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Sisters of Humility of Mary Come to Ottumwa

THE OTTUMWA FOUNDATION

First Fifteen Years

1877- 1892

by Sr. Madeleine Marie Schmidt, CHM

February 1998

Used with permission of the author

 

Iowa of 1877 was in its springtime. The Civil War had touched her patriotic enthusiasm, but she was spared the post-war reconstruction the Sisters had experienced in Missouri. Iowa’s youthful society felt the vigor of a hopeful generation. Not even the disputed election of President Rutherford B. Hayes could dim her spirit. Industries were finding new beginnings in the towns of the Middle West. In Ottumwa, Thomas D. Foster arrived in June to make Ottumwa the home of Morrell Packing Plant: (3) Railroads were expanding to include the neglected areas of Iowa and Missouri. From the Mississippi west, from Kansas City north, construction crews pushed the plans of rival railroad lines. By 1877 Ottumwa had become a railroad center.

The railroads and the ordinary men who prepared the beds and laid the rails played a part in the transfer of the Sisters of the Humility of Mary from northwest Missouri to southeast Iowa, to Ottumwa. In the spring of 1877, two Sisters, Mother Mary of the Angels and Sister Mary Frances Mangan, on a begging tour to secure much needed funds for their small community, asked and received assistance from the railroad workers as they made their way from Liberty, Missouri to Ottumwa, Iowa along a new railroad going north through southern Iowa to tie up with existing road to Chicago and Milwaukee. (1) (Earlier, humility Sisters in New Bedford had sought the help of railroad workers and put to good use the small donations they received.)

For hospitality in Ottumwa, it is most likely that Mother Mary and Sister Frances went to the Visitation Nuns whose academy and motherhouse had been completed in 1870 just a few blocks north of the Ottumwa downtown area. Next door to the Visitation Academy on Fourth Street was St. Mary’s Church where Father John Joseph Kreckel had been pastor for 23 years. Four years before the Humility Sisters’ arrival, in 1874, Father Kreckel had written to Mother Mary: “I am happy to inform you that I have permission to introduce your order of Sisters into my parish. The permission the Bishop (John Hennessey) gave me was conditionally, that is, if Bishop Hogan of St. Joseph’s would recommend the order. I wish you could see the recommendation; it is an excellent one.” The letter dated June 27 was only a few months before the small group of Humility Sisters in Missouri became a foundation separate from the Pennsylvania Humilities. Father Kreckel had written: “I have already written two letters to New Beford , PA, but have not yet an answer. . . . I wish you would do me the favor of writing a few lines to Penn. and inform them of what sort of place this is.” (This last remark seems to indicate the Sisters had visited Ottumwa prior to their 1877 arrival.) Four years later the Diocese of Davenport was created on May 8, 1881. John McMullen was made the first bishop on 14 June 1881.

 

German-born Father John Kreckel was ordained by Bishop Loras on 17 November, 1853 and received Ottumwa as his first assignment. When he arrived, by stage, on 11 February 1854, he found his parish not only included Wapello County, but also twelve other counties (Jefferson, Van Buren, Keokuk, Mahaska, Polk, Jasper, Marion, Monroe, Davis, Appanoose, Wayne and Decatur). As more priests came into the area, the parish was divided. But for many years, Father Kreckel was a circuit-rider priest, visiting his missions periodically to bring the sacraments to the Catholics of the wide spread area..

When two Sisters of the Humility of Mary arrived in July, 1877, he immediately asked them and the rest of the congregation to come to Ottumwa to teach the boys. The Visitation nuns who had come to Ottumwa in 1864, taught only girls. Sisters Mary of the Angels and Frances Mangan, then, returned to Missouri to consult with the rest of the Sisters about moving to Ottumwa. The community decided to accept Father Kreckel’s invitation. In late July, 1877, Mother Mary and three Sisters left Missouri and the others came in August, 1877. The community consisted in seven professed Sisters: Mary of the Angels, Sacred Heart Gerardin, Vincent Lawler, Anna Maria Patterson, Joseph Galvin, Angeline Wogan and Francis Mangan; two novices: Sisters Mary Thomas Burke and Sister Mary Agnes Whalen and three postulants: Anne O’Riley, Mary Vaughn and Elizabeth A. Lily.

