The Hon. Ben.
J. Webb's "The
Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky"
***NOTE: While this
book is available elsewhere as a free download, we think that you may want
to consider owning your own copy for the $3.00 we charge for three reasons:
- Convenience: you
will not need to find the book on the web to refer to it, and there are
no limitations about printing out or saving individual files or chapters
of this version.
- Format: not only
are our scans considerably higher resolution than typically found on
free downloads, but the fact that ours is in familiar PDF format makes
use of the file particularly convenient.
- Annotations: our
copy was annotated by Ignatius Spalding -- and our sense is that his
annotations add considerably to the value of the book.***
[1884], by the Hon. Ben. J. Webb.
594+ pages, including index. If you have ancestors who were involved in
the migration of Roman Catholics from Maryland to Kentucky and points north,
south, and west in the years just following the American Revolution, this book will at a very minimum provide background
information about the migration and the way Roman Catholics made their way
and were treated in America in the early years. Catholicity in
Kentucky is likely to
provide you with far more than that, however.
Catholicity in Kentucky discusses the
history of the Roman Catholic settlement
of Kentucky in settlement-by-settlement detail. It identifies the early
clergy and prominent laity, the arrival of the missionaries and the foundation of the
various religious orders, convents, cathedrals, colleges and missions that
constituted so much of the history of the Roman Catholic Church and of Roman
Catholic families who settled in Kentucky.
The author makes a point of saying that his intention was to provide family
historians with information about families who were part of the Catholic
migration from Maryland to Kentucky.
To provide a sense of the scope of the
families discussed in the book -- some at great length, here is a quote from
the Preface:
Among these names, alike
familiar to the Catholic ear in Maryland and in Kentucky, may be
mentioned the following: Adams, Alvey, Aud, Bean, Beaven, Boone,
Brewer, Beckett, Blandford, Bowlin, Blacklock, Boles or Bowles, Burch,
Cecil or Cissell, Carrico, Clark, Clements, Clarkson, Cambron, Coomes,
Cooper, Craycroft, Dant or Dent, Downs, Drury, Elder, Edelin, Elliott,
Fenwich, Forrest, Fowler, Gardiner, Gwynn, Greenwell, Gettings, Hayden,
Hardisty, Howard, Hamilton, Hill, Hutchins, Jenkins, Jarboe, Johnson,
Lancaster, Livers, Lucas, Luckett, Montgomery, Mattingly, Miles, Medley,
Mills, Mudd, Norris, Osborne, Payne, Queen, Raley or Raleigh, Rapier,
Rudd, Rhodes, Roby, Spalding, Sanders, Speaks, Spink, Sansbury, Sims,
Smith, Thompson, Tucker, Wathen, Wheatley, Willett, Weatherington,
Worland, Yates, and numerous others....
Then we have others that are
as distinctly Irish, such as Bryan and O'Brien, Byrne, Dolan, Donohoo,
Fagan, Flannigan, Gannon, Gallahan, Hagan, corruntion of O'Hagan,
Hughes, Kelly, Mahony, Mollahorne, corruption of Mollihan, McAtee, Nally,
Neeley, O'Neil, Roney, and possibly, Riney, by some written Raney.
The copy of Catholicity in Kentucky
that we scanned to produce this project is unique: it was owned by one I. A.
Spalding -- and we assume that the owner's name was Ignatius A. Spalding.
The footnote on page 109 of the book mentions three descendants of Benedict
Spalding with this name. These were the Ignatius A. Spalding who married
Ann Pottinger, and his son and grandson. One of these men -- and we are
not likely to ever know which one, annotated this particular copy of
Catholicity in Kentucky, making a number of corrections and additions in
names and places. All his annotations are legible in the scanned copy.
This huge book, as annotated by Mr. Spalding, is available as a download.
609 pages, in PDF format, for $3.00.
