My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in The Portrait and Biographical Record of Randolph, Jackson, Perry and Monroe Counties, Illinois published by Biographical Publishing Co. in 1894.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

* * * *

REV. HENRY GOOSENS, rector of the church at Kaskaskia, was born in the village of Oeding, in Westphalia, a province of Prussia, February 5, 1856. He is a son of Charles and Gesina (Krosenbrink) Goosens, natives of Prussia and Holland respectively. The parents are still residing in the Old Country, where, in his native village, our subject’s elementary education was secured during the time between his sixth and fourteenth years. After working on the farm for the succeeding six years, he arrived at the age when it was necessary to serve the customary two years in the Prussian army. Most of his term of service was spent at Aix-la-Chapelle, in the Rhenish Provinces, in sight of the spires of the old cathedral that had been standing for a thousand years.

Immediately on his return from the army, our subject began his studies for the priesthood. It was about this time that the Jesuits were expelled from Germany, and as all the schools for the propagation of the faith had been closed, his studies were pursued under the tutelage of Father Thoene, an expelled priest, who had taken up his residence in Holland, just across the line, not very far from the home of our subject, who walked over every day for his instruction and returned home at night. By having a private tutor he made much more rapid progress than he would have done in a school, and in two years was master of the Latin language, and also became proficient in mathematics and general classics.

At the expiration of the two years’ tutelage, our subject bade farewell to the Fatherland, and in the spring of 1882 embarked at Amsterdam on a vessel of the same name, landing at New York in the month of May. Immediately on arriving in the States, he proceeded to Teutopolis, in Effingham County, Ill., where he entered in the fourth class of St. Joseph’s College, conducted by the Franciscan Fathers. The fall following he was admitted to the fifth class, graduating in 1884 in the sixth class, and was received by Bishop Baltes, of Alton, as a candidate for clerical studies. Under the Bishop’s patronage he was sent to the Benedictine Abbey, at St. Meinrad, Spencer County, Ind., to be instructed in philosophy and theology. After a four years’ course (one in philosophy and three in theology), our candidate for priestly offices was ordained at Belleville, Ill., under Bishop Janssen, May 28, 1888.

Within a week of his ordination, Father Goosens was assigned to the charge of the congregation of St. Wendel (Wakefield P. O.), in Clay County, Ill. Here he remained over five years, or until the fall of 1893, when he was transferred to Kaskaskia with a view to locating the church. The building had to be moved, owing to the encroachment of the river, which is washing away the old town. There was a dissension between the members of the Town Board and the church authorities. The two factions could not agree as to the location of the church and the town. Father Goosens having been successful in bringing together a divided congregation at St. Wendel, was considered by the Bishop the proper one to bring unity out of discord in this the oldest congregation in the west. After many hindrances and much earnest labor, the matter was finally adjusted by compromising, the town site selected being at the crossing of the Grand Line and the Big Lane, almost equidistant between the old town and the rival village. The adjustment of these difficulties is a credit to the ability and earnestness of the Father in charge.

The congregation over which Father Goosens now presides is the oldest in the Mississippi Valley. The Church of the Immaculate Conception was founded by Pierre Marquette in 1665, on the banks of the Illinois, at the Indian village of Kaskaskia, near the present town of Utica, in La Salle County. The Kaskaskia Indians, then inhabitants of that county, on being driven out by their fierce foes, the Iroquois, descended the Illinois and the Mississippi to the mouth of the little river that bears their name, near which they established their village on the banks of the stream. Whether this was at the site of the present town or elsewhere is a matter of dispute.

From the journals written during the years of 1693-94 by Father James Gravier, the third in succession from Marquette, we learn that the mission was then on the banks of the Illinois. Letters written in 1699 and 1700 show that no removal had yet taken place. It is probable that the autumn of the latter year witnessed the exodus of the tribes of the Illinois and the establishment of the mission in the south. Here a building of logs was erected, which must have been at least the second in the history of the church, and the first in its new location. In 1720 this primitive chapel was replaced by one of stone, erected at the expense of the King of France, and the church passed from the rank of a mission, with Pierre Nicholas Ignatius do Branhois the first regular pastor. Twenty-one years later the King sent to this church in the wilderness the famous bell, the first to peal its music in the great valley of the west. After receiving due homage at the late World’s Fair, this pioneer of Christianity, with its royal lilies and quaint inscription, was returned to its early habitation. What stories it could tell!

Whether this stone building was outgrown by its congregation, or fell into decay, is not known, but in 1801 it was replaced by a wooden structure built of logs on end, as were many of the old French houses. Most of the timber of this third church was cedar, while some walnut and sassafras was used. There were no nails used in its construction, the shingles being fastened on with large wooden pegs. This building becoming dilapidated, it was decided to erect a new one of brick, the corner stone of which was laid by Bishop Rosati, of St. Louis, and four years later, under Father St. Cyr, the erection of the church was begun, and was finished after Father Metzger took charge.

Much of the old town having been swept into the river where the Mississippi cut through the narrow peninsula between the banks of the Kaskaskia and its own, it became evident that in a few years at farthest all would be swept away, and the state appropriated money for the removal of the remains in the old cemetery to a tract of ground on the hills near Ft. Gage, which was accomplished in 1892. As the old church was in the line of encroachment, it too must be removed. With this end in view, its walls were wrecked in the fall of 1893 by Father Goosens, the priest now in charge, the material removed to the new site, which through the mediation of the pastor was selected some three miles from the present town. Here is being erected a church of Gothic style, and nearer the center of the population of the “Island” as ‘Kaskia Point is now called.

A very neat model of the new edifice has been constructed by Father Goosens, who in many ways makes use of his ingenuity to employ his leisure time, idleness being a thing he cannot endure. In the new church when completed will repose, let us hope for all time to come, the ancient records of the early church, the bell and chalice still in use, the royal gifts from France, a handsome altar of beautifully carved wood, and many relics venerated by the church, some of which, whose records have been lost, can never more be exposed to public view. There are old paintings, too, whose origin and age are unknown, which are not the least interesting of the many historical relics of this ancient church.

* * * *

This family biography is one of 679 biographies included in The Portrait and Biographical Record of Randolph, Jackson, Perry and Monroe Counties, Illinois published in 1894.  View the complete description here: The Portrait and Biographical Record of Randolph, Jackson, Perry and Monroe Counties, Illinois

View additional Randolph County, Illinois family biographies here: Randolph County, Illinois Biographies

Use the links at the top right of this page to search or browse thousands of other family biographies.