Overview

Much has been written regarding the Catholic Church in Wisconsin as well as the individual parishes located therein but when you get right down to it, the Catholic Church time line county by county has not been addressed. This document will not attempt to look at all counties within the State of Wisconsin but will concentrate on two, Washington and Ozaukee. The intent is to identify the priests who ministered to the area in the years 1839 to 1865 when the footprint was made. This will be carried forward to 1920 and for some parishes beyond. From this we should be able to deduce when and where the Catholic Church started in these counties and how it evolved.

Our time line will start in 1839. While there was religious activity in the state before this time, it did not directly affect the area now called Washington County and will not be addressed.In the year 1839 "Washington County" was created out of Milwaukee and Brown counties. There had been no religious activity much less any activity in the county up to this point. In May of 1937 Father Patrick O'Kelly was assigned by the Diocese of Detroit as a missionary to the Area whence he returned in 1839. Later that same year he returned to Village of Milwaukee where he established St. Luke Parish. [If you are looking for registrations from May 1837 to late 1839, you may need to look in Michigan for them] For three years following Father worked in the Village of Milwaukee first building a church then attempting to have the different nationalities to work together. At this point we have primarily three nationalities: Yankee, Irish, and German. The Yankee liked the Yankee. The Irish like the Irish. The Germans liked the German. When the nationalities needed to work together, the Irish ceded with the Yankee for they both spoke the same language. The Germans stood by themselves. The French minority ceded with the English speaking element.

These settlers ran into their first problem which lasted for many years. You have a single resource which needed to be shared; there is but one church/pastor. Each group needed for the service (sermon) to be conducted in their language. Better put, the Germans needed for the service to be conducted in German for they did not speak English. When the service was over how did you communicate with the priest? So Father O'Kelly had a problem which he could not resolve. In June 1842 Detroit sent Father Martin Kundig and in August Thomas Morrissery. Father Kundig replaced Father O'Kelly. Father spoke both German and English. Based on his actions, it looks as though it was his belief that English was the language of the country and should be the language of its people. Father Steven M. Avella in his writings has Father Morrissery in the Milwaukee area in 1838 but registrations under his name do not begin until late 1842.

Father Kundig solved the problem at hand by conducting two services one in German at 8:30 and one in English at 10:30 in the morning. But the basic problem was not solved, the Germans wanted German. This will be discussed again later.

During these years people poured into the area. The first people to arrive, the Yankee, settled on land which would be productive with minimal effort. That is, the people looked for prairie land. This land was available to the south and to the west. They were followed by the Irish. Father Kundig therefore ministered in Milwaukee and to its south and west as that is where the people were. The areas were named Oak Creek, Racine, South Port (Kenosha), Yorkville, Miskeegan Lake, Burlington, Geneva, Prairieville (Waukesha), Mukwongo, Spring Prarie, Madison, Mineral Point, O'Connnelsville (Monches), and Dodgeville among others.

After the prairie land was acquired then came the influx of Germans and these the worker variety. They could not go west nor south as they could not afford to purchase these acres as the land's value had risen. The individuals headed north to what is now Ozaukee County the land being originally purchased by Yankee speculators and settled mostly by non Germans while the Germans headed to Washington County. These areas were forested, although Ozaukee was somewhat open, and much work was necessary before a crop could be harvested.

So what do we have, mostly wilderness with settlers scattered in groups. The Yankee and Irish congregating for the most part in Ozaukee County and the Germans in Washington County. The Irish and many of the Germans were Catholic while the Yankee and remaining Germans were of other denominations.

It is known that Father Kundig and Father Morrissery visited the Mequon/Grafton area, St. Francis Borgia, and Father Kundig came as far north as Fussville and Monches. None came into what is today Washington County.

This sets the scene when in 1844 Bishop Martin Henni and Father Michael Hess arrived in the newly established Milwaukee Diocese. Bishop Henni had three priests in Milwaukee: Fathers Kundig, Morrissey, and Heiss. Assignments were made and Father Heiss was assigned to the German element in the north while Fathers Kundig and Morressey retained the areas west and south.

