Schoolboy John Hogan played hooky with friends

Our new book, On the Mission in Missouri & Fifty Years Ago: A Memoir, contains both of Bishop Hogan's personal memoirs.

In Fifty Years Ago, this “engaging Irish storyteller,” recounts a lively and entertaining childhood in County Limerick, Ireland in the 1830s and ‘40s. He recalls every school he attended, his teachers, many of his childhood friends, quite a few adventures and occasional encounters with authority. In the following selection, young John, playing hooky from school, recounts how he and his comrades–in-truancy passed their stolen hours, before being unceremoniously caught and returned to face the music:

Ah, how much pleasanter it was to a gang of truant boys to be in hiding under bushes than to be too conveniently near the tip end of the master's cat-o’-nine-tails! The covert in which we hid was thickly set with tall pine trees, to which the furze was an undergrowth. There we climbed trees, looked for birds’ nests, ran races, played hide and seek, masqueraded grand Turk and Indian chief, our heads turbaned with pine plumes and rushes. Our biggest boy, the most stalwart fellow amongst us, we threw down on the ground on his face and hands, then we stretched him lengthwise across a steep water-drain, and on his long back enjoyed ourselves, chasing each other over and hither, as in the picture in our books we saw squirrels running on a log.

But our hey-day was soon to come to an end. We had been missed from school. Search was made for us. Ah, the mean scouts that betrayed us! Like snakes, they crawled on the grass and hid behind bushes until they spied us. Then they went and told the master. A posse comitatus of big boys from the school was sent to gather us in. We were surrounded, trapped, captured, and marched ignominiously into the master's presence. Without formalities, we were sentenced to die the death. I began to make a speech from the dock. Before a word was out of my mouth, I was grasped, as in a vise, by the rough hands of the biggest boy in school. That fellow’s back was the common gallows, on which truant boys paid the penalty for their misdeeds, and when the execution was over, it was considerable time before the felon that died the death showed himself anyway lively again

Irish Wilderness - companion volume now available

Just in time for the holidays … the companion volume to Mystery of the Irish Wilderness has arrived from the printer.  ON THE MISSION IN MISSOURI & FIFTY YEARS AGO: Two Irish-American Classics includes both John Joseph Hogan’s personal memoirs. The young priest-become-bishop cherished his days on the Missouri frontier, recounting Civil War adventures, near-death experiences, a rousing childhood in County Limerick, Ireland in the 1830s and '40s, Daniel O'Connell rallies, and his clipper ship voyage to America.

Yellowing newspaper articles, handwritten accounts of historical events, and personal letters found in files cabinets revealed a very appealing personality – so we’ve added chapters on his life, family history and his later career in Kansas City in the booming years of the late 19^th century. 

As Jo Schaper said in her review in River Hills Traveler:

... why would a non-Catholic want to read this book? For the same reason a non-geologist reads Henry Rowe Schoolcraft's journal: as a primary source for nineteenth century life, told by a reliable witness. And besides - who can resist an engaging Irish storyteller?

On the Mission in Missouri and Fifty Years Ago

Lens & Pen Press’s Newest Title Wins Gold Medal

Mystery of the Irish Wilderness Wins Gold Medal in Regional Non-Fiction

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Mystery of the Irish Wilderness: Land and Legend of Father John Joseph Hogan’s Lost Irish Colony in the Ozark Wilderness by Leland and Crystal Payton has received a gold medal. Lens & Pen Press’s newest title received the competitive award in Regional Non-Fiction at the 13th Annual Independent Publishers Book Awards (IPPY). Winners were recently announced at a ceremony held during BookExpo America weekend in New York City.

More than 4,000 books were entered; only 110 gold medals were selected in all categories. The competition is open to independent book producers, university presses, and divisions of major publishers that release 50 or fewer books a year. Yale University Press led the medal count with five, followed by Indiana University Press with four.

“This award is especially gratifying as it confirms our mission to tell stories with a regional focus in books with the highest level of design, layout and production,” said Crystal Payton.

The Paytons delved into rare primary historical sources including diocesan archives, Bureau of Land Management records, antique maps pinpointing the brief colony. Their research sheds light on a little known episode in Irish American history, the Trans-Mississippi Civil War, the boom-and-bust timber business of the nineteenth century, and environmental policies of the twentieth century.

The settlers disappeared after the Civil War but their sojourn on the Ozark frontier is forever enshrined in the name “Irish Wilderness.” Today that name denotes part of the area in the Ozarks where they briefly settled, which is now a 16,500-acre unit of the National Wilderness System.

The book has received favorable reviews from national experts on Irish American history as well as regional and Civil War historians.

Mystery of the Irish Wilderness, a 128-page, all-color book, retails for $18.95. Available at many bookstores or through www.amazon.com Copies can also be ordered from the publisher, postage paid.

For more information on this and other Lens & Pen books visit www.beautifulozarks.com.
$18.95 paper
7x10 inches 128 pages
80 color plates
ISBN: 978-0-9673925-4-7

Book Signing at Barnes & Noble -

The Saturday before Thanksgiving was a beautiful day, and a busy one on Kansas City's Country Club Plaza. We had a good time, saw friends, met new folks and sold some books. A good time was had by all.