Keyesville Catholic Church - Smith, Rooney and Greenan families
1858 original dedication of church.
The first Catholic school in Keyesville.
First Post Office in Keyesville
This post office was established in 1872, and the first postmaster was Paul Misslich. The post office was also his home.
Village of Ithaca is located in Section 17, which made Keyesville the closest village to Catherine Smyth. Ithaca is the township that Keyesville is located.
To learn more about the history of Keyesville, click on the following link. It will take you to a PDF file:
HISTORY OF KEYESVILLE>
1888 - How the church would have looked at the time of Catherine Smyth Rooney's funeral. Fr. Bernard was the first pastor and built the first parsonage in 1864.
This Catholic parish served both Irish and German immigrants in the 1800s.
Family Connection with the Church.
Catherine Smyth received a land grant in 1858 for 40 acres near Ithaca, Wisconsin. The closest Catholic assembly was a few miles away in the small village of Keyesville. She most likely followed other relatives from Monaghan - perhaps even the following person identified as one of the earliest inhabitants of Ithaca:
"John Smith, an Irishman, came here as early as 1853, and settled on the west half of the NW quarter of Section 18. He erected a boarded shanty, broke a few acres of the land and remained 4 or 5 years, when he sold to John Young and left the country (county?).
Catherine, on the other hand, received her land in the NE qtr of section 18 in township 11. Another family that will link to ours in later generations was James King, who came from Watertown in 1853, and settled in Section 5.