A St. Patrick's Day tribute to the Church of St. Patrick, Pottsville, PA

As early as 1827, its parishioners were meeting in each other's homes. By 1838, they had moved into their first real church structure - a log cabin, and then on to building a conventional church. This structure would serve the parish well, but would last only fifty-three years, when it was torn down to make room for the larger limestone exterior Church of St. Patrick that still stands today.

I wrote about the history of the parish previously within my article Coal region Catholics: The story of Pottsville's Church of St. Patrick. There was no shortage of photographs of the current church for me to choose from, and I decided to use some that I had taken myself during my visit to Pottsville the previous year. I was particularly interested, however, to see the church building that had served the parish from 1838 to 1891, since my family had arrived in the area in 1840 and so many of the rites of passage of those early ancestors and their families and friends had taken place in that church.

Church of St. Patrick, Pottsville, 1838-1891
(This church was torn down to make way for the current structure)

I was able to find and include a photo of the 1838 church's exterior within my article (see above), but what I really wanted was to see the inside - the interior of the church in which my great-great-great-grandparents had stood when they baptized their children, the place that was the center of family worship - where they prayed at Mass each Sunday, where they said their final goodbyes at Requiem Masses prior to making the walk up the hill to St. Patrick's Cemetery to bury loved ones who had passed.

I was thrilled when I discovered that there was, indeed, a photograph of the interior of that second Church of St. Patrick! The photo, dated sometime in the 1880s, was taken by renowned "photographer of the mines" George M. Bretz who worked in Pottsville from 1870 to the year of his death in 1895. His photographic images of the interior of the second Church of St. Patrick along with many photos of Schuylkill County mines and other scenes, can be found online within the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Digital Collection. (Start at the landing page for the George Bretz Collection if you are interested in viewing these images.)

Below is the interior of the Church of St. Patrick as it looked sometime during the 1880s. It is a beautiful church and the parishioners must have been sad to see it torn down, despite having a new, larger and also beautiful church built on its site.

It was before this altar in the second Church of St. Patrick that my great-great-grandparents Margaret Foley and William Cowhey were married in 1878. It was a second marriage for William, age 43 (who had lost his wife Catherine to consumption, and brought five children into his second marriage with Margaret). The young bride, at age 21, was embarking on a life as a mother to William's first five children and later ten more of their own.

I was very happy to find the details of William and Margaret's marriage within William's Civil War pension file. Among the many pages within this file (circa 1890s), was a Record Proof of Marriage of Widow to Soldier. Signed by then pastor Rev. F. J. McGovern, it attested to the extract from the registry of St. Patrick's Church indicating that William and Margaret had been married by Rev. A.J. Gallagher on February 23, 1878, witnesses Maurice Ryan and Clara Kitchen. This is a true family treasure, particularly since the church itself has been unable to provide access to the listing of this couple's marriage within their registry. Below is the page documenting that day 137 years ago when my great-great-grandparents were joined in marriage at the altar of the second Church of St. Patrick in Pottsville.

William and Margaret (Foley) Cowhey

Marriage at a Glance

• Married: 23 February 1878 at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Pottsville, Schuylkill Co., PA 
• Children of William and Catherine (Regan) Cowhey: Anna (b. 1866), Margaret, (b. 1868) William F. (b. 1871), John J. (b. 1874), Richard (b. 1876)
• Children of William and Margaret (Foley) Cowhey: Mary (b. 1878), Ellen (b. 1880), Elizabeth (b. 1881), Thomas (b. 1883), Ambrose (b. 1884), Clara (b. 1886), Charles (b. 1887), Blanche (b. 1889), Lena (b. 1891), Isabella (b. 1892)
• Duration of Marriage: 14 years ending at William's death on 17 November 1892

William Cowhey

1834-1892
Life at a Glance

• Name at birth: William Cowhey
• Parents: Patrick and Ann Cowhey
• Siblings: John (1832-1836), William (1834-1892), Ann (1837-1864), Ellen (1840-1898), Thomas (1842-1899), Elisabeth (1844-1845), Johanah (1844-1846), John (1846-1920), Michael (1846-1855) 
• Born: 29 April 1834 in New York City, NY
• Died: 17 November 1892 in Cressona, Schuylkill Co., PA at age 58*
• Buried: St. Patrick's No. 3 Cemetery, Pottsville, Schuylkill Co., PA

