Hugh O'Donnell History (Partial)

A few years before Dad (Hugh O'Donnell) died I interviewed him about his childhood memories. Here are my notes from that interview. Enjoy!

Where did your ancestors come from?
They came across the ocean from Ireland in the mid 1800's. My father's people settled in the Bayonne New Jersey area where they had relatives. I don't know too much about my mother's people's origins, but they wound up with a hotel on the corner of Front and Liberty Streets in Allentown PA. They had regular people who rented rooms by the month. My grandmother made these regulars lunches to take to work with them. Some of the regular boarders were very faithful and decades later when my grandparents left the hotel business, these regulars were still renting rooms. One in particular was a Swiss man who made the dyes at the dye works used in dying the fabrics at the local mills. He continued to visit us long after both grandparents had died. I remember him very well. He always came with a bag of candy and a couple of quarts of ice cream, so he was very popular around our house with us children.

My father's relatives came from Donegal, Ireland. They came first to Bayonne, NJ and then they moved to the Lehigh Valley to get jobs in the foundry.

My Mother's family name was Leber, Helen Leber. Her people came from Germany somewhere. I remember my grandmother. She was a little old lady. We lived with them when I was about 10 years old. She was widowed. Nanny O'Donnell (Hugh's mother) had step-sisters because her mother married twice. Leber was the name of the second husband and he already had several children. Then my grandmother gave birth to Lena, Louise, Franz and Helen, my mother.

They became American citizens and were really enamoured of America. They had no desire to go back to Germany at any time. They were Roman Catholic and, as I said, ran the hotel.

What about your Grandparents on your father's side; what do you know about them?

They came from Donegal Ireland and my Grandmother's name before she married was Dougherty. She married my Granddad and became O'Donnell. They had a passel of kids: Jim, Jack, Patrick, Fan (Frances) , Nora and Hugh, my father, your grandfather, although you never met him. Now interestingly, both Fan and Nora were diabetics.

I don't remember much about my Grandmother or the Doughertys. My Grandmother died when I was very young and we lost contact with that side of the family. My Grandfather went blind. It is quite possible he was an undetected Diabetic. Aunt Fan's husband was an Osteopathic doctor and Grandfather lived with them. Because my Grandfather was blind, I personally was a little strange with him. I wasn't even very old when he died, maybe 10 or 12. My father had a habit of taking me wherever he was going so we made plenty of visits to my Grandfather. I remember only sitting very quietly and listening to the adults talk during the visits.

These Grandparents were also Roman Catholics and had a great love for Ireland. They went back several times. Their son Jim was born there while they were making a visit. Whether pregnant or not, when Grandpa wanted a visit, they went.

Their original cottage still exists today in Donegal. It was an unusual house in Ireland because it was 2 stories. It was a large house. In all probability they came to America for work.

My Grandfather was pretty smart and he wound up with a whole row of houses on Liberty Street. There was a fight between Uncle Pat and Aunt Fan, who was the Executor of the family estate. Pat accused Fan of plundering the estate and they didn't speak to each other for years and years. My Mother had no use for Uncle Pat either; she really hated him. He was a heavy drinker at one time. Uncle Pat was always nice to my wife Libby though. When Lib was in the hospital and had given birth to Kate, Uncle Pat brought her a big bouquet of flowers.

My Father was born in 1883. He died in 1933 and was only 48 years old.

Did your Mother share any stories she knew about her parents' childhoods?

Not really. In the years when I would have been young enough to be included in these stories, I was away with my Father in Vaudeville.

We did have to pay our expenses (hotel bills, train fare, food, and so on) but we got paid about $500 a week. That was a great deal of money in 1920. My Father was very frugal. He never had a drink in his life. I never drank either because I saw what whiskey did to people.

My Grandfather O'Donnell worked in the iron foundries in the Lehigh Valley which grew up there because of the existence of local iron ore. This was the beginning of the Bethlehem Steel. My Grandfather worked in several iron mills until he was too old to work anymore. That was about the same time he became blind. He was also on the school board. Grandfather did a good job on the school board. He loved his drink though. Manys the time he and a buddy who had both drunk too much would put their shoulders together, lean into each other and walk down the street as if nothing was wrong with either one of them.

