Summary

Volume 38 prints Rev. Robert W. Brown’s historical sketch of the Diocese of Grand Rapids. Its roster for Bishop Henry Joseph Richter’s 1883 assumption of the new diocese lists “Beaver Island—Rev. Peter Gallagher.” Later in the same sketch, Brown says the Franciscan Fathers had charge of Beaver Island, with a resident pastor.

The volume also prints W. Lee Jenks’s county-name history, which retrospectively places the final disorganization of Manitou County in 1895 and assigns the Manitou and Fox islands to Leelanau County and the Beaver Islands to Charlevoix County.

The evidence documents island-level Catholic pastoral administration at two points in Brown’s account. It does not name a particular Beaver Island parish, identify Rev. Peter Gallagher with any other man of that name, date the later Franciscan arrangement precisely, or establish that either statement concerns a particular language practice. Jenks’s county account does not replace the underlying dissolution statute or settle the full administrative chronology.

Sources

W. Lee Jenks, “History and Meaning of the County Names of Michigan,” *Michigan Historical Collections*, vol. 38 (1912), p. 472, Internet Archive item michiganhistoric38mich.
Described in this archive: Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society collections corpus.
Printed p. 472 image checked. Jenks retrospectively says Manitou County was disorganized in 1895, with the Manitou and Fox islands incorporated into Leelanau County and the Beaver Islands into Charlevoix County. This is a 1912 narrative account, not the 1895 enrolled statute or a complete account of intervening attachments, township boundaries, or implementation.
page_evidence · michigan_historical_collections_vol38_p472_leaf515
Rev. Robert W. Brown, “Historical Sketch of the Diocese of Grand Rapids,” *Michigan Historical Collections*, vol. 38 (1912), pp. 514, 516, Internet Archive item michiganhistoric38mich.
Described in this archive: Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society collections corpus.
Printed p. 514 image checked. Brown’s roster of priests under Bishop Henry Joseph Richter when he took charge of the newly created Diocese of Grand Rapids in 1883 lists “Beaver Island—Rev. Peter Gallagher.” The list supplies an island-level assignment only: it does not name a parish, give the priest’s biographical identity, or connect him to a later reported Gaelic-Mass account.
page_evidence · michigan_historical_collections_vol38_p514_leaf561
Rev. Robert W. Brown, “Historical Sketch of the Diocese of Grand Rapids,” *Michigan Historical Collections*, vol. 38 (1912), p. 516, Internet Archive item michiganhistoric38mich.
Described in this archive: Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society collections corpus.
Printed p. 516 image checked. Brown says the Franciscan Fathers then had charge of Petoskey, Harbor Springs, and Beaver Island, each with a resident pastor. His wording establishes a later institutional arrangement but provides no date for “at present,” no parish name, and no individual pastor’s name.
page_evidence · michigan_historical_collections_vol38_p516_leaf563

Added 2 August 2026 · revised 4 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Michigan Historical Collections, volume 38, 1912”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/documents/michigan-historical-collections-volume-38/, accessed [date], citing W. Lee Jenks, “History and Meaning of the County Names of Michigan,” *Michigan Historical Collections*, vol. 38 (1912), p. 472, Internet Archive item michiganhistoric38mich. (and 2 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-04. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

BibTeX for “Michigan Historical Collections, volume 38, 1912”RIS for “Michigan Historical Collections, volume 38, 1912”