IRISH HISTORY OF ST. PATRICK’S CHURCH

By Rev. Msgr. Robert J. Farmer
Edited by Rev. Clyde A. Lewis, Jr.

St. Patrick’s Church in Rouses Point is the only church in Clinton County named in honor of the patron saint of Ireland.

The county has a strong Irish connection, predating Irish settlements. Dublin-born Richard Montgomery, American patriot killed at Quebec, passed through Rouses Point in 1775. Father John Carroll, first Catholic bishop in the U. S., did the same in 1776 on his mission for the Continental Congress.
Irish immigrants were among the earliest settlers in the area. Many came during the Irish emigration from Quebec. The Irish, fearful of being dragged from New York vessels as rebels and traitors by the English officials, took passage in English bottoms to quasi-English soil and then crossed the line from Montreal. They settled all through the north, and particularly on the east and west shores of Lake Champlain.
Mass was offered in the home of Hugh McGuire in Plattsburgh in the early 1820's. Rouses Point was named after Jacques Rouse, settler. Rouse is an Irish name associated mainly with Northern Ireland. Irish workers came to Rouses Point in the 1840's when the railroad was built. The county was part of the Diocese of New York under Bishop John Hughes until 1847 when Albany became a diocese. Archbishop Hughes was born in County Tyrone, Ireland in 1797.

When St. Patrick’s Church was organized in 1857, three of the five trustees were Irish-American---Robert Condon, John Sweeney and John Myers. Myers was born in County Cork, Ireland around 1802. He founded the F.W. Myers Company. When the first church was built in 1858, John McCloskey, later Cardinal, was Bishop of Albany. Of Irish descent, he was born in the U.S. in 1810. Well-known pastors at St. Patrick’s were Fathers Scanlon, Conroy, Cleary, Burns, Driscoll, Pendergast, Lewis and others of Irish lineage.

The parish came under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Ogdensburg in 1872. The old church was closed in 1922 and demolished in 1923. The new St. Patrick’s Church was dedicated in 1925 by Bishop Conroy. This second church was renovated in 1967-1968 and 1998. New main and side entrances were constructed in 1990-1991.

Although this first Catholic church in Rouses Point has an Irish saint as its patron, the parish itself has never been considered an Irish parish. This is due to the fact that people of both Irish and French descent have lived here. Most came from the north from Quebec, either from the Port of Montreal or from the province itself. The Irish patron saint angle was probably due to the fact that three of the five trustees were of Irish descent.

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