What did Bishop John Joseph Hogan look like? CORRECTING THE RECORD

It’s time to set the record straight. A drawing of a seated, slightly slumped and rather – shall we say – out of shape-looking cleric was once identified as John Hogan by a Kansas City newspaper in the first quarter of the 20^th century. 

We contend that early typesetter/caption-writer got it WRONG.  BUT the image and its egregious mis-attribution has persisted for a century.  This slumped and tired image has shown up in books and in magazine articles about the Irish Wilderness, the Irish experience in Kansas City and histories of the “churching” of Missouri. It’s time to clear that up.

Every description we’ve read describes him as tall and trim, an athletic, vigorous and fit man even late in life.  His official portraits show him sitting erect, trim and formally posed.

Photogravure portrait of Hogan from the 1889 "Illustrated History of The Catholic Church in the United States." Bishop Hogan remained a tall, slender, erect figure throughout his life. There is no mention of horseback riding in his later years (as he did during his missionary years), but his frequent five and six mile walks were duly noted by reporters.

(page 112, Mystery of the Irish Wilderness)

Bishop Hogan was a favorite of reporters looking for comment on the news of the day, or just a feature story in a slow news cycle. In a 1906 profile of Hogan, The Kansas City Star noted:

In spite of his age, his tall form is erect and his eye flashes as it did fifty years ago. … Every afternoon he walks from four to six miles. He rides to the end of the car line or to some point upon it and walks back. … The bishop’s tall figure is a familiar one upon the streets. He wears always upon his walks a low-crowned, broad brimmed black felt hat, a long black coat… He walks slowly, deliberately, generally with his hands clasped in front and a meditative look upon his face.
(emphasis - underlining - added by me)

Silver anniversary cabinet card of Bishop Hogan, 1893.  (Mystery of the Irish Wilderness, page 123)

 When Hogan returned to Kansas City from his yearlong sabbatical in Ireland in 1895 a newspaper reporter described him at his arrival at Union Station:

Finally a man well advanced in years but with erect figure and eyes that flashed with pleasure as he saw the assembled host, stepped from the train.

Kansas City Journal,  Feb. 21, 1913, included this in the much longer account of the bishop on the occasion of his death:

Never was there a man more willing to give audience to the griefs of others than was Bishop Hogan. A moment after a visitor had been ushered into the big parlor of the episcopal home, with its old fashioned furniture, the large oil painting of the bishop on one wall of the room, the old books in the bookcases—the bishop would appear in the doorway and with that earnest look on his face that was so characteristic he would inquire:

          Well, my good friend?

Then he would listen to the story there was to tell or give his advice upon the many little troubles—or big ones—as the case might have been. In spite of his age, there was always that earnest expression, that tall, erect form and those eyes, flashing as they did fifty years ago.

. . .  the bishop never let business interfere with his regular afternoon walk. Then he would ride to the end of a car line and walk back—sometimes five or six miles.

With such reports and with the evidence of his official portraits, it seems most likely that the sketch so often identified as Hogan is not the Bishop himself.  So what would John Joseph Hogan himself think of this mix up? Given his self-effacing sense of humor, he would probably be amused!

NEW IRELAND

Just ran across this scan of the 1875 Cram's Missouri map showing New Ireland's (purported) location.  Keeping in mind that J Highway today runs along the Ripley-Oregon county lines, you can see that this location is very near the present day site of Handy, MO.

NOTE: We have special reduced prices on all our books right now.  Check it out at our website: http://www.dammingtheosage.com/buy-the-book/

HANDY POST OFFICE in Ripley County - was this once New Ireland?

Located just east of J highway in Ripley County, a few miles north of the Irish Wilderness, lies the tiny hamlet of Handy, Missouri.  In 1859 and 1860 when Irish settlers were arriving , there was in this area a heavy concentration of land patents with Irish names as claimants. The ravages of the Civil War in this remote Ozarks land disrupted, some say destroyed, Father Hogan's once-hopeful colony. After the war, one could draw the conclusion that some settlers may have returned – a possibility suggested by tombstones in the Catholic Cemetery near Ponder as well as by a Cram’s 1875 map showing the tantalizing name, New Ireland, in the approximate location of Handy. (see page 76 of Mystery of the Irish WIlderness).

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Written on the back of this unmailed postcard is the following information:

Noah Haney Founder of Handy Post office was commissioned as Post-Master Sep. 9, 1913 – Resigned in favor of his daughter Mrs. Catherine Probst Oct, 28 1932 – Mrs. Probst served as Acting P.M. until Commissioned as Postmaster May 13 1935 – and continued as same until Post Office was closed Nov. 30 – 54 – Mail was carried from Fremont, MO by truck – in Carter Co.

