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Below is a family biography included in the Biographical Review Volume of Biographical Sketches of The Leading Citizens of Hampshire County, Massachusetts published by Biographical Review Publishing Company in 1896.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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HON. JOHN B. O’DONNELL, of Northampton, Mass., attorney and counsellor -at-law, was born in Inch, County Kerry, Ireland, September 8, 1846. His parents, James and Bridget (Herlihy) O’Donnell, came to America in 1849, bringing with them three young children. Mr. O’Donnell was a tenant farmer in Ireland, and, like many of his countrymen, was driven from home at that time by the potato failure and ensuing famine. He had little wherewith to establish a home for his family in the new country, but he had a strong constitution and a willing hand, which count for much in the land where “there is bread and work for all”; and he soon found employment at railroad construction in New Hampshire. Later he worked as a laborer on the buildings of the Colt Pistol Works in Hartford, Conn., and in 1855 removed to Northampton. In 1859 he established a home in Florence, where he and his faithful wife died in 1882, he being then sixty-four years of age and she fifty-seven. Seven children were born to them, one of whom, Thomas, died at the tender age of four years. The youngest, born in this country, Michael, died at Florence in 1887.

John B. O’Donnell attended the common schools in Northampton until eleven years of age and at Hadley the next year. He then started out as a wage-earner, entering first the cotton-mill of the Greenville Manufacturing Company at Florence, where he was employed four years, and next working a year in the gun-works at Bay State village. He was subsequently in the employ of the Florence Sewing Machine Company until 1872 as a contractor, and the next three years he was in mercantile business in Florence. During this period — from the time that he was twelve years of age until he was twenty-one — young O’Donnell studiously improved every spare moment, regularly attending evening school, often burning the midnight oil in the pursuit of knowledge. He also took private lessons of Miss James and the late Daniel D. Gorham, principal of the Northampton High School. In 1875 he began to read law with his brother, T. B. O’Donnell, in Holyoke, continuing with him one year; and later he attended the Boston University Law School for two years. He was admitted to the bar in 1878, and soon opened an office in Northampton, where he has been in active practice ever since, winning his way steadily to the front rank in the legal profession, so that now he is one of the foremost lawyers in Hampshire County. In politics Mr. O’Donnell is a Democrat, and has represented his party in various official positions. He was a member of the first Common Council of Northampton, and was for two years chairman of the Board of Assessors, resigning in 1889 in order to go to Europe, where he spent three months touring through England, Ireland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and Holland. In December, 1891, he was elected Mayor of the city, and served two years, 1892-93.

On November 28, 1869, Mr. O’Donnell was united in marriage with Bridget T. Coughlin, daughter of Daniel and Honora Coughlin, natives of Ireland, where Mrs. O’Donnell also was born. She died December 14, 1887, leaving five children, namely: James C.; George P., who graduated from the Boston Law School in 1895; John B., a youth of eighteen, in the Northampton High School; Charles H. and Edward, aged respectively twelve and nine. The eldest son, James C., was a student in the Northampton High School, a graduate from Holy Cross College in the class of 1892, and is now, 1895, a student in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City.

The Hon. John B. O’Donnell is a Knight of Honor and a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He resided in Florence until October, 1894, when he removed to Round Hill, where in 1895 he erected one of the handsomest residences in this part of the county. He also owns considerable other real estate, including dwelling-houses and business blocks. Successful as a lawyer, a politician, and a financier, Mr. O’Donnell is thoroughly respected as an honest and honorable citizen, one who has gained the heights of success through his own efforts alone, spurred by a worthy ambition.

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This family biography is one of the numerous biographies included in the Biographical Review Volume of Biographical Sketches of The Leading Citizens of Hampshire County, Massachusetts published in 1896. 

View additional Hampshire County, Massachusetts family biographies here: Hampshire County, Massachusetts Biographies

View a map of 1901 Hampshire County, Massachusetts here: Hampshire County Massachusetts Map

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