August 7 (p.m.) and August 8 - Keenewaw Peninsula, MI
AUGUST 7 - EVENING
After my post of yesterday, and since it stays light so late here this time of year, I decided to visit the Church of the Resurrection in Hancock to see if there were any visible traces of the gravesites of Kate Hoppenyan (who was MH's aunt if I am keeping this all straight in my head) and the graves of Maytor, Nellie and Belinda Healy, the first two being my great-great-great grandparents (thus MH's grandparents and his aunt who died in her twenties).
Had I paid closer attention to my own research I would have realized that the Diocese of Marquette made a poor decision in the early 1970s when it needed to consolidate parishes due to dwindling parishoners (I'm okay with that)... but they decided to eradicate the old St. Joseph's cemetery to build a new church, the Church of the Resurrection, on top of it! What relatives they could find were contacted so that they could move the remains if they so desired. The rest were left; their tombstones and plaques removed and buried in a trench at the present day site. The new church does not have a basement (gee, guess why!). There is, however, a plaque commemorating those who are buried there as well as a what appears to be a tombstone marker for the original parish priest who most likely was the parish priest of the Hoppenyans and Healys. I will post his name and a related pictures after I return home and have had a chance to develop the pics.
The new priest of the parish, who has only been there a month, was kind enough to show me around a bit after I rang the doorbell to the parish office/rectory. Actually, he initially just let me roam alone, but I guess curiosity got the best of him and he joined me a few minutes later. He had no clue as to who was buried there (in that he did not know of any individual's history although the church has a written record) so he was quite interested in the information that I was able to provide him. Keeping with the fine tradition of Catholic immigrants to the area, he is from INDIA!
I joked that "God didn't call you to the priesthood, he kidnapped you!" I'm not sure he understood me, but he was quite a pleasant fellow.
I spent the evening hours talking to some locals at the Downtowner Lounge which has a nice deck overlooking the drawbridge and canal.
AUGUST 8 - DAY
After a big sleep in and lunch, I went to the Quincy mine that overlooks the canal and Houghton and is located at the top of the hill in Hancock. This is the mine in which Maytor Healy worked. The census of 1870 and 1880 has him listed as working in the mine at the ages of 53 and 63 respectively. In 1880 his son, Maytor Jr., had joined him (he was 16 at the time of the census). From the tour guide, I learned that Maytor Jr. would have likely begun his lovely career in the mine at age 11 or 12. He would have been given a position working with transportation of copper ore within the mine because he was a miner's son, and he would have earned $1.00 a day for a ten hour shift. His father, as a miner, earned $2.00 per day. Additionally, depending on which level of the mine in which they worked, travel time could take an hour each way as the access to the levels in the early decades of the mine was by ladder. Additionally, lighting was minimal. When Maytor Healy, Sr. first started his "career" in the mine, he most likely worked with two other men with a single candle to guide them as they prepared the wall for blasting by drilling holes into it. By "drilling" I mean one guy held a big metal rod and the other two whacked at it with a sledgehammer. I was able to experience what it was like when the candle went out - TOTAL DARKNESS. Sr. and Jr. may have been fortunate enough to work when various lamps and power tools were introduced in later years, but at first in was all single candle power.
Being in that mine really caused the concept of what my direct ancestor had to ordeal in order to survive and raise a family to hit home. I cannot truly imagine what it would have been like to make the trip from Ireland (or Germany for that matter) to Canada and then to the U.P. to work in those dark wet, and likely hot (the lower levels reached temperatures of 90 degrees at about 1 and 1/4 mile down at level 90; at level 7 where the tour goes, it is a cool 43 degrees). God Bless him, and may his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.
I then ventured off to Copper harbor. I really had no clue that so many mines existed (and some, it appears, still do in an active fashion) in the U.P. Along the way I stopped in Calumet when I spied what turned out to be the spires of St. Paul the Apostle Church, originally St. Joseph's, church. Like in Hancock, the diocese was forced to close parishes as the population dwindled with the closing of the mines. I saw two other closed Catholic churches less than 1/4 to 3/4 of a mile away (depending one which one you drove to - I am guestimating the distance, but they were very close). In an act of stupidity and in the name of "a fresh unifying new start" the diocese renamed St. Joseph's in 1966 when it shut down the other churches. Brilliant move... the name "St. Joseph's" is engraved in big letters in stone over the main entrance.
