Meeting of April 8, 1940

The members of the congregation, having expressed generally their wish to have a place adapted to Divine Service, and built to that effect, the members of the committee have resolved to apply to the Very Rev. Stephen Theodore Badin, Vicar General of this diocese, and founder of this congregation, to request him to give by writing, in a legal form, a lot he had purposely bought for the church, which lot contains one acre, designated in the map of Portland under the numbers [not given].

 

Such is the letter written in French by Rev. Perche, in the name of the committee, literally translated, to Rev. Fr. Badin:

 

Rev. Sir:

 

You gave me hope some time ago that had our first meeting you would give me a decisive answer about the lots you have bought in Portland.  I regret so much the more not to have had that decisive answer because now we are very much embarrassed.  We cannot fail building in the course of this year.  The existence of the congregation depends upon it.  Now is the proper season for building, but the trustees are afraid to build on a ground of which the possession is not secured to them, and those who have subscribed for the church are not willing to do anything for us unless they have the certainty that a ground will have been positively given for that purpose, so that we are stopped at the very beginning.  It depends on you to relieve us from that difficulty.  Be then kind enough, if you have always in mind to be the benefactor of the congregation of Portland, to make your intentions known to us in a positive and authentical manner, which would enable us to act with security.  I entreat you for the glory of God, and for the good of religion, to have regard for this request, which I make not in my name only but in the name of all the trustees.  Please you, etc.  Portland, April 8^th, 1940.

C. Maquaire

William Banon

N. J. Perche, priest

 

Fr. Badin Gives the Land

Meeting of May 15, 1840

The members of the committee have met to receive communication of a letter sent by Fr. Badin in answer to the letter sent to him by the committee in date of the eighth of April.  Such is that letter in the original:

 

Know all men by these presents, that I, Stephen Theodore Badin, of Louisville, KY, do hereby bind myself, my heirs, executors, administrators and assigns in the penalty of $6,000, to transfer by my last will and testament, or otherwise, at my option, 100 square feet of ground, in Portland, near Louisville, to the corporation of St. Mary’s College, Marion County, Kentucky, for the purpose of erecting thereon a Roman Catholic Church or Chapel.  Provided, and be it well understood, that no clergyman shall ever officiate therein without the approbation of the ordinary having spiritual authority and the Diocese of Bardstown, according to the faith and discipline of the Roman Catholic Church.  Done this sixth day of May, 1840, in the village of St. Mary, Jasper County, State of Illinois.

Stephen Theodore Badin

Test. Thos. Piquet, Ls. Mertain

 

The trustees have acknowledged this copy to be alike to the original kept in the records of the congregation, and have decided that according to the consent already given orally several times by Bishop Chabrat for the construction of a Catholic church in Portland they would begin to build as soon as possible.  In consequence of it Rev. Perche, Mr. Maquaire and Mr. Banon have been especially authorized to receive subscriptions, to collect the money, to make the contracts, and superintend the work.

C. Maquaire

William Banon

N. J. Perche, priest

 

Having received by this document the assurance that the land would be deeded to ecclesiastical authorities, the committee of management was free to begin the work of erecting the Church of Our Lady.  Several years later, the property was actually given to the diocese by Fr. Badin.

 

Deed of Property

This indenture, made this 26^th day of February in the year of Our Lord one hundred and forty–eight, between the Rev. Stephen Theodore Badin of the first part, and the Right Rev. Bishop Benedict Flaget of Louisville, Kentucky, of the second part, witnesseth: That for and in consideration of one dollar to him in hand paid, and in consideration of his respect for an attachment to the Catholic faith, the said Badin has and does here by give, grant, bargain and sell to the party of the second part two certain lots of land in the Town of Portland, Jefferson county, Kentucky, numbered on the map of the said Town 102 and 103 and square 93, it being the same property on a part of which now stands the Catholic Church.  To have and to hold the said lots of land, with all the appurtenances thereto belonging unto him, the said party of the second part and to his successors, the future Bishops of the diocese in which Portland maybe, forever in trust, however, for the use of the members of the Roman Catholic Church, in the said Town of Portland forever, for the purposes of religious worship and instruction according to the doctrine and discipline of the Roman Catholic Church.

