EARLY GLEN ULLIN 1883-1909
Translated from a German Book in 1981 by Henry L. and Frances Geck
It was the 8th of May in the year of 1883, a wonderful day. The prairie was nice and green in the spring as the train stopped on a side track of the Northern Pacific Railroad track, about fifty seven miles west of Mandan in the Curlew Valley. The train brought the first Pioneers, about 40 people, mostly from Cleveland, Ohio, to the Curlew Valley. The only Catholics among them were Ernest R. Steinbrueck and family, Severin Schneider and family, and Hugo Schneider, the brother of Severin Schneider. At the end of 1883, the family of Jacob Grewer came, and in the spring of 1884 came some more German-Catholic families of Nick Classen, John Mainzer, John Bohr, and Mathias Zinsmaier, and some single men. The Catholics numbered about 54; 15 men and 39 women and children.
On the 15th of June in the year 1884, Bishop Martin Marty, O.S.B., of Yankton, South Dakota, the Diocese of the Dakota Territory, called the first meeting of the Catholic men of Glen Ullin to organize the first parish. On the 9th of July, 1884, Fr. Martin Schmitt said the first Mass. Fr. Schmitt, O.S.B., was the Pastor of the Mandan Mission, from the Missouri River to the Montana border. Fr. Schmitt said the Mass once a month in Glen Ullin in the home of Jacob Grewer.
In the winter, Ernest Steinbrueck left for Cleveland, Ohio, to collect some money to build a church. He received $400.00. The Northern Pacific Railroad donated the land so they could build a church. Fr. Schmitt came two times a month to say the Holy Mass. In the summer of 1885, Peter Benzschawel from Cleveland, built a house so they could say Mass in it.
In the spring of 1885, some more German Catholic people, about 40, arrived. These were the families of Eugene Denzel, Carl Henschel, John Hollenbach, Peter Hess, Peter Braun, Joseph Gietzen, John Weiand, Peter Rabung, Andreas Poppel, and Adolph Dahlhauss from Ohio and Michigan. The single men included Lorenz F. Tavis and Wilhelm Spieker from West Virginia, and Dominik Rockenstein and Johann Kost from Pennsylvania. Also arriving were the families of Gerving from Holland and Christian Schantz and Mathias Schafer from Russia. As the parish increased, they called a meeting and elected Fr. Martin Schmitt as President, Mathias Zinsmaier as Secretary, Eugene Denzel as Treasurer, Jacob Grewer and Carl Henschel as Directors, and Ernest Steinbrueck and Severin Schneider as Consultants.
At this time they ordered lumber. The first Monday in September, they started to build the church; 25 feet wide and 42 feet long. The men helped build the church. Those who could not help gave money. Peter Hess gave $10.00. John Mainzer gave a gold ring, and others gave wheat and potatoes.
Since most of the parishioners settled there in the middle of summer, they were building their own homes and couldn’t help with the building of the church. After a few weeks, some could help and the building progressed rapidly. On the 14th of December, the first Mass was celebrated in the incomplete building; (it was a High Mass). During the High Mass, the Men’s Choir sang, which was formed in September. Choir members were Mathias Zinsmaier, Severin Schneider, Ignaz Benz, Richard Bauknecht, Ernest Steinbrueck, and Lorenz F. Tavis. Others joined the choir later. Mathias Zinsmaier was the Director and also played the clarinet.
Archbishop Martin Marty had intended to call the church St. Margareta. The parishioners did not like that name so they prayed that it should be called Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was approved by the Archbishop. On the 13th of April, 1886, the Abbot Alexius Edelbrock, O.S.B., from St. John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota, and assistants Rt. Rev. Fathers Bede, O.S.B., and Martin Schmitt, O.S.B., blessed the church and dedicated it to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. On the same day, they received a bell as a gift to the parish from Lorenz Tavis, Sr., whose family had arrived that same spring from Wheeling, West Virginia. Fr. Martin Schmitt bought 31 acres of land south of the village for the cemetery.
At this same time, the families of Clemens Wehri, Frank Wehri, Bernhard Wehri, Simon Nagel, and Henry Kottenbrock came with Rev. J. Hiedegger from Fort Jennings, Ohio. They went north of Glen Ullin and settled in what is now the St. Clement’s Parish. Rev. Hiedegger stayed a couple of weeks and then returned to his parish in Ohio.
