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Fr Michael T. O'Toole

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Birth	:	10 Oct 1846 Ratheskin, County Mayo, Ireland
Death	:	22 May 1925 Sioux City, Woodbury County, Iowa, USA
Burial	:	Saint Peters Calvary Cemetery, Newcastle, Dixon County, USA
Coordinate	:	42.6533800, -96.8744700
Description	:	DEATH CLAIMS PIONEER PRIEST REV. MICHAEL O'TOOLE DIES HERE, AFTER LINGERING ILLNESS. Rev. Michael T. O'Toole, pioneer Catholic priest of Dixon County, Neb., died at St. Vincent's hospital Friday evening after a lingering illness. Rev. Father O'Toole was born in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1849 and came to the United States in 1863, settling at Wilkes Barre, Pa. He studied in seminaries at Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. While in Philadelphia he was a member of the Athletic baseball team, which operated as part of the National Professional association, from 1871 to 1875, the first organized baseball league. Coming west in 1877, Rev. Father O'Toole walked... Read More	DEATH CLAIMS PIONEER PRIEST REV. MICHAEL O'TOOLE DIES HERE, AFTER LINGERING ILLNESS. Rev. Michael T. O'Toole, pioneer Catholic priest of Dixon County, Neb., died at St. Vincent's hospital Friday evening after a lingering illness. Rev. Father O'Toole was born in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1849 and came to the United States in 1863, settling at Wilkes Barre, Pa. He studied in seminaries at Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. While in Philadelphia he was a member of the Athletic baseball team, which operated as part of the National Professional association, from 1871 to 1875, the first organized baseball league. Coming west in 1877, Rev. Father O'Toole walked from Sioux City to Ponca Nebraska on his way to take charge of the parish at Newcastle, Neb. He served s priest for Dixon County. The church at Newcastle was being constructed at the time Rev. Father O'Toole arrived, and was the third Catholic church to be erected in northeastern Nebraska. In 1893 Rev. Father O'Toole left the parish at Newcastle to serve as priest at North Platte, Neb. In 1895, however, he returned to Newcastle, serving there until his retirement in 1920. After his retirement he lived at St. Vincent's hospital. He is survived by one brother, W.A. O'Toole, Ryegate, Mont.; one sister, Mrs. Patrick McDermott, Wilkes Barre, Pa., and one nephew Michael O'Toole of Sioux City. The body is at Gunn's undertaking establishment pending funeral arrangements. FR. MICHAEL O'TOOLE~ Father Michael O'Toole was born in County Mayo in Ireland in 1849. In 1863 at the age of 14 he came to America and for a time made his home in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. After the completion of his theological studies in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and immediately after his ordination in 1877, he went to Newcastle, Nebr., where he pursued his patriotic duties until his retirement in 1919, with the exception of three years, 1893-96, during which time he was pastor at North Platte, Nebr. His life was closely interwoven with the history of Newcastle and Dixon county which at first coincided roughly with the confines of his parish. The treat tide of immigration did not reach Newcastle much before 1870 and did not reach its height until some years after. The creek bottoms only had been settled a decade or so previously by the Currys, Dempsey, Malone, McDougal, McKinley, the O'Connors, Smith, Hoeser, Sader, and the Pfisters. So the homesteading days were by no means completed, even around Newcastle, when Father O'Toole arrived. The southern part of the county and the Logan country, far from the river without wood or other fuel than hay, and without railroads, was as yet largely unsettled. There were in all northeast Nebraska only three Catholic churches, one at Jackson, one at St. Helena, and a very modest and incomplete structure at Newcastle. The means of communication were very primitive and the young priest was obliged to walk from Sioux City to Ponca. Here at the Valley House, conducted for years by Mrs. Bigley, he made his headquarters for a short time. As soon as possible he took up his residence at Newcastle making his home with Charles Dougherty, who was one of the few having a suitable house, until the completion of a modest parochial residence a year later. The problem temporarily housing a newcomer in those days of homestead shacks, log cabins, and dugouts was considerable, though the willingness and hospitality of the settlers was proverbial. On his arrival Father O'Toole immediately and enthusiastically took up his arduous and important work of looking after the spiritual welfare of his scattered flock. A church was soon erected on South creek, and here for many years he said Mass on alternate Sundays. At Christmas and Easter, however, he felt it his duty, if humanely possible, to attend both Newcastle and South creek; and many a long exhausting drive he made through the eighteen miles of bad roads and drifted snow, to say late Mass at Newcastle, after having read an earlier one at South creek. But no sermon was ever shortened of Benediction omitted after Mass even though it meant that he could not breakfast until perhaps 3 o'clock in the afternoon. After the completion of the Father O'Toole residence, his parents came from Pennsylvania and kept house for him until their death. The church at Newcastle was enlarged and completed. It still stands in the old churchyard. The church at Tara was erected in 1883 or thereabout. It had the distinction of having the first church bell ever seen or heard by certain of the native sons of the prairie, such as the writer. Here Father O'Toole attended on holidays and on the fifth Sunday of the month, when such occurred, until the erection of Ponca and South Creek into a separate parish, with a resident priest. Thereafter Tara received his visits on alternate Sundays. Soon after his return from North Platte in 1896 the new church at Newcastle was built. His responsibilities were as great as ever, though the physical discomforts were to a degree mitigated. His pastorate at Newcastle continued until his retirement, after which he resided at St. Vincent's Hospital in Sioux City. There were two types of citizens in the early days. On was transient the other permanent. To the latter type Father O'Toole belonged. All his service, all his strength belonged to his flock, to Nebraska, to the nation. Newcastle and vicinity and all those who knew him were better because he lived and have sustained a loss because he died. He gave to his charge all the useful working period of his life. He, a city man, came and inured himself to the hardships of primitive and pioneer ways. He accustomed himself to the handling of driving horses, a much more difficult and even dangerous feat for a man unused to horses from boyhood, than the management of the more staid and placid farm horse. He braved the unpleasantness of the tempest, and the almost impassable roads; the dangers of the creek unbridged, and the drift unbroken, and the trail unmarked, the benumbing and confusing influences of the blizzard; and the loneliness and unspeakable cold of the winter's night. The nature of his duties precluded his choosing, as could most, the time of good roads, daylight and mild weather for his journeys. He nearly always traveled alone, partly, perhaps, because of the customs and finances of the pioneer days did not permit the luxury of a hostler or driver. The perils of contagion in times of the deadly and decimating epidemics which sometimes swept over the new prairie country, he faced more frequently than any other man in the community. The dangers, privations and hardships he faced cheerfully; the unremitting labor through the years he gave freely, sustained by his unfaltering hope and lighted by the flame of his ever burning, unquestioning faith. The fund which he has accumulated of the only currency which availith anything in the Great Beyond, would, were it not for the heart pangs of his relatives, his congregation, his friends and his fellow citizens, seem to go a great way towards robbing death of its sting and the grave it's victory.

