HOLY FAMILY: CHURCH CHRONICLES BLACK CATHOLIC CHURCH

A new book on the Holy Family Catholic Church chronicles black genealogy in Cape Girardeau.

The book includes records from the church and the diary of the Rev. Willis F. Darling, who was pastor of the church.

Local historians and genealogists Sharon K. Sanders and Diana Steele-Bryant have compiled the information, which serves as both a record of black Catholic families and a historical account of the building of a church and the man who helped make it happen.

"There was no system or organized reference materials for blacks in Cape Girardeau to research their families," Sanders said. "This is an attempt to start that and to preserve these records."

In addition, Steele-Bryant said, the story of Father Darling makes for good historical reading.

Holy Family was a mission for St. Vincent Catholic Church to serve south Cape and the black community. The church was established in 1940 and built at 1507 S. Sprigg.

Darling was teaching Greek and French at the St. Vincent's Seminary and was chosen to lead this new congregation.

Darling left Holy Family in 1944, called to a black parish in New Orleans. Now 90, he lives at the seminary in Perryville.

The Holy Family congregation and school thrived for 20 years, until, in an era of desegregation, the school was closed and church members absorbed into other congregations.

Steele-Bryant first met Darling while researching Catholic genealogy. Records of the Holy Family church, including Darling's diary, were being archived and sent to Chicago. They would have been lost to local researchers, so she got a copy.

Steele-Bryant said: "I grew to love this guy. I wanted to preserve this story.

A group of children came to Darling and wanted to start its own church for black Catholics. His diary chronicles the daily events that led to the opening of the church and through the congregation's first years.

"He writes about the hardships of starting the church, feeling isolated, and the children. He had a true passion for the children. He was really ahead of his time," Steele-Bryant said.

In addition, Sanders said, the diary chronicles the times. "It was a hard time to be building a church -- during the war. Supplies were difficult to obtain."

The diary talks about canceled church services because Darling didn't want to compete with local Fourth of July celebrations. He also talks about the extension cord run from Joe Seyer's house to power the church until the electricity was connected.

Records also include those who were baptized, confirmed, married and buried.

The pair took each name and did further research through city directories, county census records, tax lists, obituaries and news articles in an attempt to piece together as much information as possible.

"We have close to 1,200 names," Steele-Bryant said. "That is quite a database."

Copies of the book will be donated to the Cape Girardeau Public Library and the genealogy library at the Riverside Regional Library in Jackson. They were printed at Concord Publishing and can be purchased from Sanders or Steele-Bryant.