Ioatros kai cheirurgos en enianpto tes chagilos, 1828. F. Frankiskos O'Donogue, Iereus tes ekklesias tes Romes, os oikei ente polei tes Patterson kai episatei ente ekklesia epikalumen tes agiou Ioannou.
Reverendus Franciscus O'Donoghue, sacerdos Ecclesiæ Romanæ, atque Thomas Joannes O'Flagherty, M. D., venerunt visum, videruntque cum maxima attonitu ingentem flumenis Passaici defluxum, vigesimo quinto mensis Julii, anno Salutis Humanæ 1828. Vivat America, quamdiu sub auspiciis aquilae Reipublicanæ auram vitalem carpit.
[CHAPTER III.]
Early Catholic Families in Paterson.—Men and Women of Prominence who Assisted in Establishing the Church in this City.
To give a complete list of the Catholics who assisted in the propagation of the faith in Paterson and give each one his or her share of praise for the noble work done in the Lord's vineyard would be a difficult task. Most of the pioneers have passed away to reap in another world the reward for their faithfulness and energy; others removed their families to other States, where their descendants are still prominent in the affairs of the Church. Some of those who did the hardest work when the light of the Catholic Church first dawned in this country are more than dead; they are forgotten, and their names and the remembrance of their existence have passed away; no historian has chronicled their brave deeds, their fortitude and their sufferings; no tombstone records the day of their birth and the day of their death and marks the place where rests the clay which was once imbued with life and vigor and zeal in the service of God. Their deeds are recorded on pages more faithful than those of the historian, more glorious than the tablets of the sculptor, and an omniscient God, who saw their sufferings and comforted them in the midst of their tribulations, has taken them to himself to share with him the perfection of righteousness and happiness. There are, however, still living men and women who figured prominently in the early history of the Church and who remember the names and doings of those who took an active part with them in building up that splendid edifice, the Catholic Church of Paterson. A glance at the families who constituted the Catholic Church in the times of Father O'Donoghue and his predecessors, a glance through the memories of some of the old Catholics of the present day at the Catholic Church of Paterson in 1830 and thereabouts, will undoubtedly be of interest to a great many. The following list is not complete, for the information therein contained was derived not from records but from the memory of human beings. It will, however, show to the rising generation to whom they are indebted for the success of the church in Paterson: who the men and women were whom God made his instruments in establishing Catholicism in Passaic County.
Agnew, Patrick, was among the earliest Catholic settlers in Paterson. He was for some time employed in the Phœnix Mill but subsequently kept a store in Cross street. His son John is in business in this city; his son Thomas is in business in San Francisco and his daughter Margaret is the wife of Charles H. O'Neill, of Jersey City.
Bannigan, Peter and Michael, were two brothers. Peter was a trustee of the old church in Mill street and also of the Oliver street church and resided in Ward street; he was the father of Mrs. Robert Hamil. Michael lived in Cross street, near White's alley; he subsequently erected the brick buildings at No. 19 Marshall street and there he died.
Binsse, Dr. Donatian, practiced medicine. He was brought up by Rt. Rev. Bishop Du Bois and in Paterson resided on the corner of Hotel and Market streets, and subsequently in the old bank building in Main street. He left Paterson but his remains were returned to this city for interment. His two sons are still living but not in Paterson.
Bradleys, three sisters, kept a boarding house for some years on Market street, near Mill. Father O'Donoghue boarded with them, as did also several other priests; they left Paterson about 1832.
Brown, John P., was one of the trustees of the Oliver street church when it was building. He was in partnership with Joseph Warren in the leather business in lower Main street and married a daughter of Mr. Warren.