Last trip to Mineral Point

Today I drove back to Mineral Point one last time to check out some records Andrea found on St. Paul's Mission Church in the Mineral Point room. Turns out there was some great information in a manila file folder, most surprisingly a short letter to the editor from the current pastor in the Mineral Point Tribune in the year 1896 The pastor was writing to correct the paper's assertion that a Catholic had recently attended an episcopalian service (read between the line-converted). The pastor vehemently protested, writing that not one parishoner had left his congregation in the nearly 30 years he had served. The best part: he included statistics on births, deaths, marriages AND new members since 1870. He says very clearly that the only reason he releases this information to the general public is because it is so important to refute the newspaper's claim. Among the other things collected were several short, locally produced pamphlets on the history of the church and the congregation, and an interesting photo of the 1905 attendees. The archivist at the Mineral Point Room commented on the exceedingly stern faces of the women in the photo, which seemed to me like a bit of an understatement!