 

It being understood, that no Catholic clergyman, or other person, shall ever be permitted to officiate in the said church, or in any other church that may be hereafter erected on said promises, without the approbation of the Ordinary of the Diocese of Louisville having spiritual authority therein according to the faith and discipline of the church aforesaid.  But the said Badin reserves to himself during his natural life the usufruct of one-half of said two lots, with the right of ingress and egress.  And he binds himself that if the parishioners of Portland shall build a dwelling house on said promises to subscribe $100 toward paying for the same, if done during his lifetime.  And the said Badin does also covenant to maintain the aforesaid Bishop and his heirs or lawful successors in the quiet possession of the premises in so far and no further than his own legal investitures call for.  And the party of the second part takes up on himself the foregoing trusts.  In testimony where of the parties of the first and second part have hereto set their hands and seals on the day and year first written above.

Stephen Theodore Badin (seal)

B. J., Flaget, Bishop of Louisville (seal)

 

In presence of Paul Villier, N. Albert, Peter Portman.

 

I, Curran Pope, Clark of the County Court of Jefferson County in the State of Kentucky, do certify that on this day the foregoing deed the from Stephen Theodore Badin to Right Rev. Bishop Benedict Flaget was produced to me in my office and proved to be the act and deed of said S. T. Badin and B. J. Flaget by the oaths of Paul Villier, N. Albert and Peter Portman, the subscribing witnesses thereto.  And that I have recorded the same and this certificate in my said office.  Witness my hand this 28^th day of February, 1848.

Curran Pope

 

Meeting of June 17, 1840

The committee has been called to receive communication of the contract made the day before with the brick maker by the building committee, composed of Rev. Perche, Mr. Maquaire and Mr. Banon and especially authorized to make contracts for the erection of the church.  The contract was made in the following manner, in English:

 

Portland, June 16, 1840

 

Be known to all men that by this present writing I, James Miller, brick maker, and undersigned trustees of the Catholic congregation of Portland, Louisville, Kentucky, we bind ourselves mutually and respectively to what follows:

 

First, I, James Miller, bind myself to supply the aforesaid trustees of the congregation of Portland with 150,000 merchant bricks, such as are made use of and good buildings, which bricks will be burnt in Portland, about the spot where on the church is about to be built.

 

Second, we trustees of the Catholic congregation of Portland, we bind ourselves to pay to Mr. James Miller, 150,000 of good and valuable bricks, $637.50, that is $4.25 for every thousand bricks.  Those $637.50 will be paid in three terms.  the first third will be paid while the bricks will be made and burnt, that is for eight weeks, every week $26.56 on the paid to Mr. Miller, so that eight weeks after the beginning of the work the first third of the total sum will be paid, that is $212.50.  The second third of the total sum will be paid six months after the beginning of the work, and the last third six months after the second one.  Written in Portland the aforesaid day and year.  The original is signed: J. Miller, N. J. Perche, C. Maquaire, and William Banon.  The two other trustees have signed – Fosse, Eugene Perrot.

C. Maquaire

William Banon

N. J. Perche, priest

 

Meeting of September 9, 1840

The committee has been called to receive communication of a letter by which Bishop Chabrat, Coadjutor of Bardstown, authorizes Rev. Perche to lay down the first stone of his church, either by himself or by another priest, and on such day as he will think proper.  Accordingly the ceremony has been appointed on the thirteenth of September.  It has been resolved also the according to the intention of the Bishop the church should be placed under the protection of the Virgin, and the Assumption chosen as the Patronal Feast.  Finally the committee has selected Mr. Peter Portman to take the place of Mr. Fosse, who has retired.

C. Maquaire

William Banon

N. J. Perche, priest

 

Peter Portman

Peter Portman, mentioned in the preceding meeting, was born in Switzerland, 1808.  He married Cecile Bary, whose people were among the early settlers in Portland.  They had two children, Cecilia, who died in infancy, and Joseph, who left this vicinity as a young man and settled in the West.  According to the church records, Cecile Bary Portman died July 21, 1854.

