In the back of the church, on the left side of the entryway above the choir steps, a photostatic copy of the list of passengers on the Ticonderoga that accompanied Father Hore from Liverpool to New Orleans hangs. Included on the list are many of Wexford’s early settlers. This is an interesting piece of history that sits in plain sight but is often overlooked. Another interesting piece of history is the plaque located on the confessional at the back of the church. The plaque says, “In memory of Staff Sergeant George P. Manning Killed in Action - 1917 to 1945- Pray for him”. George was a young man from Wexford Parish who answered the call to serve his country during World War II. He died in battle on 1 March 1945 defending our freedom. His body is buried along with many of his comrades at the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Belgium.

Many of the pews from the previous wooden church were lengthened, refinished, and given a new coat of varnish. Additional wooden pews that were longer and wider were made to accommodate the larger space and increased size in the new limestone church. The pews were placed in the middle of the church with aisles to walk on each end. When the oil furnace was added to the church, the inside of the church was rearranged. The pews were placed in two rows facing the front of the church with an aisle between the pew’s end and the wall and a larger aisle separating the pews in the middle. A large heat register placed on the

floor in the middle of the church allowed the heat from the furnace to move up and spread across the church. Wooden kneelers were built and put on the bottom of the pews to be used by the parishioners in the next pew back. The kneelers could be moved up when not used and down when needed. In front of the first row of pews, there was a railing with a kneeler attached to the bottom to be used by occupants in the first pew.

In the late 1890’s, families occupied almost every 50-acre farm unit around Wexford. A 50-acre farm was large enough to work with animals and sufficient in size to feed a family. The large number of families going to church resulted in a shortage of pew space. There was a time when bids were taken on the pews as a type of pew rental with the front pews going for a much higher price than the rear pews. Name plates were placed on the end of family pews laying claim to that specific location. Today, the name plates are gone from the pew ends, but many family units in the parish still sit in the spaces where their ancestors sat. To this day, many parishioners enjoy the location and comfort of their historical pew space when attending Sunday services.

My dad has an interesting true story about the church pews at Wexford, that I would like to share with you. During one hot summer, the pews in the church were given a very heavy coat of varnish at the beginning of the week. This week was extremely hot and humid and the varnish on the pews failed too completely dry. During Sunday services, Father Laffan gave a very long and meaningful sermon on the evil of sin and the suffering in hell, where brimstone and hellfire would torment the wicked for eternity. By the end of the sermon, people’s clothes were sticking to the pews. Many of the congregation practically lost their clothes with shirts, trousers, blouses, and skirts stuck to the tacky glue-like varnish.

To reach the main entrance to the church, a fifteen-step wooden stairway with a small landing on top was built. To help climb the steep set of steps, wooden guardrails were attached to the sides of the stairway making it easier for the youngest and oldest members of the parish to walk step by step up into the church.

A small square wooden cupola topped with a large wooden cross adorned the top front end of the Church’s roof. The cupola contained four windows facing all four directions shaped like miniatures of the main stained-glass windows. Instead of glass the windows held vented air