Mead, Nebraska History Estina

In the 1870’s, there were a number of Catholic families that had settled in the Pohocco and Estina (later called Leshara) Precincts. As Mission priests came through the area they were welcomed, given food and lodging and Mass would be offered in the homes. Father Lonergan was one of these priests, and he was to later build churches in Fremont and Elkhorn in 1877. Other priests from Fremont who served this area were Frs. P. J. Boyle, and P. McDonald. When Fremont had assistant priests, they also alternated with the priest in visiting Saunders County. These priests were Frs. J. F. Quinn and J. J. Hannan.

From 1888-1889, Father Charles Browne, a priest living at Colon, would come to the area periodically for Mass. Between times, the people would try to get to Fremont. That meant starting early in the morning, as it was a long ride. They would leave Fremont right after Mass, as they had no money to buy food for themselves or horses. Fording the river and getting over the bluffs could take a lot of time and sometimes it was late when they got home.

Other early priests from Colon serving this area were: Frs. Lawrence A. Dunphy (1889-1893), O. N. Turgeon and C. J. Quinn (1894-1899), C. A. Stickler (1899-1903), David J. Cronin (1903-1904), Michael A. Boyle (1904-1908), Joseph Stockinger (1909-1918) and John O‘Sullivan (1918-1921).

When the church at Mead was built in 1882, they would attend there. Masses at Mead were irregular, so getting to church every Sunday was a real problem.

By 1887, the group had grown and families by the names of Conrad, Kinney, Carey, McDonald, Miller, Boyle, Hannan, McCoy, Schnetzer, Feist, Golliglee, Lammel, Nau, Feuerstein, and White decided to build a church. Julia White deeded an acre of land on the northeast corner of her farm, section 26 in Pohocco for this purpose. The building began immediately.

Before the church was finished, Julia White received word that her daughter Isabelle Daniels had not survived the birth of her seventh daughter named Isabelle, also. Julia went to South Dakota and brought baby Isabelle home to raise as her own. Isabelle was the first baby to be baptized in the Estina Catholic Church.

St. Theresa was finished in 1888. This church was called St. Theresa, Church of the Seven Dolors or St. Theresa, Our Lady of Sorrows. Its common name was the Estina Catholic Church. It served well until it burned, cause unknown, on November 23, 1924.

In 1921, St. Theresa, Our Lady of Sorrows became a mission of Cedar Bluffs. The following priests served St. Theresa: Frs. Henry Wattelle (1921-1928), William A. Murphy (1929-1933), Paul Ulenberg (1933-1934), Raymond Wageman (1934-1940), Anthony Trausch (1940-1958), and John M. Kozlik (1958-1960).

On March 25, 1925, Father Wattelle requested help from the Extension Society in rebuilding the church. In July of that year, he received $1000 from the Extension Society to help defray the cost of the new $9000 structure. The new church was called St Theresa, The Church of the Little Flower of Jesus or St. Theresa, the Little Flower. Father Wattelle supervised the building and made it a replica of a chapel that he had seen in the French countryside.

This second church was destroyed by fire on February 4, 1960. All that remained of the building after the fire was the towering chimney. The preceding night the Pohocco Baptist Church located three miles west of St. Theresa, the Little Flower Church in Estina was destroyed by fire. Arson was suspected in both cases and this time an arsonist was caught. In June 1961, it was decided not to rebuild the church for two reasons. The first was that the neighboring parishes could provide for the families of Estina. The second was that the small number of families interested in rebuilding the church was not sufficient for financing the construction and the maintenance of the parish. The parishioners of St. Theresa in Estina were assigned to the Mead or Cedar Bluffs parishes.

This history has been provided by St. James Catholic Church and was created to celebrate the construction of their new parish. Please do not copy and reproduce these pages without permission of St. James Catholic Church, Mead, Nebraska 68041

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