And They Came

The Germans in Washington County who were yet to be ministered to as most had yet to arrive, Father Michel Heiss being the first to do so, came in August of 1844 when he visited the settlers at what was to be Goldenthal and Hubertus. This was the beginning of an organized Catholic religious activity in the now Washington County. In 1843 the first church was built by Irish settlers in O'Connellsville, Township of Erin, on the south border of section 34; sponsored by Father Kundig. As one would expect it was a log edifice. From 1844 to June 1846, Father Heiss is all the now Washington County had. Please remember Ozaukee County was not carved out of Washington County until 1853.

In June of 1846 Father Francis Xavier Obermüller, newly ordained, was assigned to St. Boniface in Goldenthal ministering to Town 9. No parish paperwork supports this assignment but his biographical sketch in A Chapter of Franciscan History, the information of which was provided by him and parish registers support it. While he may have been the pastor of St. Boniface, his geographic area of responsibility was east to Mequon and north to Holly Cross. It can certainly be assumed that he was on the road more than he was at the parish.

In 1846 Father Martin Anton Meyer was assigned pastor at St. Anthony The Hermit in Fussville in Town 8. Father Meyer can also be found along with Father Obermüller ministering in Washington and Ozaukee Counties at this time. These two priest then administered in the south, southeast, east and northeast. Father Michael Monaghan ministered at St. Francis Borgia, an English speaking parish. Father Joseph Schroudenback ministered in the northwest. Irish Catholics in the southwest were ministered by the pastor of St. John in Monches.

You can draw a diagonal line from the northeast corner to the southwest corner and the area north of this line was ministered by Father Schroudenback while the area south of was ministered by Fathers Obermüller and Meyer.

In 1847 we have Father Joseph Salzmann replacing Father Obermüller, Father Francis Predergrast replacing Father Monaghan, Father Michael Obermüller brother of Francis assisting in the northwest with Fathers Xavier Obermüller and Anton Meyer moving to Holy Cross.

It might be prudent at this time to review who were some of the first priests in the Milwaukee area and where their assignments of responsibility lie. Based on the book The Catholic Church in Wisconsin, in order of appearance:

A number of the priests ministering to Washington County to 1846 to 1853 where not identified in the book The Catholic Church in Wisconsin. Looking at parish sacramental registrations in the years 1845 thru 1853 we find:

In the spring of 1853 Washington County was divided into Washington and Ozaukee as the nationality conflict continued to show its dominance as the people of the then Washington County could not determine where the county seat should be located. It has been reported that it was partially a religious conflict pitting the Protestants of the south against the Catholics of the north. This review does not support this allegation as numerically there would not seem to be that much difference. It may be that the German element wanted the location in the western area while the English element wanted to keep it in the eastern area. For a more indepth look at this situation check the tomfoolry regarding the selection of the county seat. Since the general populace could not decide, the state legislature accommodated both parties and divided the county along previously established district lines. The area west with its new seat in West Bend retained the name Washington while the area east, and a little of Lake Michigan, retained its seat in Port Washington and became known as Ozaukee. Believe what this really proved is there were many diverse groups living in the area looking inward rather than outward and as such no one could gather county wide support.

The Priests

Looking at early sacramental registrations 1846-1855 in the Washington and Ozaukee County area we find:

Prior to 1839, there were no priests in what was to become Washington County. For that matter you would be hard pressed to find any people. In 1840 we have Father O'Kelly residing in the Village of Milwaukee. He had enough on his hands with the village so any visiting in Washington County would be out of the question. In 1842 we have Father Martin Kundig arriving and Father O'Kelly returning in 1843 to Detroit from whence he came. Father Kundig followed the people and at that time the people were south and west of Milwaukee. It is reported by St. John Congregation in 1842 that Father Kundig did come to O'Connelsville and in 1843 to Grafton so he was getting close.

