La  Salle's  kaleidoscopic 
career,  his  last  expedition  to  the  Gulf  Coast,  which  ended  in 
disaster  and  cost  him  his  life.  De  Villiers's  attitude  towards 
the  great  explorer  is  a  critical  one,  an  effort  being  made  to  in- 
terpret the  motives  that  lay  behind  his  often  mystifying  activ- 
ities. At  the  same  time  La  Salle's  enemies,  real  or  supposed, 
receive  more  sympathetic  treatment  than  is  generally  accorded 
them  in  the  books.  That  La  Salle  was  of  unsound  mind  has 
sometimes  been  asserted.  Jacks  in  his  recent  biography  of  the 
explorer  endeavors  to  refute  the  charge.  De  Villiers's  comments 
on  the  subject  are  interesting: 

On  his  return  to  France  in  1684  the  unfortunate  LaSalle,  whose  mental 
tendency  to  ideas  of  persecution  or  grandeur,  or  what  doctors  call  tabula- 
tion continued  to  aggravate,  seems  to  have  acted  often  like  a  somnambulist 
who,  believing  himself  to  be  walking  on  level  ground,  runs  along  the  edges 
of  a  precipice  and  finally  loses  his  equilibrium.  Instead  of  seeking,  as  all 
French  historians  have  done,  to  deny  his  mental  disturbances  during  his 
last  campaign,  and  they  are  incontestable,  one  must  on  the  contrary  not 
ignore  them,  were  it  only  to  be  able  to  plead  subsequently  the  partial 
irresponsibility  of  the  unfortunate  explorer. 

To  our  mind  LaSalle  was  not  always  completely  responsible  for  his 
acts  and  we  have  asked  Dr.  Legriffe,  an  alienist,  well  known  for  his  ven- 
tures into  the  field  of  historical  research,  for  his  opinion  on  LaSalle's  men- 
tal state.  "It  cannot  be  said,"  he  answered,  "that  LaSalle  became  insane 
or  out  of  his  mind.  He  was  at  the  end  of  his  career  merely  the  exaggera- 
tion of  what  he  always  had  been,  a  suspicious,  proud,  domineering,  and 
self-centered  individual;  from  this  to  bad  faith  there  is  only  one  step.  He 
was  what  we  call  a  paranoic,  otherwise  described  as  an  individual  whose 
judgment  and  reasoning  powers,  and,  what  issues  from  them,  morality, 
have  been  faulty  from  the  start.  The  proof  of  all  this  is  that  his  brother, 
without  having  the  undeniable  qualities  of  the  explorer,  presents  the  same 
family  defects.  .  .  .  Had  he  remained  in  France,  LaSalle  would  probably 
enough  have  ended  his  days  in  some  house  of  detention;  but  he  went 
abroad  .  .  .  like  so  many  other  ill-poised  characters  he  passed  through 
adventures  in  far  off  lands,  and  rendered  great  services  to  France  ...  to 
his  own  misfortune  he  ventured  on  undertakings  which  a  well  balanced 
mind  would  never  have  attempted. 


Professor  Arthur  Barnaby  Thomas  of  the  University  of 
Oklahoma,  whose  Forgotten  Frontiers  is  reviewed  in  the  present 
issue  of  Mid-America,  has  been  engaged  for  some  years  in  the 
study  of  that  particular  sector  of  the  eighteenth-century  Span- 
ish borderlands  which  represents  the  thrust  of  exploration  and 


NEWS  AND  COMMENTS  373 

settlement  north  of  Mexico  in  the  direction  of  the  Missouri  Val- 
ley. His  attitude  towards  Spanish  colonial  achievement  in  the 
American  Southwest  is  one  of  intelligent  and  just  apprecia- 
tion. Read,  for  example,  this  pregnant  passage  from  his  re- 
cently issued  book :  "Spain's  North  American  frontiers  are  for- 
gotten frontiers.  The  sweep  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  has  blurred 
their  silhouette  and  fathered  the  illusion  that  western  history 
runs  only  with  the  nineteenth  century.  This  delightfully  simple 
legend  summed  up  in  the  'Westward  Movement'  is  unjust.  In- 
dian civilizations,  submerged  in  the  glorification  of  the  pioneer, 
project  their  significance.  The  shambles  of  extermination  graced 
the  Nordic  westward-ho.  No  such  imprint  mars  the  scutcheon 
of  Spain  in  the  West.    There  the  Indian  bears  the  mark"  (p.  83) . 


BOOK  REVIEWS 

Missions  and  Missionaries  of  California.  By  Fr.  Zephyrin  En- 
gelhardt,  O.  F.  M.  Vol.  II,  Upper  California.  Second  Re- 
vised Edition.    Mission  Santa  Barbara,  Calif. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  contributions  to  regional 
American  history  published  in  recent  years.  It  is  time  the  debt 
the  people  of  the  United  States  owe  the  religious  orders  of  the 
Catholic  Church  be  repaid,  at  least  in  recognition  and  apprecia- 
tion. If  the  writings  of  the  early  missionaries  had  not  been 
carefully  preserved  in  the  archives  of  their  monasteries,  our 
knowledge  of  the  history  of  this  country  during  the  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years  after  the  discovery  would  be  as  incomplete  as  is 
our  knowledge  of  English  history  from  the  departure  of  the 
Romans  to  the  coming  of  Augustine.  The  missionaries  were 
educated  and  observant  men.  Naturally  they  were  interested 
in  the  beliefs,  customs,  habits  and  all  else  that  were  peculiar  to 
the  strange  people  in  this  strange  land.  Along  with  their  natural 
curiosity  they  had  also  a  purpose  in  coming  here  that  made  them 
look  upon  the  savage  from  a  view  point  entirely  different  from 
that  of  all  other  observers.  Neither  their  curiosity  nor  their 
interest  was  casual.  In  the  charters  granted  the  Spanish  ad- 
venturers in  South  America  and  the  Puritan  adventurers  of  New 
England  it  was  expressly  stipulated  that  one  of  the  reasons  for 
the  grants  by  the  Crown  was  the  royal  wish  that  the  natives  be 
converted  to  the  Christian  religion.  In  New  England  the  only 
serious  attempt  to  carry  out  the  king's  command  was  that  of 
John  Elliot.  As  for  the  rest  of  the  people  the  annual  Indian 
hunt  can  hardly  be  looked  upon  as  a  Christian  crusade  for  the 
purpose  of  bringing  souls  to  Christ.  In  Mexico  and  South  Amer- 
ica the  work  of  Christianizing  the  savages  was  left  to  the  mis- 
sionaries. And  the  missionaries  did  work  for  the  Christianiza- 
tion  of  the  natives.  That  was  their  primary  purpose  in  coming 
here. 

The  missionaries  wrote  complete  reports  of  their  work.  As 
historical  documents  these  reports  are  of  inestimable  value. 
There  was  no  thought  in  the  minds  of  the  writers  that  their 
narratives  might  enable  them  to  advance  to  a  high  worldly  posi- 
tion. They  were  contented  in  the  position  in  which  their  superi- 
ors had  placed  them  and  their  sole  desire  was  the  salvation  of 
the  souls  of  the  savages  around  them.    It  was  this  that  made 

374 


BOOK  REVIEWS  375 

their  viewpoint  as  observers  completely  different  from  that  of 
all  secular  observers.  They  studied  the  savage  as  a  man,  not 
as  a  draft  animal  nor  as  an  enemy.  And  in  the  case  of  the 
Franciscans  they  were  filled  with  a  pity  that  was  as  poignant 
as  that  of  St.  Francis  for  the  stricken  people  of  Italy.  Their 
reports,  then,  are  real  human  documents. 

This  is  very  clearly  seen  in  this  second  volume  of  the  history 
of  the  California  Missions  by  Father  Engelhardt.  The  labor  of 
compiling  and  arranging  the  documents  and  then  writing  an  in- 
teresting and  authoritative  history  was  immense.  Father  En- 
gelhardt has  the  industry  and  possesses  the  qualifications  requi- 
site for  the  production  of  a  history  based  on  sources.  Unlike 
several  recent  source  histories  his  work  may  be  read  by  the 
general  public  as  well  as  by  the  student  of  American  origins. 
In  this  respect  he  has  followed  the  best  examples  of  historical 
writing.  Perhaps  one  of  the  reasons  for  popular  ignorance  of 
our  early  history,  and  popular  indifference  also,  is  the  deliberate 
refusal  of  historical  scholars  to  attempt  to  make  history  inter- 
esting to  the  general  reader.  However,  when  we  read  authori- 
tative books  like  those  of  Mr.  James  T.  Adams,  and  the  very 
new  Only  Yesterday  by  Professor  Allen,  we  may  believe  histori- 
cal scholars  are  again  assuming  the  attitude  of  Thucydides, 
Lingard  and  Macauley. 

