The roots of the Catholic faith in Ohio began with the persistent requests of Jacob Dittoe for a priest to administer the sacraments to Catholics living in the wilderness near Somerset, Ohio. Archbishop John Carroll S.J. of Baltimore answered those requests by sending Father Edward D. Fenwick O.P., who offered the first Mass in Jacob Dittoe’s log cabin in September 1808 and who dedicated St. Joseph Church, Ohio's first Catholic church at Somerset on December 6, 1818.