Margaret (Foley) Cowhey

1855-1912

Life at a Glance

• Name at birth: Margaret Foley
• Parents: Patrick Foley and Margaret Graham
• Born: 10 August 1855 in Port Carbon, Schuylkill Co., PA
• Died: 5 October 1912 in Mount Carbon, Schuylkill Co., PA at age 57
• Buried: St. Patrick's No. 3 Cemetery, Pottsville, Schuylkill Co., PA

More here at Small-leaved Shamrock
about William and Margaret (Foley) Cowhey

William

• A horrifying end a hero's farewell, November 1892*
• 150 years ago today: William Cowhey sees his first action in the Civil War
• On this date in 1862: "I, William Cowhey, do solemnly swear..."
• Civil War 150: The Cowhey brothers volunteer for the Union
• The 1892 Pottsville train explosion: How and why?*
• Crossing the Potomac with William: A soldier's story
• Riding the rails: The life and death of William Cowhey*

Margaret

• Mother to 15, Widow at 38: My discovery of the photograph of my quietly heroic great-great-grandmother 
• Family treasure at the National Archives: 19th-century birth records and more
• Death comes in threes: The sorrows of Margaret Foley Cowhey, 1891-1895*

This article is included as part of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge organized by Amy Johnson Crow. The theme for Week 11, in which this article falls, is "Luck of the Irish". [Note: Hat tip to Donna Pointkouski of What's Past is Prologue for the summary format I've used at the end of this article.] Find more stories of my family's ancestral churches visit my Churches of My Ancestors Pinterest board.

Coal region Catholics: The story of Pottsville's Church of St. Patrick

One-hundred and eighty-five years ago this month a small group of Catholics gathered for Mass in a private home in the new town of Pottsville, Pennsylvania. On that date, October 27, 1827, these families made the decision that it was time they had a church - and they would build one.

This was the genesis of today’s Church of St. Patrick: the first Catholic church in the lower anthracite coal region; the first between "John Potts and the coal mines" and the New York state boundaries to the east and to the north. It would become the mother church in which many other area Catholic parishes found their beginnings over the decades.

The area was originally home only to the Shawanese, Hanticoke and Delaware Indians. Just a trickle of European immigrants had come into the area before 1824: by that date, there were only five houses. But in 1825, the opening of the Schuylkill Canal to Mount Carbon provided a way for coal to be transported out of the area to major markets, and Pottsville's boom began. Waves of immigrant families (many of them Catholic) came to settle in the area to work the mines and perform all the labor that went along with its processing and transportation. By 1826, the year before the founding of the Church of St. Patrick, the population had reached 2,000.

Though the group of families gathered for Mass on October 27, 1827 had made the decision to build their church, they found that getting the project started was not an easy task. They learned that John Potts (namesake of Pottsville) had a plot of land at a bargain price that was located "way up in the woods at Fourth St. and Mahantongo Road" (now in downtown Pottsville). They could not, however, come up with the $150.

At the time Fr. John Fitzpatrick, a Jesuit priest, was serving Catholic families in the area by traveling the approximately fifty-mile journey by horseback from Goshenhoppen, Bally, Berks County (about an hour and a half drive today). He offered to advance the money for the purchase of the land. A log church was built at a cost of $1,000, although it wouldn't be until 1833 that the parish finally had a resident pastor.

Only a short time after that first pastor's arrival, the parish saw the need for a larger church. They built the new one over the old one, and once the new one was completed they dismantled the original log church contained inside it. The second Church of St. Patrick was dedicated on September 29, 1839.

The second Church of St. Patrick was built in 1838-1839.
It was demolished in 1891 to make way for the current church building.

~

In 1854, Bishop (now canonized saint) John Neumann of Philadelphia proposed a division of his diocese with the establishment of a new Diocese of Pottsville, and hoped he could be transferred to this rural region and out of the "very cultural world of Philadelphia"* from which he was serving 145 churches and 200,000 Catholics throughout much of Pennsylvania and New Jersey and all of Delaware. It was not to be.

