Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/298

 DONAHOE

DONALDSON

broke out he actively

«ft^r changing its name. In company with the Kline jwrtner Mr. Donalioe began, in 183G, the publication of The Boston Pilot. The partner soon Tv-itlulrew from the enterprise, but Mr. Donahoe bent all liis eiier«:ies to make The Pilot a .success and linally secured for his journal a thoroughly national circulation. He soon expanded it from an issue of four small pages to an eight -page weeklj\ In addition to his newspaper he estab- lished a publishing house, where the works of many nota- ble Irish and Irish- American authors were issued, also a book-store and an em- porium of church fur- niture and organs. When the civil war interested himself in the organization of several Irish regiments which went from Boston. He aided generously in the building of the Home for destitute Catholic chil- dren in Boston, and was a constant benefactor to the orphanages and other asylums of his chvu-ch. The American college at Rome, and the seminary at Mill Hill, England, for the ti'aining of priests for the colored missions, were among the foreign institutions which received help from him. In 1872 he was probably the wealthiest and mo.st influential Roman Catholic in New England. The Boston fire of that j-ear destroyed his property to the amount of §350,000. He at once resumed busine.ss. but in ^lay, 1873, was again burned out. He rebuilt his warehou.se and moved into his new structure, but was .soon burned out a third time. The insurance companies had nearly gone doAvn in the great fire, so the usual help to rise from such losses was not to be liad. He had endorsed heavily for friends and had in this waj- lost about $250,000. The climax of his misfortunes was reached in 1876, when the bank he had established susi^ended pay- ment, with an indebtedness to depo.sitors of $73,000. He placed everj-thing he po.sse.ssed at the di.sposal of his creditors, and Archbishop Wil- liams came to his relief, purchasing three-fourths interest in The pnot, Jolm Br)yle O'Reilly buying the other fourth. The Pilot assumed its share of the liabilities and the creditors were srmn paid off in yearly installments. Meanwhile Mr. Donahoe resumed his foreign exchange and pas.senger agency and in 1876 established Donahoe' fi Magazine, a monthly puVdication. In 1891 he again came into possession of 77/ e .Pilot by purchase from Arch- bishop Williams and the heirs of John Boyle

O'Reilly. In 1894 he received the Ljetare medal of Notre Dame university. Indiana, in recognition of his work for religion, education and cliarity. and in the same year a reception was tendered to him. as the oldest living member of the Cliari- table Irish society of Boston. He died in Boston, Mass.. March IS. 1901.

DONAHUE, Patrick Joseph, R.C. bishop, was born in Malvern, Worcestershire, England, April 15, 1849. He was graduated at the University of London in 1869, and removed to America in 1873, settling in Washington, D.C., where he practised law, 1874-82. He entered St. Mary's seminary, Baltimore, Md., in 1882, to prepare for the priesthood in the Roman Catholic church. He completed his theological course, was or- dained Dec. 23, 1885, at the seminary bj- Arch- bishop James Gibbons, and was made assistant priest of St. Joha's church, Baltimore. In 1886 he was appointed by Cardinal Gibbons chancellor of the ai-chdiocese of Baltimore, and in 1891 was made rector of the cathedral. On the transfer- ence of Bishop Kain of Wheeling, W.Va., to St. Louis, as coadjutor cum jure successionis to the Most Rev. Archbishop Kenrick, July 6, 1893, Fr. Donahue was made his successor, and he was consecrated by Cardinal Gibbons at the cathedral, assisted by Bishop Folej- of Detroit and Bishop Haid of North Carolina, April 8, 1894. His diocese in 1899 covered an area of 29,172 square miles in West Virginia and Virginia, and contained forty-two churches with resident priests, forty-five missions with churches, thirty- two stations, six academies, nine parochial schools, two communities of men and four of women, and three orphan asAlums. The Catholic population exceeded 24,000 in 1899.

DONALDSON, Edward, naval officer, was born in Baltimore, Md., Nov. 17, 1816; son of John J. and Caroline (Dorsey) Donaldson, and a descendant of Edward Dorsey of Essex county, England, who came to America in 1663 with a grant of 2000 acres of land near Annapolis. Md. Edward was a brother of Dr. Francis Donaldson. He became a midshipman in the U.S. navy, July 21, 1835, and was assigned to duty with the West Indian squadron. He was promoted passed mid- shipman, July 22, 1841; lieutenant, Oct. 23, 1847; commander, July 16, 1862; captain, July 25, 1866; commodore, Sept. 28, 1871; and rear-ad- miral, Sept. 21, 1876. In 1861-62 he served as commander of the gunboat Sriota. Western gulf squadron, and participaterl in the passage of Forts Jackson and St. Philip and in the capture of New Orleans and of the Vicksburg batteries In 1863 he commanded the receiving .ship at Philadelphia, and in 1863-64 was in command of the Keystone State, conducting the .search for the Confederate cruiser Sumter, around the West