A photo of the landscape near Tuckahoe Creek
Tuckahoe Mission
Father Mosley’s Tuckahoe Mission was located at present-day 13209 Church Lane near Cordova, Maryland in Talbot County. The old St. Joseph’s Catholic Church constructed in 1782 and rebuilt in 1903 as well as the adjacent cemetery can be visited. Portions of the original church are incorporated into the rebuilt church. Father Mosley was responsible for the entire Eastern Shore. He had eight congregations anywhere from 10-90 miles away. The six closest -- none greater than 24 miles from his small house and chapel at Tuckahoe - were visited every two months. Mosley's journal is the only existing record today of named Eastern Shore Acadians served sacramentally from 1765 to 1773.
Obviously, Father Mosley's mission area was too vast to be covered by horseback for regular ministry. This daunting task with one missionary and a "mere medley of English, Irish, Scotch, French, Dutch and Country-born" shows how primitive ministry and record-keeping were in those days. Mosley's humble house was located in the proximity of Tuckahoe Creek and just a short few miles from the Wye River.
Obviously, Father Mosley's mission area was too vast to be covered by horseback for regular ministry. This daunting task with one missionary and a "mere medley of English, Irish, Scotch, French, Dutch and Country-born" shows how primitive ministry and record-keeping were in those days. Mosley's humble house was located in the proximity of Tuckahoe Creek and just a short few miles from the Wye River.
Old St. Joseph's Church (constructed in 1782 after the Acadian exile), is the countryside mission near Cordova, MD where the Jesuit Father Joseph Mosley served from the 1760s to his death 1787
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St. Joseph's Church sign, by Highway 404, next to the country road that leads to the church. Note that the Maryland Historical Society was responsible for the signage.
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A page from Father Joseph Mosley's journal of baptisms, marriages, and burials. This one has 4 weddings from late-1765 and early-1766
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The above page from Father Mosley's journal has four weddings from late-1765 and early-1766: Vincent Landry and Susanna Godin, Joseph Hebbert (Hébert) and Anne Mary Landry, Amant Babin and Anastasia Landry, Joseph Goudrau and Ann Tibodot. The last wedding was witnessed by "All ye French of New-Town, Kent Co." Newtown is known today as Chestertown, which is second only to Annapolis in surviving 18th century structures.
The Joseph Hebbert on the Mosley marriage register was from Georgetown, while his bride Anne Marie Landry was apparently from Oxford. Joseph Goudreau was from Newtown and bride Anne Tibodot was in Snow Hill in 1763 and probably in Philadelphia with her father Charles in 1764 when her grandfather married Madeleine Doiron. Together, these weddings demonstrate Father Mosley's missionary reach within Acadian communities in Maryland.
Site contributor Greg Wood postulates that Susanna Godin's spouse, Vincent Landry, might have been her step-brother. Susanna was living in Oxford in 1763. Finally, Anastasie Landry, who married Amant Babin, was from Oxford, and, most probably Amant as well.
The above page from Father Mosley's journal has four weddings from late-1765 and early-1766: Vincent Landry and Susanna Godin, Joseph Hebbert (Hébert) and Anne Mary Landry, Amant Babin and Anastasia Landry, Joseph Goudrau and Ann Tibodot. The last wedding was witnessed by "All ye French of New-Town, Kent Co." Newtown is known today as Chestertown, which is second only to Annapolis in surviving 18th century structures.
The Joseph Hebbert on the Mosley marriage register was from Georgetown, while his bride Anne Marie Landry was apparently from Oxford. Joseph Goudreau was from Newtown and bride Anne Tibodot was in Snow Hill in 1763 and probably in Philadelphia with her father Charles in 1764 when her grandfather married Madeleine Doiron. Together, these weddings demonstrate Father Mosley's missionary reach within Acadian communities in Maryland.
Site contributor Greg Wood postulates that Susanna Godin's spouse, Vincent Landry, might have been her step-brother. Susanna was living in Oxford in 1763. Finally, Anastasie Landry, who married Amant Babin, was from Oxford, and, most probably Amant as well.