Blood on the Snow: The Donnelly’s and the Biddulph Tradegy
Glenn Stott retired as a school administrator in the early 2000s and began his second career as an historian and author. He has written several books on the history of South-Western Ontario including Witness to History: Tales of Southwestern Ontario and Greater Evils: The War in Southwestern Ontario. Through his teaching, speaking, and writing, Glenn has inspired generations of up and coming historians.
In the fall, Glenn plans to publish his latest book, focussing on the Donnelly family.
The Donnellys are one of Southwestern Ontario’s most notorious families. This talk will be an overview of the 33 year troubles that took place in Biddulph Township and Lucan, Ontario region from 1847 to 1880 and ultimately ended with the murder of the five members of the Donnelly family.
The “Black” Donnellys were an Irish Catholic immigrant family who settled in Biddulph township, Canada West (later the province of Ontario), about 15 km northwest of London, in the 1840s. The family settled on a concession road which became known as the Roman Line due to its high concentration of Irish Catholic immigrants in the predominantly Protestant area. Many Irish Canadians arrived in the 19th-century, many fleeing the Great Famine of Ireland (1845-52). The Donnellys’ ongoing feuds with local residents culminated in an attack on the family’s homestead by a vigilante mob on 4 February 1880, leaving five of the family dead and their farm burned to the ground. No one was convicted of the murders, despite two trials and a reliable eyewitness.
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