James W. Orr, L. H. Munson, Miss N. S. Donald and Miss Emma Maage, the first reader, and D. W. Rowe. The present church edifice was erected largely through the liberality of Mr. Pennell, at a cost of $50,000, and is pronounced an architectural gem. ST. PATRICK’S, MT. PLEASANT. St. Patrick’s congregation, near Mt. Pleasant, was founded in the early fall of 1857, by the Rev. Father Augustine Wirth, O. S. B. He came from Doniphan, Kan., over the prairies and through dense timber on foot, not having the means to buy a horse or secure any kind of a conveyance, in the summer of 1857. The Benedictine Fathers had been sent west by an American founder, Rt. Rev. Boniface Wimmer, O. S. B., to establish a priory in the eastern part of Kansas. They settled in the hills of Doniphan, and from this county they founded and attended missions in Atchison, Brown, Nemaha and Jefferson counties. Among the first parishes established by these priests was one near Mt. Pleasant. Mt. Pleasant at that time was quite a commercial center, owing largely to the overland freighting outfits that passed through there on their way to Denver and the Pacific coast. Patrick Durkin, who is a resident of Walnut township in 1916, and the late John Delaney were teamsters on this route, and had many interesting experiences and struggles with Indians and Jayhawkers. Following the first visit of Father Augustine, after he had told the few Catholic settlers how he had traveled on foot from Doniphan, a small congregation collected enough money to pay for a horse, saddle and bridle, and presented it to him. Father Augustine attended to the spiritual demands of the early Catholic settlers in the Mt. Pleasant district about once a month during the period of his services there. There was no church edifice during that period, and divine services were held in the humble log cabins of the Catholic settlers, usually at the homes of John Knowles, Owen Grady, Ned Cotter, Bernard Fee and James McArdle. Mary Honorah Clare was the first child baptized at St. Patrick’s parish, September 28, 1857. The first marriage was that of James Barry to Catherine Hennesy, May 9, 1857, at the home of Edward Cotter. The ceremony was conducted by Rev. Augustine Wirth. In the fall of 1857 the first church was built, which was a small affair, constructed out of native timber. It was poorly constructed and was of short duration, as it was blown down by a strong wind one cold winter day, and wrecked beyond repair. Following the destruction of the first church, the members concluded to build a more substantial edifice of stone, and in the spring of 1866 the walls were built. The stone work was done by the late Nicholas Greiner, a German stone mason, who came to Sumner in the late fifties, and subsequently died, one of the wealthiest farmers of Walnut township. The church was dedicated December 8, 1866.