For the convent for the first sisters who arrived, Father Kreckel made available a small house of four rooms, two upstairs and two downstairs, located on 5th Street between the First Baptist Church and the Zangs residence. (described by Yetta Zangs, Mrs. R. E. Farrell) in a letter. ( ) Another small house was secured before the second group of Sisters arrived in August. The two houses which made up their first convent were called by the Sisters the “Paradise Houses.” The people of Ottumwa welcomed and assisted the Sisters with furniture, coal, stoves, bedding and food. (Warin, p.6)

Within a year four women joined the Sisters and received the habit in St. Mary’s Church on 7 November 1878: (Warm, p.8) Sophia Erbacher (Sister Mary Teresa); Mary Kenney (Sister Mary Euphrasia); Catherine Cody (Sister Mary Clare Cody) and Catherine Griffin (Sister Mary Aloysius). Two more women entered in 1880: Philomena Oriez (Sister Mary Peter) and Catherine Ketterer (Sister Mary Ligouri). These six novices made their first vows on August 8, 1882 when the first bishop of Davenport, John McMullen paid his first and only visit to the Sisters in Ottumwa. (He died July 4, 1883). Two postulants were also received on that day: Margaret Cottingham who was given the name Sister Mary Genevieve and Sara Healy who was given the name Sister Mary Ignatius.

Mrs. Mary Quinn Tally who had befriended the Sisters in Carrollton came to Ottumwa to assist them. She immediately began to look for a more suitable location for their convent. She chose the Alexander house on North Court, a large brick house on property which would allow for expansion. Mrs. Tally gave $7,500 for the purchase of this property. “From the deed recorded. . . in the Recorder’s Office. . . the following facts were obtained: Father John Kreckel purchased the property for the Sisters, May 28, 1878 from the Alexanders, Laura and John, for $7,500; that it consisted of seven and one-half acres; then the property was transferred to the Sisters of Humility of Mary for the nominal price of one dollar.” (Warm, pp. 9 & 10) According to Sister Eulalia, this method of purchasing property was used because the Sisters were little known at the time. Father Kreckel had purchased property for the Visitation Nuns in 1864 in the same way. The purchase reported in the Ottumwa Courier stated that Father Kreckel had purchased the property for $7,500. In a letter to Father Trevis, Vicar General of the Diocese, he said that the Articles were faulty because Mother Mary claimed in them that she was superior for life. (Con. 20 Nov. 1890) Actually, the Articles of Incorporation as recorded in the Wapello County courthouse has no reference to Mother Mary’s term of office. It does, however, call for the election of the superior every three years. Mother Mary and the Sisters themselves took steps to incorporate in Iowa as they had in Missouri. Additional purchases were made on behalf of the Humility Sisters so that the Sisters owned 11.2 acres by June 1883. (Warm, Motherhouse,p. 10)

Seventeen days before the purchase of the Alexander property, the congregation became incorporated on 11 May 1878. According to Article 4 of the Articles of Incorporation.” The object and purpose of this Association are to afford a greater opportunity and more security to the incorporators and their successors in the establishment and management of Hospitals, schools, Asylums and other institutions for the relief, education and care of the poor and needy, the distressed, the orphans and ignorant.” (Articles of Incorporation.)

The community took possession of their new convent on 25 July 1878, the eve of the feast of St. Anne. Father Kreckel blessed the house in the afternoon and the next morning offered Mass in the chapel in thanksgiving. The new convent also became the home for Mrs. Tally and her niece, Mary Shields who had adjoining rooms on the second floor with a separate outdoor entrance on a balcony where steps lead to the front yard. (Warin, p. 12) (In their relationship to the Sisters, Mary Tally and Mary Shields were similar to the present Associate Members) Before a year had passed, General James Shields, Mary Tally’s cousir who had befriended the Sisters in Carrollton, Missouri, came to Ottumwa on a lecture tour and stayed overnight in the convent room of Mary Shields, his niece, while she shared the room of her aunt, Mrs. Tally. There on June 1, 1879, he suddenly took ill and died. Escorted by several military personnel and prominent Ottumwans as pall bearers and Father John Kreckel, with the Schwabkey Band playing, the body of General Shields was taken from St. Mary’s church to the depot and on the train to Carrollton, Missouri.