 

A few years later, Peter Portman visited his native Switzerland, where he married Josephine Kaiser.  Of this marriage there were nine children: William, Louis, Mary Josephine, Emma, Leo, Max, Mary (Sisters Mercedes, S.C.N.), Frank, now residing in Louisville, and Josephine (Mrs. William Fieldhouse), a parishioner of Our Lady’s.

 

In the early days, Mr. Portman lived on Front (Water) Street and was a grocer.  After the Civil War he built the large brick house at the corner of 35^th Street and Western Parkway.  Perhaps the first lawn fete given in Portland for the benefit of the church was held on Portman's lawn in the 1880s.  The family was then living on the south side of Western Parkway below 33^rd Street, in the brick house now occupied by Mrs. J. Ulmer.  The yard was large, embracing the neighboring lot where the Murphy home was later erected.  A huge crowd gathered in the affair was a great success.  Peter Portman died in 1885, and is buried in the Portland cemetery.

 

Meeting of September 11, 1840

The committee has been called to receive communication of the contract made the day before with the bricklayer by the building committee.  The contract is such as follows, in English language:

 

Be known to all men that by this present writing I, McColly Stout, and the undersigned trustees of the Catholic Church of Portland, Louisville, Kentucky, we bind ourselves mutually and respectively, as follows:

 

First, I, McColly Stout, bind myself to raise a brick building for the use of the Catholic congregation of Portland, 60 feet long inside, and 30 feet wide in the inside, with pilasters and another ornaments, according to the instructions of the trustees of the upper said congregation, at the rate of $3 the thousand by measurement, without any extra charge, but only for the arches of the windows and the corniche.

 

Second, and we trustees of the Catholic congregation of Portland, we bind ourselves to pay to Mr. McColly Stout $3 per thousand of bricks, laid in the aforesaid building, and the extra charge for the arches of the windows and cornice: one-third of the work is progressing, the second third six months after the beginning of the work, and the last, six months after the second.  Portland, September 10, 1840.  The contract was signed:

McColly Stout

C. Maquaire

William Banon

Peter Portman

N. J. Perche, Priest

 

Meeting of September 12, 1840

The committee has been called to receive communication of a contract, made the day before, with a carpenter, by the building committee.  The contract is such:

 

The known to all men that by this present writing I, William Talbot, and we undersigned, trustees of the Catholic congregation of Portland, Louisville, Kentucky, we bind ourselves mutually and respectively as follows:

 

First, I, William Talbot, bind myself to put on the church which is to be erected in Portland, 63 feet long and 33 feet wide, a roof done in a good work and like manner, with the elliptic ceiling, according to the plan laid down by the trustees of the aforesaid congregation.  And to lay in the aforesaid church a floor done any good and workmanlike manner, 60 feet long and 30 feet wide, and to frame of the joists, so that the floor will be complete.  Moreover to put on a front door six feet wide and 12 feet high, similar to the front door of the Catholic Church of Fifth Street, in Louisville; and six windows, four feet wide and 13 feet high, with a top similar to the windows of the Catholic Church of Louisville, with a partition in the middle, hung on each side by bolts, and to furnish the lumber for the door and windows.

 

Second, we trustees of the Catholic congregation of Portland, we bind ourselves to furnish all the materials for the roof and floor, and the scaffold, and to pay to Mr. William Talbot $225 for making and putting on the roof and the floor, and $120 for making and fixing the door and the windows, under the following terms: A half of the sum will be paid while the work is progressing, the third fourth shall be paid four months after the beginning of the work, and the last fourth four months after the third fourth.  Louisville, September 12, 1840.  The contract was signed:

William Talbot

N. J. Perche, Priest

C. Maquaire

William Banon

Peter Portman

 

The Cornerstone

Meeting of September 14, 1840

The committee has been called to write down and account of the ceremony, which has taken place the day before, in laying down the cornerstone of the Church of Portland.  The particulars of the ceremony are expressed in the following writing in Latin language, which was inserted in the cornerstone, with crosses and medals, and of which we will give a translation.

