Catholic priest, b. Birchfield, Kilkenny County, Ireland. He attended St. Kieran's College in Ireland (1814-1820), and in 1820 migrated to the U.S. He was ordained a priest in 1821 and was stationed at various missions in western New York until 1829. In 1829 he was transferred to Ann Arbor, Mich., and in 1839 became the first resident pastor in Milwaukee. There, in the summer of 1839 he began construction of the first Catholic church in the city. In failing health, and unable to resolve parish antagonisms, he left Milwaukee in 1842 and returned to Michigan. He did missionary work in Dearborn, Mich., until his death. P. L. Johnson, Stuffed Saddlebags (Milwaukee, 1942); P. L. Johnson, Centennial Essays ... (Milwaukee, 1943); L. W. Doll, Hist. of St. Thomas Parish, Ann Arbor (Ann Arbor, 1941).Learn More
Dictionary of Wisconsin History
Explore more than 1,600 people, places and events in Wisconsin history.
[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]
