THE LIBRARIES LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHERS PONZIGLIONE, SCHOEN- MAKERS AND OTHER EARLY JESUITS AT OSAGE MISSION. SKETCH OF ST FRANCIS* CHURCH. LIFE OF MOTHER BRIDGET. BY W. W. GRAVES. Copyrighted 1916 By W, W. Graves. Published by W. W. Gravks, St. Pauu Kansas. ^3a'5 C-7S- /.•^n TABLE OF CONTENTS. Chapti:r I. — Father Ponziglione. A Royal Missionary, I Born a Real Count, ........ 2 Deported by Revolutionists, 4 His Troubles in Rome, 6 His Journey Westward, 7 His Labors Among the Osages, .... 10 His Labors Among the Whites, .... 14 Celebrates His Jubilee, 19 Jubilee Poems, 23 Father Paul- Leaves the Mission, .... 30 Active Life in the North, 33 Fifty Years a Priest, 35 Interpreter Aids in a Confession, - - ' if Encountered the Benders, 37 Preached Strong Sermons, 39 Slept With Ranchmen, 42 Lost on the Prairie During Blizzard, . . 43 Kept ''The Faith" Alive, 45 A Bogus Nephew, . 45 Mistaken for a Spy, 46 Narrow Escape from Drowning, .... 48 First Pastor of Ottawa, 48 Largest Sunday School in the World, . . 50 Newspapers Notes, • • 53 Chapter II. — The Apostle Of South Eastern Kansas. In the Wilderness, 5^ Looking Backward, 61 Father Paul's Missionary Work, .... 65 Chapter III. — 'A Non-Catholic's Comment. John R. Brunt's Comment on Father Paul, 71 Chapter IV. — An Appre:ciation. Personal Recollection by Miss Lizzie Berry, 74 Chapter Y. — Mr. Brewster's Address. An Address Before The Kansas Historical Society, . 7^ CiiAPTJiR VI. — Lkttsrs Of Father Paui,. 93 94 94 95 95 96 97 97 98 98 99 100 ICX) lOI 102 Origin of the Osage Catholic Mission, A Mission Desired, Manual Labor School Established, A IVesbyterian Mission, . . Osages Settle in Neosho County, yVnother Presbyterian Mission, Catholic Mission Established, -Manual Labor School, . . . Convent Established Enlargement — And School Built Indian Agency Removed, . . Annuity }*ayments and Feasting, The American Fur Company, . . Benefit and Results of Mission School Osa^e Scholars Osages Again Remove 102 A Town Started, 105 Pioneer of 1851 Relates Experiences, . . 103 Kansas Church History 108 St. Patrick's Celebration 109 Osage Indian Question 109 Some Reminiscences, in Letters to Miss Berry 116 Chapter VII. — The Osages. Brief History of Osages 125 Father Schoenmaker's Letter T31 Interview with Father Paul 132 Chapter VIII. — Antecedents Of The Mission Events that Led to its Establishment, , . 139 Chapter IX. — Western Indian Missions. An Article From The Kansas Magazine, . 145 Chapter X. — Father De La Croix. Biography of First Missionary 160 Cff AFTER XT. — Fathe^i Van Quickenbohnk. Biography of First Jesuit Missionary. . 163 Chapter XII. — Father Verreydt. The Predecessor of Father Schoenmakers, 177 Chapter XIII. — Father Schoenmakers. His Earlv Davs 180 Leaves for the O sages, 182 Opens the School-, 183 Quapaw Indians Admitted to School, . . 186 Drouths and Grasshoppers, 188 Troubles During the War, 192 Charters St. Francis' Institution, . . . 190 The Court of Last Resort, 200 Erects Substantial Buildings, .... 204 The First Postmaster, 205 Organizes a Town Company, .... 206 Seldom in Court, 206 Retires from Active Duties 209 Fifty Years a Priest, 210 His Last Days, 215 A Man of Modesty 217 A Man of Courage, ' 217 His Introduction to the Osages, .... 218 A Letter to The Big Chief, 219 Chapter XIV.— Father John Bax. Biographical Sketch 221 Father Bax's First Letter, 222 Father Bax's Second Letter, ... . 233 Father Bax's Third Letter, ' 243 Death of Father Bax, 245 Chapter XV. — Pi^esidents Of St. Francis Institution. Father Adrian Sweere, 254 Father John Kuhlman, ....... 254 Father ^T. R. Rosvvinkle 256' Father B. A. Shaffel, . 256 Chapter XV^I. — Other Early Jesuits. Father Adrian Van Hulst, ^^f Father Theodore Heimann, 257 Father J. Logan 257 Father "j. C. Van Goch 257 Father J- I- Settles 258 Father Phillip Colleton 258 Brother Thomas O'Donnell 260 Father Van Der Hagan 260 Father Joseph M. Rimimele 261 Chapter XVII. — Sr, Francis Church. History, Magnitude, Etc., 262 Father Paul Writes of St. Francis Church, 265 The Old Log Church, 271 Chapter XVIIL— Sisters Oe Loretto. Sisters of Loretto Among the Osages, . . 273 St. Ann's Academy Established, .... 276 Chapter XIX. — Mother Bridget. Biographical Sketch, 280 John Brunt's Tribute, 282 Margaret Hill McCarter's Tribute, . . . 283 Father Paul's Tribute 286 ILLUSTRATIONS. Father Ponziglione, . . . . . . Opening Home of the Jesuits at Osage Mission, . . 12 The Old Log Church. 60 St. Francis' Church. Monastery and School, y6 St. Francis' Institution, 108 St. Ann's Academy, 124 Father Schoenmakers, 1.89 Mother Bridget, 204 College Hall, St. Francis' Church and Monastery, 1890, ....>.... 252 St. Francis' Church, 268 , c^ sm^Ut^tm^JS This picture is made from an oil painting made by Edgar Leon, of Chi- cago, for St. Paul's Council No. 760, Knights of Columbus, and donated by the Ccuncil to the Kansas- Historical Society. The painting is in -the Art Gallery of the Society at Topeka. INTRODUCTION. ''For min ■■ own part, I shall be glad Uo learn of noble men!' — Shakespeare:. The pages of history teem with the achieve- ments of mihtary men and of statesmen, but it often happens that men who have done greater work for humanity are given only passing notice. The mission of the mihtary man is to destroy. His work characterizes the animal nature of man. The statesman has to do with the political and business side of life which is more or less con- structive and commendable. The humble mis- sionary deals with the spiritual and more elevat- ing features of life. He substitutes the Cross of Christ for the rifle and bayonet. He flies nq flag. He sounds no bugle call save that of his own voice. His uniform is the plain black robe of his order. The battles he fights are battles for peace, light and eternal happiness. He goes about his labars quietly, without the "blare of trumpets," roar of cannon, or the ''pomp of. state," seldom attracting attention outside of the limited field of his labors ; but who can say that his is not the noblest calling of all and that in the final reckoning his will not be the greatest re- ward ? Who can say that mankind does not reap greater benefits from the services of the humble but sincere missionary than from those of either the soldier or the statesman? These missionaries have blazed the way of civilization, raised men out of savagery, out of the "slough of despond," and "made straight the paths" mankind must tread. The effects of their labors reflect far in- to the future and generations after generations reap benefits therefrom, and many a man has thereby been enabled to pass the portals of the ''pearly gates" who otherwise would have travel- ed the other way. It is in an effort to give one of these mission- aries, Rev. Paul M. Ponziglione S. J., his true place in history, that I have compiled this book. He was truly a "noble man," yet one of the humblest among men. He labored without pay or desire for or hope of earthly reward, yet no man did a greater service for Kansas in its pioneer days. The Osage Indians as well as thousands of white people today are enjoying blessings resulting from labors he so quietly performed that historical writers know not of them. No doubt many important events in his life are not recorded because only few knew of them, and in his humility he did not record them himself. In compiling this book, I feel I cannot do him full justice, but as abler writers have not under- taken it, I have done my best during the few hours I could spare from my newspaper work. I have searched all records available and have written many letters of inquiry in an effort to get accurate information, and I am thankful to all those who gave me assistance. I have added a number of articles written by others which have a bearing on the life of Father Ponziglione or give an insight into thei conditions of the country at the time he was doing his great mis- sionary work in Kansas and what is now Okla- homa. I have also added extended references to som.e of his co-laborers here in Kansas and to St. Francis' Church. His labors were so closely as- sociated with others and with this church that his biography cannot be fully told without telling something of them. I knew Father Ponziglione personally, and re- member him as a man below average height, but rather stoutly built. He was an old man when I knew him, his hair being almost snow-white, but he had an elastic step and a cheery smile that made one forget his age. He accosted the rich and the poor, the Christian and the sinner, the friend and the stranger alike with the same pleasant greeting that made for him a friend of everyone. Altho he wore "purple and fine linen" in his boyhood days, his attire in after years was always plain and in keeping with his calling. He was always doing good to the needy and worthy, yet he did it quietly and sought to avoid pub- licity or praise. He was truly a true follower of the "Lowly Nazarene," and is now reaping an eternal reward for his fidelity and for his great work for humanity and for God. The memory of his friendship will always be cherished by the writer. Yours truly, W. W. Graves. St. Paul, Kansas, 1916. ''Brave men are they who push and climb Beyond all formulas, While the plodding ranks that serve old Time Pull hack for Time's old way; Strong men are they who hold their own On the outposts of the new, 'Till the zvorld hath to their stature grown And seen that false was true." THE JESUIT MISSION. Just las the sun went down, they heard a murmur of voices, And in a meadow green and broad, by the bank of a river, Saw the tents of the Christians, the tents of the Jesuit Mission. Under a towering oak that stood in tlie midst of tbe village, Knelt the Black Robe chief with his children. A crucifix fastened High €n the trunk of a tree, and overshadowed by grapevines, booked with agonizing face on the multitude kneel- ing beneath it. This, was their rural chapel. Aloft thru the intri- cate arches Of its aerial roof, arose the chant of their vespers, Mingling its notes with the soft sursurrus and sighs of the branches. Silent, with heads uncovered, the travelers nearer approaching. Knelt on the swarded floor, and joined in the even- ing devotions. But when the service was done, and the benedictiooi had fallen Forth from the hands of the priest, like seed from the hand of the sower, Slowly the reverend man advanced to the strangers and bade them Welcome; and when they replied, he smiled with benignant expression. Hearing the homelike sounds, of his mother-tongue in the forest, And, with words of kindness condiucted them to his wigwam. There upon mats and skins they reposed, and on cakes of the maize-ear Feasted^ and slaked their thirst from the water- gourd of the teacher. —LONGFELLOW. The Life and Letters =OF= REV. FATHER PAUL M. PONZIGLIONE S. J. CHAPTER I. A ROYAL MISSIONARY. ''Seek out the man z^'Iio Jias God fpr his guide; Nothing to bhtsh for and nothing to hide; Be lie a noble or be he in trade, This is the qentlenian nature has made." — N. L. O'D. Rev. Paul M. Ponziglione S. J., (pronounced Pon-zee-!o-nee, third sylable accented, long o.) was one of those pioneer Jesuit missionary priests who had their home at Osage Mission, (now St. Paul,) Kansas, and who labored among the Osage Indians and the early settlers in south- eastern Kansas and the Indian Territory more than half a century ago. A desire to carry the gospel of Christ to the Indian aborigines of the ])lains was the spirit that impelled him to leave the palace of his truly "royal" family in sunny Italy to take up his abode in a log hut in the wilderness of the prairies where members of his race were few and far apart, but where Indians, yet untrained in the ways of civilization roamed at will, hampered only by fear of the wild beasts which then dominated the plains. Few men vol- unteer to make such sacrifices as to give up a palace for a hut, riches for poverty, ease and 2 LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. pleasure for much labor and many hardships, and yet still fewer men have accomplished as much good for the world and left behind such a record of noble, heroic deeds, such a record of achieve- ments. His efforts brought countless blessings to these, to him, strange and foreign people, which will continue to result in their good for genera- tions yet to come. The white man too shared in the fruits of his labors and was thereby strengthened to face the battles incident to the "blazing of the way of civilization," and the transformation of the wilderness into homesteads. Even now, seeds sown by Father Ponziglione continue to bear fruit that add materially to the welfare of peo- ple who never knew him or even suspect the identity of the sower. BORN A REAL COUNT. "Hands that the rod of empire might have sway- ed, Or waked to ecstacy the living lyre." — Gray. Father Ponziglione was born February ii, 1818, in the city of Qierasco, the Tusculum or fashionable summer resort of the upper classes of Turin, in Piedmont, Italy. His father was Count Felice Ferrero Ponziglione di Borgo d'Ales. His mother was the Countess Ferrero Ponziglione, nee Marchioness Ferari di Castel- nuovo, of the Royal family of Italy. The bap- tismal name given Father Ponziglione was Count Paul M. Ferrero Ponziglione di Borgo d'Ales. Besides being a Ferrero and a Ponziglione, he was also a Guerra, his father's mother having been the Countess of Guerra, the last represent- ative in a direct line of that ancient noble family. There are male descendants of the Ferreros still LIFE AND LETTERS OE FATHER PAUL. 3 living in Italy, but Father Paul was the last male representative of the Guerras and Ponzigliones and the direct titles of both of those ancient and truly noble families died with him. On his moth- er's side, he belonged to the Ferrari, another well known historic family of Italy. Marchioness Adelaide d'Omera, who resided for years in the palace d'Omera in Turin, was his oldest sister. It is said that her son Marquis d'Omera signed his name d'Omera Ponziglione in order to pre- serve the latter name from extinction. Another sister was Baroness Philomena Oreglia di Santo Stephano, whose brother-in-law. Cardinal! Oreglia di Santo Stephano, now deceased, was Cardinal Dean or Senior Cardinal during part of the reign of Pope Leo XIII. Father Paul, as he was familiarly known to the people of Kansas, was educated as becanie his nobility, according to the customs of his country in those days. He was first sent to the Royal College of Novera, and later to the Col- lege of Nobles, .at Turin, both conducted by the Jesuits. At the end of his college course he pre- sented himself before the royal board of examin- ers of the University of Turin and won the de- gree of bachelor of arts. The education of a. young nobleman in those days was not considered complete until he had won the laurels of doctojC utrisque juris, so Count Paul studied jurispru- dence at the University for more than a year. While at the University he became convinced that he was called to be a priest and a Jesuit, and he set about at once to begin preparation for his future labors. To become an humble Jesuit meant the sacrifice of very much for him, as the world goes. At that time his father was still very wealthy and the family, in all its branches, was among the most influential at court. Indeed 4 LIFE AND LETTl^RS OF FATHER PAUL. there were evidences that Count Paul might be- come one of the rulers of his country. Count Paul realized all this but he relinquished his patrimony into the hands of his father, turned his back on worldly allurements and prospects and entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Chieri, not far from Turin. He was received into the Jesuit Order February 27, 1839. Here he was given the ordinary training of young Jesuits, and from the beginning enjoyed that happiness which characterized his life and which was to be to all whom he would ever meet as gladdening as laughter . and as cheering aiifi warming as sunshine. DEPORTED BY REVOLUTIONISTS. "Noiv my co-mates and partners in exile Hath not old customs made this life more sweet Than that of painted pomp? Are not these plains More free from peril than the curious court?" From Chieri, Father Paul was sent to the Jesuit college at Genoa and he was stationed there at the time the revolution of 1848 broke out. Three strong factions were each striving for control of Italy in those days. One faction wanted a republic, another wanted a confederacy with the Pope at the head, while the third want- ed a constitutional monarchy under the rule of the King of Sardinia. Austria, then as now, was recognized as an enemy of all Italy. The leaders of the revolution in Genoa began their brilliant exploits on the night of February 28, by arresting eighteen defenceless old Jesuit Fathers and marching them in triumph to the palace of the governor. Father Paul managed to be left behind at the College to nurse an old LIFE AND LETTERS OE EATHER PAUL. 5 lay-brother who, on account of his infirmities, could not be moved. The revolutionists were not yet sure of their course and this is said to have also influenced them to hesitate about laying hands on a Guerra-Ferrero-Ponziglione, but the next day the governor went over to the side of the revolutionists and soon after Father Paul was marched under heavy escort to the palace. At two o'clock on the morning of March i, the Jesuits were conducted by a strong military guard to the sea coast and put on board of the San Michele, the largest man-of-war of the King of Sardinia, which had been put at the disposal of the governor to aid his faction of the revolu- tionists. The prisoners, including Father Paul, were kept closely confined for three days in a narrow, dingy space like a cellar, in the hull of the ship. They were next transferred to a ship bound for the gulf of Spezia. The revolution- ists had sent word ahead to their confederates at Spezia to give the Jesuits a warm reception, and it was given by a howling mob armed with sticks, stones and clods of dirt. Father Paul was struck by a stone and severely injured in the head but managed, b}^ the aid of his companions to escape into the 'l>utchy of Modena. The rabble followed them to the line,- but dared not pur- sue them farther, for Modena was dangerous ground for revolutionists. After resting a while at Massa Carara, the Fathers scattered into the mountains, leaving young Paul to shift for himself. Having, some months prior to the revolution, offered his service as a volunteer missionary to Rev. Anthony Elet S. J., then superior of the western Jesuits in the United States, which offer had been duly accepted, Father Paul decided to go to the United States. But he had not yet 6 LIFE AND LETTERS OE FATHER PAUL. taken all the steps in his ordination to the priesthood, and he set out for Rome to complete his preparation for his life work in what was soon to be his home across the sea. HIS TROUBLES IN ROME. Professor Paul, ?s Father Paul was then call- ed, experienced great difficulty in passing over into Tuscany, but on reaching the city of Pietra Santa he met a good friend who put him on board a steamer at Livorno bound for Civita Vecchia, and provided him with ample funds for the journey. He arrived in Rome just at the outbreak of the revolution there. The success of the revolutionists in France who had just driven Louis Phillipi from the country, gave im- petus to the revolutionary spirit in Italy. Pope Pius IX issued his Statute Fundamentale March 14, 1848, in an effort to reorganize the temporal government of the papal states by enlarging the liberties of the people and especially of the press, but it failed to have the desired effect. Up to this time, the pope had shown no particular sym- pathy with the Jesuits, but he endeavored to pro- tect them against the measures brought forward for their expulsion. This angered a stronc^ ele- ment among the revolutionists and added to their fury, and was one of the things that led to the a.nsassination of Monsignore Palma, the pope's secretary, whom Father Paul knew quite well. During this stormy period the father general' ordered Father Paul and several other junior Jesuits to repair to St. Andrea, the famous Jusuit novitiate at Rome, there to prepare for the re- ception of holy orders. Father Paul was or- dained priest on March 25, 1848, by Constan- LIFK AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. ^ tine Patrizi, then the cardinal vicar of the Pope in Rome. Toward the end of May, 1848, Father Paul visited Pope Pius IX, received his blessing and departed on his journey toward the land of his adoption. His first stop was in Turin, no doubt to settle his family affairs. He next went to Paris where he arrived in the terrible days of the barricades, but managed to reach Harve-de- Grace without mishap, where he boarded the first sailing vessel bound for New York. "No luxury or ease was there To lap the traveler into rest, But staunch it bore the pioneer On tozvard the West." — ,C. M. Harger. HIS JOURNEY WESTWARD. Ocean vessels in those days were not the float- ing palaces which we now have and which cross the ocean in a few days. And it was not even the best one of the times in which Father Paul embarked. It was a wretched craft and the sea was stormy during much of the trip. The trip to New York required forty-eight days, and they were wearisome days too. To add to the troubles of the passengers, smallpox broke out among them. These trials and dangers were met by the young priest with ''unfailing cheerfulness and unfaltering courage." They were but hard- ening him for other hardships which he was to experience on the western prairies. Father Paul spent his first few days in America in New York City, after which he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, and spent a month at old St. Xaxier college. About this time nearly a hun- 8 UFK AND LETTERS OE FATHER PAUL. dred other Jesuits, exiles from Italy and Switzer- land, arrived in America, and about forty of them, including Father Paul, were invited by Rev. John A. Elet S. J., who had been in- stalled as superior of the vice-province of Miss- ouri, to join the Jesuit colony at the St. Louis University. The invitation was accepted. After a short stay at the University in order to familiar- ize himself with American ways, customs and language, Father Paul was assigned to duty for a while at Bardstown, Ky., where the Jesuits had just opened St. Joseph's College. A few months later he was transferred to missions in Missouri. The records do not show at what points in Missouri he was stationed. Father Paul left St. Louis on May ii, 185 1, for the country of the Osages. Rt. Rev. Bishop ]^diege, who had just been consecrated by Arch- bishop Kendrick and assigned to the diocese of Leavenworth, was his traveling companion on the journey. Modes of travel were quite different when Father Paul made his first journey to Osage Mis- sion from what they are now. We may now take breakfast in St. Louis and eat supper in St. Paul (Osage Mission) the same day. Father Paul made his journey up the IMississippi and Missouri rivers to Kansas City Landing in a, boat. From the boat landing the remainder of the trip was made on horseback over the trail made by the freighters and Indian traders. All supplies at that time were hauled to the ^lission from Kansas City Landing by ox wagons, and as many days were required to make the trip as it now takes hours. No railroad had then pene- trated this section. The boats on the big streams were much slower than those of today, hence the trip Father Paul had to make to get to the LIFE AND LETTKRS OF FATHER PAUL. 9 scene of his future labors was a weary one and required several days. But the welcome which awaited him on his arrival was a most agreeable surprise. The news of his coming had prececd- ed him, and while he was yet several miles away, Indian couriers met him to welcome him and escort him to his new home. Father Paul reached Osage Mission July 4, 185 1. Bishop Miege accompanied Father Pauls to the Mission to look into conditions, for all of Kansas was then part of the Leavenworth dio- cese over which he had just been placed in charge. Their coming on this Independence day meant much the same for the Indians as another impor- tant event of this day meant for the colonists of America three- fourths of a century before. ,It meant the coming of one who was to liberate the natives from the bondage of savagery and bring them to the ways of civilization, Christianity, peace, happiness and plenty. Good Father Schoenmakers and his small band and the few Sisters of Loretto who were here joined with the Indians in prayers of thanksgiv- ing for their coming, for there was much work to do and few to do it. The above and a few scattered traders were the only whites in this sec- tion then. Father Paul's coming was like pene- trating the wilds of an unknown land. The scenes were far different from those of a royal household, but this was .the country he sought when he left his native land, and he set about his worlf among the Indians with a will and with that happy smile upon his face that was for years so familiar to the people of Kansas. ''He tried each arrt, reproved each dull delay. Allured to brighter ziwrlds and led the zvayf' — Goldsmith. 10 life: and letters of father PAUL. HrS LABORS AMONG THE OSAGES. " — 'Tis time New hopes should animate the world, new light Should damn from new revealings to a race — Weighed down so long." Father Paul soon learned the language of the ''Children of the Prairie" and they soon learned to love Father Paul. His services and advice v^ere sought by all members of the tribe. No event occurred among them but he was soon informed of it. No feast w^as held without him as a guest of honor. He was always asked to* partake of the ''fruits of the chase" when the braves had returned from the hunt. He was called upon to administer comfort in times of sadness, and to share their happiness in times of joy. When he went on journeys they accom- panied him to protect him from the perils of the then wild prairie, and from the wild beasts that lurked in the tall prairie grass. He was known in every camp of the Osages, far and near, and it is said that in all his relations with the Osages they never distrusted him nor offered him any bodily harm. On the contrary they looked upon him as a leader, guide, and adviser. He obtained this good will by his kindness, his goodness, by always doing his utmost for their good, and by never betraying the confidence they imposed in him. It is true that during the pcT^ilous times at the opening of the civil war Father Paul, with Father Schoenmakers and the other members of the Jesuit order, were obliged to leave the Mission for a time and seek safety at St. Mary's, Kansas, but this was made neces- sary by the perfidy of whites rather than by the Osages, altho the Osages were then divided LII^E AND LETTERS OE FATHER PAUL. II among themselves, some siding with the south, and some favoring the Union. Most of the boys in the Mission schools above the age of fifteen, joined the Union army. After an absence of eight months at St. Mary's, the Fathers returned to their home at the Mission in March, 1862, and were later instrumental in persuading the Indians from the south to not only spare the Mission but also spare Humboldt and other towns farther north which the southern Osages, and some Cherokees, who had joined them, had decided to raid and destroy. The close of the war broiight quieter times, and the old order was resumed. Father Paul continued his work among the Osages, administering to their wants, both spirit- ual and temporal, until 1870, when the Osages, giving way to the westward march of civilization, sold their land to the government and moved to the Indian Territory, locating in the vicinity of their present home. Even then. Father Paul did not give up his labors among the Osages, but visited them in their new home at frequent in- tervals to look after their spiritual wants and to instruct and educate them. Thru his influence they continued for 3^ears afterwards to send their children back to the IMission to be educated. Father Paul's team of ponies and white top bug- gy was known to every member of the tribe and to thousands of other Indians and white people whom he visited on his journeys. His guiding hand turned man}^ an erring Indian as well as many a pioneer white man in the right direction and saved him from threatening dangers. To this day traditions among the Indians tell many incidents in the life of Father Paul, and every child in the tribe knows much of his history. As an appreciation of his great labors, and those of good Father Schoenmakers, in their behalf, the 12 LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. Osages contributed liberally toward the expense of erecting the magnificent St. Francis' Church which stands at the east edge of St. Paul as a lasting monument to the early efforts of these two pioneer Jesuits. The first time Father Paul's name appears up- on the records of the Mission church in an of- ficial capacity is at the baptism of three Osages on September i6, 185 1. The first person baptis- ed by him at the Mission was Pelagic, daughter of Manshasemani. His name was signed to this record as Paulus Marie Ponziglione S.J. Howev- er he had on August 6, 1851, baptised Charlie Moquete, a French boy, in Coffey county. The first funeral at which he officiated was that of Francis Alexander Tinker, on September 17,1851. Beginning with 1852 Father Paul entered ac- tively in the parish work, it having taken him a few months to master the Osage language. For about three years he officiated at most of the baptisms, marriages and funerals at the Mission. During these years he began his regular visits to the various towns ofl the Osages, and other Fathers would care for the local parish during his absence. His records show he baptised per- sons in the towns of the various bands of the tribe, some of which are given here : Papin's town or Nartze Waspe, Briar's town or Vacaca Ougri, Little town or Mantzeeacke Tonwa. These were towns of White Hair's band on the Neosho. Clairmont, Black Dog, Big Hill or Tanwas- hieshie town. Tale, Tei-teio-anco. These were towns of Clairmont's band of Big Osages on the Verdigris. Little Bear, Numpewale, Citopa. These were towns of Little Bear's band of Little Osages on the Tim.ber Hills. -■X ¥ life: and le:tte:rs of father paul. 13 Other Indian towns visited by Father Paul, mention of which was made in his records were as follows : Cally's town or Sanze Vagrin, Fail- ly's town on the Verdigris, Woipoka town of the Little Osages on Big Creek, Wolf's town of Black Dog's band, Tishohanka town, and Little Osages' Big Chief's town. He baptised many Quapaw Indians during the early years of his stay at the Mission, but as many of the Quapaw children were brought to the IMission school it is quite probable that most, if not all of his work among the Quapaws was done at the Mission. The records show that several members of the Quapaw tribe were bur- ied in the Mission cemetery. In 1855 he visited the Little Osages then lo- cated in Bates county, Missouri, and other scat- tered bands of Indians north of the Mission He speaks of visiting the Sac and Fox agency in 1867 and the Kaw Reserve in Morris county in 1870, the Cheyenne Agency on the North Fork and the tribes around Ft. Sill in the Indian Ter- ritory in 1 87 1. He records visits to the Kaw reservation in the Indian Territory in 1877,1880, 1881, 1882, 1884 and 1885. In 1879 he was among the Creeks and speaks of baptisms per- formed at Muskogee and Ft. Gibson. In 1880 he made two trips into the Indian Territory. His records show he was as far south as McAlester and Savanna, I. T., this year, and he mentions having been at Vinita and Eufaula. The Osages, however, were the favorites of Father Paul and he gave them his closest atten- tion, not only while they resided in Kansas, but after they moved to the Indian Territory he made regular visits to them every year prior to his departure for Milwaukee in 1889. He men- tions specifically having been on Birch creek, Big 14 hl^^ AND L^TTISRS OF FATHER PAUL. Cana and Hominy creek and at Deep Ford on the Osage reservation in 1877. Father Paul contributed liberally to the liter- ature of the Osages. He spoke their language as fluently as he did English or Latin, and he wrote many articles in that language. Wilder in his Annals of Kansas, says: "Father Pon- zighone wrote an Osage prayer book ; it is own- ed by Dr. J. G. Shea, at Elizabeth, N. J." HIS LABORS AMONG THE WHITES. ''His doinm-hed — a pallet; his trinkets— a head; His luster — one taper, that serves him to read; His sculpture — the crucifix nailed to his bed; His paintings — one print of the thorn-crowned head; His cusions — the pavement/ that wearies his knees; His music — the psalms, or the sigh of the breeze; The delicate noble lives mortified there, And the feast is forgotten for fasting and prayer." The presence of the Jesuits and the Sisters of Loretto and their schools at Osage Mission caus- ed the early settlers in Southeast Kansas to clus- ter around the Mission. This was especially true of those who were Catholics. The Mission became the "trading post" of Southeast Kansas, and the country around settled rapidly. While continuing his labors among the Indians, Father Paul did not neglect these early settlers. He ministered to their spiritual wants, did great work in helping to lighten the sufferings and hardships incident to pioneer life on the prairies, and likewise assisted Father Schoenmakers in educating: their children. Nor did he confine his life: and letti:rs of father PAUL. 15 labors to those who settled near the Mission. As the settlers began to dot the prairies far and near, he made regular visits to them. Often he would gather together a few Catholics in some settler's home and say Mass for them and look after their general spiritual needs. It may be said that his parish at one time extended north almost to Kansas City, west far out into the plains country, and south almost to the Texas line. In time he established regular routes and covered them at regular intervals. On one visit he would tell the settlers when he would be there again, and it is said that he was remarkably prompt in filling these appointments. His white top bugg)^ became as familiar to these settlers as it was to the Indians and its coming was al- ways haikd with joy. As the settlers became more numerous, he began helping them to build churches that they might have better facilities for conducting their services. He continued to visit these churches as often as he could until, in time, resident priests were found to take charge of the work. In this way Father Paul did a wonder- ful work for his church in Kansas in the pioneer days. It is on this work that Humboldt, Ottawa, Neodesha, Winfield and many other towns base their claims to him as their 'first parish priest, which in fact he was. His records mention vis- its in 1857 to Big Creek, in Coffey county, Bur- hngton. North Fork of Pottawatomie Creek in Anderson county, and Bourbon county ''on the creek called Little Pawnee."In 1858 he speaks of visits at Miami Town, Kansas Territory, Prairie City in Douglass county, Cherokee Neutral Land on Walnut Creek. In 1859 he speaks of visits on Little Osage in Bourbon county, and at Co- fachigne in Allen county. In the early Sixties he mentions several visits l6 LIFK AND LETTERS OE FATHER PAUL. at LeRoy in Coffey county, Humboldt, Fall Riv- er, Emporia in Breckenridge county, Allen coun- ty about Osage City, Ft. Scott, Mount City m Linn county ; also Owl Creek in Woodson coun- ty, Mackee-chee postofi^ce in Coffey county, Ot- ter Creek in Coffey county, Barnsville in Bour- bon icounty. Diamond Creek in Chase county, Timber Hill in LaBete county. Dry Creek in Wilson and Woodson counties. Big \\'alnut in Butler county and Coyville in Wilson county. In the Seventies he mentions visits at several of the above named places and the following: Parkersburg in ^Montgomery county, Ladore in Neosho county. Cedar Point in Chase county, Wichita, Fredonia, Neotisha, Independence, Neosho Rapids in Lyons county. Grouse Creek in Cowley county. Bird Creek and Turkey Creek in Butler county, jMorgan in Montgomery coun- ty, New Ark township in Wilson county, vSand Creek in Wilson county, Irish Creek in Mont- gomery county, Parsons, Chanute, Longton township in Elk county. Potato Creek in Labette county, Thayer, Bolton and Cedar in Cowley county, Center and Sedan townships in Howard county, Winfield, Salt Spring in Greenwood county, Cherryvale, Salt Creek in Chautauqua county. From 1876 to 1880 he mentions visits at Cof- feyville, Oswego, Wild Cat township in Elk? county, Howard City, Longton, Elgin, New Al- bany, Elk Falls township in Elk county, x\ltoona, Erie, Neosho Rapids in Kansas, and Aluskogee, Ft. Gibson, Eufaula, McAlesler, Savanna, Kaw reservation and Osage reservation in Oklahoma. Father Paul also did considerable missionary work in Missouri. In 1859 he mentions being at Granby in Newton county, and also as being in Jasper and Venion counties. In 1861 he visit- LlFli AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. I7 ed various points in Jasper county and in 1866 was at Neosho Town, in 1868 at Carthage, and 1875 at Harrisonville. From the above list of places it may be seen that he covered a wide range of territory in his missionary work. He visited many of these points at regular intervals for several years, quitting only when relieved by resident priests; while to some of these he continued his periodi- cal visits up to 1889, when he left Kansas. The names of places are spel-led here just as they appear on his records. Some of them are still known by the same name, some by a differ- ent name, and some by the same name dift'erent- ly spelled, vvdiile some have ceased to be known. The old log church at Osage Mission became too small to accommodate the people who de- sired to worship there, and Fathers Paul and Schoenmakers set about to provide a more com- modious place of worship, and together they laid the plans for the present spacious and beautiful St. Francis church. Much of the work of raising the funds for the construction of this church fell upon the shoulders of Father Paul. Having charge of the parish work, he therefore had charge of all the festivals, fairs and entertain- ments that helped to raise money and about fif- teen years were required to bring the building near enough to completion that it might be used foi church services. Good Father Schoenmakers did not live to see the new church more than half completed, but Father Paul had the proud satis- faction of being the celebrant at the Solemn High Mass on the day of its dedication. May ii, 1884. The writer had the pleasure of being pres- ent on this auspicious occasion. Father Paul took a deep interest in the schools and gave them close attention in all his work. l8 life: and letters of father PAUL. When St. Francis Institution was incorporated he became secretary of the board of trustees and served in that capacity for several years. On his trips over the country he was ever alert for stu- dents for the Mission schools. Many boys and girls, Indians and whites, were sent to the Mis- sion schools thru his solicitation. He was also a frequent visitor at the schools and delivered many lectures to the students. A man of remarkable energy, fine ability, an earnest, tireless worker, was Father Paul. He bore hardships and exposure that would have broken an ordinary man. He knew what it was to ride for days at a time across the prairies in the severest storms of winter or in the burning heat of summer. He knew what it was to sleep on the open prairie with a laprobe for his bed and the canopv of heaven for his cover. All these did not seem to effect his health or his disposi- tion, for in his old a2"e he retained a splendid youthful face that did not seem to grow old. Only once do we find a record of him being seri- ously ill. In the Osage Mission Journal, January 26, 1876, the following was printed: ''Father Ponziglione was taken suddenly and seriously ill while celebrating Mass at Independence last Sunday, and reached home Tuesday in an alarm- ing condition. We are informed this is the first illness the Father has had for nearly a score of years, notwithstanding he had endured great hardships during that time." One of the most remarkable points in the eventful life of this remarkable man is that in the midst of his roaming life he managed to keep up his studious habits. He was regarded as one of the finest Latin scholars and writers in the Society of Jesus which is noted for its men of great learning, many of them of world-wide LIFE AND LETTERS OlP FATHER PAUL. I9 fame. Father Paul wrote much Latin prose and verse, and some of his historical sketches are pre- served in the archives in Rome. A number of his articles have been published in magazines, and much of the history of southeastern Kansas is based on articles he wrote. ^-. j CELEBRATES HIS JUBILEE, : ■] -« *^1,ul •,-."' -n.y "A bright, cheerful, happy s^oul; a sensative heart, a temperment open to emotion and im- pulse; and ail this elevated, refined by the touch of heaven" — such was Father Paul, "winning followers, riveting affections, by his sweetness, frankness and neglect of self." One important and happy event in the life of Father Paul was celebrated in Osage Mission,, February 26 and 27, 1889. It was the fiftieth anniversary of his admission into the Society of Jesus. St. Francis Institution and St. Ann's^ Academy were at their zenith in those days and the pupils joined with the people in the program of this festive occasion. The pupils of St. Fran- cis' parish school had charge of the program in the- forenoon of the first day, and the pupils of St. Ann's Academy tendered the Rev. Jubilarian a most fitting reception in the afternoon. A public reception was given in College Hall in the even- ing. A band and an orchestra furnished the music. The decorations were elaborate and the illuminations were brilliant. About forty visit- ing clergymen were present, and the big hall was filled to its capacity with people. Speeches of eulogy were numerous, and the presents valuable and appropriate. Among the presents was a cope from the Osage Indians of the Indian Ter- ritory. Presents were also received from the 20 LIFE AND LKTTKRS 01^ FATHE:r PAUL. parishes at Winfield, Parsons, Independence and Cherry vale, where he had served as pastor before resident priests were obtained. An intensely interesting part of the program was the reply of Father Paul to the congratula- tions, and his acceptance of the presents tendered him. His stories and reminisences of ''Ye Olden Times," caused much laughter, at the same time conveyed important historical information of pioneer days on the plains. The religious part of the jubilee took place on the second day, wdien Father Paul was the celebrant at a Solemn High Mass in St. Francis* church. Rev. Plenry Moeller S. J., rector of the St. Louis University, delivered a very appro- priate and eloquent sermon containing allusions to the life and work of Father Paul which sent thrills of emotion thru those who had been wit- nesses or sharers of the ''heats and labors of the day." Pope Leo Xni sent the following message thru his cardinal secretary, which was read by Rev. Fr. J. R. Roswinkle S. J. : "Rome, February i, 1889. "Rev. and Dear Father: "P. C. "The Holy Father very willingly grants his special blessings to Father Ponziglione S. J., for his Golden Jubilee and to all those present on the celebration day. "I join my heartfelt congratulations and rec- ommending myself to your holy sacrifices, I re- main, "Yours in J. C. "C. Cardinal Mazella." A writer signing the article "T. A. D." wrote LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. 21 the following for the Neosho County Journal, dated January i, 1889, relative to the Golden Jubilee of Father Paul: '*Forty-two years ago there knelt at the feet of that grand Pontiff — the illustrious Pius IX — a young man in the garb of a Jesuit; there he knelt with bowed head and tearful eye to receive the blessings of heaven from that venerable Pontiff, and to listen to the affectionate outpourings of a heart that could fully appreciate the secret grief of the soul, from his own intense sorrow. There he knelt drinking in the sweet words of consola- tion ere he departed an exile to home, country and friends; banished from fair and beautiful Italy, because, foresooth, he was a religious and doubly banished because he was a Jesuit. That young man was Rev. Paul Ponziglione, S. J. *'Born in the little village of Cherasco, a few leagues from the great me,tropolis of Turin, Father Paul passed his happy childhood under the paternal roof till the age to enter college, where he spent ten years in solid preparation for the great hidden life before him. "After a very successful course in the classics and sciences he left his renowned Alma Mater, to seek in the Jesuit Order, a life, not of ease and comfort and honor, but a life of toil, privation, aye and even exile, for soon the fierce persecu- tion of the 'Carfonari' drove not only him and his humble colleagues from their homes, but even the revered Pontiff whose paternal benediction he had so lately received. And now bidding one long, sad farewell to the land of his birth, he seeks on other shores that hospitality denied to him on his own, and thus 'Sunny Kansas' be- comes to him 'The Gem of the World.' ''Forty years ago in company with Bishop Miegs — also a Jesuit — he entered the State of 22 LlKlv AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. Kansas and made St. Mary's their first episcopal see. On July 4, 1851, the Bishop and Father Paul entered Osage Mission, and were greeted by Fathers Shoenmakers, Bax and Hiemans, who were then the only secular priests in that vast region. From thenceforth Osage Mission be- came the center of his great work and the re- sults are wonderful. Sixty missions which he established all over Kansas, and even in Missouri and the Indian Territory, testify to the indefati- gable zeal and energy of this renowned pioneer missionary. Many of those missions are today the most flourishing of our cities. Besides this great record of building up religion and churches, in totally unknown regions, he can add to his laurels, the distinguishing honor of having assist- ed at the foundation of as many more missions. From an ably written article in the Topeka Gom- monzvealth of last week, we extract the foPow- '' 'The record of this man's life is his noblest panegyric. Mere words of praise would fall flat after the recital of such self denial, such hard- ships as these records suggest. Father Pon- ziglione still retains the vigor of youth, altho 71 years of age. In spite of the many harships he has passed thru he has scarcely known the mean- ing of the word sickness, as far as he is himself concerned. The great monument of his life, in which is his greatest pride, is the magnificent church and college at Osage Mission. The lat- ter is always crowded, and each year many stu- dents are refused because of lack of room. The old church which was torn down last summer was the first one erected in Eastern Kansas. It was replaced by a three story building for col- lege purposes.' " wet AND LETTERS OF TAT HER PAUL. 23 Poems of the Golden Jubilee of Rev. Father Paul M. Ponziglione S. J., read at the celebra- tion: SALUTATORY. (anonymous.) Thou hast not vainly tilled a thankless land Nor hast thou aimless turned from side to side; Thou hast not built upon the moving sand. Nor cast bright seed upon the flowing tide. Full fifty stars that light the flood of times; Full fifty hymns that rise in strains sublime Out vf the happy past; full fifty isles All steeped in Beauty's glow and bathed in smiles. From kindly Heaven; full fifty Angels fair, Crowned zmth soft lilies and sweet violets rare, These are the symbols of thy Rosary Of years — the type of things that guild thy Jubilee. LITTLB GIRLS' GRBBTING. (miss MAGGIE BARNES.) As He called ''the blest" babe in olden days "The little ones come unto me," So our voices are first to strike tuneful lays Upon this, thy ozvn Jubilee. Likewise may we please and a moment beguile, Wen tho words do so feebly speak. How happy we'd be to gain only your smile — Your blessing we graciously seek. 24 IvlFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. O, long may your pathway beside ours remain As pledge of God's goodness given; Until wafted home zve relinquish our claim. In the hope we shall meet in Heav'n. , HAPPY HEARTS. (anonymous.) Happy heart and none more happy, Than the heart zve Ibved and knezv, In our childhood's guileless moments. And Ziehen yet our years zverc fezv, When each hour zvas like the ripple, Passing o'er the zvoodkmd stream, Brightened zinth the sun's ozvn splendor. Naught reflecting but his beam. Faitliful heart and none more loving. Than thh heart zire've later knozvn; Heart by Jesus' oziHi heart cherished, Next to Jesits' all our ozini. Angels looking dozvn from Heaven, See no spectacle more fair, Barth has not mid all her trea-sures Aught zvith thee that can compare. Happy hearts of fondest parents, N'ozv in Heazjcn among the blest; Happy as their eyes this morning. On their dear son proudly rest. Joyous nozv as life is zmning, 'Bre his numbeiied yeafs are gone. Honored 'mongst the Lord's anointed, Lo! they see their vested son. Happy heart, fond as a fathei''s. Grateful hearts of children dear, life: and letters of father PAUL. 2^ Gladdened on this feast returning, Bringing in the 'Fiftieth year." Fifty years — how szviftly vanished! Time's veiled hand hath graved thy brow, Happy hearts if thou art with us, Many more as thou art now. '7UBILBB POBUr (miss MAGGIE BARNES.) Not SO bright in setting the sun appears, Than the gloiiies of your well-spent life now shine. For full five decades of full golden years. Around your heart in peaceful memory twine. O priest among priests who from great Pius won. The blessing priced — the boon from childhood's friend; A benediction givn to Ignatius' son. To guide and guard you safely unto the end. Wert destined in alien climes to roam, Lo! here your aged presence preserves, While younger hearts lie still within the tomb, And keep the vigil of the Vale of Tears. SiO may Heaven zve pray, still spare you long. And shed nezv joys upon your hallozt^ed way. Redoubling years like some szueet rythmic song. Glad, ling'ring echoes of your ''Jubilee Day." May it be thus, and when life's ebbing sands Have run, and you henceforth no more shall roam. May your last greeting come from angel bands, Your soul's bright escort to the Heavnly home. 26 UFE AND LDTTKRS OF FATHEiR PAUL. JUBILBB POBM. , TO REV. p. PONZIGLIONE, S. J. (by rev. JOHN MASTERSON S. J.) Bull fifty years ago and far away Beneath fair Italy's cloudless, matchless sky, While tuneful birds announced the hfeaking day, And szvarthy peasants toiling carr oiled merrily. Lo! in the college chapel, calm, serene, A young scholastic prostrate low, The central figure in the solemn scene Prepares to seal his hopes by triple vow. Chaste as the Angels pure hi Heaven's choir, And win, thus armed, a bright eternity. To be e'en poor as Christ he must aspire, Obedient too — as Christ — henceforth to be, No useless tear stands glistening in his eye. No idle purpose zvakens in his heart, But nozv he longs at duty's call to die, O"' e'er in truth's defence sustain his part. Soon comes the call to mingle in the strife. And fearless battle in truth's holy ground; Then seeming dazmts the chance to lay down life. But passing leaves him seized a captive bound. The froziming prison next receives the youth. And persecution fain would cozvardly unite; The young and valiant champion of truth. And make him grieve for combating for right. The brief ordeal ends and freedom's light. Dawns fair illusion looming far, as while LIFE AND LETTERS OE FATHER PAUL. 2/ Yet in the respite swift must be his flight, A long farewell to Italy— exile. Across the main where freedom holds proud sway, Years of holy preparation passed; Lo! dawns a welcome memorial day That sees our hei o, Father at last. O priest of God, be humble, pure and brave, A vessel of election must thou be; O bless him. Mother Church, 'tis his to save Myrads of souls and faithful be to thee. In thy vast vineyard for full forty years, In regions lonely named and savage west; Mid sufferings many and oft mid anxious fears, He'll toil and bide this hour of peaceful rest. Afar beyond proud civilisation s pale, Where no abode but wigzvams meet the eye, His seal uncowed must follozv up the trail And conquer in the task or falling, die. Anon he comes zvhere Shoshones chase the deer; Anon faith's mysteries to Cherokees reveals; Then latei'^ — the roving pioneer, Or on the plain alone, and lost he kneels. Where cluster lodges 'neath the spreading birch And near Neosho's waters there is raised. The central cross, and in the humble cimrch By Osage zvorshippers the Lord is praised. Look zvhere yon temple meets the gaze; His toil to raise it up the Angels know, And all those toils it mutely now repays. And stand his seal's memorial here below. 