ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH OF ASHTON.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

On the 9th of June, 1871, the first two German settlers of this parish came to Osceola county to locate their homesteads. In 1872 and 1873 the Germans increased their number to ten families but in the two following years all except three families left Osceola county on account of the grasshopper scourge. As soon as this plague ceased new settlers continued to come here, so that in the year of 1877 fourteen German families had settled near Ashton and several Irish families near Sibley.

As soon as Rev. B. C. Lenehan of Sioux City and Rev. John Smith of Emmettsburg learned that Catholics had settled in Osceola county they occasionally came to Sibley to look after their spiritual wants. In 1877 Rev. P. J. Lynch was sent as resident priest to Sheldon and for a time looked after the Osceola county Catholics. Within a few years the number of German Catholics near Ashton had increased to twenty-six families and they now frequently spoke of building a church. On September 27, 1880, a meeting was held to determine upon a location for the church. The railroad company had liberally offered to donate five acres of land if the Catholics would build the church near the Ashton station. John Streit offered them five acres of his farm, two and one-half miles from the station, but nearer to the center of the settlement, and for this reason the last offer was accepted. At this meeting a subscription was taken which amounted to $1,213.00. When Father P. J. Lynch heard of their courage he at once came to Ashton to congratulate the settlers and on September 29, 1880, celebrated the first holy mass in the house of John Streit. Thus the blessing of God was called down upon the new parish and their undertaking. On October loth work was begun on the new church, twenty-six by forty-eight feet, and it was eventually completed at a cost of $1,800. The young, but poor, congregation joyfully looked upon the result of their good labors and their joy was greatly increased when Father Lynch came on the I2th of March, 1881, and celebrated holy mass for the first time in the new, but unplastered, church. In 1882 Father Lynch was called away from Sheldon and Rev. J. J. O'Reilly became his successor, under whose care the congregation increased to about ten families. In 1883 Father O'Reilly removed from Sheldon and Rev. T. J. Sullivan succeeded him.

Under Father Sullivan's care the congregation increased to sixty-four German families. Many more came with the intention of settling here, but, finding it impossible to purchase land near the church, went to other places. This, of course, greatly injured the growth of the congregation. Now they considered it a mistake to have built the church two and one-half miles from the station, which had by this time grown to a little village. For this reason Father Sullivan, with the consent of the Right Rev. Bishop, insisted that the church should be moved to the town of Ashton. In 1885 the present site was bought and the church moved thereon. At the same time four acres of land was bought for a parish cemetery. In June, 1888, Rev. James McCormack was sent to Ashton as the first resident priest. He at once built a handsome little frame parsonage at a cost of twelve hundred dollars, including the furniture. The same year eight new families came here, increasing the number of parishioners to seventy-two. In the spring of 1889 the good father erected the first parish school, a building thirty-six by thirty-eight, at a cost of thirty-two hundred dollars, and at once engaged three sisters of the Order of St. Francis (Dubuque) who opened the school in September with thirty-five pupils.

In 1890 Rev. Father McCormack was transferred to Sheldon and Rev. J. P. Hoffman was appointed to Ashton, taking charge January 25, 1890. The school and the mother language in the church drew German families from all sides, so that in 1892 the parish counted ninety-six families. This growth called for more room in the church. Having already used all available space, it was impossible to give seats to each family. In a meeting it was decided in the following spring to build a new church. In accordance with this decision a lot was bought, the old church moved on it and changed into a parish hall. On May 28, 1893, work was begun on the new frame church building, forty-four by one hundred and twelve feet, at a cost of eight thousand .three hundred dollars. On October 25th it was dedicated by Rev. T. Treacy, of Sioux City, who acted as delegate of the Most Rev. Archbishop Hennessey, of Dubuque. On this occasion holy mass was celebrated by Rev. Joseph Brinkmann and the German sermon delivered by the late Rev. Henry Hemmesath and the -English sermon by Father Treacy. During the five following years the inside of the church was furnished with new pews, a communion rail, pulpit, pipe-organ, chasubles and two side altars, all at a cost of sixty-eight hundred dollars. The high altar was donated by Mrs. Eva Boor, in memory of her deceased husband, at a cost of fourteen hundred dollars. By this time the parish had grown to one hundred and fifteen families and this naturally increased the number of pupils in the school. In the year 1897 it was found something had to be done to accommodate the increasing number of school children.

The parish therefore concluded that a new school building, forty by sixty feet, should be erected. This was done in the spring of 1898. At the same time the old parsonage was moved near the new school house and enlarged for a sisters' residence and the old school building was remodeled for a parsonage. All this was done at a cost of seventy-two hundred and sixty-nine dollars.

