Dr.
Aristides Rodrigue
Passing
through Cambria county
on
the way to “Bloody Kansas”
Among the many tidbits of interest in the county’s earliest newspapers, the casual pursuer would be amused by the announcement that Doctor Aristides Rodrigue had ordered a barrel of fresh oysters and that everyone in town was invited to an oyster roast on Saturday next.
In fact, any mention of the good doctor in the social pages often describes his congenial personality and the loveliness of his two sisters, who married into two of the leading families of Ebensburg society during its days as a popular stop along the Western Trail in the 1840’s.
Gertrude Rodrigue of Connecticut, great-grand niece of the doctor, clears up the many mispronunciations of his name. “It’s pronounced Air-is-tee-dee Road-rig.” She writes: “Of course, the Rodrigues were pro-slavery and Catholic. This stems from the fact that Andre Rodrigue (Aristides’ father) had been a plantation owner in Santa Domingo and had many slaves.”
Born Aman Theodore Michel Aristides Rodrigue in 1810 in Philadelphia, he was the son of Jacque Andre Rodrigue and Marie Jeanne d’Orlic of LaRachelle, France.
Historian, Judge Karl Parrish, gives more details about Dr. Rodrigue’s roots: “When Philadelphia was the first city of a new nation, Andre Rodrigue escaped from the slave revolt on Santa Domingo. His son, Aritides, attended the University of Pennsylvania and became the attending physician to Fr. Demetrius Gallitzin in his final illness in 1840.”
The record shows that Aristides attended the University of Pennsylvania in 1825, making him 15 years old at the time. As his physician and friend, Dr. Rodrigue was offered a memento of Prince Gallitzin’s estate. He could choose between a religious relic and a gold watch that had belonged to the prince-priest’s father. Rodrigue chose the relic…“which is yet cherished as a sacred heirloom by one of his descendents,” according to Gertrude Rodrigue.
The slave revolt of 1795 in “San Domingo” (now Dominican Republic) is often mentioned to describe Dr. Rodrigue’s family history before arriving in Cambria County, along with the fact that the Rodrigue family was saved by the fidelity of their own slaves. Five of the slaves were brought to Philadelphia and later given their freedom. There is no mention of them by the time Aristides arrived in Cambria County in 1839-1840.
By all accounts, Doctor Rodrigue remained an ardent supporter of slavery throughout his lifetime. His many associates within the early American Catholic community counter Rodrigue’s hard line on slavery. According to Judge Parrish, Dr. Rodrigue’s friends included Bishop John Carroll (signer of the Declaration of Independence); Matthew Carey, publisher; Stephen Gerard, financier; and brother-in-law, John Hughes, Arch-Bishop of New York City.
John Hughes’ sister was married to Aristides’ brother, William. William Rodrigue was a renowned architect who, together with Hughes, built the beautiful Saint John’s Church in Philadelphia. He also assisted with the design of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.
Fr. John Hughes was a prolific pamphlet writer. Prince Gallitzin republished many of his pamphlets in Ebensburg.
To track the movements of Dr. Rodrigue and his wife, Ann Caroline Bellas of Sunbury, it is easiest to follow the birth towns of his nine children. The first was born in Pittsburgh in 1835. The next two were born in Sunbury, PA in 1837 and 1839. Between 1841 and 1847, four children were born in Ebensburg. The last two followed in Hollidaysburg in 1848 and 1850.
In November of 1839, Dr. Rodrigue wrote to his sister Aline in Philadelphia from Sunbury, PA: “I did not write a second letter to you from Ebensburg for I was very much engaged. From all appearances I think I can perhaps make my expenses the first year and with great economy clear a little after that.” About his prospects in the area, the doctor writes: “… but my main practice will be among the settlements N. & near Ebensburg & Loretto. The country is thickly studded with food farmers who are now comfortably off & most able to pay. Revd. Mr. Gallitzin told me there were upwards of 5,000 Catholics in Cambria County… There is no other physician nearer than 18 miles to Ebensburg except a young man who has lately come & bears a very bad character. ”
Joining Dr. Rodrigue in Ebensburg were his two sisters, Esther Aline (Aileen) and Marie Jeanee (Evelina). In newspaper accounts, the sisters are described as highly educated and refined. Aileen married the prosperous James C. McGuire and Evelina married Judge Robert L. Johnston. Some accounts report that the sisters operated a school for girls, but the location of the school has never been discovered.
