IN THE COUNTY OF WATERLOO
59
cession; that he desired also to erect two more churches for Germans;
that any remittance would be welcome and used as directed.
Further, that Munich had already contributed $600.00; with the
money received from Mr. Leopold L., a personal lay friend, he had
finished two churches for the Germans; that much had to be done in New
Germany to furnish the church there; that he had received through the
Archbishop of Cincinnati £74=$296, from Munich for the Germans here and
in Buffalo.
This letter seems to prove that it was not the
local difficulties that caused the Jesuits' withdrawal from New
Germany, but that it was caused through the scarcity of priests
elsewhere. The priests of New Germany were moved to Guelph a
little later, January 28th, 1852, because Guelph was more important and
better located as a centre to attend the Missions northward through
Wellington, Grey and Bruce. There the priests were needed more
urgently while the country was filling up rapidly with many Catholics.
This was the period of the "Saugeen fever,"
during which so many small
farmers and mechanics moved out of the County to secure more land for
themselves and their children.
In a letter to a personal friend and benefactor
in Styria, written towards the end of November, 1851, Father Holzer
states that he was in Galt where he had a meeting for the purpose of
securing a church site which he hoped to get soon. He gave the
first subscription of $18, and then started to collect from house to
house for this purpose. It took several years to get the site
because the lot owners would not sell land for a Catholic church.
Father Holzer also states in one of his letters
that Bishop De Charbonnel had been fully six weeks with him, visiting
all their Missions for confirmation in 1851.
Bishop Power had already recommended the
Jesuits on their first arrival here to open a College. This they
had attempted first at St. Agatha, then at New Germany, and finally in
Guelph. After a few years' trial at Guelph they gave up the
attempt, likely for want of the necessary support from the public and
the absence of professors.
At New Germany they had begun the erection of a
building for College purposes, but before it was half completed they
abandoned the Mission, sold the building to Mr. M. Fehrenbach, who
moved it on his farm and turned it into a farmhouse that is still in
good condition. The old cause of dispute be-
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