Be that as it may, the church, especially the stained glass windows, are gorgeous. I will post pictures when I get home.
Copper Harbor is a small but beautiful little place. I had "lunch" at 4:00 p.m. at a German gausthaus called the Harbor Haus that was very German and un-German at the same time. Although the decorations and the outfits of the waitressess (I think I had the only one who was actually from Germany) are very German, the food is not. Only three items were authentic (I had the veiner schnitzel, and it was quite good); the rest of the items looked like they belonged on a California cusine menu. Part of me wishes that I had been an hour later as they were having prime rib... BISON prime rib. Ah, well, how authentic would that have been? At least I was able to have a Warsteiner (they had one German beer on tap - Spaten, which I prefer but was informed about after I had the Warsteiner). The history of the building is interesting, and I wish it was posted on their website. From what I remember from the luncheon placemat (they have linen for dinner) the building was the original U.S. government building from 1848 or so.
On the way back, I stopped in Phoenix, MI which was the home to yet another mine. About all that is left in the main town center are the ruins of the school building (and one or two others) and the original Catholic Church - the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary which, in keeping with the tradition of the area, was originally St. Mary's. My pictures will be posted in due course.
I also went to the bathroom at an Amoco station...Thankfully, no pictures were taken nor will be posted.
After my post of yesterday, and since it stays light so late here this time of year, I decided to visit the Church of the Resurrection in Hancock to see if there were any visible traces of the gravesites of Kate Hoppenyan (who was MH's aunt if I am keeping this all straight in my head) and the graves of Maytor, Nellie and Belinda Healy, the first two being my great-great-great grandparents (thus MH's grandparents and his aunt who died in her twenties).
Had I paid closer attention to my own research I would have realized that the Diocese of Marquette made a poor decision in the early 1970s when it needed to consolidate parishes due to dwindling parishoners (I'm okay with that)... but they decided to eradicate the old St. Joseph's cemetery to build a new church, the Church of the Resurrection, on top of it! What relatives they could find were contacted so that they could move the remains if they so desired. The rest were left; their tombstones and plaques removed and buried in a trench at the present day site. The new church does not have a basement (gee, guess why!). There is, however, a plaque commemorating those who are buried there as well as a what appears to be a tombstone marker for the original parish priest who most likely was the parish priest of the Hoppenyans and Healys. I will post his name and a related pictures after I return home and have had a chance to develop the pics.
The new priest of the parish, who has only been there a month, was kind enough to show me around a bit after I rang the doorbell to the parish office/rectory. Actually, he initially just let me roam alone, but I guess curiosity got the best of him and he joined me a few minutes later. He had no clue as to who was buried there (in that he did not know of any individual's history although the church has a written record) so he was quite interested in the information that I was able to provide him. Keeping with the fine tradition of Catholic immigrants to the area, he is from INDIA!
I joked that "God didn't call you to the priesthood, he kidnapped you!" I'm not sure he understood me, but he was quite a pleasant fellow.
I spent the evening hours talking to some locals at the Downtowner Lounge which has a nice deck overlooking the drawbridge and canal.
AUGUST 8 - DAY
After a big sleep in and lunch, I went to the Quincy mine that overlooks the canal and Houghton and is located at the top of the hill in Hancock. This is the mine in which Maytor Healy worked. The census of 1870 and 1880 has him listed as working in the mine at the ages of 53 and 63 respectively. In 1880 his son, Maytor Jr., had joined him (he was 16 at the time of the census). From the tour guide, I learned that Maytor Jr. would have likely begun his lovely career in the mine at age 11 or 12. He would have been given a position working with transportation of copper ore within the mine because he was a miner's son, and he would have earned $1.00 a day for a ten hour shift. His father, as a miner, earned $2.00 per day. Additionally, depending on which level of the mine in which they worked, travel time could take an hour each way as the access to the levels in the early decades of the mine was by ladder. Additionally, lighting was minimal. When Maytor Healy, Sr. first started his "career" in the mine, he most likely worked with two other men with a single candle to guide them as they prepared the wall for blasting by drilling holes into it. By "drilling" I mean one guy held a big metal rod and the other two whacked at it with a sledgehammer. I was able to experience what it was like when the candle went out - TOTAL DARKNESS. Sr. and Jr. may have been fortunate enough to work when various lamps and power tools were introduced in later years, but at first in was all single candle power.