 

Translation of the foregoing writing:

 

In the year of Our Lord 1840, of American independence, Gregory the sixteenth being Pope, Benedict Joseph Flaget being Bishop of Bardstown, Guy Ignatius Chabrat, Bishop of Bolina, his Coadjutor, Martin van Buren, president of the United States, Letcher, Governor of the State of Kentucky, Johnson, Mayor of the City of Louisville, the Rev. John McGill preaching, the Rev. Napoleon Joseph Perche, Pastor of the Catholic congregation of Portland, being present with several priests and with a great concourse of people, Misters Charles Maquaire, Eugene Perrot, William Banon and Peter Portman being trustees of the church, the Rev. Joseph D’Achuer, pastor assistant of the German congregation of Louisville, has blessed with Salomon rite this cornerstone, on the thirteenth of September, and laid it down in the foundations of a church dedicated to Almighty God, under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the congregation usually called Portland.

N. J. Perche, Priest

C. Maquaire

William Banon

Peter Portman

 

Rev. Joseph D’Achuer

No more is known of Fr. D’Achuer than that which is given in the Minute Book.  The church of St. Boniface has no record of him.  As his name does not appear in the Catholic Almanac, it is supposed that he came directly from Germany to Louisville, was stationed at St. Boniface’s parish a short time, and then returned to his native land.

 

Rev. John McGill

Rev. John McGill (photo left), who delivered the sermon at the laying of the cornerstone in later at the dedication of the church, was born in Philadelphia, November 4, 1808.  He came to Bardstown in 1828, and was ordained priest June 13, 1835.  At the time of the building of the Church of Our Lady, He was pastor of St. Louis’ Church on 5^th Street.  Fr. McGill was consecrated Bishop of Richmond, November 10, 1850.  He died in Richmond, January 14, 1872, and is buried in the crypt of the cathedral in that city.

 

Rev. Walter Coomes

Shortly after Christmas 1840, Fr. Perche went to New Orleans to raise funds for the building of the church.  During his absence Fr. Walter Coomes (photo right), who was stationed at the Church of St. Louis on 5^th Street, attended the needs of the congregation.  According to the parish records, he administered the Sacrament of Baptism twice during the month of March.

 

Fr. Coomes was the son of Ignatius Coomes, who was among the earlier Catholic settlers in Breckenridge County.  He was born February 19, 1796, died November 27, 1871, and is buried in St. Louis Cemetery.

 

Meeting of May 6, 1841

The committee has been called to receive the accounts of Mr. Perche, who went to New Orleans to make a collection for the church.  Mr. Perche has shown that the amount of what he had received in money was $930, of which $438 have been handed to the trustees, $50 retained for his own expenses, $198 spent in purchasing several articles useful for the church, such as the bell, flowers, laces etc., and $244 spent in purchasing books, pictures, beans and crosses, and metals, with wine, brought up purposely to be sold in behalf of the church.  He has in the same time explained his plan, which has been approved on, to have a fair, in order to sell different articles ready-made bought from New Orleans.

N. J. Perche, Priest

C. Maquaire

William Banon

Peter Portman

 

Meeting of May 15, 1841

The committee has been called to receive communication of a contract made this very day with a plasterer by the building committee, the contract is such:

 

The known to all men that by this present writing I, undersigned, Michael Watkins, and we trustees of the Catholic Church of Portland, Louisville, Kentucky, we bind ourselves mutually in respectively as follows:

 

First, I, Michael Watkins, bind myself to plaster the ceiling and walls of the church of Portland, and the Vestry room, 12 feet square, the whole to be finished with three coat work, including cornishes, fan over the altar, two flowers at the ceiling, and double groove beads at each window and door.  The whole to be done in the very best manner, furnishing the scaffold and all materials.

