Progressive Men of Minnesota

Minneapolis Journal 1897

IGNATIUS DONNELLY was born in Philadelphia in the year 1831. His father, Dr. Philip Carroll Donnelly, was an eminent physician of Philadelphia.  He was a native of the parish of Fintona, in Tyrone County, Ireland. He came to America in the early part of the present century, and in 1826 married Aliss Catherine Frances Gavin, who was born in Philadelphia in 1810; a daughter of John Gavin, who came to this country from Tyrone County in the latter part of the last century.  Mr. Donnelly’s mother died on June 13, 18S7, at Philadelphia. She was a woman of great mental endowment. The Donnelly family is supposed to have settled in the northernmost part of Ireland more than two thousand years ago. From this point they have found their way inward during the succeeding centuries to the center of Tyrone County.  Dr. Donnelly, the father of Ignatius, held a number of important positions in and about Philadelphia, and was one of the founders of the Philadelphia College of Medicine. He was respected by all who knew him and was long remembered by the poor of Philadelphia for his many charities.

His son, Ignatius, was educated in the public schools of Philadelphia, graduating from the Philadelphia High School in 1849. Soon afterward he entered upon the study of law in the office of Benjamin H. Brewster, later attorney-general of the United States. In 1853 he was admitted to the bar, and at once entering upon the practice of his profession soon built up a considerable business.  Mr. Donnelly was nominated by the Democrats in 1855 for the state legislature, but declined the nomination because of difference of opinion with the party on the slavery question. During the same year he was married to Miss Katherine McCaffrey, who was a native of Philadelphia, and had been principal of a boys’ grammar school in that city. This was the beginning of an exceptionally happy married life. In the spring of 1856, Mr. Donnelly, accompanied by his wife, made a journey through the west, visiting Chicago, the state of Iowa, and finally St. Paul. He was so pleased with the prospects of Minnesota, that, with Mr. John Nininger, brother-in-law of Governor Ramsey, he purchased six hundred and forty acres of land in Dakota County and laid out the town of Nininger. The new town throve apace, but unfortunately about one year later the panic of 1857 swept over the country and Nininger collapsed under the blow. Mr. Donnelly had built a beautiful house, but found himself practically bankrupt. It was during this same year that Mr.  Donnelly first entered politics. He was nominated for state senator by the Republicans of his county, but was defeated. Next year he was nominated again and was beaten by only six votes.  Mr. Donnelly was by this time becoming thoroughly identified with the life of his adopted state. 

In November of 1858 he resumed the practice of law; shortly afterwards forming a partnership with Archibald M. Hayes and Oren T. Hayes, the name of the firm being “Hayes, Donnelly and Hayes.” At the same time Mr. Donnelly organized the Agricultural Society of Dakota County, which was one of the first societies of its kind organized in Minnesota. It was during the following year that Mr. Donnelly first appeared on the lecture platform. His first lecture was on “Style and Composition as Indicative of Character.” This lecture was repeated at other places and was highly commended ; the people of the new territory began to realize that a man of superior intellectual attainments had come among them. On June 20, 1859, Mr. Donnelly’s name was presented for nomination as lieutenant-governor before the Republican convention. On the third ballot he was nominated, and was probably one of the youngest men ever placed in this position. The campaign which followed was a most active one and Donnelly stumped the state most effectively.  For the first time the Republican party carried Minnesota. It was during his service as lieutenant governor that Mr. Donnelly had the opportunity of issuing a proclamation, as acting governor, calling for volunteers, in response to the national call issued by President Lincoln. Much of the executive work pertaining to the enlistment and organization of the regiments devolved upon the lieutenant-governor. In 1861 he was renominated and re-elected lieutenant-governor by a large majority, and in 1862 was nominated for Congress without opposition. Within a month after his nomination the Sioux massacre occurred. There was a call for volunteers, and Donnelly joined General H. H. Sibley, who was to be in command of the relief expedition, and went to the front, in the election that fall, Mr. Donnelly had about one thousand two hundred majority. He took his seat in the House in December, 1863, as a member of the Thirty-eighth Congress. It was early in his congressional career that Mr. Donnelly wrote a famous letter to Thaddeus Stevens, protesting against the swindle incorporated in certain estimates for expenses required to carry out the stipulations of the Indian treaty of the Chippewas, of March, 1863. Mr. Donnelly charged that enormous amounts would be stolen if the estimates were accepted. The letter created a sensation, and Mr. Donnelly regards it as the turning point in his political career. He believes it was the initial cause of the great opposition to his renomination to Congress, and of the enmity which many politicians felt for him during succeeding years. However, he was re-elected and took an active part in the proceedings of the Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses. There was much opposition to his renomination in 1866, but notwithstanding the bitter fight waged against him, he was not only renominated but re-elected over Colonel William Colville, a strong Democrat, of a brilliant war record, by a majority of four thousand two hundred and sixty-eight votes.  This was his last term in Congress. It was during this term that the famous conflict with Elihu Washburn took place. This contest with a powerful man, backed by a still more powerful circle of political friends, made Donnelly famous. His speeches in Congress attracted national attention.