--> In her master’s thesis, "Place Names Of Five Southern Border Counties Of Missouri,"  (University of Missouri, 1945) Cora Ann Pottenger recounts the story of how the Handy Post Office got its name:
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Established in Noah Haney's small country store. The story is told that because of poor penmanship in the petition, the postal authorities mistook the suggested name Haney for Handy. Some remarked that the name was appropriate for it would now be so "handy"--convenient--to get the mail twice a week right at home, instead of going the long distance to Pine. (A.C. Randel; J. Whitwell; Harry Thaxton; Postal Guide 1915-)

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Deer hunters – Real Photo Postcard probably 1940s or early ‘50s. Written on back,  "POV Handy Mo. Smallest P.O. in Mo. 7 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 6 inches."

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FUNERAL OF JOHN HOGAN - Feb. 24, 1913

On February 21, 1913, John Joseph Hogan, first Bishop of Kansas City and St. Joseph, died at the parish house where he had lived for decades. According to his wishes, no elaborate homily was preached at the funeral:

The Cathedral was filled to capacity for the funeral Mass, Monday, February 24, and hundreds of mourners stood outside. Bishops, Abbots, and priests filled the sanctuary. He had directed that no sermon be preached; Archbishop Glennon offered the simple summary: 

This request of Bishop Hogan will be faithfully carried out. He directed wisely for there is no necessity for a funeral sermon. The souls he saved, the friends he made, the dioceses over which he presided, the cathedrals he built, the priests he ordained, the words he spoke, the life he lived, speak more eloquently than words put together in a sermon. He has gone to the Great Silence and silence on our part can be tribute. Though he commanded silence, we can join in prayers for him; we can do this within his request.

After a solemn funeral at the Cathedral he had built, the cortege wound through the less populated streets of Kansas City to St. Mary's Cemetery on East 23rd Street. The most graphic account of the graveside service came from an article with no byline in the Kansas City Journal, Feb. 25:

SIMPLICITY MARKS PRELATE’S FUNERAL: 

Bishop Hogan’s Wishes Duly Observed in Rites for Dead Churchman.

The pale winter sun gave no warmth to offset the chill and searching wind, yet a great concourse of 2,000 men and women, many with uncovered heads, stood quietly as with upraised hands Bishop Lillis blessed the grave of the Rt. Rev. John Joseph Hogan, first bishop of Kansas City, in Mount St. Mary’s cemetery shortly after noon yesterday.

A great man, tired out after a long lifetime of right-doing, was laid to rest. The silent prayers of the multitude went up for him.

The clods thudded dully on the coffin lid. The long shadow of the cross on the priests’ lot fell athwart the grave. The worn out body of Bishop Hogan was cradled for its last and lasting slumber.

Silently Archbishop Glennon, Bishop Lillis and the other prelates of the Catholic church went to the waiting carriages. The coaches drew away with a crunch of gravel. Then the multitude started to depart, its members murmuring softly one to another til the whispering filled the clear air like a benediction.

The old grave digger filled in more earth, then shouldered his shovel and he, too, went away. The new-made and tenanted grave in the priests’ lot kept company with those seven others, where were laid the bodies of priests who had gone before.

Hogan's grave is surrounded by those of "his brother priests," several of them relatives of his.

From the vantage point of the knoll where his grave lies one can see in the distance the much-changed skyline of Kansas City.

Wife and Daughter of Osage Chief Red Eagle in Washington 1924

Press Photo by Wide World Photos, 1924

Caption reads: Mother clings to Indian Custom, but Daughter … much American: The wife and daughter of Red Eagle, Principal Chief of the Osage Tribe, in Washington to adjust some finances with the Interior Department. The daughter, Mary, prefers the American fashion while mother clings faithfully to the Osage tribal robes.

Possibly Chief Red Eagle is Paul Red Eagle who was Chief from 1923-24, following Chief Ne-Kah-Wah-She-Tun-Kah’ who died while in office.

Since the 1890s the Osage tribe had had substantial income derived from the sale of drilling rights to oil discovered on their lands.  “With extraordinary foresight, the tribe had reserved subsurface mineral rights even though the land had been allocated among the 2,229 enrolled Osages.” (page 280, Damming the Osage).

Money generated by the sales of drilling rights made enrolled Osages “probably the wealthiest people on earth” (New York Times November 18, 1898). Having had great wealth and the advantages of wealth – many Osages traveled the world and pursued higher education, modern houses, fashion, and automobiles; others maintained their Osage cultural lifestyle, language and traditions. One who maintained the cultural lifestyle was Paul Red Eagle.

