Masquelet's Place
One of the more fascinating things about our local history was to find out some information about something that I had never heard of before. The following was a case in point and it occurred between Effingham and Teutopolis.
In reading Hartman's book Diocese of Springfield in Illinois Diamond Jubilee 1853-1928 I came across the following passages:
"One of the oldest parishes of the diocese, next to Quincy, and Ste. Marie, is Teutopolis. Its history dates back to 1833. An organized body of Catholic Cincinnatians, who had been prospecting out west, had started a colony there in 1837. They purchased a tract of land comprising 10,000 acres at $1.25 per acre. With the first settlers came a priest, Reverend Joseph Masquelet, a native of Elsace. The first Divine Service was held in this new settlement towards the end of November 1839. The following year, 1840, a small log church was built, 32x28, and dedicated to St. Peter. Friction and dissension, however, soon broke forth which induced the pastor to build a second log church at a distance of one and a half miles from the former. It was built on his own land, "Masquelet Place." The internal parish dissentions were, however, not allayed. On the contrary, they continued to grow for many a year, causing much discomfiture and annoyance to the various pastors, making the parish rather notorious for its stubborn opposition to the efforts of the clergy. Father Masquelet, tired of the ill feeling and opposition manifested toward him, left Teutopolis in 1842 for New Orleans. There he was assigned a parish and built a fine church. Twice he returned on a visit to Teutopolis, in November 1855, and again in the seventies, when he donated a set of costly vestments to the parish. After his last visit he returned to his native land, where he soon died." 1
And in a separate account from a different article from the same source:
"Pastor: Rev. Joseph Masquelet, (November 1839-43). According to Clem Uptmor II, His father, Clemet Uptmor I, Messrs. Waschefort and Bergfeld obtained the consent of Father Masquelet while they were yet in Cincinnati to be their pastor in the new colony. According to Mr. C. Nake, a brother-in -law of Father Masquelet, the priest lived with his parents near Greenup for two years and from there alternately attended Piquet's Settlement (St. Marie) and Teutopolis. He now moved with his parents to Teutopolis. At first he seems to have boarded at Ginnevers, (Judge Barney Overbeck's Farm) where Father Masquelet also baptized several children. In February 1840, he began to cut trees for the log church, the exact dimensions of which are unknown, probably being 32x38 feet. The log church was surmounted by a low steeple in, which hung a bell, shipped from Cincinnati and said to have weighed seven hundred pounds. When Father Masquelet got into trouble about his salary, the people complained to the Right Reverend Celestine De. La St. Hailandiere, then bishop of the diocese, that the Pastor did not know Low German which a pastor at Teutopolis needed because the old people understood High German but imperfectly. And the priest must needs explain some things to their children in Low German. Father Masquelet now built a church one and one-half miles west of Teutopolis and started a cemetery there. Charles Eversman hints that perhaps he would eventually have started a town there; but this is uncertain. Father Joseph Masquelet labored later on in New Orleans, Louisiana, and eventually returned to France (Alsace). He came back again to visit Teutopolis first in 1855 and again in the seventies (from France) and gave a sum of money and a number of vestments to the Teutopolis church. Soon after his return to his native country he passed away." 2
Never before have I found a reference to "Masquelet's Place" as being a settlement or a church before. My questions were, where was this church? What became of the church building and the cemetery? Were the bodies taken up and removed to the present church cemetery? After almost a year of scouring old county histories and getting help form local historians I have found some answers and raise some questions that may never be answered.
After posting the above article Mrs. Kate Keller Bourland pointed me as to where the church was located. In 1926 Father Eugene Hagedorn leaves little doubt as to the location of the church.
"... Moreover, the abstract Miss Clara Worman furnished me of the land in question, shows that F. M. Masquelet bought it from Logans in June 21, 1841. ... Whatever the cause, Rev. Masquelet on June 21, 1841 bought some land now partly belonging to Mrs. Lena (Uptmor) Egan, of San Diego, Cal., partly to Mr. (John Mueller), on which he built a small log church. This stood about 75 feet south of the National road and about 25 feet west of the eastern fence. About three adults and three children were interred here (according to Chas. Eversman's Mem.) viz: Mr. F. Schlepper, M. Mindrup, Mrs. Adelaide Bruemmer, and three children. Services were held here only a few times, we were told, probably Rev. Masquelet was assigned to another Parish..." 3
I have not been able to find the deeds in question at the courthouse. There was a fire which destroyed the courthouse in 1869 and the deeds may not be there. The only written records left may be in abstracts that may be in possession of the land owners However, given the above and backed by local tradition Masquelet's Place was just south of the former Keller's Town and Country Furniture Store, which today is a subdivision. But in this instance finding the location only deepened the mystery; was this the first church that was built in Teutopolis?
From this point we have to go into some historical speculation but I will list the facts as I have them.
1. In Perrin's History of Effingham County 1883 p.256 we find the
following quote... "A church building (log)
built between Effingham and Teutopolis on Masquelette's place, 1839; another log church
building in town near the railroad track; third and present brick, 1850, consecrated by R.
Rev. H.D. Junker."
2. In Hagedorn's History, 1926 pp. 81-83 "Though
we not (sic) do claim to settle the question definitely owing to positive contradictory
assertions,..."