It  is  impossible  in  a  review  to  give  an  adequate  idea  of  this 
great  work.  It  contains  an  exhaustive  history  of  the  administra- 
tion of  Father  Junipero  Serra,  founder  of  the  Californian  Mis- 
sions, and  of  the  administrations  of  Father  Fermin  Francisco 
de  Lasuen  and  Father  Estevan  Tapis.  The  period  covered  is 
between  1768  and  1812.  The  first  mission  in  Upper  California 
was  established  by  Father  Serra  at  San  Diego.  From  there  he 
and  his  companions  advanced  establishing  missions  all  along  the 
Californian  coast.  In  chapters  fifteen  and  sixteen  Father  Engel- 
hardt gives  an  interesting  account  of  the  work  of  the  mission- 
aries. It  should  be  remembered  that  the  Indians  of  Upper  Cali- 
fornia were  very  different  from  the  Indians  of  the  eastern  part 
of  the  country.  The  habits  of  the  Californians  were  scarcely 
above  those  of  the  lowest  wild  beasts.  Father  Engelhardt  quotes 
Tuthill  who  said  that  "of  all  wretchedly  and  debased  and  utterly 
brutish  beings  the  Indians  of  California  were  the  farthest  fallen 
below  the  average  Indian  type.  They  were  neither  brave  nor 
bold,  neither  generous  nor  spirited.     We  hear  of  no  orators 


376  BOOK  REVIEWS 

among  them,  no  bold  braves  terribly  resenting  and  contesting  the 
usurpations  of  the  whites.  They  were  'Diggers,'  filthy  and 
cowardly  succumbing  without  a  blow  to  the  rule  of  foreign  mas- 
ters. They  were  as  contemptible  physically  as  intellectually,  and 
evinced  as  little  traces  of  conscience  as  of  a  reasoning  faculty." 
To  civilise  these  savages  was  a  difficult  task.  The  Franciscans 
attacked  the  problem  methodically.  They  first  endeavored  to 
secure  safety  and  tolerable  comfort  in  material  affairs  for  the 
savages.  They  taught  them  to  build  substantial  dwellings,  to 
use  the  plow,  to  crush  their  wheat  and  corn  by  means  of  water 
wheels,  to  do  carpenter  and  mason  work  after  the  European 
fashion,  to  make  soap,  hats,  and  more  suitable  clothing  than 
they  were  accustomed  to  wear.  The  old  lessons  of  industry  and 
thrift  that  had  been  successfully  taught  the  barbarians  of  the 
sixth  and  seventh  centuries  by  the  great  religious  Order  of  that 
time  were  again  taught  the  Californian  savages  with  the  in- 
evitable result  that  their  whole  attitude  toward  life  was  changed. 
Those  lessons  were  reenforced  by  the  spiritual  and  intellectual 
training  of  the  Franciscans.  The  children  were  taught  to  read 
and  write.  And  all  were  instructed  carefully  in  the  doctrines 
and  practices  of  the  Christian  religion. 

Father  Font,  an  eye  witness  of  the  methods  used  by  the  mis- 
sionaries in  converting  the  Indians,  says:  "The  methods  ob- 
served by  the  Fathers  in  the  conversion  of  the  Indians  is  to  force 
no  one  to  become  a  Christian.  They  admit  only  such  as  volun- 
tarily offer  themselves.  Then  they  instruct  those  who  volun- 
tarily come,  teach  them  how  to  bless  themselves  and  all  the  rest 
that  is  necessary.  If  they  persevere  at  the  catechism  for  two  or 
three  months  with  the  same  determination  and  if  they  have  ac- 
quired sufficient  knowledge,  then  they  are  baptized."  The  mis- 
sionary then,  continues  Father  Engelhardt,  "had  to  explain  all 
that  had  been  learned  by  heart  and  the  meaning  of  all  that  was 
observed  at  the  divine  services.  One  of  the  greatest  obstacles 
was  the  multiciplicity  of  languages.  Frequently  the  natives  of 
the  various  villages  on  meeting  at  the  missions  could  not  under- 
stand one  another."  It  was  impossible  for  the  missionaries  to 
learn  all  the  dialects,  so  a  common  language,  Spanish,  was  intro- 
duced. Thus  it  was  that  the  Castilian  became  the  universal 
language  of  the  Californian  Indians.  Interpreters  were  also 
used.  Some  of  the  Franciscans  learned  the  Indian  languages  and 
taught  the  savages  in  their  native  idiom.    The  aesthetic  faculty 


BOOK  REVIEWS  377 

of  the  Indians  was  developed  by  decorating  the  walls  and  chapels 
of  the  churches  and  community  houses  with  pictures  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  angels,  and  saints.  Community  singing  was 
practiced.  No  work  was  performed  on  Simday.  The  Indians 
attended  Mass  in  the  morning,  and  in  the  afternoon  were  devo- 
tions consisting  of  the  Rosary,  the  Litany  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
and  other  prayers  in  Spanish.  At  San  Diego  and  doubtless  at 
other  missions  the  Christmas  season  was  joyously  celebrated. 

The  History  is  illustrated  with  many  reproductions  of  old 
maps  and  missionary  scenes.  The  Appendix  contains  valuable 
notes  on  controverted  subjects  and  a  reproduction  of  the  procla- 
mation of  Governor  Johnson  declaring  the  two  hundredth  anni- 
versary of  the  birth  of  Junipero  Serra  a  legal  holiday.  It  would 
be  unpardonable  to  neglect  an  expression  of  gratitude  to  the 
Very  Reverend  Novatus  Benzing,  Minister  Provincial  of  the 
Province  of  Santa  Barbara.  Father  Benzing,  in  the  name  of 
the  Province,  defrayed  the  entire  cost  of  the  publication  of  the 
second  edition  of  the  History  of  the  Missions.  The  people  of  the 
United  States  are  indebted  to  him  for  this  generous  and  expen- 
sive act.  The  book  should  be  in  all  libraries,  and,  we  may  add, 
in  all  American  homes. 

Eneas  B.  Goodwin,  S.  T.  B.,  J.  D. 

Loyola  University 
Chicago,  HI. 

Forogtten  Frontiers:  A  Study  of  the  Spanish  Indian  Policy  of 
Don  Juan  Bautista  De  Anza,  Governor  of  New  Mexico,  1777- 
1787,  from  the  Original  Documents  in  the  Archives  of  Spain, 
Mexico  and  New  Mexico.  Translated,  edited  and  annotated 
by  Alfred  Barnaby  Thomas.  University  of  Oklahoma  Press, 
Norman,  1932,  pp.  xviii+351,  maps,  $5.00. 

In  this  work  Professor  Thomas  has  gathered  together  valu- 
able source  materials  relating  principally  to  New  Mexico.  The 
author  has  selected  six  diaries  and  relevant  correspondence  con- 
taining much  geographical  and  historical  information.  In  addi- 
tion, the  Description  of  New  Mexico  by  Padre  Juan  Agustin  de 
Morfi  gives  an  account  of  the  missions  and  pueblos,  their  loca- 
tion, their  population,  their  growth  or  decline  during  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  many  other  facts  of  great  importance 
to  the  historian  of  the  Spanish  period. 

The  title  chosen  for  the  book  is  very  appropriate,  as  the  docu- 


378  BOOK  REVIEWS 

ments  here  presented  give  us  an  insight  into  the  difficulties  that 
beset  the  Spanish  government  and  its  representatives  during  the 
critical  times  when  the  provinces  along  the  frontier  were  very 
extensive  and  subject  to  attack  by  foreign  powers,  as  well  as  by 
the  depredations  of  the  Apache  and  Comanche  Indians,  who 
were  a  constant  menace  to  the  Spanish  territories  of  the  South- 
west. Professor  Thomas  has  taken  great  pains  both  in  his 
preface  and  in  his  historical  background  to  explain  the  scope 
of  his  inquiry,  and  has  presented  abundant  data,  carefully  anno- 
tated, so  that  there  is  a  clearer  and  better  understanding  of  the 
problems  of  Governor  Anza's  rule  in  New  Mexico  during  the  last 
quarter  of  the  century  (1778-1787). 

The  author  has  made  an  excellent  contribution  to  the  history 
of  New  Mexico,  and  he  has  also  furnished  to  the  historians  of 
the  Southwest  special  information  for  a  correct  interpretation 
of  these  closing  years  of  the  Spanish  power  when  the  govern- 
ment was  trying  to  ward  off  impending  ruin.  The  chapter  deal- 
ing with  the  Comanche  problem  gives  the  history  of  the  invasion 
of  these  Indians  from  the  beginning  of  the  century.  The  incur- 
sions of  the  savages  were  very  likely  incited  by  the  French  from 
Louisiana,  and  the  struggles  that  ensued  along  the  entire  frontier 
states  kept  armies  always  alert  and  active.  Sometimes  there 
were  wars,  and  frequently  there  were  attempts  at  conciliation, 
but  even  under  the  most  favorable  conditions  there  was  never 
a  feeling  of  security.  This  was  also  the  situation  when  Anza  be- 
came governor.  His  first  expedition  was  against  the  Comanches 
in  1779,  and  he  continued  in  his  efforts  to  subdue  these  warlike 
savages  until  he  was  able  to  dictate  the  Peace  of  1786.  The 
story  of  all  these  conflicts  is  thus  graphically  summarized  by 
the  author:  "The  unwritten  record  of  this  heroic  defense  of 
New  Mexico  is  limned  with  Spanish  blood  that  alone  saved  the 
distinctive  Pueblo  Southwest  and  dulled  the  edge  of  surrounding 
savagery.  Indians  whose  lush  lands  the  English  coveted  have 
struck  their  tipis.  Enchanted  Zufii  still  warms  the  desert  sky- 
line where  the  Spanish  standard  lifted." 

