Settlers celebrate Mass in homes, the church

The following is an excerpt from the Suttons Bay Bicentennial Book, dated 1976 .

The settlement that became the village of Suttons Bay was not long “without benefit of clergy.”

Almost from its beginning it was served by missionary priests and visiting protestant ministers. The first church service without doubt was conducted by Fr. Ignatius Mrak who established the Peshawbestown Mission in 1845 and who work among the Indians and early settlers. The first protestant minister to work in this community was the Rev. V.H. Helms, a Methodist, who is said to have built one of the first three houses in the settlement, a 12-by-12-foot long cabin.