Letter from Fr. Edward Fesenmeyer

Letter from Fr. Edward Fesenmeyer OFM Cap. outlining statistics in respect of the Catholic populace around Elk in Mendocino County in California. He reports a total Catholic population of approximately 530 people. He notes that of those, only 112 attended their ‘Easter Duties’ that year. He describes the majority of this population as being of Italian race and observes, somewhat regretfully, that they are ‘unfortunately very indifferent to things Catholic’.

Details

Level of description: Item
Date: 8 June 1920
Reference: 2
Extent and medium: 3 pp; manuscript
Scope and content: Letter from Fr. Edward Fesenmeyer OFM Cap. outlining statistics in respect of the Catholic populace around Elk in Mendocino County in California. He reports a total Catholic population of approximately 530 people. He notes that of those, only 112 attended their ‘Easter Duties’ that year. He describes the majority of this population as being of Italian race and observes, somewhat regretfully, that they are ‘unfortunately very indifferent to things Catholic’.
General note: Fr. Edward Fesenmeyer OFM Cap. severed as pastor at Blessed Sacrament Church in Elk, California, from 1915 to 1922.
Repository: Irish Capuchin Archives
Context: Irish Capuchin Archives > Papers of the Irish Capuchin Mission in the United States > Missionary Correspondence > Other Correspondence

Annotations

Rights

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Extracted Mentions

People, places, and terms identified via handwriting recognition and named entity recognition.

Places

Favor(1)
Greenwood(1)

Sample passages

total I favor when sending in to the
From what I am told, Greenwood

Full Transcript (OCR, 1 pages)

Machine-generated OCR transcript. Handwritten material may contain recognition errors.

Page 1

Elk, Cal. June 7/60 Dear Reverend Father, The following items, I tend, will answer your kind request of me. The Catholic Population of this parish, which includes its outlying districts - namely, Navass, Phils, Troomville, Ombaun, Manchester, Point Arena, and Squalala, is 530, approximately. This total I favor when sending in to the Office of our Archbishop the financial statement of this parish for 1919. Of that number (530), 112 were at their basic districts this year. The larger portion of this Catholic Population is of the Italian race, & unfortunately, very indifferent to things Catholic. From what I am told, Greenwood (Elk P.O.) has a population of about 400. I cannot at this moment of writing give you the item as to the number of people in Point Arena Township. As you are already aware, we have a church in that town. In the latter part of August, 1917, improvements were made on this building - new foundation roof re-shingled, whole of the exterior repainted and minor repairs to the interior. The Most Reverend Archbishop deprayed all expenses, which amounted to (in round figures) 920 dollars. With the best of wishes, Yours always, F. Edward Fesenmeyer.