frequently asked questions (FAQ):

Where is Fr Michael T. O'Toole's memorial?
Fr Michael T. O'Toole's memorial is located at: Saint Peters Calvary Cemetery, Newcastle, Dixon County, USA.
When did Fr Michael T. O'Toole death?
Fr Michael T. O'Toole death on 22 May 1925 in Sioux City, Woodbury County, Iowa, USA
Where are the coordinates of the Fr Michael T. O'Toole's memorial?
Latitude: 42.6533800
Longitude: -96.8744700

Family Members:

Parent

William O'Toole

(1810 - 1896)

Catherine Dougher O'Toole

(1812 - 1903)

Siblings

Thomas O'Toole

(1841 - 1913)

William Anthony O'Toole

(1850 - 1927)

Flowers:

Nearby Cemetories:

1. Saint Peters Calvary Cemetery
Newcastle, Dixon County, USA
Coordinate: 42.6533800, -96.8744700

2. Newcastle Cemetery
Newcastle, Dixon County, USA
Coordinate: 42.6550500, -96.8708700

3. Gibb's Cemetery
Newcastle, Dixon County, USA
Coordinate: 42.6985100, -96.8518400

4. Ionia Cemetery
Newcastle, Dixon County, USA
Coordinate: 42.6893997, -96.8300018

5. Daily Branch Cemetery
Dixon County, USA
Coordinate: 42.5752983, -96.9366989

6. Lime Grove Cemetery
Maskell, Dixon County, USA
Coordinate: 42.6632400, -96.9990500

7. Lime Creek Cemetery
Maskell, Dixon County, USA
Coordinate: 42.6569600, -97.0004700

8. Maskell Cemetery
Maskell, Dixon County, USA
Coordinate: 42.6878014, -96.9916992

9. Silver Ridge Cemetery
Ponca, Dixon County, USA
Coordinate: 42.5685997, -96.8189011

10. Dewitt Cemetery
Ponca, Dixon County, USA
Coordinate: 42.6248000, -96.7437500

11. Halverson Cemetery
Maskell, Dixon County, USA
Coordinate: 42.6908600, -97.0013500

12. Tara Hill Cemetery
Newcastle, Dixon County, USA
Coordinate: 42.5911600, -96.9827000

13. Obert Cemetery
Obert, Cedar County, USA
Coordinate: 42.6702995, -97.0289001

14. Bluff View Cemetery
Vermillion, Clay County, USA
Coordinate: 42.7714000, -96.9056000

15. Saint Agnes Calvary Cemetery
Vermillion, Clay County, USA
Coordinate: 42.7715900, -96.9072100

16. Dowlin Cemetery
Burbank, Clay County, USA
Coordinate: 42.7789001, -96.8107986

17. Saint Agnes Cemetery
Vermillion, Clay County, USA
Coordinate: 42.7872009, -96.8499985

18. Trinity Lutheran Cemetery
Martinsburg, Dixon County, USA
Coordinate: 42.5127983, -96.8336029

19. Saint Joseph Cemetery
Elk Point, Union County, USA
Coordinate: 42.6794014, -96.6797028

20. Ponca Cemetery
Ponca, Dixon County, USA
Coordinate: 42.5689011, -96.7130966

21. Elk Point Cemetery
Elk Point, Union County, USA
Coordinate: 42.6794586, -96.6794586

22. Elmwood Cemetery
Elk Point, Union County, USA
Coordinate: 42.6036700, -96.6881900

23. Martinsburg South Cemetery
Martinsburg, Dixon County, USA
Coordinate: 42.5038986, -96.8383026

24. Southcreek Calvary Catholic Cemetery
Ponca, Dixon County, USA
Coordinate: 42.5264100, -96.7563300