Wexford Wandering: Wooden Church

The 1850 census of Iowa reported no churches, schools, or libraries available for the 158 families in Allamakee County living in only 152 dwellings. The main occupations were farmer and laborer. The main crops harvested were wheat, rye, corn, oats, honey/ beeswax, and potatoes. The Native Americans helped and taught many of the early settlers how to grow native crops and live off the land. There were only 8 milk cows, 23 beef cattle, 2 oxen, and 39 swine in Allamakee County.

In 1851, Father Hoare reported only fifty to one hundred people in Wexford Parrish. When word of a priest starting a new Catholic community in Northeast Iowa spread, there was a large increase in the number of people moving into the area. Within one year, the number of parishioners tripled. In the report to Bishop Loras for 1852, Father Hoare reported 257 Catholics in the area with 153 Catholics present at Wexford. The new settlers came from other states including Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, and New York, as well as newly arriving people from “the old sod of Ireland.” In 1854, Fathe Hoare reported 720 Catholics in his jurisdiction, with 371 Catholics present at Wexford.

In the movie Field of Dreams, a famous line was “If you build it, they will come.” Such was the case of Father Hoare building a small log church and starting a new parish in Wexford, Iowa, with many Catholic settlers following for a new opportunity and life.

St. George, the first church built in Allamakee County, was a small log church constructed on the extreme east end of a small plateau-like hill overlooking Wexford Creek (Priest Coulee) located three miles north of the Mississippi River. St. George Church was the handiwork of Hugh Vincent Gildea, a pioneer church builder who built eight churches in Iowa for Bishop Loras. Mr. Gildea, an architect and builder, directed the construction of the log church using essential hand tools including axes, saws, hammers, chisels, planes, mallets, drawknifes, and braces for drilling holes. There were no chainsaws, electric tools, or battery-operated tools like those used today.

The people of Wexford used their own skill and labor to take care of all the needs of the parish, including building their church. Nearby trees were cut down using axes. Bucking saws trimmed the branches off and cut the logs into sections. Lance-tooth pattern saws (two person saws) were used to cut logs with a straight clean cut. The volunteers used hand powered tools for drilling, marking, and shaping wood. The logs were connected using wooden pegs or dowels hammered through drilled holes to connect joints. Hand forged nails, pins, and spikes were used on the roof, walls, and floors. The blacksmith forged nails were pounded into a squarish shape with a thicker head on top.

Because wood expands and contracts due to changing temperatures, builders allowed for a one-to-two-inch space between the logs, with the logs only touching at the notching points. The space between the logs is called the chink. If left alone, this space would let in cold or hot air along with insects and small pests. Chinking, a mixture of clay, mud, sand, and other local resources, was packed between the logs to fill the gap. A mortar-based daubing was added over the chinking to help the material adhere to the logs and preserve the mixture from the weather.

Hand-split shakes, otherwise known as wooden shingles, were made from the heartwood of local trees and used to cover the roof. Wooden shingles allowed water to run off and provided durability and a rustic beautiful appearance to the church roof.

The skills learned while building the log church became useful when parishioners built their own homes. Neighbors worked together to build houses and barns.

In a short period of time, the small log church became too small to house the increased number of parishioners. A second, much larger framed wooden church was built in front of where the current church stands and slightly below the row of priests’ headstones. This location was approximately a football length west of St. George, the first log church.

Wexford cemetery has the honor of having five priests buried in front of the current church. Father Thomas Boylson died at the age of 36 years and was buried at Wexford cemetery October 1891. Father Boylson served as pastor at Wexford from 1890 to 1891. He was the 10^th priest at Wexford and died while serving the people.

Father Thomas Laffan died in 1930 at the age of 65 years. He was a beloved pastor at Wexford for 31 years from 1889 to 1929. During the pastorate of Father Laffan, many improvements were made in the church, and a new parsonage was built at Wexford.

Father Robert P. Rahe died 12 July 1988 at the age of 71 years after faithfully serving the Archdiocese of Dubuque as a Priest for over 40 years. Father Rahe was pastor at Wexford from 1960 to 1966. During the pastorate of Father Rahe, many improvements were made in the church and cemetery. Changes included the addition of Our Lady of the Wayside Shrine, housing a white carrara marble statue of our Blessed Mary from Italy.

Father Maurice J. Tracy died on 20 April 1990 at the age of 84 years and had faithfully served the Archdiocese of Dubuque as a Priest for over 59 years. Father Tracy served as pastor at Wexford from 1947 to 1954. During the pastorate of Father Tracy, the parish hall was built to care for the social needs of the people.

Monsignor Cletus Joseph Hawes died on 1 April 2023 at the age of 94 years. Monsignor Hawes grew up in the Wexford parish and faithfully served the Archdiocese of Dubuque as a Priest for 71 years. Monsignor Hawes retired to the home he grew up in and said Mass to the parish every week at Wexford with his brother Father Donald Hawes. The Hawes Priests encompass the Wexford spirt endowed with a rich measure of charity, neighborliness, honesty, and kindness.