Interior - St. Joseph Catholic Church

Reprinted with permission from the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, February 17, 1998

YESTERDAY'S HISTORIC HESSEN CASSEL CHURCH HAS STOOD TEST OF TIME

In a world where it's common for the new generations of a family to move far from their roots, people at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Hessen Cassel, are unusual.

Many of the names that appeared on the original church roster in 1841 remain there today -- names such as Schmidt, Sorg, Herber, Hake and Minnich or Minnick. Some families can count seven generations in the St. Joseph parish.

They are descended from German immigrants who settled in Marion Township in 1833 and 1834, looking for land and opportunity in America.

The Catholic families who made up St. Joseph's parish in the beginning carved their farmland out of the heavily wooded terrain near the St. Marys River around Piqua Trail (now U.S. 27) and east to the old Indian trail, Wayne Trace. They built log cabins, shot wild game (turkey and deer) for food and warded off wolves that roamed the area.

Some of the men worked on the Wabash and Erie Canal construction crews, some on the plank road built from Fort Wayne to Piqua, Ohio. Some went into business for themselves. A man named Morey built a log store south of Hessen Cassel; it later became The Nine Mile House, a tavern and rooming house for travelers.

Legend has it that the first Catholic mass in Hessen Cassel was offered in 1835 from the stump of a tree. It is known that priests from Fort Wayne visited the settlers periodically and celebrated mass in the homes of John Sorg, Sebastian Kleber and John Schmidt.  

``It was not unusual for Msgr. (Julian) Benoit to start out from Fort Wayne and make a big circle out in the area,'' Msgr. Robert Contant says. ``He would go to a house, baptize the children, marry couples and gather all the Catholics together. It was the pattern of the French missionaries to do this, and out of these little groups and homes, the parishes would grow.''

Such was the case with St. Joseph's. The book titled ``Diocese of Fort Wayne, 1669-1907'' records that the Catholic families in Marion Township made pledges to support their first priest on Sept. 29, 1841, thus establishing themselves as a parish. Benoit is credited with encouraging the new parishioners to build a log church.

 Historical accounts disagree on the building date of that log chapel -- some say it was 1841; some say 1851. Diocese records indicate the log church was built in 1851 or 1852.

There also is disagreement on the date of construction of the brick church that still stands today at 11337 Old U.S. 27, eight miles south of Fort Wayne. Diocese records say construction was started in 1860 and finished in 1861; the church cornerstone says 1857.

Because many of the early settlers had immigrated from the areas of Hesse and Cassel (or Kassel) in Germany, they also referred to their new location as Hesse and Cassel. 

Contant, who was pastor at St. Joseph's for 34 years until his retirement in 1997, says the original reference to ``Hesse and Cassel'' gradually evolved to ``Hessen Cassel,'' as the area is designated today.

In addition to St. Joseph's church, the religious settlement at Hessen Cassel includes the rectory (circa 1870 to 1875), a convent, school, recreation hall, horse barn (circa 1860) and a cemetery (dating to 1848).

The red brick church, built for $5,000, has been altered over the years. Four wood-burning stoves located throughout the sanctuary were removed when a new central heating system was installed in 1916. A fire in 1864 damaged the interior of the church, destroying the altars. Three new Gothic altars were installed in an 1892 renovation, but only the central altar remains today. 

The original elevated pulpit, reached by a flight of stairs, was replaced by a more modern, wrought iron pulpit during renovations in 1954, which also included new pews and a new communion railing.

The first nuns at the parish were The Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, a community of Sisters from Germany, who came in 1868. They had been called by Bishop John Henry Luers to locate in the Fort Wayne Diocese to take care of schools and a hospital he planned to establish in Fort Wayne.

When St. Joseph's Hospital opened in Fort Wayne in 1869, some of the nuns moved to the hospital. The rest stayed in Hessen Cassel until 1877 when the convent and school were turned over to the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart, recently arrived from Germany. 

There have been no nuns at the school since the early 1990's. Among faithful parishioners at St. Joseph's are descendants of John Michael Sorg, the German immigrant who came to the area in 1834 and, by 1880, owned land in seven sections of Marion Township. 

Carole Sorg, wife of Ronald Sorg, has done extensive genealogy research on the family. She found the ship's log showing John Michael Sorg's arrival on the Bark Hope in July 1834. 

Ray and Marilyn Sorg, who live on land that was deeded to John Michael Sorg by President Andrew Jackson, say the story is told that John Sorg was clearing some land one day when several Indians approached him.

``He was afraid, but he gave them his tobacco,'' Marilyn Sorg says.``They came back three times and then they came again and brought a big pipe. He filled it up -- it took all of his tobacco. They passed it around and each one smoked it three times. So they always said John Sorg smoked the first peace pipe here.''

Eileen Schuhler is descended from Franz Muenck (now Minnich or Minnick), another of the original 29 parishioners. She estimates that ``about one-third of the families here are in the seventh generation.''  She says Muenck/Minnich built a log house in 1838 that still stands at Minnich and Monroeville roads.

Schuhler, who believes the church rectory might be the oldest rectory still in use in Allen County.

The Stained glass windows were imported from Germany when the church was built. The Stations of the Cross are also part of the original Church.

The convent, no longer used by nuns, is currently the parish office.

The church that started with 29 families has 375 units (families or single persons) today -- ``around 800 souls in the parish,'' Schuhler says. And though many members still live on original family land, few are full-time farmers.

``But,'' says Godfrey Strack who is married to Rita Sorg, ``we're still a nice country church.''