The  documents  themselves,  gathered  from  the  Archivo  Gen- 
eral de  Indias  of  Seville,  the  Archivo  General  y  Publico  de  la 
Nacion  at  Mexico  City,  and  the  Santa  Fe  Archives  at  the  old 
Governor's  Palace  (New  Mexico) ,  are  well  translated  and  reveal 
for  the  first  time  in  English  this  golden  treasury  of  historical 
materials.    The  hope  is  entertained  that  the  same  scholarly  ef- 


BOOK  REVIEWS  379 

fort  will  bring  forth  an  additional  wealth  of  source  materials 
for  the  history  of  the  Southwest. 

Paul  J.  Foik,  C.  S.  C.,  Ph.  D. 
St.  Edward's  University 
Austin,  Texas 

A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest.  By  George  W.  Fuller, 
Librarian,  Spokane  Public  Library;  Secretary,  Eastern  Wash- 
ington State  Historical  Society.  Alfred  A.  Knopf,  New  York, 
1931,  pp.  vii+383,  $5.00. 

The  story  of  the  Pacific  Northwest,  the  land  "Where  rolls 
the  Oregon  and  hears  no  Sound  Save  his  own  dashings,"  will 
forever  form  a  fascinating  chapter  in  our  national  history,  and 
every  contribution  to  our  stock  of  information  on  this  interest- 
ing subject  must  be  welcomed  by  all.  Mr.  George  W.  Fuller's 
History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest  is  a  more  than  ordinary  con- 
tribution of  this  kind. 

The  author  rightly  stresses  the  fact  that  the  Pacific  North- 
west, the  "Oregon  Country"  of  old,  is  the  only  section  added  to 
the  Union  of  States  by  discovery,  exploration  and  occupation. 
'  The  discovery  made  by  Gray  in  1792  established  our  claim  to 
the  drainage  basin  of  the  Columbia  River  and  its  tributaries,  and 
Lewis  and  Clark  first  explored  the  region  in  1805-1806.  The 
Pacific  Northwest  is  the  only  region  on  the  North  American 
continent  jointly  occupied  by  two  nations,  and  the  only  terri- 
tory where  a  provisional  government  has  existed,  supported  by 
citizens  of  both  nations,  fighting  its  own  Indian  war  and  carry- 
ing on  governmental  functions  until  Congress  got  around  to 
organizing  a  Territory  in  1848  and  landing  a  governor  at  Oregon 
City  in  1849. 

After  a  well  studied  physical  description  of  the  country,  the 
author  contributes  valuable  information  on  the  aborigines. 
Painstaking  study  has  made  him  familiar  with  the  customs,  the 
mode  of  living,  the  social  morality,  the  mythology  and  religious 
practices  of  the  Red  Man.  The  view  that  our  Indians  came 
originally  from  Asia  by  way  of  the  Aleutian  Islands  will  no 
doubt  be  accepted  as  a  quite  plausible  explanation  of  their  pres- 
ence in  the  country  prior  to  the  white  man's  arrival.  Similarity 
of  language  between  far  northern  tribes  and  natives  in  Arizona 
seems  to  lend  considerable  strength  to  that  view. 

The  story  of  the  first  explorers  by  sea  and  by  land  is  well 


380  BOOK  REVIEWS 

told.  When  speaking  of  the  efforts  of  the  Spaniards  at  occupy- 
ing Nootka,  the  author  might  properly  have  made  a  reference 
to  the  first  missionary  endeavors  by  Franciscans  at  that  place 
and  on  near  by  islands.  In  the  Lewis  and  Clark  expedition  the 
strange  guide  Sacajawea,  the  Shoshone  Indian  woman,  holds  the 
reader's  attention  as  much  as,  if  not  more  than  the  two  sturdy 
explorers  themselves. 

In  the  wake  of  the  explorers  we  see  the  advance  of  the  rival 
fur  trading  companies.  The  chronicle  of  their  efforts  at  estab- 
lishing trading  posts  throughout  the  country,  and  of  the  final 
domination  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  in  the  fur  trade  forms 
deeply  interesting  chapters.  Its  first  chief  trader,  Dr.  John 
McLoughlin,  who  for  upwards  of  twenty  years  guided  the  des- 
tinies of  his  company  in  the  Oregon  Country,  an  uncrowned 
emperor  in  a  vast  wilderness,  is  given  a  becoming  meed  of  rec- 
ognition for  his  unselfish  devotion  to  his  duty,  his  superior 
ability  in  dealing  with  the  natives  and  his  unstinted  generosity 
to  the  early  American  settlers  and  missionaries,  both  Catholic 
and  Protestant. 

In  dealing  with  the  christianizing  efforts  of  the  Catholic  and 
Protestant  missionaries,  our  author  rises  above  the  average 
historian  and  tries  to  give  true  history.  It  may  surprise  many 
a  reader  to  learn  that  the  first  seeds  of  Christianity  in  the  Pacific 
Northwest  were  sown  by  laymen  and  not  by  priests  or  preachers. 
Mr.  Fuller  brings  out  this  fact  very  clearly.  It  is  refreshing  to 
follow  his  narrative  of  the  memorable  Indian  expedition  from 
the  Rocky  Mountains  to  St.  Louis  in  quest  of  Black  Robes  and 
not  of  the  White  Man's  Book.  "The  Indian  pilgrimage  bore 
curious  fruit.  The  appeal  for  Catholic  missionaries  was  an- 
swered by  the  Methodists."  Another  historical  error,  "the  Whit- 
man Saved  Oregon"  myth,  our  author  disposes  of  in  a  simple 
and  decided  manner.  Whitman's  admirers  claimed  that  he 
"saved  Oregon."  Oregon  did  not  need  any  saving  in  the  sense 
in  which  the  Whitman  admirers  claim  it  was  saved.  "There  was 
never  any  serious  danger  that  the  territory  south  of  the  Colum- 
bia would  be  lost  to  the  United  States.  In  1842  the  British  were 
resting  their  claim  only  on  that  part  of  Oregon  lying  north  of 
the  river.  The  part  of  Oregon  which  was  in  danger,  the  north- 
ern part,  was  saved  by  diplomacy  and  the  course  of  events." 

In  a  one-volume  history  of  the  Oregon  Country  one  can  hard- 
ly expect  a  lengthy  account  of  the  missionary  labors  of  the  Cath- 


BOOK  REVIEWS  381 

olic  pioneers,  secular  priests,  Oblates  and  Jesuits.  We  feel,  how- 
ever, that  the  chapter  on  "Missionary  Pioneers"  is  too  meagre 
to  allow  the  average  reader  to  gain  an  adequate  knowledge  of 
the  hardships  of  those  pioneers  and  of  the  glorious  results  of 
their  work.  The  conversion  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  tribes  and 
their  subsequent  religious  way  of  living  belong  to  the  domain  of 
general  history  fully  as  much  as  the  barbarous  customs  of  the 
Indians  in  earlier  days.  We  regret  also  that  our  Catholic  sister- 
hoods and  their  first  educational  endeavors  did  not  secure  the 
space  to  which  their  noble  work  entitled  them. 

Despite  these  deficiencies  and  some  trifling  inaccuracies  this 
History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest  is  well  worth  reading  and 
should  find  a  place  on  the  shelves  of  the  historical  sections  of 
our  libraries. 

George  F.  Weibel,  S.  J. 

Colville,  Stevens  Co.,  Wash. 

Catholic  Colonial  Maryland.    By  Rev.  Henry  S.  Spalding,  S.  J. 
The  Bruce  Publishing  Company,  Milwaukee,  pp.  xv-f  243. 

The  Introduction  to  Catholic  Colonial  Maryland  states  that 
'no  attempt  is  being  made  to  present  "the  complete  history  of 
Colonial  Maryland";  rather  insistence  is  to  be  laid  on  the  "re- 
ligious phase  of  the  subject"  and  the  "lives  of  the  colonists." 
Catholic  Colonial  Maryland  is  interesting  reading.  After  a  brief 
historical  sketch  of  England  in  the  sixteenth  century,  with  par- 
ticular emphasis  on  religious  matters,  the  author  launches  into 
his  subject  proper.  The  attempt  to  recreate  the  life  of  the  people 
leads  to  the  discussion  of  such  a  variety  of  topics  as  houses, 
household  furnishings,  chimneys,  cooking,  fruit  trees,  flowers, 
foods,  hospitality,  education,  dances,  slavery,  the  making  of 
candles,  soap,  maple  sugar  and  clothes.  As  a  result  of  this  vivid 
presentation  we  are  enabled  to  recreate  the  atmosphere  and  con- 
ditions of  those  other  days;  the  colonists  live  again.  Not  only 
can  we  follow  them  as  they  go  about  their  daily  tasks,  but  we 
are  able  to  appreciate  more  fully  the  heroism  of  the  days  of 
persecution  which  followed  upon  the  accession  of  William  and 
Mary.  Among  other  results  of  the  administrations  of  Governors 
Nicholson,  Seymour  and  Hart  was  the  writing  of  a  glorious 
chapter  in  the  history  of  the  commonwealth  about  the  Ches- 
apeake. 

