Ignatius L. Donnelly - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

Donnelly was the son of an Irish immigrant, Philip Carrol Donnelly, who had settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On June 29, 1826, Philip married Catherine Gavin, a 2nd generation American of Irish ancestry.

After starting as a peddler, Philip studied medicine at the Philadelphia College of Medicine. He later contracted typhus from a patient and died at age 31, leaving his wife with five children.

Catherine provided for her children by operating a pawn shop. Ignatius, her youngest son, was admitted to the prestigious Central High School, the second oldest public high school in the United States. There he studied under the presidency of John S. Hart, excelling primarily in literature.

Donnelly then decided to become a lawyer, and became a clerk for Benjamin Brewster, later Attorney-General of the United States. He was admitted to the bar in 1852. In 1855, he married Katherine McCaffrey, with whom he had three children. In 1855, he resigned his clerkship, entered politics and participated in communal home building schemes.

Becoming the object of rumors of financial scandal, he moved to the Minnesota Territory in 1857, where he settled in Dakota County. Together with several partners, Donnelly initiated a utopian community called Nininger City. However, the Panic of 1857 doomed the attempt at a cooperative farm and community and left Donnelly deeply in debt.