John Jospeh Hogan and the cost to build a log church in the Irish Wilderness

One of the revealing documents we found in our search for information on the Irish Wilderness was a small, pocket-size account book belonging to John Hogan. He kept records in this little notebook of expenses incurred and work accomplished in 1858 and 1859, the years of the building of the settlement in the Ozarks. The telling details of daily transactions - hiring a settler to cut timber, buying supplies at the store (coffee, tea and ague medicine), the cost of a yoke of oxen ($40) - these bring life and breath to the image of life on that pre-Civil War Ozarks frontier. (pages 48 and 49 in Mystery of the Irish Wilderness)

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Paid for Church

100 feet plank                        $17.00

2000 boards at 62 per hun       12.40

1000 D_lost by five                   6.20

hauling lumber 4 day at 2          8.00

hauling Shingles 1 day              2.00

D logs for floor 1                       2.00

D logs for buildings 3                6.00

4 days notching 126 1/2             5.06

1/2 day hewing                             .65

Man roofing 4 days                    4.00

400 feet plank                             4.00

hauling same                               2.00

Building fireplace                       3.50

Nails & hardware                        5.00

Calicos Candlestick & _______ 5.50

Altar linens                                 2.00

                                                $85.31

We think the little log church was built in area near these two trees in Oregon County.

So - the cost of a log church in the pre-Civil War Ozarks was $85.31.  But how to pay for it? Another page details accounts "Rec'd for the Church" which add up to $75.45, leaving a deficit of just $9.86 - a sum many clergy might envy when it comes to church building.

Hogan built more churches during his career:  the little church at Chillicothe, whose stained glass windows were shattered by anti-Catholic night riders - "gentlemen of grips and signs" - who "belabored with sticks and guns the artistic little gems..."; a cathedral for St. Joseph, Missouri, more lavish than he wanted by urging of his most influential parishioner; and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Kansas City (first services in 1883) with its now-gold-plated dome. 

In On the Mission in Missouri, Hogan mentions other churches he helped build across north Missouri, but often he doesn't mention their names. One small church built in 1865, however, he does describe:  St. Bridget's church at Peabody (later called Lingo), Missouri, "a small neat, convenient frame church was built, at a cost of about eight hundred dollars, which was subscribed and paid without delay. ... I loved the little building for its name, its devotional seclusion, and the piety of the people who attended it.

Jacks Fork and Current Rivers - and the Irish Wilderness

The Jack's Fork River (on the left) flows into the Current, marked by a stream of blue in the Current's channel. These National Scenic Rivers are favorites of floaters, but this early fall Sunday afternoon, canoe traffic was light. We were visiting some of the sites Father John Joseph Hogan spoke of in his memoirs of life as a frontier priest before the Civil War. From Mystery of the Irish Wilderness:

On Hogan's second trip to the Ozarks in late November, 1857, he was accompanied by Father James Fox. They forded the Current River on horseback at this spot where the Current's principal tributary, the Jacks Fork River, enters.

New review

We're excited by this new review of our second 'Hogan book" - On the Mission & Fifty Years Ago ...

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

Mystery of the Irish Wilderness - THE VIDEO!

Leland's script combined with Ross's editing expertise created this video .... enjoy!

Book Signing in Kansas City, Missouri November 22

Leland and I will be signing books at Barnes & Noble on the Country Club Plaza next Saturday - November 22 - from 1 - 3 p.m. The store is at 420 W. 47th St. Kansas City, Missouri


This is our first book signing event and we're curious to see who might come and what aspects of our books generate the most interest. The new book, Mystery of the Irish Wilderness (which by the way is non-fiction), begins in the pre-Civil War era, with Irish Famine immigrants, and follows 150 years of land use policies and personalities as they affect the area the Irish settled. It also follows the life of the intrepid young priest who led the colony: John Joseph Hogan. He became the first bishop of Kansas City and much of our research was done here in the archives of the Diocese.


Of course, See the Ozarks and Beautiful and Enduring Ozarks will be available as well!