I’ve been corresponding with a man named Mitch who descends from the Donahue-Higgins line since 2006. He has provided me with his tree that illustrates who came after Eliza in the Higgins family, and details about her husband, making sense of census materials. this is the first time I’ve put all of the Donahue-Higgins material onto one page since then.

Eliza was the first child of Dennis Donahue & Julia Ryan– the first of the American born Donahues to Irish immigrant parents. She was born in Massachusetts, before the family went west. My great x 2 grandfather Dennis Edward Donahue was her youngest sibling. This makes myself and Mitch cousins 4x removed.

Eliza married the Irish immigrant, John Higgins, in 1875 when she was 24 years old (he was four years her senior). He had come from Cork County, Ireland to America sometime between 1864-1866. They can be found on the 1880 census living next door to her parents and the Thomas family. John is 33 and farms, while Eliza keeps the home. They have three children: Julia (born in Stewartville on October 10, 1876) named for her grandmother, Thomas (1877), and Dennis (1878), who was named for his grandfather.

Two other children followed and can be seen in the 885 Minnesota state census: Catherine “Kit” (born September 21, 1882 in Olmstead), John “Jack” (November 8, 1884 in Stewartville). Next door to the Higgins are McElgunns who would likely be relatives of Eliza’s sister Julia‘s husband.

Two years later, their sixth child Michael was born (born 25 January, 1887). Sadly, Eliza died from complications after giving birth to baby Michael.  Other American federal censuses (1895, 1900) that follow from this date show John Higgins as a widower, providing for and parenting his children. While he continues to farm, the more detailed censuses reveal that John Higgins cannot read or write in English. Whether or not this is a mistake (this wasn’t recorded on the 1880 census) or with age, it shows the difficulty present during those times for Irish immigrants to manage in a new country with little resources. Looking back at earlier censuses, the Higgins always lived close to the Donahues and other immigrant families which would have made it much easier.

As John got older, his children supported him. Dennis and John Jr. labored on the farm with him, and Katie kept the home while Michael went to school. The family seems to have  survived and coped with the loss of Eliza. The farm is mortgaged, however, and John may have had difficulty keeping it viable. Then, five years later in 1905 and at the age of 59, John Higgins died. He was buried in St. Bridget’s cemetery alongside his wife. Mitch, my correspondent on this family has taken photographs of their grave sites.

Their children’s stories are as follows:

Julia Higgins

Julia stayed in Minnesota and married Michael James Griffin, who was also from Olmstead,  in 1899. He was previously married and came into the marriage with two daughters. They lived in the town of Simpson, where Julia opened her own restaurant that thrived for twelve years in the sale of various home-made goods. She must have been well practiced at cooking for large groups as she had a large family: she and Michael had two daughters and seven sons. After the premature death of her husband following a brain hemorrhage (1912), she moved to Rochester and lived there for 30 years before falling ill. She died at age 73 on December 19th, 1949 in the town Wabasha and left a legacy of 26 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. Her and Michael are buried at St. Bridget’s cemetery.

Mitch did not have any knowledge of what happened to Dennis Higgins, although he did live in Rochester. His fate is left to be discovered.

Thomas moved to Montana where he worked as a park ranger in Glacier Park. He died of a heart attack on February 3, 1949 (the same year as sister, Julia) in the home of his niece and her husband near Geraldine, Montana.

Catherine Higgins married Matthew Carr in 1911 at St. Bridget’s church. He was also born and raised in Olmstead.  They moved to Montana like her brothers and had 3 sons and 3 daughters there.  Catherine died in Fort Benton Hospital, Chouteau Co., Montana on July 14, 1973, 15 years after her husband passed.

Jack married twice, first to a woman called Elma Juleson around 1910. They moved to North Dakota and had a son, but Elma died during childbirth. Until Jack remarried, his sister Catherine Higgins raised Jack and Elma’s little boy. Later Jack married a woman named Nettie MacMillan from Wisconsin, in 1915. Nettie gave birth to a daughter and then the family moved to Montana where they had two sons. Jack died in Flaxville on November 26, 1941, and Nettie died in 1965.

Michael Higgins stayed in Olmstead where he married Susie Griffin from a nearby farm. They had a son and to daughters. Michael died on May 7, 1943 and is buried alongside his wife at St. Bridget’s.