But  the  high  standard  of  the  purely  narrative  parts  of  the 


382  BOOK  REVIEWS 

volume  is  not  sustained  when  the  really  difficult  problems  of 
the  colony's  history  are  dealt  with.  This  is  especially  true  of 
the  discussion  of  such  controverted  points  as  the  relations  of 
the  Jesuits  to  the  proprietors,  and  the  clash  between  Claiborne 
and  the  Calverts.  This  latter  controversy  was  not  so  simple  and 
one-sided  as  the  handling  of  it  seems  to  imply.  Thus,  for  ex- 
ample, no  mention  is  made  of  the  facts  vouched  for  by  Channing 
(Vol.  II,  256)  on  reliable  evidence,  that  Claiborne  had  estab- 
lished a  post  on  Kent  Island  at  least  by  1629,  possibly  as  early 
as  1625,  and  that  this  settlement  had  sent  a  representative  to 
the  Virginia  Assembly  in  1631.  Moreover,  a  letter  from  the 
Privy  Council  in  England  to  the  Virginia  Assembly  had  given 
assurance  that  private  rights  were  not  to  be  affected  by  the 
grant  to  Lord  Baltimore.  If  these  be  the  facts  it  is  impossible 
to  dismiss  the  claims  of  Claiborne  as  "forced  and  inconsiderate." 
Claims  such  as  Claiborne's  were  not  invalidated  because  waste- 
lands and  unoccupied  territory  abounded  in  the  vicinity. 

Statements  of  doubtful  historical  accuracy  are  to  be  found 
in  several  places.  Thus,  to  cite  an  instance  or  two,  it  is  by  no 
means  certain  that  the  Franklin-Carroll  mission  to  Canada  in 
1776  would  have  been  a  success  even  if  the  causes  of  failure 
mentioned  on  page  181  had  been  eliminated.  For  in  any  case 
the  intense  pro-British  sympathies  of  Bishop  Briand  were  a 
force  to  be  reckoned  with.  Again,  the  most  recent  study  of  the 
Franco-American  Alliance  of  1778  comes  to  the  conclusion  that 
causes  other  than  the  influence  of  Charles  Carroll  were  the 
factors  which  determined  Louis  XVI  to  come  to  the  support  of 
the  American  Colonies  in  their  struggle  with  England. 

It  was  inevitable  that  the  motives  of  the  Calverts  in  found- 
ing the  colony  of  Maryland  should  come  up  for  discussion.  Ac- 
count is  taken  of  the  difficulty  of  defining  "the  principles  which 
inspire  any  man's  actions"  in  any  given  case,  a  difficulty  en- 
hanced beyond  measure  when  the  individual  in  question  lived  in 
another  age  and  under  vastly  different  conditions.  The  limited 
character  and  number  of  documentary  sources  but  add  to  the 
difficulty.  But  if  human  motives  are  always  complex,  is  it  not 
quite  possible  that  each  of  "the  extreme  theories"  mentioned  on 
page  218  "may  yet  include  a  portion  of  it  [the  truth]  ?"  On 
that  supposition  it  is  arbitrary  to  assume  that  whosoever  "as- 
sailed his  motives"  must  have  viewed  them  "through  the  dis- 
torting lenses  of  prejudice,  bigotry,  injustice,  and  resentment" 


BOOK  REVIEWS  383 

(p.  216).  The  author  would  have  strengthened  his  case  very 
greatly  by  citing  more  recent  students  in  support  of  his  view. 
Because  of  the  discoveries  made  since  his  death  Orestes  A. 
Brownson  is  not  today  an  authority  of  great  weight.  In  short, 
on  the  evidence  presented  it  appears  very  hazardous  to  conclude 
that  "the  main  purpose  of  the  Lords  Baltimore  in  founding 
Maryland  was  without  doubt  a  religious  one"  (p.  221).  More- 
over, one  might  well  ask  whether  the  policy  of  the  Baltimores 
was  determined  by  abstract  devotion  to  principle,  or  whether  it 
was  not  influenced  to  a  considerable  extent  by  conditions  in 
England.  Could  Baltimore  have  adopted  a  less  liberal  policy  and 
still  secured  a  charter?  Was  not  toleration  of  every  Christian 
sect  the  minimum  that  would  be  allowed  by  a  non-Catholic  gov- 
ernment in  exchange  for  the  unhampered  practice  of  Baltimore's 
religion,  proscribed  in  the  home  land  by  so  many  statutes? 
Much  of  the  legislation  of  the  second  Lord  Baltimore  shows 
rather  conclusively  that  his  liberalism  was  not  without  serious 
limitations. 

Another  inevitable  subject  was  the  right  of  Maryland  to 
priority  in  establishing  religious  toleration.  Here  again  one 
might  observe  that  the  writer  who  questions  her  claim  is  not  of 
'necessity  her  enemy  as  is  stated  on  page  194,  and  that  it  is  as- 
suming much  to  assert  that  religious  liberty  in  Rhode  Island 
"was  the  purest  cant  and  insincerity." 

A  free  and  easy  style  makes  Catholic  Colonial  Maryland 
pleasant  reading.  Anecdote  and  reminiscence  add  to  the  in- 
terest. The  illustrations  are  well  chosen.  The  table  of  contents 
and  the  summary  at  the  beginning  of  each  chapter  are  very 
commendable.  Printing  mistakes  are  few.  In  some  few  in- 
stances quotation  marks  have  been  omitted;  at  other  times  the 
absence  of  references  leaves  one  in  doubt  as  to  the  source  of  the 
quotation  and  hence  its  value  as  evidence  is  lessened.  Catholic 
Colonial  Maryland  should  be  read  by  all  who  are  interested  in 
the  lives  of  our  forefathers  and  in  the  long  struggle  by  which 
religious  liberty  was  won. 

Charles  H.  Metzger,  S.  J.,  Pk.  D. 

John  Carroll  University 
Cleveland,  Ohio 


384  BOOK  REVIEWS 

Archaeological  Atlas  of  Michigan.  Prepared  by  the  University 
Museums,  University  of  Michigan,  Wilbert  B.  Hinsdale, 
Editor.  University  of  Michigan  Press,  Ann  Arbor,  1931, 
pp.  38,  20  maps,  atlas  folio.  (Michigan  Handbook  Series, 
No.  4.) 

This  monumental  work  is  destined  without  doubt  to  become 
the  standard  source  of  information  upon  the  archaeological  his- 
tory of  Michigan,  both  prehistoric  and  Indian.  The  scope  of  the 
work  is  indicated  by  the  headings  of  the  chapters:  Trails, 
Waterways  and  Portages,  Mounds  and  Other  Earthworks,  Vil- 
lages and  Camp  Sites,  Burying  Grounds,  Garden  Beds,  Mining, 
Cultural  Features.  The  eye  is  at  once  attracted  by  the  admir- 
able maps  which  accompany  the  descriptive  letterpress,  based, 
we  are  told,  mostly  upon  the  results  of  field  surveys  conducted 
by  members  of  the  staff  of  the  University  Museums,  who  visited 
every  county  in  the  state.  A  key-map  shows  the  numbers  of 
the  archaeological  maps  upon  which  are  traced  cartographic 
symbols  of  great  interest  to  the  student.  Preceding  these  de- 
tailed maps  are  two  showing  respectively  "Indian  villages  of 
Michigan  of  which  the  names  and  locations  [of  123]  are  known" 
and  "Principal  Indian  portages." 

Travel  by  Indian  or  trader  was  either  by  waterway  or  by 
trail;  and  one  is  surprised  to  see  how  systematic  were  these 
highways  of  communication.  The  authors  say:  "Trails  hun- 
dreds of  miles  in  length  extended  across  the  country  and  shorter 
ones  connected  places  or  haunts  which  the  Indians  habitually 
visited.  These  footpaths  had  been  located  with  great  sagacity 
and  were  usually  the  most  feasible  lines  for  tramping  from 
place  to  place.  .  .  .  The  first  trade  and  commerce  in  Michigan 
by  white  men  was  with  the  Indians.  The  traders'  stores,  usually 
called  trading  posts,  had  no  other  object  than  to  create  among 
the  tribes  desires  for  European  goods  and  to  barter  with  the 
native  hunters  for  furs.  These  posts  were  almost  always  situ- 
ated at  the  meeting  or  crossing  of  trails,  generally  upon  some 
important  water  course." 

The  map  given  in  the  Atlas,  on  which  are  shown  the  water 
courses  and  portages  on  the  various  routes  of  travel  across  the 
present  state  of  Michigan,  presents  these  features  with  admir- 
able clearness.  The  voyager  by  canoe  could  cross  the  northern 
peninsula  by  three  routes,  two  of  which  led  to  Green  Bay.  One 
could  go  from  Lake  Huron  west  across  the  state  to  Lake  Michi- 


BOOK  REVIEWS  385 

gan  by  three  routes.  The  most  southerly  started  from  the  head 
of  Saginaw  Bay,  followed  the  Saginaw  River  to  its  confluence 
with  the  Shiawassee,  thence  by  portage  to  streams  that  flowed 
into  the  Grand  River  leading  to  Lake  Michigan.  From  the  De- 
troit region  the  Clinton  or  the  Huron  rivers  led  to  portages  by 
which  the  Grand  or  the  St.  Joseph  were  reached,  and  so  Lake 
Michigan.  Nature  provided  what  might  be  called  a  "grand  cen- 
tral portage"  in  the  southern  portion  of  the  state.  The  canoeist 
could  paddle  down  the  Raisin  River  to  Lake  Erie  or  follow  the 
Grand  to  Lake  Michigan;  or  he  could  ascend  the  Grand  from 
the  west  and  reach  streams  flowing  into  Lake  Erie  or  into  Lake 
St.  Clair  or  into  Lake  Huron.  The  St.  Joseph  River  led  to  Lake 
Michigan  in  one  direction  and  to  the  Kankakee  in  the  other. 
The  Mississippi  could  be  reached  from  southern  Michigan  either 
by  the  Kankakee  to  the  Illinois;  or  by  the  St.  Joseph  of  the 
Maumee  to  the  Wabash.  By  either  route  he  would  at  last  glide 
out  upon  the  Father  of  Waters. 

