Where would the Catholic community in Bunker Hill have gone to Church, been baptized, in the 1850's? Debbi Geer <[email protected]> wrote: Deone Forgot to tell you something you might be interested in. My dad's father was raised in Alton. He was one of 12 children born to John and Rosa Boschert Girth. The Boschert's were associated with St. Mary's Church and of course burials in St. Joseph's Cemetery. You may recognize the Boschert and/or Girth family. My grandparents lived in several places in Alton before they moved to Bunker Hill in 1936. My dad and his twin were born in 1922 on Washington Avenue just a few blocks up from Broadway. His youngest sister was born in 1934 on Virginia Avenue which is a one block street next to St. Anthony's Hospital over by St. Joseph's Cemetery. His middle sister was born on Delmar. I'd have to get her birth certificate out but I believe the address was in the 200 block. Don't know if it was west or east. She was born in 1930. So you may have made contact with them while visiting. Debbi __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE Valentine eCards with Yahoo! Greetings! http://greetings.yahoo.com ==== ILMADISO Mailing List ==== Cyndi's List of Genealogy Links-Lots of helpful links for your research. http://www.cyndislist.com/ Tom Hanley, Prof. of Geology Department of Chemistry and Geology, C.S.U. 4225 University Ave., Columbus, GA 31907-5645 VOX: (706) 568-2075; FAX: (706) 569-3133 See our Departmental home page http://chemgeo.colstate.edu/ Links to the ACRES projects and to Panama photos may be found at: http://chemgeo.ColState.edu/th_hp.htm --------------------------------- Do You Yahoo!? Got something to say? Say it better with Yahoo! Video Mail

A friend of our family did some research for the Bunker Hill History Book a few years before she passed away. The following is based on an article which Frances Sanford Stadelman wrote about the history of St Mary's in Bunker Hill: Sunday services without a priest at the Carroll settlement about seven miles south of Bunker Hill (this would be around the Prairietown Road area - then referred to as Ridgely) first Catholic Church to serve the present territory of the Bunker Hill parish - built 1854 on Prairietown Road (which intersects with IL 159) which included a cemetery; only tombstone fragments can be found if you're lucky today services held in Bunker Hill by priests from Alton; church built in Bunker Hill 1865 and also had school which provided education for years until families moved away lowering the parish family count and children attending Bunker Hill parish also had charge of missions at Shipman and Gillespie until they were formally made into parishes; Wilsonville parish founded as a mission of Bunker Hill and still remains as such; Shipman even though a parish is under the pastoral of Bunker Hill parish today due to a lack of priests; Bethalto was once a mission under Bunker Hill but at some point was placed under Wood River St. Bernard's parish before it was named a parish 1938 tornado - destroy church steeple 1948 tornado - Sunday morning 6:45 a.m. March 19 - destroyed church which had just went through a year of improvements including a new roof, new organ and redecorating of church which stood for 83 years serving the families in and around Bunker Hill first 4 Sundays after 1948 tornado - Mass in schoolhouse next 6 months - in First National Bank building Fall 1948 - parish bought Moses True home (on Franklin Street facing Orange Street in Bunker Hill) - used as church, hall and rectory (later was rectory until a new rectory was built next to the church on Putnam in 1960's) May 1949 - new church construction began October 9, 1949 - cornerstone laid December 25, 1949 - 5:00 a.m. first Mass said in new church Pastors of St. Mary's Church - 1879-1914 Rev. F. H. Zabel 1914-1919 Rev. D. J. Higgins 1919-1932 Rev. C. T. Stolze 1932-1937 Rev. George H. Powell 1937-1938 Rev. K. P. Diggins 1938-1945 Rev. Maurice Gavin 1945-1947 Rev. John A. Colavecchio 1947-1959 Rev. Thomas J. Davenport 1959-1989 Rev. Casimir Gierut 1989-Present Rev. Robert Porter My comments: For those reading this, I'm not sure if the records for Shipman, Gillespie and Bethalto were forwarded to the respective parish or not after the years as missions to Bunker Hill. I would suggest that anyone who had family associated with the churches in these towns check with Bunker Hill for the records (baptisms, confirmations, first communions, marriages, and burials) if they cannot be found at the respective parish. I do know that some of Bethalto's early records are with St. Bernard's in Wood River. Debbi Geer __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Got something to say? Say it better with Yahoo! Video Mail http://mail.yahoo.com