28 life: and letters of FATHKR PAUL. Thus tzvo score years arid more have glided by. But gone leave peace and glory in their wake, B'en as at eve the golden tinted sky Is seen reflected in the placid lake. And nozv this evening in the fiftieth year, Of the lifell-spent life of this thy cherished son We bid thee, Mother joyous to cheer Its closing days and crozvu the triumph he zvon. His zvas the task the str'aying soul to keep. And his the drooping heavy heart to raise. His to sustain the poor desponding weak. His thus to fill the measure of his days. Well might immortal laurels; — his brow On each unfading leaf. Bach heod'fs fond sentiment azvakened now And leave it shining as the stars of night. Such are our thoughts thus gathered here this eve. Our hearts more prilled than zvell deserved renozvn, Such do zee bring thee. Father Paul, and leave Our God above to give the golden crozvn. ODE. (by rev. T. a. butler, of ST. LOUIS.) Life zvas fresh, like flozcers azvakening. In thy bright Italian clime; Fair as dawn of morning breaking Seem'd to light the coming time; Barth and sea and skies above you Caught the rosy tinted glozu; Kindred zvliispered, 'Taul, I love you!" More than fifty years ago. LIFE AND LETTERS OE EATHER PAUL. 29 But the Lord of all has spoken Sweeter zvords than hmnan tongue, Ties of kindred must he broken, Heai/n is pleased zcith hearts so young; Paul is call'd, and soon we find him Where Ignatius soldiers grow; Ah, he left the zvorld behind him Fully fifty years ago! Left the palace — left the college — Left the sacred shrines of Rome; Full of faith and zeal and knowledge, Sent to seek a pmirie home; Sent across the rolling ocean, Out where Kansas rivers flozv; ^ Ah! hozv strong that priest's devotion. Nearly fifty years ago. Few the homes in days departed — Praise home zvhen Paul zvas young; Then the Indian — lion-hearted — On the plains his blanket flung, Fezv the farmers on the prairies, Indians wander'ed to and fro, By Saint Francis',, by Saint Mary's, Fifty, forty years ago. On the plains the Father greets them. In their zuigwams preacheth peace; Smiles zvith joy zvhere'er he meets them, Causes firy feuds to cease; Bends the proud to ozvn a Master, Leads zvhere heav'nly graces flow At the feet of Christ the Pastor, Happy forty years ago. pair thou seem est Osage Mission! Born again to brighter days! 30 U^K AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. Standing now in strong position Tell thru time thy soldier s praise. But forget not thru the ages, While Neosho's waters flow, Paul, apostle of O sages, More than forty years ago! FATHER PAUL LEAVES THE MISSION. ''Leave us not — leave us not, Say not adieu; Have we not been to thee Tender and true? Take not thy sunny smile Far from our hearth; With that sweet light will fade Sunmner afid mirth. Leave us not — leape us not Can thy heart roam? Wilt thou not pine to hear Voices from homef — Hermans. In 1889 the provincial of the Jesuits decided he had a greater need for the services of Father Paul elsewhere, and about August 5, 1889, Father Paul left his home of many years for his new labors at Marquette College, Milwaukee, Wiscon- sin. There were many heavy hearts in Osage Mission that day, and hundreds of people were at the depot to bid a sorrowful farewell and God speed to the venerable priest whom they had known so long and well. On that day there de- parted from Kansas one of the noblest men that ever lived within its borders, and one who had done the State greater service than men who have been given a greater place in its history. Father UFK AND LETTERS OE FATHER PAUL. 3 1 Paul labored for humanity and the greater glory of God, without thought of self, and hundreds of his deeds were so quietly performed that his- tory will never know of them. He brought to Kansas more than his religion. His work and that of his associates was the be- ginning of moral force in Southeastern Kansas. They spread education and culture and founded the first churches and schools for which Kansas has since become famous. They placed the wel- fare of men above gain, and without selfish in- terests, they remained true to their cause to the end, laying a fitting foundation for the material welfare of the state in after years. Their work was so well done that thd Mission became known as "the cradle of civilization" in the Neosho Val- ley. The last official act of Father Paul at St. Francis' church was the baptism of Stella Kin- ley, on August 4, 1889. A writer signing the article S. A. D., writing for the Neosho County Journal, August i, 1889, pays this tribute to Father Ponziglione: ''The news of Father Ponziglione's removal to Milwaukee, proved quite a shock to this com- munity. While just at the prime of life. Father Paul penetrated into these wilds. Ignoring the privations and sufferings of a prairie home, he became the 'black gown' of the Osage Indians and with them passed the best days of his man- hood. As with the coming of a Jesuit, civiliza- tion's stamp is crested so the Indian camping ground in course of time, became a thriving vil- lage, and tho every vestage of antiquity has giv- en way beneath the hand of time, still the record of a life-long sacrifice was lovingly beheld, while the hoary-head of the pioneer priest, bent in, 32 LIFK AND LE:TTi:rS OF FATHER PAUL. daily adoration at the foot of the altar of St. Francis D'Hieronimo. "It was hoped that the land hallowed as the seat of his early labors, would be further sanciti- fied as that of his last resting place, but relentless fate has not willed it so. While the companion of his toils, Father Schoenmakers, sleeps the sleep of the just within sight of his former home, Father Paul yet possessing a remarkable vitality, willingly resumes other duties, and the future will behold him in a new mission, where a fair city lifts its proud dome to the sky. "Father Ponziglione has grown old in the service of the Lord. Upon February last nu- merous friends greeted him as the saintly jubilar- ian who : ''Sent across the rolling ocean Out where Kansas rivers' flow, sancitified the 'great west'' by his princely, yet humble bearing as: ''Paul, Apostle of O sages More than forty years ago. "Little did the abrupt parting that erst awaited in the misty future, intrude upon the loving hearts of his faithful subjects, for it was their fond wish that his pathway might, thru coming years, beside theirs remain as a pledge of God's goodness. ''The kind wishes of the entire parish accom- pany our priestly friends in their journeys o'er the many quicksands and unseen shoals of life, trusting that the bright pilot of hope may attend their every voyage, and finally anchor them at the port of eternal rest, in the home of God's elite — Heaven." LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. 33 ACTIVE LIFE IN THE NORTH. ''Come ye children and hearken to me, I unll teach you the fear of the Lord." Father Paul spent only a few months at Mil- waukee, during which time he was employed as Spiritual Father at Marquette College and as assistant in the parish work at Holy Name church. In the letters he wrote to friends at the Osage ^Mission he carefully refrained from men- tion of his duties or labors. In 1890 Father Paul was sent to St. Stephen's Mission in Wyoming. Some authorities say he w^as sent to assist in quieting trouble which had arisen among the Crow Indians, but the writer is unable to verify this statement. Mr. Brewster, whose able biography of Father Paul was pub- lished by the Kansas Historical Society, is one of the above authorities. He also stated that ^Montana was the scene of his western labors. Wyoming, however, appears to be correct, for in the Osage Mission Journal, dated December lo, 1891, the following appeared: "A\> had the pleasure of receiving a letter from Rev. Father Paul M. Ponziglione S. J., dated December 2nd, at Creighton College, Oma- ha. He informs us he has been recalled from St. Stephen's Mission in Wyoming and is enjoying the hospitality of Creighton College while wait- ing for word to go to a new destination." A few days after the above was written Father Paul was directed to report at St. Ignatius Col- lege, Chicago, where he was assigned to the position of historian in the College. He retain- ed this position up to the time of his death, and was regarded as standard authority on points of history. 34 LII^^ AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. Besides being historian to St. Ignatius College Father Paul exercised his priestly functions in the capacity of assistant pastor at the Holy Fam- ily church, and even after he had reached the advanced age of four score years he continued to hear confessions, go on sick calls and sing High Masses as he did in his younger years. Shortly after reaching Chicago Father Paul saw the need of work among the people of his own native country then residing in Chicago and in 1892 he organized the Guardian Angel school which later became known at the Guardian Angel Italian Mission. His school prospered from the first and in a few years became known as the largest parish school in the world, having a daily attendance of 2,500 children. In connection with this he organized a Sunday school for the Italian children and this, too, grew rapidly until it ac- quired the distinction of beine the largest Sunday school in the world. Father Paul was also chaplain of the deaf mutes at the Epheta School at St. Joseph's Home, Chicago. He organized two sodalities among the pupils of this school, one for the young men and the other for the young ladies. The sign language was used in all the sermons, psalms and prayers. He also found time to give much as- sistance to the Visitation and Aid Society, and Father Hoeffer speaks of Father Paul as the "ever venerable but ever young-hearted Catholic Chaplain of the Bridewell." Could there be a more striking refutation of the theories of Dr. Osier, than the remarkable achievements of Father Paul in Chicago, after his still more remarkable work as a pioneer mis- sionary on the plains? He had already passed the allotted span of three-score and ten years when he took up his residence in Chicago, yet life: and letters of father PAUL. 35 few men in an entire life accomplish as much as he did during the eight years he spent in that city. His mind was clear and active un- til the last, and it was only when the call of death came that he ceased his labors here on earth. FIFTY YEARS A PRIEST. "Ah! how strong that pries fs dev^otion Fully fifty years ago." — Butler. Father Paul's second golden jubilee, the fifti- eth anniversary of his ordination to the priest- hood, was held in Chicago, March 23 to 25, 1898, at St. Ignatius College. This celebration was ob- served in rather a quiet way, yet not without that imposing grandeur and splendor which would do honor to the jubiliarian. A reception was held at the College with music, speeches and the pre- sentation of gifts. . Two thousand people attend- ed the Solemn High Mass offered by Father Paul in the Holy Family church in thanksgiving. Rev. Father Roswinkle S. J., who knew well of the great life-work of Father Paul, both in Chicago and in the west, delivered the sermon of eulogy. The members of St. Paul, (Osage Mission) Kansas, parish sent Father Paul a fine gold chalice as a token of their friendship and esteem. Rev. Father Peter Hanley C. P., then rector of the Passionist Monastery at St. Paul, Kansas, carried the present and the greetings of the old parishioners to Chicago and personally oresented them to Father Paul. In response. Father Paul sent this message back to his old friends who still remained at the "Mission": 36 LIlfE AND LE:TTe:RS of FATHI:r PAUL. "Chicago, March 2^, 1898. ''Very Rev. Peter Hanley, "Dear Father : — Please tell the people of your congregation that I am most thankful to them for the very nice chalice they have been so kind as to send me, as a token of their affection. In- deed I cannot forget any of them for their names are written in my heart. And tho I always have them present when I am at the altar, I shall have them in a particular manner on the 25th inst. when I shall make use of chalice they sent me. "May God bless all my dear friends and you in particular. ; "Paul M. Ponziguonk S. J." • "■ ♦ ;ic %^ Father Paul passed from this life to his eternal' reward, at St. Ignatius College, Chicago, Wed- nesday evening, March 28, 1900, of bronchial pneumonia, at the advanced age of eighty-two years, one month and seventeen days. Surround- ed by his co-workers, and with a crucifix in his hands, his last words were a prayer to the Heavenly Father, whom he had so faithfully served. Thus "fittingly ended the life of a truly "grand old man;" a man who had devoted his many years to serving God and laboring for humanity. The funeral was held at the Holy Family church, Chicago, March 30, 1900, and he was buried in the Jesuit cemetery, and "countless thousands mourned." "Thus he died, the gfeat A pestle, Far away in regioiu west; By the lakes of the Algonquins Peacefully his ashes rest; But his spirit still regards us From his home among the blest." : LIFE AND LETTERS OE EATIIER PAUL. Z7 INTERPRETER AIDS IN A CONFESSION. "Fearless of danger, to falsehood a stranger, Ltooking^not back when there's duty before! He shall be nearest, he shall be dearest, He shall be first in our hearts evermore!" — Charles Mackay. In the early seventies Father Paul received a ''sick call" from an Irish family, which had lo- cated south of where Vinita, Oklahoma, now stands. In the round trip journey, he covered near one-hundred and fifty miles. On his ar- rival at the home of the Irish family, he found a lady making a mighty effort to stay the Hand of Death, with poor prospects of success. Father Paul prepared to hear the sick woman's confes- sion, only to discover that she could speak only in the tongue of her native land, Ireland, not one word of which could he understand. It was truly a perplexing situation. H'e had never before heard a confession thru an interpreter, but in this case it was his only recourse, and he had no time to spare. A man who could speak both Irish and English was called to his aid, and with the assistance of the interpreter, Father Paul heard the confession, after which he administer- ed the "last sacraments of the church," which this pius woman sought to comfort her dying hours. ENCOUNTERED THE BENDERS. A narrow escape from death at the hands of the notorious Bender family was one of the ex- periences of Father Paul which indicated that he lead what some people might term a "charm- ed" life. 38 LiFi: AND LETTKRS OF FATHER PAUL. The Benders were among the most brutal of the numerous outlaws that infested the prairies of southeast Kansas in the early seventies. Greed for gain led them to adopt all kinds of under- handed methods to acquire wealth, and many- foul and bloody crimes were committed by them to accomplish their purpose. This was before the advent of the Anti-Horse Thief Association ir Kansas, and before civil officers were numer- ous, so the Benders carried on their brutal work for months before an end was put to their career. Railroads were few in Kansas in those days and towns were far apart. Indian ponies pro- vided the chief mode of travel. Travelers fre- quently found themselves on the wide prairie wdien night came. The Benders had established a wayside inn on their homestead between Osage Mission and Independence for the avowed pur- pose of accommodating these travelers. Father Ponziglione, late one evening in the early spring of 1873, stopped at the Bender home while homeward bound from a trip to the dis- tant Indian villages, with the intention of remain- ing until morning, that he and his ponies might rest. The Bender home was a crude affair, typical of the times, and anything but an inviting place. A loose curtain divided the first floor of the log house into two small rooms. The ceiling was low and the walls rough. The brutal nature of the inmates was indicated by their countenances, and their actions were queer. Father Ponziglione observed all these things at a glance. He also noticed ''Old Alan" Bender place a large hammer behind the curtain near where the supper table was spread, and afterward hold a consultation with his daughter Kate who was later nicknamed *'The Tigress." LiFi; AND L^STTERS OF FATHER PAUL. 39 Work on the big church at Osage Mission had been started and Father Paul often received donations from friends to aid in its construcjiion. On this occasion he had what was then call- ed a considerable sum of money on his person. The Benders knew the nature of his work and probably had surmised the presence of the money and were planning to get it. Their actions ap- peared to the noble missionary to forebode evil, and the outlook was far from pleasing to him. An unknown voice appeared to be telling him to *'go," and his ponies were restless and refused to eat. The mysterious disappearance of three or four other men who had recently traveled this way recurred to his mind and added to liis un- easiness. He decided to "go," tired as he was. He allayed suspicion by pretending to look after his team, made a hasty departure without waiting for supper, and was beyond pursuit before his absence was discovered. A few weeks later the murder of Dr. York led to the discovery of the Bender crimes and to the finding of seven bodies buried in the garden. It was then that Father Paul realized how near he came to being numbered among those found in the Bender graveyard, and understood the source of the warning voice. PREACHED STRONG SERMONS. "He hade me act a manly part, tJio I had ne'er a farthing For unthoiit an honest, manly heart no man was worth regarding^ — Burns. While Father Paul was not famous for his eloquence, he preached sermons that went straight to the point. This is illustrated in a 40 LIFK AND LETTERS OF FATHIvR PAUL. story an old timer told the writer on himself. This old timer is still living, in a distant state, but spent much of his life in this part of the country. In the early days he was much of a rover, and was counted as one of the "boys" in his youth. In fact he seldom went near a church and it is hinted that he spent some time dodging officers. He came to Osage Mission in an early day, and with his wife, who was a faithful Catholic, he a-ttended church in ithe old log church. Father Paul preached a sermon that da}^ that "drove home" to the mind of this then young man some striking but to him unpleasant truths. In telling of the event to the writer, the old timer spoke about as follows, as near as vv^e can remember: "I had been scouting for some time and had just arrived at the Mission. My wife prevailed on me to attend church with her. I didn't care anything about it but went to please her. Father Paul preached. I had never seen him before. You have noticed that the eyes of a person in a picture always appear to be looking straight at you. Well, it appeared to me that Father Paul was looking straight at me and was preaching that sermon for my special benefit. The way he poured "hot shot" into me was a caution and I soon became so mad I wanted to fight him. It required all the will power I could muster lo keep my seat. Of course he knew nothing about me, was not looking at me more than at any other person, and it was the same sermon he would have preached had I not been there, but I did not take it that way. On the way home m.y wife asked me how I liked the sermon. 1 couldn't hold in any longer and the way I turned loose was a caution. The subject was brought up again at the dinner table, and among other things LIFE AND LETTERS OE EATHER PAUL. 4 1 I sail Father Paul was a liar and Fd like to thrash him. A relative suggested that I would not say these things to Father Paul, I had been around quite a bit and I thought I knew about as much as the best of them, and I said I would say it to him and more too if I got a chance. My wife had come here before I did and she knew the man. She arose from the table and told me to come with her. We went to the log house where Father Paul roomed in the second story, which was nothing more than a loft, and my wife introduced me to him. He greeted me kindly with his characteristic smile. My wife told him I had called in question his sermon and she had brought me to him. She also told him that I had once been a Catholic. He told my wife to go over to IMother Bridget's and wait until I came. Then I began by "telling him a few things." 1 talked "straight from tiie shculder" and I did not mince words. I told htm a lot of the things he said in that sermon were false. Father Paul kept perfect control of himself dur- ing my tirade. Then in a good natuied way he told me some things. We" had it up and down" for about an hour. He knocked my boasted knowledge sky high. I soon found I was no match for him at all The result of it was that I knelt down there before him and made the first confession I had made in many months, and while I have not been a saint since, I have re- frained from repeating some of the things I had been doing before." "His zvit in the combat, as gentle as bright, Never carried a heart-strain azvay on its blade >) 42 LIFE AND LE^TTERS OI' FATHER PAUL. SLEPT WITH RANCHMEN. ''Upon the prairie, as the sun is Mking I see the cabin of the pioneer." — Ironquil. Father Paul, in his travels, always stopped at whatever house he came to at nightfall, altho he usually calculated to arrive at the home of some family he knew to spend the night. He well knew the conditions of the settlers in the thcLi pioneer country, and realizing their accommoda- tions were necessarily limited, he always accept- ed whatever hospitality was offered, with grati- tude and a smile. An Osage Mission young lady who was a school teacher in the west part of Neosho county in the early eighties told the writer this story: She was boarding with a ranchman who em- ployed a number of men. These men all board- ed with the ranchman. Most of them were rough youngsters who had come west to gratify an ad- venturous spirit and to seek their fortunes, while some of them had come west to escape from the officers of the law. These men all had sleeping quarters in a separate building. About dusk one evening Father Paul drove up and ask- ed for the privilege of remaining until morning, which was readily granted. He was homeward bound from a long journey to the west, and he and his team were so weary from travel, they needed rest badly. Father Paul was a splendid conversationalist, with a great fund of knowledge of the plains and he spent the time after supper most pleasantly, ^^■hen he expressed a desire to retire he was told to go to the other building and sleep with the men. He assented, and with a smile, this man of royal blood spent the night in a hut with a bunch of strangers, his "downy LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. 43 couch" being two blankets on the clapboard floor. The table fare on many occasions was no more fastidious than the sleeping quarteis. x\n early settler who still lives not far from the "Mission" relates a story Father Paul told many years ago. The good father had traveled all day without finding anything to eat, and his breakfast had not been a sumptuous one. Late in the after- noon he came to an Osage wigwam where he was heartily welcomed. An Osage woman whom he had known for years, set about to make "some- thing extra" for their visitor. The parlor, sit- ting room, dining room and kitchen were all- in one room and Father Paul sat near by resting while the meal was being prepared. The woman, after mixing the bread, used her thigh for a kneading board, then baked the bread before the camp fire. The only comment the good Father would make was : "It is wonderful what a man can eat with a relish when he is real hungry." LOST ON THE PRAIRIE DURI'NG BLIZZARD. "So zvhen he cmne to Kansas, strong and fearless, Fate had no terrors zvhich he dare not face; A soldier in the vanguard of the race. He did his share to make his c^nnti\ peerless." — Ironquil. Father Ponziglione did not hesitate to go where duty called him, regardless of the weather. On one occasion he came near losing his life in a Kansas blizzard on the prairie between Win- field and Howard. In those days there were few fences and the roads between towns were merely trails across the country. The good Father was on his way home from a long trip in the "south- west country" v/hen a "northerner" came up, and 44 LIFE AND LKTTi;rS of father PAUL. with it came a driving snow which soon covered all traces of the trail. The broad prairie was one wide expanse of white. He was not very familiar with the country and lost his way. He kept driving but came in sight of no habitation. In due time his horses became so weary from the long trip in the storm that they could go no far- ther. They stopped in a valley with the back of the buggy to the wind that it might afitord some protection from the storm. The Father was so cold he could do nothing for his horses. There •he was out on the open prairie, he knew not where, with his horses exhausted, a storm raging and no aid in sight. Neither he nor his horses had had anything to eat since morning, and night was coming on. There he sat in his buggy, tell- ing his beads when Abe Steinberger, now of Ok- lahoma, but at that time a Kansas newspaper man, came along on his way to How^ard from Winfield, driving a team of big horses. Mr. Steinberger told the writer of seeing the buggy a short distance off the trail and going to it. 'The good Lord will take care of me," was the reply the Father gave his inquiry as to how he came to be there, but he was so cold he could hardly speak this loud enough to be heard in the storm. Mr. Steinberger helped the Father into his own bug- gy, wrapped him in a buffalo robe, tied his horses behind his buggy and proceeded to Howard. Half pulling the horses behind, they made slow pro- gress but reached Howard just after dark. Fath- er Ponzigliorie was put to bed in a hotel and giv- en ''hot drinks," and altho no serious results fol- lowed his experience, he was not able to proceed homeward for nearly a week. LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. 45 KEPT "THE FAITH" ALIVE. A man who had once lived near the ''Mission," told a story that showed the watchful care Father Paul exercised over the widely scattered Catho- lics of the early days. This man was traveling thru the Flint Hills of Kansas, then very sparsely settled. Night over- took him far from human habitation save one, that of a woman and her son living in a one-room cabin. The traveler was not favorably impress- ed with the surroundings and retired for the night with some misgivings and a feeling of un- easiness, for it was a time that tried men's nerves and strangers were looked upon with suspicion. A curtain separated his bed from the rest of the room. Soon there came to his ears the low voice of prayer — the mother and son repeating the rosary. With a feeling of relief and of se- curity he fell asleep. The next morning he ask- ed his hostess how she kept her faith alive so far from church and religious associations. "Oh," she said, ''Father Ponziglione never fails to visit us at least once a year." A BOGUS NEPHEW. Good things are the only kind counterfeited. There is nothing to be gained from imitating the other kind. The fact that a thing is counter- feited is proof of its excellence. As. with things, so it is with men. Only good men are made the subject for imposters. A bogus priest trav- eled over part of Kansas in the early days claim- ing to be a nephew of Father Paul. He wanted to make a living without much labor, and he took advantage of the people's generosity towards Father Paul to g^ather in favors for himself. 46 LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. One of the families imposed upon by this bogus priest was that of Timothy Lynch, then residing near Howard, Kansas, from which place they later moved to St. Paul. The bogus priest baptised one of their children. When they later learned of the imposition they wrote Father Paul about the validity of the baptism and received the following reply from him, dated Osage Mission, Neosho County, Kansas, May ^22, 1886: "Your favor of the 20th instant came to hand. To what concerns the Baptism of your child by an imposter, calling himself my nephew, all I can say is that Baptism is always valid no mat- ter by whom administered, provided that he who administers it does it in the right way. At pres- ent, however, it is very doubtful whether those who are out of the Catholic Church ■go adminis- ter this sacrament in the proper way. So in your case I would advise you to speak on the subject to your priest. For myself, I think I would have the child baptised again on condition, for I do not believe in the sincerity of that man who went around calling himself a priest and imposing on the credulity of poor simple Catho- lics. May God bless you all. 'Taul M. Ponziglione S. J." MISTAKEN FOR A SPY. During the war Father Paul was arrested on suspicion that he was a rebel spy. The following account of the event was obtained from the sol- dier who was detailed to make the arrest : "In the fall of 1863, the report became current that the rebels were planning another raid into Kansas, and Colonel Knowles was sent out vv^ith a detachment of troops from Fort Scott to Mar- LI^E AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. 47 maton, where there was already a considerable body of men gathered to repel the threatened invasion. Pickets were sent out, and everything was put in readiness to give Mr. Reb a warm reception. I belonged to the loth Kansas in- fantry. Word was sent to Colonel Knowles that a suspicious looking character was seen riding towards the southwest, and the supposition was that he was a rebel spy. Colonel Knowles at once ordered me to saddle my horse and go in pursuit, and bring the man to his tent. I at once set out and determined to catch the man. After riding five or six miles, I came in sight of that rnan. I increased my speed and was soon along side the object of my pursuit. I commanded him to halt, which he did. i directed him to right- about face, as he had to report to Colonel Knowles. We then took the back track. He was reading a book when I first approached him. This he put away after he became my captive. When we arrived in Marmaton, I at once reported to Colonel Knowles, who asked my prisoner who he was and what he was doing in those parts,iand what he knew of the rebel invasion, to which he replied : 'I am a Catholic priest. I am on my way home to Osage Mission. I had an inter- view this morning with Mrs. Blair. She inform- ed me that she had a dispatch from her husband, General Blair, that the raid on Kansas was sim- ply a feint ; that the entire rebel army was then marching to the South.' This news was received vi^ith great joy by us all and Father Ponziglione was told to depart in peace. *'Two years later I had the pleasure of an in- troduction to the priest at the home of Peter Perrier, on Big Creek in Neosho county. I made the remark that we had met before. He looked at me straight with the remark, 'I believe you 48 LiFlv' AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. are the man who arrested me, and so I became a prisoner of war just for a little while.' "A. W. Smith, "Independence, Kansas." NARROW ESCAPE FROM DROWNING. After going to Wyoming, altho an old man, Father Paul continued his missionary work, and met with some trying experiences. The follow- ing taken from the Wind River Mountaineer^ Lander, AVyoming, June 25, 1891, tells of his narrow escape from drowning: ''A few days since Rev. Ponziglione undertook to cross Wind river near the Mission and found the water (deeper and swifter than he expected. Before he reached the middle of the stream his horses were forced to swim and the wagon was capsized, throwing the driver into the raging current. The horses succeeded in reaching the opposite bank with the wagon, but a valise and some other loose articles on the wagon, as well as Father Ponziglione were hurled downward by the current. Some Indians standing on the bank saw the accident and without a moment's hesitation plunged into the turbulent water and covered themselves with glory by rescuing the drowning priest. But for the presence of the Arapahoes it is more than probable that the cur- rent would have been too strong for the aged priest, and he would have sunk never to rise again." FIRST PASTOR OF OTTAWA. In the year book of Sacred Heart Church, Ottawa, Kansas, published by Rev. O. E. Degan in 1909, the following appeared : LIFE AND LKTTl-RS OF FATHER PAUL. 49 "In 185 1 Rev. Paul Alary Ferrero Ponziglione di Borgo d' Ales, a descendent of the royal Ital- ian Families Guerras and Ponzigiiones, began his missionary labors in southeastern Kansas. In 1854 he visited the Chippewas and Appahoos- es in Franklin county, establishing missionary stations for the Chippewas as well as for the Sacs and Foxes. In 1857 he established a mis- sionary station at Prairie City, (now West Bald- win.) Fie and his companions established 150 missions both for whites and Indians in 27 coun- ties in southeastern Kansas. "In October, 1867, Fatlier Ponziglione S. J. again visited Ottawa, arriving here on horseback from Osage Mission. He stopped at the resi- dence of P. P. Elder, and inquired of Mr. James Halvey, who was employed by Mr. Elder, con- cerning the Catholics in the neighborhood. Alass was celebrated Sunday morning in the residence of Air. John Halvey at the corner of Third and Locust streets. Among those present were Timothy O'Neil, Patrick Hand and family, James Flalvey, John Halvey and family. Next day Alass was celebrated at the residence of Mr. Hand, two miles southeast of Ottawa. Prior to this time when not visited by a priest in their homes, the few scattered Catholics living here, if they wished to attend Divine Service, were oblig- ed to travel to Prairie City, Emerald or Scipio. Altho other Priests had visited Ottawa, they came more as Indian missionaries before the county v;as organized or the city chartered. Fath- er Ponziglione may, therefore, be properly styled the first pastor of Ottawa." 50 LIFB: and letters of father PAUL. LARGEST SUNDAY SCHOOL IN THE WORLD. By F. J. Lyons in the Chicago Tnhune, March, 1910: Chicago has the unique distinction of having the largest Sunday school in the world. This is located on Forquer street, in the heart of the Italian settlement known as "Little Italy" and the story of Jts founding is almost as interest- ing as the school itself. On February 11, 1818, there was born in the village of Cherasco, one of the most fashionable resorts in the north of Italy, Paul Ponziglione. He was descended from one of the noblest families of Italian royalty. Tho of noble birth he preferred the arduous life of a missionary to that of the nobility, and accordingly joined the Jesuit order at an early age. It was while still a scholastic in the Jesuit col- lege in Genoa, in 1848, that he was arrested under dramatic circumstances by the revolutionists, put in chains, and thrust aboard a man of war of the king of Sardinia. After a namber of thrilling experiences he at length escaped and succeeded in reaching Modena. He at once offered himself as a volunteer for American missionary work. He was accepted and went to Rome, whence he was on the eve of departing when violent demonstrations against the pope, Pius IX, compelled him to flee for his life. The youthful priest sought refuge in Paris, only to be forced by the violent animosity of the anti-Catholic revolutionists to seek safety once more in flight. Taking passage for Amer- ica, he at length arrived at St. Xavier's college, in Cincinnati. After a short time he was trans- LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. 5 1 ferred to Missouri, then the western pro- vince of the order. Thereupon he began his missionary work among the Indians. He was a hardy pioneer even tho reared as a child of royalty. His thrilling ex- periences in the course of his missionary labors in the then wild western states of the frontier would fill a book. After forty years of this strenuous, eventful life he came to Chicago, where in the year 1892 he founded the Guardian Angel's school, now the Guardian Angel's Italian mission, which' with an attendance of more than 2,500 children is the largest in the world. But Father Ponziglione in his own quiet way was but preparing the way for brilliant progress in the work of moral and social uplift. At this juncture there returned to America a brilliant young priest whose name, inseparable from the moral and social progress of the city, is known to every reader. He was Father Ehmn, now Bishop of Peoria. He was a Chicagoan by birth and his return to his native country and city marked the conclusion of a brilliant course of studies in Europe. His spiritual superiors perceiving his peculiar qualifications at once commissioned him to prose- cute the work begun by Father Ponziglione. Looking about him he saw the conditions and environments of the emigrants from the ''sunny land of olives," and like his predecessor, realized that the citizenship of our country demanded a better quality than could possibly and reasonably be expected from the prevalent conditions. Gathering) a ''handful" of the bright-eyed, dark-skinned children of the "^American Italy" about him, he began teaching them. Others came. The little boys and girls proved themselves apt scholars and slowly but surely the progress at- 52 UFK AND IvE:TTi:rS of FATHE:r PAUL. tained assured success and gratified the heart of the zealous young priest. He redoubled his ef- forts, if indeed, this were possible. In his in- defatigable zeal he forgot his own self-comfort. Frequently,^ in fact, almost daily, would he en- dure the privations of a foreign mission, for that is, in reality, what it was. But the founders were not destined to enjoy the honors of their undertaking unshared. Pub- lic spirited men and vv^omen from all parts of the city offered themselves as volunteers to this do- mestic " foreign mission." As a result the mis- sion has a staff of 125 men and women laboring for the betterment of American citizenship. Among those prominently identified with the undertaking are the Rev. Pacif Chenuil, pastor of the mission; the Rev. Raschlotti, D. D., as- sistant pastor; Mrs. Amberg, and William J. Bogan, superintendent of the mission. So great has been the growth of the mission that even the large number of instructors above mentioned is scarcely sufiicient for the needs of the institution. In like manner the buildings are crowded to such an extent that classes are conducted in the basement; while even such an out of the way place as the boiler room was pressed into service as a classroom. In these classes are to be found children of all ages, from the tiny, bright-eyed youngster learning his first prayers to those of more mature years. While the religious aspect of this great insti- tution is its most salient feature everything else that makes for the social and moral uplift of the children is studiously attended to. Thus, little girls are taught sewing. As an incentive to their work they are permitted to retain the garments they make. This class numbers some four hun- LIFE AND LETTERS OE EATHER PAUL. 53 dred members. The expense, such as material, etc., is defrayed by a large donation. Another great source of help to the children is the library. By diligent work the library com- mittee has succeeded in gathering together some fifteen hundred volumes. That the children are appreciative of this feature of the school is at- tested by the fact that about four hundred of the books are distributed every week and that they are becoming Americanized by the fact that such books as the life of Washington, life of Lincoln, and similar works are most in demand. The boy's club and sodalities of both boys and girls are means by which the social life of the children are strengthened. NEWSPAPER NOTES. The following extracts from newspapers will give some idea of Father Paul's travels and work during his sojourn in Kansas: ''Father Ponziglione informs us that on the Verdigris river the flood swept everything before it, and that several families were drowned, and much property destroyed. At Coyville the saw and flouring mills and the dwellings of all the citizens were fully half under water, and the oc- cupants were driven to the upper floors for safe- ty. In returning Father P. endeavored to reach Erie, but found that place cut ofif from communi- cation with the outside world and he could not reach nor comfort them under their affliction. '* — Osage Mission Journal, July 15, 1869. * * "That active and indefatigable worker and genial gentleman, Father Ponziglione, has just returned from an extended tour of over a thous- 54 LlFi: AND LETTERS OF FATHKR PAUL. and miles, made on horseback, to Eldorado, Au- gusta, Wichita and numerous other towns on pa- per and otherwise, each of which expects to be- come a 'county seat,' a 'commercial emporium' and a 'railway center,' at least. From him we learn that the whole country westward from here is being settled with unexampled rapid^ity,and that villages are springing into existence and having a growth at once marvelous and real. Wichita, which last ^lay had but one house, now contains over a hundred of various grades and seems destined to be a good and prosperous place. The same is true of Augusta, Butler county, which, havinf? secured the location of the U. S. land of- fice for the new land district recently created, will assuredly attain a rapid growth. The main body of the Osages is about thirty miles west from Wichita, where they are hunting buffalo, which are in immense numbers and fat. Some have been killed within twelve miles of Wichita.'' — Mission Journal, August 4, 1870. ''Father Ponziglione — We had a very pleasant call from this venerable and very gentlemanly Father of the Catholic Church last Saturday night. He had just returned from a long tour thru the northwest counties. He reports ap- palling suffering among many people on account of the scarcity of food. Fr. Ponziglione has traveled all over southwestern Kansas and among the wildest Indians — including the Osages, Kio- was, Arapahoes, Comanches, etc. He speakes Latin, Italian, French, Spanish and other lan- guages and has written several books in Osage." —Thayer (Kas.) Headlight, March 10, 1875. "While Father Ponziglione was on his west- ern trip last week he had die misfortune to have LII^D AND LKTTKRS OF FATHER PAUL. 55 one of his best horses die from the effects of the heat." — Osage Mission Journal, Sept. 6, 1876. "Father Ponziglione arrived home Monday from a two-week's tour to the Osage Agency. He reports grasshoppers everywhere." — Osage Mission Jounml, Oct. 4, 1876. "Father PonzigUone arrived home Thursday from a three-week's trip to Cowley county and the Western country." — Osage Mission Journal^ Dec. 13, 1876. * * "The first building in Wilson county dedicated to religious worship was the Catholic church on Timber Hills, northwest of Fredonia, which was reared eight or ten years ago under the auspices of the Jesuit Fathers of Osage Mission." — Wil- son County Citizen, May, 1876. "Father Ponziglione left here Monday for Leadville, Colo., from whence he will make quite an extensive tour thru the western states and ter- ritories, possibly extending to the Pacific coast." — Osage Mission Journal, July 7, 1880. "Father P. M. Ponziglione, of St. Francis' In- stitution, at the old Osage Mission in Kansas, vis- ited our town one day last week. The presence of a Catholic Priest in our midst is such an un- usual circumstance that it is like that of a strange bird blown by a storm from some distant island of the ocean. If not the earliest, after the discovery of America, the Catholics have been the most extensive pioneers of Christian religion among the Indians. It is claimed, and just- ly perhaps, that they were the first. The dangers to which they were exposed and the deprivations 56 LiFi: AND LE:TTERS of FATHKR PAUL. which they underwent in their early missions among the Indians entitle their church to the con- sideration of Christian zeal that is more wonder- ful than reasonable to the secular mind." — Cherokee (Indian Territory I Advocate, April, 1882. ''Father Ponziglione arrived home Wednesday from a long trip of 350 miles in the Indian Ter- ritory. He visited the Osages at their agency at Pawhuska and found the half-breeds thriving and prosperous, with considerable stock and cul- tivated lands; but the full-bloods, since the buf- falo were driven further away, have had a hard time in obtaining enough to live on and are really suffering. Xo, the poor Indian.' " — Osage Mis- sion Journal, April 4, 1884. "A disasterous and fatal mine explosion oc- curred at Savannah, Indian Territory, last week, by which three men lost their lives and thirty- tw^o others were injured. Father Ponziglione was called to the scene of the accident shortly afterward. He states that bix of the injured men cannot live, while many others are maimed for life." — Osage Mission JournaL Feb. it, 1885. ''Father Ponziglione is one of the most zealous christians we have ever known ; a man of imaf- fected piety, and knowing no such word as fail- ure. The Catholic church owes more to him than to any dozen priests in the state." — 'Howard, Kas., Democrat, Feb. 7, 1889. "Father Paul M. Ponziglione passed thru Elgin on Tuesday on his way from Chicago, where he has been stationed for two years, to Pawhuska, the capital city of the Osages, which he has for life: and LKTTERS of father PAUL. 57 years taken so lively an interest in. The good old gentleman carries his seventy-eight years lightly and looks no older than twenty-five years ago when we used to see him in his little covered wagon on his regular trips from Osage Missiun to visit the tribes on their reservation south of us." — Sedan (Kas.) Times-Star, April 23, 1896. * * A correspondent of the Catholic Advance (published at Wichita, Kansas) writing from Neodesha, Kansas, in November, 1913, said: "The first Catholic church in Neodesha was erected by Rev. Paul M. Ponziglione S. J. in the year of 1876, in the vicinity of the Frisco depot. * * * * Over sixty missions were establish- ed in Kansas besides several in the Indian Terri- tory, which testify to the indefatigable zeal and energy of this renowned missionary. Many 01 the missions today are the most flourishing of our cities. The record of this noble priest's life is filled with many trying hardships and self de- nials. The great monument to his life, in which he took the greatest interest, was the college, house and church at St. Paul. Rev. Father Pon- ziglione attended Neodesha until December, 1879, and Father A. School, from Independence suc- ceeded him." CHAPTER 11. "THE APOSTLE OF SOUTHEASTERN KANSAS." In writing the history of the CathoHc Church at Humboldt, Kansas, in 1910, Rev. Father John J. Maclnerney pays a glowing tribute to the work of Father Paul, who was really the founder of the church at Humboldt. We quote here that part of this history which we believe will be of interest to our readers, and in line with the sub- ject of this book: IN THE WILDERNESS. The early settlers who made their venturesome way from the four corners of the e?.