Ignatius L. Donnelly

Ignatius Loyola Donnelly
U.S. Congressman, populist, fringe scientist and writer
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota's 2nd district
In office March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1869
Preceded by	Cyrus Aldrich
Succeeded by	Eugene McLanahan Wilson
2nd Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota
In office 1860 – 1863
Governor	Alexander Ramsey
Preceded by	William Holcombe
Succeeded by	Henry Adoniram Swift
Born	November 3, 1831(1831-11-03) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died	January 1, 1901 (aged 69) Minneapolis, Minnesota
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Katherine McCaffrey and Marion Hanson
Profession	lawyer, farmer, author, politician

Ignatius Loyola Donnelly (November 3, 1831–January 1, 1901) was a U.S. Congressman, pseudo-historian, populist writer and amateur scientist, known primarily now for his theories of the history of Atlantis and Shakespearean authorship, which modern historians consider to be pseudohistory.

Early life and education

Donnelly was the son of an Irish immigrant, Philip Carrol Donnelly who had settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On June 29, 1826 he married Catherine Gavin, a 2nd generation American of Irish ancestry.

After starting as a peddler Philip studied medicine at the Philadelphia College of Medicine. He later contracted typhus from a patient and died at age 31, leaving his wife with five children.

Catherine Donnelly provided for her children by operating a pawn shop. Ignatius, her youngest son, was admitted to the prestigious Central High School [1], the second oldest public high school in the United States. There he studied under the presidency of John S. Hart excelling primarily in literature.

He then decided to become a lawyer, and became a clerk for Benjamin Brewster, later Attorney-General of the United States. He became a lawyer during 1852. During 1855, he married Katherine McCaffrey, with whom he fathered three children. During 1855 he resigned his clerkship, entered politics, and participated in communal home building schemes.

Becoming the object of rumors of financial scandal, he moved to Minnesota during 1857, where he settled in Dakota County. Together with several partners, Donnelly initiated a utopian community called Nininger City. However, the Panic of 1857 doomed that attempt at a cooperative farm and community and left Donnelly deeply in debt.

Political and literary career

Donnelly entered politics and was lieutenant governor of Minnesota from 1860 – 1863. He was a Republican Congressman from Minnesota in the 38th, 39th, and 40th congresses, (1863 – 1868) and a state senator from 1874 – 1878. As a legislator, Donnelly advocated extending the powers of the Freedmen's Bureau to provide education for the freedmen, so that they could protect themselves once the bureau was withdrawn. Donnelly was also an early supporter of women's suffrage.

After leaving the Minnesota State Senate during 1878, Donnelly returned to his law practice and writing. During 1882, he published Atlantis: The Antediluvian World, his best known work, detailing his theories concerning the mythical lost continent of Atlantis. The latter volume sold well, and is widely credited with initiating the Atlantis theme that became such a feature of popular literature during the 20th century and contributed to the emergence of Mayanism. A year after Atlantis he published Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel, in which he expounded his belief that the Flood, as well as the destruction of Atlantis (and the extinction of the mammoth), had been brought about by the near-collision of the earth with a massive comet. This too sold well, and both books seem to have had an important influence on the development of Immanuel Velikovsky's controversial ideas half a century later. During 1888 he published The Great Cryptogram in which he proposed that Shakespeare's Plays had been written by Francis Bacon, an idea that gained popularity during the 20th century. He then travelled to England to arrange the English publication by Sampson Low, speaking at the Oxford (and Cambridge) Union after which his thesis "Resolved, that the works of William Shakespeare were composed by Francis Bacon" was put to an unsuccessful vote. The book was a complete failure and Donnelly was discredited. As well as writing, Donnelly made several other campaigns for public office during the 1880s. He made a losing campaign for Congress (this time as a Democrat) during 1884. During 1887, he successfully campaigned for the Minnesota State Legislature as an Independent. During this period, he was also an organizer of the Minnesota Farmers' Alliance.

During 1892 Donelly wrote the preamble of the People's Party's Omaha Platform for the presidential campaign of that year. He was nominated for Vice President of the United States during 1900 by the People's Party. Also known as the Populist Party, the People's Party was a development of the national Farmers' Alliance, and had a platform that demanded abandonment of the gold standard (and later for free silver), abolition of national banks, a graduated income tax, direct election of senators, civil service reform, and an eight-hour day. That year, Donnelly also campaigned for governor of Minnesota but was defeated.

Marriages

His wife Katherine died during 1894. During 1898, he remarried, wedding his secretary, Marion Hanson.

Death

Donnelly died on January 1, 1901, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he was 69 years old. He is buried at Calvary Cemetery in St. Paul, Minnesota. His personal papers are archived at the Minnesota Historical Society.^[1]

State park

During the 1930s an organization was formed to lobby for the creation of a state park at Donnelly's home at Nininger near Hastings, Minnesota. The house was still standing in 1939, but the effort failed and the house has since been destroyed. A personal reminiscence of a visit to Nininger during the 1930s is available at the Sacred-Texts website.^[2]

Works

His books include:

• Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882), in which he attempted to establish that all known ancient civilizations were descended from its high-Neolithic culture.
• Ragnarok, the Age of Fire and Gravel (1883), in which he proposed that a comet hit the earth in prehistoric times and destroyed a high civilization.
• The Shakespeare Myth (1887)
• Essay on the Sonnets of Shakespeare
• The Great Cryptogram: Francis Bacon's Cipher in Shakespeare's Plays (1888), in which he maintained he had discovered codes in the works of Shakespeare indicating that their true author was Francis Bacon.
• Caesar's Column (1890), a science fiction novel set during 1988 about a worker revolt against a global oligarchy. (Published under the pseudonym of Edmund Boisgilbert.)
• Doctor Huguet: A Novel (1891) (Published under the pseudonym of Edmund Boisgilbert.)
• The Golden Bottle or the Story of Ephraim Benezet of Kansas (1892)
• The American People's Money (1896)
• The Cipher in the Plays, and on the Tombstone (1899)

References

• William Friedman and Elizebeth Friedman, The Shakespearean ciphers examined, Cambridge University Press, 1957. Chapter III.
• Hicks, JD (1921). 'The Political Career of Ignatius Donnelly', Mississippi Valley Historical Review, vol. 8, pp. 80-132.
• Ridge, M (1962). Ignatius Donnelly: The Portrait of a Politician, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, reprinted 1991 by Minnesota Historical Society Press.

External links

• The Ignatius Donnelly Papers are available for research use at the Minnesota Historical Society
• Works by Ignatius Donnelly at Project Gutenberg
• DONNELLY, Ignatius at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Donnelly's influence on 19th-Century Australia
• Works by or about Ignatius L. Donnelly in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

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