Plans were made to construct a new hospital building connected to the convent and Mrs. Tally contributed $5,000 to this project. Before the building could be completed, the need for a place to care for patients became urgent. The third floor of the convent building, a finished attic with dormer windows, was made available for the first patients and was named the Tally Hospital on December 19, 1879. The new building became available upon its completion the spring of 1880. Mrs. Tally did not live to see its opening. She died February 20, 1880 in the Sisters’ convent only about six months after the death of General Shields, her cousin. She was buried in New York beside her family.

In the fall of 1879, Mary Tally, accompanied by her niece Mary T. Shields, had spent some time in Carrollton supervising the repair of the roof of St. Mary’s church which she had built for that parish. The roof had certain defects from its installation. While she was in Missouri, she wrote her will, executing it when she returned to Ottumwa on 23 January 1880. After her death on 20 February 1880, it was probated in the Ottumwa Democrat and Times from April 29 - May 12, 1880. The will provided for the cancellation of a note for $3,550 executed on 27 August 1879 by the Sisters of the Humility of Mary and small bequests to her nieces and nephews, children of her sisters Alice and Kate and her brother Frank. It provided that securities and monies from various notes, personal property and real estate go to Mary T. Shields during her lifetime. It stipulated that, before her death, she must indicate the charitable Roman Catholic institution which would receive the balance.

The will was contested by the sons and daughter of her brother Frank Quinn, in particular, by nephews John and Frank Quinn in their own names and those of their brothers and sister. Two issues were cited: 1) Mrs. Tally was not of sound mind and in feeble health at the time she executed the will; 2) She was unduly influenced by Mary Shields and the Sisters of the Humility of Mary.

The case was first scheduled for trial in Wapello County in the March term, 1881. After a request for change of venue, it was then moved into Monroe County circuit court, September 1881. After a second request of change of venue, it was moved again into the circuit court in Van Buren County, October 1881. The attorneys for the plaintiffs were not able to find persons willing to testify. Father John Kreckel and his housekeeper Mrs. O’Connor were subpoenaed. John Quinn testified that Father Kreckel had been Mrs. Tally’s confessor and that he would state “he noticed that her mind and memory was failing; that she was childish and changeable. . .that she had advised with him frequently on spiritual and temporal affairs...” However, Father Kreckel, although subpoenaed, never testified. He was called to Davenport by Bishop McMullen on important business. The jury at the Van Buren County term of court rendered their verdict on 20 October 1881 declaring that Mary Tally was of sound and disposing mind at the time of the execution of the will and that undue influence had not been exercised by Mary Shields or the Sisters of the Humility of Mary. (After the death of Mary Shields, 26 February 1897, her husband, J. J. Smith carried out the terms of the will and a sum of money went to the Sisters of the Humility of Mary which provided, at that time, the funds to make payment on the 4th Street property the Sisters were purchasing from the Visitation Nuns.) (Will, notes and documents on the contesting of the will)

Mother Mary of the Angels was the recognized leader of the Sisters from the time they went to Missouri in 1870. Bishop John Joseph Hogan called her “mother” from the time the Sisters arrived in the St. Joseph Diocese, perhaps as a sign of his respect. In 1874 when the Missouri Sisters separated from the New Bedford Sisters, she was the religious superior of the new foundation. It was she who decided it was best for the small congregation to leave Missouri and to move to Ottumwa, Iowa.

In the summer of 1880 when she had been religious superior for six years, Father John Kreckel decided to replace her and appointed Sister Mary Frances as Mother, a young Sister of 24 years who had been professed five years. The reason he gave for terminating Mother Mary’s term is that “Mother turned against me.” (Con Kreckel to M. Anna) This was the time of the contested Tally will and Father Kreckel took the side of the plaintiffs, the Quinn brothers. It seems that Father Kreckel, instead, turned against the Sisters and Mother Mary. He was willing to testify for the plaintiffs. Also, Father Kreckel at this time asked Mother Anna to take them back into the Pennsylvania community, claiming he did so at the request of the Bishop. However, Bishop John McMullen wrote favorably of the congregation when he visited them August 8, 1882.

