FROM THE OLD SOD TO THE NEW

The following is an extract from a history of Askeaton Wisconsin, U.S.A. Taken from local community new in 1984.

In 1844 a band of Irish immigrants landed in New York. They had left Ireland because the potato crop, their main food, failed, because the landlords ignored the fact that their tenants were hard pressed for money and because the English were persecuting the Catholics.

These valiant immigrants worked on the railroads and in the shipyards in the East until they had acquired enough money to penetrate into the west to search for farmlands. their ambition was to do the same type of work they had done in their native land.

The brave band traveled westward by means of the Great lakes and rivers until, after a long and tiresome journey, they arrives at Green Bay. They migrated southward and landed in what is now Wrightstown. They discovered that a man named Mr. Wright had received a grant of 500 acres from the government. Contacting Mr. Wright they found that he was willing to sell the land to them. This land was located within the present boundaries of the Town of Holland, which at that time was one vast expanse of virgin timber.

The undaunted pioneers set to work at the arduous task of clearing the land so that they might build log cabins and plant their crops. Still harbouring a deep love for the land of their birth, the Irish settlers called the settlement "Askeaton" after their native town in county limerick, Ireland. Some of the early family names that came from Askeaton, Ireland were Summers & Wall families. The Meehan, Carroll, McQueen, Clune, Brick and Clancy Families came from County  Limerick. When their success reached Ireland, they were soon joined by more Irish immigrants.

Among the ranks of these brave, god fearing people, we find the names of the families of James Brick, John Brick, Michael Brick, John Burns, James Carroll, John Carroll, Mathew Cleary, Patrick Colwell, John Conroy, Charles Coughlin, Patrick Fox, John Fox. John Holloway, Barney Hart, Michael Hart, John hart, Peter Hart, John Hayes, Michael Keating, Denis Mack, John Meehan, Patrick Meehan, Patrick McQueen, William Powers, James Setright, John Setright  Michael Setright, John Sheehan, John Spain, James Summers, Maurice Summers, John Summers, John Wall, John Rudden And Richard Woulfe.

Two Irish families  here, the Maurice Summers and Maurice Meehan's, opened their homes for the celebration of mass during the spring of 1856, and this led to the formation of Saint Patrick's Parish.

The celebrant was Father J. Van Luytelaar of saint Francis parish, Holland town. A capuchin priest, father Bonaventure De Goey, came next to offer mass from Holland town, and towards the end  of 1858 the Irish settlers rejoiced at the blessing of their first church. it was a humble 40 by 60 ft. log cabin, located on the site of the present parish cemetery.

