California Biographies
Mendocino and Lake Counties, California
 
Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

Source:
History of Mendocino and Lake Counties, California
With Biographical Sketches
History by Aurelius O. Carpenter And Percy H. Millberry
Illustrated, Complete In One Volume
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1914


WILLIAM FRANCIS DONNELLEY.� The first representative of the 
Donnelley family in the United States was Patrick, born in County Tyrone, 
Ireland, August 5, 1822, deceased in Mendocino county May 3, 1896. Through- 
out a long and useful existence he adhered to the faith of the Roman Catholic 
Church and its teachings gave him especial comfort during his last fifteen 
years, when a stroke of paralysis prevented him from engaging in active work 
of any kind. In his native land he had attended the national schools, had been 
confirmed in the church and had learned the trade of stone cutting. When 
seventeen years of age he came to Philadelphia, where he followed his trade. 
In 1849 he joined the gold-seekers bound for California via the Isthmus of 
Panama. After landing in San Francisco he proceeded to Sierra county and 
began to prospect and mine for gold. More successful than some of the Ar- 
gonauts of that era, he came from the mines with a little gold secured from the 
claims he operated for a number of years. He married in Marysville, July 23, 
1857, Anne Browne, a native of County West Meath, Ireland, who had come 
to New Orleans with her brothers and thence to California about 1855. In 
October, 1858, Mr. Donnelley became one of the early settlers of Mendocino 
county, where he bought a squatter's right in Anderson valley near the pres- 
ent site of Boonville. In addition he took up a pre-emption claim of one hun- 
dred and sixty acres. His agricultural undertakings were at first upon a very 
small scale, but as the land responded to his efforts he enlarged his 
interests and finally became one of the leading land-holders of the valley. 
When the first attempt was made to establish a public school in the valley 
he heartily co-operated with the plan and became one of the founders of that 
most important project. Other worthy enterprises also had the benefit of his 
constant aid and energetic co-operation. He was indeed one of the most hon- 
ored Irish-American citizens of the county and his work as a pioneer entitles 
him to lasting remembrance in local annals. Mrs. Donnelley, who still resides 
at the old home, became the mother of six children, five of whom grew up, 
and of these William F. is the fourth oldest. 

At the old home ranch near Boonville in Anderson valley William Francis 
Donnelley was born March 20, 1865. The schools of the valley gave him fair 
advantages. Owing to the long-continued ill health of his father he became 
the manager of the large holdings embraced by the ranch and had charge of 
the estate in the interests of his mother and sister as well as himself. The 
homestead embraces twelve hundred and twenty acres of land, one hundred 
acres of which are under cultivation and yield large returns annually. Aside 
from the valley tract, the balance of the property forms a vast range, suitable 
for the pasturage of cattle, sheep and horses. Always Mr. Donnelley has 
made a specialty of the stock industry. His judgment of animals is excellent. 
Advice concerning herds and flocks is regarded as authoritative if it comes 
from him. From 1909 to 1912 he served as deputy inspector of sheep for the 
state of California, under appointment from Charles Keene, and in that very 
responsible position he proved efficient and capable. In politics he has voted 
with the Republican party ever since casting his first ballot. Like his father, 
he is an earnest member of the Catholic Church. He continues to make his 
home with his mother, for whom he and his sister Mary Anne affectionately 
care in her declining years, and whom they surround with the comforts ren- 
dered possible by the intelligent early labors of their father and mother.