Ohio History Journal

346      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

became captain of Company C of that regiment.      He

served with distinction through the Civil War and at-

tained the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was again

in the Legislature in 1867-1868 and was Speaker in the

latter year.  In 1876 he was elected United States sen-

ator and twice afterward re-elected.  He died in 1891

before the close of his third term.

His life history, as presented by Connelley in this

volume, is an inspiration to every healthy, ambitious

American boy who desires to rise through his own effort

to honorable distinction in the service of his country.

 

 

COLONEL S. K. DONAVAN.

Colonel Simpson K. Donavan was born at Shippens-

burg, Pennsylvania, in March, 1831, and died after a

brief illness in Columbus August 12, 1902. His parents

were from Virginia and sympathized with the people of

their native state and the institution of slavery.  He

early learned the printing trade, afterwards taught

school for a time and then entered upon a journalistic

career in the city of Baltimore.  He was there at the

time of the John Brown raid at Harper's Ferry.      In

conversation with the writer a few years before his

death he said in substance:

"I was the first correspondent on the ground after the raid at

Harper's Ferry began. I went there in thorough sympathy with

the attitude of the people of Virginia and Maryland in their hos-

tility to the raiders. I was startled at the news of the attack

and puzzled at the mystery which for a time clouded its purpose.

Soon after the capture of the engine house I learned from the

lips of John Brown that it was a movement against the institution

of slavery.

"I was in Harper's Ferry until the prisoners were moved to

Charlestown and from that place I reported the news for my

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Reviews, Notes and Comments           347

 

paper until after the execution of John Brown. I attempted, as

in all my reportorial work, to give an account of what occurred

from time to time without bias or comment.  Finally I noticed

that my reports were not published in full and some of them

were materially changed. On my return to Baltimore one eve-

ning I asked why this was done. The answer was to the effect

that it was not to the interest of the paper to publish some of

the material that I sent in. I insisted that I had simply reported

the facts. I was told that this was probably true from my point

of view but that my communications bore evidence of sympathy

with the prisoners at Charlestown. I was disposed to deny this

somewhat vigorously but upon a little reflection I concluded that

the publishers of my paper were correct and said very little in

reply to the charge. I was afterwards somewhat careful not to

invite a repetition of this experience, but my sympathy with John

Brown grew until the day of his execution. When he ascended

the scaffold I was a John Brown man."

In the Civil War when Carlisle, Pennsylvania, was

threatened by the Confederates, Colonel Donovan was

placed in the command of a regiment of Pennsylvania

troops and thus received his military title.  In 1868 he

came to Delaware, Ohio, which he afterward considered

his home. For about twenty years he spent most of his

time in Columbus in newspaper work. For a time he

was engaged in insurance business but drifted into

politics and became prominent in the councils of the

Democratic party. He was an assistant sergeant-at-arms

in the national House of Representatives. In 1883 he

became editor of the Columbus Times.      Later he con-

tributed to the Cincinnati Enquirer and to the end of his

life was a close personal friend of John R. McLean, the

proprietor of that paper. He was the author of a book,

Led in Strange Paths.    For the last twenty-five years

of his life he had a large circle of acquaintances and

friends in Ohio.    He is survived by his sister, Miss

Sallie Donovan of Delaware, Ohio.

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