Now it was expected there would be room enough in the, school and church for years to come. But the parish continued to grow and in 1910 it was discovered the church was too small. The congregation therefore decided to put a cross addition to it, forty-four by fifty-six feet with a steam heating plant for the church and one for the school. The interior of the church was remodeled and during the year a total of fourteen thousand dollars was expended. The church will now seat seven hundred people and in the school will accommodate two hundred and fifty, two hundred and fifteen seats of which are occupied. Five sisters of the Order of St. Francis, from Dubuque, are instructing the children. The value of the church property is about sixty-five thousand dollars.

This parish has given the diocese one priest, another will be ordained within six months, and a third is studying philosophy. Three girls have become nuns. The confraternity of Our Lady of Perpetual Help has a membership of eight hundred and twenty-eight and the sodality of the Immaculate Conception has a membership of one hundred and forty-five. Since the parish has had a resident priest there have been six hundred and twenty-seven baptisms, four hundred and twenty-four confirmations, ninety-five marriages and ninety-five deaths. J. P. Hoffmann, the present pastor, who has been the guiding spirit during the remarkable development of this school and church of the past quarter of a century, was born on November n, 1855, in the grand duchy of Luxemburg. In the year 1871 he came with his parents to this country and lived with them on a farm near Council Bluffs, Iowa. In January, 1878, he began his classical studies, which he finished at St. Laurence College, Mt. Calvary, Wisconsin, in the year 1882. He went to St. Joseph's College, Dubuque, where he studied philosophy one year and from Dubuque he was sent to the Grand Seminary, Montreal, Canada, where he finished a three years1 course of theology. On December 8, 1886. he was ordained priest at St. Raphael's Cathedral, at Dubuque, by His Grace, the Right Rev. Archbishop Hennessey. On the 20th of December he was sent to Willy, Carroll county, Iowa. On September 20, 1887. he was appointed assistant to Rev. August Sauter at Festina, Winneshiek county, Iowa, where he remained a. little over two years. On the 2Oth of January, 1890, he received his appointment to Ashton, Osceola county, Iowa, where he has spent the best part of his life. A quarter of a century in one place with the results attained is a remarkable record.



ST. ANDREW'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH OF SIBLEY.

The first. Catholic settlers in Osceola county were Nicholas Boor and John Strict. They came on the igth day of June, 1871, and filed on claims in Oilman .township. The first baby of Catholic parentage was born in 1872, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Larkin, and reported to be the first white male child born in the county. The first Catholic couple to be married by Father J. J. Caddon in 1874 was Mr. and Mrs. John Coughlin. The Coughlins now live in Clark, South Dakota. The first funeral was Edward Laharty in February, 1873, who was frozen to death east of Sibley, on section 16. The first mass read in this county was in May, 1873, in Holman township on the southeast quarter of section 16, on the homestead of Patrick Larkin, by an assistant priest of Father Lenihan, of Sioux City.

The Sibley parish was first served by priests from Sioux City, twice a year, until 1875, when Father Mice, of LeMars, read mass until 1877. In 1877 Father P. J. Lynch was sent as resident priest to Sheldon and took care of the Catholics in and about Sibley. In 1880 the Ashton part of the congregation separated and built a church on the John Streit farm, about two and one-half miles northwest of Ashton. This schism considerably crippled the Sibley congregation. Father Lynch continued to occasionally attend the Sibley parish at the court house until 1882 when Father J. J. O'Reilly succeeded him at Sheldon. He also occasionally attended the Sibley parish. In 1883 the congregation bought the old Sibley school house for church purposes and the south half of block number 51, and moved the school building on it. Father O'Reilly was succeeded by Father T. J. Sullivan at Sheldon in 1883. Father Sullivan came to Sibley once a month until 1888, at which time Father P. J. McConnick was sent to Ashton and also had charge of the Sibley parish until 1890. At that time Father Dollard was appointed for Rock Rapids, reading mass each alternate Sunday in Sibley until the fall of 1897.

During this time the present church was built and cemetery purchased. In the fall of 1897 Father O'Reilly was appointed to Sibley as first resident priest and the congregation then built the present parsonage. Father O'Reilly was succeeded by Father Phelan in 1904, who in turn was succeeded by Father Hetherington in 1909. Father Hetherington remained until the fall of 1913 when Father E. T. Nally, the present pastor, was appointed. The church in Sibley has always been secondary to Ashton, on account of the Catholic school at Ashton, the Sibley congregation not being able to support a school of its own.

The Sibley church property is valued at about twelve thousand dollars and the property is free from all indebtedness. At the first mass the following were present: Larkins family, the Larathy family, Mrs. John Henderson, John Coughlin, John Streit and family, Nick Boor and family, the Zensen family and P. A. Cajacob. The Cajacob family is the only family left here, most of them being dead.

From the 1914 Past and Present of O'Brien and Osceola Counties

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