Like  the  continental  highways  of  our  own  day,  there  were 
great  land  trails  leading  from  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Mississippi.  The  "Great  Trail,"  as  it  was  called,  tapped  by  its 
eastern  branches  the  New  England  region,  the  shores  of  Dela- 
ware Bay  and  those  of  Chesapeake  Bay.  It  connected  with  the 
Sauk  or  Chicago  Trail  by  branches  that  passed  around  the  west 
end  of  Lake  Erie.  Fifteen  trails  crossed  what  are  now  Canada, 
the  country  east  of  the  Great  Lakes,  and  the  United  States  east 
of  the  Mississippi. 

A  list  of  sixty-two  titles  of  books  used  in  the  preparation  of 
the  Archaeological  Atlas  is  appended  to  it.  Evidently  the  most 
careful  methods  of  research  and  the  best  resources  of  typogra- 
phy have  been  expended  in  the  preparation  of  this  sumptuous 
volume.  The  example  of  Michigan  is  one  to  be  recommended  to 
other  states,  especially  Wisconsin  and  Illinois,  where  remains 
and  historic  landmarks  similar  to  those  of  Michigan  should  be 
described  in  the  same  fitting  manner. 

William  Stetson  Merrill,  A.  B. 

Oak  Park,  111. 

The  Fatal  River:  the  Life  and  Death  of  La  Salle.  By  Frances 
Gaither.  Henry  Holt  and  Company,  New  York,  1931,  pp. 
303,  $3.00. 

One  of  the  outstanding  figures  in  that  great  epic  of  Mid- 


386  BOOK  REVIEWS 

America,  the  discovery  and  exploration  of  the  Mississippi  River, 
is  Robert  Rene  Cavelier,  Sieur  de  La  Salle,  whose  successes 
and  failures  are  described  in  Frances  Gaither's  The  Fatal  River. 
The  story  of  La  Salle  is  like  a  tragic  drama,  coming  to  a  glorious 
climax  with  the  discovery  of  the  mouth  of  the  great  river.  Then 
follow  disaster,  failure  and  the  death  of  the  intrepid  explorer 
at  the  hands  of  his  own  men. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  book  there  are  two  threads  in  the 
narrative.  The  first  is  concerned  with  the  theories  of  many 
explorers  in  the  New  World.  Columbus,  Magellan,  Balboa, 
Verrazano,  Corte  Real,  Cartier,  De  Soto,  Hudson,  Champlain, 
Nicolet,  Coronado,  Marquette  and  Jolliet — whether  seeking  the 
route  to  Cathay,  the  Seven  Cities  of  Gold,  or  the  mysterious 
river  called  by  the  Indians  Messi-Sipi  or  Mitchi-Sipi — each  made 
important  discoveries.  It  remained  for  La  Salle  to  go  down  the 
river,  which  had  been  partly  explored  by  Marquette  and  Jolliet, 
and  from  it  to  enter  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

The  second  thread  of  the  narrative  is  concerned  with  the 
early  life  of  La  Salle,  his  boyhood  in  Rouen,  his  withdrawal  from 
the  Jesuit  order  and  his  coming  to  New  France,  where  he  spent 
much  time  among  the  Indians.  From  them  he  heard  rumors 
and  legends  of  a  mighty  river  which  led  him  to  devote  his  whole 
life  to  the  exploration  of  the  river,  and  to  attempts  to  establish 
forts  and  colonies  in  its  valley.  With  the  beginning  of  his  first 
trip  into  the  wilderness  the  two  threads  are  woven  together,  not 
to  be  severed  but  with  the  death  of  the  intrepid  explorer. 

Many  were  the  hardships  La  Salle  suffered  in  his  travels. 
Sometimes  alone,  sometimes  surrounded  by  savage  tribes,  in  the 
terrible  heat  of  summer  or  the  bitter  cold  of  winter,  slashing 
a  path  through  the  virgin  forest,  wading  through  deep  snow 
or  traversing  flooded  ravines,  he  never  lost  sight  of  his  goal. 
The  forces  of  nature  were  not  the  only  ones  arrayed  against 
him.  Mutiny  of  his  followers;  incompetence  of  subordinates; 
chicanery  of  politicians;  loss  of  fortune  by  shipwreck,  by 
treachery  and  by  theft;  all  these  he  had  to  cope  with.  More- 
over, there  were  elements  in  his  own  nature  that  militated 
against  success.  With  such  notable  exceptions  as  the  faithful 
Henri  de  Tonty,  Nika  the  Shawnee  and  a  few  others,  he  ruled 
by  authority  alone.  The  following  excerpt  from  the  book  gives 
a  graphic  picture  of  the  last  march  of  La  Salle,  that  fatal  march 
during  which  he  lost  his  life.     "There  they  all  were,  marching 


BOOK  REVIEWS  387 

along  together,  little  boys  set  to  keep  pace  with  the  lithe  Indian 
hunter;  the  buccaneer,  pistols  at  belt,  marching  alongside  the 
f rocked  Franciscan  with  his  breviary  in  his  sleeve;  a  merchant, 
a  doctor,  and  a  swaggering  gallant,  some  of  them  hating  each 
other,  all  without  common  denominator  of  body  or  spirit,  with 
nothing  to  bind  them  together  but  the  silent  will  inside  the  tall 
figure  marching  in  the  lead.  They  obeyed  him,  but  of  course 
they  did  not  understand  him,  a  proud,  shy,  utterly  lonely  man, 
inwardly  lashed  by  furies  of  self-reproach  for  every  mistake  and 
failure  of  these  two  lamentable  years — or  three  if  you  count 
from  France — inwardly  swearing  there  should  be  this  time  no 
turning  back,  as  his  great  body  crashed  out  for  the  rest  of  them 
a  path  toward  his  river." 

There  appear  to  have  been  several  causes  for  La  Salle's  un- 
friendly attitude  toward  the  Jesuits.  The  antagonism  of  his 
patron,  Frontenac,  to  the  Order  must  have  had  considerable 
influence.  In  the  matter  of  the  traffic  in  brandy  with  the  In- 
dians, La  Salle  supported  Frontenac  in  his  dispute  with  the 
Bishop.  Another  possible  reason  for  La  Salle's  unreasonable 
prejudice  against  the  Jesuits  is  indicated  in  the  following  pas- 
sage: "Beneath  the  Jesuits'  politeness  to  him  personally  lay, 
he  could  be  certain,  their  knowledge  of  his  past.  How  did  they 
really  feel  toward  him?  He  must  have  seen  himself  always  a 
renegade  in  their  eyes,  must  have  believed  [gratuitously,  indeed] 
that  in  whatever  he  attempted  they  would  wish  him  to  fail,  to 
be  brought  humble  and  repentant  to  his  knees."  If  such  were 
really  La  Salle's  thoughts,  his  obsession  may  be  readily  under- 
stood. 

There  is  quite  an  extensive  bibliography  at  the  end  of  the 
book,  and  it  contains  a  number  of  maps  illustrating  the  travels 
of  various  explorers  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  but  the  reader 
will  notice  the  omission  of  an  index. 

Ethel  Owen  Merrill 

Oak  Park,  111. 

Archives  de  la  Province  de  Quebec,  1930-31.  Pierre-Georges 
Roy  (ed.).  Redempti  Paradis,  Imprimeur  de  sa  Majeste  le 
Roi,  pp.  508. 

Le  Vieux  Quebec.  Par  Pierre-Georges  Roy.  Imprimerie  le 
Quotidien,  Levis,  1931,  pp.  300. 


388  BOOK  REVIEWS 

Les  Petit es  Choses  de  Notre  Histoire.    Par  Pierre-Georges  Roy. 
Imprimerie  le  Quotidien,  Levis,  1931,  pp.  304. 

Beautifully  printed  and  generously  illustrated  with  portraits 
and  photostatic  copies,  the  report  of  the  Archives  of  the  Prov- 
ince of  Quebec  for  1930-1931  is  another  enviable  contribution 
of  the  distinguished  Canadian  archivist.  It  comprises  the  cor- 
respondence of  Talon,  the  first  Intendant  to  Canada,  an  inven- 
tory, by  the  Abbe  Ivanhoe  Caron,  of  the  letters  of  the  Right 
Reverend  Louis-Philippe  Mariauchau  d'Esgly,  Jean-Frangois 
Hubert  and  Charles-Francois  Bailly  de  Messein,  and  finally,  a 
record,  by  Mr.  E.  Z.  Massicotte,  of  the  appointments  of  some 
French-Canadians  who  went  west  in  search  of  adventure  (En- 
gagements pour  VOuest). 

With  eulogistic  reference  to  Senator  Chapais's  standard 
book,  Talon,  Intendant  de  la  Nouvelle-France,  Mr.  Pierre- 
Georges  Roy  gives  as  an  introduction  a  brief  outline  of  Talon's 
career.  The  letters  reproduced  occupy  more  than  one-third  of 
the  report;  they  reveal  the  deep  interest  and  patriotic  insight 
of  the  great  Intendant  and  bear  witness  to  his  influence  upon 
the  colonization,  agriculture,  industry  and  commerce  of  New 
France.  Although  France  was  then  engaged  in  war  on  the 
Continent,  the  colony  received  2516  settlers  during  Talon's  ad- 
ministration. Historians  interested  in  the  colonial  period  of 
Canadian  history  will  welcome  the  publication  of  the  correspon- 
dence between  Talon,  Louis  XIV  and  his  minister  Colbert. 

