As our parish celebrates 175 years (1844 -2019), we thank Marty Moore for his “glimpses” into our congregation’s growth from the 1800s into the present.
Historical Accuracy
These many months of “Glimpses” bulletin articles were based on historic facts. Roughly half of the articles focused on the early days of the congregation, and relied heavily on research done prior to the 150th anniversary of St. Francis Borgia. Even with those early stories, additional research was being done to ensure that all was accurate, or to provide new perspectives; and sometimes new information came to light.
Later “Glimpses” articles touched on more recent history. As possible, consultation with persons who served our Cedarburg congregations and were involved in the related events provided the framework, but some of those key people are deceased. Regardless, additional digging was often needed to fill in the information gaps.
Resources included parish bulletins and newsletters, newspapers, and genealogical sources. Diocesan archives were scoured and persons or relatives located and interviewed. Concern exists when relying on published accounts of questionable origin as there are many poorly sourced historical accounts and claims passed down over time as fact, which may be more accurately referred to as legend. Verifiable sources of information are critical to accuracy.
We’re fortunate to have the archivist of our archdiocese available to provide research and information on priests, congregations, mergers and dates. Our own additional information is fed back to the archivist, enhancing the archdiocesan data, thus benefiting both parties.
As we “close out” this series of articles, celebrating the 175th anniversary of St. Francis Borgia Congregation in Cedarburg, we hope you have found these glimpses of our long journey into the present to be both interesting and enlightening.