During the summer of 1886, Fr. Putz from Tiffin, Ohio, visited Glen Ullin and because of a need for church vessels, he donated a silver Ciborium. This same year also saw the arrival of the brothers Casper, Phillip, Joseph, and Peter Geck. The Geck Brothers built the first flour mill. Also, at this time, the family of Gregor Feser arrived.
The people were thankful for the diligence and willingness of Fr. Martin Schmitt to help give the parish such a good start. Fr. Schmitt was willing to work for the people even though they couldn’t afford to pay him. During the three years he was there, from July 9, 1884, to July 17, 1887, the Sunday collection was not even enough to pay his train fare back and forth from Glen Ullin to Mandan.
The largest members of the community were farmers and the crops of 1886 were small. There was no crop in 1887, so the largest number of the community had to look for other work, some on the railroad and others in different communities. Pay was very little. Many left the county forever. Amid these sad conditions, Fr. Ambros Lethert, O.S.B., arrived. He was an intelligent, God-fearing man, and was not afraid of work. His first thought was to beautify the altars. He admonished the parish to work together for their future. The crop of 1888 was better and more immigrants came; the John Tavis family being some of them. Also, in that year, Christian Schantz, Sr. donated the Way of The Cross pictures and Lorenz Tavis collected the money for a small organ.
During this time, Fr. Ambros stayed in the Poor Souls Sacristy in Dickinson. He and the members of the church desired to build a parish house. Through donations from the Parish community, they started to build a parish house. The work was all done by the parishioners; Peter Hermes, William Hermes, Mathias Schantz, Christian Kohn, Casper Schafer, Andreas Poppel, William Spieker, Ignaz Bentz, JohnWeiand and others hauled stones for the foundation, dug the basement and the well. The carpentry work was done by Casper Geck, Henry Kokkeler, Peter Hess, L. J. Tavis, C. Achoff, and John Tavis, under the supervision of Fr. Ambros, who also used the hammer and shovel. By May of 1889, the building was completed enough so Fr. Ambros could move in.
The ground was so low where the church sat, that the parish house was built up the hill south of Glen Ullin, near the cemetery, and later on the church was also moved up the hill. It was a lot of work, but only took two weeks to move the building up the hill. From Glen Ullin, Fr. Ambros took care of the Catholics north and south of the railroad into Montana. In 1889 and 1890 there were crop failures and many people left the Glen Ullin area; only 19 families remained in the parish. The poor conditions taught them a lesson; the people realized that, and invested in cattle and sheep and did very well. Fr. Ambros worked hard under privations and the strain of hard work, but never gave up; however, he was called by his superior to work in Minnesota. The parish liked him so well and begged him to come back. In 1896 their wish was granted and he returned to the parish.
After the Dakotas were divided, they also formed two Apostolic Vicariates and in 1889 Rev. John Shanley was consecrated Bishop for the North Dakota Diocese. After that, Bishop Shanley appointed Fr. M. C. Brennan as pastor. Fr. Brennan resided in Dickinson. However, he was called away and Glen Ullin was without a priest for a few months. At this time, Fr. J. G. Perrault from Mandan took care of the Glen Ullin Parish when possible. Fr. Henry Schmitz helped out for a while, but took ill and had to go to the hospital in St. Paul.
In 1891, the crops and prices were good; also many German-Russians arrived in that year. And also, under the advice of Fr. Schmitz, the St. Clement’s parish was started. After Fr. Schmitz left, it was a sad parish until Fr. Martin Schmitt from Mandan came to say Mass there. In 1893, Fr. Vincent Wehrle, O.S.B., then Abbot of Richardton, came to make a Mission at Glen Ullin. The Mission was very helpful. Even though the parish was without a priest for so long a time, no one left the Church. Then a Fr. G. Dionne, a French priest, took over for a short time. In 1894, Fr. J. B. Wilhelm was appointed in charge of the territory between Mandan and Richardton.
