June 12, 2018
From as early as 1855 to at least 1888, Jacksonville’s southwest corner of California and 4th streets housed Patrick Donegan’s smithy. Donegan, a native of Ireland, had immigrated to the U.S. as a teenager and by 1850 had followed the hordes of gold seekers to San Francisco. After trying his hand in the California gold fields, he staked a claim in the Oregon mining camp of Sterling before settling in Jacksonville in 1855 and returning to the profession for which he had trained. His black smithy proved profitable; the 1870 census showed a personal wealth of $12,000 plus real estate valued at $3,000 which included a 5,000-acre tract on the Rogue River used for sheep farming. In 1860, he had married Margaret Lynch, 12 years his junior, with whom he had 5 children. Following Margaret’s death at age 30, he married Mary Fleming, 18 years his junior, whom he met on a visit to Ireland. They had 3 more children. Only 3 of Donegan’s 8 children survived; 4 died in typhoid or diphtheria epidemics; one died from “lockjaw” (tetanus) after a toy pistol exploded in a 4th of July accident. By the turn of the century, Donegan had closed his smithy and moved to San Diego where he died in 1919. He is buried in the Catholic section of the Jacksonville cemetery.