St. Augustine Parish, Howell at 6481 Faussett Rd, Howell, MI 48843-9238 US - Our Church History

Located in Deerfield Township, Livingston County, Michigan

Church and adjacent cemetery are on the National and Michigan Register of Historic Places.

HISTORY OF PARISH: The parish was founded in 1843 by 13 Irish immigrant farm families and Father Patrick O'Kelly, a horse riding missionary priest from Detroit. These original 13 families were mostly from County Longford in Ireland and walked to Livingston County from New York state, where they had first settled. Good farmland was available in Deerfield and Tyrone townships for about $3 a acre. A frame church was constructed at the northeast corner of Green and Faussett Roads in the middle of a two acre site donated by Joseph Walsh, a non-Catholic. The church was begun in 1846 but not completed until 1862. At that time it was known as St's. Peter and Paul. The cemetery surrounded the original church building and the oldest burial sites are in 1846. The current church building was completed in 1895 under the leadership of Fr. George J. Maurer. The parish was renamed St. Augustine in 1870 and the new church building was given that same name. It was designed and built to the exacting specifications of Harry J. Rill, Architect, Detroit and built of brick and hammered stone for $15,000. It is located west across Green Rd. from the location of the old church and cemetery and has an cemetery to the east of it.. The site of the former church building was incorporated into the old cemetery. A bell was installed in the church bell tower in 1915. The new cemetery, east of the church, primarily contains graves dating from 1910. In 1938 the parish was transferred from the Detroit to the Lansing Diocese. The primary exterior alteration to the church is an outside entrance constructed of matching brick and stone salvaged from a church being demolished in Lansing and from nearby farms. It allowed direct access to the basement social area and provided a entrance vestibule. The original wood pews,with ornamental hymn book holders, remain in place. The buildings interior oak finish, including the pews, wainscoting, choir loft breast work, doors, and trim, were laboriously stripped and refinished with a clear sealer in the 1970's. The sanctuary area has been entirely remodeled including the removal of a wooden communion rail. The original Stations of the Cross with Gothic style wood frames remain in place on the side walls. It appears that all the stained glass windows date from the church's construction. They are leaded sheet cathedral glass. The glass contains late Victorian stylized plant and geometric forms rather than figural representations. The northeast sacristy at the front of the church contains a large dark stained wood vestment cabinet made by the Tiffin Manufacturing Company of Tiffin, Ohio and dates from the original church construction. The church continues in daily use for religious services.

 

[The material above was abstracted from a booklet prepared by Jack and Carol Shepard for the 150th year celebration of St. Augustine's Church, the St. Augustine 1996 Parish Directory, an article in Diocese of Lansing's The Catholic Times of October 31, 1997 and the application for listing on the National Register of Historic Places prepared by David and Jeri McKeon Anderson. Mrs. Anderson is a direct descendent of four of the early Irish families of the parish. This material was very valuable for this purpose and demonstrated considerable and dedicated research.]

Old Cemetery Grave Markers

The old cemetery was established in 1843 and was laid out around the original church building which was started in 1846. There are grave markers as old as 1846. When the new church was built in 1895, and the old church demolished, additional burial plots were added where the old church stood. An additional cemetery is located across Green Road from the old cemetery, east of the present church. The grave markers there date from 1910 forward. Betty Endebrock is the current sexton of the cemetery and has held that position since 1965.

Fr. Patrick O'Kelly, 1st Pastor

 Father Kelly was the first pastor of St. Augustine's Catholic Church when it was founded in 1843. He was born in 1802 at Bally Callan, Ireland. He was ordained in Ireland in 1820 or 1821. He sailed for America shortly after ordination and probably disembarked at the Port of New York. First Catholic Church in Rochester, New York was built under his guidance. He came to Detroit, Michigan in 1829 and was commissioned to service Irish Catholics in Wayne and surrounding cities. In 1831 he left his traveling ministry to found and pastor St. Patrick's Church in Northfield Township in Washtenaw County. Later he served from 1835 to 1838 at Ann Arbor Catholic. These churches were in the heart of the region's largest concentration of Catholic's of Irish heritage. From this area west, it is still known as the Irish Hills. In 1838 he became the first resident pastor of the diocese of Milwaukee. He returned to Detroit in 1842. In 1843 he renewed his roving ministry from his base in Green Oak, a small village in Southeast Livingston County. He had very few worldly goods, carried his vestments in a small satchel and kept his trunk full of books at Green Oak. He made his circuit of churches, extending from Ingram and Jackson to Oakland Counties (including Deerfield in Livingston, Oceola and Bunker Hill in Ingram County and St. John's of Fenton, traveling as far east as Pontiac), once every three or four months. Until he was able to purchase a horse he made his rounds on foot. In 1856 he was appointed to St. John's Parish in Dearborn, now known as Sacred Heart. He served there until his death on October 7, 1858 at the age of 56.

