Foreword
The credit for this book in commemoration of the 150th year of the formation of the congregation of St. Nicholas of Tolentino at Crates, Pa. is due to the efforts of Norbert J. Aaron who encouraged us to undertake the work and who patiently taught us about the community during the short time we knew him from 1972 until 1978.
The starting point for any history about St. Nicholas and Crates is Flora Aaron's Historical Sketches of St. Nicholas Parish found in the 1928 Commemorative Booklet. It is unexcelled for accuracy, and concisely detailed information. Father Cooper and the Parish Council rightly decided it should be reproduced in part for this work, and so you will find it in the first section, together with portraits of parish priests who have served Crates. | Page 1 |
The second section is entitled "More Sketches of St. Nicholas Parish". It is meant to expand the themes developed by Flora Aaron and to up-date the history of the church and community. | Page 9 |
The third section, an especially interesting one, is an index of the parish marriage records from 1846 until 31 July 1978, and the parish death records from 1833 until 31 July 1978. | Page 67 |
The fourth section is biographical. It begins with the family histories of the donors of the stained glass windows (installed in 1893.) [sic] These biographies are followed by family histories submitted by members of the congregation. Many treasured family photographs are reproduced in this section. | Page 81 |
The fifth section is the picture history of the families who make up the congregation. | Page 127 |
The sixth section is a roster with names and addresses of the members of the congregation. | Page 136 |
The seventh section is an index listing every name found in the text of this history. | Page 138 |