~

A vintage postcard of the
third (and current)
Church of St. Patrick,
completed in 1892

Sixty years had passed since the building of the second church, with many pastors making their home at St. Patrick's. By 1889, it was time again to consider the construction of a much larger church. The project was begun by the new pastor, Fr. William Duffy, yet finished under the guidance of Fr. Francis. J. McGovern, a native of Mount Carbon who became pastor after Fr. Duffy's death in 1892.

The third (and current) Church of St. Patrick has an exterior of Avondale limestone with window trimmings of Indiana Limestone. For over a century now, it has had a commanding presence on Mahantongo Street and within the town of Pottsville.

The church is actually directly connected to the Yuengling Brewery, as you can see in the photograph below, and it is difficult to get a clear photo of the church without the brewery, vehicles, or electrical lines in the way.

The year 1892 was not the last time St. Patrick's saw change. Since the church's origins in 1839, a rectory, a convent and a school have also been added and remodeled. During 1969 and 1970 the church building itself underwent a badly needed renovation. Its steeple was restored, its exterior was modernized, and the interior of the church was completely reconstructed, with a new sacristy, oratory and underground crypt added.

~

Many of my family members have walked through the doors of the Church of St. Patrick on many occasions since first settling in the Pottsville area in the middle of the 19th century. Under its steeple, they pronounced their vows in the sacrament of Matrimony, the baptized their babies, and they lived out their lives of faith by attending Mass - no matter how hard the trip or inclement the weather.

The occasions that have touched my heart the most, however, have been the funeral processions I have read about in my ancestors' obituaries. They carried the coffins of their deceased loved ones' through the doors of the Church of St. Patrick for a Requiem High Mass as they said their last goodbyes before burial up on the hill at Pottsville's St. Patrick's Cemetery.

St. Patrick's Cemetery No. 3 overlooks the city of Pottsville

This article was largely based on a history of the Church of St. Patrick written by Margaret Condron Sterner (1917-1981). For more information about St. Patrick's and other historic churches of Pennsylvania, you might enjoy reading Diocese of Allentown: A History published in 2011.

*Words of Saint John Neumann taken from his letter to Alessandro Cardinal Barnabo, prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.

This article is part of the "Doors of Faith" series on our ancestors' Catholic parishes. Visit The Catholic Gene to learn how you can share photos and stories of your family's "Doors of Faith" in honor of the upcoming Year of Faith 2012-2013.

Family treasure at the National Archives: 19th-century birth records & more

My great-great-grandparents William & Margaret (Foley) Cowhey had many children.  Prior to their marriage, William and his first wife also had several children.  I had the information from a handwritten family tree that I had been given by a distant cousin.  I hoped to sort out and confirm these names, birthdates and mother/child relationships with official birth records. 

At first my search was not easy.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health didn't have the information I was looking for.  Their records only went back to 1906.

I had no success either when I contacted the Schuylkill County Courthouse.

St. Patrick's Catholic Church of Pottsville, Pennsylvania surely had the information somewhere in their archives, but they wouldn't allow information requests for records of that age due to their fragility. (They had a parishioner who had been painstakingly transcribing those records, but he had passed away and no one had taken his place.)

I had heard of the existence of a Cowhey family Bible (possibly a good source for some of the information) but I had no idea if it had survived the second half of the 20th-century, and if it had, in whose home it might currently reside.

Ironically, it turned out that the records that I was looking for did not reside in Pennsylvania at all - at least not that I could find.  Like many Cowhey family descendants who had moved out of state, these birth records had also.  I found them (unfortunately after my original research visit) residing happily at the National Archives building in Washington D.C. within the Civil War pension (and widow's pension) file for William Cowhey and his wife Margaret (Foley) Cowhey.

You can imagine how happy I was when I received the envelope in the mail with copies of the documents in this file and found the one below.  As part of the paperwork filled out at the time of Williams' death on behalf of his wife Margaret was this Record Proof of Births of Surviving Children of Soldier Under Sixteen Years of Age - a list of eight of their children's names, birthdates and baptism dates taken from the records and bearing the seal of St. Patrick's Catholic Church of Pottsville, Pennsylvania.

As I mentioned in Death comes in threes: The sorrows of Margaret (Foley) Cowhey, William's untimely death had left his 37-year-old wife Margaret a widow and the sole caretaker for their eight youngest children.  The Record Proof of Births of Surviving Children of Soldier Under Sixteen Years of Age within the pension file listed Margaret's living children from age fourteen down to eight months. (The couple's two eldest children were not covered by the pension, nor were the children of William Cowhey and his first wife.)

