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"Saint Martin Parish and Saint Mary Parish sprang from one parish named Saint Mathias to provide for the language difference of the early settlers of this Dubuque County area. For a long time Saint Martin's was the Irish parish and Saint Mary's the…

"The early Catholic settlers had been served by missionary priests, among them Father Joseph Butler, who wrote and signed the earliest parish record. He recorded a marriage and nine baptisms on Sept. 23, 1866. Father Peter O’Dowd arrived as resident…

"Saint Mary Parish was established in 1857 with the appointment of Father John Baumgartner to care for the German speaking Catholics who had been members of Saint Martin Parish in Cascade along with their Irish neighbors. They began the construction…

“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…

"On January 15, 1902, the Diocese of Sioux City was formed from the western half of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, following county lines. The Catholic church in Corwith found itself less than a mile east of the diocesan line. In both directions,…

"In the 1860s Irish immigrants came to Grundy County to settle fertile Grant Township several miles south of Dike. The first settler was John B. Murphy in 1866. Having first farmed in Michigan, he was attracted to the Iowa farmland. He was soon…

“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…

"Saint Mary Parish came into being in response to the petition of German families to Bishop Loras in 1819 for permission to establish a parish to provide for the German speaking Catholics of Dubuque. The first church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity,…

Historical documents pertaining to the history of Saint Mary Parish in Goodell, Iowa.

"When Greene began to thrive in the 1870s because of the railroads, the Catholic settlers were no longer satisfied with Mass in homes or halls and traveling four miles to Saint Mary’s in Coldwater. They were eager for a church of their own. In 1878 a…