Biographies Source:
Memorial Record of the
Counties of
Delaware, Union and Morrow, Ohio
- Illustrated -
Publ: Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company,
1895. <
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REV. JOHN G.
VENNEMAN, priest in charge of Our Lady of Lourdes
Roman Catholic Church, Marysville, Ohio, a man of ripe
scholarship and marked executive ability, whose life has
been consecrated to the cause of his Master and the
uplifting of men, must of a surety be accorded mention in
this connection. Father Venneman is a native of
the Buckeye State, having been born at Cincinnati, Feb. 17,
1835. His parents, both of whom are now deceased; were
J. G. Venneman and Catherine (Washford) Venneman, who
were of Holland descent, and who were for many years
residents of Evansville, Indiana, where the father was a man
of prominence, having been engaged in the wholesale grocery
business. He was a pioneer in this line of enterprise
at Evansville. Our subject is one of seven children,
four of whom are living. He passed his childhood days
at Evansville, and upon attaining the age of eleven years he
has placed at St. Xavier College, Cincinnati, where he took
the preliminary course of instruction, after which he
entered St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, where he
graduated at the early age of seventeen years. Soon
after his graduation, our subject went to Boston for the
purpose of taking up a course of theological study, with a
view to preparing himself for holy orders. He
completed his divinity course in 1867, was duly graduated,
and after a time proceeded to Leavenworth, Kansas, where he
was presented and ordained to the order of priesthood by the
Bishop of Kansas, Rt. Rev. J. B. Meige. In the
interim between his graduation and ordination Father
Venneman had not been idle. In 1855 he became a
teacher in the Jesuit college at Spring Hill, Alabama, where
he remained for two years, at the expiration of which time
he was transferred to St. Xavier College, Cincinnati, and
subsequently to St. Joseph's College, Kentucky. After
his ordination he continued in the educational field for a
time, becoming a professor at St. Ignatius College,
Chicago, and holding the office as director of the
institution for two years. After this he was retained
in charge of the department of poetry at St. ouis University
for a period of four years, thereafter entering upon the
more specific exercise of his priestly functions by going as
missionary to Alabama, visiting the rude settlements in the
great pine forests of that State, encountering many
vicissitudes and enduring many hardships and inconveniences.
He continued his work for three years, and then came North
and conducted missions in several of the Eastern cities,
after which he went to Helena, Montana, and took charge of
all the missions and stations between that point and Miles
City covering a distance of nearly 600 miles. This
heavy burden he bore for about four years, being on the road
more than 300 days in each year, in all kinds of weather and
with the mercury ranging at times between thirty and fifty
degrees below zero. He also did missionary duty in
Wyoming Territory for somewhat more than a year, after which
he came to Marysville, where he has since resided, not
resting from arduous till, but laboring in a more quiet,
peaceful field, not marked for so great a physical tension
as super induced to that of the mind.
While in Montana Father Venneman erected two
churches, one at Miles City and one at Boulder City, also
beginning the erection of a third. The Church of Our
Lady of Lourdes was established in Marysville about thirty
years ago, being for a number of years in charge of the
priests from Columbus, Delaware, and Urbana, Ohio.
About 1870, the first resident pastor, Father Paul,
was secured, and since that time the charge has had regular
incumbents, viz.: Fathers Keffmeyer, Menke, Mazuret,
Murphy, Dexter and Hickey. Our subject was
assigned to this parish in 1891, and he also has charge of
the church organizations at Milford Center, Mechanicsburg,
Woodstock, North Lewisburg, and Irwin, the total membership
in the churches under his charge aggregating nearly one
hundred families. The church in Marysville has now a
membership of about twenty families, and its affairs are in
a prosperous condition. The church building, which is
merely a chapel, was erected many years ago, and has proved
inadequate for the accommodation of the parishioners, who
look forward to the erection of a modern and commodious
edifice in the near future.
Father Venneman has been quite an extensive
traveler, having visited Mexico, California, and the
European continent. He attended the great
International Exposition at Paris, and subsequently made an
extended tour through the southern part of the continent.
A man of courteous bearing, genial in manner, and a fluent
and interesting conversationalist, he bears his years
lightly, appearing in full score of years younger than he
really is. He is still an assiduous student, and
maintains a high interest in literature, having devoted his
time, while in educational work, principally to teaching the
languages and literature. His private library is one
which shows his fine literary tastes, and is very
comprehensive and admirably selected. A man who is
true to his faith and charitable in all his dealings with
his fellow men, Father Venneman holds not only the
love of his own parishioners, but has the respect and esteem
of all who know him.
~ Page 241 - Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union and
Morrow, Ohio - Illustrated - Publ: Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1895. |
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