Biographical Sketch of

Solon Wesley Pierce

Transcribed by Robert Schieber

Source: Memorial and Biographical Record and Illustrated Compendium of Biography of Citizens of Columbia, 
Sauk and Adams Counties, Wisconsin, published 1901 by G. A. Ogle & Co., Chicago, 1901, Page 487


Hugh Donnelly, an influential and leading citizen of Springville township, Adams county, has earned his present 
prosperity by his energy, natural business ability, and his honesty and fairness in all his dealings.  For more 
than a third of a century he has occupied his present homestead, and to him as much as to any other man is due 
the development of Adams county.

Mr. Donnelly was born in Lexington, Ohio, June 11th or 13th, 1830.  His parents, John and Sarah (O'Neill) Donnelly, 
were natives of County Tyrone, Ireland, and came to the United States in 1812, taking up their residence in Pennsylvania, 
near Harrisburg.  They followed farming, and in about the year 1830 moved to Ohio.  They died in that state in the city 
of Lexington.

Hugh Donnelly was the first born of a family of four children.  He remained at home working for his father until he was 
twenty-three years of age.  He obtained a fair common school education, which he has extended by reading and observation. 
Upon leaving home Hugh Donnelly worked for some time in the quarries at Lancaster, Ohio, and afterward for the Central 
Ohio Railway Company for about four years.

In 1856 Mr. Donnelly determined to see what the west had to offer for a young man, and we find him in Wisconsin, where 
he finally determined to locate, taking up his residence in Adams county.  He worked for others for a few years, and it 
was in 1863 that he purchased the farm which has since that time been his homestead.  It consisted of one hundred and 
twenty acres at that time, but his hard work and judicious management of his estate have enabled him to add to it until 
his is now the owner of three hundred and sixty acres of excellent farming and pasture lands about one hundred acres of 
which are cultivated annually.  He conducts general farming, devoting much attention to stock.  He has made a success of 
his line of business, and his honesty, liberality and steadfastness of character have won him the respect of all those 
among whom he has lived so many years.

Hugh Donnelly was married February 18, 1848, to Mary Hinman, daughter of James and Eliza (Seeley) Hinman, who came from 
the state of New York to Adams county about 1850.  To Mr. and Mrs. Donnelly nine children have been born, eight of whom 
still survive.  John, now living in Waukesha, Wis.; Edgar; Frank, living in Waukesha, Wis.; James, deceased, whose death 
occurred in 1873; Sarah, now Mrs. J. Collins, of Waukesha, Wis.;  Joseph, at home; Thomas; Hugh J; and Mary.  The family 
are members of the Catholic church of Briggsville.  In political sentiment Mr. Donnelly is a Democrat, though he does not 
take an active part in political affairs at the present time.  He has held a number of township offices, was chairman of 
the board five years, and has also held the office of township treasurer.  He has witnessed great changes in the condition 
of his county and state, and has himself been a potent factor in the advancement of all those interests which tend toward 
the general good.  His name is inseparably connected with the history of his county.


Transcribed by Robert Schieber






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