Mother Mary Frances Mangan, 24 years old, was a promising Sister who had accompanied Mother Mary on the first trip to Ottumwa, had been the first teacher of the boys in Ottumwa and had opened the first mission, Marshalltown, a year later. During her novitiate year in New Bedford, her musical talents had been developed by Mother Anna who was a highly trained musician. Mother Francis remained superior until 1890 when a series of events caused the termination of her position as superior general. She had lost favor with Father Kreckel who was complaining to Bishop John Cosgrove about the financial condition of the Sisters. Mother Mary of the Angels had been advised to write to the Bishop about the situation in the community. In a letter on 28 October 1889, Mother Mary expressed her concern about the mortgages on the property, the use of the income from the fairs and the sale of some property at a loss and the deteriorating state of their property. The following year, Mother Frances submitted a financial statement to Bishop Cosgrove on 7 October 1890 indicating an indebtedness of $29,681. Earlier Mother Frances had written to Bishop Cosgrove to ask permission to offer to the Visitation Nuns the exchange of the property on Court Hill for the Visitation Academy and convent. Actually the fourth street property was purchased and the property on the hill was offered for sale. The Bishop asked Father Louis DeCailly from Fort Madison to visit the Sisters and Father DeCailly concurred in an offer by Father Kreckel to make a plan for liquidating the debts. He secured a loan from the bank and a mortgage from a Mr. Howard from St. Louis (Kreckel Con. 16 May 1990). The Sisters moved into the former Visitation Academy and renamed it St. Joseph Motherhouse and Academy.

The role of Father Kreckel in relation to the Sisters appears to be adversarial. In his letter to Father Trevis (20 November 1890) he acknowledged that Bishop John Hennessey took the Sisters out of his care and assigned Irish-born Father Francis J. Ward in November of 1879 to be the chaplain at the Motherhouse of the Sisters and as pastor of the new St. Patrick’s Parish on the south side of Ottumwa. Father John Brazill, Vicar General, was also assigned to direct the Sisters. Father Kreckel wrote in the same letter that he wanted to be a “true Father Donaghoe to them”, a reference to Father Terence Donohoe, co-founder with Mother Frances Clarke of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Father Donaghoe had assumed the entire direction of the BVM congregation, a position he maintained until his death. (M. Jane Coogan, BVM. THE PRICE OF OUR HERITAGE, P. 1) In Father Kreckel’s letter to Mother Anna, he claimed that Bishop McMullen had asked him to again direct them. (Con 28 Nov. 1881.) This letter was just a month after the Bishop had ordered him to Davenport, during the case of the contested Tally will.

During the summer of 1889, Father Aloysius Lambert, S. J. gave a retreat for the Sisters. He was a good friend of Bishop Cosgrove and a priest who had had experience with religious rules. He advised them to have their rule revised to meet the requirements of Canon Law. With Bishop Cosgrove’s consent, he reviewed the Humility rule and made recommendations. At the time of the retreat, he advised Mother Frances to resign as Canon Law called for a three-year term with a possible renewal. She resigned 15 August, 1890. (Dominica p.3) Father Lambert wrote to Bishop Cosgrove on 16 December 1890:” I finally send you the rules for the Humility sisters - I say finally, though I had them ready almost a year ago. I rewrote them five times. Last vacation when I met Father Kreckel at Desmoines (sic) in August, I would have given him a copy but for what he said and suggested... . Please examine it and if it is fit all right - send to the Sisters and have them copy it and send the original back to you. . . .The Sisters should fill these pages out (Daily Order; Dress; List of Communion Days) - especially about the dress which should be fully described - that I could not do - also about the daily order - let them fix it and then get your approval.” (Con. Lambert with Cosgrove, 16 Dec. 1890)

A preliminary election was held in 1890 to choose a temporary superior while the Sisters prepared for a regular election in 1891. Sister Mary Joseph Galvin became the temporary superior for two years (she later had two full terms beginning in 1897.) In 1891, Sister Mary Angeline Wogan was elected Superior General was elected Superior General for three years and was renewed in office in 1894.

