The History of St. James the Apostle in Trumansburg, N.Y.

Reverend Thomas J. Harrington from Ovid, who became pastor of St. James in 1909, replaced Fr. Madden. He was remembered as being a “very large man with a tart sense of humor.”[6] He would often give fire and brimstone type sermons while pacing back and forth in front of the altar. But he was also remembered for his charity. Whenever a person was in need, whether they were Catholic or not, Fr. Harrington would always provide them with what they needed, often from his own funds.

The parish seemed to shrink during Fr. Harrington’s time, to about thirty-five families. The Forty Hours devotions, started with the previous pastor, continued with Fr. Harrington. The church would be filled to capacity during these devotions, demonstrating how many Catholics still lived in the community.

Fr. Harrington owned a beautiful racehorse that he used to travel around his parish though, later in his tenure, he became the first pastor to own an automobile. In 1920 he was transferred to Addison, NY.

Reverend E. Joseph Esser succeeded Fr. Harrington as pastor. At only thirty-four years old, he was a relatively young priest and this was his first parish. Fr. Esser arrived on a cold November night when, having walked from the railroad station, he was handed a key by a stranger on the parsonage porch and then left alone in a cold house with no supplies. The parish had not been informed of his arrival.

Fr. Esser was described as a slender and dignified person. “Although not a gregarious person, like so many of his Irish congregation, the children and members who worked with him found him a very kind, thoughtful, and warm person with a good sense of humor.”[7] In 1922 he organized the Altar Society of St. James, which met monthly for lunch with the pastor. The society cared for the altar, sewed altar linens, and provided fund raising for the parish’s needs.

During his pastorate, Fr. Esser made many improvements to the church and rectory. These changes included adding an addition to the rectory for the housekeeper, and a pipe organ purchased from the Methodist Church in nearby Watkins Glen. The church was also completely rewired, including an electric blower for the organ. Edward Murphy bequeathed $100 to the church and the residue of his estate was left to purchase a lot in the cemetery and build a mausoleum. This is the only mausoleum in the St. James cemetery and continues to be a focal point of the grounds there.

Before he was transferred to Victor, NY, in 1935, Fr. Esser had baptized forty-five people and performed seventeen marriages. On the day Fr. Esser left, February 1, Reverend G. Stuart Hogan arrived to take up residence as the new pastor.

Fr. Hogan had been an assistant pastor at the Sacred Heart Church in Rochester and then chaplain at the University of Rochester’s Women’s College and the Academy of the Sacred Heart. Church records indicate that Fr. Hogan was “a man ahead of his time in ecumenical thought and practice.”[8] Like many towns and villages in America in those days, Catholics were a minority in Trumansburg and kept largely to themselves. Fr. Hogan reached out to the community and his activities endeared him to the village, so much so that the mayor asked him to serve on the village board. The Bishop, however, asked him to decline the kind offer.

Fr. Hogan was an “enthusiastic promoter of the Catholic press”[9] and initiated the practice that continues to this day, of the parish providing a subscription so each parish household could receive the Catholic Courier. Fr. Hogan also started the vacation Bible school, another tradition that continues to this day, though in his time it included students from Farmer Village (now called Interlaken).

Considered quite a religious zealot, Fr. Hogan made a number of converts each year. During the year he started at St. James there were only three baptisms and only one the year before. By 1945 he had the number up to forty, of whom half were converts.

Meanwhile, work on the church buildings and grounds continued. The Church basement was remodeled, complete with piping to take care of spring flooding, so it could be used for social events. A new organ was purchased with donations and the rectory was refurnished. Due in part to Fr. Hogan’s interest in gardening, the church properties were embellished with the addition of parish gardens, providing flowers both for the church altar and everyone’s enjoyment.

In 1935 the great flood occurred in the village of Trumansburg, drowning two people including a parishioner. A second family, the Bennetts, had their home washed off its foundation and into the creek while they were still inside. Fearing they would drown, Fr. Hogan overcame his fear of heights to cross the railroad trestle over the creek to reach the family and give them final absolution. He stayed and prayed with them throughout the day until the floodwaters receded and all could be safely rescued.

In November of 1945 Fr. Hogan was reassigned to be the pastor of St. Mary’s in Geneseo, New York. Reverend Francis J. Pegnam served as administrator until Reverend Leonard A. Kelly could arrive on Christmas Eve of that year to take over as pastor. Before Fr. Pegnam left he arranged for one of the first ecumenical programs in the village, a midnight Mass celebrated with the help of the Methodist choir. Fr Kelly arrived just in time to join in that celebration.

