His Story
University of Louisville 1900
Click on Photo
INTRODUCTION
This historical and genealogical journey began by simply trying to find some information on Dr. James F. Donnelly whose name appears on the headstone so prominently established in the Gevgelija cemetery. It has turned into a major project with a life of its own on both sides of the Atlantic. The account that follows is an attempt by an admitted rank amateur genealogist/historian to summarize the information obtained and known to date. We see the website as a dynamic effort and welcome any input, clarifications, as well as new and different information that will add to the James F. Donnelly story. We are especially interested in hearing from any Donnelly Family descendants so they can be included in this project.
WHAT WE THINK WE KNOW TO DATE
James Donnelly was born in 1874 in Massachusetts to James A. and Mary Donnelly. We find a 1900 US Census record with them living in New York City at 320, 43 rd Street. There are five boys with James F. the oldest. His brother Joseph P. was also born in Massachusetts in 1878. His brother John H. was born in New York City in 1879, so they moved to New York within that year. His brother Frederick E. was born in 1884. We have been able to establish contact with a daughter of Frederick, who is still living at age 95. We hope over time she will be able to provide more details about the family and possibly even a family picture. The youngest son of the five was Conrad, born in 1890. The census document indicates that father James A. was a Bricklayer, James F. a Physician, Joseph P. a US Army Soldier, John H. a Salesman, Frederick a Messenger at a Hotel and Conrad a High School Student.
The picture above is provided courtesy of the University of Louisville and is of the faculty and graduates of the Medical Department, 1900. James Donnelly is first picked up in the 1900 Census residing in New York, as a single male, in what appears to be a boarding situation. His brother Fred appears in the 1910 Census living in New York, married to Rita. They reside in New York through the 1930 Census and have four children, two boys and two girls. From the New York Tribune obituary we discover that in June of 1914 James married Florence May Kellerman of Philadelphia, who had been previously married. This was an important discovery because he regularly and emotionally mentions, in the New York Times published diary, his wife and young son. It appears that he had not been married prior to that point and had no natural children. May seems to have had a daughter and son from a previous marriage and we assume this is the son James Donnelly refers to. He arrives in Gevgelija on December 18, 1914 so this means they were married at most seven months before departing. He dies on February 22 of 1915 only nine months after being married.
Mainly from information found in obituaries at the time of his death, we generally know that he received what we assume is a medical degree from the University of Louisville in 1900. It is also mentioned in two announcements that he held a Royal Medical Degree in Holland. It would appear that his medical career was carried out, in what we would call today, international relief and travel medicine. He is described as the health officer for the Haitian Republic, and three years as the health officer for the Port of New York. It also appears that he worked for the Canara and Hamburg – American ship lines. This is directly supported by his authoring the paper “MEDICAL SERVICE IN THE MERCHANT MARINE”. He is described as “SURQBON IN THB TRANSATLANTIC SERVICE” on the title page. One of the announcements describes that he went to Belgium with the first American Red Cross unit and then returned, we assume assigned to Gevgelija. Just a note: Gevgelija is located in the present day country of Macedonia (FYRO Macedonia) which at the time of World War I was identified as Serbia, spelled Servia throughout most of the documents on the website. Balkan history is extremely complex with boundaries and country names changing regularly and quickly. This is one of the challenges and charms of this area of the world.
We gain excellent detail about Dr. Donnelly's activities, thoughts and emotions during his time and work in Gevgelija from The New York Times article that contains entries from his diary. I recommend that visitors to the site start with this account and read it completely because the story is fully captured in his words. Therefore, I will not repeat that account here except to say that he begins his diary as he arrives on December 18 and the last entry is on February 18 as he waits on the train to meet Sir Thomas Lipton. It appears that he had become ill by February 20. From the death record, found on the Dr. Donnelly Records page of this website and recorded by the American Consular Service in “Saloniki,” he died on February 22 of a self inflicted gun shot wound while delirious from Typhus. No other account speaks of this act, but given the official nature of this document there is no reason to doubt this fact. The American Red Cross publication found on the Red Cross Hospital page of this website gives more general information about the work and conditions of the hospital in Gevgelija.
