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“Missionaries came early to this center of agriculture, manufacturing, and railroading in eastern Cerro Gordo County, and by 1864 the Catholics were organized into a parish. Father Patrick Feely, located at Waverly after Father Murphy’s death, was…

“When the railroad came to Marion, it brought the families of Irish workers. Recognizing the need for a larger church, Father Hartigan’s parishioners purchased property and collected funds. In 1905 a brick structure named for Saint Joseph was built…

“Catholics residing southwest of Dubuque, in Mosalem and Table Mound Townships, were organized into a parish in 1872 by Father Thomas J. O’Reilly, a priest of the Cathedral in Dubuque. Father Samuel Mazzuchelli and Bishop Mathias Loras had celebrated…

Historical documents pertaining to the history of Saint Joseph parish in Independence, Iowa.

"Michael J. Quirk and Father Michael Lynch were the first priests to visit the Greeley area to care for the early Catholic settlers in the 1860s. On those occasions the James Fitzpatrick home became a temporary chapel for the Greeley and Edgewood…

"Saint Joseph Parish in Garnavillo began early in the history of the archdiocese. According to tradition, Father Joseph Cretin, who later became the first bishop of Saint Paul, came from Dubuque and celebrated Mass in the homes of John Barrett and…

"In 1860 Father John J. Aylward, pastor of nearby Bankston, began a frame church at Farley Junction, about a mile from the present church site. In 1867 Father Charles McGauran, pastor of Bankston, saw to the building of a rock church, which was used…

"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…

"Only four Catholic families were living in the town of Earlville in eastern Delaware County, when Saint Joseph Church was built in 1886. The project was sponsored mainly by townspeople who were not Catholic. They thought another church in the…

“In 1880, after the church was closed for ten years, Bishop Hennessy assigned Saint Joseph Church to the care of the Protivin pastor, ten miles away. The Jesuits of Prairie du Chien gave them spiritual care in the 1880s. And Father Francis X. Boeding…