Askeaton native preserves writings of famous author

Thomas Merton was one of the most influential Christian writers of the 20th century. He lived most of his adult life in a cloistered monastery in rural Kentucky.
Merton was a prolific writer who shared his passion for contemplative prayer and spirituality with those outside the monastic life with a series of books.
At the height of his work, Merton was given a secretary to help him in his unique ministry - another monk of the Trappist Abbey of Our lady of Gethsemani by the name of Brother Patrick Hart.
Hart - born and raised in Askeaton and graduated from Wrightstown High School in 1943 - has largely been responsible for maintaining the compendium of Merton's work and furthering his mission to bring contemplative prayer into the lives of ordinary people.
The third son of Michael Hart and Frances (Fox) Hart, Patrick attended both the parish and public schools in Askeaton and Wrightstown.
"He was a very devout person, a very serious guy, but he liked to go out and have fun," said Holland Town Clerk Bill Clancy. "I heard he could dance like a trooper."
Hart, and Clancy's older brother, Hugh, were classmates.
Clancy said Hart was a talented musician who took organ lessons at the Methodist Church in Forest Junction.
At age 81, Patrick Hart is very active. His work in the monastery includes being the abbot's secretary.
"I've been the secretary for the last four abbots," Hart said. "Abbots come and go, but secretaries are here to stay."
He also has a number of other projects in the works.
"I have a new book coming out on the monastic vision for the 21st century," Hart said. "It is a book about how you see monasticism in the new world."
The book's title is "Monastic Vision for the 21st Century." Green Bay's auxiliary Bishop Robert Morneau wrote part of it.
"I knew Bob Morneau and I have a chapter by him," Hart said. "It is about both monks and people outside the monastery."
It is a part of a series of books that Hart is editing for The Liturgical Press of Collegeville, Minn., called the "Monastic Wisdom Series."
The book will be published later this month.
"(Hart) made Merton's writings available and Merton was one of the greatest spiritual writers of our time," Bishop Morneau said. "He dedicated his life to a contemplative order and it is a good witness he'd modeled for us."
Hart was born at St. Vincent Hospital in Green Bay in an era when few farm kids were born anywhere but at home.
"On June 24, 1925, my mother decided to have her third son," Hart said. "We had a Model T and my dad and my uncle, Jim Fox, did the driving and we ended up at St. Vincent."
The Hart farm was on Hart Road, behind St. Patrick Church in Askeaton.
"We gave an acre of our land to the church for the priest's house and the convent," Hart said.
Hart has strong and positive memories of Askeaton and Wrightstown.
"It was a good place to grow up," he said. "Electricity was just coming in when I was a child. We always had a car, but in the country you needed that."
After graduating from Wrightstown High School, Hart went to the University of Notre Dame.
He went on a retreat at Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky while at Notre Dame, and went back to the monastery in 1951 to enter it.
In 1955 and 1956, his abbot sent Hart and several other monks to start a new Trappist monastery, New Clairvaux, in Vina, Calif.
Hart was last back home for the funeral for his older brother, Kenny Hart, who lived in De Pere and worked for the post office.
"Bill Clancy sang 'Danny Boy' at my brother's funeral," Hart said with a bit of a laugh. "We don't usually sing 'Danny Boy' at funerals in the monastery."
At 81, Hart is clearly focused on the future.
"I now have 20/20 vision, after a couple of cataract operations," he said. "I'm 81 and counting and I'm not retired yet."
Ed Byrne can be reached at 920-532-0054 or at ebyrne@wrightstownpostgazette.com

Those intersted in considering the Trappist monastic life may wish to visit Mount Melleray Abbey (monks) or Glencairn Abbey (nuns) in Ireland. All Trappist monasteries and convents are listed on the order's main website at www.ocso.org.
By Ed Byrne
Wrightstown Post-Gazette Editor

St. Pat's Parish celebrates 150th birthday with two-day bash
By Ed Byrne
Post-Gazette Editor

ASKEATON - In hindsight, holding the 150th anniversary of the founding of St. Patrick's Church parish on a single day would have been a mistake.
Fortunately, organizers opted to hold the celebration over two days last weekend.
Activities filled both days easily, with hundreds of people attending the event Saturday evening and hundreds more attended Sunday.
The centerpiece on both days was the celebration of Mass - in the 98-year old red brick church on Saturday and under the big top tent on Sunday morning.
Saturday evening featured a dinner of hot turkey sandwiches, potato salad and pie while the band Force of Habit played.
At 3 a.m. on Sunday, the crew of Booyah chefs, led by Jerry Wall, rose to start the fires under the five large kettles of chicken soup.
In less than two hours after the first bowl of Booyah was ladled, it was gone.
"It has really been a good turnout, a big crowd out here today," Wall said.
The Mass under the tent overflowed from the big top as the Rev. Al Geiser presided. .
"We are blessed in so many ways to have our church, which is more than a building," Geiser said. "The church is in the hearts, minds and souls of these people."
Geiser recalled the families who built the present church structure in 1908.
The Jerry Schneider Band played for an hour after Mass, while people lined up for Booyah, brats, burgers, homemade pies and other desserts.
For Wall, there is no doubt about Geiser giving back to the community.
"He has been a cornerstone of the parish because of where he came from," said Budd Gerrits, chairman of the parish finance committee.
"It's mutual," Geiser said. "I've been happy here. There's health challenges I've faced, but they've supported me ... in sickness and in health."
The parish has its roots in the Irish immigrants who carved their farms out of huge stands of timber. The names of those families are scattered on gravestones in the cemetery and they are on the mailboxes up and down the roads for miles around the church.
Today, many of the families in the parish are Irish only by marriage or desire.
"This is one of the finest churches in the county or the state, not only because of our religious heritage but because of the countries we came from," Gerrits said. "We are quite proud of our church."
Throughout the afternoon, children played a variety of games with prizes for everyone.
Grant Rosenbaum tried duck-pin bowling for the first time.
"You probably just have to grip the ball and have the right movement," he said.
"It's the best time in the world," said Carol Baeten of Wrightstown. "I come every year, and I'm not even Irish."
For young adults like Kevin Rotzenberg, growing up in Askeaton and at St. Pat's was a blessing.
"It's a close community here and you know the people," Kevin said.
The raffles at the front of the parking lot were drawing crowds, with a pair of Honda Metropolitan mopeds up for grabs.
Karen Klister and Jackie Brandenburg were the winners.
There also were cash raffles - six chances for $5.
But the best deal of all was enjoying the fellowship and faith.
It didn't cost a dime or a calorie. All you had to do was show up.

