Our Catholic Heritage, Volume VII

Our Catliolic Heritage in Texas

The middle of November saw Timon in New Orleans, whence he sailed to Galveston on December I, 1840, on board the steam packet Sa-<1anna. He was accompanied by Father Nicholas Stehle, a German-speaking Vincentian, native of Lorraine, who had received Holy Orders at the Barrens and was planning to work among the German immigrants who were coming in ever-increasing numbers from Bremen and Ham- burg to settle on the Colorado and the Brazos. He arrived in Galveston on December 5 and found Texas in the grip of a serious scarcity of money, similar to that encountered by Odin six months earlier in New Orleans. Specie was not to be had, and the paper money of the Republic was rapidly declining in value. Notwithstanding, Galveston had doubled in population since Timon's last visit. He estimated the number of Catholics to be about five hundred. Even the more affluent families, however, were unable to purchase more than the bare essentials of life. Neither the opulent Menards, nor Dr. Labadie had any cash. During his week's stay Timon officially opened the register for Saint Mary's Parish, married Dr. Labadie and his second wife, Agnes Rivera, and baptized six children. His efforts to raise funds for the projected church were rewarded with pledges amounting to eight hundred dollars. Al- though the collection was most uncertain, he arranged for work to start on the. church at once, by pledging his personal credit. 38 Timon and his companion then went on to Houston, where an inci- dent, reminiscent of the bells episode in San Antonio, took place just as they were about to leave. Mayor John H. Walton asked Timon to con- duct the funeral ceremonies of Colonel James Treat, Texan peace envoy to Mexico, who had died at sea on his way back from Vera Cruz. In view of the availability of non-Catholic ministers to conduct the services for Treat, a non-Catholic, Timon declined the request of the Mayor. James Pinkney Henderson, recently returned envoy of Texas from the Court of Louis Philippe, agreed with Timon regarding the impropriety of his conducting the obsequies. 19 Timon and Stehle spent a week in Houston, now shrunk to almost half its former size. There he married Bernard Caraher and Mary Ann O'Rourke and promised the more than five hundr~d Catholics enrolled in Saint Vincent's Parish that the new church would be started im- 11 Tlmon to Blanc, Galveston, December 7, 1840; Timon to Nozo, February 12, 1841, C. A. T.; Saint Mar,y's Parisi, Records, Galveston. 19 Tlmon, Barrens Memoir, 44f, cited by Bayard, op. cit., 146; see also The Telegraph and Texas Register, December 16, 1840.