First Mass in Ohio

First Mass in Ohio. . , In the Fall of 1808, Father Edward Fenwick, a Dominican priest, met Jacob Dittoe on this site and offered the Holy Mass for his family and their kinsmen, the Fink family. Dittoe had written to Bishop John Carroll, the first Catholic bishop in the United States, requesting that a priest be sent from Baltimore, Maryland to administer the blessed sacraments of baptism, confession, and marriage. In response, Father Fenwick searched for the Dittoe family on his way through Ohio and following the sound of an axe, found Dittoe in these woods. This meeting was so emotional that Fenwick always recounted the event with tears in his eyes. It was the beginning of the labors of Father Fenwick as the Apostle of Ohio and the birth of the Catholic Church in this state. , (Continued on other side), (Continued from other side) , Jacob Dittoe and John Fink settled in this area during 1804 after they married sisters, Catherine and Mary Sneeringer, in Conewago Chapel, near Hanover, Pennsylvania. Jacob's brother Anthony also settled nearby. In November of 1807, Jacob Dittoe purchased the northern portion of the east half of Section 19 in Reading Township. This tract, on the north side of Zane's Trace, now Stagecoach Road, contained this historic site. This homestead remained in the Dittoe family until 2000. The humble beginnings of the First Mass led to the establishment of the First Church in the State of Ohio, St. Joseph's, by Father Edward Fenwick on land donated by the Dittoes. Fenwick later became the first bishop of the Cincinnati diocese and as a result of his apostolate, there are now 2.1 million Catholics in Ohio., [Dedicated] September 28, 2008