What an interesting comment from a priest of Teutopolis doing an early history of the church and referencing letters that he sent to parishioners in 1909! Apparently there were still hard feelings under the surface at even this late date. The following is a quote from Father Eugene Hagedorn:
"Mr. Clement
Uptmor III is said to have been the first child born in the village. At first, the
pastor boarded at J. Gannoway's (Gennivers? This location is the old house place
just at the top of Salt Creek Hill going east into Teutopolis just west of Effingham. ed.)
: for the old account book of Clement Uptmore I. shows that Masquelet's board was paid at
Ganoway's in Dec. 1839, and in the first months of 1840. As some settlers had come
prior to the Teutopolis settlers and lived near by at Green Creek and the present
Effingham who also wished to belong to the parish and in a number of cases joined the
"German Land Company" and paid ten dollars for the church. The increasing
congregation enabled Father Masquelet to build a log church while meanwhile he conducted
divine service at H. H. Vormor's who for a year or two live south of Gannoway's it
seems. One dollar rent was allowed them instead of paying board for the
priest."
..."Mr. Joseph Habing writes us, that the main objections against Father Masquelet
was that the village might follow the church. For Father Masquelet, if the rumors be
correct, planned a town near his church. 4
Keep in mind that there were only 8 male voters in the village of Teutopolis as
of April 1846. Since these men would have been the head of the household it is hard
to imagine that there were many more than 8 houses in the entire village. Mr.
Clement Uptmor's account book lists members who supported Fr. Masquelet, of which I have
identified 14 which would be founding families of St. Anthony's. According to Chas.
Eversman; Schlepper, Mindrup, Bruemmer and three children were buried there. Schlepper and
Mindrup are buried at St. Anthony's I do not know if Bruemmer should be Bloemer, but if it
is, there are Bloemers there as well.
We know that there was great dissent about the location of the new brick church.
In fact St. Peter's had to sell church land to keep everything going because those people
who were mad at the eastern location and would not support the church as they should.
After much searching I finally found the following that seems to settle the matter
for good. Bishop James Oliver Van de Veld wrote a letter to someone in Teutopolis
(Hagedorn edited the name) on May 26, 1851. In it he outlines why he selected the
present location of St. Peter's Church and states the following:
"Should the congregation wish to have the solemn ceremony of laying the corner-stone performed a the end of next month or in the beginning of July, I will repair thither from St. Louis, where I shall be on the 20th of June. Be kind enough to communicate this letter to the congregation... whether they wish me to go over to Teutopolis for that purpose,-but it is worse than useless to have the new church built on the site of the present one- and much more so still to try to induce me to build it in the fields far away where the first church was built by Mr. Masquelet." (emphasis mine)5
The corner stone of St. Peter's Church was laid on July 20, 1851. Its foundation stones were hewed from stone that was intended for the Old National Road, but had been abandoned in the 1830's when work on the road halted. St. Peter's Church was renamed September 23, 1860 St. Francis of Assisi with St. Peter as its second patron with the arrival of the Franciscans. The church has been redone several times but it is at the same location that it is in today and is the oldest continuously used church building in Effingham County.
Why does all of this matter? If Masquelet's Church was the first church and again I emphasize it does seem it was, it helps to explain why those who were west of it would not support the new location. Those coming from west and north of present Effingham would have farther to go and not being a "true" part of the "German Land Company" there was probably friction from that source as well. Remember that Ewington was the county seat, for Effingham would not come into being until 1854. It also would make Masquelet's Church the foundation church for St. Anthony's and St. Mary's at Greencreek for that matter. We know that Fr. Masquelet left the area in October 1843 after incurring the wrath of his new bishop because he lobbied for the church at his location. What became of this old church he started there seems to be little evidence but most likely it was abandoned as there is little doubt that a log church with a cemetery near where Quatman Lumber stands today and it must have been built very soon after Masquelet's Church. It is even highly probable that the bell was moved from Masquelet's to the new location in Teutopolis proper. It also explains why there was a rift, or a dissension if you will, between those Germans of Teutopolis and those of Green Creek and Effingham. While America was a melting pot it was not as homogenous or as quick to break down old county ways and traditions as modern history would have us believe.
We know that the St. Anthony group was meeting in a log meeting house (where City Hall stands now) as early as 1854 of not earlier. In Thompson's work we find the following quote,
" Prior to that they had to attend churches to go to Teutopolis or Green Creek to worship, where at an early date, as early as 1840 in Teutopolis, log churches had been erected and resident pastors were in charge. 6
. St. Mary of Christian Help (Green Creek) had been meeting in a blockhouse in their area since 1845 or 1846 and divided into factions when those on the south side wanted the church to be built near them in 1857. Is it possible that both of these future parishes withdrew from Masquelet's Place after Father Masquelet, whom they supported, left and went to "their" own meeting houses which would eventually lead to the formation of their own parishes.
1. Joseph J. Thompson, editor, Diocese of Springfield in Illinois Diamond Jubilee 1853-1928 Hartman Printing Company, Springfield, Illinois 1928, p. 666
2. ibid pp. 185-198
3. Father Eugene Hagedorn, The Diamond Jubilee of the Laying of the Corner-stone of St. Francis Church, 1851-1926 Petty Printing Company, Effingham, Illinois 1926, pp 81-86
4. ibid pp. 81-86
5. ibid pp. 81-86
6.Thompson, Diocese of Springfield in Illinois Diamond Jubilee 1853-1928, p. 295