 

Second, we trustees of the Catholic Church in Portland, we bind ourselves to pay Mr. Michael Watkins the sum of $350, in the following terms: $200 while the work is progressing, $75 four months after the beginning of the work, and the last $75 four months after the second payment.  Portland, May 15, 1841.  The contract is signed:

N. J. Perche, Priest

C. Maquaire

William Banon

Peter Portman

Michael Watkins

E. Perrot

 

A few weeks after Fr. Perche returned from New Orleans, the articles he had obtained there were disposed of.  The following appeared in The Catholic Advocate, June 5, 1841:

 

A fair for raising funds to complete the Catholic Church at Portland.  The Catholic Advocate invites the readers to go to Portland and contribute to the success of the laudable object which is contemplated by the managers of the fair.

 

A notice appeared in The Catholic Advocate on June 26^th which stated:

 

The Ladies Fair at Portland, which because of the heat and dust had been interrupted, will be resumed on the first, second, and third of July.  The Lady Managers hope that the patronage of the public will be such as to enable them to close the sale of the large stock of very elegant articles contributed by the citizens of New Orleans for the benefit of the church.

 

A priceless treasure in the Fichteman family of this parish is a small statue.  It came into the possession of their maternal grandparents during the disposal of the religious articles at the fair.  The statue is as old as the church, and years ago was frequently carried in the May procession at Our Lady’s.

 

Meeting of July 25, 1841

The committee has been called to receive communication of the result of the fair which has taken place for the benefit of the church in the month of June.  All expenses paid, the clear profit has amounted to $454.  By adding it to $142 for articles sold since, the total amount is $596, in which are included the $240 spent in New Orleans for books, pictures, etc.

 

In the same meeting Mr. Perche has given communication of a contract which he has made under his own responsibility the fifteenth of this month, with a carpenter, for the internal work of the church.  The contract is such, translated from the French:

 

I, undersigned, Anthony Mangin, and we trustees of the Catholic church of Portland, we bind ourselves respectively to for fill the conditions of the following contract:

 

First, I, undersigned, Anthony Mangin, bind myself to finish the carpenter work in the interior part of the Church of Portland as follows: To finish the actual gallery, and to put up the staircase to go up there, and to make another gallery, fronting the first one, two feet lower, six feet long, and twenty feet wide, a confessional box with two rooms, a communion table, with the top of cherry–tree wood, the altar with the platform, a step all around, and little steps over the altar, 52 pews, five feet and a half long, made exactly in the same manner as the pews of the Catholic Church of Louisville; a gate with railings, all varnished, painted, and ironed, so that the work will be perfectly completed, adding to that the pulpit.

 

Second, we undersigned trustees of the Catholic Church of Portland, we bind ourselves to pay to Mr. Anthony Mangin the sum of $400 on the following terms: $200 while the work is progressing, $100 three months after the date of this contract, and $100 six months after the date of the same contract, if the work is finished.  The contract is signed Anthony Mangin, N. J. Perche, Priest, in the name of the trustees:

N. J. Perche, Priest

C. Maquaire

William Banon

Peter Portman

 

Meeting of September 20, 1841

The committee has been called to receive communication of a letter by which the Bishop promises to come himself and bless, on the third of October, the Church of Portland.  In the same letter, in date of the fifteenth of September, the Bishop authorizes the trustees to bind themselves for the present and the future to have a Solemn Mass celebrated every year for the benefactors of the church, living or dead, in the octave of the Assumption; and also the Bishop authorizes the pastor of Portland to give the benediction of the blessed sacrament after Vespers, the first Sunday of every month, the festivals double of first class, and on the festivals of the Blessed Virgin, when they occur on Sunday of the Sunday occurring on the Octave of the same festivals.

N. J. Perche, Priest

C. Maquaire

William Banon

Peter Portman

 

Dedication of the First Church

Meeting of October 6, 1841

The committee has been called to give an account of the ceremony of the benediction of the church, which took place, on the Sunday, third of this month.  The ceremony has been performed by Right Rev. Flaget, Bishop of Bardstown Bishop Chabrat, his Coadjutor, was present.  The Mass was sung by Very Rev. Stephen Theodore Badin, Vicar General; and the sermon preached by Rev. J. McGill, pastor of the Catholic Church of Louisville.  Mr. Perche, pastor of the Church of Portland, and several other clergymen were present, with the great multitude of people.  The collection reached $63, which added to the $53 collected, at the laying down the cornerstone, makes an amount of $116.

