Columbus O'Donnell

Christopher Columbus O'Donnell (October 1, 1792 – May 26, 1873) was an American businessman who served as president of Baltimore's Gas and Light Company.

Columbus O'Donnell
O'Donnell from an 1866 book
Born
Christopher Columbus O'Donnell

(1792-10-01)October 1, 1792
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
DiedMay 26, 1873(1873-05-26) (aged 80)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Alma materSt. Mary's College
Spouse
Eleanora C. Pascault
​
​
(died 1870)​
Children5
RelativesAdrian Iselin Jr. (grandson)
Columbus Iselin (grandson)
Charles Oliver Iselin (grandson)
Eleanora Iselin Kane (granddaughter)

Early life and education

O'Donnell was born on October 1, 1792, in Baltimore, Maryland. He was the son of prominent merchant, and slaveowner, Capt. John O'Donnell (1749–1805), and Sara Chew (née Elliott) O'Donnell (1766–1857).[1][2] His father was born in Limerick, Ireland and ran away to India where he "amassed a substantial fortune from mercantile pursuits."[3] His father likely arrived in Baltimore around 1785, eventually acquiring a 1,981 acre estate that he called Canton, that "wound around the elbow of the northwest branch of the Patapsco River, east of Fell's Point." He also bought more than 100 lots in Baltimore, the two Miller Islands in the Chesapeake Bay, a 1,628 estate in Howard County known as Never Die, and 3,000 acres in Virginia.[3]

His paternal grandfather was John O'Donnell and his maternal grandfather were Capt. Thomas Elliott "of a well-known Quaker family and descendant of one of the Pilgrim Fathers."[4] He was educated at St. Mary's College.[3]

Career

During the War of 1812, he fought in the Battle of North Point between General John Stricker's Maryland Militia and a British force led by Major General Robert Ross.[5]

In 1828, O'Donnell and others petitioned the Maryland State Senate to incorporate the Canton Company, "a real estate company that was to include at the outset the Canton plantation plus all the waterfront property from Fells Point to Lazaretto Point, a total of 3,000 acres."[3] The bill passed in 1829 and the company was given the right to lay out streets, build wharves, ships, factories, stores and homes, which O'Donnell did together with William Patterson and Peter Cooper.[3]

He served as president of Baltimore's Gas and Light Company for thirty-nine years, president of the Baltimore Water Company for fifteen years, and was on the board of directors of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Union Bank of Baltimore.[3] He was also an original member of the Maryland Club and was one of the commissioners appointed to lay out Druid Hill Park.[3]

Personal life
Portrait of his daughter, Mrs. Adrian Iselin (née Eleanora O'Donnell) by John Singer Sargent in 1888

O'Donnell was married to Eleanora C. Pascault (1799–1870), a daughter of French-born merchant Louis Pascault, Marquis de Poleon.[6] Among her siblings were sisters Henriette (wife of French Gen. Jean-Jacques Reubell, who came to Baltimore with Jérôme Bonaparte),[7][8] and Josephine (wife of James Gallatin, eldest son of Ambassador and Secretary Albert Gallatin)[9][10] Her brother, Louis Charles Pascault,[11] was a Capt. in the Mexican War (who married Ann Goldsborough, a granddaughter of Continental Congressman Robert Goldsborough),[12][13][14][15] Together, the O'Donnells were the parents of:[16]

O'Donnell died on Mary 26, 1873, in Baltimore.[25] In his will, he left his estate to his children and grandchildren, with specific bequests of $5,000 to the Maryland Institution for the Instruction of the Blind, $5,000 to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, and $5,000 to the Roman Catholic Asylum for Widows.[26]

Descendants

Through his son Charles, he was a grandfather of John Charles O'Donnell (1868–1914), who married Julia Edie (a granddaughter of U.S. Representative John Rufus Edie) and lived in Montreux, Switzerland.[27]