In 1844 Bishop Henni and Father Michael Heiss arrived in what was then the Diocese of Milwaukee. Father Heiss was given the duty to minister to the German element of the community. During the first month in which he arrived he visited the people in what was to become St. Boniface and St. Hubert. At this same time Father Kundig was at St John in O'Connelsville and both returned to Milwaukee together. In the years 1844 and 1845, it is Father Heiss who ministered to the people in Washington County. If sacramental registrations for these years are looked for, it would be best to check the registers of The Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in Milwaukee.

In mid 1846 to mid 1847 Father Francis Xavier Obermüller was assigned to St. Boniface in Goldenthal and Father Martin Anton Meyer to St. Anthony the Hermit in Fussville. Using these parishes as their base, the Fathers ministered to the people in the area around Goldenthal and Fussville and to the peoples in what was to become Ozaukee County. In 1846 we find these two individuals in Cedarburg and as far north as Holy Cross. If sacramental registrations for this period are looked for, it would be best to check the registers of St. Boniface, St. Anthony, Holy Cross, and St. Francis Xavier and for marriages some registrations can be found in court records in Port Washington. It must be remembered that registration books were kept only in recognized parishes.

In 1847 we find Fathers Dr. Joseph Salzmann at St. Boniface and Michael Monaghon in Cedarburg ministering to the southeast portion of the county with Fathers Charles Schroudenback located in St. Kilian and John Michael Obermüller in St. Lawrence ministering to the northwest portion of Washington County. Fathers Francis Obermüller and Anton Meyer in Holy Cross straddled the line and ministered to both sides. We have concentrations, two priest in the south, two priest in the northwest and two priests in the northeast.

In the next several years more priests would come into the area:

The Parishes

Because a priest may have visited a given area from time to time, as far as this review is concerned, this does not count towards being identified as a parish. The characterization of parish is applied when these individuals erected a church building, services were conducted therein, and parish registers of sacramental registrations were kept. That is, the parish was officially recognized by the Diocese. Some may disagree with this as there may have been 10 years from the time a priest came to the area to say mass in peoples' homes and the people referred to themselves as a congregation to when they actually donated land to the diocese and built a church. Be that as it may, for this work, you needed a bonafide church and sacramental registrations before you could be considered a parish. Looking then at the founding of parishes in the Washington and Ozaukee County area we find:

As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, we have thus far identified area priests and beginning parishes. Now we need to look at an orderly approach as to how this came about.

... first came the animals, then came their trails ...

As the Indians move into the area they followed animal trails as it was the easiest way to get from one point to another as the animals were very practical in where they chose to walk. As white men came they followed these Indian trails as again it was most practical. In this time period to 1854, you had some trails now called roads as there were improvements made.

Locations were picked for settling. At these locations service industry grew such as blacksmitting, general stores, and mills. These areas of people/service concentration were given names such as Germantown, Port Washington, Grafton, St. Lawrence, and Cedarburg. In general, areas of people concentrations are where the initial parishes were established. People concentration in this time could be as little as 30 or so families. Parishes which celebrated their sesquicentennial started with greater numbers as these were the communities which flourished through the decades. Other areas did not grow and never made it beyond a mission status.

The Milwaukee Diocese were believers that if you wished to see Catholics keep their faith and not join another religious group, such as the German Protestants, it was necessary that the people have a church and a priest. Because of the nationality situation, the church encouraged any group to build a church and at some interval a priest would minister to them. This caused a proliferation of congregations where within a few miles you might find a German, an Irish, and later a Polish congregation.

As the areas became settled, congregations sprang up. At these times a traveling priest would stop by periodically to provide the sacraments. Communities which flourished became parishes others which did not became missions. As time went on, some missions disappeared such as St. Bridget in Jackson. Others folded into their nearest parish such as St. Patrick in Thompson while others like St. Mary in Richfield continue to the present time. Those that became parishes received a resident pastor. In the early years there were few parishes as there were few priests. As time went on more priests became available and more parishes were recognized.