N. J. Perche, Priest

C. Maquaire

William Banon

Peter Portman

 

Rosary Sunday, October 3, 1841, was a joyful day for the members of the congregation, when Bishop Flaget, assisted by his Right Rev. Coadjutor, dedicated the first Church of Portland to the glory of God in honor of Our Lady.  To capture the contemporary spirit, the following is an account of the event as it appeared in The Catholic Advocate of October 9, 1841:

 

The dedication of the new church, at Portland, took place on Sunday last, as had been announced.  The venerable Bishop of the diocese, and his Right Rev. Coadjutor, or both present, with several of the clergy.  Bishop Flaget performed the ceremony of the dedication; the Very Rev. Stephen Theodore Badin sang the High Mass, and the sermon was preached by Rev. J. McGill.  The choir from the Church of St. Louis, Louisville, gave their valuable assistance, and contributed much to the interest of the occasion.

 

The many persons assembled to witness the dedication seemed gratified, and much impressed by the beauty and propriety of the solemn ceremonies, of which “the building made by hands” is thus set apart from profane uses, and declared “the house of the Lord,” where henceforward He will deign “to do well with men,” in order to console them in their servers, hear their petitions, and distribute the treasures of His sanctifying grace.

 

We shall not attempt to furnish our readers with a description of this edifice, which is small and unpretentious, but very neat, and quite ample for the number of Catholics at present in Portland.  Should time make it necessary, it has been purposely so constructed as to admit being enlarged to meet the increasing needs of the congregation.  As it stands, it is a monument highly creditable to the zeal and enterprise of the pastor, Rev. Mr. Perche, and to those who generously aided him in its erection.

 

A unique circumstance worthy of special mention is the fact that the 150,000 bricks were made and burned on the spot whereon the church was about to be built.  Those bricks are in the present Church of Our Lady.  All scaffolding, joists, flooring, door and window frames and even the pews were made from lumber felled on the ground or the church was erected.  The pews were in good condition and were in use until the 1937 flood destroyed them.

 

On the day of the dedication, October 3, Joseph Jacquemin, born on the 26^th of September, child of Matthias and Mary Lambermont, his wife, was baptized.

 

The first marriage with a natural High Mass to be solemnized in the new church was that of Paul Villier and Thaise Eugenie Maquaire, May 27, 1843.

 

The following letter was written by a Fr. Perche for The Catholic Advocate shortly after the dedication of the church:

 

October 11, 1841

 

Mr. Editor:

Now that our church has been dedicated and the inside work nearly completed, I feel it is a duty to give a fair statement of our proceedings in this matter to our friends who have helped us in the accomplishment of the good work.  You will then, confer a particular favor on me by inserting this letter in your valuable paper, in order to give it as much publicity as I wish.

 

When we laid the cornerstone of our church, we had about $1,200 of donations and subscriptions.  Today our donations and subscriptions have reached the amount of $3,000.  When we will have completed our payments, our expenses will amount to $3,000 and some forty or fifty dollars.  So that in the course of one year, having no other help them charity of our brethren, we have completed a good substantial brick building… the whole for about $3,000.  We still owe $500 but several of our friends have not yet paid their subscriptions.  And as I have no doubt that all who have subscribed will come up to their promise, we will have accomplished our work without leaving the congregation one cent of debt which, in these hard times, I considered as a special favor of Divine Providence.

 

About two-thirds of the subscriptions and donations are due in part to the exertions of our poor congregation and mostly to the liberality of the citizens of Louisville, who patronize very kindly the improvements of the lower part of the city.  Several of our dissenting brethren, raising themselves about prejudice and bigotry, exhibited also toward us a generous spirit.  For one-third of the donations, I am indebted to the charity of our Catholic brethren in New Orleans.  I am happy to give public testimony to that portion of the Catholic community.  Nowhere else did I witnessed higher virtues, practice in a more perfect manner.  I must count among my happiest days, the too brief period I spent with those good and pious people.  To them I am indebted for my church furniture such as altar cloths, vestments, etc., which is as complete and splendid as in any church in our community.

