You would not ordinarily think of the banks of Buffalo Bayou in downtown Houston as an ideal burial spot, but in the nineteenth century, the south bank near Franklin Avenue entombed the remains of a number of members of the family of prominent early Houstonian Timothy Donnellan.

Timothy Donnellan, one of Houston's earliest settlers, arrived about 1839 from New Orleans with Emily De Ende and their young son Henry. Most likely, Donnellan was several years older than Emily, who was about eighteen years old when their son Henry was born in Louisiana in 1838. According the Handbook of Texas, Emily was the daughter of the French General de Adendy of New Orleans, however no other sources, as yet, can confirm that. Her name is written De Ende in all other documents. Donnellan was a violinist who immigrated from Ireland, and he quickly established himself in the Houston community. By 1840, Donnellan had obtained a patented title to 100 acres of land in Harris County, and he owned ten town lots in Houston. During 1842 and 1843, he served as an alderman from the First Ward.

Although Donnellan established himself in Houston, he had left some unpaid debts in New Orleans. About five years after his arrival in Houston, the firm of Curtis and Buddendorff of New Orleans filed notice in the Galveston newspaper that Timothy Donnellan had failed to pay a debt of $141.04. The debt had been turned over to P. Edmunds for collection, but it is unknown whether the debt was ultimately repaid.

About 1840, a second son, Benjamin Franklin Donnellan was born to Timothy Donnellan and Emily De Ende. Harris County records show that Timothy Donnellan and Emily De Ende formalized their marriage on May 11, 1841. Their son Benjamin was christened at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Houston on July 20, 1841. About 1844, a daughter whom they named Emily was born to the Donnellan's. A third son, Thurston John Donnellan, was born in Houston about 1845. Thurston John Donnellan was christened at St. Vincent de Paul Church on November 21, 1846.

When Tim Donnellan died in 1849, he was buried in a large, red brick vault built in the south bank of Buffalo Bayou at the west end of Franklin Avenue. The 1850 census places the residence of Emily Donnellan between William Hutchins of the Hutchins House Hotel and Paul Bremond, a successful merchant, both of whom lived on the west side of town along Franklin Avenue. The Donnellan family probably lived nearby, and perhaps the banks of the bayou where the crypt is located was a favorite place of the elder Donnellan.
 
Nevertheless, in 1850, Emily Donnellan was a 30 year old widow with three young children, Henry, age 12, Emily, age 8, and Thurston, age 5. The young son Benjamin Franklin apparently did not survive and died some time before 1850. Although Emily was left moderately prosperous with real assets of $5,000 at the death of her husband, the need to provide for her young family must have presented a significant challenge. At this time, then, two of Emily's relatives, Harriet and Franklin De Ende -- probably her sister, age 24, and her brother, age 26  -- came to live in the Donnellan household.

In the early 1850's, Emily Donnellan met Francis Dwyer, a tin and copper workshop owner from New York. Dwyer was a successful tinner who owned his own shop on Main Street, between Franklin Avenue and Commerce Street. Emily Donnellan and Francis Dwyer, a man about 12 years her senior, subsequently were married on December 24, 1856, and a daughter Mary was born to them in 1858.

When the census was taken on September 30, 1860, the Dwyer household consisted of Emily De Ende, age 38, and Francis Dwyer, age 50, and their combined children. Henry Donnellan, age 22, Emily's oldest son was working as a tinner, possibly an apprentice in his stepfather's shop. The other children included Emily Donnellan, age 15, Emily's oldest daughter, Thurston Donnellan, age 14, Emily's other son, and Mary F. Dwyer, the two year old child of Emily and Francis. A son Frank, born in 1863, rounded out the Donnellan-Dwyer household which had taken residence in the Dwyer home on Block 4, North Side Buffalo Bayou, directly across from the Donnellan crypt at the end of Franklin Avenue. The Houston City Directory of 1866 referred to the location of the Dwyer residence as “near the H&TC Railroad Depot.”

