Ambrose Oschwald

Who was Ambrose Oschwald?

The Reverend Ambrose Oschwald was a Roman Catholic priest. Ordained to the priesthood on August 1, 1833, Oschwald came to Wisconsin in August 1854 to form a religious haven for the members of his congregation in what later became the village of St. Nazianz, located on the present John F. Kennedy Preparatory High School property.

Oschwald led a group of German immigrants to St. Nazianz in 1854 as a religious colony. The first settlers in the Oschwald group numbered 113 and came to the United States from the Black Forest region of Baden, Germany seeking religious freedom.

The group sailed for America from Strassbourg on the Feast of Corpus Christi in 1854, on two separate ships. One of the voyages lasted 52 days, and the other took 55 days. By the time they arrived in Milwaukee by train, several of the group members had died. Oschwald bought 3,840 acres of land in Manitowoc County for $3.50 per acre. His down payment was $1,500, with the rest paid in five installments.

In late August 1854, Father Oschwald sent six men to locate the land he had purchased, and they took a boat on Lake Michigan from Milwaukee to Manitowoc, the county seat. They then headed west by oxcart, getting as far as the place where Valders now stands. They cut their way through the dense forest and arrived at their destination on August 27. The men named the site St. Nazianz, in honor of St. Gregory Nazianzus. Oschwald followed on September 1, with more men, and the group began working to clear the land and build log houses. Soon after, work started on the community's first church--named for the village's patron saint--a 32-by-24-foot structure, which was built by hand. By October 21, the church was half completed, and Oschwald presided over the first Mass. Like a monastery, members of the colony would gather there daily to pray the Divine Office in their native German.