James was born the same year his father Michael Donnelly was murdered in a barroom brawl. He , his widowed mom Ellen , and older sister Catherine 'Kate' lived with his Uncle Patrick for awhile who, like Ellen,was a widow at the time. In 1891 you find James living with his Uncle Robert Donnelly and Aunt Annie. He is still with them in 1901. In 1911 Robert is gone but James stays on with Robert's widow Annie.

Ellen Hynes and Michael Donnelly were the biological parents of James Michael Donnelly but they were not the ones who raised him. His hands on parents were his Aunt Annie and Uncle Robert Donnelly whose bodies are also buried at this cemetery.


Quote from Ray Fazakas book:
Young Jim died in 1938, unmarried, leaving the bulk of his estate (including the old Donnelly homestead on the Roman Line) to his sister, Catherine (Kate) Donnelly, the only other child of Michael Donnelly. Soon after, Catherine sold the old homestead to the Harrigans. Catherine Donnelly had married Fred Crossman in San Francisco and spent the remainder of her life in that city. The Crossmans had no children.
Michael Donnelly's widow, Ellen (Nellie) Hines, eventually married Harry Clarke, and went with her husband to Toledo, Ohio, and then to Cleveland, where they raised a family of six children. When I contacted them, they were surprised to learn of their mother's connection to the Donnelly story, being under the impression that their mother's first husband had died in a railroad accident. The Clarke children, half-siblings to Jim and Kate, were: Helen, Sarah, Dora, Harry Francis, Ignatius Thomas, and Albert James. UNQUOTE

1881 Ontario, Canada Middlesex North, Lucan
Donnelly PatR. (Patrick) widower age 31 (Michael's brother)
Donnelly Ellen widow age 22 B:1859 (Michael's widow)
Donnelly Kate 5 B: 1876 (Michael & Ellen's daughter)
Donnelly James 2 B: 1879 (Michael & Ellen's son) James Michael Donnelly

1891 Ontario, Canada Dist: MIDDLESEX West
Subdistrict: Glencoe (Village)
Donnelly, Robert 36
Donnelly, E. Annie 33
Donnelly, James 12 son of Michael (deceased) & Ellen Nelly Donnelly nee-Hynes And Nephew of Robert and Annie) I wonder is his mother Ellen died or remarried.

1901 Ontario, Canada Dist: MIDDLESEX West
Subdistrict: Glencoe (Village)
Donnelly Robert Head Oct 20 1856 age 45 - D: June 14, 1911
Donnelly Annie M. Wife 1858 43 Annie Currie
Donnelly James M. Nephew S Apr 12 1879 21 (James Michael Donnelly, son of Michael (deceased) & Ellen Nelly Donnelly nee-Hynes

1911 Ontario, Canada Dist: MIDDLESEX North, Lucan
Donley Annie Head Widow Oct 1859 52 (widowed wife of Robert Donnelly)
Donley James Nephew Single Apr 1879 32 (James Michael Donnelly, son of Michael (deceased) & Ellen Nelly Donnelly nee-Hynes