Temporary record

Nicholas P. Donegan, the son of Irish immigrants, was born in Philadelphia, ca.1858. Moving first to Illinois, having been essentially adopted by an unmarried friend of the family, Donegan began work as a railroad laborer at about age 20, and was also employed as a book and stationery seller in San Francisco. By his mid-twenties, he had been appointed as a section foreman for the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, and began courting Elizabeth Wright, supposedly a 'cousin' of Wilbur and Orville Wright. Donegan and Wright eventually married, but not long thereafter, Donegan was found drowned in the Willamette River. Family members in the 1980s suggested that he may have been murdered.

Scope and contents:

The Donegan collection consists largely of a series of letters written by Nicholas Donegan to his intended, Elizabeth Wright, in 1882-83, while he was working as a railroad foreman in central Oregon. A few later letters from family members, seeking information on Donegan provide several keys to fleshing out the basic facts of his life.

Provenance:

Donated by the family, 1996

M-3214

Courtship--Oregon
Irish--Oregon
Railroads--Employees--Oregon

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