The following excerpt is from “A Century of Christianity on the Dakota Prairies” written by Fr. Albert Binder in 1970.

Fort Abercrombie was established in 1858 and re-established in 1860. Some of the garrison were Catholics, and from time to time an itinerant missionary would stop at the fort and minister to the Catholics there. Thus, it is reported that in 1862 a Catholic priest arranged for the delivery of a 12-year old boy who had been captured by the Sioux.

In the late 1860’s the Red River was a highway for commerce. Freight moved by river boat and by ox cart trails paralleling its course. Breckenridge was the southern terminus, and such places as Georgetown were stations along this route of commerce. Most of the early towns were located on the Minnesota side.

It was on the Minnesota side of the Red that Holy Cross Mission, too, had its inception. “Holy Cross Township” in Clay County still attests to this fact by its very name. This mission was established quite likely in 1868. A note in the old baptismal register of the parish reads, “Msgr. Ritchot of St. Boniface said Mass at Holy Cross—then situated on the East of the Red River—Minnesota—in 1868”.

The priest who established this mission was J.B. Genin, an Oblate missionary. Born in France in 1837, he emigrated to Canada in 1860. In 1865 he journeyed to St. Boniface along with Bishop Henri Farrand, OMI. They came by way of Fort Abercrombie, and on May 7, 1865, they began a three day mission to the Catholics at the Fort. On May 21 they reached St. Boniface, and then went to Ille la Crosse, where Genin remained at least until the summer of 1866.

In 1867 Genin began to make Fort Abercrombie his headquarters. On May 16, 1867, he wrote from Fort Abercrombie to Bishop Tache of St. Boniface, who was the superior of the Oblate Fathers in the area, saying that he had heard 60 confessions and given 38 communions. He said nearly all the soldiers at the Fort were Catholic and mentioned that he planned to say Mass at the camp of the half-breeds the following day.

He began to make plans to establish a mission north of the Fort. In December of 1867 he wrote that there were about 100 families between the Fort and the Buffalo River. In April of 1868 his letters began to talk of plans for a church and in June he wrote that he and McCauley, a prominent settler, and the people at the Fort decided that the best site for the chapel was at the “Riviere la Folle”, 18 or 20 miles away, because there was more lumber there, and the ground was higher. In September he reported that his home at the Wild Rice river was half completed. This is all in reference to the Holy Cross Mission in Clay County, Minnesota.

Genin was drawn to another apostolate, however—that of ministering to the Indians. Bishop Tache wished him to remain where he was, caring for the half-breeds and white settlers. But, increasingly, Genin would devote time to the Indians and neglect the settlers who were now beginning to establish homes on the west side of the Red as well as on the east. The priest dreamed of establishing an Indian mission on the west side of the Red, near the junction of the Wild Rice. Indeed, he claimed that he had assurances from government officials that he would be allotted 1½ miles of Indian land—some 400 acres assured him by squatters rights. He actually built a chapel there in 1870, but it burned down in the spring of 1871. Apparently, this is the chapel noted on the government survey.

Genin did not get along well with the new settlers. Some of them gained title to the land he regarded as his by squatters rights, and which he had planned to use as an Indian mission—land to which he never did have clear title. He began to neglect Holy Cross Mission, either to work among the Indians, or to establish churches in other towns which were springing up rapidly. After 1871, it was Father Simonet of Pembina perhaps more than Father Genin who cared for the French-Canadian settlers. Thus in April of 1872, Father Simonet wrote to Bishop Tache that the people at Holy Cross were heart-broken at the absence of Father Genin. Meanwhile, Father Genin built churches at White Earth, at Detroit Lakes, and at Moorhead. Another source of friction between Father Genin and his flock was the erection of a new church. It would seem that he wanted the church built immediately, while they in turn did not wish to build until they were assured of regular visits by a priest. This second church was begun in 1872, but apparently was not completed until 1875. According to old-time residents, this church was not located at the same site as the first church, but stood near the Red River in what is now the “Forest River” sub-development, formerly part of the Richard Johnson farm.

Genin’s interests became even more far-flung. He took care of missions in both Duluth and Bismarck, and indeed for the years 1875 through 1882, the Catholic Directory lists him as resident in Duluth.

This founder of Holy Cross mission is an enigmatic character. He was a dabbler in politics, and was appointed as first postmaster of Holy Cross, Clay County, on August 4, 1869. He was constantly plagued with financial problems, many of them due to his own unwise expenditures. He was a dreamer, who for a while collected rock samples in the area and hoped for a mining industry to develop. Yet he was tireless as he traversed frontier territory from Duluth to Bismarck. He was devoted to the Indians, and for a while at least, his influence was highly appreciated by some of the government Indian agents. He published rather glowing accounts of his work among the Indians in a New York Catholic paper. He claimed to be very influential with the Sioux, particularly with Sitting Bull. But some other early missionaries in Dakota put little credence in Genin’s claims, and he remains a controversial figure. He died in Bathgate, North Dakota, January 18, 1900.

Genin’s first charges in addition to the soldiers at the fort, had been Indians and half-breeds, and a few pioneers on the Minnesota side of the Red River, but in 1869 there arrived on the west side of the Red River the first French-Canadian settlers—men who came, not to hunt or to trap, but to establish permanent homes and farms.

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