This primary source document was the first that I had found (besides U.S. census records) that validated some of the information in the handwritten Cowhey family tree that I had been given: a true family treasure.

*

The eight children listed within the Record Proof of Births of Surviving Children of Soldier Under Sixteen Years of Age shown above are Mary, Elizabeth, Thomas, Ambrose, Clara, Charles, Blanche and Isabella Cowhey, born 1881 to 1892. (The youngest, nicknamed Bella, would die a tragic death at a young age only two and a half years following William's death.)


Williams's Civil War pension file also included many other family treasures within its pages, including the handwritten account of he and his brother Thomas' night crossing the Potomac River in 1861. The account was written in Thomas' own handwriting in 1889 and is another one of the family documents that I treasure most.

*

In search of your own Civil War ancestors' pension file?  Check out the resources on this Genealogy Branches webpage to get started.  (Note: You might have to try several sources before you find your ancestors' index card. I finally found William Cowhey's on Footnote.  Try their Civil War & Later Veterans Pension Index to do your own search.)

Six little girls on a summer day, 1922

In the midst of summer, June 18, 1922, six little girls posed for a photograph in Mount Carbon, Pennsylvania. All dressed in their finery for their big day, they were the first class of First Communicants in their new parish of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church.

St. Francis de Sales First Communion girls photograph,

ca. 1922; privately held by Lisa, [address for private use], 2009.

Included in this photograph are two children of John Joseph and Frances (Owens) Cowhey: eight-year-old Ann Cowhey, top left, and her sister seven-year-old Frances Cowhey, bottom middle. The girls' seven-year-old cousin Anne Cowhey (daughter of Charles & Agnes Cowhey) is also pictured at the top right. I have yet to confirm the identities of the other three girls, but I have some guesses. If you can identify them, please contact me.

I'm pretty sure that most, if not all, of the little girls in the photograph have since passed away.

St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church

49 Main Street, Mount Carbon, Pennsylvania

This past year St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church experienced its own passing, so to speak. One of thirty-two churches of the Diocese of Allentown in Schuylkill County to be closed because of a local shortage of priests, St. Francis de Sales was consolidated into St. Patrick's Church in Pottsville on July 15, 2008.

In a way it had come full circle: Mount Carbon's Catholic residents originally attended St. Patrick's before St. Francis de Sales was founded in 1921.

A small parish at its closing with two-hundred seats and seventy-five members, St. Francis de Sales had been presided over for the past nineteen years by Fr. Edward Connolly who is also pastor of St. Patrick's in Pottsville.

This little Catholic church of Mount Carbon has a very special place in my heart. It was the focal point for many a sacramental moment for my family members throughout its eighty-six year lifespan.

I can't help but wonder if the church sometimes longs for the days it once knew: when little girls in white dresses graced its steps on their First Communion day.

For more information on church closings in the Diocese of Allentown see the diocese website's announcement of June 1, 2008 entitled Initial Parish Restructuring Plans Announced or read the Republican Herald's articles: Catholics Mourn loss of 32 churches in Schuylkill County and St. Francis de Sales, Mount Carbon.

This article has been submitted to the 10th edition of the I Smile for the Camera Carnival whose theme is "Costume". For more portraits of those dressed up for all sorts of occasions, visit footnoteMaven's Shades of the Departed.

Sources:

"Catholics mourn loss of 32 churches in Schuylkill County." Republican Herald 01 Jun 2008 http://www.republicanherald.com/articles/2008/06/01/news/local_news/pr_republican.20080601.a.pg1.pr01churches_s1.1717568_top2.txt : accessed 10 Feb 2009.

Kerr, Matt. "Initial Parish Restructuring Plans Announced." Diocese of Allentown 01 Jun 2008 http://www.allentowndiocese.org/news/nr060108a.html : accessed 10 Feb 2009.

"St. Francis De Sales, Mount Carbon." Republican Herald 16 Jun 2008 http://www.republicanherald.com/articles/2009/02/10/church_closings/south_schuylkill/region_1/pr_republican.20080615.a.pg3.pr15stfrancisdesales_s1.1747174_loc.txt : accessed 10 Feb 2009.

