AboutUs - Saint Joseph Website

St Joseph Roman Catholic Church
109 Broadway Milton, PA. 17847

The History Of St Joseph Chuch Milton
Highway of the Indians	Indian chief, Shikellamy
Montour county	Religious Difficulties
The First Catholic Settlers	Church in Turbut Township
The Walnut Street Church	The Broadway Church
*Highway of the Indians* The Susquehanna River was the highway of the Indians. It was also the highway of Catholic missionaries. We know that St. Isaac Joques, the Jesuit martyr, traveled the Susquehanna from its source to the "Great Fort" of the Susquehannock Indians in 1642 (probably located at Sunbury, Pa). In his Journal he tells us that he baptized sixty children at the "Great Fort."
Back to top
*Indian chief, Shikellamy* It is a historical fact that Shikellamy, the famous Indian Chief, was a Catholic instructed and baptized by the Jesuits in Canada. He was a Susquehannock and appointed viceroy of the Six Nations in 1728. It is said that he wore a medal about his neck at all times, which those not of his faith referred to as an "idol." He died at Sunbury in 1748.
Back to top
*Montour county* Madam Margaret Montour, after whom Montour County and Montoursville in Lycoming County were named, was a French Catholic who married Roland Montour, a Seneca brave, and lived along the Susquehanna as early as 1727. Her loyalty to her Faith and to the French, both of which were synonomous terms at this period, caused no little irritation and fear to the English government. The Jesuits had come to Canada in 1625 and to Maryland in 1634 and they were the first priests along the Susquehanna River before history was recorded.
Back to top
*Religious Difficulties* Catholicity in the Susquehanna Valley has a long and honorable history, although local chronicles are curiously silent on this point. This is partly due to the disfavor in which the Church was held in Colonial days and partly because the times were not given to recording history. The disfavor needs to be mentioned not to needlessly open a page of history of which every decent individual deserving of citizenship is ashamed, but because you cannot understand the silence of history nor the struggle of the early Catholic settlers unless you know the bigotry, the religious and political persecutions and the economic hardships to which they were subjected. America had been discovered before the advent of Protestantism. Its first explorers and the first colonists were Catholics. But, prior to the Revolutionary War, they were oppressed in all the colonies with unjust penal laws. It was not uncommon to exclude Catholics from voting and from every office in government. They were compelled by laws to have their children baptized by Protestant clergy to legalize their birth. In some of the colonies it was death for a priest to come into the colony and fines up to $1000.00 were imposed upon the Catholic who harbored a priest. In Pennsylvania, at the session of the Provincial Council, May 25, 1834, Governor Patrick Gordon informed that body that he was under no small concern to hear that a house lately built on Walnut Street in the city of (Philadelphia) had been set apart for the exercise of Roman Catholic religion, commonly called the "Romish Chapel", where several persons resorted on Sundays to hear mass openly celebrated by a Popish priest. He feared the public exercise of that religion to be contrary to the laws of England.
Back to top
*The First Catholic Settlers* Nothumberland County came into existance as the result of its purchase from the Indians in 1768 and the rapid influx of settlers into the region about the confluence of the North and West branches of the Susquehanna. The Act erecting the County was passed March 21, 1772. Turbut Township was erected April 9, 1772. Chillisquaque Township was formed , in part, from Turbut in May 1786. Milton was founded in 1792. Catholic names appear in the first list of Turbut Township taxables in 1775.
Back to top
*Church in Turbut Township* The first recorded history of St. Joseph Church is a deed dated May 13, 1805, in which John and Margaret Keffer transferred to the Reverand Francis Neale of the Jesuit Mission at Georgetown on the Potomac in the state of Maryland, for the sum of one dollar, a plot of ground comprising about two acres in Turbut Township. This land is the site of the present parish cemetery.
Back to top
*The Walnut Street Church* The first settlement of Milton dates back to 1770, when Marcus Hulings built a cabin on the east shore of the island. Two years later he erected a larger house near Lincoln Park. In 1792 Andrew Straub laid out the original town plot which extended from Ferry Lane to Broadway and east to the railroad tracks (then Second Street). The Post Office was established in 1800; the first bank was organized in 1814 and the first newspaper, the Miltonian, in 1816. Trade and industry began to attract more settlers to the town of Milton and it was incorporated into a borough February 26, 1817. Among these settlers were some Catholic families and in 1844 when a larger church was sorely needed, it was decided to build the church in the town of Milton. Father Hugh Fitzsimmons, the resident pastor, purchased a site on the corner of Walnut Street and Second Street (now the right of way Pennsylvania Railroad) September 17, 1844, from Moses Chamberlain for $200.00 He must have begun the erection of the church immediately for the Catholic Herald of December 12, 1844 