During the first fifteen years of the Sisters living in Ottumwa, the Congregation had grown to 37 members and the three ministries for which they were founded had become realities: the care of the sick, the care of orphans and the education of children. On 19 December 1879, the Tally Hospital opened on North Court in Ottumwa in the convent of the Sisters, as a temporary location to meet an immediate need. Plans were already being implemented for a new hospital to be connected wtih the convent, the former Alexander home, a large two-story brick building having a finished attic with dormer windows. This area, originally intended for housing orphans, became the space of the first patients. The opening of this first hospital was the achievement of three persons:

Mother Mary of the Angels, Mrs. Mary Quinn Tally, who gave $5,000 toward the building the new hospital and Dr. S. E. O’Neill, formerly of Carrollton, Missouri, who helped secure professional and financial support for it.

An emergency arose in Wapello County which brought the Board of Supervisors to request nursing care for nine mental patients. Overcrowding of the Mt. Pleasant asylum, as it was called then, required returning patients to their county of origin. The Sisters agreed to make their convent a “temporary hospital” and to proceed with their building plans. The patients were moved to the new hospital upon its completion the spring of 1880. This service continued until September, 1882, when a new county home was opened. During these thirteen years, caring for these patients was an important source of incOme for the Sisters. At the beginning they were paid $18 a month for each patient, providing the Sisters with about $500 income every 6 months. (Warin. Motherhouse, p. 17) For the next eight years, patients from the locality were cared for in the Tally Hospital until it was closed in 1890 and sold. The building presently exists as the Norcourt Apartments. The Sister continued their mission of caring for the sick in private homes. St. Joseph Hospital came into existence in 1914 in the building purchased from the Visitation Nuns in April, 1890.

The Ottumwa Sisters were involved in caring for homeless children as soon as they moved into the Alexander house. The number was small at first, but increased. The Sisters were their total support. To assist them in this work, their friends and the people of Ottumwa held fairs every two or three years. The first was held in 1881 and was considered “one of the most successful fairs ever held in the city”. The local newspapers gave extensive coverage of the fairs. In 1884, they had seventeen orphans under their care. The Sisters continued this work in Ottumwa until the Sisters were asked to take over the care of orphans in the diocese in 1896. The facility became St. Vincent’s Home. (Warin, Motherhouse p.32)

The Sisters had been invited by Father Kreckel to come to Ottumwa to teach the boys. (The Visitation Nuns were teaching the girls in their academy). In September, 1877, the St. Joseph School was opened in the rectory using two rooms in the basement and two on the first floor. Fifteen boys registered the first day. (Dominica Mss) Sisters Agnes Whalen and Frances Mangan were the first teachers with Father Kreckel as principal. (City Directory. 1879, p.12) The number of boys increased and Father Kreckel decided to build a new school on the corner of Fifth and Court Street where the Jay Funeral Home now stands. Renamed Sacred Heart School, it was a building of red brick trimmed in white stone. Counting the basement which contained one classroom, the lavatories and the furnace, the building had three floors. The first floor had two classrooms and the second floor, an auditorium, which was eventually divided into two classrooms, cloak rooms and a library. At first the school was ungraded, but divided into primary, intermediate and grammar classes, with A and B sections in each. The Sisters taught reading, writing and arithmetic, plus catechism, music, geography and history. The school was heated by a wood stove which was tended by the older boys who also carried water from the town pump. The picture shows Sister Euphrasia Kenney and the children of Sacred Heart School.

In 1890, the Sisters assumed the responsibility of teaching both the boys and girls in Ottumwa when they purchased the Visitation Academy. Eventually Sacred Heart School became graded and had boys and girls in grades 1 - 7. Eighth grade and High school were in the Visitation Academy building renamed St. Joseph Academy. In addition to the Academy which was attached to the Motherhouse, a total of eight mission schools were opened the first fifteen years of the Sisters being in Ottumwa.

Just one year after the Sisters arrived in Ottumwa, they opened their first mission in Immaculate Conception parish, Marshalltown which became in 1890 St. Mary’s. Mother Sister Frances Mangan left St. Joseph School in Ottumwa to go to the new mission in 1878 together with Sisters Mary Vincent Lawler, Teresa Erbacher and Bernard Vaughan. On the first day of school, eighteen students registered: three were later to become Sisters: Mary Darling (Cecelia); Anna McGowan (Gertrude) and Margaret Neville (Madalene). This school continued until 1977. In 1884 the Sisters bought the Parker residence where St. Mary’s Convent was built later and also three lots to the east of it which became the site of St. Mary’s School. In 1892, the parish began to buy from the Sisters this property and completed the purchase in 1925.