While living in Ebensburg, the popular physician also brought his father Andre to live here. Andre is buried in Holy Name Cemetery, along with two of Aristides’ infant children. According to a letter written by Lizzie Linton, Dr. Rodrigue lived in the house owned by Johnston Moore on East High Street. In his letter to his sister, Dr. Rodrigue described an arrangement he had with a local druggist wherein they split the profits of all the drugs the doctor sold.
In 1854, Dr. Aristides Rodrigue abruptly moved his family to Kansas. Along with Colonel Albert Boone, grandson of Daniel Boone, they acted as government agents “to explore the valley of Kansas,” their object being primarily to locate claims for themselves and incidentally to select an eligible site for the capitol of the Kansas Territory.
Within three years (1857), Dr. Rodrigue would die in Kansas of gastritis, but not before making his mark on the history of what came to be known as “Bloody Kansas.”
It was reported in the Hollidaysburg newspaper that Dr. Rodrigue’s motivation for moving to Kansas was his health, but it is entirely possible that he was attracted to the new territory that lay at the center of the national debate between pro-slavery and “free-staters.” Once there, his pro-slavery views would have an impact on the fledgling territory. Dr. Rodrigue and Colonel Boone founded the town of Lecompton (originally called Bald Eagle) and it soon became the center of the pro-slavery movement.
Lecompton became the capitol of the Kansas Territory. It would later be called “the political birthplace of the American Civil War.” Dr. Rodrigue became the town’s first Postmaster. It is not known whether or not he practiced medicine there. He gained the contract to build the state capitol complex buildings with a $50,000 federal grant. Only the basement and first floors were completed. Dr. Rodrigue also built a large three-story hotel known as The Rowena. 19-year-old Andrew Rodrigue worked closely in business with his father and subscribed to his pro-slavery views.
The Lecompton Constitution declared Kansas a Pro-Slavery State. It was supported by Democratic President James Buchanan but failed in the Republican-controlled U.S. House. The Lecompton Constitution, the Kansas-Nebraska Act (which declared Kansas as a free state) and the "Bleeding Kansas" turmoil were all major points of contention during the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Lecompton is mentioned in the debates 51 times.
Just as things were heating up in “Bloody Kansas,” Dr. Rodrigue died of gastritis at the age of 47. He was buried in the town he founded and his son Andrew took over his duties as postmaster. Within a year, Andrew was killed in a scuffle outside of the Star Saloon. Ann Caroline Rodrigue moved her remaining family back east to Woodbridge, NJ. Kansas joined the Union in 1861 and Topeka became the new capital. The foundations of the Lecompton capitol complex became the buildings for Lane University.
In 1907, Kansas historian Ely Moore quoted a talk he had with Dr. Rodrigue about his founding of Lecompton. In Rodrigue’s words: “From the time we left the lake, some five miles east of here, until we reached what is now known as Court House Hill, we rode through a delightful summer shower. When we arrived at this point, the sun was some two hours high, the sky blue and cloudless, the tree foliage clean and sparkling, the flowers smiling, and the wild birds proclaiming to us glad tidings of great joy. To the right of us the Grasshopper Creek and the Delaware and Kaw lands studded with mighty timber, to the north of us the blue bluffs on the Delaware reservation, to the east and west the Kansas River in its hurried race to join its sister, the Missouri, and almost at our feet nature had molded with both art and skill a natural habitation for a multitude of God’s children.
Here where we stand will be our courthouse, here and on yon western hill the resident portion; there, on that elevated plateau, the capitol of our state, and in the center for miles south will be our business mart. Look, he said to his associates, with what cunning fingers nature has shaped the drainage, which vouchsafes health, and with health, and prosperity, we will rest– our mission ended. May God bless our endeavors.”
As Rodrigue and Colonel Boone stood atop this hill, they named the town for the Bald Eagle flying circles above their heads. Later it was changed to Lecompton in honor of the territory’s first federal judge.
In the June 12, 1857 edition of the Lecompton Weekly Union, Aristides Rodrigue’s death is described as: “Tranquil in the integrity of a good conscience and the hopes of Christianity, he died as only the noble and good may die.” In 1942, the remains of Aristides and Andrew Rodrigue were moved from the Bald Eagle Cemetery to make way for a road. They were re-interred in the family mausoleum in Woodbridge New Jersey.
In an ironic twist of fate, Woodbridge, N.J. is the site of “what may be said to be the first antislavery meeting ever held in the United States” (Woodbridge, New Jersey website). The meeting was held in 1783 on the farm of Moses Bloomfield, a surgeon in the Continental Army.
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