 

In expressing my warmest feelings of gratitude to all who have contributed to the erection and decoration of the church, a feel gratified to tell them that at a meeting of our trustees it was resolved that with the ascent of the Right Rev. Bishop, every year in the octave of the assumption, which is our patronal feast, a High Mass would be said in the church of Portland for the benefactors thereof.

 

Our church is a great benefit to Portland, and we can say more, it is a pledge of several more Catholic improvements which will be for Portland a source of temporal and spiritual advantages, and we’ll make it one of the happiest and finest spots in this section.  I wish I could have been allowed to give a sketch of the sermon preached at the consecration of our church by the Rev. J. McGill, who twice kindly gave to our ceremonies the age of his eloquence.  But to have the name of this gifted gentleman is enough for those who are acquainted with his remarkable and noble talents.

 

I remain, sir, very respectfully yours,

J. Perche – pastor of Portland

 

Missions Attached to the Parish

As seen in the preceding sections, the territory of the parish was quite extensive.  The Minute Book records that “Mr. Banon agrees to keep his horse.”  Indeed a horse was a necessity for a priest in those days to carry him to the scattered Catholics living in the outlying missions.  St. Clare’s Church in Hardin County, and Shepherdsville in Bullitt County were missions of Our Lady’s.

 

From the records of St. Clare’s Church, Colesburg, is the following written by Fr. Perche:

 

By a letter of the Right Rev. Bishop Chabrat, Coadjutor of Bardstown, the Rev. N. J. Perche was appointed pastor of the Clear Creek congregation in place of Rev. M. Chambige.  Mr. Perche began his monthly visits in November, 1839, and bound himself to visit the congregation and keep church and St. Clare’s Church once the month for one, two or three days, according to the ones of the congregation.  His first care in conformity with the will of the Bishop was to compose a regular committee of trustees for the management of temporal business.  In consequence, he presented to the Bishop as candidates for the committee, Misters John Brewer, John Ryan, Felix Fowler and James Booth.  By letter in date January 1, 1840, the Bishop sanctioned the nomination of these four gentlemen as trustees of Clear Creek congregation.

 

At the first meeting, January 29, 1840, Mr. Perche promised to come every month for $40 a year.

 

From church records, it is possible to trace the many miles covered in the administration of the Sacraments.  The Wiser and Woods families lived “on the Salt River Road twelve miles from Portland.”  Samuel Thomas, child of William Cooper and his wife Elizabeth, was baptized “and their country seat twelve miles from Louisville to Shepherdsville on the left hand.” In Shepherdsville, Bullitt County, or its immediate vicinity, lived William Thompson, Michael Parr and his wife Catherine Goodman, the Smith family, James Doyle and his family, William Byrne and his wife, Mary Cosgrove.

 

The records state that James Buckman married Margaret Ann Shepherd of Shepherdsville.  James Buckman had a sister, Sarah, who married David Addison (Anderson).  Nancy, another sister, married James Roberts.  Dr. and Mrs. Prudey also resided in this vicinity.  Doctor Prudey was probably a non–Catholic, for his sister Mary and her husband, James Shield, were converts to the Catholic faith.  Thomas Mitchell, a blacksmith, and his wife, Matilda, a residence of Shepherdsville.  His brother John and wife Nancy lived “six miles from Shepherdsville.”  Mention is also made of the Chapeze family.

 

About a mile above Shepherdsville was Paroquette Springs where John Colmesnil lived.  In Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky, Ben Webb states that he was of a noble French family.  A relative by marriage to the Tarascons, he engaged in business with them, became wealthy, but some years later misfortune overtook him.  In 1833 he purchased the watering place afterwards known as Paroquette Springs, where he lived until shortly before his death in 1871.  Mention is made in the records of the others of the Colmesnil family, probably his children and his children’s children: Codney, Lodoika, William, Blanche, another John who married Sarah Taylor, a sister Susan, who married John Brown.  These Colmesnils lived at “White Fottage nine miles from Paroquette Springs.”