The  Abbe  Ivanhoe  Caron  has  done  valuable  work  in  prepar- 
ing the  summary  of  the  letters  of  the  Bishops  of  Quebec  for  the 
years  1740-1791.  Readers  in  Canadian  history  are  well  aware 
of  the  clergy's  influence  on  the  life  of  the  French  Canadians 
during  the  colonial  days  and  under  British  rule.  Ministering  to 
the  spiritual  and  temporal  welfare  of  the  settlers,  the  priests 
received  guidance  from  their  bishops.  These  in  turn  appealed 
to  the  civil  authorities  in  England  and  several  ecclesiastical 
dignitaries  in  Europe.  Numerous  requests  were  made  to  Mgr. 
Butler,  Bishop  of  Cork,  Ireland,  and  to  the  Abbe  Hussey,  Vicar 
General,  London,  to  send  Irish  or  English  speaking  priests  to 
take  charge  of  the  rising  English  speaking  Catholic  settlements. 
Through  Mgr.  de  Leonce  of  London,  several  French  priests, 
driven  out  of  France  during  the  Revolutionary  period,  came  to 
Canada  and  became  engaged  in  educational  and  parochial  work. 
Students  in  search  of  a  topic  for  a  doctoral  dissertation  will  find 


BOOK  REVIEWS  389 

a  rich  and  interesting  field  of  investigation  in  studying  the  re- 
lations between  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  in  New  France  and 
the  civil  authorities  in  England  or  in  writing  the  history  of  the 
Irish  clergy  in  Canada. 

Genealogists  will  consult  with  interest  the  third  part  of  the 
report.  Compiled  by  Mr.  E.  Z.  Massicotte,  the  list  of  French 
Canadians  who  left  their  home,  1746-1752,  in  search  of  adven- 
ture and  better  welfare,  answers  a  long-felt  need.  Some  of  these 
returned  home,  others  died,  some  settled  in  the  new  country, 
others  emigrated  to  the  United  States.  This  list  will  be  com- 
pleted in  the  next  report. 

The  report  is  ably  edited;  it  is  equipped  with  a  table  of  con- 
tents, a  table  of  portraits,  and  two  indexes,  general  and  geo- 
graphical. Although  carefully  prepared,  these  indexes  would 
better  serve  their  purpose  if  they  were  more  analytical.  The 
reviewer  noted  93  numerical  references  to  the  name  Talon ;  such 
a  lack  of  specification  is  a  serious  handicap  to  the  hurried  re- 
searcher. 

In  Le  Vieux  Quebec  Mr.  Pierre-Georges  Roy  has  compiled  a 
number  of  events  relating  to  the  social,  political  and  ecclesias- 
tical history  of  Quebec  city.  Among  other  items  discussed,  we 
might  mention  the  first  census  (by  names)  of  Quebec,  some  of 
the  conflagrations  occurring  during  the  French  regime,  Rear- 
admiral  Jacques  Bedout,  the  sword  of  Montgomery  and  the  first 
English  school  in  Quebec,  which  was  opened  in  1792.  The  author 
might  have  given  some  documentary  information  regarding  the 
first  French  elementary  school  and  the  founding  of  the  first 
college,  which  was  to  become  Canada's  oldest  university.  Some 
of  these  topics  are  important,  others  afford  the  reader  whole- 
some and  interesting  pastime,  e.  g.  the  will  of  the  Honorable 
Henry  Caldwell. 

Under  the  title  Les  Petites  Choses  de  Notre  Histoire  are 
gathered  incidents  which  happened  during  the  French  and  the 
English  regimes.  As  in  the  preceding  volume,  they  are  thrown 
together  without  any  attempt  at  classification.  There  is  no  in- 
troduction and  the  style  is  too  often  marred  by  the  numerous 
quotations  from  the  archives  of  Quebec  and  Canada.  These  two 
volumes,  however,  will  be  of  genuine  value  to  college  educators 
in  interesting  their  students  in  the  study  of  the  petite  patrie. 

Paul  A.  Barrette,  A.  M. 

St.  Louis  University 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 


390  BOOK  REVIEWS 

The  FraTwiscans  in  Nebraska  and  Historical  Sketches  of  Mid- 
Nebraska.  By  Rev.  Eugene  Hagedom,  O.  F.  M.  The  Hum- 
phrey Democrat,  Nebraska;  The  Norfolk  Daily  News,  Ne- 
braska, 1931. 

This  pioneer  volume  in  the  field  of  Nebraska  church  history 
was  compiled  for  the  occasion  of  the  diamond  jubilee  of  the 
city  of  Columbus,  Nebraska.  A  preface  by  Francis  Dischner, 
entitled  "Historical  Sketches  of  Mid-Nebraska,"  furnishes  the 
general  reader  with  a  necessary  background  of  local  history. 
The  author's  "Miscellania"  completes  this  background  by  weav- 
ing together  family  origins,  early  dangers  and  difficulties  and 
pioneer  reminiscences  into  local  social  history. 

Part  II,  detailing  the  activities  of  the  Franciscans  in  Ne- 
braska, is  prefaced  by  a  short  history  of  the  Franciscans  from 
St.  Francis  to  the  missionary  expedition  of  Fray  Juan  de  Padilla 
into  Quivira.  Introductory  to  the  main  theme  is  a  resume  of 
"Catholicity  in  Nebraska,  1843-1931.  The  dominant  features  of 
the  book  are,  first,  a  complete  account  of  the  Franciscan  con- 
tribution to  the  upbuilding  of  Catholicity  in  Columbus,  Platte 
County,  and,  secondly,  a  record  of  Franciscan  labors  in  the  State 
outside  Columbus. 

The  treatment  is  by  development  of  parishes.  From  humble 
beginnings,  through  the  incumbencies  of  various  pastors,  a 
church  grows  out  of  the  struggle.  The  part  played  by  parochial 
schools  is  given  due  emphasis.  In  most  cases  the  story  is 
brought  up-to-date. 

The  author  makes  a  notable  departure  from  his  original 
theme,  "The  History  of  the  Franciscans  in  Nebraska"  and 
widens  it  into  "A  History  of  Franciscan  Parishes  in  Nebraska." 
Unskillful  piecing  of  fragments  interferes  with  continuity  of 
treatment  and  results  in,  at  best,  a  profusely  illustrated  chroni- 
cle. There  is  no  attempt  at  footnote  citations,  only  an  indefinite 
list  of  references,  which  are  no  guide  to  specific  information. 
What  is  presented  for  an  index  is  a  table  of  contents.  In  the 
"History  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales  Church,  Lincoln,"  no  mention 
is  made  of  the  fact  that  Ursuline  Sisters  taught  the  parochial 
school  in  1898  and  were  succeeded,  in  1904,  by  the  Franciscan 
Sisters  from  Lafayette,  Indiana.  However,  the  defects  of  the 
study  are  offset  by  its  documentary  value.  Numerous  letters 
and  biographies  are  inserted  often  with  acknowledgment  to  par- 
ish and  diocesan  records  and  archives.    In  view  of  the  fact  that 


BOOK  REVIEWS  391 

so  few  sources  are  extant,  and  still  fewer  immediately  acces- 
sible, the  author  deserves  much  credit  for  his  industry  and  in- 
vestigation. In  addition  to  its  wide  popular  appeal,  the  volume 
places  a  vast  amount  of  material  at  the  disposal  of  searchers 
in  problems  of  local  Nebraska  church  history. 

Mary  Bernadette  Reifert,  O.  S.  U.,  A.  B. 
Ursuline  Convent  of  Divine  Providence 
Falls  City,  Nebr. 

A  History  of  the  Catholic  Church.  By  the  Rev.  Fernand  Mour- 
ret,  S.  S.  Translated  by  the  Rev.  Newton  Thompson,  S.  T.  D. 
Volume  I,  Period  of  Expansion.  Herder  Book  Co.,  St.  Louis, 
1931,  $4.00. 

Dr.  Newton  Thompson  has  already  given  us  a  translation  of 
the  fifth  volume  of  Mourret,  and  this  appearance  of  another 
volume  gives  proof  of  the  active  prosecution  of  his  great  task. 
Mourret's  Histoire  generate  de  VEglise  is,  beyond  question,  the 
most  readable  and  reliable  history  of  the  Church  that  is  at  pres- 
ent available.  The  new  Kirchengeschichte  projected  by  Kirsch, 
and  of  which  two  parts  are  already  in  print,  has,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed a  greater  show  of  erudition,  but  is  far  less  attractive  in 
its  presentation  of  material.  Dr.  Thompson's  own  estimate  of 
Mourret's  work  is  set  forth  in  a  preface  which  notes  its  "wealth 
of  detailed  information  .  .  .  its  more  than  passing  mention  (of) 
the  causes,  development,  and  consequences  of  the  notable  move- 
ments that  have  affected  the  Church,"  and  which  praises  its 
author  as  "an  eminent  scholar  whose  talent  combines  tireless 
patience  in  research,  sound  historical  judgment,  facility  in  clear 
exposition,  unswerving  loyalty  to  ascertained  truth,  and  a  zeal 
for  God's  honor."  With  that  estimate  no  reader  either  of  the 
translation  or  of  the  original  is  likely  to  disagree. 

