Like something out of an American wild west movie, on February 4th, 1880 in the province of Ontario, violence of the worst kind occurred in the dark shadows of night.
James Donnelly, his wife, a son and a niece were killed and burned when their homestead was set ablaze.
The hooded riders then rode to William Donnelly’s house nearby and shot another son, John who answered the door when he heard the mob clamouring outside. The group then slipped away into the night, leaving flames of the Donnelly homestead lighting the night sky.
Seeking a better life in Canada
Like so many before him, James Donnelly, his wife, and newborn son left the poverty of Ireland, and emigrated to Canada in 1842
In the city of London, in what was known as Canada-West at the time, (later Ontario in 1867) he found work as a labourer, but dreamed of owning land, a sign of success. With no money, the answer, as was sometimes the case, was to squat on unused land. He ended up on Lot 18, Concession 6 in Biddulph township. Over the next ten years he worked hard to clear the land, during which his wife Johanna bore several more sons. but then the absentee owner, a Mr Grace, sold the land to another man, Mr. Farrell. Both men tried to have the Donnellys evicted.
The Donellys were infuriated, and a bitter feud set in. After several court appearances, Donnelly was allowed to purchase half the land for a small fee, and the other half went to Farrell.
Neither were satisfied, Farrell because he had paid for all the land, and Donnelly because he had cleared and improved all the land. Farrell said publicly he wanted to drive the Donnellys off the land. The feud got worse, shots were fired, and the argument began to divide the community. Then during a barn building bee, the two men fuelled by alcohol, fought, and Farrell was killed with a blow to the head from a wooden handspike. Donnelly hid, but eventually turned himself in, and was sentenced to hang for murder. His strong-willed wife got names on a petition and the sentence was commuted to seven years in the Kingston gaol.
As the years passed, Johanna toiled hard to keep the farm, and the boys, taunted at school because their father was in jail, were taught to fight, defend each other and never back down. Later they started a stage coach service which enters a rivalry with another. More arguments and fights ensue in the community, with several incidents of sabotage occurring back and forth including burning of the rival’s stables. There are several charges brought against the young Donnellys for fighting and trespassing.
Later three sons are evicted from a neighbouring lot, but the new owner falls victim to a number of mysterious fires, and animal deaths.
At one point the Donellys coach stables are burned. The Donellys are constantly blamed for incidents in the township, often charged, but there is seldom evidence to convict.
Meanwhile, a hardness set in and for the Donnelly’s, neighbours who helped them were friends, anyone who slighted them, real or perceived, became hated enemies. As time went on, barns were burned, fights and threats were common, and the clan began to be known as the “black” Donnelley’s, terrorizing the region and the nearby town of Lucan.
After James Donnelly’s release from jail. things got worse.
The entire township seems a hive of lawlessness and violence. A civilian group called the Vigilance Society is set up to investigate the various incidents of theft, burnings, beatings. They gather at midnight on the 3rd.
In the wee hours of 4 Feb, masked riders came to the Donnelly farm and break into the house. There they killed James, Johanna, son Tom, and a niece staying in the house, and then set the house ablaze. The group then rides to the house nearby of Jame’s son William and surround the house yelling. Son John awakens and goes to the door where he is shot and lies dying on the doorstep.
The group then quietly slips back into the night.
A young neighbour who had been spending the night at the Donnelly homestead, Johnny O’Connor, hid and had survived the massacre and had managed to slip away before the fire, but said he recognized several of the more than a dozen attackers. William Donnelly who saw his brother shot, also recognized some of the attackers.
Later members of the community are arrested and tried, but after two trials, and various witnesses refusals to testify no-one is found guilty.
The forty years of vandalism, bitter arguments and murder did not quite end in 1880, but with so many Donnelly’s killed, calm began to settle back in, although an air of secrecy and mistrust continued for decades.
The remaining members of the Donnelly family die of natural causes in later years from 1897 to 1916
In present times, the owners of the Donnelly property whose house is built on the spot of the Donnelly homestead have regularly reported many ghostly apparations and strange noises in the house and barn.
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