By the early 1890’s, the German speaking Catholics increased in number, but there was a shortage of priests who spoke German and that was the same trouble in the first half of the 90’s. It was difficult in Glen Ullin after Rev. J.E. Wilhelm left, so the Glen Ullin Parish and the St. Clement’s Parish sent John Tavis and Frank Wehri as delegates to the Bishop and begged him to put the congregations under the Benedictine priests again. The Bishop agreed to do that, so in 1896, after his invitation, the Rev. P. Valentine Stimmler, O.S.B., who was chaplain at St. Alexius Hospital in Bismarck, and was a very good priest, came to Glen Ullin under the Benedictines. At this time, they decided to move the parish house and the church to a different place. Since everyone was willing to help, Fr. Valentine bought four lots on B Street and Oak Avenue and the work began in full. It wasn’t an easy job to move the church and the parish house down from the hill, as it was still located up there. A lot of the members of the parish offered to help. The parishioners appointed Joseph Lantz to supervise the job. He had just arrived from Southern Russia.
In the middle of 1896, Fr. P. Ambros Lethert, O.S.B., was again sent to take over the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Glen Ullin. That was a great time of joy. A large number of the parishioners went to the depot to greet the priest and to accompany him to the parish house, which the women had already fixed up and furnished the best they could. Mrs. Severin Schneider, who was used to working for priests, took over and did the housework for a while there, the best she could. The kitchen and cellar were together at that time yet. They always had plenty of help, and then later on, they had to dig out a cellar and laid it out with stones. The work was mostly done by members of the parish. Others helping were Albert Freitag and Peter Kastner from St. Clement’s Parish. Fr. Ambros was happy with the work the parishioners did there and soon began administering the Sacraments. At that time, the parish stayed about the same size, so there was no need to build a new church.
In the spring of 1897, Fr. Ambros called a meeting of the people about building a new church, as the parish had grown to such an extent that a new church was needed. The church and the parish house contracts were given to T. W. Emmens for $24.00. Fr. Ambros noticed that the people were very good to come to receive the Sacraments and were so willing to help. Those who signed up to promise donations were Mathias Schantz, $60.00; Philip Geck, $50.00; John Tavis, $50.00; Joe Feser, $50.00; Herman Tavis, $50.00; Antone Tavis, $50.00; Peter Geck, $40.00; William Hermes, $30.00; Katharina Gartner, $30.00; Jacob Bleth, $25.00; Louis Tavis, $60.00; Peter Hess, $50.00; John Weiand, $50.00; Lorenz Tavis, $50.00; William Hess, $50.00; Peter Hermes, $50.00; Gregor Feser, $40.00; S. J. Schneider, $30.00; Christian Schantz, $30.00; and smaller donations amounted to $85.00. Along with all of these donations there were other promises made to donate and with God’s help, they began to build. Fr. Ambros himself drew up the plan; the church should be 98 feet long and 50 feet wide, 62 feet across the front and 100 feet from the tower to the ground. In order to keep the debt down, they decided to build the part up to the transept first and finish the rest later.
In June, they started to build the basement foundation. The work was done with stones which the parishioners brought in. The Wetzstein Brothers got the contract for the stonework for $110.00, and the Mandan Mercantile Company delivered the lumber for $1,575.00. The builders were Schafer and Schafer. They got the contract for building for the sum of $750.00.
In June, on the Feast of The Sacred Heart of Jesus, Fr. Ambros laid the cornerstone and in November they had the first service in the new Church. They had Forty Hours Devotions to thank the Sacred Heart of Jesus, after whom the parish was named, for the nice Church and the graces which had been received by all of them during that time. The church windows were donated by the Catholic Order of Foresters, Sacred Heart Court No. 230, Peter Geck, Philip Geck, Joe Geck, John Gerving, Severin Schneider, Henry Kokkeler, Peter Hermes, Frank Tavis, Christian Schantz, Joseph Lantz, Gregor Feser, and Herman Gerving. John Tavis donated the cross on the tower and the church pews were bought at the Minneapolis Office and School Furniture Company for the sum of $231.00. The women of the parish donated the oil painting of the Sacred Heart of Jesus for $29.00 and the young ladies donated the Vigil light for $39.00. Fr. Ambros himself built the high altar. Even though he had to spend a great amount of time taking care of the parishes in Glen Ullin and St. Clement’s, he still found enough time to build the beautiful high altar by working until midnight and getting up early in the mornings to do it. The altar is now in the basement of the church.