Askeaton Wisconsin is to celebrate it's 150th anniversary

Posted March 10, 2006

Ed Byrne column: St. Patrick's Day celebrates faith

photo by Mr. Ed Byrne

For me, the best celebration during Lent is St. Patrick's Day. And it just so happens that St. Patrick's Church in Askeaton has its annual St. Patrick's celebration tonight There will be a big fish dinner in the parish hall (the basement at St. Pat's Church). You don't need an advance-sale ticket to get in. Just make sure your $12 is real, because an Irish eye can spot counterfeit real easily. The Heritage Irish dancers will be back, along with a lady playing Irish songs on a fiddle. Askeaton was founded by a group of immigrants who left their homes in Askeaton, Ireland, around the time of the potato famine. The emigrants from Ireland who eventually founded the community of Askeaton, Wis., included members of the Somers, Brick, O 'Carroll, Keating, Wall and Redden families. They initially settled in New York State and after they had saved sufficient money, moved to the Great Lakes in search of good farm land. They came ashore in Green Bay and purchased land from Hoel Wright, the founder of Wrightstown. The history of Askeaton — Ireland and Wisconsin — can be found by visiting www.askeatonbynet.com.

The site also recounts the tales of other Askeaton folks who died on the way to the new world. A ship carrying a group from Askeaton sank off the Canadian coast and only eight of the 150-plus people survived. This St. Patrick's Day, take a moment to remember the courage of those people who left their homeland with few possessions, a lot of faith and hope for a better life. Lent is all about taking a journey in faith, and the Askeaton Irish are a good example.

Thanks to Pat Brennan for this article

Wrightstown Post-Gazette
Posted Feb. 11, 2005  

Askeaton chefs cook up a tasty Booyah

St. Patrick parish raises funds with chicken stew

By Ed Byrne
Post-Gazette Editor

ASKEATON — Something is brewing up in the high country of Askeaton, in the mist just before sunrise.

This is God’s country, so close to heaven that the angels can hear you whisper.

Out behind St. Patrick’s Church, the white smoke from dried oak wood curls in the morning air and the aroma of St. Pat’s Booyah weaves its way through the woods and up toward County Z.

Jerry Wall has been the master chef of this all-star crew of Booyah chemists for some 20 years or more.

“Dave Wiegert and I used to help Herb Runnoe all the time, and that’s where we learned how to make it,” Wall said.

One of the chef’s helpers, Bill Clancy, has been spreading the rumors that the recipe is divided among four of the cooks, and when one of them goes to his eternal reward, that will be the end of the Booyah.

“Oh no, it will continue,” Wall said.

The crew arrived at 4 a.m. on Super Bowl Sunday, building the fire and filling the big cast-iron kettles with the secret ingredients.

The hose runs down into the kitchen in the church basement, and some folks say one secret ingredient is the artesian water.

The women of the parish did their work on Saturday, dicing and slicing the ingredients.

“We had 142 pounds of chicken, about two pounds of beef, 20 pounds of carrots, 20 pounds of celery and a gallon of onions in each kettle, and five pounds of cabbage in each one, butter, salt and pepper,” Wall said.

Wall has sampled Booyah all over northeast Wisconsin.

“Ours is the best,” he said. “Because it’s made with love, that’s the way we make it.”

“Father Al (Geiser) comes out and blesses it, too,” said one of the cooks.

And how did a German priest end up at an Irish parish?

“We felt sorry for him and adopted him.”

Joe Kalies had to study in order to be a good paddle man, too.

“I watched Lawrence University row their boats on the river there,” Kalies said.

While the cooks won’t divulge the secret ingredients in their Booyah, they will tell you what isn’t in it.

“We don’t use any potatoes,” Wall said.

And what does the finished product taste like?

A hint of heaven.