150 years at St John the Baptist Catholic Church, Savage, Minnesota
By Margaret McAndrews Eustice

This year 2004, we celebrate 150 years as a parish here at St Johns..150 years of Faith flowing thru us. This morning I would like to share a story of 150 years, a century and a half, and how faith and family have lead to sharing of time, talent and treasure… Father has asked me to share with you some history and some memories of how our family, the McAndrews family came to be part of this parish…and I am honored to do this in the name of all the old pioneer families

In 1853 the parish of St John the Baptist was in its infancy. Ten pioneer Catholic families were gathering in Byrnsville to celebrate the first mass here with Fr Augustine Ravoux in the home of William Byrne, one of the area’s first settlers. The first log church was built on land donated by the Byrne family on Judicial Road just across from St John’s parish cemetery by 1854.

In that same year in famine ravaged Ireland, my grandfather, Patrick McAndrews, was born, in County Mayo.  Somehow he survived a hungry and impoverished childhood and as a young teenager came to the United States in the late 1860’s. His first job was to work in the coalmines of Pennsylvania picking shale out of the mined coal but after surviving an accident at the mine he came to this area to be near his cousin, Mary McAndrews McCann, and to farm on land just like that he’d left behind in Ireland…rocky, and poor but affordable.  The farm he purchased in Burnsville in the 1880’s is where the sight of the Ridges hospital is today, had no well for water so he carried a bucket daily to a nearby farm where neighbors Tom and Mary Walsh provided him with water from their well. There he met their newly arrived niece Mary Jordan, who came from the village of Knock in Co Mayo Ireland.

A few years later Mary and Pat were married in 1898 in St. John’s third wooden church that later burned in the 1901 fire.  Their first child, a son they named Bartley was born on April 3, 1899. For those of you who may have never experienced a really long harsh winter it is of note that Pat McAndrews took a horse and sleigh and drove from the family farm located where Cobblestone Court is today across snowy fields and across a very frozen Crystal Lake to get the doctor to deliver their first born child for the only doctor available was in Lakeville. There was no telephone of course at that time available in country homes.

Mary and Pat brought each of their six children to be baptized at St Johns and asked family and friends- the Walshes, Gallaghers, Houstons, Hayes, Connellys, McCanns,to be Godparents. Growing up these young people made their first communions, were confirmed and lived their faith. This family would never miss Sunday mass so they enjoyed   some very cold sleigh rides to Church bundled up in an old buffalo robe that Pat McAndrews had purchased from a soldier at Ft Snelling…the children walked to Savage from the Burnsville farm for weekly catechism classes or perhaps catching a ride with neighbors when they would stop for them…my dad would tell in later years how embarrassed he was to have his neighbor and class mate Clara McNearney stop and offer him a ride in her buggy… since she… was… just a girl! Simply and quietly this family, like so many of their neighbors did what was asked of them for their family and faith…Like many farm families cash was in very short supply so little gifts of produce, eggs and fresh meat in the fall when the butchering was done would be left on the door step of the rectory.

In the 1930’s when the depths of the Great depression and the terrible drought of the dust bowl days drove young people from home and family to search out a better living elsewhere, my mother Marie Fox, came to this area from Watertown, SD.  Mother’s cousins in nearby Hastings had encouraged her to apply to teach in Dakota County since wages were better here. Mother wrote to the local county school superindent who informed her that a one-room country school, District 94 in Burnsville Township, was available. Mother presented her credentials by mail and was offered the job by the school board. Without ever having visited the school, She signed a contract to teach the children of the area for the following year for a salary of $75 dollars a month; considerably more than she had earned the previous year in South Dakota. That school house was located near the present intersection of CR42 and CR 11 in Burnsville.

Marie took up residence with the Kohls family who lived near the school and who had offered a room for boarding the local teacher. When mom inquired of her good Lutheran hosts about where the nearest Catholic Church would be, she was quickly introduced her to the McAndrews family just down the road. John McAndrews was farming with his brother and taking care of his mother after his father had died.

My Mother became great friends with John, and accompanied him to country dances, movies and basket socials. In June of 1941 family and friends traveled to Watertown SD for an 9 AM wedding mass at the Fox family’s parish church, Immaculate Conception and then back to Minnesota for an evening reception and dance! 200 miles on dirt roads all in one afternoon! My mother always recalls that long day as exceptionally bright and beautiful.

My parents began their life together on a farm adjacent to the original McAndrews land. It was there that they raised me and my sisters and brother. It was here that they brought us for baptism and first communion and it was here that mother taught summer school and Saturday catechism before St John’s had a Catholic School. It was in that home that we learned our prayers, and took for granted, as all children do, our Catholic heritage and traditions that were just part of our daily lives…grace before meals, daily rosary, pictures of saints in our bedrooms and the crucifix on the wall in the dining room.

When the growth of the suburbs crossed the river to Burnsville in the early 1950’s and the southern suburbs were developed, the family farm would become part of 35W and later the farm would be home to the Target Store and lots of other shopping! When Mom and Dad retired and had time to leisurely shop, Mom would always remind Dad to note where they had parked the car and he would always reply to her that he couldn’t get lost on his own farm!

Busy lives of John and Marie included raising their children with many sacrifices made to be sure that we all attended Catholic grade and High Schools. Mother taught at St Lukes Catholic School in St Paul for many years to be able to take us along to high school just down the street at Our Lady of Peace HS.

Retirement for many couples includes plans for a condo in Florida or some other sunny spot…for my Mother and Dad the dream was to get off the farm and buy a comfortable little house that would be near a Catholic church for daily mass. They were very blessed to be able to live that dream for many years. Mother still lives just across the street and loves her daily visits for mass and prayer.

When Mother and I talk about those early days of her life in Minnesota she can hardly believe the changes that she has lived thru…the cycle of birth and death that is a part of all life…welcoming new brides and new babies.. and sadly saying our goodbye to friends, and family. Spouses, parents, and grandparents This is where our family has found such comfort in St John’s parish cemetery…I remember visits there with my parents as a little girl when we’d bring flowers in the springtime and walk thru the graves while Dad would tell stories of all the old timers who he had known and who are buried there. Mother always tried to keep us out of the poison ivy that lurked near the edges of the grounds. She recalls seeing Fr. Vaseck in the early 1950’s attacking the wretched weed with a vengeance…we’d always stop and say a prayer for those family members buried there. It’s a practice that still gives me great connection to my Dad, brother and aunts, uncles and grandparents who are buried there.. It’s our very real faith in the communion of Saints that provides a lasting link with our family and friends beyond death.

This parish was started by ten poor Irish immigrant families who were long on talent and short on treasure when they came to Minnesota to seek a new life. It would be difficult for them to recognize our parish today. Some 2800 families from diverse backgrounds and cultures are linked by a common faith as we celebrate the sacraments in this beautiful church and educate our children in our school complex.

St Johns is blessed with a diversity of cultures as we still welcome immigrant families who bring new talents and treasure. Let us embrace our future and not forget our past as together we seek to continue to keep Faith flowing thru us. 

Margaret McAndrews Eustice