A tinner was a skilled craftsman who made and repaired items made of tin. In the mid-nineteenth century, many utilitarian kitchen products were fabricated by craftsmen of this cottage industry. Items such as cake stamps, milk pails, basins, cake and pie pans, cups and coffee pots were the kitchenware most in demand, but decorative goods, such as chandeliers, were also made by the best artisans of the trade. Francis "Frank" Dwyer, who reported real assets of $8,000 and personal assets of $5,000 in the census of 1860, was one of the best of his trade in Houston.

In early 1860, the Galveston News acknowledged that Frank Dwyer was one of the best “mechanics” in the area. The paper also reported that he maintained a good stock of stoves and tinware on hand in his store. Dwyer's advertisements touted his supply of stoves, hardware, tinware, woodware, nails and castings. His services included the installation of house pipe, gutters and roofing, and Dwyer guaranteed all of his work.

Dwyer’s reputation was such that when the meeting to organize the Mechanics Association in Houston was held at Levy's Hall in July, 1865, Frank Dwyer and his stepson Henry Donnellan were selected for the committee that was formed to draft the constitution and by-laws of the organization.

During the War Between the States, the Donnellan sons served in the Confederate Army. As a member of the Second Texas Cavalry, Thuse Donnellan was assigned to the fife and drum unit that accompanied the troops at the battle of Shiloh. The fife and drum unit consisted of Houston men: H. Holtkamp, fifer, Thuse Donnellan, kettle drum, and William Hartung, bass drum.

With stepsons in the army, Frank Dwyer was sympathetic to the needs of the soldiers. In response to a plea for assistance to the beleaguered Texas troops, Dwyer made a donation of twelve dozen tin cups to the men of Forney's Division in late May, 1965. In the wake of the imminent defeat of the Confederacy, the Division had withdrawn to Hempstead during March and April, only to be disbanded there in May, 1865.

In the mid-1860's, as Houston's economy began to recover from the effects of the Civil War, Henry Deschaumes established a store selling tinware on Preston Avenue between Main Street and Travis Street. Deschaumes, an immigrant from France, had operated a tin shop in Bastop from the mid-1850's through, at least, 1860. Although it may have seemed that Deschaumes was in direct competition with Dwyer, there appears to have been enough business for both companies, and a rivalry did not exist between them. In 1866, Henry Donnellan had moved from his stepfather's business to work as a tinner with Deschaumes and Company, yet he continued to live with the family. In his place, Dwyer had hired A. C. Richer, a 27 year old immigrant from France, as a tinner in his shop. Prior to coming to Houston, Richer was a tinner in the town of Jefferson in Marion County, Texas, where he lived (and also probably worked) with other young craftsmen from Europe at the home of John Fisher, a German-born shoe and boot maker.

The winter of 1866-1867 proved to be especially tragic for the Donnellan family. In late 1866 or early 1867, Frank Dwyer died. On January 24, 1867, Henry D. Donnellan was appointed the administrator pro tempore of the estate of Frank Dwyer, and he posted a bond of $1,500. Henry Donnellan was the logical heir to inherit the business of his stepfather. Henry had apprenticed with him and worked in the shop prior to joining Deschaumes. So, Henry, at age 29, immediately took over the company and formed a partnership with A. C. Richer. The Donnellan and Richer Company, however, was destined to be short lived.

On Sunday morning, February 10, 1867, Henry Donnellan and A. C. Richer, partners in the tin business that was located “below the Kennedy Building,” returned to their home on Buffalo Bayou for dinner. While waiting for dinner, the two men were playing with a shell taken from a large pile of ordnance that was exposed in the shallows of Buffalo Bayou. The ordnance had been dumped into the bayou after the surrender of the Confederacy in 1865. John Kennedy had leased his two story brick building on Travis Street, just north of Congress Avenue, to the Confederacy for use as an ordnance depot. At the end of the war, looting of the depot was occurring and Kennedy had the remaining ordinance removed from the building and dumped into Buffalo Bayou at the foot of Travis Street.