From the many obituaries generated, and of course the publishing of diary excerpts by the New York Times, it seems this story achieved some notoriety for a time in New York. Given this interest, it is curious that James Donnelly's body was not exhumed after a year and returned to the United States. The conditions for returning remains resulting from death by Typhus are explained in the death notice document. We can only speculate that with the short term of his marriage of less than a year, his wife May, may not have been motivated to follow through. There are no official death records in Gevgelija except for the significant headstone established prominently in a special spot in the Gevgelija cemetery, which prompted the question that started this project. Who was James Donnelly? Thus, the Dr. James F. Donnelly story continues to have an aura of mystery surrounding it on both sides of the Atlantic.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
From the beginning, this project became a group effort and I would like to acknowledge and thank people and organizations who contributed early to get things rolling. Finding the New York Times article in their online archives was invaluable. Irena Tasheva, my wife Kathy's counterpart at the Krste Misirkov primary school in Gevgelija translated the New York Times diary article into Macedonian so folks in Gevgelija could embrace the story. The American Red Cross provided us the Gevgelija hospital information which contained the wonderful and important picture. Our good friend in Colorado, Lisa Butler started us down the right path using her personal family genealogy experience. Two professional genealogist/historians helped us immensely at no cost. Jordan Auslander found a number of obituaries that shed light on, especially, the marriage to May Kellerman. Megan Smolenyak reconstructed most all of the Donnelly story in the United States, including tracing ancestors of James Donnelly's brother Fred. Katherine Adams Stoner directed us to the first, and at this time, only photograph of James Donnelly which she found on the University of Louisville Digital Collections website, after seeing this site posted on the US Embassy of Macedonia's Facebook page. I am very grateful for all of this help. I also need to express my admiration for Ace Ristovski, the Director of the Apollonia Foundation, and his curiosity and enthusiasm for stories of life, which initiated this effort. Our greatest hope is that from this website more interest and information will be generated. We would be most excited to find the full journal archived somewhere. We invite anyone with interest to participate.
To be continued:
This historical and genealogical journey began by simply trying to find some information on Dr. James F. Donnelly whose name appears on the headstone so prominently established in the Gevgelija cemetery. It has turned into a major project with a life of its own on both sides of the Atlantic. The account that follows is an attempt by an admitted rank amateur genealogist/historian to summarize the information obtained and known to date. We see the website as a dynamic effort and welcome any input, clarifications, as well as new and different information that will add to the James F. Donnelly story. We are especially interested in hearing from any Donnelly Family descendants so they can be included in this project.
WHAT WE THINK WE KNOW TO DATE
James Donnelly was born in 1874 in Massachusetts to James A. and Mary Donnelly. We find a 1900 US Census record with them living in New York City at 320, 43 rd Street. There are five boys with James F. the oldest. His brother Joseph P. was also born in Massachusetts in 1878. His brother John H. was born in New York City in 1879, so they moved to New York within that year. His brother Frederick E. was born in 1884. We have been able to establish contact with a daughter of Frederick, who is still living at age 95. We hope over time she will be able to provide more details about the family and possibly even a family picture. The youngest son of the five was Conrad, born in 1890. The census document indicates that father James A. was a Bricklayer, James F. a Physician, Joseph P. a US Army Soldier, John H. a Salesman, Frederick a Messenger at a Hotel and Conrad a High School Student.
The picture above is provided courtesy of the University of Louisville and is of the faculty and graduates of the Medical Department, 1900. James Donnelly is first picked up in the 1900 Census residing in New York, as a single male, in what appears to be a boarding situation. His brother Fred appears in the 1910 Census living in New York, married to Rita. They reside in New York through the 1930 Census and have four children, two boys and two girls. From the New York Tribune obituary we discover that in June of 1914 James married Florence May Kellerman of Philadelphia, who had been previously married. This was an important discovery because he regularly and emotionally mentions, in the New York Times published diary, his wife and young son. It appears that he had not been married prior to that point and had no natural children. May seems to have had a daughter and son from a previous marriage and we assume this is the son James Donnelly refers to. He arrives in Gevgelija on December 18, 1914 so this means they were married at most seven months before departing. He dies on February 22 of 1915 only nine months after being married.