reads: "The Catholic congregation of Milton, Northumberland County, Pa., have nearly completed a new church in a more convenient situation than the old one, which was not only in want of repairs, but at a considerable distance from Milton. The church is over 60x40 feet, and now in debt which it is hoped will soon be liquidated by zealous cooperation of the congregation with their pastor, Rev. Fitzsimmons, who is desirous to finish the church in a manner becoming the reception of an altar, on which the Holy Sacrifice is to be offered." This was a plain two story brick structure and cost about $1,200.00 Father Fitzsimmons remained only long enough to finish the church and was replaced by Rev. John C. Flannigan. Father Flannigan was ordained March 9, 1845, and came to Milton the Sunday after Easter. The new church was most likely dedicated by Bishop Kendrick Sunday, August 31, 1845. In his diary he wrote that he came from Bellefonte to Milton: "August the thirty first day 1845. A journey of sixty miles by way of carriage brought me to Milton, where a new church has been built during the past year. The Rev. John Flannigan has charge here." The Walnut Street Catholic Church Shortly after the Catholic Church was built on Walnut Street, Rev. John C. Flannigan succeeded Father Fitzsimmons as pastor. In 1847 he was transferred to Homesburg. His poor health finally forced him to take a trip to Europe, where he died at the home of his brother, who was pastor at Coloraine, County Derry Ireland. Rev. P. J. Henegan succeeded Father Flannigan. He remained only about a year and was the last resident pastor until 1853. So much territory had been taken off the Milton parish at different times that it was thought better to appoint a pastor to Danville, which was growing rapidly, and have a priest to care for Milton from Danville for the time being. Rev. Joseph O’Keefe was appointed the first resident pastor of Danville. He had been a professor in the Dominican College in Dublin, and Father Confessor for a time of the great Daniel O’Connell, whose eloquence in behalf of the suffering people of Ireland brought him multitudes of admirers in this country. During the famine of 1847, Father Sheridan administered to the needs of his countryman, and when help came from this and other countries, he bade adieu to his homeland and came to America, where he was placed in charge of the district comprising Montour, Columbia and Northumberland counties, where his energy, hard work and kindly manner soon endeared him to every member in his parish. Once, in winter, when called on to administer the last sacrament to a dying woman thirty miles away, he rode through a storm, was nearly frozen and almost drowned in crossing the river near Muncy dam, but finally reached the home, administered the last sacraments, then fell utterly exhausted, with his clothes frozen to his body. In 1857 Father Sheridan was appointed to the Ashland mission. During the Molly Maguire trouble his word was respected far more than the law. Milton was again made a separate parish, and Father Basil A. Shorb was pastor for about a year, when Father George Gostenschnigg, a native of Austria was assigned to St. Joseph’s. The next year he erected a parochial residence in the rear of the church and bought new pews and an organ for the church. The mission of Trevorton was attached to Milton under him, and by1859 he had built a fine white sandstone church there. He moved to the house on the “church farm” at Chillisquaque, as it was more central. This farm had been the gift of Jacob Spring in 1836. Father Gostenschnigg was a huge frame and great strength, and many tales were told of his prowess. He died on May 2, 1860, after a short illness at his residence in Chillisquaque, and was buried beside the church in Milton. It was intended that his remains be moved to a vault under the altar, but this was never done. Later, in 2000, Father Thomas A. Scala, pastor of Saint Joseph since 1994, moved the remains of Father Gostenschnigg to the parish cemetery in Turbot Township because the site of Father Gostenschnigg's burial stone had come into disrepair and local children were frequently playing on the grave. Credits: William Murdock; Bits of Area History newspaper article found in archives.
Back to top
*The Broadway Church* Friday, May 14, 1880, is a never to be forgotten day in the history of Milton when it was a scene of one of the most disastrous fires that ever involved a town of its size and population. The fire originated in the Milton Car Works about noon and by one o'clock the Church and the Rectory were in ashes and by three o'clock one hundred and twenty-five acres had been burned over, involving sixty five buildings. "The scenes and incidents witnessed on the day of this great conflagration will never be forgotten. The building of their homes, the destruction of their Church and the utter desolation of all about them cause even the srong and the sturdy men of the parish to weep bitter tears. A temporary chapel was erected on Walnut Street on a piece of ground that had been acquired after the fire and the faithful worshipped here almost three years. In 1881 building began on the present rectory. The property where the Church is today, on Broadway, was purchased for $1,300.00. The cost of the Church was approximately $10,000.00.
Back to top

Get Directions to our church

Credits: William Murdock; Bits of Area History newspaper article found in archives.