Also, in 1878, three Sisters opened a small school in Fairfield and remained there until June 1884 when a number of district schools were opened and children living near these schools attended them. Two early vocations from this area were: Catherine Ketterer who became Sister Liguori and Philomena Oriez who became Sister Peter.

When Bishop John McMullen came to Ottumwa in 1882 for reception and profession, he asked Mother Frances Mangan to send Sisters to teach at Georgetown in response to a request from Father Dennis Ryan, pastor. Sisters Angeline Wogan and Bernard Vaughn were sent to teach in the district school and Sister Ignatius to keep house. With the deaths of Father Ryan and, in July, 1883, Bishop McMullen, the new pastor Father A. F. Moynahan decided he did not want Sisters and requested they be withdrawn. In 1912, the Sisters were again invited to Georgetown to staff a new school.

In 1885 when Father Louis De Cailly, nephew of Bishop Loras, was pastor of St. Joseph parish, Fort Madison, the Sisters of the Humility of Mary went to Fort Madison. The two first teachers were: Sister Liguori Ketterer and Sister Agnes Whalen, who each taught four grades. This school remained open until 1981.

In 1888, Sisters began teaching in the church basement of St. Alphonsus, Mt. Pleasant. In 1894, they started a two year high school. Early vocations from Mt. Pleasant were Cecelia Halpin (Sister Innocentia); Stella McGuire (Sister Anna Mary) and her sister Anna McGuire (Sister Clementine). In 1904 the Humilities withdrew to be followed by the Mercy Sisters.

On September 8, 1891, three Sisters came from Ottumwa to St. Patrick’s parish, Neola, at the request of the pastor, Father T. M. Schiffmacher, to open a school in his rectory. The first teachers were: Sisters Teresa Erbacher, Bernadine Kurtz and Anthony Hanson. The school continued until 1994.

A fourth ministry was opened to the Sisters in this period when St. Ambrose College boarding department was opened in 1887. The Sisters were invited to assume the care and work of the boarding facility, including the infirmary. Their convent is in back of the original building on its right. Three Sisters opened this mission: Sisters Mary Peter Oriez, Mary Benedict Smith and Mary DeChantal O’Reilly. The Sisters continued this staffing until 1960. (Con. Sofranko with Bians, 1980.)

A poem written by Sister Gabriel Hurley in 1907 reveals some of the problems of the early days in Ottumwa.

THIRTY YEARS AGO

Thirty years ago a little band

Of missionary Sisters, came to our land,

Of worldly possessions they had few

One cup at table had to do for two.

The Sisters had one horse of which they took good care,

Each day the stable was cleaned after morning prayer.

In the kitchen cupboard the harness was safely stowed away

To have it convenient for the following day.

To the park to water, two novices led the horse each day.

Regardless of the remarks they heard by the way;

The Sisters dug sewers, sawed wood, and laid down walks

And no one was known to complain or balk.

The needs of the Sisters it was difficult to supply,

And for food and money they often did apply.

One day the Sisters went on a begging tour

The vehicle they rode in was very poor.

One Sister had to be content with a box for a seat,

And whilst wrapt in prayer, was landed in the street.

The food which they ate was of the simplest fare.

Nevertheless, it was prepared with the same earnest care.

One day the convent cat ate Mrs. Tally’s steak

And a similar raid, the dog, upon the Bishop’s meat did make.

Sugar was unknown except on Sunday morn.

Butter was so scarce, it would make you feel forlorn.

The groceries were carried on the back of the horse or the Sisters

And the nuns poor shoulders were often covered with blisters.

The apples and cherries, which are now bought by the peck,

Were picked by Kittie above, looking no larger than a speck.

The limbs of the Sisters often ached from climbing the stairs,

No elevator or dumb waiter then to lighten their cares.

To Mass each morning the nuns in grand procession came,

First Toby, the dog, then the novices and Sisters like a slowly moving train.

The advice and admonition which we now pay Divine

Dear Mother O’Connor* freely gave and never charged a dime.

But in spite of all their trials and woes and privations

There was then no happier crowd in God’s creation.

 

(*Father Kreckel’s housekeeper)

 

copyright 1998 by Sr. Madeleine Marie Schmidt, CHM

 

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