With the advent of the 21st century, the reverse is happening. There are fewer priests therefore there are fewer parishes as more and more missions disappear and parishes merge. While the geographic area remains the same, the Catholic footprint of parishes is being reduced. In the next 20 years you will see even more of this as travel is no longer of consequence and the number of priests continue to lessen. Concentrations of global parishes will spring up with larger multipurpose church buildings ministered to by more than one priests. The heritage church will disappear not that it will be removed but it will cease operation. Nothing lasts forever disregarding what we might wish.

Indian Trails

The first non trail road was the Chicago-Green Bay military road which had been surveyed and improved in places running south to north several miles west of the Lake Michigan shore. On this road it took days to go from Chicago to Milwaukee. The preferred route was water as the roads were a bit potholed. The best trails became roads. At other times roads were developed by practical experimentation, that is, trial and error.

There weren't many Indian trails in Washington or Ozaukee counties. As reported in 1830 by Charles Brown of the Wisconsin Archeological Society, in Ozaukee County there was a trail (highway 32/42) running parallel to Lake Michigan up to Sturgeon Bay. A second trail (highway 57) further inland ran to Green Bay. A third trail (highway55/145) skirting the southwestern corner proceeded through Washington County via Germantown and West Bend to Fond du Lac. In Washington County there was a trail (highway 175) from Granville to Richfield to Hartford. The last trail ran from Port Washington west and north (highway 33) to the Fond du Lac trail. As you can appreciate, if you wanted to go somewhere your choice of routes was rather limited. It is only after men found they could move mountains did they choose where roads should be placed.

Who Settled Where

In the 1840s and 1850s Milwaukee and the surrounding area consisted of Yankees (from eastern United States), Irish, Germans, and others. Why would a person settle in a particular area? Each one of us I believe can answer that question for themselves. Lets say you are invited to a party but all in attendance are not known to one another. There may be a hundred people but you only know 10 as is probably the case with others too. So what do you initially start with, ten groups of ten individuals. As the party progresses people begin to intermingle, then the number of groups lessens until ultimately you have one group.

Lets go one step further, you attend a party with thirty people. Of these thirty individuals, ten speak English, ten speak German, and ten speak French. The French were in the area longer so they have a smattering of speakable English. What does this party turn into? You end up with three groups: those speaking English predominate as the Irish are base and some of the French have joined . The German group remains at 10 while the French group is now smaller in number but it does exist. This is exactly what happened when people settled the Washington and Ozaukee Counties. Sometimes they came as a group and settled together as was the case in Freistadt, Dheinesville, and Belgium. At other times individuals came alone and then looked: (1) did they know anyone, (2) who came from where they came, (3) who spoke their language, (4) who had the same religious beliefs? If none of the aforementioned could be found, as we might say today, they punted and chose an area which suited their dreams as could be afforded at the time.

From Milwaukee going northwest (Washington County) you run into Germans. From Milwaukee going north (Ozaukee County) you run into Irish and the Yankee. No given area was completely one nationality. It might be better to say it was predominately one nationality.

So what do we have now in the two counties? You have the diehard Germans who spoke German. You have the Yankees who spoke English. You have the Irish who spoke English. You have others such as Welch and French who numerically were small and this necessitated a language change or at least introduction. You have conflict.

In the early years the settlers brought with them their prejudices from the old country. People were leery of other nationalities. Even within their own, the different areas of Germanic lands mistrusted one another as they didn't get along in the old country so why should this change here. It took time, many years, for these individuals to become American.

Area

Looking at the track record of Fathers Francis Obermüller, Anton Meyer, and Charles Schroudenback and others we begin to see how the Milwaukee Diocese allocated Washington County. Even though Ozaukee County did not yet exist, it looks as though the distribution of the populous by nationality caused the Diocese to allocate the area as the state legislature did in 1853. We find:

Where is Home

Mequon was settled at about the same time as the Milwaukee towns. Cedarburg and Grafton were occupied in 1842-1845. Fredonia and Belgium saw settlers between 1846-1849. The above facts are found in FOUR WISCONSIN COUNTIES by Joseph Schaefer published in 1927. The determining factor being the closer you were to the Milwaukee market, the better off you were. You needed to move your produce to Milwaukee and the roads being what they were, the less road you had to traverse the better. Looking at land grants we see a similar picture.