- '^ to find homes in what was then an unbroken '.viiderness, imbued as they were with the laudable desire to make the desert blossom as the rose, met with their full measure of hardship, as all know who are the least familia: with history which has only too often been written, in the life's blood of the hardy pioneer. The ferries, crossing the Mississippi into Kan- sas, freighted with their human cargo, fought and cut their weary way thru huge boulders of floating ice, before the prospective settler was given even the sorry privilege of taking his chanc- es with Life and Death, as a tiller of the virgin soil. The Red Man held forth in undisputed sway and little was accomplished toward the de- velopment of the great natural resources of Kan- sas, until after the close of the Civil War. (58) UFK AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. 59 The return of peace, the home coming of the surviving veterans, ready and eager to beat their swords into plow shares, marked the dawn of Day for Kansas, but the brave missionaries of the Catholic Church made their way here when the state was enveloped in the darkness of the night of savagery; when life and living meant one long struggle against seemingly overwhelrn- ing odds, and when privation and hardship, in unrelenting fury, went stalking over the plains like a pestilence: In those days, the Civil War was undreamed of, even as a most remote possi- bility, and the saving of the souls of the Red Men was the only reward hoped for, the only gleam of light in the distance, in return for the her- culean labors of the followers of Christ. These men, the missionaries of the CathoHc Church, who came out to the fringe of civiUza- tion to "preach and teach all nations," antedated the first white settler by many years. They crim- soned the barren plains with their blcod. and when civilization, with its few paltry comforts, had imprinted its seal on the territory, and^ liv- ing became at least bearable, the valiant disciples made their way still further into the darkness, following the trail of the savage, that the "light might shine for all men." Cheerful uncomplaining, willing, were these volunteers in the Lord's vineyard, these soldiers fighting under the Flag of Christ, and they lived and kept their stout courage undaunted, thruont all the' torturous years, because they ''drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ." History cannot make men, but men make his- tory ; the early Jesuit missionaries have illumined the brightest pages of American History with a simple record of their lives and works, and in 6o LIFE AND LETTERS OE EAT HER PAUL. life as in death, have they dowered the Catholic Church with a heritage of immortal glory. That their works hve after them, is attested by the spread of Christianity, not alone thruout Kan- sas, but thruout the length and breadth of the continent. The spirit which characterized the founders of the great Order of the Society of Jesus — Ig- natius of Loyola and Francis Xavier, in their work among the savage tribes of their day, re- veals itself in the labors of the men who came af~ ter them, and who spent their lives among the In- dians of southeastern Kansas. These ''Black Coats," as they were called by the Red men, nev- er for one moment forgot the motto of their Order — -Ad Majorein Dei Gloriam, — "All for the honor and glory of God," — and they attracted and won over the savage tribes thru their preach- ing of Christ and Him Crucified. "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself," might well have been written of the work of the Jesuit missionaries. We read of St. Francis Xavier as he landed in Goa, the capital of the Portuguese Colony on the western coast of Hindoostan, taking lodgings in the Capital and associating with the poor. He won over the rich, and with bell in One hand and crucifix in the other, he exhorted the multitude to accept the religion of the Cross. Two hundred thousand souls he brought under the shadow of the Cross, the Flag of the gentle and lowly Naz- arene. The spirit of Xavier lived on, his work continued in America, brought the same glorious results, and it may, in all truth and justice, be said that the present progressive and triumphant march of the Church in this country, next to God, owes itself to the incessant labors of the Jesuits. We are not insensible to the insults that have I.IFE; AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. 6l been heaped upon these men of God by enemies within and without the fold and yet it is not nec- essary to Hne up in their defense. History stands out luminously in their behalf.. "Not a wilder- ness was opened, nor a stream turned," writes one of the great American historians, "but that a Jesuit led the way." Under the teachings of the Jesuits, the savages became skilled in all requisite mechanical handicrafts, learned in ag- riculture, tutored in a fixed order of life, and under the guidance of the "Black Coats," they showed the sweet simplicity of little children, in heart, intellect and manner. The Jesuits became all to all and truly so ,* for they learned from the Apostle of the Gentiles, from the other eleven and from all the men of God, who walked in their way, and like them, converted many unto justice, that in no other way could the banner of Christ be so surely and so safely unfurled; volumes might be written con- cerning the truly Christian zeal of these early Jesuit missionaries whose Order is well named the "Society of Jesus." — a body of men who have ever devoted themselves to carrying the Gospel to the ends of the earth, and whose deeds in the history of the Church shine like stars in the firmament of heaven. LOOKING BACKWARD. As far back as 1833 the Second Council of Baltimore asked that the various tribes of the trackless waste be given into the care of the Jesuit Fathers, and in 1834, Rome so decreed. Rev. Charles Van Quickenborne, S. J., was the first priest to celebrate Mass in this part of the country and deserves, in consequence, the high title of pioneer priest of southeastern Kan- 62 LII^E AND IvETTEjRS O^ FATHE^R PAUL. sas. Residing at Stanislaus, near Florissant, St. Louis County, where in 1824 he had opened a boarding school for Osage children, he continued to visit the Osae:es from time to time for ten years after they had moved westward into Kan- sas. In 1827, he visited Trading Post, Linn county; Harmony Mission, Bates county, Miss- ouri; Osage Agency, Neosho county, and Mar- maton, Bourbon county. He established many missionary stations among the Osage half breeds in the United States Army Barracks, and in other places. In 1830 he visited Grand Saline, Indian Territory, and in 1836, he established the Kick- apoo Mission, devoting the remaining years ot his life to the members of that tribe of Indians. The other Indian tribes which had been re- moved by the government from east of the Miss- issippi to Kansas, also received his attention and care, especially the Pottawatomies and Kickapoos. Father Van Quickenborne died August 17, 1837, and his work among the Indians in Kansas, or Missouri Territory, as it was then called, was continued by other Jesuit Fathers. In 1847 the Pottawatomies began to remove to their new reservation on the Kansas River, St. Mary's becoming the headquarters of the nation. As the distance to the Osages was so great that it was difficult for the Jesuits to attend to their spiritual needs, the Osages applied for resident missionaries and accordingly, a new mission was opened among them. On April 28, 1847, Rev. John Schoenmakers, S. J., and his companions reached the site that had been selected by Father Van Quickenborne, one of the missionaries of St. Mary's Mission, and upon which the Indian De- partment had built two log houses ; the Jesuits took formal possession of the place, known thereafter by the name of Osage Mission. The LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. 63 first church that was dedicated tp Ood in this beautiful valley of the Neosho, was built the fol- lowing year — 1848 — and in 1895 the name of the mission was changed to St. Paul. In those days, Kansas was a wild country, an Indian Territory, where, with the exception of a few trading posts, one could not find the home of a white man. Of the various tribes of Aborigines living in Kansas, the Osages were the most important nation, numbering some seven thousand souls. When the home mission was well arranged, regular visits were begun to the Osages in their settlements, and missionary sta- tions were erected in the tract of land now com- prised in Wilson, Allen, Neosho, Montgomery and Labette counties. W^hen the Osage mission was established, the Catholics in the state fell short of one hundred and fifty persons, and as laborers and mechanics became absolutely necessary for the development of the missions, the Jesuits called in CathoUcs, especially from the western boundary of Missouri. These, seeing that nothing was to be feared from the Indians, sent for their families and friends. They naturally gathered about the Mission house and soon the mission churches became too small for the growing congregations. So, the white Catholics, meeting with no opposition, founded settlements of their own, tho, up to 1850, not a village of whites could be found thruout all this vast territory. Since the opening of Kansas in 1854, many Catholics settled in the eastern counties and new missionary stations were constantly being open- ed, until every border county had finally its own mission. The Osage lands, however, were con- sidered a Reservation and white people were not allowed to take up claims on them. Finally in 64 L1F£: AND LE;TTKRS 01^ fATHi:R PAUL. 1869, when the Osages ceded much of their land to the U. S., a new and a very 'extensive territory was opened to emigration and a new field was created for missionary labors. Thus in the pro- gress of time 135 stations were started from the Osage missions in the 2^] counties of S. E. Kan- sas, and gradually developed into flourishing con- gregations. As soon as ' a station was able to afford the expense, a church was built; about these churches new congregations were gathered and these by degrees were transferred to the Bishop, who put them in charge of secular priests. Until 1 85 1 all the Indian missions Vv^ere under the See of St. Louis, but on March 25, 185 1, Rev. John B. Miege, S. J., was made Bishop and Vicar Apostolic of the Indian Territory, east of the Rocky Mountains ; probably five thousand Catho- lics were included in the entire domain. In July of this year the Bishop and Father Paul Mn^y Ponziglione arrived at Osage Mission and were welcomed by Father Schoenmakers, the superior of the mission. It was a pleasant meet- ing, such a one as we find in the times of the Apostles, when clad in the armor of Faith, Hope and Charity, they were about to invade cities and nations with the sword of Christ. With the enthusiasm of Paul of Tarsus and the zeal of another Apostle, Father Paul M. Pon- ziglione inaugurated the great work which af- terwards won for him the glorious name of Apostle of South Bastern Kansas. This great missionary made Humboldt his headquarters returning at intervals to offer up the H,oly Sacrifice of the Mass for the few pioneer Catholics of these days. Under his charge St. Joseph's church was built and the fir^t priest of our parish has not only LIFE AND LETTERS OE FATHER PAUL. 65 made history but started the church in these parts on her glorious mission of peace and mercy. FATHER Paul's missionary work. After some minor duties had been assigned him, in 1851, he began the principal work of his long life— his missionary toil among the Indian tribes in Southeastern Kansas— which he con- tinued for forty long years, "faithful unto the The following incident is related as an illus- tration of his earnestness in missionary work : He was in the habit of making long journies out into the West, and one time was absent so long that bis Superior concluded that he must have been killed by the savages' who then inhabited the beautiful prairies. Accordingly an order was promuli-ated to the effect that prayers should be said for the repose of his soul and just then Father Paul turned up. His desire to save souls and Dlant the cross thruout this Western coun- trv braved 'all obstacles and rendered light a I hardships. The true history of his life and work will never be written or ever fully known. When he entered the Order of the Society of Tesus he died to the world. He was no longer a man with selfish longings and ambitions, but a part of the great Order, fighting under one head, whose only aim is to bring the work to God. It mattered not whom he met^ Was it a sav- age bent on his destruction? The Holy Mass would protect him. Was 'it the lawless white? Tmatters not. Whether white or red civilized or savage, his work was before him and that work he would do. . . lL air true missionaries he ^o^go* himself m his zeal and devotion to the cause of God, and 66 LIFE AND LI:TTI:RS of FATHI;r PAUL. was more anxious for the salvation of souls than the compilation of personal biographies. It was only after repeated demands on the part of his superiors that he condescended to give the meagre details that we have of his missionary life and labors. The first fruit of his own life was among the Indians who then owned and in- habited this beautiful country. In the year 1854 we are told he established three missions among the Indians in Bourbon and Franklin counties. Pushing on into what was then beyond the bor- der of civilization, he made converts and erected an altar among the "five nations" at Barnesville, Bourbon county; the Chippewas and Appanoose in Franklin county. In 1855 and 1856 he es- tablished three missions among the Indians in Bourbon county and in Franklin county, and in 1855 one in Crawford county among the "whites." In 1858 his labors were incessant and the result was fifteen missions in the following places : Mbund City, Greeley, Anderson county ; Burlington, Leroy, Humboldt, Elizabethtown and lola, Allen county; two in Wilson and two in Greenwood counties, and one in each of the fol- lowing counties : Franklin, Crawford, Chero- kee and Woodson. During the year 1859 besides visiting his form- er stations, he established new one in Little Osage, Bourbon county; Pleasant Grove, Green- wood county ; Granby, Mo. ; Defiance, Woodson county, and Emporia, Lyon county. In i860 two missions were organized, one in Marion and one in Allen counties. In 1863 the church in Fort Scott was established and Father Paul's diary shows another in Crawford county the fol- lowing year. In 1866 under the supervision of Fathers Ponziglione and Schoenmakers the old stone church in Humboldt was erected — the life: and letters of father PAUL. 67 first substantial building within a radius of many miles. The year 1869 saw six new missions start into life under Father Paul's unflagging earnestness, among them being the missions in Winfield and Hutchinson and a mission among the Kaw In- dains in Council Grove. In 1870 he was able to leave his already large congregation long enough to make converts and plant the standard of the cross in five new places. Eldorado was added to the list of towns where Catholic wor- ship was held. A mission among the Indian Osage half-breeds in Labette county, a mission ir Greenwood, and a church in Independence were established. During this year Father Paul pur- chased the site in Wichita on which the Pro- Cathedral now stands and which is presided over by the able and scholarly Bishop of the Wichita diocese. Father Paul was now past the meridian of life and was looking toward sunset; one-half a cen- tury had passed since he came into the world in that far off village, in Italy ; yet his energy never weakened, his spirit never appeared weary. In 1 87 1 his grand missionary spirit began to reach out to distant lands and explore hitherto obscure and savage places. He established stations among the Cheyenne Indians in the Territory and visited the soldiers at Fort Sill. The year 1872 brought Wellington into line and the year 1873 added Oxford in Sumner, and Sedan and Elgin in Chautauqua county. Until the latter part of the year 1870, the Jesuits had charge of most of the missions in Kansas, tho data concerning their final transfer to the Bishop are very meagre. On December 31, 1871, Father Ponziglione writes, ''During the summer, the Right Rev. Bishop Miege, hav- 68 LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. ing two new priests at his disposal, sent them to us that we might station them in some of our missions. One was placed at Baxter Springs and charged with the care of Labette, Cherokee and Crawford counties, besides a small part of the adjacent Indian Territory. The other was placed at Cottonwood Falls, from which he will attend all stations established on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad, from Emporia in Lyon, to Wichita in Sedgwick county. On August I, 1878, I transferred to Rev. Robert Luchrer, sent by Right Rev. Bishop L. M. Fink, the charge of all the missions I had in the coun- ties of Montgomery, Elk and Chautauqua, re- serving for myself the missions in Wilson county and the Indian Territory." The first Catholic church was erected in Cher- ry vale by Father Paul in the year 1877 ^^^^ from this year to 1886 7' he Great Missioner labored in the Indian Territory among the Creeks and Osages, the Shoshones and the Arapohoes. In the spring of 1889, there was much trouble with the Crow tribe on their reservation in Montana, and Father Paul was asked to go among them and use his influence as a peacemaker, which he did with marked results. In 1891 Father Pon- ziglione was called to St. Ignatius College, Chi- cago, where up to the time of his death, he was employed in pastoral duties and various works of zeal and charity, especially aiding the poor and lowly of that city. Pie died a most edifying death on March 28, 1900. Surrounded by his companions of the Society of Jesus, he kissed the cruciifix as death drew nigh, and said aloud until the breath of life has vanished, the acts of faith, hope and charity. Thus ended the earthly career of that sainted missioner, the Apostle of South Eastern Kansas, uFE AND le:tters of fathe:r PAUL. 69 the son of noble parentage, who, when life was young, and offered him all its allurements in the way of worldly place and honor, luxury and the fleeting pleasures of an even more fleeting life, calmly cast aside all for the robe of a missioner of Christ. How fitting that this great man who relinquish- ed all worldly honors and preferment, might be permitted to carry the cross of the Savior into the wilderness, to administer to the poor and lowly ones of this earth, and to unfold the beau- tiful stoiy of the gentle Nazarene to countless numbers of savugc:s who, thru his ministrations came under the beneficent influences of the cross of Christ. During his life Father Paul had some narrow escapes at the hands of the Indians and outlaws who frequently raided and ruined the homes of the early settlers. Scouring the wilderness with his saddle-bags or span of dun-colored ponies and white canvassed topped wagon every hard- ship was known to him. Father Paul crowned his life's work by build- ing the stately and imposing structure at St. Paul, Kansas. It is true that Father Paul did not shed his blood like some other Apostles, neither did St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, yet who can measure the far-reaching results of the work of the Irish Apostle? Father Paul planted the Cross deep down in Kansas soil, and his name will forever go down in the history of this State, as the Spiritual conqueror of the Indian Tribes. There is no sculptor or artist, be he who may, that can be compared to the man who knows how to form the minds and hearts of the human fam- ily. It is a work far surpassing the finest crea- tions in human art, to reproduce in souls the liv- 70 I.IFK AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. ing image of Jesus Christ. In this work Father Paul Ponziglione proved himself a master and won the admiration Of humanity; therefore, dear reader, forget him not. CHAPTER III. A NONCATHOLIC^S COMMENT. John R. Brunt published the following in the Neosho County Journal, February 14, 1889: From the day Father Paul entered the little log mission, on the banks of the Neosho, to the present, his zeal has only ^een equalled by his work. Father Schoenmakers found in him truly an able and willing coadjutor; united, and hand in hand they worked and prayed. In those early days the war-path was the Indian's joy; bedeck- ed with beads, daubed with paint and mounted upon their ponies, they rode forth in quest of scalps and plunder; then these men of peace would appear among them, often at the risk of their lives, and by their kind words prevail upon them, to give up their bloody purpose. Thus many frontiersmen and their families were saved from the tomahawk and scalping knife, and their homes from the flames. It was due greatly to their efforts that the Osages were restrained from taking up arms against the government during our long and bloody civil war, but re- mained comparatively peacable while the war raged aiound them. During those dark and ter- rible days of the war these men remained at their post, relieving distressed, bleeding and the hungry and caring for the sick. The Mission, situated as it was, between the contending forces was constantly visited by soldiers of each army, but whether he wore the blue, the gray, the blanket of the Indian, he was fed; none were (71) y2 LIFE AND LETTERS OE FATHER PAUL. turned hungry away by these friends of humani- ty, but all were treated as sons of one father, and therefore brethren. Their good works are rec- ognized by all. Towns and villages were de- stroyed both north and south during those dread- ful days of internicene strife, but the Mission was not harmed by either side. On the 29th of September, 1865, the Great and Little Osages, by treaty, ceeded to the United States a part of their land, a tract fifty miles square including Neosho and Labette counties, and in the consideration of the kindness and great benefits they had received from the Jesuit Fathers, they insisted that two sections of land covering the ^Mission and improvements should be patented by the government to the Fathers for the church and schools, thus giving them beautiful and valuable real estate propeity, and placing the institution on a firm basis. Since that time improvement has been rapidly going on, and each succeeding year sees some new addition made. At the present time St. Francis' church is one of the largest and most beautiful village churches in the United States, and is equalled by very few city churches in the west. The colleges of St. Francis and St. Ann are the equal of any in the state and are always crowded, and each year many students are refused for lack of room. These have been and still are. Father Paul's especial pride and are the monuments of his life; but his work was not confined alone to them nor to this field. He establishejd missions among the Indians all over Kansas, more especi- ally the south part, and also in the Indian Terri- tory and away in the wilds of Wyoming. In all, Father Paul established sixty-one missions, and he took a prominent part in eighty-two others that were established by the Fathers of this place. life: AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. 73 During all this time he has not forgotten the members of his parish at this place. We have known him to go all the way to Pawhuska, Ind. Ter., to attend at the side of the death bed of one who has requested his attendance, and this in winter thru cold and storm. Where duty called he went. Father Paul is loved and revered by all the church here, more especially by the older members who have known him for many years. We heard a lady who had attended St. Francis' church for nearly thirty years say; " I hope I die before Father Paul; I want him when I die; he is always the same." He needs no words of praise. His history is written in his deeds. CHAPTER IV. AN APPRECIATION. BY MISS lizzie: BKRRY. Father Paul (did not have a tall and command- ing form, but was rather short in stature. He had a noble Roman style of countenance, a keen black eye, which in youth harmonized with a crown of jet black hair, but which turned silvery white long before time marked his brow with many furrows. There was something in his cheerful and genial, yet at the same time reserv- ed manner, which at once indicated his noble birth and gentle breeding. His striking aquiline features were full of wonderful expression as he talked, in fact his whole being was then call- ed into action, for his gestures were as expres- sive as his words ; this in connection with his varied and almost inexhaustible furid of knowl- edge made Father Paul's "stories" so fascinating to the young. He had a peculiar love for chil- dren especially "his little boys" as he called them, but his fondness for them never encouraged any familiarity which might lead to disrespect to- wards him. He invariably carried in his pockets a supply of little holy pictures, medals, Agnus Deis, etc., to distribute among the children whom he would meet on his rounds of visits. His smiling face and fatherly pat on each little head with a "God bless you," coming like a fervent prayer from the heart, won their love. Father Paul was not fastidious in dress. He wore (74) LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. 75 coarse clothes, heavy boots, a low black felt hat, in winter flannel shirts and something like what is now called a sweater under his coat and knit- ted wristlets, the last a yearly gift from good Mother Bridget. This attire is not to be wonder- ed at when we consider the mode of travel in early days. For many years he traveled on horseback, often sleeping on the bare ground with nothing but his saddle-blanket for a pillow and no other companion but his horse fastened somewhere nearby. In later years he drove a team of ponies to a little covered wagon. He generally carried a few provisions with him, as he would sometimes travel whole days without getting anything to eat. He told this story after returning from one of his journeys. It was a hot day and he had traveled many hours without taking any refreshment. He became very thirsty and rejoiced when he came in sight of an Indian tepee and was met by a friendly squaw. He kindly asked for a drink of water. She was glad to show him this hospitality and took a cup, or whatever kind of a drinking vessel she had, and carefully wiped it out with her long black hair before filling it with water. He could not over- come the nausea caused by this sight, so he merely put the cooling liquid to his burning lips and by a quick movement drew her attention away from him. She remained ignorant of the strategy, for an Indian would never forgive an abuse of kindness. She was happy under the impression of having allayed his thirst. The In- dians are naturally dirty and lousy, therefore it should not produce a shock to a sensitive nature nor provoke a feeling of disgust to know that Father Paul could not at all times come in con- tact with so much filth and not become infected ; rather it should send a thrill of admiration for 76 LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. the heroic sacrifice of his Hfe which might have been spent in the luxurious rooms of an Itahan palace or roaming thru its sweet-scented gar- dens, instead of going from wigwam to wigwam among the savages of the forest. There were a few Catholic families in a small town sixty-five miles from Osage Mission, now St. Paul, and Father Paul visited them at stated intervals, al- ways staying at the home of one particular fam- ily while ministering to the spiritual wants of this little flock. On one occasion he went there and as usual the hostess arranged the spare bed-room with everything for his comfort, and as it was late in autumn when the nights were cool, she took out a fine pair of white wool blankets and placed them on his bed. Before re- tiring to rest that night Father Paul spent some time chatting and inquiring about all his friends and what had transpired since his last visit, he appeared a little restless after his tiresome jour- ney. The following morning the small congre- gation assembled at this same house, and as was his custom, he celebrated Mass and administered the sacraments Xo them. He did not tarry long after his priestly ministrations were accomplish- ed, but journeyed back to the Jesuit home in Osage Mission. After the guest departs the tidy housewife usually proceeds to clean and air the room he occupies during his sojourn. According- ly this one in question went about the work and soon found she had a hard task before her, for her beautiful soft blankets were infested with ver- min. Father Paul had spent the previous night at an Indian wigwam and was not yet fully aware of the presence of the vermin on his clothing. Father Paul endured all inconveniences and hardships silently and patiently, because his hap- piness sprung from within himself and was in- ^:'^tpx^f;^^^ .«£. ^,^^^g ^M'^ ■. >A'^^ '^- _ z < > c 5 - -7 ;^ z - LIFE AND LlSTTERS OF FATHER PAUL. TJ dependent of external circumstances, for he had that inexhaustible good nature whjich is the most precious gift of Heaven; spreading itself like oil over the troubled sea of thought and keeping the mind smooth and equable in the roughest weather. Th^ Indians loved Father Paul and manifest- ed their friendship for him in many ways. Yes, he even owed his life more than once to their loyalty. In a letter v/ritten while out on a mis- sion among the Indians in St. Stephen^s Mission, where he labored nearly a year, he narrated this incident: He was riding in a lonely and deso- late part of the country where there was not a sign of human life visible. He had missed the trail, losing the direction in some way, so he attempted to cross a stream but when about mid- way, he encountered a rapid current and deep water so that he lost control of his pony and found that he could not save himself from drown- ing. With a fervent prayer from his heart he resigned himself to the Will of God. Suddenly, as if an angel came from Heaven a friendly In- dian appeared upon the bank and leaped to his rescue. Few men ever embodied more greatness. He had every accomplishment and every quality man- kind reveres and strives for. He was a great writer, a great scholar, but above all he was a great, true priest, winning the immortal crown of victory after a long life of more than four score vears. CHAPTER V. MR. BREWSTER'S ADDRESS. On December 6, 1904, Samuel W. Brewster, of Chanute, Kansas, delivered an address before the Kamas Historical Society at Topeka, Kansas, on the life work of Father Paul. Below is quot- ed all that part of his address which is not too great a repetition of what has already been said in this book. Mr. Brewster dees not hold the religious belief of Father Paul, hence what he said may be taken as an appreciation of the real personal character and work of the great mis- sionary. Mr. Brewster spoke as follows : Love always expresses itself in service. He who lives forever in the minds and hearts of his countrymen has loved humanity. Thru humble, daily service, in kindly deeds to the unfortunate of earth, men become truly great. History is not an impartial critic. By reason of material prosperity, one may be considered great in his day and generation, but such great- ness "is oft interred with his bones." Croesus is remembered but for one thing — wealth. In his- tory, he is a cold proposition. The name Nero produces a creeping, cringing sensation which time never can obliterate. But to be lovingly reverenced by all generations, one must be a Buddha, a vSocrates, a Savonarola, or a Ponzig- lione. It often happens that, after great institutions are founded and immortal characters are built, the suggestive thought back of it all is forgotten. (78) LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. 79 Oftener it is unknown to the world. In consider- ing Osage Mission and the Hfe-work of Father Paul M. PonzigHone, as missionary ^mong the Indians, one would hardly anticipate a suggestion coming directly or indirectly from the great statesman, John C. Calhoun. In the year 1823, when Calhoun was secretary of war under President Monroe, the Right Rev- erend Ivouis Dubourg, bishop of Upper and Low- er Louisiana, consulted the president and secre- tary of war in regard to devising means for the education of Indian children within his diocese. Mr. Calhoun suggested the advisability of asking the Jesuit priests of Maryland to furnish mem- bers of their order to assist in such work. At White Marsh, Prince George county, Maryland, there were a number of young priests who, in 182 1, has come with Rev. Charles Nerinckx from Europe for the purpose of devoting their lives to missionary work. Rev. Charles Van Quick- enborne, a Belgian priest from Ghent, was then master of novices at White Marsh. He had come to the United States in 181 7, hoping to become a Jesuit missionary among the Indians. Bishop Dubourg conveyed Mr. Calhoun's sug- gestion to Father Van Quickenborne, at White Marsh, who at once saw the great opportunity of realizing his life hope — to be a missionary among the Indians. On making known this newly suggested plan to the young priests who had come to the United States with Father Nerinckx, six of them, Bel^ gians. immediately volunteered to accompany Father Van Quickenborne on his distant mission- ary journey to the West. Bishop Dubourg generously offered to donate to these Maryland Jesuits a rich farm at Floris- sant, near the Missouri river, and to put them in 8o hlP^ AND LETTERS OE FATHER PAUL. possession of his own church and residence in St. Louis. In 1827 Father Van Quickenborne left his Jesuit home in Missouri and made his first visit to the land of the Osage Indians in southerjr Kansas. He made two other visits to the Osages — in 1829 and 1830. But the noble work of the Jesuits among the Osage Indians took on per- manent and lasting character in the spring of 1847, when they built a chuich and established schools at the place where Father Van Quick- enborne first acquainted these untutored savages with the virtues of the Christian religion. For nearly half a century this place was known as Osage Mission. Then, without regard for historic association, thru an unfortunate and mis- taken notion entertained by some of the leading citizens, the name was changed to St. Paul, April 12, 1895. T^he town is located in Neosho county, Kansas, about ten miles southeast of the geo- graphical center of the county near the beautiful Neosho river. There is a beautiful legend (which can hardly be called a legend, for want of age to make it such) that Father Van Quickenborne was the "Black Robe chief" of the mission where Long- fellow's Evangeline, "Just as the sun zvent down, . . . heard a murmur of voices, And in a meadow green and broad, by the bank of a river, Saw the tents of the Christians, the tents of the Jesuit Mission*' • «...•.••••••• *'Utuier a towering oak, that stood in the midst of the village, Knelt the Black Robe chief zmth his children, A crucifix fastened High on the trunk of the tree, and overshadoived by grape-vines, Looked zvith its agonized face on the multitude kneeling beneath it. This ivas their rural chapel. Aloft, thru the in- tricate arches Of its aerial roof, arose the chant of their ves- pers, Mingling its notes with the soft susiirrus and sighs of the branches." * ^^ >;= >:= * >;c ::: >ic * It would be impossible to give a fair sketch of Father Ponziglione and his work among the Osage Indians without mentioning two very im- portant personages connected with him in hi^ labors — Reverend Father John Schoenmakers and Mother Superior Bridget Hayden — the first, a young Jesuit priest from Holland, and the sec- ond, a nun of the order of the Sisters of Loretto, from Kentucky. While Father Schoenmakers was the actual) founder of Osage Mission, he had been preceded, as said heretofore, by Father Van Quickenborne, in 1827. who in turn was preceded by Rev. Charles de la Croix, in 1822. The particular incident recorded of Father de la Croix's visit to the O sages was the baptism of two Indian children, James and Francis Choteau — the first within this state. The first marriage ceremony of record within the state was that of Francis Daybeau, a half- breed, and Mary, an Osage woman, performed by Father Van Quickenborne in 1829— -both the baptism and marriage ceremonies occurring where Osage Mission was subsequently founded. 82 life: and letters of father PAUL. Father Schoenmakers died July 28, 1883, at the age of seventy-six. His death caused univer- sal sadness thruout both Catholic and Protestant communities, for he was loved and reverenced by all who knew him. He was buried in the Catholic cemetery at Osage Mission, where a simple marble slab marks his grave ; but his noble life stands as a lasting monument for genera- tions to come. Mother Bridget Hayden, the co-worker with Fathers Schoenmakers and Ponziglione, was born in 1815. October 5, 1847, she arrived at Osage Mission with a small band of Sisters of Loretto from Kentucky, and at once established a school for the education of Indian girls. This school grew very rapidly, and with the settlement of the country, its privileges were extended to the white girls. Soon an academy, or boarding- school, was started, the first boarding-school for girls in Kansas. The popularity of this academy extended beyond the borders of the state, so that, in a few years, several states and territories were represented on the roster of the school. This in- stitution was maintained until September, 1895, when the buildings were destroyed by fire, and never have been rebuilt. The Sisters of Loretto having left the mission after the fire, other sis- ters started a day-school ; but only the pictur- esque ruins remain on the site of this once popu- lar and famous academy. Mother Bridget continued in charge of the girls' school for about forty years, and until the day of her death. She was a most lovable char- acter. Eminently practical, her generosity knew no bounds. Her hand was always outstretched to the weak and needy. Many a poor girl, with no way or means of acquiring an education, was LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. 83 lovingly helped by Mother Bridget thru St. Ann's Academy. In 1870 Noble L. Prentis visited Osage Mis- sion. Upon the death of Mother Bridget, soma years later, Mr. Prentis, recalling this visit, paid a tender tribute to this saintly woman in an edi- torial article, from which the following extract is taken : "It was at this visit that the writer met, for the first and last time, Bridget Hayden, known to the world as Mother Bridget. Born in 181 5, her hair was white in 1870. She had passed thru, in her earlier years in the wilderness, quite enough to change its color. She was a woman of com- manding look, and spoke in a firm, resolute but quiet way, as one should, accustomed to impress herself on human creatures brought to her as wild as any bird or beast in all their native prai- ries ; this she had done and more — she had gained their affections. The conversation which she held at once took a religious turn, and the listener would be very ungrateful if he did not remem- ber that Mother Bridget, as well she might from the privilege of her years, spoke to him like a mother indeed, not of churches and creeds, but of the necessity of personal righteousness." It is easy to do good v/hen no sacrifices are re- quired. Too often the best preacher is * called" to the best-paying place. But the greatest mani- festation and supreme test of religious worth and nobility of character is when the preacher or priest renounces once and forever all the allur- ing fascinations of position, wealth and honor to cast his lot with the less fortunate of earth's children, and devote his energies and abilities to the uplifting of humanity. There seems to have been with Father Paul an inborn, manifest destiny for the priesthood. 84 ufe: and i,e:tte;rs of father paul. A religious instinct con ti oiled him from the earliest years of his life. As a small boy, play- ing with his little sister in his father's palace gardens, he was accustomed to don the vestments cf the priest. This seems to have aroused the childish jealousy of his sister, and to all his grave arguments that only boys and men could be priests, she turned a deaf ear. In this connection Father Paul once related a pathetic incident to a friend in Osage Mission. When a boy, in representing himself as a priest, Paul would assume the serious, severe attitude, ir. contrast to the little girl's laughing joyous dis- position. And in after-years, when the sister had entered a convent adjoining the monastery where her brother was preparing for his priestly call- ing, the echo of her girlish laughter, vibrating thru the sacred stillness of his surroundings, often fell harshly upon the ears of the young novice engaged in his devotions. As yet, with the overzealousness of youth, he could not under- stand how a heart devoted to God could harbor any but solemn, religious thoughts. So, upon one occasion, he reprimanded his sister, in the presence of the mother superior, for her light- heartedness; but in turn, he was reprimanded by the mother superior, who, by reason of many years of experience, comprehended religious life from a different standpoint. But there came a change, a brief sickness, and the lovely spirit of the young sister passed out from the gray con- vent walls into the pure delights of the city beautiful. Now. after more than half a century, the aged priest, broadened by years of loving, consecrated service 'to humankind, longed to hear again the echoed music of that girlish laugh- ter. 5|; ^t: 5f: :1: jf: ^ * H? * LIfE AND I,E;TTERS O]? ^AtHER PAUL. 85 While still in Italy, he had determined to spend his life as a missionary among the American In- dians, and in pursuance of this resolve he had of- fered himself as such to the Rev. Anthony Elet, S. J., superior of the western Jesuits in the United States. Soon thereafter Father Elet sent him word that the general of the Jesuit society had assigned him to their mission in Missouri. Upon leaving St. Xavier's College Father PauL proceeded directly to St. Louis and reported to Father Elet, who immediately assigned him to missionary work in Missouri and Kentucky. He spent two years in this field and then returned to St. Louis. Now begins the realization of his early hopes — the commencement of his real life-work among the Indians. In March, 185 1, accompanied by the Right Reverend Miege, S. J., bishop of Leav- enworth, Father Paul left St. Louis for his far western mission . While his home was to be at Osage Mission, and his particular charges the Osages, his missionary labors extended from Fremont Peak, Wyo., to Fort Sill, I. T. Father Paul M. Ponziglione was now a young man thirtv-three years of age, a little above me- dium height, of slender build, and possessing an attractive i)ersonality. Much has been said of the personal beauty of the man. His features Avere aristocratic, of the distinctly higher Italian type. His large, well-shaped head was crowned with a luxuriant growth of close, jetty curls; the forehead, high and broad, betokened great intel- lectuality; the eyes, tho dark and penetrating, were mild in expression, and tempered with a bare suggestion of sadness; his nose was some- what of the Grecian type, and the thin, firmly closed lips slightly drooped at the comers. The 86 LTFK AND LKTTKRS OF FATHER PAUL. chin, tlio prominent, was in symmeti;y with the rest of his face. Every one who knew the good Father, speaks of the raclient kindUness of his greeting smile, which was but the "ontward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace." Upon his coun- tenance at all times dv/elt that ''beauty of holi- ness." far surpassing any earthly beauty. :*: :•: :•; ' ;;: ^I H: ^ >i= ' * * During tlie first twenty-five years of Father Paul's life among the Osages they remained in southeastern Kansas. This was one of the bright- est periods in. their history. And these were golden days for Father Pon- ziglione. He was working out among those wild people, in what was then called the ''Great Ameri- can Desert," the ambition of his youth. From the time he was first met, many miles from the Mission, by Indian couriers, sent to conduct him to his new home, to the day of his death, he was their loving father and counselor. He was the court of last resort for their individual and public grievances. He was their honored guest upon all occasions of feasting and merrymaking. He bap- tised tlieir chilch-en. and was "a light unto their feet" in nil the wavs of education and righteous- ness. He united their youni^ men and women in marr-'a^e. He ministered alike to their physical and spiritual needs. He watched by their death- beds and administered the last sacrament. There was no road too rougli, no distance too great, no weather too hot or too cold, no vigil too long or lonely, when 'suffering: humanity called Father Paul. Well might he have said : *'Thc deaths \c have died J have ivatched beside, And the lives ye have lived were mine!* The particular scope of Father Ponziglionc's mission work in -Kansas extended from Cherokee UFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. 