Early Years
Third child of James O’Donnell (1844-1906) and Bridget Quinn O’Donnell (1850-1884).
We know a little more about Dad’s father than we do the two earlier generations of our American ancestors, with the assistance of Bruce’s History of Milwaukee (1922).
He was born on December 1, 1873, but later in life took to saying it was 1874, his WWI draft registration (below) being one example among many. As long as we know the correct year we’ll honor his preference by continuing to use the 1874 date here.
James attended parochial school, probably Gesu, and, I didn’t know this, Marquette College briefly before apprenticing as a plumber for six years.
From what Bruce tells us of his life (below), we know he left Marquette in 1891 and until 1897 apprenticed as a plumber with the Fox and May plumbing company, which was co-owned by Delbert H. May, the husband of his aunt, Catherine O’Donnell May.
By 1897 he completed his training and opened his own business with Edward Derkin (on left), whose son Charles had married another aunt of James, Margaret O’Donnell in 1873.
A year later he left Milwaukee and for the next fourteen years worked his trade in St. Paul, the Dakotas, and Canada, before returning to Milwaukee around 1911-1912, when he started a successful plumbing contracting business.
Sena Thompson O’Donnell
He married first Sena Thompson O’Donnell (1876-1912) in 1900 in St. Paul, MN. She died in Milwaukee in 1912, when she was 36. They had no children.
This straightforward chronology has a complication, but only one, happily. In 1905 James and Sena were living in St. Paul when they were counted in that state’s census (below). In the same year, however, James’ father also listed him as part of his household for the Wisconsin state census, age 30 (32, actually), married, with no mention of Sena.
Not only did he list James, he also included six of the other children he had with Bridget Quinn, omitting only Katherine, who may have been overlooked in the crowd (below). Also included was George, the surviving child of James and Susan Collopy O’Donnell. None of the three Collopy children were mentioned even though they were of similar ages to the older O’Donnell children.
It’s hard to discern a motive here. The older children ranged in age from 35 to late 20s, three were married, which makes living with their father at that age and without their spouses highly improbable. The census explicitly asks for the names only of the people living at the address at the time of recording. The elder James must have known what he was doing, but why remains stubbornly elusive. Pride in his children? Pride in his ability to father so many children?
Working Life
One can’t help but notice that when James left Milwaukee he was choosing not to join his brothers in the flourishing business his father ran, nor did he return to join them when they formed the O’Donnell Brothers general contracting company after their father’s death in 1906. And when he did return he elected to start his own company instead of participating in an established, prosperous business.
His choices suggest there may have been some difficulties in the family’s interactions with each other, but we have lost the voices who could tell us the stories.
In his biographical sketch below, Bruce refers to Grandpa O’Donnell overcoming “obstacles and difficulties” without describing what they were but also saying that the business was a successful one.
He didn’t serve in World War I. It wasn’t until September 1918 that he was even required to register for the draft when the eligibility age range was broadened from 18 to 30 to 18 to 45. At 44, he was near the upper limit and unlikely to be called unless manpower needs were more urgent than they proved to be, the war ending just two months later. On the day he registered, September 12, Dad was just five days old.
The registration notes that he had gray hair at his relatively young age; Dad went gray early, too–so it wasn’t really his kids who were the cause, after all.
The Depression bankrupted his plumbing contracting business and the family was on relief for a time. James might have weathered the Depression in better condition had he not chosen to continue to pay his employees for as long he was able.
When his son, William F. O’Donnell, was first elected county supervisor in 1948 he credited his father for a large part of his victory, saying that many voters in his district were grateful to his father for performing free plumbing work when they could not pay.
Margaret McIntyre O’Donnell
His second wife was our grandmother, Margaret McIntyre O’Donnell, whom he married in 1915. Their marriage record can be seen below.
They had five children, the first arriving when James was 44:
- James–Dad (1918-2010),
- William F. (1922-2004),
- Marie (1925-1926),
- Laurence (‘Lorny’) (1927-1961), and
- Marion (b. 1931-2026).
In 1950 he was 76 and living at 527 N. 16th St., a vibrant Irish neighborhood soon to be bulldozed out of the city’s life by the expressway construction of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Living with him were Bill (age 28), by then a county supervisor, Lorny (23), and Marion (19), who was working sixteen hours a week at a metal manufacturing company. Dad had five children and living at 3009 N. 36th St.
Bruce’s biographical piece adds some details that weren’t known before, but he’s wrong in saying Grandpa O’Donnell was the son of Susan Reddy Collopy O’Donnell. His mother was Bridget Quinn O’Donnell. Nor did Sena Thompson O’Donnell die in 1913 but 1912.
James Joseph O’Donnell James Joseph O’Donnell, engaged in business as a plumbing contractor, was born in Milwaukee, December 1, 1873. He acquired his education in the parochial schools and in Marquette College while spending his youthful days in the home of his parents, James and Susan [Reddy] (Reidy) O’Donnell, mentioned elsewhere in this work. He served an apprenticeship at the plumber’s trade with the firm of Fox and May, with whom he continued for about six years, and later he spent one year in business on his own account. He then went to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he worked as a journeyman, and later he was employed along similar lines in Dakota and in Canada, spending about twenty years in that way. Subsequently, he returned to Milwaukee, where he opened a shop and began taking contracts for plumbing. Here he has since continued and has worked up an excellent business, having now a liberal patronage. In 1900 Mr. O’Donnell was married to Miss Sena Thompson of St. Paul, who died in 1913. Two years later he married Margaret McIntyre, a daughter of George and Elizabeth (McDonough) McIntyre of Milwaukee. They have two sons, [James] Joseph and William. Mr. O’Donnell is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and of the Milwaukee Master History of Milwaukee, City and County, by William George Bruce, 3 vols., 1922; vol 3, p. 804 |
Picture Gallery
Only five pictures of Grandpa O’Donnell exist in the archive, all of them taken when he was in his 70s. A sense of his character can be gathered in the letters he sent to Dad during the war where his voice is warm, gentle, and unpretentious. These same qualities also shine through the touching letters his mother sent to Dad.
The first two pictures were taken on the same day, the next two a few years later, also on the the same day.
