Our documented “mission” history begins in the 1850's at St. Andrew Parish in Calaveras County located in San Andreas, California, and affiliated with the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

REV. BOBARD, from St. Andrews visits Jackson, Volcano, and Sutter Creek missions.
1854 - the first Catholic church is  built in Volcano and named in honor of St. Bridget of Ireland.
1855 - small mission church built in Jackson, deed filed by Rev. J. Rogalle in soon-to-be-formed Amador County.

REV. MICHAEL KING takes up the yoke in Volcano until 1858, when he returns to San Francisco.
1858 - Volcano church is destroyed by fire

REV. WARD takes up the mission travels and starts the drive to rebuild a church in Volcano, while he stays in Sutter Creek.

REV. JAMES COTTER continues the drive to rebuild St. Bridget in Volcano and continues to serve the other Amador County missions.

REV. JAMES BYRNE is Pastor of St. Bridget Parish and cares for missions in Sutter Creek, Jackson, and Clinton, as well as other mining towns in the area.
1860 (October 24) - The church in Volcano is finished and Archbishop Alemany from San Francisco dedicates the church to the patronage of St. Bridget, thereby making St. Bridget, Volcano, the parish center.
1862 - The mission church in Jackson is destroyed by fire.

REV. PATRICK WALSH
1867 (July) - Rev. A. Affranchini, S.J. - Italian Missionary
1867 (September) - First public school opens in Sutter Creek
1868 (May 18) - Archbishop Alemany dedicates the Church in Jackson under the patronage of St. Patrick, and thereby separates the county into two parishes.
1868 (June) - Rev. Patrick Henneberry, CPB, Assistant Pastor
1868 - St Bridget Church burns down; however the town and her people are cared for by the Parish of Immaculate Conception, Sutter Creek

REV. TIMOTHY FITZPATRICK becomes Pastor of St. Patrick Church and the Ione Valley.