In 1898, Fr. Ambros bought more lots in the same block as the church. Now fourteen lots belonged to the parish. He bought the lots for $200.00 to be used later to build a school and parish house on. The parish was blessed in 1897 and 1898 and in 1899 they bought the parish bells from a firm in St. Louis, Missouri, for $573.80. Thirty-nine members of the parish donated toward the bells and on the Feast of The Immaculate Conception, these bells were blessed. The large one in honor of The Sacred Heart of Jesus, the second one in honor of The Immaculate Conception, and the third one in honor of St. Benedict and for the Poor Souls in Purgatory. In the same year, they dug a well 82 feet deep, near the church, and put a windmill on it which cost $159.45.
In the spring of 1900, the parishioners were getting ready to complete the new church. Fr. Ambros asked for the money and a lot of the people signed up, promising how much they would give. By the end of May they had $2,465.00. They were all willing to work and hoped for a good crop. The parishioners, who lived on farms, donated the stones and did the digging of the basement. Stanislaus Wetzstein and John Filibeck undertook the masonry work for $190.00. The lumber was bought from the Glen Ullin Lumber and Implement Company for $1,792.00. John Tavis delivered the steel and other iron, whatever was needed, for $381.00 and the carpenters worked for $812.00. In October, the transept of the church was finished as planned. The Tavis Brothers donated one large window in front in remembrance of their deceased parents and Peter Hess donated one in memory of his deceased wife. Each window cost $125.00. On the fourth of July, they held a picnic which brought in $269.65. The debt by that time for the parish was $1,017.00 and when the church building was completed, the debt was $2,500.73, which caused some worry, as $1,700.00 was to be paid in two years. At this time, the parishioners promised Fr. Ambros the money by paying pew rent. In 1900, the people who had moved out to the St. Joseph area started a new parish and it was blessed in honor of St. Joseph.
Fr. Ambros stayed a short time yet in Sacred Heart Parish, until June 19, 1901, when his health failed and asked to be sent to a parish with less work. He was appointed pastor at Freeport, Minnesota. He had the Sacred Heart Parish in Glen Ullin from August 15, 1887 until February, 1891 and later on from April, 1896 until June 19, 1901. These were the hardest times for the priests and parishioners. Fr. Ambros died on November 6, 1917.
On August 24, 1901, Fr. Adolph Dingmann, O.S.B., came from the St. Joseph’s Abbey as the parish priest for the Sacred Heart Parish. His first concern was to reduce the church debt. In the fall of 1901, another fair was held for the good of the church, which brought in $757.28. With this and a few special collections, the debt was reduced considerably. In the spring, Fr. Adolph bought three nice altars, the pulpit, and communion rail from the Dubuque Altar Manufacturing Company, which amounted $750.00. The communion rail, which cost $45.00, was a gift from John Burns. The altars and the pulpit were paid for from the church treasury and the Sacred Heart Statue on the high altar, costing $45.00, was a gift from Daniel Friedmann from Cold Springs, Minnesota. The Blessed Virgin Statue and The St. Joseph Statue for the side altars, at $30.00 each, were gifts from Mrs. John Tavis and Emma Tavis. The statues of St. Benedict and the Blessed Mother Anna, on the two sides of the high altar were $53.00; a gift from Mrs. Louis Tavis. Peter Theisen donated the two adoring angels for each side of the tabernacle which cost $12.00 and Mrs. William Lutgen donated the Perpetual light worth $45.00. Dr. Strausz donated the altar bells which cost $18.00. The inside of the church was painted by Patrick Quinn for $57.00. Now the church was finished and it looked very nice, however, they still needed an organ. Fr. Adolph had the luck of getting the pipe organ for the church at a cost of $668.25. In June, 1902, the church was totally completed and was blessed by Bishop John Shanley.
When the church was blessed, Fr. Clement, from Bismarck, gave the first sermon and Fr. D. Collins, from Mandan, had the High Mass, and on this same day the organ was blessed. A large number of the people were there to celebrate and to pray for the enlargement of the Catholic parish. Also, in this year, the roof of the old parish church was repaired and lengthened by 14 feet and two school classrooms were made out of it.
The church fair, in the fall of 1902, netted $1,644.47. This and a special collection for the church lowered the debt quite a bit. In 1903, the parish house was enlarged and the inside redecorated. The parish also bought the house south of the church from Frank Lechtleugner with 7 lots for $1,600.00, so it would be ready to have sisters come to live and teach in the parish. Also, by this time, the people who had settled southwest of Glen Ullin, started to build their new parish, Sts. Peter and Paul Parish. All of these parishes worked together. However, the work was too much for one priest to save souls and care for the four parishes, so Fr. Adolph was assigned an assistant, Fr. Louis Troufler, O.S.B., from St. John’s Abbey, who worked very diligently, but was soon transferred to Montana.