It is easily identified that the majority of land grants were issued in 1848. This is true for all townships with the exception of those along the Green Bay Military Trail and the townships of Germantown and Mequon which were contiguous to Milwaukee.

In general, the communities closer to Milwaukee developed sooner than those farther away and by 1849 most of the land had been purchased and was in the process of being settled.

As for the communities themselves, why did they begin where they did? Lets look at Germantown and Dhinesville. What caused these two communities to exist and why did one grow and the other not. Neither has any compelling geographic characteristic. There was no rushing water which could be harnessed to provide power. There wasn't anything that would say "come settle by me." What did Germantown have that Dhinesville did not? Both sites were located on the Fond du Lac Trail. When push comes to shove, Germantown was a days distance from Milwaukee, Dhinesville was just a bit further. This is what probably caused the first business to exist but this would not sustain a continued growth. What caused Germantown to become a village and Dhinesville not is the railroad and in particular the railroad station which was located in Germantown (South Germantown). With a railroad station there was now a real reason for Germantown to become Germantown. Dhinesville had it six corners, that is, the intersection of three roads but the passing public did not guarantee survival. Dhinesville did have its church, as did Goldenthal, and this did cause a community to exist but a business environment could not be established. Long term existence required a business environment. That is what a railroad station guaranteed, movement of people and most important availability of goods.

Take a look at each community and try to determine why it existed where it does. Most will have one or more of five reasons for its existence. Those that flourished at this time will include a Railroad Station.

• A traveled road; distance from Milwaukee or other community (1 day, 2 days)
• Typographical benefit (water power)
• Dominant personality
• Religious connotation
• Railroad Station

Looking at the townships in the predominate year the townships were settled, for the next several years most family activity would have concentrated on subsistence, that is, making it to the next year. The only item that was abundant was trees and to these settlers they were a hindrance for they had to be removed in order to plant a crop, in some cases even grass. The area had primal forest with the trees so big and the canopy so covering that darkness and resultant lack of orientation caused the settlers to easily become lost and this occurred on many occasions for many years.

Looking at the original Washington County in the overall, people concentrated in its east along the Green Bay military road where you find Cedarburg, Grafton, and Port Washington. Germantown sprang up because it was a days ride north from Milwaukee along the Fond du Lac Trail. West Bend was two days with water power. You find Hartford also about two days from Milwaukee with water power along the Appleton Trail. The center portion of the county even today is less populated as there has been no dominate factor which would cause for people concentration. Where you see concentrations in the center of the county the reason was artificial, that is, a dominant personality cause this to happen.

Beneath The Trees

As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, it followed the people. Where there was a high concentration of families and there didn't need to be that many, up sprang a congregation. The first settlers chose areas closer to Milwaukee such as Cedarburg, Germantown, Grafton, and O'Connelsville, . After the 1848 influx of settlers we see Belgium, Holy Cross, Jackson, Little Kohler, Mequon, Nabob, Neosho, Newburg, Port Washington, and St. Lawrence. After ten years we find Allenton, Ashford, Hubertus, Nenno, St. Augustine, St. Michael, Theresa, Thompson, Trenton, Wayne, and West Bend. After fifteen years were added Barton, Farmington, Jackson, Newburg, Richfield, and Slinger and after twenty years Hartford, Kewaskum, Saukville, and St. Kilian. The direction was south to north and east to west. The footprint has been established.

The span of time is 20 years. A new church was built every six months.

During these early years the Diocese was presented with two nationalities of priests one Irish who spoke English and the other German who spoke German. The majority of the priests were one dimensional as they initially spoke but one language. There were no Yankee priests to speak of at least in the Wisconsin Territory.

This is when the settlers ran into that proverbial brick wall. Unless you brought your pastor with you, the Catholics didn't, it did you little good to attend a church if you spoke English and the priest spoke German. It wasn't much better if you spoke German and the priest spoke English. So in close proximity you had German and Irish family groupings. The two groups could not and did not wish to function together; believe the key words ‘did not' to be more germane.

