Recollections of My Life and Reflections on Times and Events During It: A Memoir by Father W. J. Howlett Main Menu Introduction Table of Contents Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Other Writings by Father W. J. Howlett Timeline Howlett Family Tree William J. Howlett Family Tree Maps and Geography: Howlett's First Trip West Fr. Howlett moved with his family to Denver when he was a child, and then moved to St. Thomas Seminary in Bardstown, KY several years later. This map recounts the path he took to get to both places. Maps and Geography: Howlett's European travels Fr. Howlett traveled far and wide during his trip to Europe. Here is a map of the places he recorded visiting. Maps and Geography: Howlett in Paris, 1872-1873 This map shows the locations that Fr. Howlett mentioned visiting while in Paris, France. Maps and Geography: Howlett in London, 1874 This map shows the locations that Fr. Howlett mentioned visiting while vacationing in London, England Maps and Geography: Colorado Missions with Terrain Fr. Howlett's Colorado mission locations, with Colorado terrain. Index Acknowledgements Contributors' Biographies HIST 394 at CUA, Spring 2020

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I do not think any great harm was done in this particular case, but confession has always been a forced practice with me and I could easily dispense with it if there were other means of forgiveness; still, one can imagine where forcing religions acts upon children as a punishment might give them a distaste for practices of piety in general. I never encouraged the Sisters of my school to punish their unruly pupils by sending them to the Church to say certain prayers or to make the Stations, etc.

         In the Spring of 1854 my father bought a farm of 160 acres in what was called the Barron Lake settlement, some ten miles west of Cassopolis and six miles east of Niles, but in Cass County. Here we had quite a number of Catholic neighbors. There must have been as many as ten families within a radius of five miles, and others came in later. The Barron Lake settlement belonged to the Niles Mission, but just at that time there was no priest in the Diocese of Detroit nearer than Kalamazoo, forty miles away. By an arrangement, however, the priests of the Holy Cross at Notre Dame, Indiana, cared for this southwest corner of Michigan. At Niles there was a small frame church and the Catholics of the town combined with those of the surrounding country made up a very respectable congregation.

         Catholics were not numerous among the earliest settlers of this vicinity. The building of the Michigan Central Railroad brought many to the village, and others agriculturally inclined to the surrounding country. The land was mostly wild and the settler had to build his log cabin, chop down the trees, clean away the underbrush and fence in his little open space before he could attempt to plow and plant a crop. Of course everybody was poor and the idea of supporting a permanent pastor was not practical for several years. Notre Dame, being but eight miles away, sent priests pretty often, but how often I cannot now remember. I still have the recollection of the coming of a Father Flynn and a Father Schilling. A resident pastor came in about 1856 person of the Rev. John DeNeve, and from that time the congregation seemed to grow. The church was enlarged, and a gallery put in and even then it was soon crowded. Father DeNeve remained about three years when he was appointed Rector of the New American College in Louvain, Belgium, where he ever afterwards remained.

          The farm my father bought had a few acres cleared and a log house that was almost a ruin, for no one had lived on the place for several years. Making the house habitable was the first task. Then came the clearing of the land. The trees were felled, out into convenient lengths and put into piles with the brush and set on fire. The underbrush also had to be removed and this was grubbed out by the roots or cut down to the ground and piled for the burning. We had great fun with these fires at night when a whole section would be lighted up with burning waste, but the gathering into piles was a laborious work which we children did not relish. It certainly was hard work and we got many a scratch on our hands and bruises on our feet while doing that pioneer work.

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