Zerbey, J.H., newspapers, Inc, and Joseph Henry Zerbey. Joseph Henry Zerbey History of Pottsville and Schuylkill County. Pennsylvania. [Pottsville]: "Republican"-"Morning paper" print, 1934.

A little bit of Heaven on the hill

This All Souls' Day Catholics remember their departed loved ones and often visit the places where they have been laid to rest. Calvary Cemetery in Mount Carbon, Pennsylvania is the final resting place of many of relatives.


One of four cemeteries used by St. Patrick's Catholic Church for burials, Calvary Cemetery (begun in 1929) sits on the hill above the town of Mount Carbon. It's the perfect spot for the departed: on the way up to Heaven but with a view of the homes of the loved ones they left behind.

Making a visit to Calvary Cemetery? Take care with the type of shoes you choose to wear. Many a visitor has been tempted to race down the hill after a respectful stop by a family member's grave.

Then again, you might want to just go barefoot...

Little Lena

As I mentioned in the previous post, Margaret (Foley) Cowhey lost two babies in their infancy that we know of. Baby Lena Cowhey was born January 7, 1891. What a large family celebrated her arrival! She must have gotten lots of attention from her many brothers and sisters. The family celebrated her Baptism at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Pottsville.

Only nine short months after her birth, however, the family suffered the sad loss of little Lena Cowhey. Her obituary in the Pottsville Republican newspaper on October 8, 1891 does not list the cause of her death. Here is a copy of that obituary:

It states:

Lena, the infant daughter of William and Margaret Cowhey, of Mt. Carbon, died yesterday. The family have the sympathy of their neighbors at East Mt. Carbon. The interment will take place Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock.

A sad loss for the Cowhey family. Little did they know that the following year they would also lose their father and another baby girl. Tough lessons in life for the many young Cowhey siblings and their heartbroken mother...

Source: Lena Cowhey obituary, “Deaths and Funerals,” Pottsville Daily Republican, October 8, 1891, p. 4, col. 2.

A "working" mother in the truest sense of the word

I'm a week late, but I wanted to mention the birthdate of a woman that I know very little about, yet I admire very much: my great-great-grandmother Margaret (Foley) Cowhey.

One-hundred and fifty-two years ago, on August 19, 1855, a baby girl was born to Patrick & Margaret (Graham) Foley in Port Carbon, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. Little Margaret Foley was, according to the hand-written Cowhey family tree that I received, the first child of Patrick and Margaret, but she had an older half-sister (Bridget T. Byrnes, daughter of her mother Margaret by an earlier husband).

I have had difficulty learning much about Margaret's childhood or her parents' lives, but I do know about Margaret's adulthood. It was remarkable. Not remarkable in the sort of way that would make news headlines, but amazing from the standpoint of her day to day life. Margaret went on to become the mother of ten children of her own. But before her own children were even born, she had gained four (possibly five) children by virtue of her marriage to her husband, William Cowhey.

After spending her childhood pretty much as an only child (her half-sister Bridget was born in 1843 and was twelve years her senior), Margaret lived her adulthood with a house full of children.

Here's a timeline showing what I have learned about her life:

• 1855, August 19 - Baby Margaret born to Patrick & Margaret (Graham) Foley in Port Carbon, Pennsylvania


• 1870 - Margaret, age 15, attended school during this year according to the U.S. Census; may have also worked as a domestic in the home of a provision store keeper in Pottsville (there are two entries for Margaret in this census)


• 1878, February 23 - William & Margaret (Foley) Cowhey marry at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Pottsville, Pennsylvania - Margaret (only age 22 herself) gains four (possibly five) children through marriage: Annie, age 11; Margaret, age 9; William, age 6; John Joseph, age 3 (baby Richard is mentioned in the family tree, but I have found no records about him yet - he may have passed away as an infant)


• October 14, 1878 - Birth of Mary Cowhey


• About April 1880 - Birth of Ellen Cowhey


• 1880 - Resided with her family in East Mannheim, Schuylkill County according to the 1880 U.S. Census


• November 17, 1881 - Birth of Elizabeth Cowhey


• March 24, 1883 - Birth of Thomas Patrick Cowhey


• September 22, 1884 - Birth of Ambrose Paul Cowhey


• July 1, 1886 - Birth of Clara Cowhey


• August 21, 1887 - Birth of Charles Patrick Cowhey (later called Charles William Cowhey)


