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Authority record
O'Donel, James Louis
Person · 1737-1811

James Louis O'Donel (1737-1811), Franciscan priest and Catholic bishop, was born in Knocklofty, County Tipperary, Ireland in 1737, son of Michael and Ann (Crosby) O'Donel. He died on 5 April 1811 at a friary in Waterford, Ireland.

There is little information available on O'Donel's early life, but it is known that as a young boy he was educated by a private tutor, and later at a classical school in Limerick. He joined the Order of Saint Francis in Limerick and was appointed a member of Convent of the Immaculate Conception of the Irish Franciscan Community at Prague. There he received the habit of St. Francis, made his final profession of vows, completed his education and was ordained a priest in 1770.

After five years as chaplain to several aristocratic families in Bohemia, Rev. O'Donel returned to Ireland (1775). In 1776, he was elected as a provincial definitor (consultor). On 19 July 1779, he was selected Minister Provincial, or Superior, for a three-year term, placing him at the head of the Franciscan Order in Ireland. When his term of office was completed, he was appointed guardian of the friary in Waterford. In 1784 Rev. O'Donel was appointed by Pope Pius VI as Prefect Apostolic of Newfoundland, including Labrador, Greenland and all points north up to the North Pole.

Rev. O'Donel arrived in Newfoundland on 30 May 1784. In the same year, on 24 October 1784, Governor Edward John Campbell proclaimed freedom of religion. Recognizing that the greatest need of the church in Newfoundland was the presence of more priests, O'Donel recruited fellow Franciscans. Franciscans Patrick John Phelan, John Patrick Phelan and his nephew, Reverend Michael O'Donel, a secular priest, came to Newfoundland. In 1785, O'Donel oversaw the completion of the first Roman Catholic chapel on Henry Street, St. John's.

O'Donel was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Newfoundland on 5 January 1796. On 21 September 1796, he was consecrated titular Bishop of Thyatira in Quebec by Bishop John Francis Hubert, becoming the first bishop in Newfoundland and the first English-speaking bishop in North America. By 1790 Bishop O'Donel had established clergy in Ferryland, Harbour Grace and Placentia. Experiencing a decline in his health, he applied to Rome in 1805 for a coadjutor. During the last year of his term of office (1806) he supported the establishment of the Benevolent Irish Society (BIS) at the Society's inaugural meeting in the London Tavern on 17 February 1806.

With the arrival of Rev. Patrick Lambert in Newfoundland, O'Donel resigned from his office on 31 December 1806. The following year, on 26 July 1807, O'Donel left Newfoundland. Along the way he made a brief stopover at Portsmouth and Bristol before retiring to the friary in Waterford, Ireland, where he died in 1811.

Sinnott, James
Person · 1785-1869

James Sinnott (1785-1869) was born in Wexford, County Wexford, Ireland. He came to Newfoundland with Bishop Patrick Lambert in 1806 and completed his studies in theology at Quebec where he was ordained on 29 June 1810.

Rev. Sinnott spent seventeen years as a priest a various locations in Newfoundland. He then returned to Ireland and became parish priest of the parishes of Littler and Kilmuckridge, County Wexford. He died in Ireland in 1869 and was buried in the Friary Church of Wexford.

Snelgrove, George
Person · 1921-

George Snelgrove (1921-), accountant, civil servant, genealogist, was born in St. John's, Newfoundland on 1 September 1921, son of Mary (Bussey) and Arthur Snelgrove.

Snelgrove received his early education at Holloway School and Prince of Wales Collegiate, St. John's. He attended Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN), where he earned a BA degree with Honours in History. He worked in accounting and administration for the company, A.H. Murray. He later joined the federal civil service, where he was employed until his retirement in 1981. After his retirement, he began graduate studies in Maritime History at MUN.

Snelgrove is past president of the Newfoundland Genealogical Society, a member of the Wessex Society, the Newfoundland Historical Society, and the Western Front Society.

