Monsignor George F. Houck

Monsignor George F. Houck (1847-1916) served as Chancellor of the Diocese of Cleveland beginning in July 1877, and wrote several books detailing the early history of the diocese (which then included what is now the Diocese of Toledo). But he started out working as a clerk in his father’s boot and shoe business in Tiffin, and attended Heidelberg College for two years.

He studied at seminaries in Cincinnati and Cleveland, and was ordained in 1875. After two years as pastor at St. Joseph’s in Crestline, Bishop Gilmour named him Secretary and Chancellor of the Cleveland Diocese. Other duties included serving as Chaplain at Cleveland’s St. Vincent Hospital and ministering to prisoners at the City Workhouse. He was named a Monsignor by Pope Pius X in 1904.
(Photo and information from “Ohio’s Progressive Sons”, published in 1905)

Inscription from Monsignor Houck's tombstone in St. Joseph Cemetery, Tiffin.