Wexford Wanderings

The historical tale of Wexford, Iowa would not be complete without including background information on Father Thomas Hoare, the founder and patriarch of the Wexford Church. His efforts and direction resulted in the settlement of many immigrant families to the Wexford area.

The early immigrants, including Timothy Madden, cheered with joy when Father Hoare (a real live Catholic priest) arrived with fellow countrymen from Ireland. Now, they could attend Sunday Mass and have a clergyman to tend to their spiritual needs.

Thomas Hoare was born in the late 1790’s and grew up in Coldblow County in Wexford, Ireland. His calling to the priesthood began at an early age and in preparation he entered St. Kieran’s College. When his friend and mentor Patrick Kelly was appointed the first bishop to the new diocese in Richmond, Virginia in 1820, Thomas traveled with him and was ordained as a Catholic Priest by Bishop Kelly shortly after arriving in America. For six years, Father Hoare was a parish priest near Richmond, VA until his health deteriorated and he returned home to Ireland, where he became a parish priest at Annacurra and Killaveney in the Ferns dioceses.

The agonies Father Hoare found in Ireland made him pledge to lead as many Irish as possible to a destination in America near Little Rock, Arkansas, where Bishop Andrew Byrne, the first bishop of the Little Rock diocese, promised good land and a better life. For nearly a dozen times in 35 years, poor Irish farmers had awakened to the rancid smell of rotting potatoes, the signal that potato blight was again ruining another year’s crop. What little food the fields produced, the ruthless landlords confiscated from the poor farmers to sell to England. Hungry Irish laborers had watched first starvation, then disease pass through the countryside, killing friends, neighbors, and fellow countrymen by the tens of thousands.

During a Sunday sermon, Father Hoare addressed a church packed with Irishmen from many different counties. He spoke of his intentions to take as many countrymen as possible to America where comfort, prosperity, and independence from landlords were expected. Approximately 400 families with a total of about 1200 people worked for nearly a full year to save the $25 each of them would need for the steerage fare to cross the Atlantic. The large number of immigrants required three ships for transport.

In October 1850, Father Hoare and 450 parishioners set sail on the 1090-ton Ticonderoga, a sailing vessel registered in New York. A list of immigrants from the Ticonderoga sill hangs in the back of the church at Wexford, IA. Another 450 parishioners left the same day on the 915-ton Loodianah, a sailing vessel from Canada. An additional 300 parishioners left eight days later on a smaller vessel, the Chasca, a Boston registered ship.

For the $25, each person received three quarts of water a day, a small weekly amount of flour, sugar, molasses, oatmeal, and rice, and a skimpy 10 cubic feet of storage space for possessions and tools. The berthing area or sleeping space was a space six feet by six feet that was shared by four individuals who often were not related.

The Ticonderoga made New Orleans in roughly forty days, while the Loodianah was at sea for nearly two months, and the Chasca required nearly 70 days to reach New Orleans. Soon after arriving in the United States, Father Hoare took the members from the Ticonderoga north to Arkansas, but found that Bishop Byrne had died before telling anyone of the incoming immigrants. Additionally, other settlers had taken all the promised good quality land near Little Rock, leaving little suitable land for farming. So three hundred people went north again to St. Louis and waited there for Father Hoare to scout for land near a town named Dubuque, IA.

Father Hoare traveled upriver to Dubuque stopping at the New Melleray monastery where Father Walsh told him of land available upriver in Allamakee County. There Father Hoare found wonderful land in a scenic setting that reminded him of Ireland and seemed to have qualities including rich black soil needed for a prosperous settlement. Over a period of time, he bought a total of 2157 acres of government land in Lafayette Township and Taylor Township in Allamakee County, Iowa for $1.25 an acre. But when he summoned his flock from St. Louis, only 18 families were still able to come. Many of the travelers couldn’t wait because they were penniless and had taken jobs in St. Louis. Others had left along the way going to Texas. Still others had stayed in New Orleans and Arkansas to take care of sick family members.

The families traveled with optimism upriver on the steamer Franklin landing at Lafayette Landing near the mouth of Priest Coulee “Wexford Creek.” In the same year, other immigrants from the Loodianah and Chasca arrived in Allamakee County. A list of some of the new settlers included: Burn, Brennan, Brinkley, Brophy, Bulger, Collins, Curran, Esmond, Fennel, Finn, Gavin, Heatley, Heyfron, Hoare, Howe, Kavanagh, Joyce, Kelly, Kinsella, Lamb, McKeogh, McNamara, Mullins, Murphy, Noland, O’Neil, Ryans, Stafford, Sullivan, and many others. The new settlers cleared the land of trees, which were used to build cabins, and farmed - raising wheat, corn, potatoes, and cattle.

Three miles upstream from Lafayette Landing away from the Mississippi River, the parishioners built a small log church on a knoll overlooking the Wexford valley. Since the building was completed near the feast day of St. George, the church was dedicated to St. George. Hugh Vincent Gildea, a pioneer church builder in Iowa, was given credit in helping design and build the church as well as a two-story house and barn for Father Hoare. Word spread rapidly about the prosperous community at Wexford, Iowa and many additional immigrants soon arrived.

The settlers at Wexford came with a deep religious faith, hope for a better future, and a brotherly friendship toward neighbors that has been passed down through the generations.