But in the campaign for renomination Mr. Donnelly was nominated by part of the convention, and General Hubbard by the remainder. Hubbard subsequently withdrew and Donnelly’s enemies set up General C. C. Andrews in his place, who drew of enough votes to defeat Donnelly, and a Democrat. Eugene Wilson, was elected. In 1869 he became a candidate for United States Senator, but Governor Ramsey secured the nomination after a hot political battle. After his defeat, in 1868, for Congress, Mr. Donnelly continued to act with the Republican party until 1870. In that year, at the written solicitation of three thousand five hundred Republicans he consented to run for Congress on a low tariff platform, at the same time receiving the endorsement of the Democrats. In 1872 he supported Horace Greeley as a Liberal Republican.  He was prominent some years later in the organization of the State Farmers’ Alliance, with which he was closely identified as long as it remained a force in politics. Since the organization of the People’s Party he has been a conspicuous member not only of the state but of the national organization. During the past twenty years he has served a number of terms in the state Senate and House of Representatives.  In 1878 he was the candidate for Congress of the Independent Greenbackers, and received the endorsement of the Democratic party. His Republican opponent was W. D. Washburn and as a result of the close election there followed a somewhat sensational but unsuccessful contest before the Elections Committee of Congress. 

Throughout his long political career Mr. Donnelly’s pen had not been idle. He nearly always had some sort of a literary venture on hand, and was almost continuously an editor of some kind of a newspaper. During the winter of 1880-81 he attempted something more extended in literary work. His first book was “Atlantis,”’ which received very extended notice and was reprinted in England, and translated and published in France and Germany. More than twenty editions have been printed in different languages. “Ragnarok,” followed and achieved almost as wide a reputation as its predecessor, the first edition of five thousand copies was sold in two months. This has also been republished in England. But Donnelly’s greatest literary celebrity is due to his “Great Cryptogram,” in which he endeavors to establish Bacon’s authorship of Shakespeare’s plays. In 1889 “Caesar’s Column” appeared. Of this book seven hundred thousand copies have been sold, and it has been translated into several languages. It was followed a year or so later by “Dr. Huguet,” an appeal to charity written on behalf of the negroes; and this was followed by “The Golden Bottle,” which has been extensively printed in England and other countries. It is an attempt to show, by a romance, that the solution of the world’s troubles is an abundant supply of money.  Mr. Donnelly has never been known to make a statement of his religious views. He has never been a member of any church, but his friends say that his books show the profoundest respect for Christianity and a most unshaken belief in the immortality of the soul. Mr. Donnelly’s character is described as a most extraordinary’ combination of fierce determination, amiability and magnanimity.  His remarkable command of language, his oratorical powers, his ready wit. his unflagging industry and undoubted courage, have contributed in their several ways to the development of his most interesting career.