In a message dated 6/27/03 8:07:11 PM Eastern Daylight Time, ejarguelles@msn.com writes: > In 1840-50, my ancestor Daniel McLAUGHLIN owned a lot in Boston at 798 > Washington Street. He also had a lot on Northampton Steet, "next to the Catholic > Church." > From volume 2 of History of the Archdiocese in Boston: "The third new church was to serve the now greatly enlarged South End, and also the neighboring town of Roxbury, whose indusries employed many Cahtolics. Built on land purchased in 1835 on Northampton Street, in what was then the southernmost part of Boston, St. Patrick's Church was dedicated December 11, 1836. The plain brick building then erected, instead of the Gothic edifice originally planned,is still standing and still in use, ranking next to St. Augustine's Chapel, South Boston, as the oldest example in the Diocese of the Catholic churches in the early days. It's first paster, Fr. Thomas Lynch was to remain in charge until his death in 1870. There are few more attractive figures among priests of the olden times. A tall and strikingly handsome young man from the County Cavan , [Ireland ]and Maynooth College, [county Dublin], he had volunteered for the American missions, finished his studies in Bishop Fenwick's house seminary, and been ordained in 1833. He was a fine classical and Gaelic scholar, an excellent preacher, a model of devotion to all pastoral duties, but his grand passion was the poor. A lifetime of boundless charity towards them, exemplified particularly at the time when the Great Famine drove thousands of his fellow countryment to Boston in dire distress, was to win for him the name held in benediction." This volume was written in 1944, 60 years ago. I suspect, sadly, the that original St. Patrick's church is no longer standing. Perhaps a current resident of that area could confirm that. Janice Boston, Ma