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