8/ county north to Miami county, thence to Fort Larned, Pawnee county, and so on thru the counties along the southern state hne back to the home mission. He was first to spread the Gospel in thirty of the counties of the state in- cluded in the circuit just mentioned. He also penetrated the wild regions of the Indian Terri- tory, and established missionary stations at the Indian agencies and military posts as far south as Fort Sill, near the Texas line. So this noble father and his self-sacrificing co-workers, start- ing from the mother church at Osage Miission, within forty years established i8o Catholic mis- sions, eighty-seven of which were m southern Kansas and twenty-one in the Indian rerritory. The great reverence in which Father Paul was held by all Indians from his first acquaintance with them, and the extent of his reputation as their friend, is shown by the following mcident: In the early fifties he was overtaken by a band of wild Indians near where Fort Scott now stands Not knowing him, the savages held a short council, and then prepared to burn him at the stake. When he had been firmly bound and all things were ready to carry out their purpose, an Indian woman came and gazed intently upon his face for a minute. A flash of recognition passed over her countenance, and she threw up her hands in dismay. Then turning to his cap- tors she spoke a few quick words, and they as quicklv released him from his bonds. Then they had nothing too great to offer him, and, m their uncouth way, made every demonstration ot frendliness. ^ * * ♦ * ******** In 1870 the Osages withdrew forever from Kansas into the Indian Territory, but Father Paul never once relaxed his watchfulness over 88 LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. his red children. It was his unvarying custom to meet personally every member of the tribe once a year. His dun-colored ponies and white- canvass-topped spring wagon were a familiar sight to thousands of people. ^ '•' t- ^ ^^ i'ii ;;< ^; 3|: That beautiful edifice in Osage Mission, wide- ly known as St. Francis' church, and the most im- posing structure of its kind in the state, with the exception of the Catholic cathedral at Leav- enworth, is one of the many evidences of Father Paul's indefatigable energy and untiring devotion to the Catholic faith. Without accident, the sacred building will stand for centuries. The masonery of the ^building is unsurpassed by any in workmanship and solidity. The walls, which are of sand-stone, two and one-half feet thick, rise thirty-two feet at the lowest point, ^and sixty- seven feet at the highest point, from the level of the floor. The belfry tower, twenty-four by twenty-four feet, is of stone, and it is seventy feet to the top of the masonry on which the bell) rests. AH this is capped by thirty-two feet of wooden structure, making the complete height of the tower 102 feet. One hundred and twenty car-loads of sand and plaster material were used in the construction of the building. The founda- tion cost $7,000; $23,440 were paid to mechanics for wages; the doors and windows were $5,800; then came the great altar, the side altars, the heat- ing apparatus, the immense pipe-organ, and oth- er furnishings, making the entire cost of the building, as it now stands, $90,000. Owing to the great liberality manifested by Catholics ever3^where, even the full-blooded Osages, then residing in the Indian Territory, contributing, this magnificent church was abso- lutely free from debt when, on the i rth day of LIFE AND LETTERS OE EATHER PAUL. 8() May, 1884, it was solemnly dedicated to St. Francis de Hieronymo, by the Right Reverend John Hogan, D. D., bishop of Kansas City, Mo. On February 2^, 1889, Father Ponziglione celebrated his golden jubilee at Osage Mission, the occasion being the fiftieth anniversary of his admission to the Jesuit society. Many hundreds of people were present. Men of nat'onal repu- tation and high church connections came great distances to pay tribute to one of the most gen- erally beloved characters in the American Catho- lic church. if. if. % >K ♦ :»;*** In the spring of 1889, there was much trouble with the Crow tribe on their reservation in Mon- tana. It was thought that Father Paul might be able to do more with them than any one else. So he was asked to go there and use his influence as a peacemaker, which he did with marked re- sults. But his leaving the home Mission cast a deep sadness over southern Kansas and the In- dian Territory; for, owing to his advanced age, every one felt the improbability of his ever re- turning tc Kansas. Father Ponziglione left Montana to become historian of St. Ignatius' College, in Chicago, in 1891. It is remarkable that thruout his life as an Indian missionary he always maintained his high degree of scholarship, and to the day of his death was considered one of the finest Latin scholars in the Jesuit society. He was an able writer of both prose and poetry in Latm composition. . , In connection with his work at St. Ignatius s College, he was assistant pastor at the Jesuit church. He heard confessions, visited the sick, and it is said that in the singing of High Mass his rich tenor voice rang out clear and strong as go LlFje AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. m the days of his youth, tho now an octogena- rian. But his great sympathetic soul always turned to the weak and helpless. Added to his other work in Chicago, he became chaplain of St. Jo- seph's Home for Deaf JNRites, and organized two sodalities among them, one for the young men and the other for young women. He prepared sermons, psalms and prayers for them in the sign language. Outside of his own parish, he also did active work in the Visitation and Aid Societies, and for nearly ten years he preached the Gospel to the inmates of the Bridewell, in Chicago. On the 25,th of March, a. d. 1898, Father Paul celebrated, in the city of Chicago, the fiftieth anniversary of his priesthood. It was a notable occasion for a notable man. A Jesuit priest's religious and educational training is so long and thoro that but few ever live to have a golden jubilee. The wonderful character of Father Pon- ziglione as count, priest, Indian missionary, his- torian and writer made the event extremely in- teresting, and it became one of national church importance. Just two 3'ears later — two more full years of unceasing service for Christ and humanity — and the venerable father passed peacefully on to the higher realizations of spiritual truth. After a short sickness with bronchial pneumonia, Father Ponziglione died, at St. Ignatius's College, in Chicago, on Wednesday night, March 28, 1900, a little past his eighty-second ^ear. No great and good man belongs exclusively to any particular religious, social or political or- ganization. Influences for good must extend to all humanity, and the noble character of Father Paul stands like "the shadow of a great rock in LIFE AND I,KTTERS OF FATHER PAUL. pi a weary land," offering peace and comfort to the heavy-laden and distressed. Whilst always he was a most ardent Roman Catholic, his soul was too great to be circumscribed, and he was the father, friend and priest to every one who knew him. This was Christlike — this was Pon- ziglione. In considering the character of a state or na- tion, we are apt to look at the purely social and political, and to lose sight of the moral and religious factors. Who can estimate a strong man's influence for good? Who can measure the worth of Father Ponziglione in the formative period of this state? In one of his last letters to a friend he wrote : "If, during a period of forty-nine years, the Osages, as a nation, did not teike up arms against the United States government; if they did not make a wholesale slaughter of trains and cara- vans while crossing the plains; if they did not ransack the country along the border of both Missouri and Kansas » if, in a word, they did not turn hostile to the white people, this is due, in a great part, to the influence of the Catholic church, exerted over them thru her missionaries." While true in general of the church, it should be more particularly applied to Father Ponzigli- one himself; for his wonderful personality and Christlike character predominated at all times, in all places, and over all peopk, for the univer- sal and perpetual betterment of social and po- litical conditions. His character so thoroly impressed upon the thousands of students educated at St. Francis' College and St. Ann's Academy, in Osage Mis- sion, stands also as an imperishable monument to his greatness. So endeth this life's work of Father Paul M. 92 LII^K AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. Ponziglione, the last representative of the noble houses of Guerra and Ponziglione, who left friends, wealth and nobility in Italy to become an humble Jesuit priest and missionary among the western American Indians, and whose life was so pure, whose human sympathy was so great, that to know him was to feel the impulse of his riohteousness. The influence of his unpretentious life, coming thru quiet channels, are so pure and simple, so great and lasting, as to make the name of Pon- ziglione worthy to be inscribed forever upon the pages of Kansas history, "What is excellent, as God lives is permanent." CHAPTER VI. ORIGIN OF THE OSAGE CATHOLIC MISSION. Published in The Osage Mission Journal, July Osage Mission, Neosho Co., Kansas, June loth, 1869. PubHsher of the Osage Mission Journal: In reply to your kind favor of the 7th inst., i have to sav that the occupations imposed upon me by my ministry do not allow me time to become your correspondent. However, I am wiUmg for this time to comply with your request, and shalt forward you what few facts I know concerning both the origin of this Catholic Mission, and the establishment of the Osages in this county. So likewise I shall give you my opinion about their moral improvement, especially so far as it has reference to this Osage Catholic Mission, of which I am a member since 1851. If you think the publication of these might be interesting to your readers, use such as you deem proper. Yours respectfully, Paul M. Ponzigltone, S. J. * * It is a difficult thing to state when the Osages for the first time pitched their camps on the beau- tiful banks of the Neosho. However, we can record some few facts which might one day prove interesting in forming a history of the early set- tlement of this part of the Neosho Valley, now known as Neosho county. (93) 94 life: and IvETTE^RS OI^ FATHE^R PAUL. A MISSIONARY DESIRED. In 1820, the Osages being in the vicinity of St. Louis, sent a delegation of their leading men headed by one of the chiefs of the nation, to Rt. Rev. Dubourg, Roman Catholic Bishop of New Orleans, then visiting the State of Miss- ouri, which formed at that time the northern part of his Diocese. The object of this delegation was to obtain some Catholic Missionary to visit their towns and teach them the ways of God. The Bishop was very much pleased with this delegation and promised that as soon as prac- ticable he would send them a missionary. Rev. Charles La Croix was, after a few days, appoint- ed to that mission. He visited the Osages re- peatedly, baptised a good many of their children, and was going to build a chapel among them, when, exhausted by his labors, he was taken away by death. MANUAL LABOR SCHOOL ESTABLISHED. Rev. Charles La Croix was succeeded in his mission to the Osages by Rev. Father Chas. Van Quickenborne who not only visited the Osages in their towns, but used all his energy in provid- ing for the education of their youth. For this reason, in June, 1824, he established the first Manual Labor School that ever existed among them. He collected the boys in the residence of St. Stanislaus, not far from the town of Floris- sant, in St. Louis county, and placed the girls in the convent of the Sacred Heart, in the town of St. Charles, St. Charles county. The two places not being very far the one from the other, he could without much trouble, provide for the wel- fare and instruction of both. The work of edu- UFiC AND LKTTKRS OF FATHER PAUL. 95 cation was now proceeding prosperously, and promising a good deal, when the Osages, having made a new treaty with the United States Gov- ernment, obliged themselves to vacate the State of Missouri, and withdrew into Kansas, then generally known under the name of Western Indian Territory. This new arrangement frustrated the plan of Father Charles Van Quickenborne ; and the school so prosperously commenced came to a premature end. A PRESBYTERIAN MISSION. The Osages having removed to this new terri- tory, a school was provided for them by a Board of Presbyterians. This school was located near the Western line of the State of Missouri, on the left bank of the Marais des Cygnes, some three miles north of Papinsville, in Bates county, Miss- ouri. Tho Father Charles \'anQuickenborne had now no school among the Osages, he yet continued to take care of them. He visited them regularly at their new^ Mission, which was called Harmony Mission, and baptised several of their children in the Mission House, where the Presbyterian ministry most kindly and liberally allowed him a room to use as a chapel. OSAGES SETTEE IN NEOSHO COUNTY. In 1827, Father Van Quickenborne from Har- mony Mission, came to visit the Osages on Neo- sho river, in this very county, where they had just begun fto form permanent settlements. These, however, were not confined to this county, but were in two great divisions — one we might call 96 LTFl^ AND IvKTTERvS OF FATHER PAUL. of the Neosho, the other of the Verdigris, each containing from six to nine Indian towns, each having its respective Chief. But as the head Chief of the whole Osage Nation resided on the Neosho and had his house built on what is now called Auguste creek, and his people were form- ing their towns sometimes on the west, and at others on the east side of the Neosho on the very identical spot where nor rises our beauti- ful town, so this place was considered from the earlier days of its existence as the place of busi- ness. The Indian towns of the first division extend- ed from the confluence of the Labette with the Neosho to that of Owl Creek into the same riv- er. Those of the second division extended from the junction of Pumpkin Creek to that of Che- topa Creek, both with the Verdigris river. The half-breed settlement was mostly located between what is now called Canville Creek and Flat Rock Creek. The mechanics allowed to the Osages under their late treaty with the United States, were located on Flat Rock ; and the prin- cipal establishment of the American Fur Com- pany was on Canville Creek. But as the Agency was located for a considerable time not far from the mouth of Flat Rock, so our present town site was considered the most important settle- ment on the Neosho. ANOTHER PRESBYTERIAN MISSION. About this time the Presbyterian Board of Missions established another school at Salins in the Cherokee Nation, for the education of those Osages who were living on Verdigris. But this school, as well as the other at Harmony Mission, after a few years' existence could not be con- Lll'E AND LETTlvRS OF FATHIiR PAUL. 97 tinued and were bo,th given up. After the break- ing up of those schools the same Missionaries tried to get up another one in this county. For this {purpose they erected a large house on the left or east bank of Four Mile Creek, about one- fourth miie from its junction with the Neosho. They lived and preaciu^a in this building but some difficulty prevented the successful opening of a school at that place, and the Missionaries seeing that they were losing time and could do nothing with the Osages, gave this place up like- wise and abandoned the whole Osage Nation — £ind so they were without any school. CATHOLIC MISSKjX t STABLISHfiD. Father Charles \ an Ouickenborne having died in 1828, the spiritual care of the Osages was transferred to the Fathers of St Mary's Mission among the i:*ot tawatomie Indians, then located on the Big Sugar Creek ir> Linn county where now rises the town of Paris. These Fathers visited the Osages as regular as they could from 1829 to 1847; when the Osages having requestei Rt. Rev. Peter R. Kendrick, Bishop of St. Louis, for a Catholic school. Rev. Father John Schoen- makers was appointed as' superior of this Mission, and reached this place on the 29th day of April, 1847- MANUAL LABOR SCHOOL. Father Schoenmakers took possession of the two buildings, yet unfinished, w^hich had just been put up for the use of this new Mission by order of the Indian Department. Meanwhile, while Father S. was having these buildings com- pleted, his companion, Father John Bax, went 98 LlFf) AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. about visiting among the Osages, speaking to them with great zeal on the importance of be- coming civilized and embracing Christianity. They were pleased with him and having offered him several of their children that he might give them a Christian education, he promised he would return after them soon. On the loth day of May, the houses being finished, he collected a small number of Osage children and brought them in — and so began on that day the Osage Manual Labor School, on the very spot on which it now stands. Of the two buildings, one was used for the Indian boys, the other was kept for a female department. CONVENT ESTABLISHED. On the 5th day of October, 1847, several Sis- ters of Loretto having come from the State of Kentucky to devote themselves to the education of Indian girls, the present Convent was opened and has been flourishing to this day. ENLARGEMENT AND CHURCH BUILT. In a short time these two houses became too small to accommodate the pupils who were brought in, and it became necessary to enlarge the buildings, and next to multiply them. So Father Schoenmakers went to work and first building a nice church, he by degrees added other houses which gave this institution the ap- pearance of quite a town. The church was dedicated to God in honor of St. Francis of Jerome, and was soon looked upon as the terminus of a Holy Pilgrimage which most of the Catholics living in a circuit of 50 to 80 LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAT'L. 99 miles, would once a year perform to comply with their Christian duties. The Fathers, who with Father John Schoen- makers, attended this Mission, visited the ad- jacent tribes of such as the New York Indians, Miamis, Peorias, Sacs and Foxes, Ouapaws, and others residing south of the old Santa Fe road, and established among them as well as among the white Catholic settlers scattered here and there, over a wide extent of country some 200 miles in diameter, several Missionary sta- tions which they visited from time to time. But this Osage Mission was always considered as the Mother House, from which all other Stations were supplied. The church in which I have this day officiated is the same one first built, and which with its additions forms now a building 30x93 feet in size, and yet is by no means suf- ficient to seat the number who attend Divine service therein. INDIAN AGENCY REMOVED. A few years after Father John Schoenmakers had established this Mission, the Osage Agency was moved from here to the Quapaw Nation, some four miles from the south-east corner of this state, on a small brook called Lost Creeks This, however, did not seem to detract from the value of our property or place, as the United States Agents would come every year to visit us. Sometimes to call the Osages in Council, then to examine our Indian children, and would general- ly make rich presents of flour, beef, etc., to the Indians, — more particularly when payments of their annuities were being made. lOO LIF^ AND LETTERS OE FATHER PAUL. ANNUITY PAYMENTS AND FEASTING. Every year the time of paying annuities was a time of great merriment with our Indians. The Nation would on such an occasion come here and build their camps around us; and nearly every season some other tribe would come to pay a visit to the Osages. Sometimes you would see the Sacs and Foxes, sometimes the Kaws or Otoes, at another the Kiowas and Commanches. The object of these visits was ,to renew their old friendship, which they did by smoking the Calu- met, playing war dances, aii^ running horse races, to the great amusement of their white visitors, who used to be present in large num- bers. The time of payment was likewise a time of rendezvous for traders and travelers of every description, all would come to the Mission which really was an Oasis in the desert, for no settle- ment then existed nearer than Fort Scott, 40 miles away; and all who came stopped with us, either to rest their teams, to repair their wagons, or to supply themselves with provisions. So it is that this Osage Mission can in truth be called the cradle of civilization in the Neosho Valley. • THE AMERICAN FUR COMPANY. MX-;.; ' i ';• In former days the American Fur Company in bringing up their goods from Fort Smith on the Arkansas River to the Osages, began a main Southern Route of which this Mission was the terminus; for at that time the Osage Indian trade did not extend farther north, but having come here from the far west, went down the Neosho to Fort Gibson and Forth Smith in pirogues and flat boats which the hal-f-breeds con- LIF]^ AND I.E1T£:RS OF Fx\TH^R PAUL. lOI structed in the timber on the banks. By degrees the trade of the Fur Company having extended north of this place another main route was open- ed to the Missouri River, striking it at Kansas City and near Leavenworth. The pioneer settle- ments were nearly all estabUshed along these routes, after a while small towns sprang up, and now beautiful cities occupy the ground where one day poor but adventurous trappers cooked their scanty meal, and took their slumber always uneasy in fear of losing their scalps. BENEFIT AND RESULTS OF MISSION SCHOOL. Whether the labors and expenses undertaken by this Mission for the civilization of the Osages have really been in the past, and will in the fu- ture prove beneficial to them, we do not now enter to discuss. We know this much from the persual of an- cient history, that to bring aborigines from their state of barbarism to a degree of civilization, and next make of them good Christians, has never been the work of a few years only, but of cen- turies. However, we dare to say that the Mission established by the Catholic Church among the Osages in 1820 and continued to this day, has been of great benefit to humanity at large, for it has kept them from ravaging the neighboring settlements, gave them an idea, at least of hori- esty and righteousness, inspired in them respect for religion, and inculcated upon their youth the importance of Christianity. If during a period of now 49 years the Osages as a Nation did not take up arms against the United States Government, if they did not make a wholesale slaughter of trains and caravans while crossing the plains, if they did not ran- 102 II5K, AND LKTTKRS OF FATHER PAUL. sack the country along the borders of both Miss- ouri and Kansas; if in a word, they did not turn hostile to the white people, this is due in great part to the influence the Catholic Church exert- ed over them thru her Missionaries. OSAGE SCHOLARS. The school of this Osage ISdHssion has gen- erally been a success, even during the late war, which proved detrimental to so many institutions of this kind. The number of pupils in attendance has al- ways been large — the number of such one year being as high as 236. Great many are those who at sundry times have visited this school and ex- amined the pupils at their pleasure ; and all found to their satisfaction that the children of the Osages are capable of acquiring an education as well as any other children, and become as good scholars as w^hite children. To be convinced of the truth of this assertion, it is sufficient to open the Annual Report given by the United States Agents to the Indian Department concerning this Osage Mission Manual Labor School. And tho in candor, we are bound to acknowl- edge that a large number of pupils who have been reared at this Osage School after having left this school and returned to the Indian towns, have resumed the Indian customs, and in some instances become very bad, yet we cannot deny that a goodly number have succeeded very well, become industrious, and earn their bread hon- estly. OSACES AGAIN REMOVE. By the Tre^.ty of September 20th. 1865, the LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. IO3 Osages having ceded this part of their countr)'' to the United States Government, again remov- ed to the Verdigris river, leaving a good many of their children at the Osage Mission School, where they yet are. A TOWN STARTED. No sooner did the white people come in this part of the country than they seemed to like the location of this place better than any other, and began to talk of building a town. Father John Schoenmakers, seeing their desire donated for this purpose a quarter section of land to a Town Company. They laid out the town and went to work without delay, and have been very success- ful, for tho great has been the opposition made to Osage Mission yet it has flourished greatly, and in this day is one of the bes t towns of South- em Kansas. PIONEER OF 1851 RELATES EXPERIENCES. St. Ignatius College, Chicago, III. July 21, 1895. Neosho County Journal: In reply to your kind circular of the 6th inst., I must say that since the time I came to Osage Mission, now St. Paul, in 1851, your country has gone thru a wonderful change, and this for the better. In 1851 Kansas was a regular des- ert, not a single white man's house could be found between Ft. Scott and Denver, Colorado. Father John Schoenmakers' old Mission house, few half-breed's cabins, and here and there some di- lapidated Trading Posts, were the only marks of an incipient civilization. The Neosho River was looked upon as the "Ultima Thule," and those 104 ^1^^ ^""^^ IvETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. who would dare to go as far as the Verdigris would never engage in such a voyage without a good escort. To venture farther west, would have been considered a foolish temerity. The very name of the Osages was a terror all over the land, and no,t without a reason, for strag- gling warriors would frequently commit heavy depredations on caravans bound for the Pacific coast, and the generally poor settlers living on the borders of the state of Missouri, were always in dread of the Osages. Whether really the Osage Nation was responsible for such continued Indian raids, 1 cannot tell, all I can say about it is that more than once good Father Schoenmak- ers, having found out that parties were being organized to go to Missouri to rob and massacre the settlers, would send for the leaders and by sound reasoning would try to make them change their minds. As soon as the Father would per- ceive his vvords were producing some good im- pressions on their wild nature, he would sympa- thize with them, acknowledging that really they had been badly used by the white men, but he would say. this does not give you right to re- venge yourselves on helpless settlers. At last he would conclude by saying, now my friends, be good boys and let those settlers alone ; come on with me, and going to the field he would give them a calf or a cow to eat and feast on during the night and this always proved to be the best argument, for once they had their belly filled up and had slept a good night over it, they would give up their murderous plans and return ta their villages. By such acts of genuine Christian charity, the Father succeeded in saving the lives of many innocent people and this was altogeth- er the principal good that our Mission was do- ing in those prehistoric times. To what concern- LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. IO5 ed ourselves in particular, considering that vve were quite isolated among the Indians, having no army to defend ourselves and being 40 miles distant from the nearest white man's settlement, some might think that our condition, especially that of the Sisters of Loretto, who had charge of the Osage girls, must have been a terrible one, nay rather critical, but it was not so, for as the Indians got acquainted with our way of living, they became very familiar with us, but in regard to the convent, they always did show a great respect for it and in their dealing with the Sisters, they were remarkable for their re- serve, and if at any time there would happen to be any reason to fear that some incursion might be made against us by wild Indians from the plains, the Osages would watch the convent by day and by night, and the Sisters were never exposed to any danger. In fact, no accident of any kind ever interfered with them. The fol- lowing event, tho not of much importance, will show with what solicitude those wild Indians were watching for the safety of the Sisters. Some time in the summer of 1853 several In- dians of the Little Osage town, located where stands the city of Chanute, had come with their Chief, Strike-Ax, to pay us a visit, when just at noon, a horse-hunter of theirs comes in a great hurry, reporting that a band of Sac Indians had been seen on Coal Creek, but a few miles from town, driving away Osage ponies. At hearing this Strike-Ax uttered a tremendous war- whoop. At the sound of it all his men sprang on their horses and all the warriors of our In- dian town joined their friends and in a few minutes a large company was formed ready to start on the war path. Strike-Ax, fitly proud, seeing himself at the head of so many Braves, 106 hltX AxN'D LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. called Father Schoenmakers, told him not to be uneasy or fear the Sacs, "for," said he, "I have men enough to route them all out of the country." He next said,"please go and tell the Sisters and our daughters not to be troubled for we will make a short job of this expedition and before night we will settle the matter by taking about a dozen of our enemies' scalps." It was just about one o'clock when they all dashed away, as if their ponies had wings, so quick were they all out of sight on the large prairie now covered by the town of St. Paul. Hardly two hours had passed since their de- parture when we were called to witness a scene quite new to us. And lo to our surprise we no- ticed about fifty old squaws with half of their heads covered with mud, as they use when they are in mourning. They marched out of their wigwams in a long file, singing a wailing tune, each one carrying a switch in her hand. They passed before the convent and went to squatl about two hundred yards from our premises and turning themselves toward the side from which the Sacs might come they began ,to beat the ground with their switches, accompanying every stroke with invectives against their enemy, call- ing on the Great Spirit to protect the convent and be hard on the Sacs. Our children, who at the appearance of the squaws, had all come out of their rooms to look at them and were having a good time laughing and gesticulating. When we asked them why those women were beating the ground they replied they were fighting the Sacs. The poor creatures kept on with their ceremony for half an hour, till their switches ^\'ere broken to fragments and they themselves were so exhausted that they had to go home to rest. LIFE) AND Ll^TTERS OF FATxiiiR PAUL. I07 By this time Strike-Ax and his warriors had got in sight of the Sacs, who well knowing bow quick the Osages are in taking up a scalp, far from showing lighting, abandoned at once the Osage ponies they were driving and ran for their life, the Osages pursuing them till they saw them way off out of reach. Now that the expedition was over, Strike-Ax called on one of his sons, by the name of Alexander, who had been at our school for a while and could talk very good English, bade him hurry to our Mission and in- form Father Schoenmakers of the good result they had and how they had recovered all their ponies and put their enemies to flight. Next he itold him to be sure and go to the convent and tell the Sisters and the girls not to be uneasy or have any fear for there was not a Sac Indian left in the country. This is certainly an act of gallantry that we w^ould never have expected from the Osages had we had to judge them from their wild appearance. Of such events I could write a book if I had nothing else to do. In those days, which I can truly say were the goldea el-a of Osage Mission, we seldom saw any white men, except in caravans passing by, on their way west, and oh! how happy were these in finding our place, after having traveled for days and days thru the forlorn prairies of Kan- sas, always in dread of being attacked by Indians. Since Kansas has been opened for settlement, we moved with the people and with them went thru all the ups and downs to which the country was subjecjt, especially during the war. We saw Kansas in all its phases, such as Droughty Kan- sas, Grasshopper and Chinch-Bug Kansas, we saw Bleeding Kansas and happily passed thru the days of Gen. Jim Lane. John Brown, Price and Marmaduke, and after all our experience, I08 LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. I think I can pronounce my verdict namely, that, Kansas after all, is as good a country to live in, as any other in the U. S. of America. Respectfully, Paul M. Ponziglione, S. J. KANSAS CHURCH HISTORY. Osage Mission, Kas. June 8, 1876. C. H. Howard, Sir: As I know you wish to be correct in all )^our statements, especially in regard to dates, so I take the liberty to make some rem.arks about an article in your issue of June 7th, 1876, under the head of "Kansas Church History." If such article is intended to speak of the Kansas Protestant Church History exclusively, then I have nothing to say 011 the subject, but if it concerns Kansas Church His- tory in general, then I beg leave to be allowed to state, that from the records of our church kept at this institution, it appears that Rev. Father Charles Van Quickenborne, S. J., in his capacity of a Roman Catholic Missionary, as early as 1827 visited the Osages, then having a large settlement on what we now call "Four Mile Creek," about one mile from its confluence with the Neosho River. Father Charles V^an Quickenborne was the ftrst who suggested to the U. S. Government the idea of educating the Osage youth. The Government having approved his plan, he himself, opened the first school for the Osages in our house at Florissant, St. Louis county, Missouri, in 1824. Not long after that time the Osages left the State of Missouri and came to locate on the Neosho River, in Kansas, tho now they were a great distance from St. Louis, still Father Charles LIFK AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. lOQ Van Quickenborne kept coming to visit them to give them an opportunity of complying with their religious duties. According to our records, in August, 1827, he baptised 17 Osages in the set- tlement of Four Mile Creek. Respectfully, Paul M. Ponziglione, S. J. ST. PATRICK'S CELEBRATION. From the Journal, March 15, 1876: PROGRAMME. Next Friday, the feast of St. Patrick's, there will be High Mass at St. Francis' church. Mass being over, the congregation will march in pro- cession thru the Sodality garden. After the procession, a dinner will be served in St. Fran- cis' Hall by the ladies of the congregation. En- trance fee will be 50 cents for each person. In the evening at 7 o'clock, a drama will be given by the students of St. Francis' Institution, ac- companied by select music from the young la- dies of St. Ann's Academy. Admittance fee 25 cents each person. The drama will be given in St. Francis' Hall. Paul M. Ponziglione, S. J. OSAGE INDIAN QUESTION. From the Journal, August 11, 1875: St. Francis' Institution, Osage Mission, Kas. August 10, 1875. C. H. Howard, Sir : As you are anxious to know something positive concerning the where- abouts of Rev. Father John Schoenmakers, who one month since went to visit the Osages in the Indian Territory; I will tell you that he is en- joying good health. He was on his way home no IvIJPie AND LETTl^RS OF FATHE^R PAUL. when on the 3rd inst., having me,t Gerterals Ewing and Blair on the Big Cana, he accom- panied them to the Osage Agency. Generals Ewing and Blair did not intend to visit the Agency, as their object was ,to go thru some few Osage settlements, and hear what complaints they had against their present agent, Isaac T. Gibson. But when they came on Big Cana, they found that the Osages living in that section of their country, were in a state of great excitement, and insisted that both Generals and Father Schoenmakers should go to the Agency and see with their own eyes, the unanimous dis- like of the Indians agains,t their agent, Isaac T. Gibson, and at the same time they could see their unanimous love and preference for a Catholic school. The investigating committee had not got in at that time, but was daily expected. The Osag- es are in a very bad humor, and tell many hard things about their agent, Isaac T. Gibson; but I am confident that Father Schoenmakers' in- fluence will keep them from all hostile depre- dations. They have been wtronged m their conscience by this agent, who for over five years has tried all in his power to make them abandon the Roman Catliolic church, which they love and esteem; and has tried to make them join the Quaker Institution, which they despise; more- over, this agent has also wronged them financial- ly, for during tliese last five years he has gen- erally squandered their money in useless ex- penses — profitable only to his personal friends — who indeed, are receiving big salaries, and meanwhile the poor Osages are suffering — in many instances being left without bread or shel- ter. ' It is difficult to sav what will be the result of LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. Ill the investigating committee, but in my opinion — even in case it would fail in doing justice to the Osages — some good will come of it, namely: It will expose to the sight of all, well authenti- cated facts of robbery and oppression, and im- partial history will show to the whole Christian world how poor helpless Indians — the former owners of this beautiful county — were cheat- ed by those who, claiming to have come to them as teachers of Christianity, did nothing else but enrich themselves at their expense. Respectfully, Paul M. Ponziglione, S. J. SOME REMINISCENCES. St. Ignatius College, Chicago, 111. August 28. 1899. W. W. Graves, Dear Sir: Your weekly is always a welcome visitor on our premises, and its number of the loth ins.t., recalled to my mind sweet ;Occurrences bf 185 1, as well as the few, years that preceded the civil war. History will forever show how the war did put an end to the old patriarchial government prevailing to that time among the full blood Osages, and began a new era in their life by opening up their res- ervation to the white settlers. In those days, which I might as well call pre- adamitic, the Osages were having their golden age. And why not? Their poor wigwams scat- tered here and there around the Mission log- houses, were forming the largest settlement in southern Kansas. The brilliant cities of Em- poria, Burlington, Ft. Scott. Chanute, Erie, Par- sons, Oswego and Chetopa were not as yet even dreamed about. The Osage Nation, under the great Chief, George Wliite Hair, and the Mission 112 life: and letters of father PAUL. schools, under the management of Father John Schoenmakers, were the only points then consid- ered of any importance by the Indian Depart- ment whose commissioners frequently visited us. The O sages, who then numbered a little over 2,000, were a power in the west, and were at peace with the whole world. Tho they ."were neither farming nor working under any contract system ; tho you could not meet in their country with prospectors either after gold or lead, or coal or gas ; tho no railroad cars freighted with hun- dreds of people were as yet crossing what in those days by many was thought to be the Ameri- can Desert, the Osages were nevertheless abund- antly provided with whatever they needed by St. Louis merchants, who in their turn w^ere re- paid fwith large percentage they were making on the exclusive trade they had on furs and peltry procured to them by the Osage hunters. And no wonder if they took life very easy for the 60 or 70 thousand buffalos they every year were killing besides an extra amount of smaller game such as bears, deer, antelope, and like, they were getting on the interminable plains extending from the western line of Missouri to the eastern line of Colorado, supplied them with plenty of food and a rich amount of buffalo robes as well as smaller peltry for trade. The few log houses of the Mission were looked upon as great palaces, and the wells, one east and the other west of the old church, were furnishing an inexhaustable treasure of fresh water to a couple of Indian villages, forming as it were the suburbs of the Mission. The annuity payment was the only time of some excitement we used to have every year. On such an occasion thousands of dollars, hun- dreds of head of cattle, dry goods by the car UFK AND LfriTt:RS OF FATHER PAUL. II3 load were distributed among the Osages by the U. S. agent. During that time numbers of strangers would come to smoke the Calumet with our Indians. Of the neighboring nations the Kansas were always most friendly to the Osages ; but some of their young Bucks were mischievous and on returning to their reservation would have no scruples of driving away with theirs, also a few of the Osage ponies, a thing which of course after a while would cause no little trouble be- tween the two nations. A remarkable instance of this kind, which took place in those early days, will show how acute an Indian can be when he puts up his mind to steal, a nice horse : An old Osage Indian, know^n all thru the res- ervation by the name of Basil, had a very beauti- ful young mare, the only riding nag in his pos- session. The very day the annuity payment of 1852 was over a band of Kansas bovs notified their friends that they would leave that night for their home. As the road they had to travel pas- sed not far from Basil's settlement, a friend of the old man came to let him know about it that he might be on the lookout. Thankful for the warning received, Basil simply remarked that he knew how the Kansas boys were very quick at picking u]) ponies but this time he would make them find out that it was no easy job to drive away his filly. Evening coming, he hitched the beast to a sapling close by his wigwam. Next he hangs a bell at her neck, sure that if any of the Kaw boys would come by in the night the animal, alarmed at the sight of the stranger, would try to evade the aggressor ; the result would be, that in the excitement which was bound to arrive, the bell would ring again and again, and hearing it he would at once come out to protect his property. The old man's calcttlations were 114 life: and l^ETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. very good but he never suspected that the young Buck would be so smart as he proved himself to be. The Kaw boy seeing from a distance that the filly was hitched close to Basil's wigwam, leaves his riding nag far off on the prairie and advances very slowly, as if he had been one of the neighbors, comes close to the beasft. After caressing her for a while takes the bell from her neck, hangs it to a slender limb of the same sapling at which the mare was hitched, and at once springing on her back, off he goes with her. As the night was stormy and the wind was shak- ing the sapling at times rather violently, it fol- lowed that the bell now and then would ring for a few minutes. Hearing the alarm, Basil would raise his head and listen carefully, but as the ringing would soon stop he would say to him- self, "All is right with the filly. I see the flies are hard on her," and turning himself on the other side would resume his sleep till morning. You can easily imagine what his surprise was when on coming out of his wigwam .the next morning to see his filly, he saw indeed the bell was there but the filly was gone. Such and like anecdotes were things of almost daily occurence in those olden times. As there were neither police nor lawyers, courts nor jails, the whole matter was brought before Father Schoenmakers who, after listening to both par- ties and having given a good lecture to .the boys in general and especially on the evil practice in which they were indulging, would oblige the guilty parties to restore the stolen property to its owner. With this all questions were settled. Paul M. Ponziglione. S. J. * * The new Catholic church of Osage Mission will be solemnly blessed by Rt. Rev. John J. Hogan, LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. II5 Bishop of Kansas City, Mo., on the nth day of May next. The ceremony will begin at 7:30 a. m. The blessing will be followed by High Mass and sermon. In the afternoon Vespers will take place at the usual time, and at 7:30 p. m., a lecture will be given by Rr. Rev. Bishop J. J. Hogan. Admittance and seats will be free. The collection of the day as well as of the evening will- be applied to the paying of the debts of the new church. The newspapers printed in towns within a radius of forty miles from Osage Mission are kindly asked to publish .this notice. Paul M. Ponziglione, S. J. Pastor. Journal, April 23, 1884. Marquette College, Milwaukee, August II, 1889. John R. Brunt, Esq., Dear Sir: Yesterday I received your Jonirnal and I am very thankful to you for your kindness. My new home is a nice one but Oh, the cottage Good Father Schoenmak- ers had built! When T saw that land-mark fall- ing down I felt that some bad luck was in store for me, but I am only joking, Mr. Brunt, the fact is that I am well and happy. However. T must confess that my body is here, yet ever and anon my spirit is hovering on the banks of Flat Rock calling on the name of my dear old friends, but alas! Many of them are sleeping and never will answer my call. Please remember me to my friends. Paul M. Ponztclione. S. J. St. Francis' Institution festival for the finish- ing of the new church, v/ill- be held on the i8th, 19th and 20th of October, 1883. The rooms will Il6 UFK AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. be Open from 2 p. m. ,to 9 p. m. vSupper at 25 cents for each person will be served by the ladies of the congregation. Fancy articles will be sold. Paul M. Ponziglione, S. J. The blessing of Father John Schoenmakers' memorial bell will take place on Saturday, the 8th of December next. The ceremony will be- gin at 2 :30 p. m. in front of the new church. As the ceremony will be very interesting and new to many, all are invited to come and assist in it. Parsons, Oswego, Girard and Walnut papers are requested to copy this notice. Paul M. Ponziglione, S. J. Neosho County Journal, November 21, 1883. LETTERS TO MISS BERRY. In the early Sixties the D. D. Berry family resided at LeRoy, Kansas, and Father Paul, on his trips up that way, always made it a point to stop at the Berry home. It is not therefore sur- prising that a warm friendship should spring up between him and the Berry family. The Berry family later moved ,to Osage Mission and lo- cated not far from the church, where some of the surviving members still reside. After leav- ing the "Mission" Father Paul did not forget these friends and kept up a correspondence wi*t!i members of this family as lon^r a^ he lived. Part of his letters were preserved and were kindly loaned to the writer for use in this booic. The letters were addressed to Miss Susie Berry and with the exception of some purely personal mat- ters, were as follows : Marquette College, Milwaukee, Wis... September 5, 1889. l>ear Friend : Yours of the 2nd inst. with its LIFE AxVD LKTTERS OF FATHER PAUL. II/ contents came to hand. I will offer one Mass ac- cording to your intention on the 8th inst. I can find no better day for it than that of the Nativity of the Mother of God. From the persual of the Osage Mission Jour- nal, I saw that your father was very sick, and I felt very happy when on the next Journal 1 found that he was getting better. May God preserve him to you for many years to come. I am glad to see that your mother is all right. Please remember me to all my friends. May God bless you all. Respectfully, Paul M. Ponziglione, S. J. Marquette College, Milwaukee, Wis., December 15, 1889. Dear Friend : Yours of the 9th inst. has come in due time. " =5^ * I ^m afraid your sister Lizzie studies too much. Tell her to take care of her health, for as long as she will be well she will be able to do something, but if she gets sick, what will she do then? You say you have very pleasant weather, and so we also can say, for so far we have no winter. People are pleased but they fear they will have to pay for it next spring. \niwaukee is a magnificent city, growing every day in wealth and beauty. Our Catholic popula- tion is getting larger every day. The Catholics num.ber something over 60 thousand, and we have twenty-five- churches in the city. The parochial school children number over 4,(XX). I am well pleased with the good news yoii give me about little Charlie (Shields). I do not doubt that his brother is also doing well. When you will write to them, send them the two small pictures you will find enclosed, and tell them to Il8 LIFIC AND LKTTERS OF FATHER PAUL. Study hard and behave nicely. Do not forget to remember me to their mother and father. I wish you would give my love to as many as ask you my news. Tell them that I have them always present in my mind, and I daily pray God to bless them, and this I shall more par- ticularly do during the coming holy days of Christmas. I hope your father and mother are both en- joying good health. Tell .them I wish them a happy Christmas and a happy New Year, and this is my prayer to God for them that they may be granted to see and enjoy with you all, many such holy days. Please pray also for me, and you may be sure that I will do ,the same for you. Respectfully, Paul M. Ponziglione, S. J. Marquette College, Milwaukee, January i, 1890. Miss Susie Berry P. X. Happy New Year! Your package came all right. I thank you very much. Your present is very acceptable. We continue to have a very nice weather. What little snow we had some weeks ago did not remain with us over 24 hours. The lake i.