In the fall of 1903, there was a fair held which brought in $1,027.66 for the parish and in the spring of 1904, Fr. Adolph was called away from Glen Ullin. The parishioners remembered him and missed him very much because he had worked so hard and was willing to sacrifice a great deal for the people there. Then Fr. Alphonse Henn, O.S.B., was sent to Glen Ullin from St. Mary’s Abbey in Richardton and about the same time, Fr. Vincent Wehrle was elected Abbot of Richardton. From the beginning, Fr. Alphonse worked daily to start a new parish school. He tried to get sisters from St. Joseph’s in Minnesota, but didn’t have any luck. They had promised to send him some sisters, but then found that they couldn’t send any.
In order to further beautify the services, they bought three new copes. A black one which cost $20.00 was donated by Mike Tschida. Joseph Geck donated $17.00 for a red one and the white one which cost $25.00 was donated by John Tavis. The fair in the fall of 1904 brought in $1,561.10. For the spiritual welfare of the parishioners, they started The Society of The Sacred Heart of Mary and The Living Rosary. For many years, The Childhood Society grew and had many members. Mostly children and the younger folks belonged to this society. They also started the Altar Society for the women, and the dues were $1.20 a year, which were used toward the outfitting of the church.
In 1905, they held another church fair which brought in $1,132.95. This money helped to reduce the church debt by quite a bit and at last the parish school was built. In 1906, the Benedictine sisters from Yankton, South Dakota, started a parish school in Richardton and promised to send some sisters to Glen Ullin, so that in the fall they would get sisters at the parish. At this time, the sister’s house was enlarged and September of 1906 they opened the house to the following sisters; Sr. Cunegunde, Sr. M. Berchmans, and Sr. M. Gertrude, O.S.B., so they could teach at the parish school. Because the two schools and the old church could not hold all of the children, they put some of them in the church basement. In the fall of that year, several men from the parish donated the statues of St. Anthony and St. Catherine. John Tavis and Philip Geck gave the Baptismal Font which cost $70.00.
Rev. Bishop Shanley worked for many years for the building of parish schools and then he asked the Sacred Heart Congregation to build a new school too, which would be the pride of the parish. So it was decided that a solid brick school should be built. Fr. Alphonse went around collecting pledges from the parishioners and $2,579.64 was promised toward the building of the new school. At that time, the parish was out of debt and the people were willing to build a new school then. Anton Wohmen, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, drew up the plans for the school building. It should be 70 feet long, 50 feet wide, and two stories high. W. R.
Jerome undertook the contract to begin building in May, 1906, and at this time the excavating and the work began. John Ernst did the basement and the building of the bell tower for $5.00 a yard. The pressed bricks came from Hebron at $21.00 per thousand and the other bricks were from the Abbey at Richardton at $8.50 per thousand. The lumber, bought from the Glen Ullin Lumber Company, was also delivered and the better finishing wood and iron which was needed, was brought from Milwaukee. The laying of the brick was done by A. Pearson from Bismarck. James Morin undertook the carpenter work. The hopes were that the school would be finished by the start of the school year, but it took until February 16, 1907 until the school building was finished. The steam heat was put in by Grahms and Wahlpruit from Bismarck, costing $1,145.00. When the school was completed, everything had cost $16,189.72.
In the fall of 1906, the church fair brought in $1,801.20 and the members of the parish promised to donate more. They also took out a loan from someone in Columbus, Ohio for the rest of the debt. On May 6, 1907, the parish school was blessed. It was a great feast and a joy for the bishop, priest, and parish. The parish school members felt specially blessed. At this same time the Bishop confirmed the young members of the parish. Since the opening of the parish school, the attendance of children was 214 in 1906-1907, 228 in 1907-1908 and 217 children in 1908-1909. When the school was finished, Fr. Alphonse donated a statue of the Pieta and the four statues of the Four Evangelists were donated by Mrs. John Tavis, Mrs. Carl Hermen, Mrs. August Hermen, and Mrs. Thomas Farington. The fair in 1907 brought in a nice sum of $1,540.00.
