John Donovan Sr.

The Donovan Family lived in Virginia and Maryland before the Revolution. John Donovan, Sr., was born at Cambridge, Dorchester County, Maryland, on February 28, 1828, the son of Captain John Donovan, a native of what was later to become West Virginia, and Miss Sarah Ellen Pattison of Dorchester County. Captain John's grandfather had been the first of the family in America.

John Donovan, Sr., received his education at Cambridge and Easton, Maryland. After leaving school he served as clerk in the office of the register of wills of Talbot County, Maryland, and in 1857 was elected to that office. He studied law and was admitted to the Bar. After completing six terms as register of wills, he took up residence at his plantation in Talbot County until the outbreak of the Civil War. He then moved to Oxford in the same county and engaged in the business of canning oysters, fruit, and vegetables. During the war years he was in the Maryland State Guard, serving as captain of a troop of cavalry. His successful canning business was wiped out by fire in 1865. He then moved to Baltimore and was deputy collector of the port.

In the spring of 1868 Mr. Donovan moved to St. Joseph, Missouri, and brought his family out in June. He practiced law and engaged in the real estate business. Albe M. Saxton joined him in the real estate activity, their firm being known as Donovan & Saxton. After the death of Colonel Saxton in 1889, the firm became Donovan and Company.

Mr. Donovan was married December 1, 1850, to Miss Evelina M. Robinson of Talbot County, Maryland, daughter of a prominent landowner there. They had five children: three sons and two daughters, one of whom became Mrs. John D. Richardson and the other Mrs. Jessie I. Roberts. Mrs. Donovan died in 1895 and Mr. Donovan on August 7, 1897.