The massacre of the Donnellys by their fellow church members has fascinated the public in the English-speaking world for well over a hundred years. Contained in this book are intriguing new photographs never before published and significant new information, which will pique the interest even of those who have been familiar for years with this bit of North American folk history with Irish roots.
The gruesome saga of the Black Donnellys has been heavily mythologized beginning with the first book on the story by Thomas Kelley in 1954. A thick layer of rumour, legend and hearsay has built up around the facts of the case. But one thing is clear — the murderous events that occurred near the town of Lucan, Ontario, in the 1870s are unforgettable. This new edition of Black Donnellys by Nate Hendley has been updated to include numerous black and white and colour photos pertaining to the Donnelly family. This book was the subject of a leading case in Canada's Federal Court on whether anyone can claim copyright on historical facts. The court's decision in 2021 was definitive -- no one owns history, and no one owns the facts -- and was not appealed. This book offers a short account of Canada's most notorious 19th century case of vigilante action leading to murder. The killers were by men from a community harassed by a no-holds-barred criminal family. They went to their graves protected by a conspiracy of silence among those in the know. The story has been told and retold in books, songs, plays and a movie -- and in this readable and engaging account by author Nate Hendley.
The terrible Donnelly feud, by far the most notorious and violent in the history of Canada, began in the spring of 1847 only a few hours after James Donnelly, an Irish immigrant, first arrived in the town of Lucan, Ontario. The feud lasted nearly 33 years and was marked by murders, gang wars, highway robbery, mass arson, derailed trains, mutilations, and barbarisms paralleling the Dark Ages.
In the midst of the feuds and famine of Tipperary, Ireland in 1845, Jim Donnelly and Johannah McGee fall passionately in love. She is the beautiful daughter of an affluent estate manager, he the rebellious son of dispossessed peasants. With her father’s men in pursuit and a sizable price on Jim’s head, they board a ship set for Canada to start a new life and put the troubles of the old country behind them. Thousands of miles away in rural Ontario, they find the feuds and vendettas of Ireland are very much alive. Jim must make a place for his young family not just with his back, but with his fists. Fifteen years later, the Donnelly family have become one of the most powerful in Lucan Township, loved by some and hated by others. Jim and Johannah’s sons are notorious as both fighters and lovers and torment the townspeople, swinging shillelaghs, burning barns and seducing daughters. But certain citizens of Lucan have had enough. At midnight on February 3, 1880, a mob of thirty armed men in women’s clothing and carnival masks ride out for the Donnelly farm. Sustained by whisky and the blessings of the local priest, their goal is to wipe the Donnelly family from the face of the earth. Yet there is an eye witness and during the trial that follows, it becomes clear that in small town Ontario of the late 1800s, order is valued above truth. Eventful and conveyed with cinematic detail, Cursed! Blood of the Donnellys is an engaging and historically enlightening read.
An in-depth, well-researched, and comprehensive account of the vigilante mob that murdered five of the Donnelly family and burned the family farm to the ground, and the feuds and religious tensions that led to it exploding into the headline-inducing massacre that it was.
The Donnelly Album By now everyone in Canada knows at least one version of the brutal slaying of members of the Donnelly family on the night of February 3, 1880. The Donnelly Album tells in compelling detail the story of the Donnellys-James and Johannah and their seven sons and one daughter. Arriving in Canada from Tipperary, Ireland, in the 1840s, the family settled in the boisterous Irish pioneer community in Biddulph Township near London, Ontario. For the next thirty years, their activities gained wide notoriety in the surrounding district. The father was once convicted of murder but escaped the gallows. The sons grew up to be handsome, reckless, enterprising in business, and dangerous in combat. Largely because of their presence, Lucan, the village nearest their farm home, became known as the widest town in Canada. What is it about the Donnellys that have fascinated so many people for many years? Were they really as wicked as their enemies have portrayed them? Why was no one ever convicted of the murders? What happened to the surviving Donnellys? Why do local people today still fell so strongly, both pro and con, about the family? After fifteen years of exhaustive research, Ray Fazakas has produced the definitive account of the famous feud and its tragic consequences. He has also collected an astonishing treasure trove of old photographs, contemporary drawings, maps, and documents of the Donnellys, their murderers, and the sites and people involved in the events. This unique combination of narrative and illustration recreates not just an epic tragedy but an entire segment of Canadian frontier life. Ray Fazakas is a well-known Hamilton lawyer.
From the annals of Canadian true crime, the story of The Black Donnellys massacre Ancient feuds, bloody conspiracy, gruesome murder, and bitter controversy--all shrouded in a seemingly impenetrable cloak of mystery. This is the tale of "The Black Donnellys"--a notorious family of Irish settlers who were viciously attacked while they slept in their Lucan, Ontario farmhouse on February 4, 1880. Here, in this definitive account of this sordid episode in Canadian history, first published in 1962 and continuously in print since then, author Orlo Miller sets out to separate fact from fiction, and legend from reality, to bring us the truth behind the Donnelly murders. Combining exhaustive research based on contemporary newspaper accounts, court records and personal diaries, with personal insights and dramatic re-creations, Miller's chilling revelations shed new light on this infamous case in the annals of Canadian crime. You will be taken on a journey of terrible bloodlust, unbending loyalties, and fatal revenge in the re-telling of an event whose infamy still lives in popular culture today.
A story made all the more shocking because it’s true. In 1880, an organized mob of the Donnellys’ enemies murder four family members and burn their house to the ground. Another sibling is shot to death in a house a short distance away. William Donnelly and a teenage boy are the only witnesses to the murders. The surviving family members seek justice through the local courts but quickly learn that their enemies control the jury and the press. Two sensational trials follow that make national and international headlines as the Donnellys continue to pursue justice for their murdered parents, siblings and cousin. Behind the scenes, political factors are at play, as Oliver Mowat, the Premier/Attorney General of the province of Ontario, fearing the backlash a conviction would render, gradually withdraws support from the prosecution of the killers. After the trials, the Donnelly’s enemies continue their crusade against the family, paying off potential witnesses to the murders and fabricating one last set of charges that they hope will put the remaining Donnellys away forever.
