EXHIBITS

Adventurous Spirits!

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Beginnings in Quebec
Experience tells us that self-identity is influenced greatly by the decisions and actions of family members who lived before us. The same is true for the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary (SNJM) who work in the United States and Ontario, Canada. The work being done by the Sisters and their Associates today is shaped by the Congregation's roots, established in Quebec more than 150 years ago.  read more

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Map of the United States in 1851
Map of the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, and the West India Islands with a Portion of Venezuela & New Granada; Showing the routes overland and by the Isthmus to California and Oregon.  view map
J. M. Atwood, 1851
Courtesy Cartography Associates

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Voyage to Oregon
In early 1859 Archbishop Francis Norbert Blanchet (1795-1883) of the Oregon diocese sent a letter to Ignatius Bourget (1799-1885), Bishop of Montreal, asking for a religious teaching order to establish schools in his vast diocese. Bourget approached the Sisters of the Holy Names in Longueuil and received a favorable reply. On 22 June 1859, Blanchet arrived in Montreal to discuss preparations for the new mission. Twelve Sisters were selected for the journey and the date of departure was set for 16 September 1859.  read more

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Oregon
After completing their five-week voyage, the twelve intrepid Sisters of the Holy Names finally set foot in the town they would now call home-Portland. When they arrived in October 1859, Oregon had been a state for eight months. Portland's population in 1855 was just over 1200,making it the largest city north of San Francisco and the major port on the Willamette River. Its first Catholic Church, on the corner of Third and Stark, was dedicated in 1852. Nevertheless, to the eyes of the newcomers, the sight of Portland was probably disappointing, consisting as it did of wood frame structures and only a handful of brick buildings.  read more

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Ontario, Canada
In 1861 Pierre Adolphe Pinsonneault, Bishop of Sandwich, Ontario, Canada, found his diocese in need of a teaching order. Communications were opened in April 1862 with Mother Theresa of Jesus (1823-1890), Superior General.

Windsor, settled in the mid-eighteenth century, was an isolated and sleepy little farming village across the Detroit River from Detroit, Michigan. In the mid-1830s, it began to flourish, attracting French-speaking settlers from Quebec and Americans, among them African American slaves who escaped to Canada via the Underground Railroad.  read more

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New York
In March 1865, Superior General Mother Theresa of Jesus (1823-1890) received a request for Sisters from Reverend Daniel Falvey of St. John's parish in Schenectady, New York. After a failed attempt to establish a mission in Troy the year before, she was hesitant to consider another New York foundation. She wrote in May 1865: "I do not think it wise to send Sisters to the Albany diocese.I believe that we shall not receive permission to settle there, any more than we did in Troy, only one year ago."  read more

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California
The arduous steamship journey the Sisters took from Quebec to Oregon necessitated a change of vessel in several places, the last of which was San Francisco. Travelers continuing to points further north often had several days to recuperate. So it was with the first Portland-bound Sisters in 1859, as well as those who followed in 1863. On both trips, the Sisters were assured hospitality by several religious communities and by Joseph Sadoc Alemany (1814-1888), Archbishop of San Francisco. Archbishop Alemany appointed Reverend Michael King, assistant pastor of St. Patrick Church, to welcome all visiting missionaries and to ensure that their needs were met while in the city.  read more

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Florida
Sisters traveling by steamship from Quebec to the west coast of the United States invariably stopped briefly in KeyWest, the last island in the chain of Florida Keys. Less than one hundred miles from Cuba, KeyWest was a mixture of cultures, races and languages. Among the diverse population were Native Americans, Blacks, Cubans, and descendants of the British Loyalists who had populated the Bahamas since before the American Revolution. Incorporated in 1828, Key West remained small until the 1840s when its population jumped to 2,000. By 1870 there were 5,000 residents and KeyWest was the largest and wealthiest town in Florida, primarily due to the lucrative shipwreck salvage market made possible by the treacherous Florida reefs.  read more

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Washington
In 1853, Seattle was a tiny town of one hundred residents situated on Elliot Bay in the northwestern corner of what had just become Washington Territory. However, its proximity to both water and an ancient forest, with trees as tall as 400 feet, helped Seattle develop into a thriving city of 1,200 by 1870. As the forests disappeared, the city grew, attracting a rough crowd that quickly gave Seattle a reputation for prostitution, gambling and liquor. Local government was ineffective, basic services were severely neglected and the educational system was virtually nonexistent.  read more

Exhibit graphic design by Bryan Potter Design