Browse Items (254 total)

"Early pioneers of Elma in Howard County had been attracted by employment in the Great Western railroad roundhouse. They attended Saint Patrick Church at St. Cecilia’s, west of Elma, where Father Francis Gunn was pastor. In 1892 the foundation for a…

"About the time this Clayton County town was looking for a name, Abd-el-Kader, an Algerian chieftain, was leading his countrymen to freedom. His bravery thrilled these Americans, and they named the town for him. Missionaries visited Elkader in the…

Historical documents pertaining to the history of Saint Mary parish in Eladora, Iowa.

Historical documents pertaining to the history of Saint Raphael Cathedral in Dubuque, Iowa.

"Bishop Clement Smyth directed Father Richard Nagle to acquire land within the town of Clermont, and a frame church was dedicated by the bishop in the fall of 1860. It was named for the patron saint of Peter Cummings who donated the land. Father John…

“Bishop Mathias Loras purchased a site in 1854 for the first church in Colesburg in northeastern Delaware County. Before that time, visiting priests celebrated Mass in various homes for the Irish settlers, who came into the area as early as the…

“Eight men organized Eagle Township in Black Hawk County in 1858. At least three of them are buried in the Eagle Center parish cemetery. A majority of the first settlers were Catholic. The first church was built on five acres of high ground, but…

“The first church in Dorchester parish in Allamakee County was completed in 1855 under the direction of Father William Jacoby of Lansing. Irish pioneers were the first to settle in the Dorchester area. In 1854 the Theodore Scwhartzhoff family were…

“The first Catholics of the area came in the 1850s. From the family names we know they are mostly Irish. Although a church was built in Nevada in 1870, it was 1881 when the church was built in Colo. They were under Father Patrick Smith’s direction at…

"A Catholic church of their own was only a dream for the Edgewood Catholics until 1916. Some were members of the Greeley parish to the south; others were members of the Littleport parish to the northeast. But all attended Mass in Cox Creek, Garber,…