RE: DO YOU HAVE ANCESTORS THAT WERE IN AN ORPHANAGE IN THE 1800'S or disappeared and you can't find them?? I have been searching for my g-gf JAMES (nmn) LEONARD for a number of years. I have FOUND HIM and WANT TO SHARE how that came about. My g-f, WILLIAM S. LEONARD always told us: (1) he was born in Palestine, Tx., (2) he and one of his sister (2 sisters) were placed in a Catholic orphanage and he did not know why. His older sister was 11 yrs. older and in the process of time, married. When he was about 13 or 14 yrs old Carrie took him out of the orphanage and nothing was ever mentioned about the other sister. On the census she is listed as "Maggie" in Limestone Co., Tx. I racked my brain, asked questions to which no one had answers or suggestions then decided to research on my own for answers......you know how we genealogist are - we're the "sleuths" of the family. In the process, decided, well why not write the Genealogical Society of San Antonio and PRAISE GOD! the following came back: SOME HISTORY: SISTER OF CHARITY OF THE INCARNATE WORD In 1866 yellow fever was raging along the Texas coast and the Most Reverend Claude M. Dubuis of Galveston saw the need of Catholic hospitals to care for the plague-stricken. There was, as yet, no hospital conducted by Sisters in his diocese which then comprised the ENTIRE STATE OF TEXAS. After seeking in vain among the religious communities of this country for Sisters to found a hospital in Galveston, Bishop Dubuis went to France in the hope that he might find zealous missionaries to under take the work of caring for the sick and winning souls for Christ. He met with no better success in the convents there, but at last he found three young women who were willing to devote their lives to missionary work in Texas. At the request of Bishop Dubuis, Mother M. Angelique, Superioress of the Order of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament at Lyons, admitted the volunteers to her Convent and trained them in the practices of the religious life. After a brief postulate, they received the habit now worn by the Sister of Charity of the Incarnate Word of San Antonio and a rule, modified to permit them to engage in the labors of the active life. Two days after the ceremony of investiture the new Sisters embarked for Galveston where they began their work of caring for the sick, in the fall of 1866. Two later groups of four and six members were received at Lyons and followed the pioneers to Galveston. In 1869 Bishop Dubuis sent three members of the Galveston Community to establish a hospital in San Antonio. When the Sisters arrived in the city after a tiresome journey by stage coach, they found that the house prepared for them on Military Plaza had been destroyed by fire. The Ursuline nuns gave them hospitality until their convent was rebuilt. On October 21, 1869, they opened SANTA ROSA INFIRMARY, the SECOND CATHOLIC HOSPITAL IN THE STATE OF TEXAS. The religious chosen to make this first foundation of the San Antonio Community, where Mother M. Madeleine, Mother St. Pierre, and Sister Agnes. Owing to the difficulties of travel between San Antonio and Galveston, Bishop Dubuis declared the new house independent of the Galveston community in 1872. A separate home for the orphans, who were cared for at the Santa Rosa Hospital, became necessary, and St. Joseph's Orphanage was completed in 1874. The same year, at the request of the Most Reverend Anthony Pellicer, Bishop of the newly created diocese of San Antonio, the Sisters opened San Fernando School. They were now engaged in the three works of mercy for which the Congregation was founded; namely, the care of the sick, the orphans, and the education of youth. The Congregation increased in numbers, and by 1892 the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word of San Antonio were conducting four hospitals, one home for the aged, two orphanages, and eighteen schools. In 1900 the present Mother House was completed on the estate of 283 acres purchased three years previously from Colonel George M. Brackenridge. Incarnate Word Academy, which had opened in 1893 on Government Hill, was transferred to the Mother House at this time. A collegiate division was added n 1909, and the name of the institution was changed to the College and Academy of the Incarnate Word. Encouraged by Bishop Forest, Reverend Mother Madeleine applied to the Holy See for Papal approbation. The Decree of Praise was granted in 1905, and five years later, final approbation of the Constitutions were granted by His Holiness Pope Pius X. In 1922 the three provinces of the Congregation, San Antonio, St. Louis, and Mexico, were established. The same year a juniorate was opened in Dunmore, County Galway, Ireland. In virtue of a special indult granted by our later Holy Father Pope Pius XI in 1932, the Sisters enjoy the privilege of perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at the Mother house. The Congregation now numbers nine hundred and fifty-two professed Sisters, fifty novices and twenty-five postulants. It conducts the following institutions in the Archdiocese of San Antonio: Incarnate Word College, nationally recognized. OLD ST. JOHN'S ORPHANAGE I will not attempt to type the whole story on Old St. John's Orphanage, in essence, in 1912 a fire destroyed this haven for homeless boys, a spacious structure on the shaded grounds of old Santa Rosa Hospital. St. John's was designed with wide porches on every floor and a garret that housed the nuns. It was at East Houston and San Saba streets on the grounds of old Santa Rosa Hospital. When St. John's was built in 1891, the institution was the ONLY ROMAN CATHOLIC ORPHANAGE IN SOUTH TEXAS. St. John's was a Gothic Victorian five-story building. At the beginning they had only 30 boys and by the time of the fire, there were 92 boys and nine nuns. The building burned in October 30, 1912, killing five nuns and three orphan boys. Also listed was the fact that there was a "St. Peter's & St. Joseph's Home built in 1913 to replace the burned orphanage. Writing to the San Antonio Genealogical & Historical Society, P O Box 17461, San Antonio, Tx 788217-0641, sent me this, in part, statement: Our San Antonio City Directory, 1887-88 has the following entry on page 319: St. Joseph's School and Orphan Asylum, NE Corner W. Commerce Camaron, under the supervision of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, Mother St. Pierre, Superioress. The SAGHS suggested I contact Bro. Edward Lock, S.M., Archivist, Catholic Archives at San Antonio, P O Box 28410, San Antonio, Tx 78284-4901 We are not certain if g-gf was Catholic, his descendants were Protestant. >From my inquiry came the following information: They listed my g-f's sister as KATIE LEONARD, age 5 yrs, Longview, Arrived Sept. 23 1889 as well as my g-f, William, who they listed as 2 yrs. old, baptized, Mother dead. Father an invalid at Santa Rosa Infirmary more than two years and DIED there. William was taken away to Houston by his sister Carrie McDonald on May 30, 1900. This inquiry helped me tremendously.......therefore, I will not pursue trying to find James' family in Canada. I have absolutely nothing to go on as far as his parents, etc. I would be "beating-the-bushes" forever on that aspect.....so it's enough to know where he and his wife are buried. I sincerely hope that this may help you find someone! Gwen