By Joanne Burns Howard
Special to The Daily News
HUBBARDSTON — The Hubbardston Area Historical Society chooses the theme of St. Patrick’s Day each year for its annual fundraiser.
This event is an annual opportunity for Irish clans to gather in “A Little Corner of Ireland” (or Hubbardston) from 5 to 10:30 p.m. Saturday, April 26, at St. John the Baptist Parish Hall to celebrate the green and to support the “Four Corner Hub” of the Hubbardston Area Historical Society (Ionia, Clinton, Gratiot and Montcalm counties).
We will feature wearing of the green, Pub Runner’s Irish music, Irish blarney and jokes, Emily Phelps’ Fantastic Hubbardston Irish Dance Troupe, The Giant Leprechaun “Liam” Lynch and Master of Ceremonies Scot Schmitt. Throughout the evening we will have a cash bar, roast beef dinner (from 5 to 7 p.m.), door prizes, double Irish chain quilt raffle (at 9 p.m.) and a “grand” atmosphere for your socializing pleasure, all organized for a perfect evening of food, fun, friends, Irish drinks and entertainment.
Joanne and Bud Howard are co-chairs of the Hubbardston Area Historical Society’s annual fundraiser, set for Saturday, April 26, at St. John the Baptist Hall in Hubbardston. — Courtesy photo
Tickets for the Pub Runners Irish Fest are $15 and tickets for the Irish quilt are $1 each or six for $5 available from Joanne or any board member. If you love Irish music, traditional Irish dance, wonderful food, an Irish toddy (or two) and the company of terrific Irish soulmates, join us.
The Hubbardston Area Historical Society was organized on Jan. 29, 2002. From our humble beginnings, the membership has grown to more than 400 members nationwide and holding steady. The first newsletter by editors Bud and Joanne Burns Howard was sent in May 2002 to 129 members. Today we mail close to 500 newsletters to libraries, historical societies, schools, churches, interested professionals and our wonderfully loyal 380 plus, paid up charter members, five-year members and growing annual membership friends.
Meetings are held on the fourth Thursday of the months of March, April (Irish Fest), May, August (Fall Social), September, October and November (Holiday Party) with excellent, enjoyable and wonderfully informative presenters. The Historical Society’s Museum Room, located in the Hubbardston Community Center on Russell Street, is open year round from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays and/or by appointment. Prayer and communion service is held at St. John the Baptist and National Historic Church at noon Tuesdays with lunch served at the museum room at 12:30 p.m. Everyone is welcome to stop by, view our collections, socialize, have lunch with us and delve into family histories.
The parish at Hubbardston (longest in continuous service in the diocese of Grand Rapids) has been in existence since 1849 when John Cowman, the first Irish Catholic arrived in North Plains Township from Ireland and eventually, with seven other families, met each Sunday evening to read the Bible and pray the rosary. But it was not until the 1980s that Father Eugene R. Fox, longtime pastor at St. John the Baptist Church (from 1938-1989) contacted Joanne Burns Howard, a graduate of St. John the Baptist High School, and asked her to write the history of the Irish Immigrant Parish at Hubbardston. St. John the Baptist Parish was officially registered with the Catholic Diocese of Detroit in 1853. The fascinating chronology of these wonderful and courageous immigrant people, their culture, and the formation of the parish needed to be available to present and future generations. The research began in 1993, but it wasn’t until 2001 that Joanne with the constant help of her husband Bud Howard, finally finished the project. By that time, the manuscript had been accepted by Laura Ashley and Robert Christianson at the Michigan Archives in Lansing as qualifying the Parish Church Complex (Church, Rectory, School, Parish Hall and Cemetery) as a Michigan and National Historic Site as a result of this research.
On June 24, 2001, the feast of St. John the Baptist, a celebration at the church and parish hall with 500 people in attendance representing all local organizations and committees from both St. John the Baptist and St. Mary’s churches served as a background for the unveiling of the Michigan Historical Sign. On Sept. 24, 2001, the Parish Complex was officially listed on the National Register as a National Historic Site. The bronze plaque citing the church complex as a National Historic Site was mounted in the church entrance on Dec. 19, 2001. The completed history of the parish was now a reality. Two printings of St. John the Baptist Parish on Fish Creek, the Beginnings were a complete sell-out.
Four months later, on the evening of Jan. 29, 2002, 12 interested people — Phillip McKenna, Peter Burns, Bud and Joanne Howard, Jack Stoddard, Mary Caris, Marie Sweet, Mark Stoddard, Patrick Quintin Cusack, Shaun and Beth O’Grady — gathered at The Celtic Path in Hubbardston at the invitation of proprietor, Patricia McCormick Baese to hold an organizational meeting to form an historical society since the interest generated by the parish history had people clamoring for more information. Philip McKenna, of McKenna Associates of Farmington Hills and a Hubbardston native, had decided that, with interest so high in the culture and history of these Irish immigrants, it was time to get the project moving. He contacted Joanne about leadership for the organization. He needed someone familiar with charitable organizations, and the knowledge and procedures of obtaining a 501c3 charitable license. Julianne Burns, associated with the Ionia Historical Society accepted Phil’s request.
At the first meeting, a slate of officers was chosen, and committees were formed to do specific necessary things. Philip McKenna and attorney Mark Stoddard accepted the legal task of obtaining the 501c3 charitable designation and license. Peter Burns, Quintin Cusack and committee began work on a mission statement. Jack Stoddard, Shaun O’Grady and Bud Howard collaborated on a name search. Marie Sweet, Mary Caris and Julianne Burns set up a system of bylaws. Joanne Howard was designated as secretary and volunteered to do a newsletter, and Pat Baese volunteered to be treasurer. Mark Stoddard and Phil McKenna donated the “seed money” to get things started. Duane Fahey, Randy Riley, Jennifer Churchill, John Fahey, Allen and Janet Kelly and Helen Hoskins came on board at a later meeting held at the parish hall where dues and responsibilities were decided.
The Hubbardston Community Center is the third location for the society, when it was finally decided that we needed space, permanency, heat and parking facilities. Mary Caris, Marie Sweet, Jack Fahey, Jack Stoddard, Nita Heppard, Bud and Joanne Howard and Barbara Mitchell are the regular staff members assuming the responsibilities at the museum room each week. Pat and Janet Burns and Allen and Janet Kelly work on every project and in addition to them we have volunteers from the community on a regular as needed basis.
The Hubbardston Area Historical Society welcomes new members and/or anyone interested in family genealogy, joining our volunteer staff or working on specific projects. For more information, contact Joanne at (989) 584-3803 or mjh655@gmail.com.