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Thomas McEnrue was the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Terence McEnrue, who lived to attain the age of manhood. He was born near Jefferson (now Wilmore), October 28, 1842, and was baptized by Father M.W. Gibson, when he attended the congregations of St. Aloysius', St. Batholomew's, St. John Gaulbert's and the Reservoir mission. His parents were well-to-do, hospitable people, and unlike some other boys of that time, he was given all the advantages afforded by the public schools and subscription schools of the neighborhood, as was also the writer. As a schoolmate, he was the protector of the writer who was younger and none of the larger boys cared to contend with "Tom" McEnrue, who was physically, as well as intellectually, more than a match for any of them.
Early evincing an inclination for the priesthood, he commenced the study of Latin under the tutelage of Father Thomas J. Walsh, who was pastor of St. Bartholomew's from 1854 to 1860, after which he went about a year to St. Francis' College, Loretto. In 1862, he entered St. Michael's Seminary, Pittsburg, where, along with Father Henry McHugh, also a native of St. Bartholomew's parish, and afterwards for twenty-three years its pastor, he was raised to the priesthood on June 6, 1868.
On the following Sunday in St. Batholomew's church, assisted by Father John Hackett, the pastor, and Father McEnrue (priests were not plentiful in those days), Father McHugh, the elder of the two, said his first Mass; and on the following Sunday, Father McEnrue, assisted by the other two, said his first Mass. Of the many who were present at these Masses, but few, including the writer, are living - the three priests being dead.
After leaving St. Augustine, Father McEnrue was pastor of St. Augustine, Freeport, Penna. While stationed at Freeport, he was awakened one night by a burglar standing at the door of his room, covering him with a revolver and ordering him to throw up his hands. Instead of throwing them up, by a quick movement he placed his hands on the bed, vaulted to the floor, kicked the door shut in the face of the burglar, seized his revolver, which was lying on a bureau nearby and fired a shot after the retreating burglar, but without effect.
After Father McHugh, during his pastorate at Wilmore had, to accommodate the growing Catholic population
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