-; open to navigation as usual. Everyone is wondering at such a winter, which is no winter at all. We had a lovely Christmas in all the 25 Catholic churches of this town. There \vere Christmas trees everywhere. Children never felt so happy. I suppose Father Masterson had a big Christmas tree in the hall, but I am sure Mother Bridget had the best. Here all is quiet, and as people have no troubles, so they must bor- Lll'i: AND LE:TTERS Ot^ FATHER PAUL. 1 19 row some. For this reason they are scaring themselves and look for the influenza to soon faU on them sure and cei tain. They move very cau- tiously as if this sickness would be lurking around them like a wild cat. Some take good drams of liquor more than three times a day, and others take medicines to prevent an attack of this sickness. The doctors are making a good job of it. Remember me to all my many friends, and tell them I have them all present in my mind whciu I am at the altar. Respectfully, Paul M. Ponziglione, S. J. St. Ignatius College, Chicago, September 22, 1892. Dear Friend: I am very thankful for your last of the iSth inst. in which I found so many news. I feel happy that Father Bononcini is yet among the living. You give me good news about the Sisters of Loretto. May God prosper them and increase their community. * * ''' "^ Father Masterson is all right and stays at an- other house We have in this great city. We have at this college a very large attendance of stu- dents this year. The majority follow the classi- cal course. Now give my love to your parents and good sisters, and tell all my old friends that I am always the same Father Paul, never for- getting how good and kind they used to be to me. Tell them I will always remember them in my prayers and I wish they do the same for me. May Cxod bl-ess all my dear friends. Paul M. Ponziglione, S. J. St. Ignatius College, Chicago, December 7, 1892. Dear Friend : T am sorry that your church has 120 I.IFE: AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. been rifled of her sacred vessels. Poor Father Bononcini; he must have feh very bad when he discovered what sacrilege had been committed! Unfortunately the country is teeming with rob- bers. This large city is no exception. So far we ourselves have not been molested. You are asking me about Father Condon. He is here with us and doing well. He is directing a young Ladies Sodality in our parish. They number 700 and are just now making a spiritual retreat of eight days. I had a visit from Mr. Higgins and for awhile I felt as if I would be back with you all. Give a happy Christmas for me to your father, mother, sisters and all my old friends and as- sure them that I never forget them. May God bless you. Paul M. Ponziglione, S. J. St. Ignatius College, Chicago, June 30, 1893. Dear Friend : Few days ago I had the pleas- ure of seeing young Mr. Ferrick. He gave me a bushel full of Osa.ge Mission news. T felt quite at home with him and thought for a while on the good old times. Now what is the matter with poor -Katie Doud? I am very sorry to hear that she is suf- fering. Please go and see her for me. Tell her to have patience and resign to God's will, for resignation to God's will is the best remedy for all evils. Our city is in full holiday attire and people from most all parts of the world. Turks and Arabs, Africans and Chinese, Tartars and Nor- wegians, etc., can be seen walking thru our streets in their superb costumes. The Columbian exposition is going to be a success. I heard from LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. 121 my friend Ferrick that a number ol Osage Mis- sion boys are calculating to come to visit the ex- position this fall. O how happy will I not be to see them ! Please remember me to Rev. Fr. Bononcini, to the good Sisters of Loretto, and to my many friends. May God bless you. I shall never for- get the kindness shown me by you all, especially by your parents. That God may return you the hundred fold is the most sincere wish of my heart. Yours, Paul M. Ponziglione, S. J. St. Ignatius College. Chicago, August 14, 1805. Miss Susie Berry : Many thanks for your last favor and for the copy of the Neosho Journal. When I think on the old times mentioned in the Journal, and call to mind the many events we passed thru in those days, it seems to me that I am dreaming! When I think on the number of friends who were sharing with me the pleasures and troubles of a pioneer missionary life, I wonder that I, in preference of so many of my companions, have been spared to this day. Now I find myself on the decline, and I hope that God, who has been so merciful to me in the past, will continue to kindly assist me to the end. * * * Father Masterson is as usual. Please remember me to all my friends. May the Lord bless you all. Respectfully, Paul M. Ponziglione, S. J. St. Ignatius College, Chicago, September 9, 1895. Miss Susie Berry, P. X. : Bad news run fast. If I do not mistake last Saturday evening some one told me that St. Ann's 122 LIFE AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. Academy was burned to the ground. I could hardly believe it, and was kept in painful sus- pense, till to-day I got the town paper you so kindly sent me. I am very sorry for the loss the poor Sisters have, and I thank God for hav- ing spared the church and the old Fathers' house, where now the Sisters have found a shelter. It has been a terrible accident. But God has per- mitted it and we can but say "Thy will be done." I hope that as gold comes out of the crucible more shining than when it was laid in, so will new St. x\nn's Academy come out of the present ruins more bright that the old was. May God bless you all. Paul M. Ponziglione, S. J. St. Ignatius College, Chicago, February 20, 1896. Dear Friend : Thank you for your kind favor of the 15th inst. Here we have just now a severe win ter. Snow and snow again seems to be the order of the day. Pedestrians complain bitterly, but the poor people working at cleaning off the streets are rejoicing for it, and so goes the world, as it has always been, what sometimes is a trouble to one is good luck to another. I see from yours that St. Paul's town 'too has its troubles! Well, there is no remedy. Take it easy and look for better days to come. * * * When you will go to see the Sisters please re- member me to them. To all the rest of my dear friends, tell them that I have them all present in my mind when I am at the altar. May God bless you all. Paul M. Ponziglione, S. J. W^E AND LETTERS OF FATHER PAUL. 12^ St. Ignatius College, Chicago, January 14, 1897. Miss Susie Berry : Never too late to exchange happy greetings, hence I do thank you for yours, and in return this comes to you full of mine, which I wish you divide between your father, mother and sisters. How much I did enjoy see- ing from yours that you were all well. * * * I con tinue to be in this college, and Father M. Brongist, your old friend, is also here with me. Father Condon has some two years since gone to Cincinnati, and the last news I had of him were good. Times here are not very good. I hope that with you things will do better and that your father will be kept occupied at his work. I felt very glad seeing that your fair has been a suc- cess ; but 1 am very sorry when I think that the Sisiters of Loretto have left you. However, I am sure that the Ursilines will soon be as ac- ceptable to the people as the Lorettines used to be. Please remember me to my old friends and assure them all tha t I cannot forget them : and I frequently pray to God to bless them all Respectfully. Paul M. Ponziglione, S. J. Holy Family Church, Chicago, October 10, 1898. Miss Susie Berry: * * * I feel happy seeing that you keep on improving your church. A good organ is most certainly a great auxiliary to promote devotion. If I had a treasury at my disposal, would willingly divide with you for such a purpose ; this, however, not being the case, I sent in this one dollar which was given to me yesterday. Give my best respects to the fathers of St. 124 Llt'Ii AND LHTTKRS OF FATHER PAUL. Francis' church and remember me to your good parents and sisters. Tell your mother to hold on, and be thankful to God for all, even for her infimiities now so long and tell her not to for- get that these are every day more and more beau- tifying the crown God will give her in heaven. May God bless you all. Paul M. Ponziglione, S. J. Holy Family Church, Chicago, March 17, 1898. Dear Friend : Yours of the 14th inst. with its contains, have been duly received, and made me feel to be, as it were, once more at home with you all. I thank your dear mother and father and sisters for the kind greetings you do send me on account of my jubilee. ^Vell be sure that on that day, you all shall have a large and most fervent share in my prayers. I am sorry to see that you and many of our friends are so far disappointed in what concerns the return of the Sisters of Loretto. Well the judgments of God are unsearchable, but never damaging, and always directed for the better, tho this does not show itself at once, and may as yet be very slow coming. MIeanwhile all we must do is to resign. As your wishes are for a thing which is most holy, I still feel an inward presentiment that you will be some way or other satisfied. Be happy therefore and give my love to the whole of your family, especially to your father and mother. Tell mother to keep on tak- ing the medicine I used to prescribe her — patience and a big dose of 1 :. May God bless you all. Paul M. Ponziglione, S. J. ^ ST. Ann's acndemy, main building, ERECTED 1870, BURNED 1895. CHAPTER VII. THE OSAGES. A noble race ! but they are gone. With their old prairies wide and deep, And we have built our homes upon Fields where their generatiofus sleep. ■Bryant. The Osages are mentioned by Father Mar- quette in his story of his trip down the Missis- sippi in 1673 as the "Ouchage," and by La Salle in 1782. In those days the Osages were one of the most powerful tribes west of the Mississippi river. They occupied about seventeen villages in eastern Missouri near the Missouri river. Father Membre, a companion of Ua Salle, called the Missouri river the Osage, doubtless because of the large number of Osage Indians they found near its junction with the Mississippi. The Osage Indian Herald stated in i876,that St. Louis and Kansas City were once Osage trading posts, and that the famous Choteau mansion in St. Louis was built by a family of French traders whb intermarried with the Osages, that name being frequently mentioned in the subsequent history of the tribe. At the beginning of the Nineteenth Century the Osages claimed all the country lying south of the Missouri and Kansas rivers, as far west as the head waters of the latter stream, and in their hunting excursions they roamed all over the vast territory between the Mississippi river and the (t2s^ 126 TH^ OSAG^S. Rocky mountains. Because of tribal differences, part of the Osages under Chief Clermont, came west in 1796 and settled on the Verdigris river. About this time there were also Osage settlements made in Vernon and Bates counties in Missouri. The first settlement on the Neosho river was made some time prior to 1820. In that year the Big Osa^ges had one settlement of 400 and the Little Osages three settlements or villages of about 1,000, on the Neosho river. By the treaty of June 2, 1825, the Osages gave up all their claims to land in Missouri and Ar- kansas and those members of the tribe that had remained near St. Louis and other eastern points in Missouri came west and settled near the Neo- sho and Verdigris rivers. Here they remained until they moved to their present location in Oklahoma nearly half a century later. The Osages, altho a powerful nation, were much more peacable than many other tribes, and altho they had wars with other Indian tribes, they caused the government little trouble. On the other hand the government has dealt generously with the Osages which is one of the reasons the Osages are so wealthy at the present time. A story is told that when the Osages were coming west after their treaty of 1825, they ar- rived near where the town of Walnut, Kansas, now stands, where there was not much water or timber to be found. There they stopped while they sent out a scouting party to select a loca- tion for their settlement. The scouts went southwestward and soon came to a long stretch of timber, and a clear beautiful stream. The chief was pleased with the report of the scouts and the entire band set out for the river. Those who arrived at the river first rode into the water to let their horses drink. When the chief arriv- THE 0SAGE:S. 127 ed a few minutes later he found ,the river the opposite of "beautiful and clear," and he repri- manded the scouts for their misrepresentation, and from this incident the river was given the name ''Neosho," which means "water made mud- dy." Washington Irving, in his "Tour of the Prair- ies," describes the Osages as "Stately fellows, stern and simple in garb and aspect. They wore no ornaments; their dress consisted of blankets, leggins and moccasins; their heads were bare; their hair was cropped close except a bristling ridge on the top like the crest of a helmet, with a long scalp lock hanging behind. They had fine Roman countenances and broad, deep chests. The Osages are the finest looking Indians I have seen in the west." The moral state of the Osages is not much mentioned by the early writers, but Rev. Benson Prixley, who established a Presbyterian mission at a point he called "Neosho," in 1827, wrote an article for the HeraU, published by the Arnerican Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in which he made the following statements : "It is now fully three years since I came upon this ground with my little family. We found the natives in appearance to have nothing of that savage ferocity, so often ascribed as inher- ent in the features or manifested in the manners of the red men of the forest. They seem to be bold and pleasant, frank and hospitable. A stranger just passing thru their towns with but a superfcial acquaintance would have a most favorable opinion of their character and could scarce conceive the moral turpitude and degre- dation, in which they were involved. But alas how mistaken have been the opinions of many with respect to the virtue and happiness of the 128 the; OS ages. children of nature, possessin»g a country that is scarcely surpassed by any in facility of cultiva- tion, and capable of producing almost any deli- cate fruit and vegetable, these children of nature nevertheless are often reduced to the last extrem- ity, as a white man would suppose, for the want of food, and are found to subsist for weeks to- gether on acorns, and on roots dug out of the prairie, and for no other reason than their idle- ness and improvidence. "Vice reigns everywhere. The shameless ef- frontry with which they pollute their common discourse, is not to be known, except to a man who understands their language, for no interpre- ter feels at liberty to communicate fully the ideas they express. So entirely are they addicted to lying, that no confidence can be placed in what they say, neither do they pretend to place con- fidence in each other. And their intercourse formerly with white people has been such as to give them reason to suppose that other men, in this respect, are not very different from them- selves. So common, also, is their thieving not from white people and enemies only, but from one another, that there is not the least encourage- ment to labour and acquire property, since he who plants does it under expectation that depre- dations will be practiced upon him. Their game has been so abundant that they have felt little need of agricultural labours and have consequent- ly established a habit of considering it dishon- orable to do much besides hunting and going to war. "You ask how this people live? If by living be meant place, manners and accommodations — in the summer it is on the prairies, in the winter in the village huts ; three months perhaps in these huts and betwixt two or three months on the 'I HI-: USAGES. 129 prairie, the rest of the time they are scattered here and there, a few families together, hunting, moving every day or two and lodging where night overtakes them. Their accommodations are few and simple. A few wooden dishes, tw^o or three horn spoons, a knife, and a kettle or two, make up the amount of their household furniture. Their houses and manner of building them is equally rude. They set two rows of poles in the ground of a different width for their ac- commodation, and bring them together in a curve at the top. These they cover with flags or buffalo hides and when in their towns have mats laid upon the ground to recline and sleep upon. Their food, while in the towns, is prin- cipally jerked meat, boiled corn, dried pumpkins and beans. Wild fruits, acorns and other nuts, in the season of them, make up what is lacking, and wdien tlieir provisions are exhausted they move oi¥ on their hunts. If they kill nothing the second or even the third day, they are not alarmed. Acorns or roots of the prairie are still at hand to supply them with a supper, so that the fear of starving is the last thing that would be likely to enter an Osage mind. "The women plant the corn, fetch the wood, cook the food, dress the deerskins, dry their meat, make their moccasins, do all the business of moving, pack and unpack their horses and even saddle and unsaddle the horses on which their husbands and other male kindred ride, while the men only hunt and war, and, when in their towns, go from lodge to lodge to eat and drink and smoke and play at cards and sleep. For them it is no ill manners to doze away some hours of the day in a neighbor's lodge. "When I tell them I came to teach them the word of God they sometimes sneeringly ask. 130 the: osages. 'Where is God? Have you seen Him?' And then laugh that I should think of making them believe a thing so incredible as a being who sees and takes knowledge of them, while they can- not see Him. They indeed call the earth, sun and moon, thunder and lightning, God, but their con- ceptions on this subject are altogether indefinite and confused. Of a future state of rewards and punishments they have no conception. Some in- deed, perhaps the generality of them, have some confused ideas of a future state of existence, and suppose if they are painted, when they die, according to the peculiar mark of their family, they shall be known and join those of their rela- tives who have died and gone before them. But these ideas are only what might be called the tra- ditions and superstitions of the common people, and are regarded as foolishness by others, who in their philosophic pride, treat it as a chimera. Yet oi all creatures, they seem most subject to supernatural fear and alarms. Darkness presents so many terrors to their imaginations, especially around their towns where their dead are buried, that few have courage to go abroad at night be- yond the light of their own dwellings." Father Bax, S. J., who came to the Osages with Father Schoenmakers in 1847, denies that thieving and lying was more prevalent among the Osages at that time, than among ordinary people. The letters of Father Bax appear else- where in this book, and contain much informa- tion about the Osages. Father Ponziglione's letters, also published m this book, tell much of the Osages. Father Schoenmakers wrote an article which was published in the Indian Herald, May 31, 1876, in which he tells of the Osages as he saw them. His article is as follows: THE OSAGKS. 131 ''The states of Missouri and Arkansas were once territory belonging to the Osages, and some of the tribe who lived in 1847 were born where now is the city of Jefferson, and also along the Osage River, Missouri. They had a school near Pappinsville, in Bates county. In 1847 several half-breeds of the tribe had still farms on the Marmaton River near Ft. Scott. The tribe had now come to 'Kansas, and numbered 5,000, where whiskey did much harm among all classes. The Great George White Hair had a double log house for a dwelling place on a large farm, and owned a large saw and grist mill five miles from Mis- sion town. This property the Osages destroyed by fire, as it did not pay expenses. The White Hair band was kept within a few miles of the Mission school, and during the summer months the young men were always ready to work on the farm, and to split rails or firewood in winter. Clammor town was then where now is the town of Coffeyville, on the Verdigris River, Black Dog and Wolf towns were only three miles dis- tant. The Big Hills were located ten or more miles away, sometimes north and at other times south of the Verdigris. The Little Osages came formerly from Missouri and had joined: the Great Osages and in 1847 were living south of the Neosho river. The Owl family, however, pushed a few miles away and up Big Creek. In 1850 the number of Osage children began greatly to increase, but in 1852 fell victims to disease and 800 died of measles. Scurvey, a disease which is more generally thought to belong to sailors and those whose lives are spent upon the seas, then appeared v/ith its train of alarming effects, and of the 400 who lived near the Mis- sion, forty died of this disease within one month. The tribe was also visited by small pox. some 132 THI$ 0SAGE:S even suffering the third attack. In i860 health and hope again prevailed ; the Little Osages com- menced laising corn and beans. The White Hair band fenced large fields, built houses, and raised, cattle and hogs. The Big Hills emulated their example, but the civil war that followed so soon, destroyed their fields, houses, cattle and other stock, and blasted even their hopes. "John Schoenmakers, S. J." SOME OSAGE HISTORY. An interview with Father Paul under the above title and signed "N," was published in the Oswego (Kansas) Graphic, I>ecember 13, 1882. It was as follows: "Father Ponziglione, of Osage Mission, called upon us the other day, and gave an account of his life here on the Neosho since '51. This rev- erend gentleman bears his age well, altho he rides in an ambulance in his ministerial work among the Indians south of us. ''He SLys the Neosho country was once full of bears, but the Osages killed them off when they came here. Once an Indian had a captive Mexi- can woman and child ; he ordered the woman to ,go to the creek and get him some water to drink, and when she went to get the water he shot her. The priests took the child and ran it over into Missouri, out of harm. "Rev. P. says the Osages were settled in many places along the Neosho, farming. White Hair's village was a little north of Oswego, and Black Dog had a village over on the Verdigris river. The Indians heaped rocks over their dead. "John Matthews had two wives, both half- breeds, and one after the other died; his little girl burned to death in a prairie fire. One of the THK OSAGES. 133 boys is now in Texas, and the rest of the family in the Territory. John Matthews was the ear- liest white man here, and another Matthews liv- ed a few miles north of Oswego, perhaps near Col. SwanFwick's farm. Matthe^/s' house at Oswego, was a hewed log house, with a porch between two rooms. He was killed by Gen. Blont; about thirty men were in the house asleep, when Blont came upon them. Matthews awoke and took up his gun and was shot dead, no one else was killed, but the house was burned. Con- siderable settlement was made at Montana be- fore the war. A great deal of fighting and burn- ing took place in the Territory during the war. Rev. P. thinks the Indians have a knowledge of silver mines east of Ft. Gibson. *'The Father spoke of Samuel Short and his house and settlement. Short claims that all the Rebel Stan wait left him when he made a raid thru here was a cedar bucket and his commercial diploma, both of which were put in the Oswego Reading Room. A grave stone of young Mat- thews was taken and preserve^! by the Labette County Historical Society. M^atthews' race track, we are told, was south of Oswego, from Sheriff Bender's residence to \Vm. Sanford's farm. His field was along Third Avenue as far west as the Baptist church, and south from the east end of the church to Mr. Winton's residence, then back to Third Avenue. The old government road came from, the north along the heads of the ra- vines near Mr. Raymond's residence, then a little north of the old stone school house, to John Kennear's house, and down the bluff near the old brewery. The spring in the east part of Oswego was a famous camping ground for emi- grants and travelers. Once a park of artillery was placed on the ridge south of the old brewery 134 THi: OS AGES. and north of Wm. Sanford's farm house, and the woods along the Neosho, at Harrison's Bend and around were shelled to drive away guerillas. Silverware has been found in the woods south of Oswego, and evidences of camps also. "v^amuel Short said the guerillas would go over to Missouri, rob and burn houses, and es- cape here with their plunder. Sometimes men had their feet burned to make them tell where their money and silverware might be found. Mr. Gaylor found the marks of an axe in a walnut log on the Marley farm, east of the Neosho riv- er, 12 rings from the bark. Perhaps 20 years have elapsed since the tree died, this would make the cutting done near the Revolutionar}^ War, and the evidence of the white man's agency in these parts a long time ago. *Xet us by all means keep alive these old land marks." "During the war of the Rebellion," writes a Kansas historian, "the Osages suffered much depredations of various kinds. Their newly built houses were torn down, their crops destroy- ed, and their hogs and cattle stolen." These depredations were the work of guerillas and un- friendly Cherokees who came up from the south. Becoming discouraged with their prospects, in 1865 they ceded to the United States Govern- ment a strip off the east end of their reservation, fifty by thirty miles in extent, containing 9.600,- 000^ acres for $300,000 ; the money to be deposit- ed in the treasury of the United States and to draw five per cent interest, the interest to be paid to them semi-annually in monev, clothing, provisions or «uch articles of utility as the Sec- retary of the Interior might from time to time direct. At the same time thev also transferred THE OSAGES. 135 in trust to the government to be sold for their benefit a strip off the north of the balance of their reservation, twenty miles in width from north to south and extending to the west limits of their reservation. The reservation thus re- duced was called the 'Diminished Osage Re- serve.' The Osages of the Neosho then moved over to the Verdigris and farther west. In 1870 they sold the remainder of their land to the gov- ernment for $1.25 per acre and moved to their present location in Oklahoma. The Osages still reside in the Osage Nation, Oklahoma, and are regarded as the richest race of people in the world. In June 191 3, these Osages numbered about 2,000 and had $7,024,- 564.63 deposited to their credit, and own 1,400,- 000 acres of land in the Osage Nation on much of which there are now producing oil wells from which the Osages receive handsome royalties. * * Mat Duhr. writing from Pawhuska, the cap- ital of the Osage Nation, for the Catholic Ad- vance, a few months ago, said : "The large amount of money disbursed to the 2,300 Osage Indians, the 2,600 producing oil and gas wells and the large cattle pasturing busi- ness, supply the financial arteries of this town with much life blood. These Indians, the richest tribe in America, should thank the late leather Schoenmakers, who was for many }/ears a mis- sionary among them_, for their large tribal trust fund in the national treasury. "They would have received only 25 cents per acre for their land in Kansas if Father Schoen- makers hadn't interceded for them and induced the government to pay them $1.25 per acre^ "The $9,000,000 Osage trust fund was the re- sult. 136 THK, OS AGES. ''The 70 congressional townships comprising the county were visited by some of the early Catholic missionaries, and the famous Washing- ton Irving traveled thru southeastern Osage county in 1832. ''Father De Smet was here 70 years ago; Father Ponziglione administered to the spiritual wants of these Indians during many years* Fath- er Felix de Grass, of Sacred Heart, Okla., often came to this place and united Mr. and Mrs. John F. Palmer in the bonds of matrimony. "About 800 members of the Osage tribe are Catholics. Many of the 650 fullblooded Wash- ashies are nominal Catholics but they are still believers in the heathen superstitions of their savage forefathers. They wear blankets and moccasins, the squaws carry their $50,000 pa- pooses on their backs ; they howl over their dead. Many of the fullblooded adults belong to the Wah-ho-peh secret order ; they believe in spooks and adore the turtle dove. "Nearly one hundred Osage girls, mostly mix- ed bloods, are taken care of at the Catholic Sis- ters' building in this locality. That large edi- fice was constructed about 25 years ago by re- quest of Sister Katherine Drexel, who paid all the expenses — and has done much to keep the institution going ever since. "It appears that the government school here is a failure. Only about 50 or 60 Indian boys at- tend it. The others go to the public school and to the Sisters' school. "Many of the Osages are in favor of abolish- ing the Osage agency school. The agency ex- pended $40,000 of Osage money last year. "Several of the mixed bloods are pretty good farmers and stock-raisers. Messrs. John Liim, William Leahy and others are good Catholics, THE OSAGES. 137 good Indians and good citizens. Mr. John F. Palmer, the noted lawyer, orator, tree planter, horse-raiser and scholar is a fullblooded Sioux, but was adopted by the Osages when a young man. He is married to an amiable lady' of the Osage tribe who, however, is apparently a pure Caucasian. "This city is a beautifully located metropolis. Being in the valley of Bird creek, it is encircled by lofty hills that are deposits of good building stone and brick shale. Natural gas is so plenti- ful here that factories can buy it for 2 cents a 1,000 feet. ** About 900,000 acres of Osage county, Okla., has never been touched by plow or hoe." An incident in the life of Chief Whitehair, as told by Julia Captain, an Osage, illustrates the good influences Fathers Schoenmakers and Pon- ziglione exerted over the Indians : Chief Whitehair was the son of Little White- hair, a distant relative of George Whitehair. He was born in Neosho county in 1834 and lived there until 1867 when he moved to the "dimin- ished reserve'' on the Verdigris. His parents married him at an early age to two women ac- cording to the Osage custom. When our good missionary rebuked him for the way he had done, that he wished him to become a good Christian but that he could never do so and live with two women for it was against the laws of Christian- ity, he said : "Father, it is so ; I have done so thru the will of my parents and if 1 have the misfortune to lose one of them I will marry the other one according to the Christian law, fulfil* your wishes by becoming a good Christian." But as misfortune visits where it is least expected, it likewise visited Whitehair's family. It took both 138 the: OS ages. of his wives and all of his children except a son who still lives. He mourned their loss according to the rules of his people, when he was baptised and married again according as he promised to one wife and lived with her until his death. A few hours before he expired (December 24, 1869) he called his friends together and told them that God had made all mankind to die, and that his time had come; that he wished that his stepson should reign in his place. He wished his own son to remain at school and grow up an educated man. He told them they had many troubles before them, but they must live friends and unite, and he hoped they would overcome all. Whitehair was no warrior. He had been taught at an early age by our good missionaries that God was the great avenger of all wrongs, and that it was wrong for us to take revenge even from an enemy, which good advice he was al- ways willing to take. CHAPTER VIII. ANTECEDENTS OF THE MISSION. Christianity has carried civilisation along with it wherever it has gone. — Hare. Events which had a bearing on the establish- ment of the Osage Mission may be traced back to the early years of the nineteenth century. The Osages themselves appear to have been greatly responsible for it, altho at that time their home was in eastern Missouri. In 1820 a delegation of Osages called upon Rt. Rev. William Louis Dubourg, who had been con- secrated Bishop of Upper and Lower Louisiana, in Rome September 24, 181 5, and asked him to send some "black gowns'' to teach their people. The seat of the See over which Bishop Dubourg presided was seated at New Orleans but be- cause of unsettled conditions in New Orleans, he made his headquarters in St. Louis, which at that time was also the home of a considerable number of the Osages. He therefore knew the conditions and needs of the Osages and set about to gratify their desires. Bishop Dubourg applied to Father .\iithony Kohlman, then provincial of the Jesuits in Mary- land, to send some Fathers to establish a school among the Osages, but Father Kohlman had not the priests to spare and Vv^as not then able to com- ply with the bishop's request for help. Early in 1823 Bishop Dubourg went to Wash- ington for the purpose of consulting President (139) 140 antecKdKnts of the mission. Monroe and Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun on the subject of devising means of educating the children of the Indian tribes within his dio- cese. He was kindly received by these 'Courteous officials and during his interview with them Mr. Calhoun suggested the expediency of invitmg the Jesuits of Georgetown, Maryland, to furnish members of their order to assist in that work. The bishop then laid his plans before Rev. Charles Neale, who had succeeded Father Kohl- man in the office of provincial, and offered him a fertile farm near St. Louis as an inducement. The offer was readily accepted, for other events had transpired which enabled Father Neale to do what Father Kohlman could not.. In 1820 Rev. Charles Nerinckx, founder of the order of the Sisters of Loretto, went to Europe on business connected with his missions in Ken- tuck3^ When he returned to the United States in 1 82 1, he was accompanied bv a number of young men, most of vv^hom w^ere natives of Bel- gium, who came to America with the intention of devoting their Iwes to priestly and missionary employments. P. J. De Smet, Felix Verreydt and J. A. Elet were among them. Six of these young men were admitted as novices in the Jesuit no- vitiate at White Alarsh, Maryland, October 6, 1 821. The master of novices at White Marsh was Rev Charles Van Ouickenborne, a Belgian priest who had come to the United States from Ghent in 1817, and with the view of becoming a missionary among the Indians. In 1823 Father Neale and Father Van Ouickenborne decided to transfer the novices from White Marsh to St. Thomas' Alanor, in Charles county, Maryland, because of the impoverished conditions then pre- vailing at White Marsh. It was at this juncture that Bishop Dubourg, acting on the suggestion ANTECKDKNTS O^ THE MISSION. I4I of John C. Calhoun, applied for the second thne to the Jesuits for help in the western missions. It was an opportune time and the proposition met with the favor of the provincial, Rev. Charles Neale, who proposed the wish of the bishop to Father Van Quickenborne and expressed his own desire for the pious rector of White Marsh to be the leader and superior of a band, includ- ing such of the novices as might volunteer to ac- company him, and that with them and a few old- er members lie should start for Missouri as soon as necessary arrangement could be made. Fath- er Van Quickenborne quickly recognized this as an opportunity to gratify his desire to become a missionary among the Indians, and readily as- sented. All six of the young Belgian novices volunteered to accompany him. Two priests, seven aspirants for the priesthood, three lay brothers and three families of negro servants composed the Dartv that set out for the west from White Marsh/ April 11, 1823. The trip to Wheel- ing was made on foot and required eighteen days. At Wlieeling two flat boats v/ere purchas- ed and on these they made the trip down the Ohio river to its mouth. From there they made the remainder oi the journey on foot, reaching the site of East St. Louis, May 31, 1823. They arrived at Florissant, Mo., their destination, June 3, 1823, and established the headquarters of the Jesuits in the west. The Jesuits still maintain a novitiate at this place. The little band of Jesuits opened a school for Osage Indian chil- dren in 1824, and the young men studying tor the priesthood devoted part of their time to teaching the Indian children. This school flour- ished until the Indians moved to the Neosho when the Jesuits turned their attention to teach- ing the children of the white settlers who were 142 ANTi:t^DE:Nts 6^ r-kiuissidvi. coming m,'' and soQki' ^f #r eMtiiislied te St. Louis University,, how a flourishing iristitutiorii,' Shortly after the Osages applied to Bishop Dubourg for a "black gown," Rev. F'r. Charles pe La Croix was appointed to devote his time to the Indian Missions, and the records of St. Francis' church at St. Paul, Kansas, show that Father De La Croix baptised twelve Osages in 1820. As these records were sent to the ''Osage Mission" church for preservation, it is quite probable that these baptisms v/ere performed on what is now Kansas soil, or just across the line in Missouri. In May, 1822, Father De La Croix is known to have visited the Osages on the Neo- sho in the vicinity of where the Osage Mission was Icvler established. Here on May 5, 1822, he baptised Antone Choteau. Kansas historians say this was the first baptism performed in what now comprises the state of Kansas. This would in- dicate that they did not know of Father De La Croix's first trip west, or that they did not be- lieve he came as far west as the Neosho. Father De La Croix was preparing to build a chapel among the Osages on the Neosho when his health became poor from exposure, thus com- pelling him to return to Missouri. Father Van Ouickenborne prepared to take up the work of Father De La Croix without, delay. He began active work personally among the Osages near . St. Louis soon after his arrival tliere. His first trip west, however, ' was not made until 1827 when he visited t)ie varioiis villages of the Osages on. the NeosJio, Veriil- gris and Mahnaton rivers. He made a second trip to the Neosho in 1^29, and another in 1836. It was oil this trip that, he performed the mar- riage ceremony for. Francis A'ybean and Mary, an Osage woman, that is said by Kansas writers ANTECEbENTS OF THE MISSION. T43 to liave been the fi rs^ weeding' cefeniony "^pl^- tomied on Kansas soil.; Hip made £^'',fourtli y;s- jt to the Dsages in 1854. . _/ , ;: " ;;\ ^ .' Father H. G. Allen or Aeleri,,S.! J'., succeeded J'ather Van Quickenborne. This Father bap- tised a large number of Osages in 1841 and 1842. The records at the '"Mission" give his name plain- ly as "Allen/" but as the Jesuits claim, there wa^ no member of their order at that time named Allen, it is quite probable this was Father Aelen, who at that time was first assistant to Father Christian Hoecken at St Mary^'s Mission among t"he Pottawatomies. ,\ 1 , Father F. L. Verreydt, S. J., succeeded Father Aelen. He, too, came to the Osages from SL Mary's Mission. The records of St. Francis' .jQhurch show he baptised Osages on the Neosho m 1843 and 1846. He was the immediate pred- _^ecessor of Father Schoenmakers. and may have been his companion to the Neosho when the lat- ter, made his first trip to his future home in 1846. ,- Prior to 1845 ^I'^e Indian Department of the .tiJnited , States government was planning to es- tablish a school among the Osages west of Miss- ouri, but no definite action appears to have been taken until April 25, 1845, when the sum of $3,456 was placed in the hands of Major Harvey to be used in erecting two houses and the neces- sary out-buildings, one of the houses to be used as a school for the Osage Indian boys and the other for the Osage girls. These houses were to be of sufficient dimensions to accommodate twenty pupils each, w^ith the teachers. Major Harvey entered into a contract with Father ]. Van De V^elde, who had, on September 17, 1843* become vice-provincial of the JCvSuits in Missouri. This contract provided that the Jesu- its take charge of the school, that the govern- 144 ANTE;CEDt:NTS OF THE MISSION. ment furnish the buildings and pay the Jesuits $55 per year for board and tuition of each pupil attending the school. A clause of the contract specified that "in virtue of this contract, no more than thirty-three boys can be admitted into the school for the first six months, beginning with the 15th of April, 1847/' Major Harvey was empowered to allow an increased number of boys to attend the school as the funds at his disposal would permit. The present site of St. Paul, Kansas, was se- lected for the school and work on the buildings was started as soon as arrangements could be made. Father Van de Velde selected Father John Schoenmakers to take charge of the school there to be established. In 1846 Father Schoen- makers made a trip to the Neosho to make the preliminary arrangements for the establishment of his future home. After a short stay, he re- turned to St. Louis for supplies and to await the completion of the buildings. On April 29, 1847* Father Schoenmakers arrived on the Neosho to make his permanent home and to open the school for the Osages. Thus the "Osage Mission" was established. CHAPTER IX. WESTERN INDIAN MISSION. The following article appeared in the Kansas Magazine for lune, 1872: A few davs after Easter of the year 185 1, the news reached the Mission that Pius IX had erect- ed the Indian territory into an apostolic vicariate, compri'^ing Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado, and that the Right Reverend John B. Miege was al- ready on his way to his arduous missions. Bishop :^.liec^^e'left St. Louis in May, 1851. with Rev Paul Ponziglione and two lay brothers, went first to St. Mary's of the Pottawatomies, and after a few weeks, in the company of Father Durink. Superior of St. Mary's, Eather Ponzigh- one and the brothers, went across the vast prai- ries and reached the Osage Mission on the 26th of fune The iov felt by the Eathers was equal- ed 'only by that of the Indians. They came m oToups to"see the Tapusca-lVafanka (the priest- ford ) and Day him their homages. The bishop remained a fcw^ weeks at the Alis- •^ion acting as a simple missionary, preachmg, baptising, visiting the wigwams and instructing the Indians. Before leaving, he solemnly admin- istered the sacrament of confirmation, leavmg Father Ponziglione at the Mission. But things Were too prosperous; some afflic- tions were at hand. The time of trial came in October The health of Father Schoenmakers failed to an alarming degree. No doctor being at hand, he was taken in a CMiimon wagon to (T45) 146 WESTERN INDIAN MISSION. Fort Scott, and placed under the care of the doctors at the fort. Never will the kindness of officers, doctors and soldiers be forgotten. They all vied with each other to relieve the pains of the poor sufferer; while Fathers Bax and Pon- zigiione visited him weekly in turn. Thanks to the kindness shown Father Schoenmakers, he could return to the Mission in January, 1852, in good health, perfectly recovered. About the time of the return of Father Schoen- makers, George White Hair, who had been ailing for some time became very sick. The Indians left their towns and came in great numbers to see their chief. The "Medicine-men" also offer- ed their services. The venerable old chief knew them, thanked them kindly for their attention, and requested them to leave him in peace and abstain from performing superstitious rites around him, for he was a Christian and desired to die a Christian. After this, he placed himself entirely in the hands of Father Bax by whom he had been instructed and baptised. Soon after, he received the last rites of the church, and the 23rd day of January he calmly expired to enter a better life. The death of White Hair was a terrible blow. The wild Indians, as was to be expected, became furious because their great chief had died with- out a medicine-man attending him. They dis- liked to see him buried as a white man. He was, a brave, they said, and he must be buried as a brave. They found fault with all the attentions lavished upon him by Father Bax. Why did he talk in secret to their chief? Why did he anoint him, except to perform a bad charm upon him? What did he give him to eat that he called communion, if not to poison him? They went about sowing dissatisfaction among the ignor- WJ^STKRN INDIAN MISSION. I.47 ant^ saying that the fathers were going to put their chief in a hole like a dog instead of burying him with all the honors due to such a chief, a brave — killing his horse on his grave and hanging around the scalps of his enemies. They went so far that they accused the Fathers of killing him by inducing him to abandon the worship of his- nation to adopt a strange one. ''What did bap- tism avail him? /'He displeased the Great Spirit,, and that is all," they would say. Hence they concluded it ^vas useless to follow such a belief, and that they should stand by their old ways. Sev- eral who were preparing to receive baptism were discouraged ; all the braves mourned for their chief, and all the ceremonies of pagan worship were put to use. This was disheartening: but it was not enough. A Quapaw Indian went from his country to visit his daughter who was at school. He fell sick on the way, and when he reached the Mission he was in a dying state. His sickness was the meas- les. The man was kept in a secluded room, but it was to no purpose. The infection spread around and soon one-half of the children were down sick. The Mission was a hospital. All. care was. t^en, but a few died. When the In- dians heard of the epidemic, they were frantic; they rushed for their children and took them home, for they found fault that they were not treated as Indian children ought to be treated. "You know nothing about Indians," they would say. Thus the parents took their children and brought them into the Neosho to cool their fever and wash off the sickness, and, as could be ex- pected, almost all died. ; ^ . •' Children dying so fast in the, camps of the In- dians moved the heart of Father Bax to follow and baptise them. He went, traveled, constantly, 148 WESTliRN INDIAN MISSION. lived in all the dirt of the Indian wigwam and was satisfied with their fare, poor and dirty as it was. Thus he baptised many before they gave up .their lives. But this very thing caused the bitterest rage of the medicine men. The medicine-men were and are still a set of crafty men, who, mixing sorcery with cunning, act as doctors, and sometimes perform wonderful tricks. This is the way they make a living. These men fearful of the presence of Father Bax, and seeing the number of their dupes diminishing, went about slandering him, accusing him of kill- ing children by baptism. As in all times of ex- citement, the foolish accusation is believed. Fath- er Bax is refused admittance, he is abused, he is called a murderer of children, and even illtreated. It was expected that the Mission would be de- stroyed. The crisis, however, took place when adults be- gan to be attacked with the epidemic. Not only the measles, but also the scurvy was making frightful ravages. Its malignity was unprece- dented. Over eight hundred Osages died during the spring. Many having died who were not baptised, the survivors noticed the circumstances, and soon they returned, begging forgiveness for saying that baptism had killed them, since so many died who were not baptised, and they were the first to laugh at their own terror. In consequence of the incessant visits of Fath- er Bax among the Osages, attending the sick and the dying* of the rough life he led, of the dirt he had to encounter, he contracted the sickness that v.'as decimating them, the scurvy. In May of that terrible spring, he gave evident signs of the disease. He, however, continued his missionary excursions until he could go no more. Then, and then only, he gave up, was brought to Fort Scott, WliSTKKiS INDIAN MiSSiUN. I49 aiid was attended most carefully by the liberal commanding officer and the doctor. But it was too late ; the disease had made frightful progress, and on the last day of July he gave up his soul to God, after having received the last rites of the church at the hands of Bishop Miege, who had reached Fort Scott the day before. Father Bax was thirty-five years old when death put an end to his apostolic labors. He had an ardent Zeal» a particular gift of speech, and the whole crowned with the most exalted virtues and an unalterable gentleness of manner. His delight was to instruct children. From his con- stant intercourse with the Osages, he had acquir- ed' a great knowledge of their language, and great hopes were placed on him for the future of the nation. Being so amiable and unpretending, he had the confidence of the Indians and the whites. His charity was boundless, and was the cause of his death. Father i^ax had desired to be buried among his dear Osages. Hence he was brought to the Mission, and the rites of the Catholic church were sung over his remains. Father Schoen- makers addressed the people, and feelingly told of the shining virtues of the dear deceased. The congregation gave signs of the deepest sorrow. The Indians, on their way back from a partial hunt, heard of the death of Father Bax. They made haste and arrived in time. They begged the Fathers to have the bier opened. To please them, it was done. But no sooner had they view- ed their Father and friend, dressed in his priestly robes, resembling more a person in sleep, than in death, than they raised a loud cry» and forgetting th.at they were in church, began their mourning song, as they have it at the loss of a dear friend. Their excitement was so great that for two I50 WESTERN IKDIAN MISSION. hQW^^0m^ walk<5d arg[iinc).tl;ie bi^r striking their breasts, arJrl singing the terrible mourning song. Qjily then did the>f give, up; the coffin was closed, and all i n j th © vP^ocgss jt^^ , ca.i'r ied . him; tg^ , his resJl;-_^ ing pla:Ce.