Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Thienpont, Émanuel

THIENPONT, Émanuel, clergyman, b. in Belgium in 1803; d. in Logan, Hocking co., Ohio, 19 Oct., 1873. He came to the United States at an early age, studied for the priesthood, and was ordained in Cincinnati on 20 Jan., 1833. He spent the following year in preparing candidates for the priesthood, was then sent to take charge of the missions along the Miami canal, and for some time had entire charge of all the Roman Catholics in the state of Ohio. He was appointed pastor of St. Mary's, Tiffin, in 1835, and afterward of the German Catholics of Dayton, and then had charge of congregations at Portsmouth, Steubenville, and other places. He was afterward sent to Logan, and formed a new congregation in the neighborhood at Straitville. Father Thienpont was the pioneer secular priest of Ohio, and was the first to build Roman Catholic churches in Dayton, Portsmouth, Steubenville, and other places in the state.