Rederick. Mr. Gouverneur and I also formed a pleasant acquaintance with
Rev. Dr. John McElroy, whose remarkable career in the Catholic Church is
well worthy of notice. Coming to this country as a mere lad, he engaged
in mercantile pursuits in Georgetown, D.C., and when about sixteen years
of age became a lay Jesuit and in 1817 entered the priesthood. After
ministering to Trinity church in Georgetown for several years, he was
transferred, at the request of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, to
Frederick, where he built St. John's church, a college, an academy, an
orphan asylum, and the first free school in the city. After remaining
there for twenty-three years and establishing a reputation for devotion
to his church and rare executive ability that made him one of the most
useful Jesuits in the country, he was sent back to his old church in
Georgetown and the following year went to the Mexican War as Chaplain in
the regiment commanded by Caleb Cushing. During our occasional
conversations it seemed to afford him more than usual pleasure to
discuss with me the ability of his distinguished military chief. After
the war he was sent to Boston, where he became pastor of St. Mary's
church, and built the Boston College and the Church of the Immaculate
Conception. At the age of ninety, he became blind and retired to the
scene of his early labors in Frederick, where, as the oldest Jesuit in
the world, he died in the fall of 1877. I remember meeting him one day
on the street when he proudly announced that it was his birthday and
that he was sixty-nine years of age. I knew him to be much older, and my
words of astonishment evidently revived his senses for, realizing that
he had reversed his figures, he corrected himself by adding, "I mean
ninety-six." At that time he was quite active, considering his extreme
age, and to the close of his life was much respected and beloved by the
residents of Frederick, irrespective of creed. I attended his funeral
and he was laid to rest in the bu
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