Henry Donnellan was working on the detonator cap to defuse the shell, but the bomb exploded. Both arms and both legs were torn off Richer and his limbs were hanging by shreds. Donnellan's left arm and elbow were badly mutilated. He had a wound in the abdomen, a severe laceration of the left leg and several fingers were torn off his hand. The two men were prompted attended to by Dr. W. P. Riddell, who resided nearby on Prairie Avenue between Smith Street and Louisiana Street, and Dr. Stewart, but to no avail. Both young men were fatally wounded. The remains of Henry Donnellan that could be found were collected and interred in the family vault on Buffalo Bayou after his death.

On February 26, 1867, I. C. Lord, executor for Donnellan and Richer, advertised in the Houston Daily Telegraph for the settlement of any indebtedness to the firm of the two men who had been killed. A week later, on March 3, 1867, I. C. Lord and B. F. De Ende, the attorney for the family, posted a notice calling for the settlement of indebtedness to the estate of the firm of Donnellan and Richer. They also requested that any claims against the company be presented. On April 18, 1867, B. F. De Ende was appointed administrator pro tempore of the estate of Henry D. Donnellan, and he was empowered to bring suit to recover possession of the land near Houston for the estate.  

Although he was not living with them in 1860, B. F. “Franklin” De Ende, Henry Donnellan's uncle, had returned to the Dwyer household by 1866. At that time, De Ende was working as a clerk at the County Courthouse, and by 1867, he was an attorney. On May 1, 1867, B. F. De Ende was appointed the administrator of the estate of Henry D. Donnellan and was ordered to file an inventory of the property belonging to the estate, which he did later that month.
 
In late 1867, Emily Donnellan died, and she was buried in the family vault along with her husband Timothy and her son Henry. On March 19, 1868, Thurston J. Donnellan, the 23 year old son of Emily and Timothy Donnellan and the oldest adult male of the family, petitioned the court for the guardianship of his half sister Mary Dwyer, age 10, and his half brother Frank Dwyer, age 6, who were without living parents. On April 4, 1868, Donnellan was appointed the guardian of Mary Dwyer and Frank Dwyer and ordered to file an inventory of the property of the minors which was appraised by B. F. De Ende, H. H. Dooley and W. A. Daly.
 
After several tumultuous years, the Donnellan family began to see some stability as they entered the decade of the 1870's. When the census was taken on August 2, 1870, Emily Donnellan, age 26, was heading up the household that included her stepsister Mary, age 12, and stepbrother Frank, age 7. It also appears that their aunt Harriet De Ende McCarthy (spelled McArthur in 1880) and another relative from Louisiana (possibly her son) Alexander, age 15, had come back to live with the family at this time. In June, 1880, Emily Donnellan's household, still located on the property at the “head of Washington Street by the Bayou,” included Mary Dwyer Treadway, her husband Theo Treadway, age 27, a native of Illinois, their son Frank, age 4, and their daughter Lillian, age 2. Aunt Harriet McArthur (McCarthy?) also lived with them. Although Thurston Donnellan was the legal guardian of the minor Dwyer children, it appears that he left them in the care of his older sister.

Thurston John “Thuse” Donnellan began painting at age eighteen and he studied art in Chicago and New Orleans. As early as 1860, Donnellan was painting scenery for plays at the Perkins Theater. In the early 1870’s, Thuse Donnellan performed in concerts locally. A noted benefit performance on Thursday, April 7, 1870, at the Perkins included a rendition of the popular tune “Shoo Fly” performed with the “cow bells”. Other successful concerts included one on June 14, 1872, that was attended by “the elite of the city” and reported as an outstanding performance.
 
Thuse Donnellan, an accomplished artist, sculptor and musician, is best known for his portraits of General Sam Houston. Three of these portraits of Sam Houston are in the city of Houston. One is at City Hall and others are in the Houston Public Library and at Rice University. Donnellan married Jessamine Hawthorne, a native of Baltimore, in 1875. His wife Jessamine taught dancing in Houston.