 

The first pastors of Our Lady’s Church made frequent trips through Jefferson, Hardin and Bullitt Counties.  They were true missionaries laboring in a mission district.  The slaves, too, came under their administration.  On one occasion, May 6, 1845, the pastor wrote in the Baptismal Register, “I baptized colored man by the name of Dic, belonging to a mister Colmesnil, Paroquette Springs, near Shepherdsville.  He was forty years old.  He died on the 9^th of this month.”

 

“To keep the pastor’s horse” was there for almost as necessary as “to pay for his lodging, fire and candle.”  For several years the pastor of the Church of Our Lady attended to Catholics in this outlying district.

 

Fr. Perche Leaves

As noted, When Fr. Perche was in New Orleans to collect funds for the church, Archbishop Blanc offered him an appointment and urged him to come to Louisiana permanently.  Fr. Perche asked to be allowed to go back to Kentucky and finished the church he was building.  Now the work was accomplished, and Fr. Perche made preparations to leave.  It was near the close of the year 1841 the Fr. Perche left Our Lady’s and Kentucky.

 

Meeting of December 15, 1841

The committee has been called to receive communication of the resolution taken by Mr. Perche to go to the South.  On his request the trustees have gone to the church to make an inventory of all articles left in the church.  They have found the church, built, covered and plastered according to conditions expressed in the foregoing contracts.  They have found also in the church two galleries build up according to the plan which was given, a confessional box, 52 pews, an altar, the whole according to the contract made with the carpenter, who has yet to make the pulpit, and some other little jobs, before he has finished.  On the altar they have also found a tabernacle in marble.  They went on then to the inventories of the several articles; and they have called to that in and tori Mr. Nicholas Albert, chosen as a trustee of the church in place of Mr. Eugene Perrot, and nominated by the Bishop.  The inventory is such as follows:

 

 

In the same time the trustees have made up the accounts of the church.  The expenses made by Mr. Maquaire, the treasure, for the construction of the church, reach $2,439, 29¾ and the receipt by the same his $2,184, 86¼.  It follows that Mr. Maquaire has allowed $254, 43½ more than he has received an order to be even with the payments.  It is due more than that by the subscribers, and when that money will come in a part of that should be returned to Mr. Maquaire, who has advanced it for the church, and the other part of those of the creditors who have not been yet paid.  In all that is not included the expense which Mr. Perche has made individually, nor the income he has got by himself for the church.

N. J. Perche, Priest

N. Albert

C. Maquaire

William Banon

Peter Portman

 

Paintings and Statues

In the Notes of the First Church by Mrs. Josephine Villier Maryman, it notes that the church had two oil paintings; one the Death of St. John the Baptist, the other, St. Thomas placing his hands in the wounds of Our Lord.  When the church was enlarged they were removed and never replaced.  It is not known whether they were of great value.  They are gone and no trace of them can be found.

 

Two statues are mentioned in the notes: St. Charles Borromeo, imported from France by a Fr. Perche, and the Immaculate Conception, the gift of Mr. Charles Maquaire, in recognition of being cured of some affliction.  They, too, have long since been removed from the church.  Years ago, they were last seen stored in the workshop of Mr. Gilbert at Cedar Grove Academy.

 

Nicholas Albert

Nicholas Albert, who became a member of the committee of management in 1841, is listed in the Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky among the early French settlers in Portland.

 

He married Anna Hoin, whose people also came from France at an early date, and from this marriage was born a son, Leon.  The child was baptized by a Fr. Badin in 1840.  As a young man, Leon was a clerk for Paul Villier in Portland.  Later he moved to St. Genevieve, or cape Girardeau, Missouri.

 

The name of Nicholas Albert appears in the city directory: (1843) Nicholas Albert, Portland, near M’Quaire, (1844–45) Albert, grocer and clothing store, 184 Water, (1848) Nicholas Albert, merchant (house) Portland, near N. E. Laning’s.

 

In December, 1851 Mr. Albert was chairman of the board of trustees in the town of Portland.

 

               

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