Father Foretnick and Slavtown,California

Father Francis Foretnick, an Austrian priest and late pastor of St. Charles Church in Monterey, took over the pastorate of the San Andreas Mission in July of 1854. Father Foretnick found himself the pastor of both Calaveras and Amador Counties. It is not known if Father Foretnick was Croatian, but Foretnick is a Slavic name and he certainly knew the Slavic languages of the Austian-Hungarian Empire of which included Croatian.

On his trip northward into Amador County, Father Foretnick, leaving the Mokelumne River, first stopped a what was called Butte City at the top of the grade. On his journey back to San Andreas in 1854, the missionary did not retrace his steps through Jackson, but took the trail that cut off by Clinton, where there were many Frenchmen and Mexicans, and the beginning of an Italian colony. Close to Clinton were the smaller settlements of Baldhill and Slabtown (Slavtown?) and a section which was called Irishtown.

Back again in San Andreas, after his trip through the mining camps of Amador county, Father Foretnick found himself still facing the necessity of visiting all the mining camps in Calaveras County which formed the southern part of his field of labor. He continued to give his undivided attention to the work of the ministry in both these counties, until the month of May, 1856, when the town of San Andreas went up in flames, and with it the church and his place of abode. Father Foretnick went to the town of Volcano from which he attended to the missions of Amador County. Father Foretnick remained in charge of the Catholic Church until June, 1857. Because of the strain imposed upon him, he was forced to leave and went to San Francisco.

Walsh, H