This nationalistic individuality existed in many areas with two groups of people located several miles apart each to have a small church and a serving priest and the priest was not the same person. Generally you found a German parish and an Irish mission. The German community was ministered by a German priest and the Irish community by an English speaking priest probably Irish in nationality. The German priest came from Bavaria or Austria. The English speaking priest most likely came from eastern United States and actually was born in Ireland.

As time progressed the German priests began to speak both German and English but German predominated in conversations.

One can accept this situation initially but for this nationalistic thing it to go on unabated for four more decades, this was not American thinking. On the other hand, German speaking individuals comprised a very large portion of the areas population and they exerted considerable influence. While the Milwaukee Diocese seemed to have appreciated the situation, it knew that in time English would be the language of the people for English was the language of business and the language of politics. If the church, its parishes, and its members were to have any influence, they must speak English. But, in each decade they said, let it happen in the next. It took six decades for this change to complete, but it did.

Summary

The Catholic Church in Washington County began to flourish with the arrival of Father Michael Heiss in 1844. He was the area's first missionary priest. While other may have been present from time to time, it was he who was instrumental in causing the church and its missions and parishes to exist in the county. The church followed the people. The first priests assigned to the area Fathers Francis Obermüller and Anton Meyer concentrated in the southeast with Father Charles Schroudenback in the northwest. While these priests were assigned to parishes, they acted more like traveling missionaries as their geographic area of responsibility divided the original Washington County in half in a diagonal direction southwest to northeast. After a few years more priests became available and then you see parishes begin to exist.

The parishes sprung up in areas where communities were flourishing. These communities were situated along the traveled roads generally some multiple days ride from Milwaukee.

The hierarchy of the Milwaukee Diocese was German. The early settlers were one dimensional as they spoke one language, the language from whence they came. The predominant language in the south and western area was German. The east and northern area was mixed with both English and German speaking. With a German Roman Catholic hierarchy in Milwaukee and predominately German speaking people, you find German parishes and Irish missions.

Parishes sprang up as people arrived and settled in a south to north direction. The footprint was positioned in the first 10 years and has not changed appreciably since. Parishes flourished as the availability of priests increased. The nineteenth century saw a steady increase in both priests and the general public. The first half of the 20th century saw the balance remain relatively even. Come the second half of the 20th century, the availability of priests began to declined and people numbers continued to rise and the inevitable happen, some missions and parishes had to close.

The 21st century will see the Catholic Church in Washington County heading back to what it formerly looked like when it started. Because of mobility and the inherent administrative overhead missions will become history. Parishes will be merged and turn into super parishes. The question of which parishes will continue to exist and how this will happed only the future will tell. Infrastructure has been used as the determining factor, that is, who had the largest facility to accommodate the merge. This though is a short term approach. The 21st century will need to look at the geographic county footprint and decide where parishes need to be located. For the most part existing parishes will not survive as adjacent land is not available. New super parishes in new locations will probably be the norm.

The Catholic Church in Washington County as well as all counties will need to be reborn.

Profiles

The remainder of this work consists of portraits of the individual parishes in Washington and Ozaukee Counties and a few parishes which lie in close proximity. These portraits consists of historical parish/mission overviews with pastor assignments and tenures. The historical overviews came from the book The Catholic Church In Wisconsin published in the late 1800s, parish publications, community historical publications, with priests' tenures from parish sacramental registrations. While sacramental registrations identify when a priest ministered to the people, they do not identify if the individual was a resident pastor or just ministered to the people as a mission. When it could be determined, the designation pastor is used. When it could not be determined or when it was identified that the priest ministered to the people as a mission, attended is used. When the pastor's name just showed up on occasion, visited is used. Not all priests who visited are identified. For the most part, visiting priests are identified when another document identifies them as pastor but parish registrations do not support this.

Please be aware that most tenure dates were obtained from sacramental registrations being the earliest and latest dates entered by the priest. Actual tenure may be some time before and after these dates.

Index - Parish/Mission Name

Index - Location