-;:K| -.rl"; hj/iy--y: :^r:r,:,:' ■ ..■. ■■,,' :.: u.Xhe.:?9th of October, i§52, Father Adrian Van Hulst went, from St. Louis to fill the place oiFather Ba>s, ^ His help was much needed. The goyemment had allowed the Quapaws to send their children to the Osage manual school, so that the. number of pupils had nearly doubled. Besides, the Indians of the six nations, generally called New York Indians, had. just settled on a small stream called Little Osap-e, near Fort Scott, and it became necessary to visit them » as many, among them were Catholics. . ^ Father \^an Hulst went on his apostolic dutieS; with great zeal. The Quapaws, the vSenecas, the Chernkees, the Creeks and the v^eminoles receiv- ed his frecjuent visits. He extended them as far as Fort Gibson at the junction nf the Neosho with the Arkansas river. The fruits derived from these visits were immense. But. alas! the hardships he experienced in traveling thru these boundless deserts so impaired his. health that his superiors had to recall him. to rest for a. while. He left for St. Louis on the T4th dav of October, t8^;4, havinsf spent two years at the Mission. The half-breeds gave the Fathers much conso- lation, but for the Osa^e Indians it was difficult to do any eoo . In Septembar. When, on the 12th of April, 186 1, the first gun was shot at Fort Sumpter, it reached all) over the land, and the forest Indians themselves felt.it. Placed so near the border, the Osage Missipii suffered much from incursions of the jrrtilitary. The fact is/ that some demanded all -because they. were enemies, and the others cle- fiianded; all because they were friends. Stead- fast in his duty toward the Union, father Schpen- J^akers was in particiilar the object of the hat r^ed o f all the troops of guerillas, which pass- €'4 %.'' Five .hundred dollars reward, was pfifered foVliish^ad; Hence he left the Mission, and re- tired for some hionths to St. Arary's. ' The storm over, he .returned Tiome. During his absence, Father Ponziglione was throttled to give up WESTERN INDIAN MISSION. 155 "thfe -arms that wfere said to be concealed at the JViission. After a brutal search, liiiding none, they abused Father Hoecken, whom they met. A dastardly attempt was made upon the Ute of Father Van Gooch. On his return from Fort Scott, where he had been attaiding the numerous soldiers professing the Catholic faith, he fell into the hands of a band of robbeis dressed in mili- tary. They ordered him from his horse, made him kneel down, their guns leveled — ^the word only was wanting. But the leader, more human than those hends, said there was no glory in kill- ing a man without arms and making no resist- ance.- He promised to attend to him in due time, and had him conveyed to the house of a friend, whence he reached the Mission in safety. Some speculators, desiring to enrich them- selves, came among the Osages and raised re- cruits among them. But an hidian remains an Indian, altho dressed in soldier's clothes. They all left the ranks and returned home, where they sold their clothes for a dram of whiskey, and went buffalo hunting. They drank freely, and Father Ponziglione, not knowing this, arrived at the Osage town of Nantze-Waspe. There he was isurrounded. complaints were made against the officers v,'ho enrolled them and paid them not; thence against all the white men ; knives w^ere branished aroitiid the Father, and poised to stab him. Just then a cry of terror was heard; -Union troops were near, and he was saved. ■ .''''■''?." .>;'' Several tribes of Indian-s flying f rbm th^ Sbtith iaine up ariiong the Osages. These more or less demoralized the Osag-es, as well' as ; chose ifhp 'had 'been in the^army; lri>'¥a1n \tei-e th^y^^i- str.ucted, invited to be cit^lized " and cared f 6'rl;- It was useless. "Father." they would say, ''j'Oti promised us ver}' great things in the liame of 156 WESTERN INDIAN MISSION. your Great Spirit iti another knd. We are poor now ; why does He not give them here now? We are bound to work for you or starve." Thus they reasoned ; for heavenly things they had no rehsh ; sugar, tea and coffee were better to them. As soon as the spring opened they rushed to their forests, and while the Easter offices were performed at the ^rission.. you might have heard, one mile further in the woods, the mournful song of the Tarki-un, their worship song, accompanied by the drum, and if penetrating nearer you should be able to see them you would find them in their forest recess sacrificing their bird to the Great Spirit^ and like the ancient augurers con- sulting the palpitations and convulsions of the dissected animal to foretell their success in war or the hunt. In the meanwhile the dangers increased ; both the white settlers and the Indians abandoned the country and the Mission was deserted; the schools were very full, but no protector was near. The only breastwork was the innocence of the little children. The fact is that several guerilla troops went there to pillage and burn, and yet were restrained from it by the innocence of the little ones, who, having no knowledge of friend or foe were equally kind to all. One band, hov/evei, took ?J1 the provisions, all the clothing to be found in both houses, even that of the children* and retired without more injury. This caused Father Schoenmakers to ap- ply to Generals Charles Blair and Thomas Ewing for troops, which request was readily granted, and a company of soldiers was stationed at the Mission, thus checking the constant inroads of robbers, and giving security to teachers and pu- pils. The Mission was in great danger when a large WESTERN INDIAN MISSION. 1^7 train escorted by soldiers left the place for Fort Smith, but was captured by the Confederates near Cabin Creek, sixty-five miles south. Gen- eral Price and his army became formidable ; but fortunately, before reaching Baxter Springs, the old general cast his soldiers into the State of Missouri. All the soldiers scattered about, and indeed all available men were mustered into service to defend our State from invasion. Soon after the assasination of x\braham Lincoln peace was proclaimed, confidence was restored, and the settlers returned to their homes. As is always the case after such wars, suspi- cious characters remain for the spoils, and steal now in the dark, since they cannot rob publicly as before. Thus in one night all the horses and the greater part of the stock of the Mission were removed* and no tidings were ever had of their whereabouts. The mission lost consider- ably during this unhappy war, without the hope of ever receiving one cent back. In the year 1865, Father Hoecken was remov- ed from the Mission, and Father John Cunning- ham sent to reside at Fort Scott, where Father Ponziglione had finished a good church and form- ed a congregation. In the fall of the same year, the United States Government sent its agents to a great council with the Osages. All the chiefs and braves met on the In-sca-po-oushii Creek, and the white men met on Canville's Creek. Father Schoenmakers was officially invited to attend, and taking the stand, he explained to the Indians the advantage resulting for them from a treaty with the United States. This treaty was signed by both parties on the spot. As soon as the land was open for settlement a rush was made, and the work increased consid- 158 WESTE^RN INDIAN MISSION. erably. A church was built and congregation formed ct Humboldt. But great confusion fol- lowed the taking of claims by men who had no right to such. Quarrels followed among the set- tlers, but all were happily adjusted, and the church could not contain all the Catholics. An- other missionary was sent to help in the good and difficult work. This was Father John Schoensetters. The distant missions were again visited to the great joy of the Catholic population. Father Schoensetters attended the white popu- lation of Carthage, Granby, Newtonia and Neo- sho, in Missouri, and the new settlements on the Quapaw, Seneca and Cherokee lands, also Cow Creek, Spring River and Neosho, in Kansas, and Baxter Springs. The Osages, six months after the treaty, hav- ing moved to their new reservation. Father Schoenmakers followed them, in order to in- struct them. Starting from the Mission, he fol- lowed the Osage trail, and reached first the bands of Clermont and Black Dog, on Pumpkin Creek, in the Verdigris Valley, thence to Big Hill, a large Osage town of one hundred lodges. Leav- ing Big Hill, he came into the camps of Beaver, White Hair, Nantze-Waspe and LHtle Osage, at the junction of Fall River and the Verdigris. During these last years, the Catholic popula- tion of the Osage Mission increased so much that a large church is in wa}^ of construction; a corKvent has been built for the Sisters of Loretta and a residence will soon be built for the Fath- ers. A large circulating library has been es- tablished by Father Colleton, who succeeded Father Schoensetters. So that everything goes prosperously. Many churches have been bnilt and congrega- tions established in the neighborhood, and con- WESTERN INDIAN MISSION. 1 59 stantly some of the Fathers are on missionary tours. The Jesuit Fathers of the Osage Mission have been the pioneers of Kansas. They have, accord- irjjg to the text of the Scriptures, sown the seed of the Word of God into those wild countries; others will come who will in joy reap the harvest Perhaps lofty cathedrals will be raised where the poor pioneer priest has rejoiced in raising a small cross. All ihe good performed will be known at the day of reckoning, when all nations will stand before the throne of God and be judg- ed according to their works. James H. De^ouri. CHAPTER X. FATHER DE LA CROIX. Father Charles De La Croix was the first mis- sionary among the Osages in what is now Kan- sas, of which We have found any record, and not much is known of his work, aside from what has already been said in this book. Father De La Croix was born at Hoorbeke, St. Corneille. Belgium, October 28, 1792, and was educated at the seminary at Ghent. When Na- poleon I, by aid of his military power, appointed a bishop contrary to the wish of the people of the Diocese, the students at Ghent resisted, and as a punishment young De La Croix and his brother were imprisoned in the fortress at Wes- sel, where his brother died. After the fall of the empire he resumed his studies and was ordained at Ghent by Bishop Dubourg, of St. Louis, and sailed for America with the bishop. In May, 181 8, he was put in charge of the missionary work at Barrens, Perry count), Mo., and at the same time was assigned the duties of superin- tending the construction of a seminary building for the diocese of Louisiana. On December 3, 181 8, he went to Florissant' also called St P'erd- inand, near St. Louis. He continued his labors there until about August, :823. It was while located at Florissant that Father De La Croix made his trips to the Osages on the Neosho. He is known to have visited the Osages in 1820 and the records of St. Francis' church show he baptised twelve Osages on this (160) FATHER De LA CROIX. i6i occasion, but the location is not stated and pos- sibly may have been at Harmony, which was just across the line in Missouri. The church rec- ords show more baptisms of Osages by him m 1822. These were most likely performed some- where near where St. Paul, Kansas, is now lo- cated, and Jinircas History of Kansas says these were tlie first baptisms on record performed m Kansas territory. Father Paul, in one of his let- ters, savs Father De La Croix was preparmg to build a' chapel among the Osages when he was taken away by death. In this Father Paul ap- pears to havebeen mistaken, for he lived nearly fifty years after his last visit to Kansas and made a remarkable record. T-i t Between his trips to Kansas Father De l^a Croix laid the corner stone for a new church at Florissant on February 19, 1821. This church was completed thru his efforts in 1823. On August 31. 1823. he helped Father Van Quicken- borne break ground for the foundation for the first building to be erected by the Jesuits at that place, and a few days later he turned the new church over to the care of Father Van Quicken- borne and departed for Louisiana. On August 21. 1818, he established the con- vent of the Sacred Heart at Florissant, Mo., over which Mother PhUippine Duchesne ruled for several years before she came to Kansas and established a school among the Pottawatomies on Sugar Creek in 1841. This convent later passed into the hands of the Sisters of Loretto who still maintain an academy there. Father De La Croix is classed as a most zeal- ous worker both in local and missionary fields. He prepared the wav for Father Van Qutcken- borne and the other Jesuit missionaries who came to Florissant in 1823. He had built and l62 FATHER DE LA CROIX. paid for a brick church, had started a farm and opened the missionary field for the Jesuits, all of which he turned over to them soon after their arrival. He then became pastor of St. MichaeVs parish in Lower Louisiana until 1829, when he went to Belgium to recuperate his health. While there he collected funds sufficient to build a new church in his old parish in Louisiana, and re- turning! to America he completed the church in 1832. In 1833 ^^ went back to Belgium and became canon of the Cathedral of Ghent, which position he held until his death on August 20, CHAPTER XL FATHER VAN QUICKENBORNE. "Dwells in his little village, the Black Robe chief of the Mission, Much he teaches the people, and tells them of Mary and Jesus; Loud laugh their hearts with joy, and weep zuith pain, as they hear him." — Longfellow. Rev. Charles Van Quickenborne, S. J., was the second missionary among the Osages in the west. He was the successor of Father De La Croix and a most zealous worker. His labor among the Osages while they remained near St. Louis are told in another chapter. His first trip west was in 1827, when he visited the Osages on the Neosho, \^erdigris and Marmaton rivers. Many of the Osages had become acquainted with him in eastern Missouri before they came west and they gave him a hearty welcome. He made other trips to the Osages in the west in 1829, 1830 and 1834, baptising many on each trip. On the records of St. Francis' church, St. Paul, Kansas, appears the following, with a certi- ficate that it is an exact copy of the original report made by Father Van Quickenborne : **The publication having been dispensed with, I have received the mutual consent of and given the nuptial blessing according to the rites of our holy mother, the Catholic church, to the follow- ing couples : (163) 164 I^ATHER VAN QUICKENBORNE. *'i. Francis D, Aybean alias Brugiere, a Frenchman, and Mary, an Osage woman. "2. Joseph Brown alias Egtiesne, a Frenchman son of Stephen Brown and Acile Giguiere, and Josette A. Aybean, daughter of Francis A. Ay- bean, a Metif girl of the Osage Nation. "3. Basile Vesseur, son of Basile who was a half-breed of the Osage Nation, and Mary, an Osage woman, daughter of Kansa Shinza. ''The witnesses have been Christopher Sanguin- ess and Lonis Peltier. "Done at the house of Francis D. Aybean, near the bank of the Marmaton river in 1830. *'Chs. F. Van Qutckknborne. S. J." All Kansas histories consulted by the writer state the above marriages were performed on the Neosho in 1828 and that Father Van Ouick- enborne died in 1828. Indeed Father Ponzigli- one, in one of his letters, gives 1828 as the year of his death. Tt is apparent that all these are in error. The charter of the St. Louis University was issued on December 28, 1832, to Father Van Quickenborne and four others. In a history of that institution, the following appears: ''Dur- ing this year. 1827, Father Van Quickenborne went on his first missionary excursion to the Osage tribe of Indians beyond the borders ot Missouri, and at an estimated distance of five hundred miles from Florissant. He subsequent- ly paid two other visits to this tribe — one in T829 and the other in 1830 — with a view of start- mg schools and a missions rv residence amone them." • ^ This refutes the statement of Kansas histori- ans that Father Van Quickenborne was in Kan- sas in 1828, or that he died during that year. Tt likewise shows that he must have, on his first FATHER VAN QUICK^NBORNE. 165 trip, visited those members of the tribe farther- est west as well as those on the Neosho, if he went as far as five hundred miles west from Florissant. Father DeSmet, in a letter written in 1857, tells of Father Van Ouickenborne building a house and chapel in 1836 among the Kickapoos. The history of the St. Louis University also contains the following: "Rev. Charles Van Quickenborne, to whom above all others, is due tile credit of establishing the Jesuit missions in Missouri, returned in 1837 from the Kickapoo mission started by him the preceding year, near the grounds of the present Ft. Leavenworth, and he went to recuperate his strength at Portage des Sioux. But the hardships of several years spent by him in border-life among the Indians had so shattered his constitution that no medi- cine and no kind attention could revive him, and he died at Portage des Sioux on Thursday, Aug- ust 17, 1837. His remains were interred on a little mound in the garden at St. Stanislaus no- vitiate, and they are now surrounded by those of nearly all his early companions in Missouri. A plain slab for a headstone, with a Latin in- scription on it, serves both to mark his last rest- ing place and to record the main events of his very com.mendable life." From the above it will be seen that Father V^an Quickenborne did not die in 1828, but nine years later. The history of Kansas also says the marriage ceremony recorded b}' Father Van Quicken- borne was the first performed in what is now the state of Kansas, and that it was performed on the Neosho near where the Mission was later established. From Father \'an Quickenbome's own record and other evidences the writer con- i66 rATxif;R van quick^nbornk. dudes it was performed not far from where Ft. vScotl now stands. It is quite certain, however, that Father V^an Ouickenborne paid more than one visit to the Osages on the Neosho. In fact one writer says he selected the site on which Father Schoen- makers afterward located "(3sage ^Mission." His last visit to the Osages on the Neosho was probably in 1834. The Osages owe a deep debt oi gratitude to this pioneer. He was the first to establish schools among them, and one of the first to bring the •'Gospel of Christ." Civilization, too, owes him much. He was the founder of the great St. Louis University, and pointed out the way for the establishment of the schools later established in Kansas by the Jesuits and by the v^isters of Loretto and of the vSacred Heart. Father De Smet. the noted missionary, and one of the six young Belgians who acconrnanipd Father \^an Onickenborne from Maryland to Missouri, wTote the follow-ing tribute : New^ York, May 16. 1857. This notice of the Rev. Charles Van Quicken- borne has been based on a sketch of his life, in the archives of the vice-province of Mfissouri. and T have inserted some facts from mv own knowledge. Father Charles Felix Van Ouickenborne was the first Jesuit who appeared in the great valley of the Mississippi after the re-establishment of the Society of Jesus. He was a man full of zeal for the salvation of souls. The conversion of the Indians was, in particular, the object of his predilection and of his prayers. Long will his name be held in benediction, and his mem- ory celebrated in the places which had the happi- FATHER VAN gUlCKKN BORNE. 1 6/ ness of receiving the fruits of his numerous la- bors and of his truly apostolic virtues. He was born in the diocese of Ghent, at Peteg- hem, near Deynze, on the 21st of January, 1788. Having commenced his studies at Deynze, he went to Ghent to complete them, and there he embraced the ecclesiastical state. Van Quicken- borne constantly distinguished himself by his talents and his application. Ordained priest, he was sent to Roulers, to teach belles lettres. He remained there four years; that is to say, until the moment that the ecclesiastical seminary was closed. A short time after his return to Ghent he was sent as vicar into a parish where he had the singular happiness, as he frequently said with pleasure, of finding Mr. Corselis as Dean. The friendship and the distinguished virtue of this venerated priest exerted a very salutary influence over the iiiind of the young vicar» and made an impression which was never obliterated. About this time the Society of Jesus, in the expectation of its approaching re-establishment, had prepared a novitiate at Rumbeke, neor Roul- ers. There, yielding to the impulse of his zeal, Van Quickenbome presented himself, on the 14th of April, 1815. From that moment he sighed for the mission of America. Scarcely had he finished his novitiate than he obtained from Father Thaddeus Brzozowski. then general, the permission to consecrate him- self entirely to the desired mission. He embark- ed at Amsterdam. After a navigation fraught with perils, he had the happiness of reaching America, near the close of the year 181 7. At the opening of the year 1819 he was plac- ed at the head of the novitiate of Maryland, at White Marsh He displayed, in this responsible position, all the means which it furnished him 1 68 FATHKR VAN QUICKEN BORNE. for the salvation of souls. Superior and master of novices, he became, at the same time, farmer, carpenter, and mason. He erected a handsome stone church on the novitiate grounds, and built a brick one at AnnapoHs. At the same time he attended, as a missionary, a vast district, which during several years, he was to evangehze alone, before a companion could second his charitable toil. His labors were precious for Maryland ; but the poverty of that mission was extreme. This led the Rt. Rev. Wm. du Bourg, bishop of botli Louisianas. to request that the novitiate to trans- ferred to Afissouri. The superior of the mission consented to it. Father \'an Quickenborne, therefore, set out with two Fathers', seven scho- lastic novices, and three coadjutor brothers. Af- ter a journey of i,6oo miles, amidst the heat of summer, with continual fatigues and privations, he arrived near Florissant, where he commenced the novitiate of Saint Stanislaus To form this new establishment, he found no other materials than those he drew himself from the forests and the rocky bed of the river. But his ardor for labor was daunted by no difficulty ^ his inflexible courage was not to be arrested by any obstacle. He was always the first at work. He seemed to multiply himself, going from one workman to another, exciting and encouraging ever\ one by his example far more than by his words. En- dowed with an admirable patience, and with a great spirit of mortification, he was never ex- acting to any one but himself, listened only to the enthusiasm which inspired him to spend himself without reserve, and never knew what it was to spare his own health or strength. He was near becoming a victim to this self-forget- fulness. One day he was working at the squaring rATilER VAN QUICKKNBORNE. 169 of a timber, aided in this labor by a young novice. The latter, not yet versed in the work, used his axe with an eagerness of which he was far from imagining the consequences. Right glad to per- ceive the wood yielding under his blows, he only thought of multiplying them. One of them* ill- directed, struck the Father on the foot. Not- withstanding this wound, and the loss of blood, the Father did not give up liis labor until he found himself fainting, then only would he take a seat and allow the cut to be bound up with a handkerchief The laborers, meanwhile, were three miles from the farm, which served them as a common residence. The Father endeavor- ed to return there on foot ; but, on the way, the pain arising from the wound became so violent that he was constrained to yield and suffer him- self to be put on the horse that had been sent for him. A burning fever obliged him to keep his bed for several days. As soon as he became a little better he desired to return to his work, but he must use the horse. Thence arose a new accident. The shores of the river are swampy in certain places ; the horse sunk into one of these mires ; the Father needed all his calm and coolness to regain the solid ground ; but all the eflforts that he made to extricate the poor animal proved useless ; he was obliged to see him per- ish. These accidents, instead of shaking his con- stancy, had the effect of rendering him more firmly determined to accomplish his purpose. It was surrounded by difficulties, which would have appeared insurmountable to a couraofe less heroic, that he constructed the novitiate of Florissant, aided by his Belgian novices. In 1828 he un- dertook the construction of a university at St. Louis. He also built, at St. Charles, a stone church and a convent for the religious of the I JO i-ATHKR VAN QUICKE:NB0RNE. Sacred Heart, as well as a residence These toilsome undertakings, and all the manifold cares arising from them, seemed but to freshen his activity: he only finished one enterprise to begin a new one. Florissant and St. Charles became as many rallying-points around which little colonies of Catholics and Protestants formed and multiplied. The missionaries went in every direction to af- ford spiritual aid for so many abandoned souls, too often more destitute of the riches of grace than of those of earth. Father Van Quicken- borne devoted himself to these apostolic courses with real gladness of heart; his consuming zeal found the sweetest consolation in the conversions which he effected. The Protestants testified the greatest respect towards him, altho then (in 1824, 1825, etc.), as at present, their ministers spared no means to fetter his proceedings and arrest the effects of his zeal. They depicted our relig- ion as an assemblage of absurd and contemptible doctrines : they drew most revolting portraits of the missiotiary. Among certain of the lower class- es, they even went so far as to make him a monster with cloven feet, horns on his head, and amied with claws. Hence, when the Father appeared among thein for the first time, these poor peo- ple flocked around, scanned him attentively from head to foot, and finding him like other men, they immediately listened to him, and were converted without the least difficulty. In one of his rides, there happened to him one of those singular facts in which he recognized more particularly the action of divine Provi- dence. Arrived at a place where the road branched, he intended taking the more beaten road, but his horse resisted. In vain he urged him to obey : the animal prevailed over the ims- FATHER VAN QUICKENBORNE:. I7I sionary, and darted rapidly into the otiier and less agreeable way. The route crossed a forest. Night came on, and he found himself obliged to stop at a little cottage, as poor as solitary, and, as it were, lost by its little dimensions in the towering wood. The Father met with a cold reception. As they perceived he was a mission- ary priest a great reserve was maintained. Sup- per was indeed served for him» but they spoke with him in a timid and embarrassed manner. He understood the cause. In the corner of the room lay a sick child with a fever, and in ex- tremities. The missionary asked the distracted mother whether her boy had received baptism. On being answered in the negative, he began to explain the necessity of this sacrament. "God Himself sent me here," added he, "to open to your child the portals of heaven ; you must hast- en, for soon he will be no more!" Tlie mother replied disdainfully, that she would never suffer a priest to baptise her son ; that she did not be- lieve in baptism. It was in vain to insist. As the child was consumed with thirst the Father, feigning to renounce his first idea, very kindly attempted to relieve it from time to time, by giving it a little water, and at a moment when the mother, occupied with other things, turned her attention elsewhere, he baptised the child, who scared to heaven a few minutes after. A short time after this, passing near tlie cot- tage, the Father called again and asked to see the mother of the child. This time he found her affable and obliging. She evinced a very great desire to have some information concerning the Catholic religion. Soon she r. vowed that all she had heard on the necessity of Irc^^itism troubled her, and that she deplored it as a m-'sfortune that she had deprived lie.- son of so great a grace. 172 I^ATHKR VAN OUICKENBORNK. "Console yourself," said the kind Father, '*your son received baptism, and he now enjoys the beatific vision. He now intercedes for you with God. Receive baptism, and you will one day share his happiness." These words produced the desired effect. The woman was converted, and, with her whok family, received baptism. Such were the blessed consequences of the ob- stinacy of the horse. Strangely enough, on the day after, he follov.^ed the other road without any show of resistance. The salvation of souls was, with this apostolic man, an ever-present thought, desire, and neces- sity. He had also a wonderful art in seizing occasions and profiting by circumstances. He understood also, by his conversations and nar- ratives, how to communicate to others the zeal with which he was inflamed. They were capti- vated, so that those who could not assist him by their labors, pledged themselves, at least, to assist him by their prayers. Thus, in order to engage his novices to pray with ardor, he grant- ed them a little feast each time that the con- versions attained a certain number. The Protestants, we have already observed* m?de efforts to throw obstacles in the path of the man of God, but he had to struggle especial- ly with the Methodists. One day he gave a severe blow to the influence of these noisy secta- rians. Being on a mission, he heard that they were to hold a meeting in a place named to him. For a long time he had sought an occasion of coming in contact with them. He, therefore, set out for the appointed locality, and endeavored to attract there all the Protestants that he could find. The Methodists were holding their meet- ing in the church. The Father, on his arrival, found an immense concour.^e. His religious FATHER VAN gUICKENBORNE. 1/3 habit aud his venerable air, at first excited a pro- found astonishment in men, most of whom saw d priest for the first time. In their amazement, several cried uot: ''What does that queer man want?" The Father answered modestly, that he was desirous of hearing fiom their mouths some explanations on certain important points which concerned religion, and bagged they would allow him to propose a few questions. Then, profiting by the consent which they i^ave him. he began to interrogate them on the essential points that distin^^-uished the true from the erroneous doc- trines. The ministers wish to reply, but no two answer in the same manner. They refute them- selves, and contradict each other. The Father insists; they disagree. The confusion only in- creases, to the great scandal of the auditors, who thus have an evidence that those ministers, so habituated to despise the priests in their absence, are incapable of replying to them when they meet them. The Father left these men disputing (to their shame and confusion), and went to make a discourse in tlie open air on the unity, sanctity, catholicitv. and apostolicity of the Roman Catho- lic Church, which all sects and all their ministers united can never shake. Such astonishing bold- ness, the talents of the preacher, and the solidity of his reasonings, conciliated the attention and respect of all. He had gained a signal victory over the ministers of falsehood and calumny. During a lon^g period, their discourses had no echo in that place. Every time that the Father returned there, they opened the hotel of the town to him, that he might celebrate Mass and preach. His sermons, every time, produced nu- merous conversions. On entering the apostolical career, Father Van Quickenborne enjoyed a robust health: but the 174 FATHER VAN QUICKENBORNE. severe labors and incessant hardships of the apostolale undermined his strength. However, his infirmities never cooled the ardor of his zeal). His charity and his confidence in God seemed to supply the weakness of nature, and God, more than once, seconded his efforts in a marvel- ous manner. One day, while he was retained in his bed by a severe, and even serious malady, they came to tell him that a poor Catholic, dying, a hundred miles off^ implored the comforts of religion. To the amazement of all, he caused a cart to be prepared, ordered his matress to be laid in it, and taking with him the Blessed Sacra- ment and the oils he set forth, after giving to them all his blessing. All received it, as tho it would be the last. They followed their kina Father with fears and regrets. After a few days he reappeared among them quite triumphant ; he had administered to the sick man, and was him- self perfectly cured". His apostolical zeal inclined him above all to those places in which he saw more spiritual pri- vations and more neglect. He ardently desired to go and evangelize tlie poor Indians, wander- ing in the wilderness. He made several excur- sions among the Osages and the lowas, and each time the most precious fruits met his expecta- tion. In 1836, he succeeded, by soliciting, in collecting some money in the different States. He at once commenced a fixed residence among the Kickapoos ; already he had built a house and chapel. He had visited the neighboring tribes, and formed the most extensive and solid de- signs for their conversion, when he was sudden- ly arrested in the midst of his enterprises. The Superior of the Missions in Missouri, on paying the visit to his missionaries, found the Father so feeble in health that he judged him incapabl© FATHER VAN OUICKENBORNE. 1/5 of continuing his labors. As soon as the Superior returned to St. Louis he recalled him. Faithful to the voice of obedience, Father Van Quickenborne quitted his cherished mission. He reappeared at St. Louis with a cheerful counte- nance, reposed there some dr:ys, went to make his annual retreat at the novitiate, and then set out for St. Charles, so as to go thence to the little parish of St. Francis in the Portage des Sioux. There he was to lead a quiet life, assist- ed by one coadjutor brother, and only bestow- ing his cares on this little flock. But is there any hope of limiting his zealous efforts? He set himself at once to build a church in the neigh- borhood, and he was desirous of converting a certain number of Protestant families. These labors were absorbing his whole attention, when he was attacked by a bilious fever which carried him off in some days, resisting all the cares of an experienced physician. Father Pallaison assited him in the hour of death. The man of God was calm until the end, and filled with devout resignation. He received the last sacraments with a deep and touching piety, and saw death approaching without fear. About twenty minutes before expiring, preceiv- iiig his last moment, **Pray for me/' said he to the Father and Brother who were near him. These were his last words. He expired without agony. His death took place on the i/th of August. T837. His body, followed by crowds, was borne to St. Charles, and interred with much pomp in the middle of the graveyard, at the foot of the cross. Catholics and Protestants assisted at his funeral, for he was beloved by all. The lengthened labors of this apostolic man, and the churches which he built, suffice to per- 176 FATHER VAN QUICKENBORNE. petuate his memory, were it not already deeply erjgraven in the hearts of all who knew him. P. J. De Smet, S. J. CHAPTER XII. FATHER VERREYDT. Hoii' brave and earnest the pioneers must have been to follow the trail of the red man and blaze the li'ay for us to come in.—]tsst htt Beck. Father Felix L. A'^erreydt was born in Belgium Feb. i8. 1798. He was the immediate predecessor of Father Schoenmakers as missionary among the Osage?, and was one of the six young men who came to America from Belgium in 1820 with Rev. Fr. Nerinckx and entered the novitiate at White \larsh, M'^ryland. He was also one of the six young men who volunteered to accom- pany Father \'an Ouickenborne to Missouri m 1823. and he helped to establish the Jesuits at Florissant, Mo., their first home west of the Mississippi river. During the first few months of their stav at Florissant the eight Jesuits were all lodged m one log cabin. Their beds were •'pallets on the floor." Fr. Verreydt helped to cut the logs and erect some of the first buildings at Florissant. He had not completed his studies for the priesthood at that time, but he did physi- cal labor during the day and studied his books at night. He also devoted part of his time to teaching the Indian children. ^ ^ Father \"errevdt was ordained priest at Floris- sant in September. 1827, by Bishop Rosati, and was assigned to the church at St. Charles. Later he was transferred to Portage des Sioux, near St Louis, where in 1834 be built a biick church. 178 FATHER VKRREYDT. Some time before 1837 he and Father Chris- lion Hoecken were located at a mission among the Kickapoos near Ft. Leavenworth. On August 29, 1 84 1, he joined the Jesuit colony at St. Mary's Mission on Sugar Creek where the town of Centerville, Kansas, now stands. There he organized an anti-liquor bri- gade for the protection of the Indians against liquor peddlers. The brigade kept a sharp out- Jook for any Hquor that might enter the village and destroyed it. The brigade did effective work for a number of years. In November, 1847, lie selected the site on the Kaw river where St. Mary's, Kansas, now stands, as the future location of the colony, and on June 20^ 1848, the spot on which St. Mary's College now stands was chosen by him for the Indian girls school under charge of the Sisters of Sacred) Heart, and on September 7, 1848, Father Verreydt led the little band into the build- ing which had been erected for the school. The buildings for the boys' school were erected near by that winter, and from these grew St. Mary's College. It was at this place that Bishop Miege and Father Ponziglione arrived Miay 24. 1851, on their way from St. Louis to Osage Mission. They stopped for about a month before proceeding to the home of the Osages. The records of St. Francis' church at St. Paul, show two trips io the Osages on the Neo- sho by Father Verreydt, one in 1843 and the other in 1846. On each trip he reported a num- ber of baptisms. After the missionary work in the west was turned over to Father Schoen- makers he was /given charger, in eastern Miss- ouri in T850 and labored there for years, part of the time at St. Charles and Portage des Sioux, and part of the time at the St. T^uis Univerf'ity. FATHER VERREYDT. 1 79 He outlived all of those who were his compan- ions to America from Belgium, and was more than four score years old when he died at the home of the Jesuit Fathers, at St. Xavier's Col- lege, in Cincinnati, Ohio, on March i, 1883. He was buried in the Jesuit cemetery near the scene of his early labors at St. Stanislaus Seminary, Florissant, Mo. Father Verreydt was a zealous priest, a tire- less worker, and a man of marked ability. Truly he left ''footprints on the sands of time," in Kansas that will not be obliterated for ages yet to come. CHAPTER XIII. FATHER JOHN SCHOENMAKERS. "Unto a task of seeming lowliness — Yet God-like in its purpose, he went forth To bind the broken spirit — to pluck back The heathen from the ivorship of the planets — To place the spiritual image of God, Holy and just and true, before the eye Of the dark-minded Indian — and unseal The holy pages of the Book of Life." — Adopted From Whittier. Father John vSchoenmakers, S. J., has been properly termed the "Father of Osage Mission/' He might as truly be termed the "Father of Civilization in Southeastern Kansas," for he formed the first pemianent white settlement in what is now Southeastern Kansas, but at that time known as the Western Indian Territory. It is true he was not the first white person to visit the region of the Neosho, but those preced- ing him were either traders or transitory mission- aries who remained but a short time in one place. It v/as like going out of civilization for Father Schoenmakers and his little party to come into this western country, hundreds of miles from a railroad or a town, where there were few con- veniences of life, where the ways of the white man were little known and where the dark- skinned rovers of the plains held sway. But ''Since the davs Loyola lived and tauqht (iHo) FATHER SCHOENMAKERS. l8l There has not blown a wind that did not fill Some whitened sail, bearing to distant lands His earnest sons, to plant the seeds of faith," On the 20th of November, 1807, there was born in an hnnible home in the town of Waspick, Langstaat, province of North Brabant, in Hol- land, John Schoenmakers, son of Henry Schoen- makers and Petronella Kamp, both natives of \\'aspick. In his youth he was a student at the DeNef school in Tournout, Belgium. Mr. De- Nef was a layman but was extremely interested in the American missions and John Schoenmak- ers was only one of the many young men whom he influenced to prepare for American mission- ary labors. John Schoenmakers was ordained as' a secular priest in 1833, celebrating his first Mass April 16. 1833. He was thoroly imbued with the desire to join the Jesuits and to become a missionary among the American Indians, and to carry out that idea he set sail for New York as soon as he could get his affairs arranged, ar- riving in tliat city on Christmas day, 1833. He proceeded without delay to Georgetown, Mary- land, where he joined the Jesuit order, January 16, 1834. In June, 1834. he was sent to Floris- sant to join Father Van Quickenborne's little colony. At Florissant he had for his companions Father De Smet, Father Verreydt and others who soon after became noted missionaries, some of them of world wide fame. Soon after, he was given a position at the St. Louis I'niversity. This place he held until 1837, when he was rnade superior of the Jesuit colony which then resided in that part of North St. Louis called Lowell, at that time open country. It was also known as the "College Farm" and was used for a sum- mer retreat for the Jesuits. At the time he was l82 FATIIKR SCHOKNMAKERS. selected to take charge of the mission to be established among the Osages on the Neosho, he was pastor of the church of St. Charles Bor- romeo at St. Charles. Mo. LF.AVKS FOR THE OSAGES. Father Schoenmakers" tirst trip to the land of the Osages, the scene of his future labors, was made in 1846, to inspect the buildings that were being erected under direction of M'ajor Harvey, and to make arrangements for the establishment of his permanent home, after which he returned to St. Louis for supplies and to await the com- pletion of the buildings. On /\pril 7, 1847. Father Schoenmakers, ac- companied by Father Bax and three Jesuit lay- brothers, left St. Louis, on his return to the Osages. They traveled up the Mississippi and I'Jissouri rivers by boat to Westport, near Kan- sas City and from there made their way to the Neoslio by wagon. Instead of the fast horses or the automobiles driven by the people of to-day, Father Schoenmakers had two or three teams of oxen vvhicli made the trip thru the then wild and uninhabited country a long and tedious one. There ^\'cre no houses where he might pass the night, and when he and his little company lay pown at night for a little rest there was no shel- ter over them, save one, the broad canopy of heaven. It required seven days to make the journey from Westport to the Neosho, after they had already been two weeks getting from St. Louis to Vvestport. They arrived on the scene of their future labors, April 28 or 29, 1847. and took up their abode near Flatrock creek not far from v/here St. Francis' church, St. Paul, Kansas, now stands. The Osages had a small FATHER SCHOEN MAKERS. 183 town of about twenty-five wigwams near by and they gave the "black gowns" a most cordial welcome. They liad been awaiting Father Schoenmakers promised return, and were filled with joy when the promise was fulfilled. From that time on he was their friend, their teacher, their counsellor, and their spiritual adviser. OPENS THE SCHOOL. Father Schoenmakers lost no time after his arrival at the Mission. He and his associates began active preparation for opening the schooL and for looking after the spiritual needs of the Osages. The first official act recorded on the church records after their arrival was the bap- tism of Sara, daughter of Shoenka, by Father Bax on ]\Tay 2, 1847. "^^'^^ first baptism by Fath- er Schoenmakers recorded was preformed on May 9, 1847, Htein Shoenka bein,g the person baptised by him. Immediately upon his arrival Father Schoen- makers set about to make as comfortable as pos- sible the rude quarters furnished by the govern- ment for the school and the home of himself and his associate workers. There were no whites among the Osages then except a few roving trad- ers. Skilled laborers could not be employed, hence there was much manual labor to be per- formed by Father Schoenmakers and the three brothers who had accompanied him west. But they set about it with a will and on May 9. 1847, enrolled Peter Brond a? the first pupil in the school. Louis Louison was the second. The school was called the Osage Manual Laboring school and was formally opened on May 10.^ 1847. and by the end of the month fourteen were en- 1 84 FATHER SCHOEN MAKERS. rolled. The total enrollment the first year was twenty-eight. The school had many handicaps, one of the greatest being the buildings. The government had planned well, and had appropriated a suffi- cient sum of money from the funds which the In- dians had on deposit with the government, but some of those whose duty it was to construct the buildings and put them in proper condition failed miserably to perform that duty faithfully. ^ Father Bax made a report in writing to Extra- ordinary Agent, Mr. Devereaux, which tells of these things. The copy of the report on the church records is not dated, but the text indicates it was written in the fall of 1847. ^^ i^ ^^ ^*^^" lows : ''The houses destined for the Mission are un- lit to be inhabited. They are unhnished, the plastering of the rooms has fallen off, some of the chimnies have fallen in. the joining of the walls are fallen out. Mr. Harvey directed to have both of the houses weatherboarded which has not been done, the fence around the houses destined for the education of the females is un- fit, not preventing the approach of the Indians. The buildings erected are too small to accomrno- date the children, so it is of the utmost necessity to have adjoining buildings erected. "We opened the school on the roth of May and began with 13 bovs and continued until Aug- ust when three more cam.e. about the loth of October two more and before they will go on the summer hunt about six or eight will come in. Many have given notice of sending in their boj^s at that period. There is no doubt but before winter approaches more vrill present themselves as we are able to take care of them according to PATHliK SCHOKN MAKERS. 