The  present  volume  covers  the  ground  from  the  founding  of 
the  Church  to  the  period  of  the  Constantinian  Peace.  It  describes 
the  primitive  Church  and  its  first  contact  with  the  Greco-Roman 
world,  the  relations  of  the  Church  with  the  successive  Emperors, 
peaceful  or  persecuting,  the  growth  of  the  organization  and 
liturgy  of  the  Church,  the  vicissitudes  of  the  Papacy  in  the  face 
of  perils  in  regard  both  to  the  primacy  of  jurisdiction  and  the 
presidency  of  the  magisterium,  and  finally  the  flowering  of 
Christian  literature  and  sanctity  of  life. 

Father  Thompson  has  taken  certain  editorial  liberties  with 


392  BOOK  REVIEWS 

the  arrangements  of  the  original  text.  The  nineteen  pages  in 
the  table  des  matieres  have  been  curtailed  into  six.  The  change 
involved  in  placing  this  table  of  contents  in  the  beginning  rather 
than  at  the  end  of  the  book  will,  I  think,  be  welcomed  by  most 
readers;  but  it  may  be  questioned  whether  the  abandonment  of 
Mourret's  detailed  analysis  does  not  involve  a  real  loss.  Mour- 
ret's  marginal  summary  is  completely  neglected.  Again  the 
eleven  pages  devoted  to  a  notice  bibliographique  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  French  appear  in  the  translation  as  a  bibliography 
without  comment  or  criticism,  printed  at  the  end.  For  the  most 
part  the  reference  in  the  footnotes  are  given  to  the  English 
translations,  where  this  is  possible,  of  the  works  mentioned  in 
the  original.  The  rule,  however,  is  not  universal.  Thus  Barden- 
hewer  is  referred  to  in  the  French  translation,  and  Riviere's 
Propagation  du  Christianisme  is  referred  to  in  the  original 
rather  than  in  the  English  translation. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  Father  Thompson's  work  is  quite  flaw- 
less as  a  translation.  The  English  is  far  from  smooth,  and  in 
places  hardly  does  justice  to  the  French.  At  times  not  only  the 
language,  but  the  historical  reality  suffers.  Thus  the  reference 
to  the  sons  of  Flavius  Clemens  and  Flavia  Domitilla  whom,  as 
Mourret  says,  Domitian  "destinait  a  l'empire,"  (meaning  that  he 
destined  them  to  succeed  him,  as  Titus  and  he  had  succeeded  Ves- 
pasian) ,  is  wrongly  translated  thus:  "whom  he  intended  for  the 
imperial  service,"  as  though  the  young  Domitian  and  Vespasian 
were  to  be  civil  servants  rather  than  masters  of  the  Empire.  Or 
again,  Mourret's  reference  to  St.  John  as  being  "relegue  ensuite 
dans  une  ile"  is  translated  "sent  back  to  his  island  exile,"  as 
though  relegue  meant  "sent  back/'  and  as  though  St.  John  had 
already  been  in  Patmos  before  his  exile.  On  the  other  hand 
Father  Thompson  makes  amends  by  correcting  in  the  translation 
phrases  that  might  be  wrong  or  ambiguous  in  the  French.  Thus 
in  one  place  (p.  146)  Mourret  uses  the  expression  "coupables  de 
nouveautes"  in  obvious  allusion  to  the  "molitores  rerum 
novarum"  of  Suetonius.  Father  Thompson  very  rightly  intro- 
duces the  original  phrase  in  a  bracket,  and  gives  to  res  novae  the 
force  not  of  "novelties"  but  of  "revolution,"  which  is  what 
Suetonius  meant. 


BOOK  REVIEWS  393 

In  spite  of  minor  blemishes  Father  Thompson's  work  may 
well  be  described  as  an  admirable  rendering  of  an  excellent  book. 

Gerald  G.  Walsh,  S.  J.,  A.  M. 
Woodstock  College 
Woodstock,  Md. 

Religious  Orders  of  Women  in  the  United  States.  By  Elinor 
Tong  Dehey.  Revised  Edition.  W.  B.  Conkey  Co.,  Ham- 
mond, Indiana,  1930,  pp.  xxxi-f-908. 

The  sub-title  is  a  perfect  description  of  the  book :  "Accounts 
of  their  origin,  works,  and  most  important  institutions,  inter- 
woven with  histories  of  many  famous  foundations."  From  the 
Ursulines,  the  first  of  the  devoted  band  of  consecrated  women 
that  have  been  so  potent  in  the  upbuilding  of  Catholicity  in 
America,  to  the  Sisters  of  Social  Service,  the  most  recent 
foundation  in  our  country,  from  the  Sisters  of  St.  Agnes  to  the 
Sisters  of  St.  Zita  there  is  a  common  bond  uniting  them  all — 
love  of  Christ,  our  Lord,  and  love  of  man  because  of  Him.  All 
those  whose  history  is  chronicled  here,  Benedictines,  Domin- 
icans, Franciscans,  Carmelites,  Lorettines,  the  teaching  congre- 
gations, the  contemplatives,  the  hospitallers,  those  who  have 
devoted  themselves  to  the  abandoned  ones  of  Christ's  flock,  all 
of  them  in  a  very  real  sense  may  well  be  called  Sisters  of  char- 
ity, Sisters  of  supernatural  charity.  This  volume  is  a  notable 
contribution  to  the  history  of  charity  and  of  education  and  of 
culture  in  the  United  States. 

This  revised  edition  of  Mrs.  Dehey 's  book,  which  first  ap- 
peared in  1913,  is  the  only  complete  account  of  the  work  of  our 
nuns  in  the  United  States.  As  such  it  should  find  a  place  in 
every  Catholic  library  and,  is  it  too  much  to  hope  that  it  will 
be  placed  on  the  reference  shelf  in  public  libraries  as  well  ?  The 
volume  is  a  monument  of  patient  industry  as  will  be  obvious  to 
any  one  who  has  attempted  to  get  data  from  Catholic  institu- 
tions, so  prone  are  we  to  hide  our  light  under  a  bushel.  In  a 
compendium  of  this  sort,  of  course,  one  must  not  expect  to  find 
glowing  accounts  of  heroic  sacrifice,  yet  heroism  and  sacrifice 
are  written  between  the  lines,  a  daring,  sacred  adventuring  for 
Christ  and  with  Christ  by  these  saintly  women  of  colossal  faith 
and  confidence,  so  that  one  may  say  the  simple  narratives  here 
are  none  the  less  a  book  of  golden  deeds. 

The  volume  is  excellently  printed  and  edited.    Not  the  least 


394  BOOK  REVIEWS 

of  its  charms  are  the  striking  illustrations  that  adorn  the  book. 
The  glossary  of  conventual  terms  should  prove  useful  to  the 
journalistic  gentry;  in  fact,  even  a  fairly  well-informed  Catholic 
will  find  here  new  and  fascinating  words,  touriere,  for  instance, 
and  barhetie.  This  record  of  the  magnolia  Dei  in  America  de- 
serves high  commendation  and  a  wide  circulation. 

William  J.  McGucken,  S.  J.,  Ph.  D. 
St.  Louis  University 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Bolivar  y  Leon  XII.     Por  Pedro  Leturia,  S.  J.     Parra  Leon 
Hermanos,  Caracas,  1931,  pp.  xviii-(-181. 

In  May,  1827,  Leo  XII  formally  established  the  Catholic 
hierarchy  in  New  Granada,  Venezuela  and  Ecuador,  the  three 
South  American  Republics,  whose  independence  had  been  won 
by  Simon  Bolivar.  The  significance  and  the  far-reaching  conse- 
quences of  this  step  will  be  apparent  to  anyone  even  slightly  ac- 
quainted with  the  history  of  those  stormy  days.  The  Spanish 
Patronado  with  its  three  centuries  of  glorious  achievement  was 
broken;  the  churches  of  the  young  republics  were  brought  into 
immediate  contact  with  the  center  of  Catholic  life ;  a  new  source 
of  law  and  order  was  set  up  amid  the  chaos  resulting  from  the 
revolution ;  the  already  decrepit  system  of  Metternich  was  quiet- 
ly ignored;  the  dawn  of  a  new  era  in  a  large  portion  of  the  New 
World  was  greeted  by  the  resurgent  Papacy.  The  slow,  sure, 
movements  of  the  Holy  See  had  gained  a  triumph,  where  less 
cautious,  less  courageous,  diplomacy  would  have  meant  disaster. 

The  subject  of  Father  Leturia's  book  has  wonderful  possi- 
bilities, and  the  author  is  well  qualified  to  handle  it.  Years  of 
active  work  in  Bogota  have  given  him  a  sympathetic  under- 
standing of  the  Latin  American  soul,  while  his  wide  and  unre- 
stricted ranging  through  European  archives,  his  tireless  and 
successful  search  for  documentary  evidence,  his  long  training 
in  historical  methods  lend  the  assurance  of  reliable  scholarship. 
His  published  work  in  German  and  in  Spanish  has  been  almost 
entirely  in  this  field  and  has  been  very  favorably  received.  The 
present  volume  is  a  by-product  of  more  ambitious  studies  and 
is  offered  as  a  contribution  to  the  centennary  literature  on 
Bolivar. 