Glover, John Hawley
Person · 1829-1885

John Hawley Glover (1829-1885), naval officer, colonial administrator, Governor of Newfoundland (1875-81, 1884-5), was born in Yateley, Hampshire, England on 24 February 1829, son of Mary Broughton and Reverend Frederick Augustus Glover. He died in London on 30 September 1885.

Glover joined the Royal Navy in 1841, spending the next twelve years on survey ships in the Mediterranean and along the west coast of Africa. In 1853 he took part in wars in Burma and Africa. In 1862 his career at sea ended and he was commissioned as a commander at the age of 33. From 1863-72 Glover served in the British colony of Lagos.

Glover was appointed Governor of Newfoundland on 24 December 1875. He arrived in April 1876 and with his wife Elizabeth, traveled extensively throughout Newfoundland. In 1878 he spent two months in the area between Hall's Bay and the Bay of Islands with geologist Alexander Murray and clergyman and historian, Moses Harvey. In 1879 Harvey published Across Newfoundland with the Governor, a book which described their trip.

Glover left Newfoundland in 1881. He accepted a post in the Leeward Islands, serving there until 1883. In that same year he contracted malaria in Antigua, returning to Europe to recover. At his request, Glover was re-appointed as Newfoundland's governor in June 1884. He served in Newfoundland for only a few months, before ill-health forced him to return to England. He died in 1885.

Glovertown, Newfoundland was named in honour of the governor.

Guy, John
Person · 1568-[162-]

John Guy (1568-1629?), merchant, politician and colonial governor, was born in Bristol, England, the second of nine children of Thomas Guy, cordwainer (shoemaker). Guy had ten children by his wife Anne whom he married before 1599. Guy was buried at St. Stephen's Church, Bristol on 23 February 1628/9.

Guy was educated in Bristol and became, among other enterprises, an importer of wines. He was a leader in the civic and political affairs of Bristol. He served as sheriff (1605-6); mayor (1618-19); and Member of Parliament for two terms (1620-22; 1622-24). He became a member of the Merchant Venturers Society and was master in 1622. He also became involved in overseas colonizing schemes as an investor in the North Virginia Company and later as an active promoter of a colony in Newfoundland.

Guy visited Newfoundland in 1608 to examine sites suitable for settlement. Following his return to England, he wrote a treatise to publicize his plans and succeeded in organizing a joint-stock company of investors known as the London and Bristol Company of Adventurers (the Newfoundland Company). The company secured a royal charter to establish colonies on the south and eastern parts of the island then frequented by English migratory fishermen.

Guy chose Cupers Cove (Cupids) in Conception Bay for the first settlement and arrived there in August 1610 as leader of a group of 39 colonists. The next year more settlers arrived, including a few women. This venture flourished for a few years but then the scheme ran into difficulties occasioned by the interference of pirates, the hostility of migratory fishermen, severe climatic conditions and particularly, quarrels and disagreements among the stock holders. Guy became discouraged and, in 1614, abandoned the project. He then resumed his career as a merchant and politician in Bristol. The Cupers Cove settlement survived at least until the 1630s and possibly until the 1660s.

John Guy is noteworthy as the promoter, founder and governor of the first English settlement in Newfoundland (and indeed, in what is now Canada). During an exploration of Trinity Bay in the fall of 1612, Guy met, traded with, and had friendly interaction with the native Beothuks at Truce Sound (later Bull Arm, now Sunnyside), an event marked as one of the few recorded friendly encounters between the English and that Aboriginal population. By 1626, Guy had acquired a grant to a portion of the Seaforest Plantation, the company's land in Newfoundland. He bequeathed this property to his son Robert by his will which was probated in May 1629.

Buckley, Joseph
Person · [16-]

Joseph Buckley was a merchant of Boston who married Joanna, daughter of Richard Shute and widow of Nathaniel Nichols, in 1688.

Forrestall, John
Person · 1812-1850

John Forrestall (1812-1850), Catholic priest, was born in the parish of Montecoign (Mooncoin), County Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1812. He was a brother of Archdeacon William Forrestall. After completing his education in the national school system of Ireland, Forestall studied for the priesthood at St. John's Seminary College, Waterford, Ireland. In the spring of 1838, he arrived in St. John's, Newfoundland, where he was ordained a priest by Michael A. Fleming, Bishop of Newfoundland, in September 1838.

