Donnelly, James Sr.

James Donnelly, born in Ireland about 1816, married Johannah (Judith) Magee in Ireland in 1840. In 1841 Johannah gave birth to their first child, James Jr.. Not long after, James decided to move his family to Canada where he fathered seven additional children. The family first lived in London, but by the mid 1840s the family settled along the Roman Line in Biddulph Township where James argued with neighbours over land ownership. The quarrels escalated and in 1857 James murdered neighbour Patrick Farrell at a logging bee. The court sentenced James to hang, but in the end his sentence was commuted to seven years in the Kingston Penitentiary. The registry of the Huron Gaol described James as 5 feet, 5 inches with grey eyes and hair, and unable to read or write. Once out of prison, James became entangled of some of the misdeeds of his sons, but he was also falsely accused of crimes such as the burning of the Ryder barn. James was killed by a mob in his home in the early morning of February 4, 1880.