• December 18, 1890 - Birth of Blanche Cowhey


• January 7, 1891 - Birth of Lena Cowhey


• October 7, 1891 - Death of baby Lena Cowhey


• February 20, 1892 - Birth of Isabella Cowhey (called Bella)


• November 14, 1892 - Death of husband William Cowhey in train accident at Connor's Crossing
  
• After November 1892 - Death of baby Bella Cowhey

By the time Margaret was 37 years old (in 1892) she had raised or was raising at least fourteen children, had experienced the loss of two babies in their infanthood, lost her husband to a train accident, and now was on her own to support and raise her remaining seven young children.

Although I have found her brother-in-law Thomas Cowhey's pension files, I have never found an indication that Margaret or her husband William ever applied for pension, despite the fact that William qualified as a volunteer of the Civil War. Did Margaret not know about her option to file for pension? Or, instead, was she supported financially in other ways? I have never seen an indication that she married again after her husband's death. William's obituary indicated that he was a "prominent member" of the Gowen Post of the Grand Army of the Republic. Perhaps she found financial help from William's fellow veterans. Maybe she was supported by the grown children that she had helped to raise. I wonder... It must not have been an easy life, no matter what help Margaret received. [Correction: I finally did find William's Civil War pension and Margaret's widow's pension file.]

According to the handwritten Cowhey family tree that I received, Margaret, a resident of Mount Carbon, died in October 1913 at the young age of 58. She had lived a short but very full life. We, her descendants, are the benefits of the fruits of her labor. When I have a difficult day as a mother, I remember Margaret and the incredible challenges that she faced. Her life is truly an inspiration.

A baby girl in the family

Ninety-three years ago in 1914 baby Anne Elizabeth Cowhey was born to Charles & Agnes (Donnelly) Cowhey. She was their first-born child. She was baptized at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Pottsville with the name Anna, and would be called Annie as a child (per the 1920 U.S. census), but later revert back to the more formal Anne.

This beautiful baby portrait is the only picture that I have seen of her as a child, with the exception of a group photo at her First Communion that was kindly sent to me a couple of years ago.

Fifteen years after this baby portrait was taken, Anne married her husband George Roger McCue, a young businessman from Quincy, Massachusetts. She became a mother and grandmother and was affectionately known as Nana.

I couldn't pass up the chance to share this beautiful baby photo of Anne on what would have been her 93rd birthday.

She never liked others to know her age. Hopefully now that she has passed to the next life , it doesn't bother her anymore. May she rest in peace - even though I told her birthdate!

Under the shadow of the Cross

This is the steeple of the third St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, whose cornerstone was laid was laid in 1891. This church (and the previous St. Patrick's Churches) has looked down upon many of my family's days. It watched as they walked into it's church for many Sunday Masses, as brides and grooms walked out to start their new lives together, as they visited again carrying new babies for Baptism, and again and again as they prepared to bury their loved ones.

William Cowhey married his second wife, Margaret Foley, in the 2nd St. Patrick's on February 23, 1878. The wedding was attended by Maurice Ryan and Clara Kitchen. They walked into St. Patrick's many times after that day for Baptisms of their new babies: Ellen (no date recorded), Elizabeth in 1881, Thomas in 1883, Ambrose in 1884, and Lena in 1891 and Isabella in 1892, among many others, whose Baptism records have not been as easy to find. (William had 12 children in all, counting both marriages.)

Sadly, the family would attend both Lena's and Bella's funerals shortly after their Baptisms. Both baby girls died very young.

Charles Cowhey, one of William & Margaret's children, walked through the doors of St. Patrick's in 1913 to wed Agnes Carmelita Donnelly. The couple found themselves there celebrating the Baptism of their baby daughter Anna Cowhey in 1914, who would one day be my grandmother.

Thanks to St. Patrick's for keeping good records so that I could learn a little more about the lives of these family members, most whom I never knew. Thanks also to the kind and generous staff at the church. As the older records become brittle and fragile, the church is protecting them by restricting access to them. A few years ago someone was working on entering the data into computer files, but has since passed away. I'm hoping that someone new will take on this volunteer task sometime in the near future, for the benefit of all those whose families lives passed under and around the steeple of St. Patrick's Catholic Church of Pottsville.