Background
Charles Francis Donnelly was born on October 14, 1836 in Athlone, County Roscommon, Ireland. He was the son of Hugh Donnelly and his wife, Margaret Conway, the latter of Welsh descent.
(Excerpt from Roma: And Other Poems On his mother's side ...)
Excerpt from Roma: And Other Poems On his mother's side the family of Conway was of welsh-irish stock originating in the west of Wales. In this family were many distinguished individuals, and both on the paternal and maternal side Mr. Donnelly's ancestors were members of the learned professions distinguished alike for scholarship, patriotism, and religious loyalty. His grandfather, Dominick Donnelly, was a teacher of Latin at his home in Clogher, Tyrone. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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Charles Francis Donnelly was born on October 14, 1836 in Athlone, County Roscommon, Ireland. He was the son of Hugh Donnelly and his wife, Margaret Conway, the latter of Welsh descent.
In 1837 the family removed to Canada, settling at St. John, New Brunswick, and Charles Francis’s education was received in the private schools and the Presbyterian Academy there, and continued privately in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, where his parents resided for a short time.
In 1848 they moved to Providence, Rhode Island, and he commenced a classical course with a view to the priesthood.
Donnelly went to Boston in 1856 where he read law, entering the Harvard Law School in 1858 and graduating in 1859.
He was admitted to the Suffolk County bar and practised in Boston for a few months, during which he wrote for the local newspapers chiefly upon educational topics.
In 1860 he took up his residence in New York City where he remained for two years engaging in literary and journalistic work both there and in Washington, under the pseudonym “Schuyler Conway. ”
In 1862 he returned to Boston and resumed the practise of law.
His handling of matters of this latter nature was particularly successful.
He took a leading part in the controversy between the Board and Gov. Benjamin F. Butler in 1883.
Adopted by the General Court in 1885, this act is said to have been the first legislation of its kind in either Europe or America.
1° 1888 the General Court was the scene of an attempt to pass legislation adverse to separate schools, and Donnelly was retained to represent the Catholic community in opposition.
The contest was bitter and prolonged, but he finally convinced the Committee on Education that the Catholics had a right to maintain their own schools under the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, thus winning a notable victory.
He displayed marked ability in his conduct of the case, particularly in his handling of the constitutional arguments.
He withdrew from active practise in 1900 owing to failing health.
For many years Donnelly was standing counsel to the Catholic Church in Massachusetts and the neighboring states. He proposed and drafted a bill subjecting dipsomaniacs to the same restraint and treatment as lunatics. He had been instrumental in founding the Home for Destitute Catholic Children, whose fathers had been killed in the Civil War, and thereafter became closely associated with all charitable projects in Boston.
(Excerpt from Roma: And Other Poems On his mother's side ...)
Politically a Democrat, Donnelly consistently declined public office.
Tall, with an erect carriage, clean-cut features, and dignified demeanor, Donnelly was an attractive, impressive speaker; and his conscious earnestness invariably induced respect if not conviction.
Donnelly married Amy Francis, daughter of James Collins of Providence, Rhode Island, on September 21, 1893.
