Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/301

 DONNELLY

DONOVAN

DONNELLY, Ignatius, author, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Nov. 3, 1831; son of Dr. Philip Carrol (bom in Tyrone county, Ireland) and Catharine Frances (Gavin) Donnelly, a native of Philadelphia. On his father's side he came of the clan Donnelly, descended from Niall of the Nine Hostages, monarch of all Ireland, slain A.D. 406 ; and from the Car- rols, kings of Oriel for 1300 years. On his mother's side partly of Scotch blood, he was related to Dr. Ed- ward Maginn, the cel- ebrated bishop of Derry, the friend of Daniel O'Connell. Ig- natius was graduated from the Philadelphia high school in 1849, studied law vrith Ben- jamin Harris Brew- ster, afterward attorney-general of the L'^nited States; was admitted to the bar in 1852, and practised in Philadelphia. He was married Sept. 10, 1835, to Katharine McCaffrey, principal of the Ringgold grammar school of Philadelphia. He removed to Minnesota in 1856 and located the town, of Nininger, where he built a house, bought farm lands, and established his family. He entered political life there as a Republican, although he had been a Democrat in Philadelphia, and was defeated in the election of 1857 for state senator from Dakota county by 350 votes. In 1858 he was again defeated, after a vigorous personal canvass, by six votes. In Jime, 1859, he was nominated for lieutenant-governor of the state, and was elected with the entire Republican state ticket in November, and was re-elected in 1861. He made an effective canvass of the state for Abraham Lin- coln in 1860, and in 1861. as acting governor in the absence of Governor Ramsey in Washington, he issued a stirring call for one thousand vokuiteers in response to the President's call for 75,000 men. He represented the state in the 38th, 39th and 40th congresses. In congi-ess he exposed fiagi-ant Indian frauds on the part of government offi- cials, for which he received the thanks of the sec- retary of the interior. He advocated universal education, the purchase of Alaska, the relief of the people of the South from want caused by the crop failure, and a military' road and militarj- posts through northern ]Minnesota, Montana and Idaho (the precursor of the Northern Pacific railroad). He also advocated universal suffrage, a system of tree-planting in the treeless districts of the United States, and the setting apart of a territory to be known as Lincoln. He was defeated in

1868 in the contest for representative in the 41st congress, and in 1869 in the contest for the Repub- lican nomination for U.S. senator, was defeated by Alexander Ramsey by one vote. He supported Horace Greeley for President in 1872. He presided over the Greenback convention at Indianapolis, which nominated Peter Cooper for President. In 1874 he established the Anti- Monopolist news- jiaper and published it for five years, and in 1878 he was the candidate of the Anti-monopolist and Democratic parties for representative in the 46th congress and afterward unsuccessfully contested the seat of William D. Washburn, who had been declared elected. In 1893 he established The Representative, which became the leading reform paper of the northwest. In 1880-82 he conducted a farm of 3000 acres in Stevens coimty, Minnesota. He was state senator from Dakota county, 1874-78, a state representative, 1886-87, a state senator, 1890, and again a state representa- tive in 1897. His wife died in 1894, and on Feb. 22, 1898, he was married to Marion Hanson, a native of Norway. He resigned the presidency of the State farmers' alliance of Minnesota in 1894, to devote himself to literature. On Sept. .7, 1898, he was nominated by the Cincinnati convention of the People's party of the United States for vice- president. He published An Essay on the Sonnets of Shakespeare (1857); Atlantis: the Antedilu- vian World (1882) ; Ragnarok: the Age of Fire and Gravel (1883) ; The Great Cryptogram {\^SS) ; Ccesar's Coliivin (1890) ; Doctor Huguet (1891) ; The Golden Bottle (1892) ; Tlie American People's Money (1895). He died in Minneapolis, Minn., Jan. 1, 1901. DONOVAN, Caroline fSouIsby), philanthro- pist, was born in Baltimore, Md., Dec. 20, 1803; daughter of Matthew and Prudence- (Travers) Soulsby. Her grand- father owned and op- erated large coal mines in Newcastle, England, and her father immigrated to America as a young man and became a shipbuilder in Balti- more. She was edu- cated in the private schools of her native city, and about 1821 was married to Joseph Donovan, a Baltimore merchant. In 1889 she established the Donovan chair of English literature in Johns Hopkins university by a gift of §100.000. To commemorate her gift a lecture hall was fitted up and a tablet placed therein to her memory. She