Following a devastating fire in St. John's in 1846, a committee was appointed and organized under the acting Governor of Newfoundland, and later directed by Governor Gaspard LeMarchant, to supervise the work of relieving the distressed and adjudicating their complaints and grievances. Rev. Forrestall was appointed to the committee with the observation: "No one knows better than your Reverence the hardships, the diseases, and the deaths entailed on the unhappy inmates by such exposure to the severities of this inclement climate."

Rev. Forrestall was also a member of the Roman Catholic School Board for St. John's in 1849. He died 11 November 1850 from tuberculosis, which he contracted while ministering to the sick.

O'Connor, John R.
Person · ca.1825-1898

John Robert O'Connor (ca. 1825-1898), Catholic priest and brother of Archdeacon Thomas O'Connor, was born in Ireland circa 1825. He was ordained a priest on 22 December 1851 in Holy Trinity Cathedral, Waterford, Ireland, by Bishop Foran of the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore.

Rev. O'Connor arrived in Newfoundland from Waterford 25 May 1852. His first appointment was as a curate in the parish at Harbour Grace, with residence in Carbonear. He served there under parish priest Rev. Charles Dalton from 1852 to 1860.

O'Connor was appointed the parish priest of St. Patrick's Parish, Carbonear in 1860, and held that office until 1887. During his ministry, he also made annual visits to the Labrador coast to attend to the spiritual needs of the Innu and the Catholic families from Newfoundland who fished there during the summer.

Rev. O'Connor returned to Ireland in 1874 and accepted an appointment as the parish priest of Kilrossenty, where he served until his death on 22 September 1898 at Waterford, Ireland.

Anderson, John Murray
Person · 1886-1954

John Murray Anderson (1886-1954), dance instructor, writer, Broadway producer, was born in St. John's, Newfoundland, on 20 September 1886, the son of Amelia (Murray) and John Anderson. He married Genevieve Lyon of Chicago in 1914. She died of tuberculosis in 1916. They had no children. Anderson died in New York City on 30 January 1954.

Anderson received his early education at Bishop Feild College, St. John's. Like many of his contemporaries from St. John's merchant families, he was sent to Europe to continue his education. He attended Edinburgh Academy and Lausanne University. After graduating from Lausanne, he went to London where he studied voice with Sir Charles Santley and acting with Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree. In 1909 he returned to St. John's where he spent time collecting antiques along the Southern Shore and other parts of the Avalon Peninsula, before moving to New York City.

In New York, Anderson quickly became involved in theatre, first as a dance instructor, before becoming a writer and producer, particularly of musical comedy and revues. His first play was The World Mother, starring Blanche Bates (1918). Over the next 30 years, he was responsible for over thirty productions, including The Greenwich Village Follies, The Music Box Revue, and Murray Anderson's Almanac. Between 1926-29 he produced fifty-seven miniature revues for Paramount Famous Players Theatres. After the death of Florenz Zeigfeld (1932), he became producer of The Zeigfeld Follies. He also took shows to London and was involved in the 1937 production,The Coronation Revue, staged to celebrate the coronation of King George VI.

For a number of years in the 1920s, in partnership with Robert Milton, Anderson also operated a school of theatre and dance located at East 58th Street in New York City. Some of the graduates of the school were Lucille Ball, Bette Davis, Paul Muni and Joan Blondell.

Anderson had a brief involvement with motion pictures. He spent 1929-30 in Hollywood, during which time he was the driving force behind the acclaimed, first all-colour, musical motion picture, The King of Jazz, released by Universal Studios in 1930. The theatre remained Anderson's first love, however, and he returned to it to present live stage productions until shortly before his death. During the 1940s he was involved in the production of a number of circus shows for Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus.

Anderson was a periodic visitor to Newfoundland throughout his life. In the year before his death, Anderson dictated his autobiography, Out without my Rubbers, with his brother, Hugh, as writer.