8-20-2023 Dacada, WI

The first St. Nicholas Catholic Church, built by the settlers such as the Gonwas and Krauses, was a tiny 20 X 40 foot log cabin.  The land for the church was sold to the Catholic Diocese of Milwaukee for $50.  The church was a collective effort of 10 families, completed in 1848, and accommodated all the faithful from local communities.  There were no pews and no heat in the little church and the faithful knelt on the cold dirt floor.   

St. Nicholas Church 1848

Philip Gonwa, tailor and
saddlemaker.
My Great Great Grampa, born
in 1802 in Luxembourg

By 1863, it was decided that a larger church was needed as the population grew.  The little cabin was replaced by the second church in 1863.  (This has to be the first time in our travels that I’ve learned that the first building did NOT burn down.)  Once again, in the early 1900s, the parish faithful outgrew church # 2 and church # 3 was built on the same site.  This is the church that stands today.  It was completed in 1912 for $24,791 (in today’s dollars, $781K). 

Inside the "new" church, built in 1912

This window went for $350 in 1912

St. Nicholas Schoolhouse, 
Church and Cemetery

 

Inside the grade 1 & 2 classroom
in the schoolhouse, built in 1884

Lindy and Kevin and a model of the
first log church

Desk in the Grade 1 & 2 classroom.
Remember these?

Cousin Kevin played a significant role and devoted countless hours organizing the church’s 175^th anniversary and creating displays of the Gonwa-Kraus family and their history.  He also marked the headstones in the cemetery across the street with Luxembourg flags and placards to point out the graves of my ancestors.  We located the gravesites of Philip and Suzanne Gonwa as well as Philip’s parents, my Great Grampa George and Gramma Margaret.  The picnic at the church was quite a jolly gathering of several hundred people.  We picnicked on brats and sauerkraut and pitchers of beer.  At least a hundred times, I laughingly declared, “I bet I’m related to you.”  Nine times out of ten, I was!  After many hours, we bid a wistful farewell to Bill and Karen, Cousin Kevin and several other Krauses and Gonwas and called it a fine, happy day.  I bet this is a boatload more Catholic information than you ever hoped for.

Meet Stanley.
He lives on the church grounds.

Great Great Grampa Philip's barn, c. 1848

Kevin, Lindy, Bill, Rob and Karen
at the beer party

Great grandparents' stone,
George and Margaretha
(Gonwa) Kraus

 

Door County is the “thumb” of Wisconsin where, between Green Bay and Lake Michigan, the weather and soil are perfect for apples and cherries and every recipe that can possibly be imagined.  And because whitefish are harvested in abundance from the waters, fish boils are a tradition here.  How much fun is this?!  Driving up the Lake Michigan coast to our next motel, we came upon the Kewaunee Pierhead Light, which was installed to replace two range lights.  In 1886, the range lights were installed after the demise of a barge and all of her crew and 8 additional men on two consort schooners in a typical Great Lakes storm.  The existing light and its Fresnel lens are still active, as is the forlorn foghorn, but it is now controlled by computers.  Ten more miles north, in our room at the Algoma Beach Motel, our window is open to hear the waves breaking on the Lake Michigan shore as we sip a martini and prepare to go find fresh fish.  The lake doesn’t look too friendly at the moment.  And it’s freezing here! 

Kewaunee Pierhead Light

Kewaunee Pierhead Light
built in ~1930 to replace the
range lights that were built in
the 1880s after 3 ships
foundered on the rocks in a storm

Rob at the lighthouse park

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