Mainly from information found in obituaries at the time of his death, we generally know that he received what we assume is a medical degree from the University of Louisville in 1900. It is also mentioned in two announcements that he held a Royal Medical Degree in Holland. It would appear that his medical career was carried out, in what we would call today, international relief and travel medicine. He is described as the health officer for the Haitian Republic, and three years as the health officer for the Port of New York. It also appears that he worked for the Canara and Hamburg – American ship lines. This is directly supported by his authoring the paper “MEDICAL SERVICE IN THE MERCHANT MARINE”. He is described as “SURQBON IN THB TRANSATLANTIC SERVICE” on the title page. One of the announcements describes that he went to Belgium with the first American Red Cross unit and then returned, we assume assigned to Gevgelija. Just a note: Gevgelija is located in the present day country of Macedonia (FYRO Macedonia) which at the time of World War I was identified as Serbia, spelled Servia throughout most of the documents on the website. Balkan history is extremely complex with boundaries and country names changing regularly and quickly. This is one of the challenges and charms of this area of the world.
We gain excellent detail about Dr. Donnelly's activities, thoughts and emotions during his time and work in Gevgelija from The New York Times article that contains entries from his diary. I recommend that visitors to the site start with this account and read it completely because the story is fully captured in his words. Therefore, I will not repeat that account here except to say that he begins his diary as he arrives on December 18 and the last entry is on February 18 as he waits on the train to meet Sir Thomas Lipton. It appears that he had become ill by February 20. From the death record, found on the Dr. Donnelly Records page of this website and recorded by the American Consular Service in “Saloniki,” he died on February 22 of a self inflicted gun shot wound while delirious from Typhus. No other account speaks of this act, but given the official nature of this document there is no reason to doubt this fact. The American Red Cross publication found on the Red Cross Hospital page of this website gives more general information about the work and conditions of the hospital in Gevgelija.
From the many obituaries generated, and of course the publishing of diary excerpts by the New York Times, it seems this story achieved some notoriety for a time in New York. Given this interest, it is curious that James Donnelly's body was not exhumed after a year and returned to the United States. The conditions for returning remains resulting from death by Typhus are explained in the death notice document. We can only speculate that with the short term of his marriage of less than a year, his wife May, may not have been motivated to follow through. There are no official death records in Gevgelija except for the significant headstone established prominently in a special spot in the Gevgelija cemetery, which prompted the question that started this project. Who was James Donnelly? Thus, the Dr. James F. Donnelly story continues to have an aura of mystery surrounding it on both sides of the Atlantic.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
From the beginning, this project became a group effort and I would like to acknowledge and thank people and organizations who contributed early to get things rolling. Finding the New York Times article in their online archives was invaluable. Irena Tasheva, my wife Kathy's counterpart at the Krste Misirkov primary school in Gevgelija translated the New York Times diary article into Macedonian so folks in Gevgelija could embrace the story. The American Red Cross provided us the Gevgelija hospital information which contained the wonderful and important picture. Our good friend in Colorado, Lisa Butler started us down the right path using her personal family genealogy experience. Two professional genealogist/historians helped us immensely at no cost. Jordan Auslander found a number of obituaries that shed light on, especially, the marriage to May Kellerman. Megan Smolenyak reconstructed most all of the Donnelly story in the United States, including tracing ancestors of James Donnelly's brother Fred. Katherine Adams Stoner directed us to the first, and at this time, only photograph of James Donnelly which she found on the University of Louisville Digital Collections website, after seeing this site posted on the US Embassy of Macedonia's Facebook page. I am very grateful for all of this help. I also need to express my admiration for Ace Ristovski, the Director of the Apollonia Foundation, and his curiosity and enthusiasm for stories of life, which initiated this effort. Our greatest hope is that from this website more interest and information will be generated. We would be most excited to find the full journal archived somewhere. We invite anyone with interest to participate.
To be continued: