On March 13, 1849, six women and five men, lay third-order Franciscans from Ettenbeuren, Bavaria, along with Father Francis Anthony Keppeler and Father Mathias Steiger, of the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption, set sail for America at the request of Bishop John Henni to the newly organized diocese of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
It was also determined that the group would care for two teachers and offer free board and lodging to poor children who lived too far from the mission.
He advised them to settle at the southern tip of Milwaukee Bay, approximately four miles from the heart of the city in an area known as Nojoshing.
[1] The title deed dated June 11, 1849, represented the 35.67 acres of virgin forest purchased for $1,000 from Henry and Eva Gross.
Construction began on a convent – a square, one-story frame building 16 feet high with an enclosed 20-by-20-yard courtyard with a well in the center.
[2] In 1856 Bishop Henni asked the Sisters to help at St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee, built for German-speaking aspirants to the priesthood.