In 1908, they bought the two angel statues holding the holy water. At this time, the priest wanted the men to start a society for the men of the parish. On April 5, 1908, they had a meeting at which time John Tavis was elected Temporary President; Lorenz Tavis, Temporary Secretary; and 19 men members signed up. By the second meeting on April 25th, 12 men attended the meeting and they wrote up the rules and regulations for the society. By May 3rd, they started the St. Joseph Society for men and the following members were elected to office; John Tavis, President; Joe Lantz, Vice-President; Lorenz Tavis, Secretary; Matt Schantz, Treasurer; and Casper Schafer, Marshal. At this time, there were 42 members. For the sick members, they donated $5.00 a week to support them, and they also wanted to decorate the graves of the members who died. They celebrated the Feast of St. Joseph as their patron. At about this same time they started the Sacred Heart Women’s Society with 29 members.
The parish did not have a church fair in 1908. Instead, it was decided to have an assessment, and this brought in $2,715.0, with which they paid off the debt of the steam heat in the school.
In the spring of 1909, the Sacred Heart Ladies Society decided to get decorations for the high altar. In those days they used artificial flowers. The sisters undertook the decorating of the altars, as they had decided to decorate all of them. During the month of May, the Blessed
Virgin’s altar was especially beautiful, as it was decorated by the sisters. They sang German during the Mass and later on, they also took women in the choir. Mrs. Lizzie Hess, Frances Hess, Margaret Steinbrueck, Mrs. Steinbrueck, Mrs. Herman Tavis, Mrs. Peter Hess, and Mrs. Louis Tavis were in the choir. They practiced a four voice Mass. Mrs. Herman Tavis was the choir leader until Lorenz Tavis took over.
The organ had already been bought in 1888; however, nobody could play it at that time. Lorenz Tavis, the choir leader then, undertook to learn how to play the organ. They would carry it over to his house for practice and then bring it back to the church again, which was quite a chore, but they did it. During the first two months in 1895, Lorenz Tavis undertook the choir and was the leader until the spring of 1899. Then Fr. Adolph started a church choir and Agatha Tavis was the musician. She was 12 years old. This choir sang for the next three years and then Fr. Adolph turned it over to Lorenz Tavis again and they started a big choir then.
In 1909, they started the men’s choir. The organist was Theresa Tavis; Lorenz Tavis was director; tenors were Lorenz Tavis, Anton Muggli, Matthias Gauer, Vincent Muggli, and Peter Kranz. Bass singers were John Tavis, William Norman, Nicholas Gauer, and Adam Turk. Other tenors were Joseph Tavis, Edward Tavis, Jacob Bleth, and Henry Kokkeler. Other bass singers were John Tavis, Joseph Reef, Frank Tavis, and Michael Sauser. This choir was the pride and joy of the parish.
Soon they decided to start more societies for the women. First, they started the Immaculate Heart of Mary Society. Each member was asked to sign their name and belong to the society. Then, say one Hail Mary every day, adding, ‘Refuge of Sinners, Pray for us’. They met every second Sunday of the month at 2 o’clock in the afternoon and every Saturday there was a Mass said in honor of the Blessed Virgin and the Litany to the Blessed Virgin was also said at this time. The indulgences were many. In 1905, they joined the Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Society in Paris, France. At that time, they had 181 members. They also started a Society of the Suffering of Jesus Christ in January of 1905. The members could gain many indulgences and they met on the third Sunday of the month at 2 o’clock in the church. After that, they started the Apostleship of Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the members, when they said their morning prayer, which they were not supposed to miss, were to add ‘Pray for the Honor and Passion and Death of Christ’. They also were to offer up the Holy Mass. On each first Sunday of the month, they received Communion in a body. Their meetings were held on the first Sunday of the month at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. At that time they had 191 members.
After that, they started the Living Rosary Society, with many indulgences for the members. They had 60 members then and they met on the last Sunday of the month after the afternoon services at church. On the third Sunday of the month, the 8 o’clock Mass was celebrated for this Society and the members could gain a plenary indulgence. Their dues were $1.00 a year, which was used to decorate the altars and when one of them died, a requiem Mass was sung for them.
Then they started the Altar Society, with their dues being $1.20 a year. The dues were used to decorate the Church and on the first Sunday of the month, the 8’oclock Mass was offered up for them and there also was a requiem Mass offered when one of them died. The men then started the St. Joseph Society.