John Walsh

“ To provide for the inrush of Irish immigrants he founded many parishes, encouraged the building of many churches, and augmented the number of his priests. The secular clergy proving insufficient, he invited the assistance of Jesuits, to whom he entrusted the large parish of St. Joseph's, in Troy. He was tireless in visiting every portion of his extensive diocese, which comprised all that territory now included in the dioceses of Albany, Syracuse, and Ogdensburg. He made provision for Catholic education by installing Religious of the Sacred Heart in Albany, and the Christian Brothers in Troy. ”

“ Quebec and Montreal, founded in the first half of the seventeenth century, were the two foci of all missionary ardour and enterprise until the consecration of Bishop Carroll in 1790, not only for Canada and the Northwest, but also for all the country adjacent to Canada, including northern and central New York as far as the stockades of Fort Orange or Albany, which from the time of the English occupation in 1664 became subject to the vicar-apostolic of London. ”

“ Albany drew numbers because of its lumber, iron, stoves, shoes, cattle, and breweries; Glens Falls attracted by its flourishing lumber activities; Ballston by its tanneries; Cohoes by its axe industry, and cotton and woolen mills; Troy by the manufacture of stoves, nails, railway iron, and collars; Schagticoke and Amsterdam by their textile manufactures. During these years facilities of communication made access to most of the diocese comparatively easy, and the people were attended by a growing ministry. ”