His son, Jim, organized a band. Jim was away for weeks at a time doing electrical work for PG & E (Pennsylvania Gas & Electric). Once he came home expecting to lead his band in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Allentown, but Hugh Curley undercut him. Rich Hugh Curley promised to buy the band uniforms if they would repudiate Jim as leader. When Jim came home, still in his work clothes in which he had a big pair of pliers and found out about the uniform promise, he knocked on the door of the Curley Mansion. Hugh himself came out, they got into an argument that led to a fight. Jim was a reknown street fighter who could lick anyone drunk or sober. Jim chased Hugh Curley down the street.

Jim's friends cooled him down and took him home. The pliers fell from his uniform during the scuffle. Hugh Curley later found the pliers and claimed that Jim used it on him in the fight. Jim was sentenced to jail. The family went to the Democrats but when the Democrats wouldn't intercede for Jim, the whole family promised to vote Republican and the Republicans got Jim out of jail. This is the reason all the O'Donnells of Allentown are Republican and not Democrats like the rest of the Irish. It's very unusual for the Irish to be anything but Democrats. Uncle Jack was a politician who worked as a state factory inspector. My Mother worked on the Republican Committee. They never forgot who was on their side when the family needed help.

What memories do you have of your Mother during your childhood?

I remember she was always home. Usually we'd go out on a Sunday for an automobile ride. In the summer we'd go and visit my Aunt Louise and Uncle David in Mertztown. They lived on a farm with chickens, cows and all the rest of that stuff. When I got older, I'd stay there for a couple of weeks in the summer. I had one male cousin-David- and one female cousin-Louise. We would go there by train. We took the Reading Railroad.

My uncle, David, was a barber in Topton. He lived in Mertztown and I remember his funeral held in our house on Golden Street. Later on my Aunt Louise married a farmer whose name I can't recall. We visited often. Our only problem was getting to church on Sunday. We'd go to church by trolley, take the trolley back and then get on the train to go to Mertztown and take a different train back. My Mother also took us to an Aunt's house who lived only 4 blocks from us. That Aunt's husband was a Brau Meister for Horlager Brewing Company.

My Mother didn't work outside the home except for some gardening. She made all the meals and they were always on time. She cooked what my father liked and wanted to eat. I didn't care much for sauerkraut. She painted everything. She painted the kitchen floor green one time. She painted flower pots, doors, chairs, walls, even the toilet one time. She loved to paint stuff!

What else about Nanny O'Donnell do you remember?

She played the piano. She raised us to be good kids. She liked flowers. We had a lot of roses in the back yard and canna lillies. She loved to play cards, especially Pinochle. She had long black hair. As far as I know she only had it cut once and then she let it grow all back again. She loved to sew. She made doll clothes and dresses for the girls. She did a great deal of sewing. She loved to sew clothes for the girls.

Which of your Mother's characteristics did you inherit?

Longevity.

I don't ever remember being at loggerheads with my Mother.

Did your parents experience much sadness or tragedy when you were little? How did they deal with it?

My Mother was a rather stoic person. She accepted what happened and made the most of it. She just kind of moved on. Most everyone did that then. They had no choice.

I went on the road with my Father when I was 7 years old. I had to study my multiplication tables every day. He would listen to them and reward me. I don't remember him ever being angry with me. He was cool, calm and collected and my Mother was also. It must have been hard for my Mother to let her little boy and husband go away for months at a time but she never complained that I know of. She never tried to stop us or make us feel bad.

What else about your Mother's background do you remember?

My Mother was Catholic. She went to Parochial schools. We thought she was pretty smart. She knew all the answers to questions we asked her about our homework. Before she got married she was a weaver in the silk mills. She was a warper and that was the top of the profession. She work at the Weilbacher Silk Mills. The ailk mill was just across the alley from our house. At nights the looms would be working and I'd fall asleep to the rhythmic sound of the looms. On weekends I had a hell of a time getting to sleep!

I worked there myself for awhile as an electrician. I was in the Bull Gang. We set up machinery. We had a foreman. After awhile I was the electrician for the plant. I worked as a contractor for Uncle Jim for a year and picked up electrical skills. Then I went to work at the Weilbacher Silk Mill.

What are the most important things you learned from your Mother?

Well, I didn't learn to cook anything! It's a pretty hard question to answer because I left home 62 years ago.