L.A. Carroll
REV. FATHER L.A. CARROLL, priest in charge of St. Mary�s Catholic Church at Kittanning, was born July 9, 1873, at Allegheny City, Pa., son of Michael and Catherine (Campbell) Carroll. The parents were born in County Down, Ireland, and came to the United States in the sixties, during the Civil war. Mr. Carroll became a traveling salesman, and continued in that line for many years.
Father Caroll attended public school in the fifteenth ward of Allegheny City, and later at Herman, Butler Co., Pa., and is a graduate of the college of St. Fidelis, at Herman. From there he entered St. Vincent Seminary, in Westmoreland county, Pa., where he completed his theological studies, and he was ordained priest at Connellsville, Pa., continuing there for two years, when he was transferred to Wilkinsburg, and still later was placed in charge of the church at West Newton, Pa. During the great strike at Monessen, Pa., he was in charge of the Catholic Church there, and for a time was assistant priest at Irwin, Pa. During the Typhoid epidemic at Butler, Pa., he was transferred to that city, and did heroic work among the sick and dying, working day and night regardless of creed. Probably no man did more to relieve suffering, soothe the pillow of the dying, and finally stamp out the disease, than he. His heroism, kindness of heart and purpose and knowledge of sanitary requirements will long be remembered by the grateful people of Butler. In 1904 he was placed in charge of St. Mary�s at Kittanning. Here, as elsewhere, his efforts have been rewarded, for the parrish is in a flourishing condition. When he took charge his congregation consisted of about forty families, but at present he has two hundred enrolled as members of the church. In 1907 he built a parochial school edifice, a four-room brick structure, with four sisters of St. Joseph as teachers. There are two hundred pupils in the school. The church building has been greatly improved by interior decorating and exterior painting. An earnest, devout man, Father Carroll is also a good business manager, and his parish shows the results of his energy and foresight on every side.
Source: Pages 904-905, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed November 1998 by Nanci Michalkiewicz for the Armstrong County Beers Project
Contributed for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format, for any presentation, without prior written permission.Return to the Beers Project
Return to the Armstrong County Genealogy Project
Return to the Armstrong County Genealogy Project
Return to the Armstrong County Genealogy Project