1 8$ contract. The present boys surpass in every respect bv far our expectations. "We desire very much the government would encourage the Usages their beginning to culti- vate the soil, for unless they change their man- ner of living we can expect but little fruit from the education we endeovor to impart to their chil- dren. Several of the Indians begin to see this as the buffalo becomes more scarce every year. Still the traders encourage them very much for hunting so that we fear some will never change as long as they can find any game. Still we hope that the means the government has afforded for education of the females will hasten their man- ner of living." Father Schoenmakers, as head of the institu- tion, devoted his greatest energies to the schools. His contract with the government held him re- sponsible for the school for the girls as well as the one for the boys and altho the girls' school was under charge of able Sisters, it nevertheless required considerable attention from him. The scarcity of teachers in the school for boys as well as the shortage of assistants in the mission- ary work made his duties very numerous and rather strenuous. Supplies had to be obtained from a great distance and were weeks on the road. In addition to the usual hardships of pioneer life with insufficient and poor quarters, came the drouth, the grassnoppers, the scourge of disease, the war and many other perplexing and troublesome propositions which cause one of this da}^ to wonder how he got along so well. Nevertheless his schools were kept open and made good progress except for a short period during the measles epidemic in 1852 and again during the early part of the civil war. In the records kept Father Schoenmakers 1 86 FATHER SCHOEN MAKERS, says : "The branches hitherto taught are per- formed in EngUsh, viz; spelling, reading, arith- metic, singing. Christian morahty, agriculture and domestic economy." Vvlien the Kansas department of education a few years ago added agriculture to the course of study required in the public schools of the state, it was regarded as an innovation, something en- tirely new, yet this was one of the regular branch- es taught in the school established among the OsageS: even before Kansas was organized as a territory. Much the same may be said of domestic economy. Father Schoenmakers taught those branches which he believed would be most valuable to his pupils. There were then no school laws, no prescribed course of study, no school boards to dictate to him. In the spring of 1852 a Quapaw Indian came to visit the school. Soon after his arrival he became sick and soon developed a case of meas- les. This started an epidemic of the disease that spread all over the Osage Nation and caused many deaths. Only one pupil in the school es- caped the disease. This temporarily closed the school. Caring for the sick also added to the burdens of the Mission, and bi ought on a most trying time. Father Bax worked most faithfully among the Indians in trying to allay the ravages of the disease, .eriving little heed to himself. As a result he contracted an ailment from which he died a few weeks later. QUAPAW INDIAMS ADMTTTlvD TO SCHOOL. Father Bax did some work among the Qua- paw Indians and won their friendship to such an extent that they sought admission for their children to the school. The first baptism of a FATHER SCHOEN MAKERS. 187 Quapavv recorder by the Fathers at the Mission was performed September i8, 1848. Fifty-three Quapaws were baptised in 1850. Application for admission to the school was made soon after, but as the funds used to pay the expenses of the school were taken by the government from Osage money in the U. S. treasury, Father Schoenmak- ers required the Quapaws to get the consent of the Osages before admitting the children. The following letter written by Father v^choen- makers to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs tells of the negotiations : Osage Manual School. 20th of May, 1853. To The Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington, D. C Honorable Sir : In the supposition that a pe- tition has been handed to your honor, signed by the Quapaw Chiefs, on the 15th of May, 1853, and approved by the agent, W. T. Morrow, 1 take the freedom to write to you the following lines, being myself principally concerned in the good results that may be effected by the grant of said petition. At the advice of our agent, I was {prevailed upon to yield to the earnest re- quests of the Quapaw Chiefs and have taken, on the 28th of Feb., 1853, ten Quapaw children into the Osage school, being myself witness that the Quapaw chiefs have obtained in council, thru the medium of the agent, the unanimous consent and approbation of the Osage Chiefs. Tt was not expected that many of the Quapaw parents would have consented to send their children some 60 or 70 miles from home, the above men- tioned ten Quapaw children being perfectly sat- isfied at the Osage school have caused the num- ber of Oiiaj^aw pupils to increase to seventeen l88 FATHER SCHOENMAKERS. and seven girls, there being on this 20th day of May, 24 Quapaw children at the Osage school. However great my desire may be of educating said children, unless 1 receive $55 per annum for board and tuition of each child I could not con- tinue their education, having learned from six years' experience that the Osage school has cost me $800 per year extra of the education fund at $55 per annum for each child. Whilst I am v^ait- ing for a favorable answer to the above named petition of the Quapaw Chiefs I will in the mean- time receive no other Quapaw children into the Osage school, expecting that the honorable gen- tlemen of the Indian department will authorize me to give education to upwaids cf 30 Quapaw youths at $55 per annum for each pupil. I will send this, my letter, to the Indian agent that it may be signed by him and that it may be known to all concerned that T have no unjust views or self interests, but that I wish to satisfy the desire of said Quapaw Indians. Very respectfully yours, I. SCHOEN MAKERS, S. J. DROUTHS AND GRASSHOPPERS. The small allowance of v$55 per year for board, and schooling of each pupil, made by the gov- ernment was not sufficient to pay the running expenses of the school, and agriculture had to be taken up to supply some of the wants of the community. This did very well until 1854 which was an exceptionally dry year and very little was produced. This necessitated the purchase of all supplies used, which because of the dry season were not easily obtained at moderate prices. In his distress Father Schoenmakers appealed to the government for help in the following letter : • ^^^■^^.i^^^., "-' — « .»^^' "^ '■■'-^l -^^. REV. JOHN SCHOENMAKERS, S. J. FATHER SCHOENMAKKRS. 189 Osage Nation, ist of October, 1854. To The Honorable Secretary of the Interior : The great failure of crops in the vicinity of the Osage Manual Labor School places us in the necessity of calling upon the generosity of the government. The usual allowance of $55 per annum for board and tuition and clothing of Osage and Quapaw children are insufficient to defray the extraordinary expenses of the running year. Our loss will amount to some $1,500, not count- ing our services. As we do not suppose that it is the intention of our generous government that her officers should sustain similar losses, we hope that you will assist us by presenting, if needs be, this petition to congress either your- self or thru your means by some competent per- son. I certify that the above statement is correct and that the loss will come to no less than $1,500. T. SCHOENMAKERS. S. J., Supt. of O. M. L. School Osage Council Ground, September 30, 1854. I do most certainly believe that the above statement is reasonable and hope something may be done for the relief of the proprietors of the Osage School. Andrew^ J- Dorn. U. S. Neosho Div. Agt. In response to the appeal the government in- creased the allowance $18.95 fo^ each pupil for that year and the school was again movinsf along when grasshoppers destroyed the crops in 1855. Two crop failures in succession brought on most trying conditions, and had it not been Tor 190 FATHER SCHOEN MAKERS. outside help in addition to the increased allow- ance of the government the school would have been obliged to close. The Indians too were suf- fering and were calling at the Mission for help. In the fall of 1855 the "Mission" was in dire circumstances when Father Schoenmakers ap- pealed to the government to have the increased allowance continued for a longer period. At this time he wrote the following letter to the com- missioner of Indian affairs, which not only tells of the troubles that beset the "Mission," but gives a description of the buildings : Osage Manual Labor School, ist of October, 1855. Hon Geo. W. Merripenny, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. It will be seen that I have charged for board and tuition of Osage and Ouapaw children at the increased rate of three preceeding quarters, my reason for so doing is a total failure of our crops caused by the grasshoppers. Provisions such as corn ineal. flour, meat, etc., demand up to this moment high prices. I gratefully ac- knowledge my obligation to your honor for the increased allowance at a rate of $18.95 P^^ ^.n- num for each child, made at my request in letter of October, 1854, but so exhorbitant have been the expenses of our school during the last and current years that before the end of 1854, I h;ad been obliged to call upon my superior for the amount of $1,000, and again in the beginning of 1854. T received other donations of $272 to support our schools. This will not seem sur- prising if I remark the fact that in ordinary years the allowance of $55 per annum for each child has merely sufficed to defray the expenses of the school. My medicine bills amount yearly FATHER SCHOENMAKERS. I9I to upwards of ^100. Add to this the indispen- sible obHgation of feeding the Indians and of making them donations for their daily wants, thereby to gain their hearts, or at least to gain their children for civilization. Since we commenced the Osage School in 1847, but little has been paid out to hired hands. However it has been necessary to supply a year- ly deficit of about $800. I must own it would have been much more encouraging to us if we had been enabled to have used the $6,400 in as- sisting our young people after leaving school and making our own domestic life more comfort- able. The female department counts forty pupils and eight female attendants. For the accommoda- tion of this large number, they have one com- mon refectory 20 by 18 feet, one play room 20 by 22 feet, and one common dormitory for chil- dren 20 by 22 feet, 6 1-2 feet high. The play and refectory rooms also serve as class rooms. Above the refectory are also two small rooms 6 1-2 feet hieh, the one serves as a wardrobe and the other a sick room. Besides a kitchen 14 by 14 feet and a common parlor, which as late as 1851 served as a dining room of the ladies, at which time a one-story and a half log house was built for their private use. The male department is better accommodated. The government made an allowance in 1849 o^ $r,ooo with which amount a two-story log house 50 by 25 feet was built in 1850 and has ever since been occupied by the boys and two of the teachers. The bake, wash, store house for the ladies, the weatherboarding of buildings, a well and the above one and a half story house for the ladies were all made at our own expenses in 1850 and 1857. Permit me to recall vour attention to 192 1^ATI1£R SCHOENMAKERS. a letter of the honorable I. Harthy Cronford to H. Harvey, superintendent, April 25, 1845, "I agree with you that as the measure is one of experiment among this tribe no more money should be expended than will enable us to give it a fair trial. Your recommendation therefore as contained in your letter of the 20th of Decem- ber, last, that two houses with the necessary out- buildiuiTs of sufficient dimensions to accommo- date say twenty pupils each with the teachers that will be employed, is approved.'" Most re- spectfully your obedient servant, John SchoenmaivErs. S. J. In response to the above appeal the govern- ment extended the increased allowance of $18.95 per annum for each child to cover the term of school ending June 3, 1855, but this fell far short of expenses, and Rt. Rev. Bishop Miege and others sent donations amounting to $1,300, by the aid of which the school was kept open. Crop conditions were better during the next few years and the schools began to prosper again, and the number of pupils was increased. In i860 there was another crop failure and more S^rasshoppers, but the school was getting on a firmer basis and was not so badly afflicted as in 1854 and 1855. TROUBLES DURING THE WAR. The coming on of the civil war brought the greatest affliction on the school in this period; in fact the school was obliged to close for a time and the Fathers were obliged to seek refuge northward at St. Mary's. Father Schoenmakers was an ardent supporter of the north and suc- ceeded in keeping most of the Osages loyal to FATHER SCHOEN MAKERS. I93 the Union. , ]\Iost of the Osage boys in the school that liad arrived at a sufficient age, en- hsted in the Union army. Being located so near the eastern and southern borders of the state, scouting parties of southern sympathizers and guerillas were frequently seen in the region of the Mission. Capt. John Mathews, who then resided near the present site of Oswego, was leader of one of these bands. He had previous- ly been a good friend of the Fathers and had sent his boys to' be educated at the Mission school, rie was a white man but his wife was an Osage woman. He hoped by his relation to the tribe to be able to induce them to join VA^th the south., but he found a strong objector in the person of Father Schoenmakers who was held in greater respect than he was, by the Osag- es. This angered Mathews and he gathered a force of men to capture Father Schoenmakers and break up the Miss'on. One of the Mathews boys who had attended school at the Mission, was so attached to the place and held its mem- ory so sacred he could not bear to have any harm come to it, even at the hands of his own father, and at the risk of his life, he notified Father Schoenmakers, who with his associates made a hurried flight northward during a dark and rain}^ night. Providence, however, intervened and sent such a rain that when Capt. M^athews and his company reached Flatrock creek, the stream wa« not passable and he was obliged to give up his evil designs for the present and re- turn home. Samuel J. Gillmore, an Indian trader and mer- chant, living near the Mission, who later occu- lted the famous "Castle Thunder" in the west part of the town of Mission, was related to -ATathew? ifev marriage, but be was an ardent, 194 FATHiiR SCHuENMAKliRS. outspoken Unionist. This angered Mathews and added to his fury, so Gillmore sought safety by moving to Humboldt. In 1876, Col. Olin Thurston wrote some interestinp^ "Reminiscen- ces of Early Days," for publication in the Hum- boldt Union, from which the following is taken : "Partisans of the South were active among the Indians in the south part of the State. A good many of the most intelligent and active half-breeds had from the first been in the inter- est of the South. Major Dorn, then agent of the Osages, was a graduate of West Point, and a rebel. The major, perhaps, never attempted to use his influence with the Indians in inducing them to take arms against the Union, or to ex- cite them to blood on the border. Before ac- tive hostilities commenced the major abandoned his post as agent, for the position of quarter-mas- ter in the rebel service. The Mathews family of half-breeds were all rebels, and were active in opposing all measures of the Federal Govern- ment. The Fathers at Osage Mission, from the very first, used their long experience and great influence with the Indians to keep them loyal to the Government, and to the efforts of these good Fathers we are indebted for the loyalty of these Indians during the war, more than to any other cause. "The Mathews family, referred to above, had, in the fall of 1861. residing at Osage Mission, a brother-in-law named Samuel Gillmore. Gill- more was a good, honest, inoffensive man, en- gaged in trading with the Osage Indians. Math- ews had some interest in the trading house. Gill- more was a Union man. The organization of an army at Fort Scott, and one at Neosho progress- ed, and it was evident that sooner or later the FATHER SCHOKNMAKERS. 195 two must meet. Foraging and scouting parties of either army made frequent raids, and Gill- more felt that he was unsafe at Osage Mission, and he determined to change his location. He determined to move to some point further north. Particular reference is made to this man Gill- more, and his movements, not on accourt of the man or his business, but because they produced results of a good deal of importance. It is said that the battle of Waterloo was lost because Napoleon was not aware of a certain ditch, lying between his lines and those of Wellington. Hum- boldt probably never would have been sacked and burned had it not been for the location of this man Gillmore. who did not consider him- self safe at the Mission. He gathered his teams and wagons, loaded in his ware and merchandise very quietly, and with his family started north. It was his intention to locate some distance north of the south line of the state. On his way a short distance north of Humboldt he met — un- fortunately for him and for Humboldt — a gen- tleman who induced him to return to Humboldt and open out his stock of goods, and go into business. This was some time in August or September, t86t. One of the Mathews boys, it appears, had an interest in these goods. Gill- more's wife was a sister of the Mathews boys." Col. Thurston at the begining of the war, had raised a regiment of soldiers from among the men of Allen and Woodson counties. This was known as the Seventh Kansas regiment and was under the command of Gen J. H. Lane. Whik these men were away with Lane Capt. Mathews led a band of Missouri guerillas, Cherokee In- dians and Osage half-breeds into Humboldt on September 8. t86t. Mathews wanted revenge 196 FATHER SCHOENMAKERS. on Gillmore and Father Schoenmakers and he proceeded to sack the town of Humboldt, carry- ing oil all the valuables he could find in the dwellings and stores. A home guard had pre- viously been organized among the old men and boys. These were hastily summoned, and under command of Col. J. G. Blunt went in pursuit of the raiders, followed them to Osweeo where Mathews was killed. Humboldt was raided again on October 14. 1 861, by a band under Col. Tal- bot, and much of the town burned. Chief Big Bear, who is buried in the cemetery at the "Mis- sion," had a band in this second raid. Father Schoenmakers returned to the Mission in M^arch, 1862, and resumed his school work. Gillmore also returned later and became post- master in 1864, of Catholic Mission, as the town w^as then called. Three times after Father Schoenmakers re- turned to the Mission, Southern s\TTipathizers invaded the Mission with evil intent. Each time they were persuaded to desist by the most earn- est efforts of the good Fathers and by the help of Gen. Blair, Col. Thurston and others. The troubles of the war period were partly told by Father Schoenmakers in a speech he made on the occasion of the opening of the Osage Mission Grist Mill on Flatrock, September 24. 1870.^ and published in the Leavenworth Com- mercial. The speech was as follows : "On Christmas day, 1833, ^ landed on Ameri- can soil at New York, being a young priest twenty-four years old. I had left Holland with the intention of livine and dying w^th the In- dians. Having reached Georgetown College, my new superior gave me a book, the third in dig- nity among pious authors. Having met with a FATHER SCHOE;n MAKERS. 197 stimulent of ediiication, 'a good father having bought a rich farm for his son, but which had been grown over by briars and shrubs, which were to be removed, the youth worked faithful- ly in company with his father, but when left to himself the task seemed useless and impossible. The experienced father then gave a small task to his son to be performed daily with a liberal reward for each day. The youth, by persever- ance, cleared a large spot within one month, and being encouraged by success, he finished the whole field, and reaped an abundant harvest the following season.' "Before I reached the field of my labors four- teen years elapsed. On the loth of May, 1847, I gathered into our school ten Indian boys, then visited Kentucky, where I obtained the assistance of the vSisters of Loretto for the girls. Before i860 the number of pupils had increased to 136 boys and 100 girls, whilst no less than fifty Osage families had fenced in fields and raised hogs and cattle. The war deprived the Osages of all their labor and prospects. The youths of our school; above the age of fifteen joined the Union army; 500 Osages had gone vSouth ; and of the remain- ing 3.0CXD four companies also joined the army. New trials were now upon us. Major Whitney, a special agent, had brought provisions for the destitute Osages, while John Mathews, my old friend, whose five children I had raised in school, raised an alarm, entreating the Indians to re- gard the provisions as poisonous. This occur- rence alienated me from my old friend Mathews and I was obliged to spend eight months at St. Mary's in Pottawatomie county. On my return to the Osage Mission in March, 1862, the Osages were much divided. Frequent intercourse with their vSoutheni relatives inceased our dangers. I9S iAiiLKR SCTTOKNMAKERS. The Southern Osages accompanied by Cherokees, invaded our Mission three times to sack and burn it, but being associated with old pupils of our school and parents whose children were still at the r,Lission, their counsel prevailed in spar- ing us. and thereby their own interest. But our dangers now enlarged on the part of the avarice and b'gotry of pretended friends of the Union, and if Gen. Chas. W. Blair had not been a true friend to the Mission it could not have escaped destruction. Our friends Cols. Thurston, of Humboldt, and Brown, of Tola, checked the mal'- ice of some ill designing leader, but Gen. Blair had the will and ])ower to save Southern Kan- sas. Tlie Osages during these hard times visit- ed me by day and by night. Should my advice to them have been withdrawn. I have reason to believe that Osage City. Humboldt, Tola, Le Roy, Burlington and Ottav/a would have been laid in ashes bv the united Osages and Cherokees. God has spared us all. And in September. 1865, whilst the Osages sold and transferred a part of their land, thev have made thousands of homes for white families. As the whites settled first around our Mission, the idea struck me of a Mission town. Gen. Blair was to be renumerat- ed. if possible, and Gov. George A. Crawford wrote me a letter congenial to my plan. The town took a start, whilst Sam Williams and Ben McDonald brought us a mill. Mission town be- ing, started and prosperous T withdrew from partnership from conscience sake, fearing that questions would arise not in conformity with God's law. and which might blast all my past labors. T have been much blamed by our new cit-?zens of Osage Mission town because T had ?iven the ruling influence to the leading mem- bers of Fort Scntt ; but may T not trust that they FATHER SCHOF,NMAivi,K^. I99 will pardon me if they should know what great gratitude is due to Gen. C. W. Blair. I have also been blamed for refusing other parties to erect a mill on Flatrock, but my personal ac- quaintence with the present mill company de- manded a preference. I knew their capital and energy. They have been faithful to their prom- ises, and built the best mill in Kansas. Our friends in Fort Scott have labored hard for our railroad interests and today, while we celebrate the event, our city is being surveyed for the opening of a promising railroad. The briars and shrubs are cleared, and the field is ready for abundant harvests. A library, hall and fe- male academy built partly of cut stone, adorns our new city. Ten churches have been erected in this portion of Kansas, within one year, and others are under construction, whilst settlers from every state in the Union make homes around them." CHARTKRS ST. FRANCIs' INSTITUTION. The Mission schools began to prosper again before the close of the war, the average atten- dance being about 130, altho the Quapaws had withdrawn their children. The schools continu- ed to prosper until the Osages by the treaty of September 29, 1865, ceded their land on the Neosho to the government and moved to the Verdigris. The Osages continued to send their children to the Mission school, but not in such large numbers as before. The deficiency, how- ever, was soon made up by the whites who were settling in great numbers on the land vacated by the Indians near the Mission. The attend- ance of the whites increased so rapidly that the school was incorporated on May 13, 1870, under 200 FATHER SCHOENMAK^RS. the name of St. Francis' Institution for Boys, with Father Schoenmakers as president and Father PonzigUone as secretary, in the Journal May 25, 1870, this advertisement appeared: "Osage Mission, St. Francis Institution for Boys. This Mission established in 1847, ^o^ the education of the Osages, is now erected into an educational establishment under the title of 'St. Francis' Institution for Boys,' an 1 is prepared to receive students. The Institution embraces all the branches of good English education, such as book-keeping, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, history, grammar, composition and penmanship. Students can be admitted at any time of the year. Payments must be made quarterly in advance. "Terms — Entrance fees, $5 ; board and tuition, per month, $15; washing, per annum, $10: bed and bedding per annum, $10; physician's fees, per annum. $5. "Extra — Music or drawing, at Professor's charge. "R]-:v. John Schoenmakers, S. J.. Superior-!' The number of Osages in attendance at the school gradually decreased year after year until 1881. when the writer becam^ a student at the school, there were less than a dozen full blood Osage boys present. After Father Schoenmak- ers' death they ceased attending the Mission scliool altogether. THE COURT OE LAST RESORT. Father Schoenmakers was a man of medium height and build and rather quiet in his ways. He was a man of remarkable piety and goodness of heart and far above the ordinary in intelli- FATHER SCHOEN MAKERS. 201 gence. These attributes combined to make him a man most fitting to be at the head of an institu- tion requiring patience, perseverance, tact and in- telligence. He therefore fitted well into the position he found himself placed in at the "Mis- sion." His was the guiding hand in all the af- fairs of the community, the schools and frequent- ly of the Indians. He not only did his full part of the work himself, but he was the "power be- hind the throne" directing the work of his as- sociates. The Osages held him in the highest respect, as attested by Father Bax in his letters. They placed the utmost confidence in him, and consulted him, not only in matters concerning religion and the school, but also concerning tribal affairs. He became a common arbiter of difficulties. When two Indians had a dispute they laid their case before Father Schoenmak- ers, and his decision was taken as final. There was no appealing to higher authority, for the Osages at that time recognized no higher au- thority. He was also the mediator between the Osages and the government in all their business affairs. The government officers and agents were also free to consult him in their dealings with the Osages. Colonel Sheridan, brother of General Phil Sheridan, spent a number of days at the Mission once while on business for the government. Major General W. "B. Hazen, the gallant soldier who captured Ft. McAllister, near Savannah, Georgia, while with General Sher- man on his famous march to the sea. stopped at the Mission in October, 1868, .to consult with Father Schoenmakers regarding methods of deal- ing with Indians who were causing troubles on the frontier. ^Sometimes government! agents would come here and take Father Schoenmakers with them 202 FATHER SCHOENMAKKRS. on their trip to the Indian settlements to aid them in dealing with the tribes. The good Father was so fair in his deahngs that he held the friendship and good will of both parties and was thus en- abled to do great good for the Indians, the peo- ple and the government. Father Paul talis in one of his letters of Generals Ewing and Blair tak- ing him with them to the Osages v;hen they in- vestigated some comxplaints made by ihe Osages against the Indian agent in J^^ly, 1875. In the Neosho County Journal. July 28, 1875, this appears : "Gen. Charles Ewing, of Lancastei, Ohio, was in town Saturday. Gen. E. is a son of old Tom Ewing and a brother of Gen. Tom, both of na- tional fame, and himself held an important posi- tion during the late war. He is here now on an ofificial visit to the various Indian tribes, under appointm.ent from President Grant, and will re- turn in a few days to proceed on his mission, accompanied by Father Schoenmaktrs." General C. W. Blair was also a warm personal friend of Fa.ther Schoenmakers and often con- ferred with him at the Mission. Gov. Geo. A. Crawford was also among those who recognized the sterling worth as well as the good influence of Father Schoenmakers and was his warm per- sonal friend. During the days of the "border warfare." Col. Richard Hinton. the fighter, writer and historian, visited the Father, seeking information and advice. Father Schoenmakers' influence for good was not onlv local, but also state and national. He was a fearless fighter for the right, and this fact did much to widen his sphere of influence am.ong the Avhites as well as the Indians. The Oc-np-^fs owe very much of the credit for their present wealtl^ to ^ valli.nnt fig^ht he made for fathe:r scHoKiN makers. 203 them in 1868. Hon. T. b\ Rager, one of the early settlers at Osage Mission, m a speech made at an Old Settlers' Reunion at St. Paul, Kansas, in August, 1898, told of this fight as follows: "Quiet and unassuming, he possessed the qual- ities that make the successful man, strict integ- rity and great executive ability, coupled with the rare gift of an even temper and a pleasant dis- position. These qualities made him respected by and popular with those who were personally acquainted with him and loved by those who knew him intimately. "With the Osages, among whom he lived and worked so many years his word was absolute verity. It follow^ed that his influence among them was almost unlimited. An opportunity to wield this influence for good, both to the Indian and to the people presented itself in 1868, and was not lost by him. That year what w^as known as the 'Sturgis' treaty was effected with the Osages. By the terms of this treaty all of the Osage diminished reserve, a body of land lying west of T^aliette county in Kansas, containing eight million acres of some of the best land in the state, was conveyed to a railroad company for nineteen cents per acre. *'Soon after the making of the treaty, a move- ment was started to prevent its ratification by the U. S. senate. This was no easy task as the evils resulting from the granting of large bodies of land to corporations were not fully realized by the people and the practice had many support- ers. Then came Father Sclioenmakers' oppor- tunitv. He went among the Osages and from what he said it soon dawned upon them that they had been woefully overreached in the mat- ter and knowincf that they could trust him, they 204 FATHER SCHOENMAKERS. did as be advised, sent in a statement of the facts, signed by the chiefs and head men, telling how they came to sign the treaty and why it should not be ratified and protesting against its ratification. "This coupled with the efforts of Sidney Clarke, then representative, had the desired ef- fect and the treaty was rejected. "Afterwards they ceded all the lands to the U. v^. to be sold to actual settlers at $1.25 per acre and then the settlers swarmed in and occu- pied the country. Thus it will be seen that thru the efforts of this one man, thousands of people obtained cheap homes, and the fund for the Osages, instead of being about one and a half milhon dollars, as it would have been had the 'Sturgis' treaty been ratified, was made some ten milhon dollars, so that the Indian and the white men were both blest in the result. The only one hurt or out in the transaction was the railroad company which contented itself by down- ing Clarke when he came up for nomination for congress." ERECTS SUBSTANTIAL BUILDINGS. The first building of any pretentions erected at the "Mission/' was built in 1869. It was a two-story frame building, afterwards knows at St. Francis' Hall. The lower story was first used for a library and reading room. This was the first public library established in Neosho county, and perhaps the first in southeastern Kansas. The second story was used as a hall. Later, this building was used for the parish school for girls, and after the college was sus- pended it was used as a local school for boys. It MOTHER BRIDGET HAYDEN. FATHER SCHOENMAKERS. 20$ now foniis part of the barn used by the Pas- sionist Fathers. The first one of the big stone buildings was begun in October, 1871. It was four stories high, built of gray sandstone and for years was re- garded a^ the finest building in southeastern Kansas. It was used as the home of the Jesuits, the fourth story being used as a dormitory for the students attending the school. This building was torn down in the spring of 1912, to make room for the present new monastery of the Pas- sionists. The stone college building was erected in 1872, and first used in 1873. Two stories and base- ment are built of stone, the top or fourth story being mansard. In this building were the class rooms of St. Francis' Institution. After the in- stitution was closed in 1891, the building remain- ed vacant until the burning of vSt. Ann's Acad- emy in 1885, when it became temporarily the home of the Sisters of Loretto. At present it is used as a local school building. Much of the money used for the construction of these two stone buildings was derived from the sale of lots in the St. Francis' Additions to Osage Mission, which were platted by Father Schoenmakers on land given him by the Osages. The first work done on St. Francis' church was in T871. THE FIRST POvST MASTER. The close attention Father Schoenmakers gave to the schools, to church work and to the welfare of the Osages did not deter him from taking an active part in civil aflFairs in the early days. In 185 T he caused a postofifice to be established at the "Catholic Mission." as the settlement was 206 FATHER SCHOENMAKERS. then called, and he was appointed the first post- master, serving until 1864. This was the first postoffice established in what is now southeast- ern Kansas, except the military postoffice at Ft. Scott, and was one of the first on Kansas soil. It was likewise the first, and probably the only one in this region the postmaster of which was a Catholic priest. ORGANIZES A TOWN COMPANY. The Osages, in their treaty of 1865, provided that the government should deed to Father Schoenmakers a large tract of land surrounding the Mission, as a mark of appreciation of the many favors they had received from him. Father Schoenmakers, in turn, deeded to the Sisters of Loretto the big farm which they still own. One section of the land he set aside for a town and on it the town of St. Paul now stands. In De- cember, 1867, he formed the town company com- posed of himself. Gen. W. C. Blair, Gov. Geo. A. Crawford, S. A. Williams, Benjamin Mc- Donald, and John Naudier and established the town of Osage Mission. He deeded to this company the plot of ground which comprised the original town of Osage Mission. When the town was well started he withdrew from the company, desiring to devote his time more closely to his school and his religious work. SELDOM TN COURT. In addition to this land Father Schoenmakers handled much property for the school, the Jesuit institution and for others, especially minors, who had entrusted their property to his care. Not- withstanding this, he seldom had trouble with FATHER SCHOEN MAKERS. 207 Others that necessitated resorting to court meth- ods of adjustment. From Judge L. Stillwell, of Erie, Kansas, who was one of the e^rly attorneys at Osage Mission, the following information was obtained : "Father Ponziglione never brought any suit in the District Court of this county. Father Schoenmakers brought five, but none of them were actions that involved any of his own per- sonal matters. Four of them were brought by him a? 'Trustee for the Society Sustaining the Catholic ]\Iission.' Three of these last named actions were against different county officers of this county, and involved the question of the taxability of certain property, both real and personal, owned by the Father as trustee, as aforesaid. He contended thDt the property in question was used exclusively for 'educational, religious and charitable' purposes and hence was exempt from taxation under Sec. i, Art. II, of the Constitution of the State of Kansas. Up to the time he brought these actions (which was at different times in 1869 and 1870), our Su- preme Court had not had occasion to construe the foregoing clause of the Constitution, or de- termine its extent, (nor did it until some years later,) so the Father's contention was then an 'open question.' Two of the cases were dismiss- ed, on motion of the plaintiff, but the most im- portant one was tried before Judge Goodin in July, 1 87 1, and he decided in favor of Father Schoenmakers. In 1877, o^ thereabouts, the case got into the Supreme Court, in regard only to a certain feature of the judgment. As you may see from the opinion of the Court, it upheld the decree of Judge Goodin only as to the taxes for the one year, those of 1868. But in the mean- 208 FATHER SCIIOENMAKERS. time the Court had considered in other cases, the questions involved in this Utigation of the Father's, and their decision were adverse to his position, so he brought no further actions of that character. "As regards the other action brought by Father Schoenmakers in his official capacity, the court, records show that it was against the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad Company. The clerk, after deligent search, was unable to find the papers in the case, and there is no other rec- ord in his office showing what the suit was about. It was probably in regard to the title of some of the land held by Father Schoenmakers as trus- tee, as aforesaid. The records show that he dis- missed it. It perhaps was amicably settled. "The last case brought by the Father was 'as assignee of Jacob Funk' against B. W. Lenient and vS. S. Lenient, for v$350, which he also dis- missed. It doubtless was settled. "I was not counsel in any of the foregoing cases, but was familiar with all of them at the time, except the last one. I heard the arguments made therein, and they were interesting and able. Among the attorneys who appeared on one side or the other of these various suits were Orein Thurston and I. B. F. Cates, both of Hum- boldt, and C. F. Hutchings, lohn O'Grady, T. C. Cory. T. F. Rager, W. S. Carroll and John Moffitt. all of Osage Mission. "L. Stillwell." The Chanute Sun, October 12,^ 1904, published some early reminiscences regarding court aflFairs in Neosho county from which the following is taken : "The case of Schoenmakers vs. M. Barnes, FATHER SCIIOEN MAKERS. 209 sheriff, was an injunction suit against the county sheriff who had been ordered to sell the plain- tiff's chattels and personal property to satisfy a county bill against him for taxes. The plamtiflF was one of the many teachers of the Osage Mis- sion Society and he alleged that the property on which tlie levy was about to be made belonged to the society 'which was only supported by the charities of the public, and whose workmen and teachers educated the Indians for no compensa- tion whatever, except their board and lodging- Within the next few days after securing the m- junction the poor teacher reconsidered, paid the taxes and the case was dropped from the court. Rt vTIRES FROM ACTIVE DUTIES. h'a^her Schoenmakers continued his active life until he had almost reached the alloted span of life, of "liiree score years and ten." He was relieved of the position of superior of St. Fran- cis' Institution. July 5, 1876, but even until his death he always held an advisory position. Ihe Jounial, on July 12, 1876, gives this account of his retirement: ''An e^x^nt of much local importance is the voluntary retirement of Rev. Fr. John Schoen- makers 'from the position of superior of bt. Francis Institution here, which he has hekl for the pa-4 ^.o years. His increasing years and manifold ^cares had led him to frequently solicit his superiors for a change here, and that he be permitterl to cease the arduous labors incumbent upon the head of the order. This has been re- fused until now-^but at last consent was given and on Thursday of last week (July 5. ^^7^) Fev Adrain Sweere, S. I., from Chicago, arriv- 210 FATHER SCHOENMAKERS. ed here as the duly accredited successor to Fr. Schoeniiiakers. "We will add that the latter remains here to assist by his counsel, which from his long and successful management, is indispensible ; and that he will continue to receive the respect and good will of all our people irrespective of creed or political faith." FIFTY YEARS A PRIEST. Father Schoenmakers was a very quiet man and disliked publicity. He was letting the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination as a priest pass by when a lot of his friends, Catholic and non-Cath- olic alike called on him and provided the program for the celebration. From the Neosho County Journal, of April i8, 1883, the following is taken : "During the past week a number of our citi- zens had been quietly at work preparing to give good old Father Schoenmakers a genuine 'sur- prise party/ on the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination as a priest, and as an expression of the affection and good will they, in common with all, have for him as an unselfish Christian whose life has been passed in doing good to others. "At an early hour Monday evening a large number of ladies and gentlemen assembled at the comer of Main and County streets and pre- ceded by the Osage Mission Cornet Band, wend- ed their way by the light of the moon to the residence of the Mission Fathers; where, sta- tioning themselves in close proximity, the pro- ceedings opened by the rendition of some fine music by the band, in a style highly creditable to them. During this prelude. Father Schoen- FATHER SCHOENMAKERS. 211 makers was brought out on the balcony, ac- companied by several of his confreres of the order, and was thereupon presented by Hon. C. F. Hutchings, on behalf of the donors, with a fine carpet and an elegant easy rocking chair, with various other articles of comfort. Mr. Hutchings in performing this pleasing duty made the following graceful and eloquent presentation address : '* 'Father Schoenmakers : " 'Upon this occasion of the fiftieth anniver- sary of the day upon which you first celebrated the sacred service of the Mass, your friends and neighbors have assembled here to express to you their sincere friendship and affection, and to ask you to accept at their hands these simple testimonials of their esteem. Our words, Father, are not the idle compliments which escape from the lips of those who would flatter and please the vanity of one engaged in pursuing the de- ceitful allurements of worldly wealth or fame, but are the sentiments which effervesce from the hearts of friends, as an offering to one whose mind and heart long ago purged of the false and illusory ambitions of the world, for more than half a century has devoted a noble life of self- sacrifice to the promotion of works of religion and charity, and to the amelioration of the un- happy condition, and the spiritual regeneration and well being, of the lowliest and most humble of his fellow men. The precious seeds of reli- gion, charity and virtue which during your long ministration you have, with liberal and unweary- ing hand, sown along the pathway of your event- ful life, have sprung up and developed, as it were, into beautiful and stately trees, that, rich with their shining fruit, mark your loilsome course of half a hundred vears. and indicate to 212 FATHER SCHO^NMAKERS. the living and to thousands that shall come af- ter us the way by which they may achieve liit highest aims of good and noble lives. '' 'In these serene and peaceful autumn days of your life, as you behold the golden fruits of your life's work, when you take a retrospective view of your labors, and recur to the day now more than thirty-six years ago, when in the solitude of a primitive world, surrounded only by wild and inhospitable people, you planted here the tiny seed, vv^hich, tended and nourished by your constant love, has germinated and grown until it has broken into the fragrant bloom of these noble institutions of learning that surround us, this grand sanctuary now near- ing completion, and in which shall be nurtured the religious and spiritual lives of generations yet to come, how approvingly must your con- science speak to you and smile upon your past career. " *We have interrupted your quiet meditations to tender to you these simple offerings, and as- sure you of our friendship and gratitude, and in parting we wish you many happy returns of this day, upon this spot where so many years ago you braved the hardships, the privations, the dangers and the solitude of the desert and the wilderness, to sacrifice your life in the effort to redeem a wild and savage race, may your days long henceforth lengthened out, at last end in peace among us. your constant friends, surround- ed by the noble monuments of learning and re- ligion which your piety and unselfish devotion to the cause of humanity have here erected.' ''Father vSchoenmakers, tho oast his 75 years, arose and responded in a voice heard by all. He said : *"My Friends: T am indeed deeply grateful ^ATH^R SCHOEN MAKERS. 213 for your kindness and consideration. Thirty- six years ago, when 1 first settled here among the Indians, Httle did I think that civilization would ever reach me, and that 1 should be spared to celebrate my jubilee among so many highly cultivated Christian friends. You have been very kiiul to me, and i have received many letters of congratulation, and many have called upon me during the day. 1 thank you for your kindly expressions towards me, and your con- sideration for my comfort in the elegant pres- ents you have brought me and I invoke a bless- ing upon each and every one of you. Good night.' " HIS LAST DAYS. Father Schoenmakers led a retired life after he relinquished his duties as superior. He sel- dom appeared in public, save only to say Mass, or to preach an occasional sermon in the old leg church, or to visit the boys at the school. HK)wever, in his retirement he did not lose in- terest in St. Francis' church which he had helped to plan and get under way, and which he hoped to see completed during his life. Thru the in- fluence of relatives and friends he obtained sums of money from Europe which were spent in erecting this church which, as he viewed it, was to become the i)ride of Southern Kansas. He encouraged Fatlier Ponziglione to greater en- deavors to hasten the completion of the edifice that he might be present at its dedication, but as the finishing touches were being put to the stone walls, his health began to fail rapidly and it soon became apparent that his desire to see the church completed was not to be gratified. His last mo- ments on earth are thus described bv C. H. How- 214 r.ViriER SCHOjE:N MAKERS. ard in the Neosho County Journal, August 3, 1883: "Altho for some months our community had known that that venerable and beloved man, Father John Schoenmakers, was in poor health, and lately had been perceptibly failing, no one seemed to realize that the end was so near. But on Saturday last he grew so much more feeble, and seemed so weak and wan, that his attend- ants knew that the last scenes of his life were drawing to a close, — and during the long, and to them agonizing day, they watched and minister- ed to him as best they could, while the Angel of Death came down with noisless wing and stood by their side to receive his parting spirit as it should leave its poor mortality. **In the afternoon he seemed to suffer much, but later became easier, and his loving and ever faithful coadjutor, Father Ponziglione, seeing his lips move, bent over his almost inanimate form and cai^ght the w^hispered invocation of the dying man: 'In Thee, Oh Lord, I hoped, and I will not be confounded forever.' And at 4:30 o'clock p. m., the soul of the good Father passed forever away from its earthly tenement to an eternal reward. July 28, 1883. "The remains were placed in a casket and removed to the church Saturday evening, where they were viewed by great numbers of people. On Sunday at 4 o'clock p. m.. the funeral ser- vices were held at the church, at which an im- mense assemblage had congregated — variously estimated at from 2.5(X) to 3,000 people — a large portion of whom could not gain admittance to the building. (A special train brought a large delegation of people from Parsons.) Father Ponziglione delivered the funeral discourse. FATHliR SCHOEN MAKERS. 215 which was a most eloquent and feeUng tribute to the intellectual, moral and social excellencies of the dead Father, with whom he had been so closely associated for thirty-two years. Father Ponziglione's earnestness of manner and great emotion gave evidence of the depth of his feeln iiigs, and carried the hearts of his audience with him as he rapidly sketched the unselfish nature of the lamented dead before them. After the ceremony the remains were escorted to the Catholic cemetery, followed by a procession half a mile in length. Here at the grave the short but impressive burial service was performed by Father Ponziglione, the casket was lowered and the earth was placed over all that was mortal of the venerable and venerated priest, known and beloved by all. A solemn dirge was played by the Osage Ivlission Cornet Band, assisted by the Coeur de Leon band from Parsons, during these last sad ceremonies. At the close, the grave was nearly covered with beautiful tributes plac- ed by the hands of women and children, and others who thus testified their love for their de- parted counsellor and friend. "Thus has left us, in the hope and assurance of a blessed immortality, a man singularly free from selfish feelings, whose life had been spent in seeking to do good to others at the expense of his own great labor and discomfort; who knew no enemy, as he was everybody's friend, and spiritual as well as temporal counsellor, — and who lived and passed to the grave at the age of three score and sixteen years, loved, re- spected, and everywhere honored by all classes and conditions of society; the rich, the poor; the humble and the exalted; by Catholic and Protestant alike, each and all uniting to render full tribute to the worth and memory of the kind 2l6 FATHER SCHOEN MAKERS. friend, and untiring worker for the good of others." The last official act of Father Schoenmakers appearing on the records of St. Francis' church was the baptisim of Anna or Ivlarriam .