This file portion of www.watertownhistory.org website
Crangle Family
First Mass in Watertown
Founding
of St. Bernard’s Catholic Church
Bernard
Crangle and family arrived in Watertown
The
Crangle family had come from Ireland in 1831 and had made their home in
Sherbrooke, Canada, until coming to Watertown.
Two
sons, Bernard, Jr., and Henry had come from Beloit in 1840 and they built the
first frame house in the village as well as a barn, both located south of the
present east-west railroad tracks on the east side of the present-day Milford
Street, directly opposite the Karma manufacturing plant. It was only a short walk to the cabin of
Timothy Johnson. The land was purchased
from John Cole on
The
next summer, Bernard Crangle, Sr. together with his wife Mary, and sons Robert
and Patrick arrived in Watertown and took up residence in the home their
carpenter sons had built for them. That
house was of very sturdy construction; typical was that the oak roof boards
were all one inch thick and twenty inches wide.
The
house, located at
Watertown Daily Times, 07
26 1941
Both
gravel and sand pits were developed on portions of the property. When the
gravel pit was created, thirty human skeletons were found in it. The sand pits
also contained dozens of skulls as well as other human bones, including those of
children. The Rogan farm was located on land that had been an Indian burial
ground. While Indian artifacts were not unearthed, dozens of stone arrowheads
turned up in the fields.
At the
time the Crangle family settled in Watertown, the nearest Catholic church was
located in Milwaukee. Members of the family went to that church on occasion,
presumably when they made the lengthy trip to Milwaukee to replenish
provisions. It was in these early years, very likely in the fall of 1842, that
Fr. Kundig came to Watertown. The Crangle boys had gone to Milwaukee for
supplies, met Kundig there, and brought him home with them.
From
that time forward, generally every other Sunday, he regularly stopped at the
Crangle home and said Mass there, using a small cherry table as an altar. That
table has survived and is used in St. Bernard's Church even today where it
holds the altar breads, water and wine used by the priest in the celebration of
Mass
Wallman,
Charles J., Built on Irish Faith,
Impressions, 1994
The
house stood over 100 years and no doubt can last another hundred years, for a
barn frame cut from the forest supports the strong timbers.
The
first Mass said in Watertown was celebrated in the Crangle home by Father
Kundig in the fall of 1841, and he continued to visit the village at intervals
until 1845 when the first little church was completed on the site of the
present St. Bernard’s.
Shortly
before his death in 1898, Patrick Rogan wrote the article referred to above
telling of the beginnings of the first Catholic Church in Watertown. His
"Reminiscences" relating to certain of those events reads as follows:
Reminiscences
On a
Saturday afternoon of a cold winter day in the month of December, 1841, in
making the circuit of his mission on his way home to Milwaukee, the Rev. Martin
Kundig made his second visit to Watertown, stopping at Bernard Crangle's home,
now the residence of Robert Crangle, and announcing his purpose to celebrate
Mass on the morrow, and requested one of the boys to notify Catholics living in
the vicinity. Henry Crangle carried the message to Daniel Crowley and William
Barrett's family and to James and Patrick Rogan who then comprised the
Catholics residing in Watertown.
Accordingly,
on that Sunday morning Father Kundig found kneeling before his improvised
altar, Bernard Crangle and wife, four sons and one daughter, Daniel Crowley,
William Barrett, James and Patrick Rogan, all told. Mass over, Father Kundig
made a short address urging upon his hearers the necessity of providing a place
suitable for divine worship, and requested those present to meet him there in
the afternoon to initiate some plan for the erection of a church.
Accordingly,
as requested, we met in the Crangle front room where Father Kundig assumed the
chair and announcing his plans and stating how all things had a beginning, that
large oaks from little acorns grew, and, to get a church in Watertown (though
few in number) we must commence at once, and then and there drew up a Church
Building Subscription, and all present signed it. It was then proposed to go
and select the site on which to erect the church. And, accordingly, Daniel
Crowley, William Barrett, Henry and Bernard Crangle, Jr., and James and Patrick
Rogan accompanied Father Kundig to witness his selection of a site to build on.
And after examining the ground over, he stood near if not on the very spot on
which the church now stands, and in manner and language most impressive said:
In the
name of God, here we will build our church and here and now I will name the
congregation, and the church when erected, and as a compliment to our good and
venerable friend Bernard Crangle will call it St. Bernard, and by that name it
will henceforth be known.
From
1840 [sic] till 1844 Father Kundig and his successor on the mission Father
Morrissey, in their periodic visits to Watertown always found a cordial welcome
at the house of the Crangle family, and in the little twelve-foot square room
and good fathers were wont to celebrate Holy Mass at each recurring visit.
Cross
References:
Crangle
property site of Van Camp
Charles Crangle, 24-year-old son of
Robert Crangle, accidentally shot himself in the left side.
The Annual Charter Election of 1859; one of the polls
was at the house of Robert Crangel.
