GARRAGHAN, GILBERT JOSEPH

Historian; b. Chicago, Ill., Aug. 14, 1871; d. Chicago, June 6, 1942. His parents, Gilbert and Bedelia (Kehoe) Garraghan, sent him to St. Ignatius College, Chicago, where he earned his A.B. in 1889. He entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Florissant, Mo., Sept. 1, 1890, taking vows in 1892 and pursuing classical studies there for a year. After three years of philosophy at St. Louis University, Mo., he became instructor in Latin at Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio (1896–1901). Garraghan returned to St. Louis University for theology, was ordained on June 29, 1904, and made his tertianship at Florissant (1905–06).

Garraghan spent the next year teaching English literature in Creighton University, Omaha, Nebr., and then four years teaching young Jesuits in the juniorate at Florissant. From 1911 to 1921, and again from 1927 to 1928, he served as assistant to the provincials of the Missouri province of the Society. Residing at St. Louis University during these years, he used the opportunity to engage in historical studies and was awarded the doctorate in history in 1919. Research on the beginnings of the Catholic Church in the Midwest occupied him from 1921 to 1925. Garraghan was professor of history in the graduate school of St. Louis University (1925–32), and editor of Mid-America, a historical quarterly (1929–33). In 1932 he was made research professor at Loyola University, Chicago.

In Europe from 1933 to 1935, he collected an extensive file of documents from the archives of Italy, France, Belgium, and England. Returning to Loyola University, he completed his monumental work on the Middle Western missionary and educational activities of the Jesuits from 1673 to 1919. His historical works include Catholic Beginnings in Kansas City (1919), Catholic Church in Chicago (1921), Chapters in Frontier History (1934), Catholic Beginnings in Maryland (1934), Marquette, Ardent Missionary, Daring Explorer (1937), Jesuits in the Middle United States (3 v. 1938), and Guide to Historical Method, edited by Jean Delanglez (1946).

[j. v. jacobsen]