The  great  Libertador  is  the  central  figure  of  the  drama.  And 
it  is  especially  interesting  to  watch  the  energy  and  determination 


BOOK  REVIEWS  395 

with  which  he  works  for  the  hierarchical  establishment  of  1827. 
The  personal  religious,  and  irreligious  views  of  Bolivar  were  the 
result  of  an  education  vitiated  by  reading  the  Encyclopedia  and 
kindred  works  of  the  eighteenth  century.  During  the  early 
struggle  for  independence  he  was  a  dreamer,  an  idealist  and 
most  likely  a  deist;  but  when  he  plans  for  permanent  peace,  he 
is  a  political  realist;  in  his  diplomatic  dealings  with  Rome  he  is 
a  devout  Christian. 

William  R.  Corrigan,  S.  J.,  Ph.  D. 
St.  Mary's  College 
St.  Marys,  Kans. 

Forty-Niners.  By  Archer  Butler  Hulbert,  Director  of  the 
Stewart  Commission  on  Western  History  of  Colorado  Col- 
lege.   Little,  Brown,  and  Company,  Boston,  1931. 

The  author  has  made  a  very  complete  study  of  the  transcon- 
tinental trails  and  the  maps  on  which  they  are  marked.  He  has 
studied  also  every  available  diary  or  journal  bearing  upon  actual 
experience  on  these  trails  between  the  years  1848  and  1853. 
Every  material  fact  or  incident  recorded  in  the  book  is  to  be 
found  in  some  of  these  diaries  or  journals.  All  the  illustrations 
(and  there  are  plenty)  are  of  contemporary  drawings  or  car- 
toons. Eight  excellent  maps  enable  one  to  follow  the  travellers 
at  every  stage  of  their  trip. 

The  result  is  a  most  readable  and  surprise-creating  account 
of  that  most  difficult  journey  over  plain,  desert,  and  mountain 
from  Independence,  Missouri,  to  California.  "  'Figger  it  fur 
yourself  says  Meek,  '2100  miles — four  months  to  do  it  in  be- 
tween April  rains  and  September  snows — May,  June,  July, 
August — 123  days.  How  much  a  day  and  every  cussed  day?' 
I  saw  the  point.  Seventeen  miles  a  day.  'Yaas,'  drawled  the 
scout:  'and  every  day,  rain,  hail,  cholera,  breakdowns,  lame 
mules,  sick  cows,  washouts,  prairie  fires,  flooded  coulees,  lost 
horses,  dust  storms,  alkali  water.  Seventeen  miles  every  day — 
or  you  land  in  the  snow  and  eat  each  other  like  Donner  party 
done  in  '46.' " 

The  story  shows  what  careful  preparation  had  to  be  made 
to  insure  success.  We  see  the  heartbreaking,  even  fatal,  results 
of  flinging  one's  self  out  on  the  trail  without  such  preparation. 
The  wayside  crosses  are  eloquent  of  this,  as  well  as  of  the 
cholera.    We  read,  too,  the  old,  old  story  of  travellers  cumbering 


396  BOOK  REVIEWS 

themselves  with  excessive  impedimenta  only  to  cast  much  of  it 
aside  when  half  way  through  the  journey. 

The  reader  identifies  himself  with  the  fortunes  of  one  well 
prepared  and  well  knit  organization  that  forged  ahead  along  the 
trail  and  shares  with  them  all  the  thrills  and  hairbreadth  es- 
capes that  came  to  those  who  would  make  their  way  to  the  land 
of  gold.  As  a  picture  of  the  struggles  and  achievements  of  the 
men,  women,  and  children  who  figured  in  this  stirring  episode 
of  American  history,  the  book  is  well  worthy  of  attention.  As 
might  be  expected,  the  incidents  are  frequently  of  the  raw  type 
and  the  local  color  lurid.  There  is  a  very  complete  bibliography 
of  the  writings  (diaries,  journals,  maps),  of  the  California 
Argonauts,  1848-1853.  Many  items  of  this  bibliography  are 
unpublished  manuscripts. 

James  I.  Shannon,  S.  J.,  A.  M. 

St.  Louis  University 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 

The  Early  Far  West,  A  Narrative  Outline,  15^0-1850.  By  W.  J. 
Ghent,  Author  of  The  Road  to  Oregon.  Longmans,  Green 
and  Co.,  New  York,  1931,  pp.  xi+411. 

A  treatment  addressed  at  once  to  the  general  reader  and  the 
class  student  of  the  history  of  the  Trans-Mississippi  country 
throughout  the  entire  period  prior  to  1850,  by  which  time  United 
States  territory  had  reached  as  far  as  the  Lower  Rio  Grande 
and  the  Pacific.  The  plan  is  typically  chronological  rather  than 
topical,  an  attempt  being  made  to  let  the  reader  know  what 
events  of  significance  were  happening  simultaneously  in  various 
sectors  of  the  vast  geographical  area  covered.  For  sources  of 
information  Mr.  Ghent  has  relied  in  considerable  measure  on 
recent  monograph  literature  dealing  with  various  topics  of 
Trans-Mississippi  history.  The  reviewer  has  been  impressed 
with  the  author's  alertness  thus  to  avail  himself  of  the  most  up- 
to-date  and  authoritative  studies  pertinent  to  his  subject.  The 
result  is  a  well  balanced  and  reliable  survey  of  a  block  of  Amer- 
ican history  which  is  as  interesting  in  content  as  it  is  far  flung 
in  the  physical  stage  on  which  it  was  enacted.  The  account  of 
the  fur  trade  in  the  pioneer  West  is  particularly  good.  As  to 
Marcus  Whitman's  famous  ride,  Mr.  Ghent  discounts  the  findings 
of  Professor  Edward  G.  Bourne,  generally  accepted  by  the  pro- 
fessional historians,  which  divest  the  journey  of  any  political 


BOOK  REVIEWS  397 

significance.  The  reviewer  has  noted  only  a  few  inaccuracies. 
The  relations  between  Kaskaskia  and  the  Des  Peres  village  are 
confused,  a  wrong  date,  1700  for  1703,  being  indicated  for  the 
origin  of  Kaskaskia  (p.  18).  Some  of  the  positions  of  settle- 
ments as  indicated  by  dots  on  the  map  on  page  35  are  incorrect. 

G.  J.  G. 

The  Expedition  of  Don  Domingo  Teran  de  Los  Rios  into  Texas. 
By  Mattie  Austin  Hatcher,  A.  M.,  Archivist,  University  of 
Texas,  and  Corresponding  Member  of  the  Commission. 
Edited  by  Rev.  Paul  J.  Foik,  C.  S.  C,  Ph.  D.,  Chairman  of 
the  Commission  and  President  of  the  Society,  St.  Edward's 
University,  Austin,  Texas.  (Preliminary  Studies  of  the 
Texas  Catholic  Historical  Society.  Distributed  under  the 
Auspices  of  the  Texas  Knights  of  Columbus  Historical  Com- 
mission. ) 

This  is  an  important  group  of  documents  bearing  on  the 
official  expedition  (1691-1692)  sent  out  by  the  Mexican  author- 
ities to  Texas  to  counteract  the  French  penetration  of  that  re- 
gion which  had  been  inaugurated  by  LaSalle.  The  expedition 
also  is  notable  as  marking  the  true  beginnings  of  missionary 
work  among  the  Tejas  Indians.  The  documents  reproduced  in 
English  include  the  instructions  issued  to  the  leaders,  military 
and  ecclesiastical,  and  the  journals  kept  by  Teran  and  the  Fran- 
ciscan missionaries  of  the  party.  Differences  which  arose  at  the 
very  beginning  of  the  journey  so  handicapped  the  work  as  to 
render  the  trip  without  any  appreciable  results.  This  publica- 
tion is  a  fresh  instance  of  the  splendid  material  which  is  being 
assembled  for  the  history  of  the  missionary  or  Franciscan 
period  of  the  Church  in  Texas,  which  is  now  under  way  at  the 
hands  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Francis  Borgia  Steck,  O.  F.  M. 

Catholic  Central-Verein  of  America  (National  Federation  of 
German  American  Catholics).  Official  Report  of  the  76th 
General  Convention  held  at  Fort  Wayne,  lnd.,  August  23rd 
to  26th,  1931.  Wanderer  Printing  Company,  Saint  Paul, 
Minnesota,  1931,  pp.  136. 

An  interesting  illustration  of  what  intelligent  lay  action  can 
accomplish  in  the  field  of  practical  sociology  and  economics. 
The  Central  Verein  has  for  years  been  engaged  in  the  study  of 


BOOK  REVIEWS 

contemporary  social  problems  from  the  standpoint  of  Catholic 
doctrinal  and  ethical  teaching.  Already  it  has  a  considerable 
body  of  achievement  to  its  credit  and  is  now  organized  broadly 
and  solidly  enough  to  pursue  its  splendid  program  with  even 
more  substantial  results  in  the  future. 


Contributors  to  this  Issue 

The  Reverend  Peter  P.  Forrestal,  C.  S.  C,  A.  M.,  Litt.  D.,  con- 
tributor to  Mid- America  and  to  the  Records  of  the  American 
Catholic  Historical  Society,  is  professor  of  Spanish  at  St. 
Edward's  University,  Austin,  Texas. 

The  Reverend  Charles  F.  Griffith,  S.  T.  B.,  A.  M.,  is  professor  of 
American  history  at  St.  Ambrose  College,  Davenport,  Iowa. 

Miss  Nancy  Ring,  A.  M.,  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  has  made  research- 
studies  in  the  French  period  of  American  colonial  history. 


CATHOLIC  THEOLOGICAL  UNION 


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