Father Leonard Kelly, a pioneer in the development of catechetical facilities for public school students, became pastor of Trumansburg and Interlaken when he took up his duties on Christmas Day, 1945. Fr. Kelly arrived in Trumansburg from four years of active duty in the U.S. Naval Reserve as a chaplain in San Francisco. Previous to enlisting in the navy he had been a professor of religion at Nazareth College in Rochester.

Work on refurbishing the grounds and buildings of the parish continued with Fr. Kelly. In 1946 the main church was redone, with a new altar installed and new statues donated by parishioners. A new sanctuary railing was also installed, part of the railing removed from St. Augustine’s Church in Rochester. On November 3, 1946, Bishop Kearney celebrated Mass in the refurbished church, celebrating the fiftieth year since the church building was dedicated.

In 1947 the Altar Society became the Women’s Guild and the organization under that name continues their work to this day. Also in that year a Men’s Club for both St. James and St. Francis was also started. Both groups served a social function for the parish and also provided fund-raising activities for the parish. At one point the Men’s group decided to abandon the church basement as a social hall. Instead, they opted to build a room that would connect the rectory and the sacristy. The pine panel hall, designated for meetings and catechetical instruction, continues in that capacity to this day.

On January 28, 1949, a fire completely destroyed most of the church, including the sanctuary. Only the steeple and front façade remained standing. Bishop Kearney allowed Fr. Kelly to appeal to the entire diocese of Rochester for assistance in the rebuilding costs, with tremendous response. The parish also organized their own drive, with $20,000 pledged by sixty-five families in the parish by February 10 of that year. In October the work began on rebuilding the church, with Fr. Kelly acting as contractor. While the church was under construction, Sunday Mass was held in the Burg Theater in the Village, owned by a parishioner. Daily mass was held in the rectory. On June 11, 1950, Bishop Kearney came to St. James to offer a dedication Mass for the new church. Within three years the parish attendance had grown to such an extent that a new parking lot was purchased at the corner of Whig and South streets. In June 1954, Fr. Kelly was transferred to be the pastor of the Church of the Assumption in Fairport, NY. His successor was Reverend Francis A. Marks.

The new pastor for Trumansburg and Interlaken, Fr. Marks, came to St. James from the seminary of St. Andrew’s where he had been a member of the faculty. St. James was his first parish. He changed the Men’s Society’s to the Holy Name Society, but it became inactive in the early 1960’s. The Women’s Guild also was convinced to change their name to the Altar and Rosary Society.

Fr. Marks began planning for the renovations at St. Francis Solanus Church in Farmer Village, now called Interlaken. Before the plans of Father Marks could be executed, Bishop Kearney decided to separate St. Francis Solanus Mission Church from St. James Parish in Trumansburg. St. Francis Solanus Mission was made St. Francis Solanus Parish and entrusted to the care of the Capuchin Fathers residing at St. Fidelis Friary.[10]

The coming of the Capuchin Friars to the area in 1951 was significant for all the local churches, including St. James Church in Trumansburg. “A chronicle reports that in 1951 the Capuchin Fathers purchased Shadow Lawn. On June 14, Rev. Bede Scully, O.F.M. Cap. came to Interlaken to open the new house. On June 17th the Capuchin Fathers began Sunday work in the parishes of Interlaken and Trumansburg.”[11]

The Capuchin Franciscans are a branch of the Franciscan Order, which was founded by St. Francis of Assisi in 1209. Capuchin Franciscans have been in North America since the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when they served as military chaplains and missionaries working among the Native Americans. By 1950, the province had grown so large that it stretched from the Midwest to the East Coast and included New York State. Since it became a friary in 1951, St. Fidelis Friary actually predates by one year the Province of St. Mary, to which the friars presently residing there belong. In 1952 St. Joseph Province was divided in two, and the new Province of St. Mary included New York, the New England states and the mission territories of Mariana Islands and Ryukyu Islands.[12] There are currently eight provinces and about 1,000 Capuchin Franciscan friars in North America, with four Capuchin Friars of the Province of St. Mary presently living in the St. Fidelis Friary in Sheldrake and serving the parishes in Ovid, Interlaken, and Trumansburg.

Back in Trumansburg with Fr. Marks, the church’s remaining dept of $13,00 was retired. A statue of “Our Lady of Grace” was imported from Italy and erected on the side lawn of the rectory, where she remains to this day.

“The statue was intended to serve as a focal point to parishioners and members of the community as a symbol of our honor, love, and devotion to our Lady.”[13]