Six years after this photo was taken, Chief Red Eagle died. John Joseph Mathews, author of many books and articles on the Osages, attended his funeral and wrote a moving and graphic account of the final rites for the venerable warrior/chief.  In “Passing of Red Eagle” (Sooner Magazine, Feb. 1930), Mathews remembers:

For ninety years Red Eagle had lived among his people. For that many years of constant changes, contacts and shifting scenes, he remained an Indian; thinking Indian thoughts and dreaming his own dreams.  In his later years he seemed to be waiting for something. He lived quietly on this ranch preferring his horse to a car until his eightieth year. He had oil royalties but desired to live in simplicity. He had seen many things and had taken part in the wars in the southern part of the state; he talked of these wars with members of the tribe. He saw brick buildings rise up among the jack-oaks and his nation spanned with roads, some of them sinuous black ribbons winding over sandstone ridges and limestone prairie. He watched with passivity, shiny oil derricks spring up like phantasmal fungi from valleys, wooded hills and prairie. Yet, with him remained the spirit of his fathers.  To the end he remained an Indian. Frenzied wealth seeking and confused material progress did not disturb the soul of Red Eagle.

A Catholic priest presided at the funeral, but after the sermon and prayers, the son of Red Eagle and his wife came forward “and began the heart tearing wail of the race. No suffering European could so touch the deepest chords of one’s heart as does the long, quavering cry of a mourning Osage.”

 

 

 

 

 

Wife and Daughter of Osage Chief Red Eagle in Washington 1924

Wah Tze Moh In (Star that Travels), Chief of the Osage – a.k.a. Bacon Rind

Chief Bacon Rind Photogravure, 1925

In his classic book, Wah’kon-tah: The Osage and the White Man’s Road, John Joseph Mathews describes Wah Tze Moh In (Star that Travels), as a ‘tall (and handsome) aristocrat’ of the Osage tribe, and a gifted orator “who adjusted himself to the conditions that the white man had brought upon his people.”

He still wore the leggings, shirt and blanket, and was seldom seen without the gorget made from the fresh water mussel, which was the symbol of the sun at noon, the god of day.”

His handsome face has been moulded in bronze and his picture painted by great artists. His face appears on programs, on brochures and as letterheads. His name, an unimaginative interpretation, is known everywhere, and is invariably associated with the word, Osage.

This image of Wah Tze Moh In clearly illustrates Mathews’ description.  The photograph was taken during one of three photo expeditions sponsored by department store magnate, Lewis Rodman Wanamaker. Wanamaker was a man of many interests, supporting the arts, education, golf and athletics, and Native American scholarship. Between 1908 and 1913 he funded expeditions with photographer Joseph K. Dixon, to document “The Vanishing Race” – the American Indians.

This is a third edition photogravure,  dated 1925.

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Wah Tze Moh In (Star that Travels), Chief of the Osage – a.k.a. Bacon Rind

The Polar Vortex (2014) and an Irish Wilderness winter – 1858

As the Polar Vortex held the country in a deep freeze this past week, NFL wildcard playoffs, college bowl games, Netflix movies, enjoyed in the comfort of central heating, helped pass the time. But my thoughts wandered back to the Irish Wilderness and how difficult life on the frontier must have been in harsh weather circumstances. Images came to mind of a drafty log cabin, with smoke from the fireplace, and temps outside below zero.  So – from a warm office  – I searched the Internet to see what the weather was in Oregon County in November of 1858, when Father Hogan began his almost year-long sojourn there.  
 
While the National Weather Service didn’t seem to have easily accessible records from 150+ years ago, there was another treasure online. The Pope County Arkansas Historical Association had posted the diary of a homesteader’s thousand mile journey from North Carolina to Arkansas by wagon – a journey that took the family across southern Missouri in the early winter of 1858.

This diary of John C. Darr was printed in the Atkins (Arkansas) Chronicle 30 July 1909 through 08 October 1909. The articles were researched and contributed by Mrs. James D. (Earlene) Peak to the Pope County (Arkansas) Historical Association Quarterly. Quarterly Editor: Ms. Laura L. Shull.

The full diary post can be found at http://www.argenweb.net/pope/wagon.html

 

Not surprisingly, the early winter of 1858 was cold, damp and snowy in southeastern Missouri. This traveler’s account gives a less sanguine view than Father Hogan’s of the people and prospects of the area that Irish immigrants were beginning to settle. But it makes one wonder. As they passed through Van Buren and headed west toward Thomasville … were there Irish fellow travelers on the road?

The Darr family crossed the Mississippi River by ferry on November 10 landing near Charleston, Missouri. With other immigrants they traveled from 12 to18 or 20 miles a day. Mr. Darr remarked on places Hogan had also mentioned in his memoir, On the Mission in Missouri: 1857-1868: Black River, Current River, Van Buren, Thomasville, and Howell County.  

18th Nov (1858). Clear, windy and cold. We break up camp with all our company, having caught up with the Sabbath breakers, they having had bad luck by breaking down a wagon. The piously inclined said that it was a judgment meted out to them for traveling on Sunday. We presume that they judged aright; we now pass over some of the poorest and hilliest country I ever saw. Cross Black river, a most beautiful stream of water. Take up camp, having drovn 20 miles, evening clear and cold.

