Collection: Books and Periodicals > Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins

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Title: Volume 074-3 - July 2020 Collection Type: Books and Periodicals Collection Name: Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins # of Pages: 8 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Date Scanned: 2023-12-30 11:48:45 OCR Software Version #: tesseract 5.4.1 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 04:06:34 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 04:06:34

Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

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NCHS Bulletin July 2020 Sisters also recognized the human condition of some of their patients by recording as diseases “grief” and “old age.” The disease of a woman named Amelia who lived on Main Street was listed as “poverty.” \@ x" — Sister Mary Peter Cody (Sisters of Mercy) Not surprisingly, the registers suggest that the Sisters shared the common racial and ethnic views of their times. Whites were generally given the honorific “Mrs.,” “Miss,” or “Mr.,”” while non-whites were often listed only by their names. Jordan Ousley, a Kentucky-born African American, was afforded the honorific “Mr.,” but his nationality was listed as “colored.” The abovementioned Amelia, who was Mexican, was listed only by her first name. !° The Sisters had at least one conversion as a result of their visits. During April 1871 the Sisters made numerous visits to a Chinese man by the name Ah Luck in the Nevada County jail whose religion they listed as “heathen,” and whose disease was listed as “death sentence.” On their third visit his name was recorded as “Charlie Luck,” and his religion recorded as “R.C.” (Roman Catholic) shortly before he was hanged on April 8.!° In the following decades the Sisters engaged in a series of remodeling and building projects, as the older structures no longer met their needs. Anticipating the need for expansion, in 1870 Mother Mary Baptist Morgan purchased eight acres west of Gold Hill on Brighton Street for $140, and land on Pleasant Street for $100. These expenses necessitated another “begging tour.” Three nuns traveled across Nevada, Sutter and Sierra Counties, and into Storey County, Nevada. Their efforts netted $3,000. By 1878 new orphanage buildings, St. Vincent’s for the girls, and St. Patrick’s for the boys, had been built on Brighton and Pleasant streets. In 1880 the convent’s name was changed from Convent of the Sacred Heart to Mt. Saint Mary’s Academy. And in 1894 a beautiful new chapel dedicated to St. Joseph was built on the site of the Henry Scadden house where the original Rectory had stood.!’ But there was loss as well. Many of the pioneer sisters, including Mother Mary Baptist Russell had died. Bishop Eugene O’Connell, and the Sisters’ supporter and friend, Father Thomas Dalton, both died in December 1891. Father Dalton was buried under the floor of the sacristy of St. Patrick’s Church. As the decade came to an end the Sisters were still fulfilling their mission of prayerful service with twenty Sisters and lay staff caring for 175 pupils, 100 girl orphans, and 90 boy orphans.'* They remained innovative into the 20" century by adding a Commercial Department that taught “modern methods” such as Grigg Shorthand, bookkeeping, and business writing.'® A Year of Warfare and Sickness Just five years after the Sisters celebrated their Golden Jubilee they faced a new challenge as the Spanish influenza swept through Nevada County in the fall and winter of 1918-19. The pandemic’s arrival at a time when the country was still at war would test the relationships and resources of the entire community. The Sisters and their pupils had already been doing what they could for the war effort. In July 1918 they made their commencement event a Red Cross fundraiser, donating all of the proceeds to that organization. The pupils of the school joined their public school counterparts by making Victory Pledges of donations for the war effort.”