When Circumstances Forces Father Hork to Leave

Father Albert Hork, my great-grandfather’s brother, was a Roman Catholic priest. He was assigned to many parishes in Nebraska, Arkansas, and Oregon. He served in Nebraska between 1888 and 1904, when the communities were small and the areas just being settled. He tended to serve those communities with German immigrant settlers.

Learning about his service from diocese records only gave the facts of locations where he served and dates of those services. Newspaper articles tended to fill in the rest of what I know. Sometimes he served as the parish priest of one church and the roving priest for neighboring church whose parish were not large enough to support a full-time priest.

He was assigned as the first full-time priest at Frances Church in Randolph, Nebraska. Before his arrival, visiting priest served the parish on an irregular basis. They might say a mass once a month, baptize any children born since the last visit, and then come back again in a month. The first priest who did that was Father Charles Mugan in 1889. Later, Father Henry Loecker came more regularly. Nick Lorge’s grocery store served as the church. In 1891, lots were purchased and a 24-by-40-foot church was built, with the first mass on Easter in 1892.

When Father Hork came in 1894 there was no rectory and he had to wait for a house to be built. A newspaper article about the centennial of Randolph described the church’s history. One story stood out about Father Hork and a hard choice he had to make.

He had been there just a short time when the Panic of 1893, drought, crop failures, and grasshoppers ravished the farms in the area, prevented his parishioners from providing for him. Though he wanted to stay, he had to make the decision to leave. He “packed his bag, blew out the sanctuary lamp and announced he was leaving.” The land agent, John Lorge, who had brought so many of the settlers to Randolph, “passed the hat and collected enough small change to buy Father Hork a few groceries.” Father Hork decided to give it another try and stayed.[1] In fact, he stayed four years. He also served the mission church in Bloomfield and said Mass on the third Sunday of the month.[2]

In 1897, he made another tough decision. He left for Santiago, Chile, hoping the climate would be good for his health because he suffered from catarrhal affections.[3] However, the conditions where were not suited for him and he returned to Randolph.[4]

#52Ancestors: Week 26 – A Hard Choice

This is my ninth year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/) at Generations Cafe. I write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

---

[1] “Pilgrimages Close to Home,” The Catholic Voice: Omaha Archdiocesan Newspaper, 7 Feb 1975, p. 12, col. 4.

[2] “City Directory--St. Francis Catholic,” The Randolph Times (Randolph, Neb), 25 Oct 1895, p. 1, col. 1.

[3] “Local Mention,” The Randolph Reporter (Randolph, Neb), 13 May 1897, p. 5, col. 3.

[4] “Local News,” The Randolph Reporter (Randolph, Neb), 10 Sep 1897, p. 5, col. 1. 

Copyright © 2011-2026 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.