Through his daughter Eleanora,[28] he was a grandfather of Adrian Iselin Jr. (1846–1935),[29][30] William Emil Iselin (1848–1937),[31] Eleanora Iselin Kane (1849–1938),[32][33] Columbus O'Donnell Iselin (1851–1933),[34][35] Charles Oliver Iselin (1854–1932),[36][37] Papal Countess Georgine Iselin (1857–1954),[38][39] and Emilie Eleanora Iselin Beresford (1860–1916).[40][41][42][43][44]

References
  1. "ADRIAN ISELIN DEAD AT HIS CITY HOME; Banker's Illness Developed Into General Breakdown. NEW ROCHELLE'S BENEFACTOR Rumor That He Was Deathbed Convert to Roman Catholic Church, to Which He Gave Much". The New York Times. 29 March 1905. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  2. Matthews, John (June 2009). Complete American Armoury and Blue Book: Combining 1903, 1907 and 1911-23 Editions. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 185. ISBN 978-0-8063-4573-4. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  3. Novak, Josephine (12 July 1979). "Famous Baltimore names: O'Donnell". The Evening Sun. p. 15.
  4. O'Donnell, Elliott (1915). The Irish Abroad: A Record of the Achievements of Wanderers from Ireland. Dutton. p. 341. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  5. Elting, John R. (1995). Amateurs to Arms! A Military History of the War of 1812. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80653-3.
  6. "Notes and Queries" (PDF). Maryland Historical Magazine. Maryland Historical Society: 76. March 1955. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  7. Gill, John H. (28 March 2011). With Eagles to Glory: Napoleon and His German Allies in the 1809 Campaign. Frontline Books. pp. 453–454. ISBN 978-1-84832-582-1. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  8. "To James Madison from John Dawson, 29 July 1803". founders.archives.gov. Founders Online, National Archives. Retrieved 28 October 2021. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, vol. 5, 16 May–31 October 1803, ed. David B. Mattern, J. C. A. Stagg, Ellen J. Barber, Anne Mandeville Colony, and Bradley J. Daigle. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000, p. 247.]
  9. Walters, Raymond (15 October 1957). Albert Gallatin: Jeffersonian Financier and Diplomat. University of Pittsburgh Press. pp. 327, 346. ISBN 978-0-8229-7408-6. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  10. Dungan, Nicholas (28 September 2010). Gallatin: America's Swiss Founding Father. NYU Press. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-8147-2111-7. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  11. "Louis Charles Pascault, 1790 - 1867". npg.si.edu. National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  12. "Miniatures in the Collection of the Society" (PDF). Maryland Historical Magazine. Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society. December 1956. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  13. "Pleasant Valley, Easton, Talbot County, Maryland". www.loc.gov. Library of Congress. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  14. "Pleasant Valley Farm site". apps.jefpat.maryland.gov. Collections at the MAC Lab. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  15. Hanson, George A. (June 2009). Old Kent: The Eastern Shore of Maryland. Genealogical Publishing Com. pp. 279–280. ISBN 978-0-8063-4632-8. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  16. John O'Donnell of Baltimore, His Forbears & Descendants. Favil Press. 1934. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-598-99450-9. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  17. "HILLEN, Solomon, Jr. 1810 – 1873". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  18. "MRS. ADRIAN ISELIN DEAD.; She Had Been Seriously Ill Since September, but Recently Had Improved". The New York Times. 28 November 1897. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  19. "ELEANORA ISELIN'S WILL.; The Estate Is Bequeathed to the Husband, Adrian Iselin, Sr". The New York Times. 16 December 1897. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  20. "Charles Oliver O'Donnell". americanart.si.edu. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  21. Keith, Charles Penrose (1883). The Provincial Councillors of Pennsylvania, who Held Office Between 1733-1776: And Those Earlier Councillors who Were Some Time Chief Magistrates of the Province, and Their Descendants. W.S. Sharp Prtg. Company. p. 359. ISBN 978-0-7884-1765-8. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  22. Warfield, Joshua Dorsey (1905). The Founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland: A Genealogical and Biographical Review from Wills, Deeds and Church Records. Kohn & Pollock. p. 517. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  23. Lee, Edmund Jennings (May 2009). Lee of Virginia, 1642-1892: Biographical and Genealogical Sketches of the Descendants of Colonel Richard Lee. Heritage Books. p. 388. ISBN 978-0-7884-2103-7. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  24. "MR. JOHN C. O'DONNELL DEAD | Was Prominent in Society And Came Of Old Family". The Baltimore Sun. 30 May 1903. p. 6. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  25. "BY MAIL AND TELEGRAPH". The New York Times. 26 May 1873. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  26. "The Will of General Columbus O'Donnell". The Baltimore Sun. 29 May 1873. p. 1. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  27. "Died -- O'DONNELL". The New York Times. 25 July 1914. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  28. Alden, Henry Mills (1882). "The Social Athens of America". Harper's New Monthly Magazine. Harper & Brothers: 22. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  29. "ADRIAN ISELIN DIES IN HIS 89TH YEAR; Head of the Family's Banking Firm, Which He Entered in the Late 1860s" (PDF). The New York Times. January 30, 1935. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  30. "ADRIAN ISELIN LEFT ESTATE TO FAMILY; Son and Two Daughters of the Banker Share Most of It -Value 'More Than $20,000.'". The New York Times. 7 February 1935. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  31. "WILLIAM E. ISELIN, MERCHANT, 89, DIES; Partner for Many Years in the Family's Wholesale Dry Goods Concern Here". The New York Times. January 27, 1937. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  32. "COL. DE LANCEY KANE DIES OF PNEUMONIA; Noted Horseman and Astor's Great-Grandson Initiated Coaching in America. LONG A SOCIAL LEADER Graduate of West Point Who Inherited $10,000,000 Served in the Cavalry in Our Army". The New York Times. 5 April 1915. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  33. "MRS. DELANCEY A. KANE; Member of Old New York Family Dies in Westchester at 89". The New York Times. 23 October 1938. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  34. "C.O'D ISELIN DEAD; FINANCIER WAS 82; Banker Who Retired 13 Years Ago, Was Director in Many Corporations. FAMILY NOTED IN FINANCE Had Extensive Real Estate Holdings in City--Member of Leading Clubs". The New York Times. 11 November 1933. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  35. "C.O'D. ISELIN LEFT EMPLOYEES $110,000; Residue of Large Estate of Financier Who Died in New Rochelle Goes to Family". The New York Times. 22 November 1933. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  36. "C. OLIVER ISELIN, NOTED BANKER, DEAD; Member of Family of Financiers Succumbs at 78 After Illness of Three Years. WAS AN ABLE YACHTSMAN Served as Sailing Master In International America's Cup Races--Used Bold Tactics". The New York Times. January 2, 1932. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  37. "Mrs. Charles Iselin, Turf Figure And Social Leader, Dies at 102". The New York Times. 6 April 1970. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  38. "GEORGINE ISELIN, A PHILANTHROPIST; Member of Old City Family, Honored for Charity Work, Dies in New Rochelle at 96". The New York Times. 1 July 1954. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  39. "$135,000 TO CHARITIES; Miss Iselin's Will Also Makes $350,000 in Personal Gifts". The New York Times. 17 July 1954. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  40. "Mrs. Emilie E. Beresford". The New York Times. 25 May 1916. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  41. "Mrs. Beresford's Will Filed". The New York Times. 4 June 1916. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  42. "$6,000,000 ESTATE DIVIDED.; J.G. Beresford's Widow Gets Major Portion Under Will". The New York Times. 13 June 1925. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  43. "John George Beresford". The New York Times. 11 May 1925. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  44. "MARRIED. Beresford--Iselin". The New York Times. 23 February 1898. Retrieved 2 March 2018.


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