Rev. John B. H. Seepe

    Rev. John B. H. Seepe, Rector of St. Mary's Church, Madison, Indiana, is a native of Hanover, Germany. He was born in 1830, and came to the United States in 1836, with his parents, who located in Cincinnati.

    He remained there until 1842, and attended the parochial school of the Holy Trinity church. He attended college at Latrobe, Pennsylvania, studied theology at Vincennes, Indiana, and was ordained Priest, in 1859, at Vincennes.

    He was first stationed at Richmond, Indiana, from 1859 to 1868, where he built St. Andrews Church and School. Subsequently he was Rector of St. James Church in Gibson County, Indiana, until 1875; afterward he was Rector of St. Gabriel's Church in Connersville, Indiana, until 1881.

    Father Seepe was appointed Rector of St. Mary's Church, of Madison, Indiana, April 22, 1881, and arrived at Madison on May 5, 1881.

    St. Mary's congregation was organized in 1850, and the church was built in 1851. The present school building -a commodious and fine building -was built in 1876, and contains four large school rooms on the first floor, and a large hall on the second floor. The congregation numbers 250 families; and the school is attended by about 200 children, and is under the care of three Ursuline Sisters and one male teacher.

    The church was renovated in 1887, and 1888, to the amount of about $3,500, and is now one of the finest church buildings in Indiana.

Source: Biographical and Historical Souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott and Washington, Indiana. By John M. Gresham & Co., 1889.