 Johnson Shut-Ins on the Black River.  Photo by Leland Payton, The Beautiful and Enduring Ozarks

Mr. Darr’s take on the local populace is a stark contrast to Hogan’s description of the settlers he met.  In Chapter IX, in the section entitled “Society in Southern Missouri,” Hogan describes “the simple quiet ways of the early settlers of southern Missouri” – from what constituted a respectable dowry to the technology of making clothes and coverlets to a tolerant mention of the daily sips of home brewed liquor. Quite a contrast to those Mr. Darr met and bartered with:

19th Nov (1858). Morning clear and cold. We left camp, winding our way over Poor Pine Ridge, finding here and there small settlements in the coves and valleys which grow such as corn, wheat and the laziest people on earth; as if we wanted to buy corn or potatoes we had to gather and dig them. As to flour and meal we could scarcely buy either, as mills were scarce, sorry affairs and usually unhandy, they did not appear to have the energy to go to mill, or had no use for money. Meat we could always get plenty and cheap, as they got it out of the woods. We next crossed Current river, a good szed stream, rapid and the clearest I ever saw. On its banks stood the village of Van Buren, consisting of half dozen dilapidated old shanties, plenty whiskey, powder and shot. We camp on the banks of the river having drove about 19 miles. 

Leaving Van Buren, heading west, they passed close by the place where Hogan would soon build his log church. A year earlier, in November of 1857, Hogan and his mentor, Father James Fox, had ridden a little farther north through Reynolds and Shannon counties, across the Current River where the Jack’s Fork enters, through Eminence, Birch Tree and on to Thomasville on the Eleven Point River. There they turned back east, going up Pike’s Creek, through Van Buren and Ten Mile Creek, crossing the Black River and on to Potosi and homeward.  

Winter on the Jack's Fork River. Leland Payton photograph, The Beautiful and Enduring Ozarks 

Mr. Darr’s account of the terrain and the village of Thomasville:  

22nd Nov (1858). Snow four inches deep and still snowing. Continue our journey. Ceased snowing at 11 o'clock a.m. Here we came to the valley of Eleven Points river, a small winding stream which we forded on our route 18 times. I, having left the train with my gun shooting small game, had to wade the stream half dozen times before the wagons came up with me. I did not know if I was ahead or behind the wagons until I discovered them behind me. But you must know I had a pleasant time wading the river and six inches snow on the ground. But I had secured a nice bunch of wild pigions which were good and fat, the only fat ones I had ever seen before, although no doubt I had not only seen thousands before but millions, all I killed on our route west of the Mississippi river were fat. Passing up Eleven Points river we camp in the village of Thomasville, a village in the woods. Camp after a days drive of 15 miles, cloudy and snowing again.23rd Nov (1858). Four inches snow on ground this morning. We leave Thomasville, pass through very thinly settled hills and valleys, water very scarce. I must tell you that we had been living on Irish potatoes for several days and still doing so. These we had to dig in the snow; no bread stuff to be had, they would all tell us, "Our folks have gone into Ar-can-saw, about 50 miles to mill with wheat, looking back to-night." (end of quote is my construction) I found some flour for sale in Thomasville. But it being in the night and we had to chase chickens out of their roost in the flour bin, I concluded to wait until morning and stick to the potato digging and eating which was not so bad with fat quail, squirrel and pigeon. Meeting nothing of note we camp in Howells valley after a days travel of 20 miles. Cloudy.

24th Nov (1858). Leave our camp in Howells valley which is a fine prairie country in Oregan county Mo., moving one and one half miles we take the road leading to Yellville, Ark., our way leading over prairie and barren plains, passing many good settlements on the praries.

In a sort of executive summary of findings from his three reconnoitering trips to the Ozarks, Hogan wrote up his keenly observed and knowledgeable conclusions on “The Information Gathered”: 

The information we had gathered was, that Ripley, Oregon and Howell counties afforded good advantages for settlement to people of small means and of patient, frugal, industrious habits. The country as we found, was quite healthy. Land was cheap. The land was by no means all good, but enough of it was good to support many inhabitants, if not a dense population. About one-third of the whole area could be tilled for orchards, vineyards, or the usual vegetable or cereal crops; and the yield was far more generous than the appearance of the soil would indicate. The ground, too, when once broken and cleared, was easily cultivated. There was plenty of timber of good quality everywhere at hand, that made it an easy task to build dwellings, barns, stables, fences, and to furnish fuel. Springs and streams of pure, clear water were abundant except in a few localities. The lands that could not be cultivated were fairly grassy and could feed many cattle. The price of government land was from twelve and a half cents to one dollar and twenty five cents per acre.