Original thirteen founding families.

The original thirteen founding families of St. Augustine's Church, mostly from County Longford, Ireland, were:

Michael Bennett and Bridgett (Flynn), children- Timothy, Mary, Patrick.
Byron Carr and Catharine (Maquire), children- Patrick, Isabel, James, Elizabeth.
James Conklin and Margaret (Dougherty), children- Bridget, Peter, Sarah.
Patrick Conklin and Bridget (Bennett), children- Bridget , Francis, James, Cornelius, Mary, Catherine, ?.
Dennis McCarthy and Catherine, children-Bridget, Hannah, Dennis, James, Margaret .
Timothy McCarthy and Julia (Power), children- Timothy, Edward, Anna, Margaret, ?, ?.
James McQuire (later emigrated to the State of Texas)
James McKeon and Catherine, children- Margaret, Patrick, Michael.
John McKeon and Bridget (Reilly), children- Bernard, Charles, Bridget, Margaret, Mary, James.
James Murphy and Mary (McKeon), children- James, John, Catharine, Mary Agnes, Theresa, Stephen, Dennis, Margaret, Francis X..
John Ryan and Ann, children- Andrew, Catharine, John, Michael, Julia, Ann.
James Scullin and Mary, Children- John, Margaret, Daniel, ?.
Edward Sweeny and Mary (Murphy), children- John, Hannah, Mary, Patrick R., Edward, Margaret, Julia.


Rumor has it that the parishioners built the church and then went to the Bishop of Detroit and asked for a priest.



Building Specifications

Excerpts from the "Specifications of Workmanship and Materials -to be used in the- CONSTRUCTION OF A CHURCH -in the- Township of Deerfield, Livingston County, Mich. -as prepared by- HARRY J. RILL- ARCHITECT, DETROIT, MICH. -and adopted by the- BUILDING COMMITTEE.

J.D. McKEON, D.T. MURPHY, T.F. SWEENEY, F.T. McKEON, JOHN SCULLON- Building Committee."

Conditions. ......If any person employed upon or about the work should prove to be incompetent or refuse to do the work as required or shall in any manner slight the work he may be discharged by the Superintendent, and such person shall not be employed again upon the work.

Special Instructions to Contractors ......All bids will be opened at Hotel Fenton at Fenton, Mich., on Wednesday, February 13th, 1895. .......

Foundation and Stone Wall. All the walls.......to be laid up with field stone, well bedded and banded, and laid as near level as possible and straight and plumb. The stone wall to be laid in cement mortar, one part cement and three parts sand. All interstices between the joints must be filled with small stones and cement mortar, and all stones laid in their natural bed to form a perfect bond. .....

Brick Work. All the brick work is to be laid in best lime mortar. ........

Lathing and Plastering. All the ............will be lathed and plastered with one coat of rich mortar covered with another coat of brown mortar without hair and floated up; six pounds of hair to one cubic yard of plaster well mixed. .........Should any of the plaster show fire cracks or blisters such work will not be accepted.

Carpenter Work. .....The joiner work to be carefully prepared and fixed in the best manner......... to the due and perfect completion of the work. .......no lintels to be less than four inches deep in the center and to increase one inch for every foot of opening beyond four feet. .......

Joists. .... Beams supporting first floor joists to be 8x12 made out of four 2x12 bolted.......

Flooring. The floor lining to be of seven-eighths thick lumber covered with seven-eights dressed and matched lumber. .....

Painting. All the outside......to be painted three good coats of pure white lead and oil .......All other interior hardware to have one coat of hardware filler and two coats of best coach varnish, each coat well rubbed down with fine sand-paper. .....

Furnace Work. Put up a brick-set wood furnace........... Must be dust proof and warranted to heat the church to 70 degrees in zero weather.