Sunday Excursion: When History and Family History Collide

Thanks to my cousin, David, and his Deep Roots blog, I know about my fourth great grand uncle, Richard Pius Miles.  Bishop Miles was a Dominican priest who migrated from Maryland to Kentucky with his family, my fifth great grandparents, Nicholas and Ann Miles.  His brother, Thomas, was my fourth great grandfather.

He ended up in Ohio in 1837 as the first provincial, the priest in charge of the St. Joseph Priory.  While he was there, he was named the first Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Nashville, Tennessee.  One website holds Bishop Miles in such high regard that it's seeking his canonization. 

The priory was part of the campus where the first Catholic church in Ohio was founded in 1808 outside of Somerset, Ohio.  Today, it's only 30 miles south of where my kids and I live now.

The TriPlatts and I paid a visit to the church for Mass this morning.  The current building was built in 1839 and dedicated in 1840.  There's a lot of history there, including some family history.




The church maintains a replica of the 1808 log church.