Those Places Thursday: Schuylkill County, PA

Years ago I had written the Historical Society of Schuylkill County concerning local Roman Catholic churches that my ancestors might have attended. My Walsh/Welsh family had come from Ireland to the coal mines of Shenandoah. My Keating ancestors had come from Ireland to Ringtown. The Society was nice enough to include a list of Catholic churches in northern Schuylkill County and the year they were first organized. The list contains 45 parishes started between 1827 and 1909.

They are as follows:

1. 1827 – St. Patrick in Pottsville

2. 1833 – St. Jerome in Tamaqua

3. 1841 – St. John the Baptist in Pottsville

4. 1842 – St. Vincent de Paul in Minersville

5. 1846 – St. Bartholomew in Brokton

6. 1847 – St. Stephen in Port Carbon

7. 1851 – St. Ambrose in Schuylkill Haven

8. 1853 – St. Boniface in Saint Clair

9. 1853 – Immaculate Conception in Tremont

10. 1855 – Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Minersville

11. 1856 – St. Mauritius in Ashland

12. 1856 – St. Joseph in Ashland

13. 1858 – St. Kieran in Heckscherville

14. 1862 – St. Canicus in Mahanoy City

15. 1863 – St. Fidelis in Mahanoy City

16. 1864 – St. Mary in Saint Clair

17. 1866 – Holy Family in New Philadelphia

18. 1869 – St. Patrick in McAdoo

19. 1870 – Annunciation in Shenandoah

20. 1870 – St. Joseph in Girardville

21. 1872 – St. Casmir in Shenandoah

22. 1872 – Holy Rosary in Mahanoy Plane

23. 1879 – St. Mary Magdalen in Lost Creek

24. 1886 – St. Mary Star of the Sea in Branchdale

25. 1888 – St. Joseph in Mahanoy City

26. 1891 – St. George in Shenandoah

27. 1892 – Assumption B.V.M. in Mahanoy City

28. 1893 – St. Cunegunda in McAdoo

29. 1893 – St. Mary in McAdoo

30. 1893 – St. Casmir in Mahanoy City

31. 1895 – St. Francis of Assisi in Minersville

32. 1895 – Sacred Heart in New Philadelphia

33. 1896 – Sacred Heart in Newton

34. 1896 – SS Peter and Paul in Tower City

35. 1898 – St. Stanislaus in Shenandoah

36. 1899 – St. Stephen in Shenandoah

37. 1900 – St. Stephen in McAdoo

38. 1905 – St. Stanislaus Kostka in Minersville

39. 1905 – St. Joseph in Pottsville

40. 1905 – Immaculate Conception in Saint Clair

41. 1907 – St. Anthony in Cumbola

42. 1907 – St. Vincent de Paul in Girardville

43. 1907 – Sacred Heart in Mahanoy City

44. 1907 – Our Lady of Siluva in Maizeville

45. 1909 – St. Joseph in Frackville

The researcher, a Howard T. Crown, had written me in 1993 that the information the Society has on Catholics was indeed sparse.

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