website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of
Watertown, Wisconsin
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.
Mary Crangle, in unknown group picture
