INTO THE UNKNOWN Early Settlers in the Northern Archdiocese Confronted Nature’s Perils to Make it to Mass B Y MA TT H E S S
One of the unique areas of our archdiocese is the Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches. Those who visit this northern region often ask, “Why did they build so many churches so close together?” This is especially profound at points in Mercer County where several spires are visible at once. The short answer is the hardships of the times called for parishes to be nearer to the rural people served by priests who traveled great lengths in their ministry. Driving through the lush green fields of corn and beans, it is hard to believe this land was once a formidable swampy forest, set on the Maumee and Miami watersheds. An early settler to Maria Stein in the mid-1830s, Liwwät Böke (in English, Boeke), said, “Of the forest, my first impression was: I am imprisoned, swallowed deep in its gloomy throat.” German Catholic immigrants, like she and her husband Natz, began clearing the forest, digging ditches and creating drainage systems that have been updated and are used today to procure rich farmland. Those that settled here, had a lot of faith that they would survive in this environment. Travel was tough and goods were expensive, but the people were not going to give up on trying to make it in the New World. During the War of 1812, one soldier noted, “The road from [Fort] Loramie’s block house to St. Mary’s…was 2 2 | TH E C ATHOLIC TE LEGR A P H
one continuous swamp, knee deep to the horses and up to the hubs of the wagons…many were left sticking in the mire and ravines.” After 1845, the Miami-Erie Canal helped relieve that burden. This water way, which is comparable to Interstate-75 today, moved people and goods at a breakneck speed: 4 miles an hour. Locally, though, the question still remained: “How will we get to Mass?” As noted above, the trails and even the main roads were bad, and the problem persisted for decades. The pioneer roads often became impassible in winter snow and in the mud that came with spring rains. Even in the Fall, dense forests would drop upwards of eight inches of leaves, making travel cumbersome. Obviously, the roads were unlike our modern streets. Paving often consisted of logs laid across the marshy land. Charles Dickens described a stagecoach ride across Ohio in 1842 as “enough, it seemed, to have dislocated all the bones in the human body.”
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