Being in that mine really caused the concept of what my direct ancestor had to ordeal in order to survive and raise a family to hit home. I cannot truly imagine what it would have been like to make the trip from Ireland (or Germany for that matter) to Canada and then to the U.P. to work in those dark wet, and likely hot (the lower levels reached temperatures of 90 degrees at about 1 and 1/4 mile down at level 90; at level 7 where the tour goes, it is a cool 43 degrees). God Bless him, and may his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.
I then ventured off to Copper harbor. I really had no clue that so many mines existed (and some, it appears, still do in an active fashion) in the U.P. Along the way I stopped in Calumet when I spied what turned out to be the spires of St. Paul the Apostle Church, originally St. Joseph's, church. Like in Hancock, the diocese was forced to close parishes as the population dwindled with the closing of the mines. I saw two other closed Catholic churches less than 1/4 to 3/4 of a mile away (depending one which one you drove to - I am guestimating the distance, but they were very close). In an act of stupidity and in the name of "a fresh unifying new start" the diocese renamed St. Joseph's in 1966 when it shut down the other churches. Brilliant move... the name "St. Joseph's" is engraved in big letters in stone over the main entrance.
Be that as it may, the church, especially the stained glass windows, are gorgeous. I will post pictures when I get home.
Copper Harbor is a small but beautiful little place. I had "lunch" at 4:00 p.m. at a German gausthaus called the Harbor Haus that was very German and un-German at the same time. Although the decorations and the outfits of the waitressess (I think I had the only one who was actually from Germany) are very German, the food is not. Only three items were authentic (I had the veiner schnitzel, and it was quite good); the rest of the items looked like they belonged on a California cusine menu. Part of me wishes that I had been an hour later as they were having prime rib... BISON prime rib. Ah, well, how authentic would that have been? At least I was able to have a Warsteiner (they had one German beer on tap - Spaten, which I prefer but was informed about after I had the Warsteiner). The history of the building is interesting, and I wish it was posted on their website. From what I remember from the luncheon placemat (they have linen for dinner) the building was the original U.S. government building from 1848 or so.
On the way back, I stopped in Phoenix, MI which was the home to yet another mine. About all that is left in the main town center are the ruins of the school building (and one or two others) and the original Catholic Church - the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary which, in keeping with the tradition of the area, was originally St. Mary's. My pictures will be posted in due course.
I also went to the bathroom at an Amoco station...Thankfully, no pictures were taken nor will be posted.
posted by Matthew J. McKinley | 3:49 PM
2 Comments:
Hello Matthew,
Tim and I are heading to Hancock in a week or two from Maryland.
We are somewhat related since we are Healys from Wyoming. Tim's great great grandfather was Patrick Healy, son of Maytor Healy who immigrated to Hancock. Patrick made his way out of Michigan during the Civil War and headed West to work on the railroad. He started work on the westbound rail but discovered that the railroad was paying more on the East bound section so he walked to Nevada to catch the workers there. He was supposedly there at Promontory Point when the two tracks were united. He ended up running sheep into Wyoming with his wife's brother and that is why Tim is from Wyoming. That is a pretty short description.
I am interested in knowing Maytor's route from Ireland and did he have a job in Michigan before he left Ireland? Very happy to have seen your blog but much time has passed - hope this finds you well,
Susan Healy/ Maryland
Hi Matthew,
What a pleasant surprise to find your post and information concerning Maytor James Healy 1821-1894. My husband is a direct decendent through his son Maytor Healy (1864-1939) then his daughter Kathryn Claire Healy (Ogden Utah) .
Through research I believe Maytor James Healy immigrated with is brother from Ireland. I believe his brother had a daughter who was raised in a convent in Quebec Canada for a while then joined her cousin in Leadville Colorado. I've been trying to figure out how she ended up in Canada and now you have solved that puzzle - the two brothers stopped in Canada before coming to New York.
I will be searching your posts for answers. I've loved hearing your experiences at the cemetery and the mines.
If you have time to expound on your knowledge of their stop in Canada or who Maytor's brother may be I'd appreciate it.
Best wishes to you!
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