\gnes Oswell, an orphan girl, in March, 1883. The early settlers in this section owe much to this great tho unassuming man. The hospi- tality of his home was open to every stranger who wandered this way. and the settlers were ■given aid in innumerable ways. He taught the Indians to treat the wdiites as their brothers and to assist them in their needs. Thus he made friends of those who otherwise might have been hostile enem.ies, as they were in other localities. He also taught the Indians how to provide for their own wants, and to properly regard the rights of the individual. The fruits of his ef- forts in this respect are evident to-day for the Osages, besides being one of the most peaceful tribes, are the wealthiest Indians in America. Many of them are well educated and have bright and happy homes. Kind and generous, he was more solicitous for the welfare of others and of those under his charge than for himself. It was but natural that every one, irrespective of creed, was his friend. Father Schoenmakers' remains rest in the IMission cemetery, the site he sekcttrl for the deceased members of his flock. A modest mar- ble slab marks the location of his grave, but it is a spot that is not forgotten or neglected. Altho many years have passed since his demise, ad- mirinjDf friends frequently visit his grave, there to offer up fervent and earnest prayers tmplor- inti' intercession for tliore le^^ b 'h^'nd. FATHER SCHOKN MAKERS. 217 A MAN OF GREAT MODESTY. The dislike of Father Schoenmakers for no- toriety or publicity is illustrated by this sketch written by C. li. Howard in August, 1883 : "Father Ponziglione showed us last Saturday a photograph of Father vSchoenmakers from a negative taken after death, which was as good a likeness as could be expected under the cir- cumstances. Father Schoenmakers would never consent to sit for a likeness ; but some years ago by strategy a fairly good negative was taken when the Father was not aware of what was being done. These two photographs will be sent to an eminent artist in New York in order to get from them, thru his skill, a good likeness of Father Schoenmakers as he appeared in life. If successful, some thousands of these will be printed and offered for sale at the Catholic fair which will be held here during the coming fall." A MAN OF COURAGE. C. H. Howard, for many years postmaster at the Mission, and also editor of the Neosho Coun- ty Journal wrote this for his paper August 22, "In conversation a few days since with Mrs. Naudier, she mentioned one circumstance that fell beneath her own observation, so well illus- trative of Father Schoenmakers' zeal and dis- regard of personal danger, that we noted it down for the benefit of our readers. During the civil war, a band of probably two hundred Osage warriors were camped in the south part of town, as this place vras their home at that date. These warriors were in the service of the government, and had just returned from an expedition into 2l8 FATHER SCHOEN MAKERS. Missouri, bringing with them some scalps ob- tained from enemies who had fallen in battle. At the time mentioned this band of warriors was having a scalp dance, and in the midst of their ogeries word came to Father Schoenmakers that it was the intention of the Osages to place staffs decorated with scalps on the graves in the Catho- lic cemeter3^ Hastily repairing to the Osage camp, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Naudier and perhaps others, Father Schoenmakers ad- dressed himself to the warriors frenzied with the savage excitement of the scalp dance, told them that they 'must not and could not place a single scalp upon a grave in the cemetery,' and bravely and firmly reiterated the declaration while toma- hawks were brandished about in the hands of the thoroly infuriated Indians greatly incensed at this interference of the white man. Mrs. Naudier says that for some time Father Schoen- makers' friends momentarily expected to see him ruthlessly slain and to their expressions of alarm he simply answered that fears of death could not deter him from the performance of this Christian duty. Suffice it to say that the brave and determined, yet calm demeanor and words of Father v^choen makers conquored by mere moral force the infuriated passion of the Osages, and no scalp desecrated the graves as had been determined." HIS INTRODUCTIOX TO THE OSAGES. An incident of Father Schoenmakers' intro- duction to the Osages on his first visit to the Neosho is told by M.. F. Cassidy of Independ- ence, Kansas, who came to Kansas in 1869, and heard the Father relate the story himself, as follows : FATHER SCHOENMAKERS. 219 "Father Schoenmakers had employed a Pot- tawatomie Indian to act as guide for him. They arrived on the banks of the Neosho river in the evening. They prepared a haisty supper and when it was partaken of, the guide at once left the good Father all alone, nor did he return un- til daylight the next morning. The Indian then pointed out where the Indian town could be found and at once demanded his pay, explaining that if caught by the O sages he would lose his life as well as his scalp. Father Schoenmakers therefore paid his dusky guide, and taking his little camp equipment ventured into the Indian village." Mr. Cassidy also tells this incident which oc- curred shortly after Father Schoenmakers took up his permanent abode at "the Mission" : ''Father Schoenmakers brought with him a cow ; also a bell and a strap to attach to the cow's neck that she might be more readily found. The first day the cow was turned out she came home minus the bell and strap, but on the fol- lowing morning a big Osage appeared with the bell in his hand but minus the strap, remark- ing, 'I have found your bell. What will you give me for it? Give me ncnihoe (tobacco).' This was kept up for some time, the cow com- in,g home without the bell and. 'Father I have found your belli give me nenihoe:' The good Father put his wits to work, got a chain and rivited it around the cow's neck, and thereafter there was no more nenihoe paid for the lost bell." A LETTER TO THE BIG CHIEF. Osage Mission, Kansas, Mky 29, 1876. Big Chief/Dear Friend: Your brother. Peter Watzaitan, left our school at Osasre Mission in 220 FATHER SCHOKNMAKERS. the beginning of 1862, to join the Union army. After being drilled to the use of arms, he ob- tained a furlough to visit his relations as the reward of his faithful services. His first visit was turned to his beloved home, the school at Osage Mission, where he spent three .delightful days. At the end of his furlough he promptly returned to the army and showed a bravery un- surpassed. However, aware of his surrounding dangers, he often thought of the happy hours he had en- joyed at school: he therefore sent me his like- ness to be mindful of him in case death should overtake him. As no one has a better title to his likeness than his brother, the Chief of Sanzo- genie town. I gladly send it to you. Very respectfully yours. John Schoenmakers, S. J. CHAPTER XIV. FATHER JOHN BAX, "Some men are born, ordained from earliest days, In our own eyes, His servants. On their brows We see His work of Sanctity impressed So broad and deep, that foreordained they walk, From childhood untU death, His holy will Performing, by right, from day to day." —Walter J. Blakbly. Father John Bax, S. J., was the companion of Father Schoenmakers on his trip from St. Louis to the Osages, and his co-worker at the "Mis- sion" until his death in 1852. He was born in Belgium, January 15, 1817, and joined the Jesu- its November 12, 1840. Prior to coming to the Osages, he had been stationed at Florissant and other points near St. Louis, but being a young man he had not been assigned any very arduous duties. At the Mission Father Bax was given active charge of the church work while Father Schoen- makers devoted most of his time to the schools. The records of ?t. Francis' church show that Father Bax was a most active worker. During 1847, Seventy-nine Osages were bap- tised, most of them by Father Bax. He visited the tribes at their various towns both on the Neo- sho and the Verdigris, doing much the same kind of work Father Paul did later. In his records he speaks of visits at Whitehair's town over the river, Little town of the Little Osages, and of (221) 2.22 FATHER BAX. being on the line near the Fort. This was in 1847. in 1848 he speaks of being at Marmonta near the Little Osage river, Sanza Ougrin town. Big Little Osage village, Owlstown, Gremand town, and the village three miles southwest. In June, 1848, Father Bax made a trip to south- west Missouri, making visits at Diamond Grove, Shoal creek, Sarcoxie, the Osage Fork of the Gasconade river, on the Niangua in Wright coun- ty, Harmony Mission, and on the Marmaton in Bates county. He was absent about a month. He made another trip in Octobci and November, 1848, over much the same route. In 1850 he went as far to the northeast at Calhoun in Henry county, }>Iissouri. The Mission records show 210 baptisms were performed during 185 1, most of them by Father Bax. The story of his work among the Osages is best told in his own letters and in the letter of Father DeSmet, which follow this article. Father Bax died August 5, 1852, and was the first to be buried in that part of the cemetery near the "Mission" which Father vSchoenmakers had selected for the last resting place of the de- ceased members of his household. Some interesting letters written by Father Bax follow : FATHER BAX'S FIRST LETTER TO FATHER DE SMET. Mission of St. Francis Hieronymo, Among the Osages. June i. 1850. fvev. and \^ery Dear Father : Already three years have elapsed since we commenced the toils of our Mission. I will say nothing to you of the embarrassments inseparable from such an enterprise ; vou are too well ac- FATHER BAX. 223 quainted with this ground, aud are aware, also, that to prepare for its cultivation exacts the courage that Christian charity alone can inspire. I will not, therefore, stop to relate the obstacles, the fatigues of every sort, that we en- countered in our route. At present the burden is alleviated i particularly since the arrival of a teacher and of a Brother, the affairs of the Mis- sion are extending, and wear a much more favor- able aspect. I profit by my earliest leisure moments, to sat- isfy the desire that you have several times testi- fied to me, of having some details concerning our dear Mission of the Osages. I hope, in this way, to offer you a slight testimony of our ,gratitude for the interest you take in our labors and in our success. These marks of attention, on your part, Reverend Father, give us the assurance that, if momentarily you remain remote from your dear Indians, your heart nevertheless sighs continuous- ly towards our poor and isokted chil-iren of the v/ild solitude. You are aware, that this Mission was, during several years, in the hands of the Presbyterians. They were obliged to abandon it in 1845. Those gentlemen were forced to come to this resolution by the Indians themselves, who were fully de- termined never to adopt the doctrine of Calvin. In the course of the same year. Major Harvey, isuperintendent of the Indian tribes, having as- sembled in. Council the diflferent tribes of the Osage nation, exposed to them, in the liveliest colors, the advantages of a good education ; he added, that if such should prove their will, their Great Father (The President) would send them missionaries to instruct their children. At this proposition, the Great Chici replied in the name of the Council : 224 fATHlSR BAX. "Our Great Father is very kind; he loves his red-skinned children. Hear what we have to say on this subject: We do not wish any more such missionaries as we have had during several years; for they never did us any good. Send them to the whites; perhaps they may succeed better with them. If our Great Father desires that we have missionaries, you will tell him to send us Black-gowns, who will teach us to pray to the Great Spirit in the French manner. Al- tho several years have elapsed since they have visited us, we always remember the visit with gratitude ; and we shall be ever ready to receive them among us, and to listen to their preaching." The superintendent, a just and liberal man, wished only the welfare of the Indians. Altho a Protestant, he communicated this reply to the Government, and supported and confirmed it with his own remarks and observations. In pursuance with his advice, the President had re- course to the Superiors of our Society, request- ing them to assume the charge of this Mission. At first, the Father Provincial offered ; ome ob- jections, knowing that no one had ye'i been able to succeed in ameliorating the condition of this people, under the double relation of spiritual and temporal. In the interval, the Indians were in the most painful uncertainty not knowing wheth- er the ''Great Father" v/ould grant or refuse them their petition. But they were soon satis- fied ; our Society accepted the mission. In the autumn of 1846, the Reverend Father Schoenmakers quitted v^t. Louis to go to tl**; Osages, with the intention of return 'ncr. pfter having examined the state of affairs, the houses, etc. He came back to St. Louis in midwinter, and his second departure was retarded until the following spring. fath£:r bax. 225 After Father Schoenmakers had left them, the poor Indians counted the days and the hours un- til spring, at which time he promised to return to them ; but they waited in vain ! The year glid- ed past; they lost all hope of seeing him again. Nevertheless they were resolved to accept none but Catholic missionaries. When all our preparations were completed, Father Schoenmakers, myself, and three coadjut- or Brothers, quitted St. Louis on the 7th of April, 1847, ^^'^^^ we arrived on the bank of the Neosho, a tributary of the Arkansas, situated about 130 miles from \\ estport, frontier town of the State of Missouri. To 3^ou, my dear Father, who have many times traversed the great extent, from the States to the Pacitic, who have traveled over the Rocky Mountains and their valleys — our pains, troubles, and fatigues must appear truly insignificant. Bu*- this trial was very severe to us, who were enter- ing, for the first time, into the immense prairies of the Indians, which we had only measured ac- cording to the deceptive images of our imagina- tion. Trnlv, the reality appeared to us very dif- ferent. We endured hunger, thiist, and cold. For a fortnight we were obJged to pass our nights in the open air, in the dampest season of the year, each having naught for a bed but a buf- falo-hide and a single blanket. About 100 miles from Westport we had a pan- ic. Arrived at a place named "Walnut Grove," we perceived in the distance a large troop of mounted Indians, who turned directly toward us. Unaccustomed to such sights, we were seiz- ed with great anxiety which soon changed to genuine fright ; for we saw -those savages, on approaching us, alight from their horses with extraordinary agility. At once they took posses- 226 l-^ATHER BAX. sion of our carts and wagons, which we fancied destined to pillage. They examined our chests and our baggage as minutely and coolly as old custom-house officers. Happily we recovered from our fright. We presented them with rolls of tobacco. They shook hands with us in token of friendship. Soon after we lost sight of them, congratulating ourselves at having escaped at so trifling an expense. An idea, however, occu- pied us : they might repent of their benevolence towards us and attack us and steal our horses during the night. We consequently left the or- dinary route, and went and camped far in the plain. These Indians, as w^e learned later, be- longed to the nation of vSauks, and had been pay- ing a visit to their allies, the Osages. On the 28th of April we reached our destina- tion, to the great surprise and delight of the In- dians : for, as I have already observed to you, they had resigned the hope of seeing us. It would be impossible to paint to you the en- thusiasm with w^hich we were received. They considered us as men whom the Great Spirit had sent to teach them the good news of salvation ; to trace out to them the path to heaven, and to procure them, also, earthly peace and plenty. At the first sight of these savages, and finding myself surrounded by these children of the des- ert, I could not suppress the pain I felt. I saw their sad condition. The adult had only a slight covering over the middle of the body ; the little children, even as old as six or seven years, were wholly destitute of clothing. Half serious, half jesting, I thought that a truly savage portion of the Lord's vineyard had been given me to culti- vate; but I did not lose courage. The object of my desires, and the subject of my prayers, dur- ing many long years, had been to become a mis- FATHER BAX. 227 sionary to the Indians. That grace was obtain- ed; 1 felt contented and happy. On our arrival, we found the houses unfinish- ed, very inconvenient and much too small for a great number of children; they were also very badly situated, not being, as they should have been, in the center of all the villages which com- pose the Mission. From this resulted an increase in the number and diflFiculties of our occupations. The population of the tribes (comprised un- der the name of Great Osages and Little Osag- es), is nearly 5,000 souls, of v/hom 3,500 reside on the banks of the Neosho; and the others on the Verdigris, a little river smaller than the for- mer, altho the valleys and the prairies that it waters are more favorable to culture. The Osages who remain on the banks of the Neosho are divided into several little villages. The Little Osages form a population of T.500 souls, and are 22 miles from the Mission. The village of Nanze-Waspe contams six hundred in- habitants, at a distance of twelve miles ; the vil- lage Bijichief is composed of three hundred souls, four miles ; the ^^'eichaka-Ougin, of five hun- dred, three miles ; Little Town numbers three hundred inhabitants, and is thirty miles distant; Bi|Sf-hill or Fassoi-Ou^rin, situated on the Verdi- gris, forty miles ofiF, has a population of six hun- dred souls; les Cheniers. or Sanze-Ou^rin, amount to nearly seven hundred, fifty-five miles ^ the "Rlack-Doe. or Skankta-Sape. village, sixty miles ofif .contains four hundred inhabitants. There arc. besides, other small villages, dispersed at a crreat distance from us. The tv/o rivers on which they dwell empty into the Arkansas. The lowlands are in eeneral swampy, but the plain of the Neosho is <:a,ndv. Fr.t-merlv the Osaofes were reDre<=ented as cruel 228 FATHBJR BAX. and perverse, addicted to the most degrading vices; calumny depicted them as thieves, assas- sins and drunkards. To this last reproach, 1 am grieved to say they have given occasion; tliey are passionately fond of intoxicating Hquors. The effects of this vice had become so terrible that, on our ar- rival, entire tribes were nearly destroyed. In the spring of 1847, in one village alone, thirty young men, in the prime of life, were victims of strong drink. I have met men, women and children, in a complete, state of intoxication, drag- ging themselves to their wigwams like so many brutes. This spectacle, my dear Father, drew forth many tears and sighs from those who had been selected and sent to labor for the happiness ^nd salvation of these unfortunate beings. lU was extremely painful to look at those sons of the wilderness, delivered to the enemy of God and man. Thanks to our Lord, the evil was ex- tripated at its root ; the advice of a kind and very worthy agent of the government, as well as our own efforts, have succeeded so well, that drunk- enness has been almost completely banished. Daily prayers are offered that this crime, and all the miseries which arise in its train, may not appear among us. At present, the Indians them- selves comprehend the necessity of temperance. Several among them come frequently to tell me, with great simphxity, that they do not fall into this vice any more. These savages exhibit in their stoical resolutions, a degree of courage that should excite a blush on the check of many a w^hite man. Those v/ho call them thieves and assassins have calumr.iated them. Some bands of thieves, going from the north to the south, cross the set- tlements of the Osages. as well as those of the FATHER BAX. 229 whites who inhabit the frontiers. It is their trade to steal everything and carry all away, and in such a manner that the Osages have been ac- cused of the thefts. We may say as much of the pillages committed on the route to Santa Fe. According to my experie/xe, I'^-cre are few na- tions in tl:is region as affable and as affectionate as the Osages. Indeed it may be said that it is natural to them to wish to live in peace and per- fect friendship w^th all whom they know. Peace and harmony reign among them ; no harsh words ever escape their tongues, unless when they are drunk to excess. Now they are at peace with all the tribes , except with the Pawnee-i\Iahas, whose manner of acting towards them would inspire aversion in civilized people as well as in barbarians. Scarcely are the Osages gone forth to hunt than the Pawnees, who wait this moment, fall on their undefended villages, pillage the wig- wams, and steal the horses. The Osages have frequently made peace with this nation ; but the treaties have hardly been ratified ere the perfid- ious enemy renewed its attacks. I have long but vainly endeavored to put an end to the cruel mania of taking off the scalps of the dead 'and wounded. In this project, as in many others, I have been checked by bad coun- sels and bad examples of the whites. I should be pleased to be able to tell the savages, with whom I am charged, to imitate the whites, and it would be most agreea,ble to me to propose them as models of imitation, but my words would be ineffectual. Here, as formerly in Paraguay, the Indian derives no advantage from the vicinity of the whites ; on the contrary, he becomes more artful, more deeply plunged in vice, and finding no blasphemous words in his own tongue, curses his God in a foreign language. 230 FATHI;R BAX. To demonstrate to yoii ihe evil eiiects of the proximii}^ of the whites, 1 will cite you a little anecdote. '^I'he fact occurred about a year ago. I y/as g'si'^.g an instruction in a village named Woichaka-Ougrin, or Cockle-bird. The subject w?.s inlemperance. I spok^ of the evil conse- quences of this passion, of its effects on the health, of the ra|)idity with v/hich it conducts men to the tomb, or separates them from their vyives and their children whom the Great Spirit had entrusted to them. I added that the pleasure attciidin.s: drinking was extremely short, while ihe Mrnislimtnt would be eternal. .\s I was con- cludiius ^']-iai)e-shin-kanuk, or the Little Beaver, one of the principal men of the Tribe, arose and said to me: ''Father, what thou sayest is true. We believe thy words. We have seen men buried becar.'-e tncy I'.-ved and drank fire water. One th^ng astonishes us= We are ignorant; we are not acquainted with books; we never heard the words of the Great Spirit: but the whites who know books, who have understanding, and who have heard the commandments of the Great Spir- it, — why do they drink this fire-water? Why do tbey hrmf"^ it to us. when thev know God sees them?" T will now enter into some more particular de- tails concerninjT -^ur misc?ons and labors. Tmme- d'atelv after our arrival in the spring of 1847, our first care was to prepare a school. It was opened on the TOth t»f May. The scholars were riof verv nrmerous at the commencement: some half-bloods and three Indians were the only ones t^nt rrpcented '^mselvf^s. The parents, full of prejudices aerainct a "school," gave for excuse, thpt the children who had been confided to the former missionaries fthe Presbyterians), had Irp.riied riothin.^. had b-^en wh'*pped every day. FATHl^R BAX. 23 1 made to work continually, and at last ran away. These reports spread far and wide. The most efficacious correction that a father could employ against a child, was to threaten it with being sent to school. I had proofs of this a short time after our arrival. In one of my visits to a village of Little Osages, called Huzcgta, having an in- terpreter with me, 1 entered into the lodge of the first chief. On presenting myself, I offered my hand in token of friendship. "Who are you?" said he to me. "A tapouska, or missionary, " was the reply. During some moments he hung his head without uttering a word. Tlien raising his eyes, he said in a bad humor: "The mission- aries never did any good to our nation." The in- terpreter answered that I did not belong to the class of missionaries that he had seen; that 1 was a French tapouska, a Black-gown, who had come at their request and at that of the "Great Father." Then serenity reappeared on the visage of the chief and he cried out, "This is good news." He immediately offered me his han then a busy Uttle town not far from In- dependence. He built a new church at Walnut^ Kansas, in 1871, and another at Parsons, Kansas, in the spring of 1873. In the spring of 1870 he organized a building committee and started a church at Oswego, Kansas. ' ^ There is a legend connected with the churcff he built at Greenbush, about ten miles east of the Mission. Father Colleton was returning to ther- Mission from a trip to St. Louis, and was riding a horse. When he reached the point where the Greenbush church was later built, a severe hail- storm came up. The hail >tones- or chunks of ice that fell were very large and endangered alike the life of man and beast. Father Colleton tied his horse in a cluster of bushes, and taking off the saddle put it: over his own head for pro- tection. During the progress of the furious storm the good father prayed fervently that his life might l)e spared and vowed that if it was spared he would in thanksgiving erect a church on the spot. Altho his limbs were somewhat bruised by the falling hailstones., he suffered no serious injuries. He drove a stake to mark the place and soon after made good his vow by erect- ing a small frame church on the spot. This be- came the center of a Catholic settlement, and altho it is some distance from any town or rail- road, a magnificent stone church with a resident priest is now maintained at Greenbush. In January 1876, Father Colleton was riding on a hand car when he was badly injured. He re- 260 OTHER EARLY JESUITS AT AHE MISSION. covered sufficiently to resume his work, but he died December i, 1876, from the result of that injury. During the eight years he was stationed at the Mission he did a wonderful amount of work, the results of some of which are plainly evident to this day. He was buried in the cemetery' near the Mission, by the side of Father Bax. Brotlier Thomas O'Donnell S. J. was one of the active spirits connected with the Mission school for twenty years, and was a great friend of the Osages. He came to the Mission in 1857 and served in many capacities at th© school. After the Osages moved to Oklahoma he ma^le several trips each year to the reservation, «ach time bringing back with him a large number of pupils for the Mission schools, often bring- ing as many as fifty Indian children at one time. He continued this work until his death which oc- curred at the Mission October 24, 1877. Brother O'Donnell was bom in Ireland December 25, 1820, and entered the Jesuit order as a lay brother August 6, 1842. Father William Van Der Hagan S. J. was an active little priest who shared the parish work at St. Francis church in the early eighties. He was born in Holland, January 30. 1843, ^^^^^ entered the Jesuit order November 3, 1876. Little is known of his early life. He was an energetic worker and mixed with the people free- ly. On July 29, 1885, he rode his horse into the Neosho river near the bridge south of the church, evidently to cool off the horse, as it was very warm weather, and there was a bridge across the stream near by. The horse began plunging and became unmanageable and .the Father laid down, on the animal and put both arms around its neck, but soon after loosened his hold and fell OTHER EARLY JESUITS AT AHE MISSION. 261 into the water. I,t is believed that the excite- ment had caused heart failure and that he was dead when he fell from the horse. He was buried in the cemetery at the Mission, near Father Schoenmakers, with whom he had been as- sociated. Father Joseph M. Rimmele was the last Jesuit to leave Osage Mission. After .the order closed the school in 1891, he was left behind to close up the affairs of the order. He left the Mission, in August 1892, going ,to Detroit, Michigan, where he died April 6, 1893. Father Rimmele was born in Germany August 7, 1 83 1, and entered the Jesuit order July 18, 1872. He came to Osage Mission in the early eighties, to take the position of vice president and general manager of St. Francis Institution. He was also a teacher of Latin, the college lecturer and the prefect of discipline. Altho one of the kindest and most amiable of men, he had a peculiar faculty of being able to spread terror in the minds of those boys who had violated the rules of the Institution, and therefore under his management, the best of order was always main- tained. CHAPTER XVII. ST. FRANCIS' CHURCH. ''But thou of temples old, or altars new, Sto.ndcst alone, ivitJi nothing like to thee. Worthiest of God, the holy and the true} Since Sion's desolation, when that He b\nrsook Iiis former city, n'hat could be Of earthly strictures, in His honor piled. Of a sub'liuier aspect?.. Majesty, Power, Glory, Strength, and Beauty, all are aisled In this eternal ark of 7Vorship undefiled." — Id. St. Francis Church, at St. Paul, (Osage Mis- sion) Kansas, is one of the most magnificent churcli edifices in Kansas. As it stands it repre- sents tlie expenditure of nearly a hundred thous- and ishop L. M,. Fink, of Leavenworth. The Fathers were averse to incurring much debt, hence the (:onstruction work stopped when the fimds were exhausted and not much more was done on the building until 1877. when a lot more stone was gotten in readiness. This prep- aration was carried on more or less each year until 1 88 1 when construction work was resumed. r262) ST. FRANCIS' CHURCH. 263 The walls, excq)t the tower, were completed in August 1883. Daniel Zehner and Joseph Doyle had charge of this work. The carpenter work was completed on June 21, 1884, by Louis Scheidler, and J. N. Cutler and John Eisenman, his assistants. The painting was done by Louis Bohrer. The church was solemnly dedicated May 11, 1884, by Rev. J. J. Hogan, Bishop of Kansas City. Five thousand people witnessed the cere- mony, many of whom had come by special train from Parsons and from other points. ^ Father Ponziglione, who had done much to aid in the construction of the building, was the celebrant at the Solemn High 1^1 ass on this occasion. [In the solidity of its masonry and the strength and permanency of its general build, this edifice has few equals if any in the state. The walls are from twenty-four to thirty inches thick and 1)uilt of sandstone. Competent judges say they will stand for centuries. The outside dimensions of the building are 75x150 feet. The wall at the lowest point is 32 and at the gable it is 67 feet above the floor. The belfry tower is also of stone, 24x24 feet and y,^ to the top of the masonry, on which three bells rest. The upper part of the tower is iron clad. The total height of the tower is 134 feet. A better idea of the vastness of St. Francis church may be conceived when it is known that it required 740,000 shingles to cover the roof and 100 car loads of sand to prepare the mortar with which the stone was laid in the walls, and twenty car loads more for the plaster. The total cost of the lime and sand used in the building was $3,980, of the lumber for the tower and the in- side work $6,700, nails and hardware used $1,600. The foundation on which the church 264 ST. :fRANCIS' CHURCH. Stands cost $7,000, a sum sufficient in itself to erect rather a large building. $16,576 was paid out for the masons' wages, $4,500 for carpenters' wages, and $2,370 for plasterers' wages. The doors and windows alone cost $5,800. These are exclusive of the altars, statues, heat- ing appliances, organ, bells and ekctrical equip- ment. The interior of ,the church is in keeping with the exterior. C. H. tloward, in 1884, wrote this: "Entering the vast structure one is struck with not only the massiveness but as well by the artistic grace of the work, which bursts upon the vision like a beautiful scene in fairyland. The long rows of suporting columns on either hand, down which one looks as through a vista of years in memory's hall, are magnificent specimens of skilled work ; while the frescoed ceiling and fine arches spanning various spaces and niches are marvels of beauty in design and execution, and speak eloquently of the architects and artisans who conceived and executed the fair creation." If Mr. Howard could visit the St. Francis Church of today he would be amazed at the wc>r;derful changes that have been made, and these changes have but added to the beauty, com- fort, and usefulness of this wonderful edifice. The great altar, radiant with splendor, nor tlic side altars, proportionately magnificent, were not there then. Neither were the elegant statues of saintly men and of the Holy Mother that now adorn the niches of these altars, adding much to their beauty, and inspiring the silent worshipers who frequently assemble there, to imitate the holy lives of the saints these statues represent. The three statues on the large altar, representing St. Francis De Hieronymo, the patron saint of the church, and St. John Berchman and St. ST. FRANCIS' CHURCH. 205 Alphonsus, were imported directly from Paris in 1888, and are counted among the finest in point of workmanship and art, in the United States. Three bells hang in the tower, the largest one being the Schoenmakers memorial bell, weighing 3000 pounds and measuring forty-six and one half inches in diameter. It was blessed and rais- ed into its present position December 8, 1883. It bears these inscriptions: "S. Francise De Hieronymo Ora Pro Nobis A. D. 1883." *'D. O. M. In memoriam Patris Joanis Schoen- ' makers, Qvi Missione Osaginia Fvndata A. D. 1847, Obeit In Pace Christi Dec. 28, iVIII A. D. 1883." Jn the gallery is a magnificent pipe organ, a marvel for its fine mellow tone, placed there in November 1898 thru the efforts of Father Peter Hanley C. P. In the basement is a chapel with a seating capacity equal to that of many churches. In 1909 this immense building was raised three feet and a new foundation put under it. a feat of engineering skill at that time considered some- what marvelous. Should Fathers Schoenmakers and Ponziglione gaze down from heaven now upon this grand church which they labored so faithfully to con- struct, they could not but feel a sense of gratifica- tion and pride, and ,they would utter a prayer of thanksgiving that the object of their labors had been so fully realized and brought to such a grand consumation. FATHER PAUL WRITES OE ST. ERANCIS' CHETRCH. St Ignatius College. Chicago, Oct. 28, '98. Editor Journal — Tn reply to your favors of the 266 ST. FRANCIS' CHURCH. i8tii iiist. 1 enclose with the present an historical abridgement of St. Francis Church at Osage Mis- sion now St. Paul, Neosho county, Kansas. It was in April 1847 that the first Roman Catholic Church was opened by Father John Schoenniakers in one of the two log houses the Indian Department had put up for the use of the Osage r\]ission School, then inaugurated by the same Father. But oh how small it was! indeed hardly large enough to accommodate the domestics. Falue.- Schoenmakers saw at once the necessity of building a large one, not only for the use of the }>Iission, but also of the people forming our congregation. As in the woodland close by, one coukl at that time find a great many very large trees, so the needed logs having been cut down, a building was very soon erected 30x35 feet wide, arising 16 feet from the ground having a roof with a pediment of 10 feet, surmounted by a nice cross. The locality chosen for this church was the spot of ground now standing be- tween the two stc-ne houses, the residence of the Passionist Fathers and the school house. The size of this structure answered very well for a few years, the number of Catholics then living about the INfission being rather small. But the ])artial o])ening of Kansas Territory to the white settlers in 1853 soon called for some en- largement. The news that our Mission was oflfer- ing great convenience for church and school privileges had spread all over the country, and thoiLgh the Osage Reservation had not as yet been opened, many Catholic settlers came to squat along the Indian lands, not very far from us, and as the O sages were kind to them, some of these wovM come regrlarly to Mas^'. on Sundays, and others would send their children to our schools. This state of affairs compelled Father Schoen- ST. FRANCIS' CHURCH. 26/ makers to make additions to the church as well as to our houses for the accommodation of strang- ers. But the number of Cathohc settlers being still increasing, more room was needed in the church, and the Father returning to work erected a large addition in front of it, doubling altogether its area, which now became 70x35 feet. The best claims near us having been taken up, the Catholic settlers began to spread in the ad- joining counties, and though these could not come to Mass on every Sunday, they would try to come once in a while to attend to their religious duties, the result being that our congregation kept swel- ling, and frequently our church could not al¥ord room for all. What was to be done ? Father Schoenmakers saw that it was useless to make any more ad- ditions to it, and that the best would be to start the buikling of a large stone church. However as it was evident that it would take considerable time to realize this very good idea, he thought ad visible to put up here and there small chapels or Missionary stations, as we used to call them, in different districts which might be monthly at- tended by some of the Fathers of the Mission ; in this way he provided for the convenience of those, who on account of distance could not come to us. The excitement created by the news that Father Schoenmakers was going to build a large stone clmrch spreading around, brought us quite a number of Catholic settlers, especially of good m.echanics. of whom we were very much in need. But whence was the money to come from ? The only chance we had for getting any. was by ap- plving to the old system of making collections. The people had not much to spare, but they were of good will and contributed liberally. 268 ST. fRANClS'' CHURCH. Between what had been collected at home, and in the neighboring sta^tes, and even in Europe, the amount was found to be sufficient to justify the Father is setting hand to this great undertak- ing. The job was entrusted to Mr. Kavanaugh an expert builder. He laid in deep and solid foundations, and in a short time brought up the work to the water table, showing that the area of the church would be 140x70 feet. This done Rt. Rev. iwouis i\I. Fink D. D. O. S. B. Bishop of Leavenworth, Kansas, was invited to come to consecrate the corner stone, a thing which he did perform w^ith solemnity on the 23rd of June 1872. But now the treasury was empty, what was to be done ? Some advised Father Schoenmakers to borrow about 60 thousand dollars and finish the work, otherwise the mechanics would leave the country, and it would be difficult for us to find others as good, when the building would be re- sumed. The Father after serious consideration, concluded to suspend all the work, rather than to over-charge the congregation with so heavy a debt, which would be a crushing tax on our poor people, and this for years to come. Meanwhile the several chapels, or missionary stations erected in dif¥erent districts began to im- prove, and in a few years became the nucleus of rich towns and cities. These small places of wor- ship we attended by turn, as regularly as circum- stances would allow, to the great convenience of our settlers, who in a pressing need, knew where to apply for a priest. Here I would be too long if I would give the names of all the Catholic settlements that from the year 1853 to 1886 were gradually formed by families branching out of them All that I can state from old records is, that the fathers issuing from St. Francis church to the daily multiplying #3„ FRONT VIEW OF ST. FRAXCIS' CHURCH. I9T2. ST. FRANCIS' CHURCH. 269 missionary stations, had a very big task before them, and were kept travehng most all the time under great difficulties. Their line of excursions beginning from the southeast comer of Cherokee County, was going as far north as to Miami county, from that point turning westward would extend as far as to Ft. Larned in Shawnee Coun- ty. Next coming down to the counties along the state line, having visited these they would return to St. Francis church. It was indeed a slow, and laboring work, but with great courage they kept on, and deserved the honor of having been the first priests that brought the good tidings of the Gospel in 30 of the counties included in the ter- ritory just described. Besides they also now and then would visit the Indian Territory south of Kansas, forming mis- sionary stations at the Indian Agencies as well as at the military posts, as far as to Ft. Sill near to the line of Texas. This being so I hope nobody will blame me if I claim for St. Francis church the title of Metropolitan Church, because from the year 1847 to 1886 it has been a prolific mother of churches and missionan.^ stations, all together amounting to 108 : of these 87 in southern Kansas, and 21 in the Indian Territory. At last in 1883 ^mder the direction of Mr. Louis Scheidler the stone work of the new church was neatly finished to the roof, with the exception of the tower which was stopped at the heighth of 100 feet from the ground. It was the most ardent desire of everyone that Father Schoenmakers who had taken so much interest in promoting the good of Osage Mission, could see tjie completion of this his last work. All wished to see him blessing the new church and celebrating in it the first Mass, but it .was the 270 ST. FRANCIS CHURCH. Will of God, to call him to his reward before the roof could be laid over it. He died full of merits for heaven on the 28th of July 1883, having reached the 77th year of his age. The finishing of the new church caused great joy amongst the Catholic settlers, who not satisti- ed of having liberally contributed to its building, now wanted to have an extra collection to be taken up, for the procuring of a memorial bell, that for many years to come, might with its harmonious peals, call to the mind of the people the sweet memory of dear Father Schoenmakers. This collection was a financial success. No one even Protestants, refusing their mites; yes the ver3' full blood Osages from the plains of Okla- homa, sent in their rich contribution. The bell which carries the name of the father on it, was cast in St. Louis, Mo., weighs about 3000 lbs., and ^560. 00 were paid for it. Though everyone can but admire St. Franc's church, people are yet to be found, who will make objections to its size, saying that it is too large for the place. Well this same objection was made to the Father when he started the building of it. Now to all those who repeat it, I can but ofive the answer the Father then gave to others. The TTOod Father smiling replied to them, that time would answer to their objection. And in fact the answer came on. the nth of May 1884, when Rt. Rev. John Ho?fan D. D. Bishop of Kansas City, Mo. solemnly dedicated the New Church to God under the invocation of St. Francis De Hieronymo. On that occasion, as well as on subsequent ones, the building was filled up to its utmost caoacity, so that many could not get admission into it. This is in short the history of St. Francis Church at Osage Mission. I would not be sur- ST. FRANCIS CHURCH. 27I prised, if here some might say, what is the use to talk so much about Osage Mission since it does no longer exist, and St. Paul has taken its place? Yes I know it has and in my opinion, should be proud of it, for it has also taken as an inher- itance, a great glory that no other town of south- ern Kansas can claim, namely of being the pio- neer town of southern Kansas, the first town in which a church was erected in honor of God and schools were opened for the education of youth. Yes as long as the Memorial Bell will stand on St. Francis tower, its inscription in clear bronze letters will show that Father Schoenmakers was the one who built Osage Mission in 1847, proving by it that, though he was a Jesuit, he by no means was an enemy to progress, on the contrary, was a strong promoter of civilization. The present condition of St. Paul may not as yet be what some might wish. I know it, and with many of my old friends must say, that there is left room for many improvements. But the surrounding country being most excellent, the fertility of the soil being inexhaustible, the salu- brity of its climate having few equals, there is no doubt, that in the near future St. Paul will be- come one of the best towns in southern Kansas. Long life therefore and prosperity may the Lord grant to the town, which though bereaved of its primitive name, has not lost the glory in- separable from it, and is as dear to me this day, as it was when it used to be called Osage Mission. Paul M. Ponziglione. S. J. THE OLD LOG CHURCH. The old log church at the Osage ^fission was one of the first churches erected on Kansas soil. In fact there was no Kansas when this building was first used. Kansas had not even been or- ^72 ST. FRANCIS CHURCH. ganized as a territory when this crude little structure was completed in 1847. -^^ ^^^^ it was a small building made of hewn logs with a clap- board roof, and "puncheon" floor. The altar was ''home made." The pews were split logs with peg legs. The silent worshipers at first were the "red men of the prairies," with an occasional white man who had "strayed across the borders of civilization." The fervor of the Jesuit fathers week by week attracted greater numbers of the Osages to at- tend the services until the building became too small, and it was enlarged by removing one end and building an extension, much like two build- ings standing end to end with a jog in the walls at the junction to give them strength. With the coming of the white man, this too became too small and the great St. Francis Church was built to take its place. Modest as was this little log church it was the center of Christianity in Southeastern Kansas as well as among the Osages. Sermons preached within its walls exerted a powerful influence over the Osages. The first were preached in the Osage language and the most urgent appeals were made to them to lead better lives, and to adopt the ways of the Christian. They were not without a telling efifect, as related by the his- torians of the tribe. This building was torn down in 1888 and was the last of the old "Mission" buildings to disap- pear. This event was considered of sufficient im- portance from an historical standpoint by the St. Louis daily papers that they gave it prominent mention. The writer had the privilege of "serving" many Miasses for Father Schoenmakers, Ponziglione and Kuhlman in this old log church. CHAMER XiVIII. SISTERS OF LORETTO AMONG THE OSAGES. "They had labored for Cod, Far from the homes they had loved so -well; And naught was near that they longed to hear, Save the sound of the beads and the convent bell, When their race -was run and their zuork was done. They passed artvay-the true, the brave; But God knows best, they now find rest Near the college home in a lonely grave." When the Jesuits took the contract to educate the Osages, it included females as well as boys, and this brought Father Schoenmakers face to face with a problem. The Jesuits are noted educators of boys, but they had had no experience with girls, and even if they had. there were not sufficient teachers among their members at the "Mission" to do the work. The Father therefore set about to get Sisters to take charge of the females at the schools. He told the story himself of how ''in vain I knocked at all the religious homes in St. Louis. None of the inmates coul