Donnelly, William
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Li fe His to ry
of
Rev . !Vil l i am Donne l ly
1 8Dif -! fl8,,
William Donnelly was born J a nuary 2 ?, 18 08
in Germant on, Perry County , Pe nns ylvru1 ia .
Mis
f ath er was a Scottish Cove na nte r and his mo t he r of
Iri sh descent a nd a Presbyterian i n belief.
He
was t he ol des t child a n d began t o l ear n t he b l acksmith tr ade at twelve years to
f amily.
hefrp ~ support
t he
Later he ope r ated a shop of h is own in
Concord, Pennsylvania .
His eveni ngs were spent
i n s tudy.
As a young man he un it ed withthe Meth odist
Church, being ve r y active and wa s made a l ocal
preache r in 1838.
He continued at h is tra de
until 18 45 when he be came
a pu blic
school t eacher
f or the n ext n ine ye ars.
It was durin g t h is p eri od
he was licensed t o preach, bein g a dmitted to the
Balti mo re Conference in 18 4 ?, ordained a Deac on
by Bishop James at Chambe rsburg , Pennsy l vania.
I n 1854 he move d t o
Conference.
~ ichi gan
and joine d t h e Detro it
Bi s hop Morris ordained him an Elder
at Adrian i n 18 5 6.
He s e rved t h e f o l l ow i ng place s; Rome 1855-5 6 ,
~oren ci
18 5?, Ri dgeway 18 58 -1869 , Mancheste r 18 60-
2
61, Farmington 1862-63, Ridg e way 1864, Clinton 1865 66,
no record 1867, Port San ila c and
Fo rreste~
1868- 69 -70, Alpena 18 71-72-73, Tawas 18 74-75-76.
Retiring i n 1877 he r e turned to Alpena to
make his b orne .
I t was after he r e tired t bat h e
organized a class at Long Rap i ds an d built a c hur ch
where he served as a pastor.
The three years that be serve d the Alpena
church were very tryi ng ones.
He f ound the p arson-
ag e far fr om :)ei ng comp lete.
In fact t h ere we re
tw o r ooms up stairs a nd tv1o down that mi ght have
calle d fini s hed.
been
The b 8ys of the family had t o
carry water from the ba y and haul we>od about two
miles with a pony.
The Pres iding El der was enter -
t ai ned i n t he kitchen.
Rev . Donnelly was a ma n much th ough t of by
the who l e community.
him
11
In f act eve r y one called
Fathe r Donnel ly" both P ro testant and Catholic.
The Iri s h and ? rench lumbe r jacks wh en they met hi m
on the s treet, would take off t he ir hats to hi m as
th ey d id t o their priest.
The f ol l owing is t aken fr om t he Al pena Chu rch
r eco rds and was writ ten by Wm. Donnelly bi rrs e lf.
"The 1871 Conference me t in
I~:o nroe
a lld Wm Donne l ly
3
was a ppo inted t o Alpena with Re v. F .C. Potter as
pre s iding elder .
Oct. 8t h , 18 71.
Iur. Donnelly commenced his work
His recept i on on the p art of the
chutt:h and people was very co r di a l and kind.
During the year, the cha r ge was Bl essed
with s ome i ncrea se i nmembership alt h ough the minu tes
of the Conference d o no t show it, from t he fact,
that the records show a l a r g e numbe r of n ame s no t
to be f ound in the pla ce, s ome having mo ve d , oth e rs
deceased.
Duri ng t he Conferen ce y ea r on t h e 12th of
July 1872 , Alpena was visited b y a fire which l aid
about 15 ac r es of the center of the city in ruins,
and very mater ially ef f ec ted our financial i f not
ou r s r iritua l p r os perity.
Some of our l eadi ng
members and mat li be ral suppo r te rs of a ll i nterests
of the church, loosing t heir al l.
And to add t o t h
horrors of the terrible scene, five or six persons
perished in t he fl ames .
At the conf eren ce held at Eas t Sag inaw in
Septemb e r 1872, Mr. Domnelly was reappointed t o the
charg e.
During the fal l and winter of this yea r,
the cit y was visited by the terribl e sc ou r ge , Small
P ox, s weeping away a s with a besem of destructi on,
4
hundreds of the inhabitants and l eavi ng it s mark
upon ma ny that survived .
For we e ks we sat silent
and sad , Uhurch and School closed: All public gatber · ngs
and assembling of the p eople prohibited; funerals
not excepted.
Lord we bow submissively un de r thy chastening
hand, and humbly kiss the rod.
Own i ng that in
justice and ri ghteousne ss t h ou has afflicted us.
For our sins are many, but according to the multitue of
thy ~
tende r merci es and for Thy goodness
sake 0 Lord , shelter and p rotect us till t h ese
calamities be over and passed .
And whi le Thy Judgm1nts
are abroad in the. city, may the inhabitants learn ·
ri ghteousness.
Ament
So mote it be
W. D.
The Conferenc e held in Ypsilanti, September
18 ?3, returned Rev . Donnelly to the ch ar ge for
the thi·td year.
This year h as been one of
interest among the c hurches.
reli g i o ~s
We have s hared to
some ex tent for whic h we are thankful.
F inancial-
ly we h a ve suffered with a ll others, the effect of
panic.
Lumber being the p ri nc ipal resource urom
which all other i ntere sts financial ly depend, large
numb ers were thrown out of employme nt and l eft the
5
p lace.