The grave vault of the Donnellan family seems to have been prominent and visible throughout the last decades of the nineteenth century, and the tragic story of the family was a familiar part of the local history. On Wednesday, November 21, 1877, the Galveston News reported that the Houston police had found an old bomb shell under the Iron Bridge at Milam Street from the Civil War that was similar to the one that had killed Henry Donnellan. A decade later, on Decoration Day, April 6, 1888, the Galveston Daily News reported that “the graves of Henry Donellan [sic] and Ritchie [Richer], situated near the site of the old Houston and Texas Central Depot, were also profusely decorated.” The honors placed on the graves of Henry Donnellan and A. C. Richer indicate that they both were Confederate veterans. It is unclear whether the two were both entombed in the vault or in separate graves although the implication of this article is that they were buried together. No other record has been found to indicate the whereabouts of Richer's burial.

The industrial development along the north side of Buffalo Bayou and along Washington Avenue in the latter part of the nineteenth century had an adverse effect the Donnellan home and property. The Hamilton Ice Works was constructed on the north side of Washington Avenue across the street from the Donnellan home some time prior to 1885. The Houston Ice Company acquired those facilities and, by October of 1890, had expanded the ice plant significantly. The Simpson, Hartwell and Stopple Foundry was built adjacent to the ice plant about this same time. By 1896, the Houston Ice and Brewing Company had completed a major expansion of their facilities in both Block 15 and Block 4, where the Donnellan home was located. By this time, the home had been demolished and replaced by other structures. The census records of 1900, indicate that Emily Donnellan was living at 305 Lamar Avenue with her 24 year old nephew Frank Treadway and his half sister Emily Anderson, age 16, who was born in July, 1883 to Mary Treadway Anderson and her husband.

By 1885, a wooden bridge had been built across the bayou to connect Franklin Avenue with 5th Street on the other side. The wooden bridge was replaced with an iron bridge by 1907 as traffic to the businesses across the bayou increased. Franklin Avenue became an important thoroughfare to the northwest side of town and, as a result of the continued encroachment on the integrity of the vault, all of the remains of the Donnellan Grave Vault were removed on December 3, 1901 by Wall and Stabe Undertakers and re-interred at Glenwood Cemetery. An article in the Houston Chronicle on April 26, 1906, which listed those Confederate veterans who were buried in Houston cemeteries, included Henry Donnellan in the Donnellan place at the foot of Franklin Street bridge. Although the article failed to recognize that the remains had been moved to Glenwood Cemetery in 1901, it does show that the Donnellan crypt was still visible on the banks of the bayou. However, the construction of an enormous platform over the bayou prior to 1924 buried the vault beneath the road bed and bridge supports that extended from Louisiana Street to Franklin Avenue and beyond for about 100 feet.

On  April 2, 1908, Thurston John Donnellan, age 63, died at 3:20 am in his apartment in the Auditorium at the corner of Main Street and McGowen Avenue. He was buried in Glenwood Cemetery where the remains of Timothy and Emily Donnellan, his father and mother, and Henry Donnellan, his brother, had been buried in 1901.

On Sunday morning, June 18, 1911, Miss Emily Donnellan, daughter of Timothy and Emily Donnellan, died in Houston. Her funeral was held on Monday at the home of her nephew F. D. Treadway on Louisiana Street, with interment at Glenwood Cemetery. She was survived by her sister Mary F. Anderson, her brother F. D. Dwyer, her nephew F. D. Treadway and her nieces Mrs. Lillian M. (Treadway) Lillienthal of Houston and Mrs. Randolph Dickson of Galveston. The Donnellan family members were buried in unmarked graves.

Jessamine Donnellan, widow of Thuse Donnellan, died on Friday, August 13, 1937, at age 79, in a Houston hospital.  Thuse Donnellan's younger half-brother Frank Dwyer also died in 1937 and was buried in Washington Cemetery.
 
The Donnellan crypt is a large vault made of red brick with a small wooden door in the lower right corner. A fine degree of workmanship is seen in the arched header to doorway which is boarded up with timbers. Located in the bank of Buffalo Bayou under the Franklin Avenue bridge at Louisiana Street, the vault has survived a number of phases of construction along the bayou, including the rechannelization of the bayou in the mid-1920's. Remnants of former bridge pilings stand under the modern bridge and a concrete ramp extends from the water line to the base of the vault to prevent erosion from undermining the vault's integrity.

Despite years of progress, construction and development in the downtown area, the Donnellan Grave Vault endures as an impressive, but little known, monument to an early Houston family.