52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 46: Poor Man – The Poor Health of Rev. Albert M. Hork

This is my second year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

Although I do not have many rich people in my family, no one is really very poor either. So I settled on writing about poor health. Throughout his life, my great-granduncle, Rev. Albert M. Hork, had poor health. He died of interstitial nephritis, which is an inflammation in the kidney. The attending doctor did not know how long Albert had this condition. Contributory to this was gastritis (an inflammation of the protective lining of the stomach) and anemia. He was only fifty-eight years old.[1]

My great-grandfather, Johan Anton Hork, came to the U.S. in 1870 aboard the SS Idaho.[2] For the longest time I had thought he was the only one who came to America. However, a news article about his death in Sheridan, Wyoming in 1906, mentioned a brother in Kearney, Nebraska.[3] Over the next few years, I worked at finding this brother.

I found the Rev. Albert M. Hork in a Kearney, Nebraska directory covering 1890-91. This index indicated that he moved to Central City, Nebraska.[4]  I wrote to St. James Catholic Church in Kearney, and received a reply that Father Hork was recorded as baptizing children from September 1888 to June 1890.[5] A letter written to the current pastor of St. Michael Catholic Church in Central City, Nebraska revealed that Father Albert served there from 1890 to 1891.[6]

Next, I wrote to the Diocese of Omaha, Nebraska, asking about Rev. Albert M. Hork, and received a biography written 20 October 1902, in his own hand. He was born 10 August 1853 in Oberhundem.[7] This was the same village my great-grandfather, Johan Anton Hork was from.[8]

The biography gave his education details and where he was ordained. He then listed the places he served up to that time: Central City, Ridgeley, Randolph, Menominee, St. Libory, which are all in the Omaha Diocese.

Once I had details about his birth, it was easier to discover more about where he lived. In 1894-1898, he was pastor of St. Frances de Chantal Church in Randolph, Nebraska.[9] He served the St. Libory Church from 1899 to 1903 and he was in charge of the building of a new church after their earlier church was destroyed by fire.[10]

He was at the St. Louis parish in Gervais, Oregon from 1908 to 1910.[11] According to his obituary, he came to Oregon on account of his health. He worked at St. Louis but by 1910, his health became “so poor that it was necessary for him to retire from active service.”[12] Another obituary, found in the Catholic Sentinel, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Portland, stated that in the early 1870s he had ill health and left Holland for America. He worked in Brooklyn a while but “owning to the shattered condition of his health” he went on to Omaha “to recuperate and labored for a number of years, with many interruptions, on account of his extreme nervousness.”[13] It was probably his “intimate and trusted friend,” Rev. A. Hillebrand, pastor of St. John’s in Oregon City, who gave the information about his health.

Even though he had poor health throughout most of his life, he seemed to prosper well in the places he served. In St. Libory, he was responsible for the building of the new church in 1900.[14] He was listed as speaking English on census records, but also spoke German. An article in a Kearney newspaper stated he “has been doing a good work by advertising the country around Kearney in the German newspapers. As a result, has a number of inquiries from farmers, whom he will endeavor to direct to his rural parish in Prairie Center.”[15] He also served Germans at the Elm Creek location.[16]

I wish I knew more about the “nervousness” that Albert had. His nephews, Frank and Ray, both had psychological issues and Frank lived at the Montana State hospital for at least three decades. And their father, Anton, was an acute alcoholic. All I can do is use clues from records that are available.

Rev. Albert M. Hork rests peacefully in the cemetery at the Covent of the Sisters of St. Mary’s in Beaverton, Oregon.[17]

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[1] Portland, Oregon, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificate of Death, Washington Co, John A. Hork, 26 May 1912. He was born Johan Albert Horoch, and used the name Albert M. Hork in the United States.

[2] "Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com), film 336, 5 Nov 1870, SS Idaho, line 39, no. 1030, Joh Hork.

[3] "The Carbolic Route," The Sheridan (Wyoming) Enterprise, 17 Aug 1906, p 3.

[4] “Kearney, Nebraska Directory, 1890-91,” database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com), 1890, Rev. Albert M. Hork.

[5] Shirley Bonk, Secretary, St. James Catholic Church to Lisa S. Gorrell, 5 Jul 2001.

[6] Nelson A. Newman, pastor, St. Michael Catholic Church, Central City, Neb. to Lisa S. Gorrell, 24 Jun 2001.

[7] Rev. Michael F. Gutgsell, Moderator of the Curia/Chancellor, Archdiocese of Omaha, to Lisa S. Gorrell, Biographical Sketch of Albert Hork, 1902.

[8] Kirchenbuch, 1649-1874, Katholische Kirche Oberhundem (Kr. Olpe), Baptism, p. 139, no. 36, Johann Anton Horoch, 1843, FHL Intl 1257842, pg 139, taufen 1826-1847; Mikrofilme aufgenommen von Manuskripten im Bistumsarchiv Paderborn.Kein Verleih an europische Genealogie-Forschungsstell.

[9] Carol Dowling, Secretary, Saint Jane Frances de Chantal Catholic Church to Lisa S. Gorrell, 28 Aug 2001.

[10] “Diamond Jubilee of St. Libory’s Catholic Church and Dedication of the New St. Libory Church,” booklet printed 31 May 1954, p. 29.

[11] Brenda M Howard, member St. Louis Parish, Gervais, Oregon to Lisa S. Gorrell, 13 May 2003.

[12] “Veteran Pastor is Dead,” Oregonian (Portland), 28 May 1912, p. 14.

[13] “The Late Father Hork,” Catholic Sentinel, 6 Jun 1912, p. 4.

[14] “Diamond Jubilee of St. Libory’s Catholic Church and Dedication of the New St. Libory Church,” p. 29.

[15] “Personals,” The Kearney Daily Hub, 16 Jul 1889, p. 4, digital image, Newspaper.com (https://newspaper.com).

[16] “Personals,” The Kearney Daily Hub 31 May 1890, p. 8, digital image, Newspaper.com (https://newspaper.com).

[17] I visited the cemetery in 2010 and took a photo. The birthdate is incorrect, but because the center of the stone is made of different material than the outer part, it is likely the stone was damaged in the move from the previous location of the cemetery, that was moved when the K-Mart was built.

Copyright © 2019 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.