Many of ou r membe r s l eav i ng, dimi n ish ing
not onl y our numbers but financial Str en gth.
But
with the blessing of Go d we conti nue even to this
day ho ldi ng forth the wo rd of life, our bread h aving
been g iven us and our water made sure.
And h ere we esteem it a p rivilege and very
p l easant duty t o testify to t he uniform cour tesy,
kindness and ve ry cons tan t sympathy and support
extend e d to us in all our labors duri ng our three
ye ars pastora te amon g this people, both in t he
chu rch and out.
P r aying th a t God in all the future may
sen d them pastors after h is own heart and build
them up forever.
Wm . Donnelly
So ends
Rev. Donnelly ' s h i s to ry a s
written b y h i mse lf for the p eriod tha t he was p as tor
of the Alpena char ge.
It was during thi s pastor' s
time that the first ladies Aid was starte d.
He
a l so organi z ed a i:,:i te Socie ty of the you ng people.
Its purp ose was th e buyi ng of a bell although it
was a s o cial gatheri ng where eve ryone wh o came
paid te n eents i nt o the bell fund.
The y met eve ry
two weeks excep t during th e summer m:::mtbs.
The
6
society seemed t o ha ve died with the purpose of
t he bell .
This bel l was f i rst used in t he first
church at the c orner of
l'~ orth
Second and J.:il le r
but was moved to the r r e sent chur cbl whe n t ha t was
comp leted
in 1882 .
Rev. Donne l ly was
twi ~ e
ma rried, first to
Eliza KcLu lloch (18 1 2 t o 1865).
·1' 0
t _Jis
union
was bo rn ei ght ch ildren, one dYing in infancy.
There we re f our boys and four g irls .
He t ook an ac ive
int e r es t in educational wo rk and mo st of h is ch ildren we r e educated at a No rma l Sch ool or Go ll ege.
1 our of t hem ente re d the teachi ng p rofes s ion and
taught in :·.-i ch i ga n and Per.ns y l van i a.
His second marriage was t o Ma r y Br a tton
Campbell i r. 1870 .
During his pas torate i ~ Alpena he served
as J ustice of } eace and l 8 te r when he r et u rned t o
make Al pena h is home , he was electe 4 t o t hat off i ce
in 187 5 a nd s erved fo r f our years.
'i' he followin g was t aken from the Onsted
Kews , Ienawee Lo . and written by
~ran k lin
s.
Dewey.
"One o f the first pre ache rs I remembe r better t ha n
the r e s t , the Re v. Donnel ly, hiGhly endowed by
n a ture, a most successful and devout p1· eacber an d
pas tor, an d who gave all of n is life t o the Service
7
af
the I'as ter .
rl i s declining yea rs we re spent in
his snug h::>me, ''Pilg r i m's rie st", in the city of
Alpena, and i n the eemorial window of the church
there , to whi ch he g ave his l a st service, is a more
than life-siz e portrait of this venerable disciple."
The following was also the writing of anath er friend of his.
" No st ory of J'rospe ct Hi 11
or Kichigan Hei ghts, as it was first cal l ed, could
approach comr l eteness without mention of the e; reat
Hera ld of Ch ri st, # illiam Donnelly .
much in that in that sturdy face.
in unmistakable character, wisdom ,
If you can see
There is wr itten
co~~on
sense,
deep devtotion, keen al e rtness, an inflexible wil l,
strong de t er!fl ination, l ove of ri ght , a spirit tender
and dev out, ar.d an comr romisinB hatre d of sin and
s hame .
His first s e rmon was preached in 1838 , and
h i s first on the Hill i n 1854.
He was a f orce f u l and powe rful p r eacher
an d as he bore down up on sin and vileness, there
was some t hin g a l mos t of the fi e rceness in his tremendous vo ice and g esture that made every culprit
f ee l that he was a spaial target for he aven ' s artillery.
And then fr om this attitude there fol-
l o;ved win..:ome t e n dern e ss and love like the p eaceful
dawn of a calm summer morn.
Few, indee d we re a ble
8
to r esist h is unstu died appeal.
"His progress was
ma r ked by an unbroken line of prosperous chur ch es , "
and a career full of felicity and honor.
Two yea rs
be fore his dea th . h e called me t o h is home i n Alpena ,
Pile ri m' s nes t, to witness the aff i x ing of his signature t o his last will a nd te stament and he car efully
in sisted that t he t wo wi tnesses sh ould clearly s ee
him scribe his signatu re.
Just before his deat h
he calle d his far.1.i ly abo ut h im and "gave t hem his
last council 8nd blessing , and t a hi ng the Bi ble and
hymnal he sele ct ed the text and hymns t o be use d
at hi s f unera l s erv i<C!es ".
He died Decernbe r 2r. , 18 86 at the a ge of 78
years and 11 months.
Surviving him wa s his se cond
wife and six ch ildren by his fi r s t wi fe .
Living
i n Alpena was Robert McClay D, who was an acc ountant
for the fatter Lumber Company and was also the city
!!.a yo r.
His dau gh te r Caro line ( Mr s .c. H.
who wa s tbe chur ch organist.
Mark , James and George .
~cK im)
There was also Jennie ,
The re was also tw o step-
sons, Char les ., and .H l l iam Campbe ll.
The last one
name d ha s be en a s trong worker in the l oc a l church
down through the years.