Herman Joseph Alerding
Herman Joseph Alerding was a Germanborn clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Fort Wayne from 1900 until his death in 1924.
Herman Alerding was born in Westphalia and, during his infancy, came with his parents to the United States, where they settled in Newport, Kentucky. He received his early education at the parochial school of Corpus Christi Church. His local bishop, George Aloysius Carrell, did not accept him as a seminarian for the Diocese of Covington because he was unable to provide for his seminary expenses, and Alerding was instead accepted by Bishop JacquesMaurice De Saint Palais of the Diocese of Vincennes. He attended St. Charles Borromeo Seminary near Vincennes from 1858 until 1859, when the seminary was closed. He then studied at St. Thomas Seminary in Bardstown, Kentucky, for a year before returning to Indiana in 1860 and entering St. Meinrad Seminary in Spencer County. At the seminary he mentored student Paul Dresser and taught him to play a variety of musical instruments. Dresser later became among the most popular composers in the United States and authored the state song of Indiana.
Source: Wikipedia