|
|
|
|
|
  |
Rev. P. H. McNamara
Born February 27, 1874 |
|||
| Rev. P. H. McNamara, who is ministering to the spiritual needs of the Catholic parish at Oxford, was born in County Clare, Ireland, February 27, 1874, a son of Andrew and Ann (Hayes) McNamara, who have spent their entire lives on the Emerald Isle, where they still maintain their home. Their family numbered nine children, seven of whom have reached years of maturity, namely: Rev. Andrew McNamara, of County Tipperary, Ireland; Father P. H. McNamara, of this review; James and Michael, who are upon the home farm in Ireland; Sister Mechtildes, a Sister of Mercy at Kilrush, Ireland; Theresa, at home with her parents; and Elizabeth, who died in Ireland at the age of twenty-one years. Two cousins of Father McNamara are residing at Oxford Junction: Miss Nell Lalor who is a teacher of music, and Miss Agnes Lalor, who is clerk in the creamery office at Oxford, the former having been in America for two years and the latter for five years.
Father McNamara, of this review, was reared in his native county and for four years was a student in the diocese college. He afterward entered All Hallows College, a foreign mission school at Dublin, Ireland, there completing a course in June, 1898. In September of the same year he came to the United States, settling at Dubuque, Iowa, where he was appointed chaplain of the Sisters of Mercy. After four months he was sent by the archbishop to Charles City, Iowa, where he labored as assistant priest for eight months, when he was transferred to South Sheldon, Iowa, and had charge of the parish there for eight months' during the absence of the regular priest in Europe. He was also for three months at Ryan, Iowa, and in November, 1900, came to Oxford Junction. There are also two missions in connection with this parish—at Baldwin and at Hughes settlement. The Baldwin church was destroyed by fire in June, 1909, and is now being rebuilt. Father McNamara has done excellent work in behalf of the church during the nine years of his residence here, carefully ministering to the spiritual needs of his congregation and at the same time proving of assistance to them in material things by his kindly advice and counsel.
Source: History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 101. |
||||
© Copyright 1997-2013, The Art Department, © Copyright 2014-2020, Richard Harrison.
| ||||