# Ignatius L. Donnelly *American politician and writer; U.S. representative from Minnesota, 1863–1869* Ignatius Loyola Donnelly (November 3, 1831 – January 1, 1901) was a U.S. representative from [[Minnesota]] and a populist writer. His works on Atlantis, catastrophism and Shakespearean authorship are widely regarded as pseudoscience and pseudohistory.[^1] A Republican, he was lieutenant governor from 1860 to 1863. He sat as a Radical Republican in the 38th, 39th and 40th Congresses (1863–1869), and later served terms as both a state senator and a state representative.[^2] Donnelly arrived in the [[Minnesota Territory]] in 1857 and, with partners, founded the community of Nininger City in Dakota County.[^3] According to the Wikipedia account, in 1877 he read a preamble to the People's Party platform that became the most widely circulated statement of the Populist credo. In 1882 he published *Atlantis: The Antediluvian World*, his best-known book.[^2] ## Life and career Donnelly's father, Philip Carrol Donnelly, emigrated from Fintona in County Tyrone, Ireland, and made his home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Philip began as a peddler and later studied medicine at the Philadelphia College of Medicine.[^3] On June 29, 1826, Philip married Catherine Gavin, whose father, John Gavin, had also come from Fintona. Catherine supported the children by running a pawn shop.[^3] Ignatius was her youngest son, and the writer Eleanor C. Donnelly was his sister. He attended Central High School, where he studied while John S. Hart was its president and did best in literature.[^3] Choosing the law, Donnelly clerked for Benjamin Brewster, later Attorney General of the United States, and was admitted to the bar in 1852.[^3] In 1855 he married Katherine McCaffrey, and the couple had three children. That same year he left the clerkship, gave campaign speeches for Democratic candidates and took part in communal home-building ventures.[^3] At some point in the 1850s he left the Catholic Church, and he did not afterwards join any organized religion.[^3] In 1857 Donnelly relocated to the Minnesota Territory and settled in Dakota County. There he and several partners started a utopian community named Nininger City.[^3] The Panic of 1857 ended the cooperative farm and community venture and left him heavily in debt.[^3] Katherine Donnelly died in 1894, and in 1898 Donnelly married Marian Hanson, his secretary.[^3] He died in [[Minneapolis]] on January 1, 1901, aged 69, and was buried at Calvary Cemetery in St. Paul.[^3] ## Political and literary career Now a Republican, Donnelly ran for the state legislature in 1857 and again in 1858 and lost both times.[^2] His standing as a speaker nonetheless carried him to election as lieutenant governor, an office he held from 1860 to 1863.[^2] From 1863 to 1869 he represented Minnesota in the U.S. House as a Radical Republican, across the 38th, 39th and 40th Congresses.[^2] He returned to state office as a senator in 1874–1878 and 1891–1894, and as a representative in 1887–1888 and 1897–1898. After leaving the state Senate in 1878, he resumed his law practice and his writing.[^2] While serving as a legislator, Donnelly argued for widening the Freedmen's Bureau's powers so that it could educate freedmen. His stated aim was that they be able to defend themselves after the bureau's withdrawal.[^2] He backed women's suffrage at an early date.[^2] The Wikipedia account states that in 1877 Donnelly read his preamble to the People's Party conference platform before a gathering of 10,000 people.[^2] The text ran to 12 short paragraphs and was lightly revised for the party's first nominating convention in Omaha "that July". It went on to become the most widely circulated statement of the Populist credo.[^2] In it he addressed corruption in politics and elections, and newspapers that spread false and biased material. He argued that Populists had to take back their own country.[^2] His best-known work, *Atlantis: The Antediluvian World*, appeared in 1882 and set out theories about the mythical lost continent.[^2] The book sold well. It is widely credited with launching the idea of Atlantis as an antediluvian civilization, a theme that recurred in 20th-century popular literature, and with contributing to the rise of Mayanism.[^2] ## State park In the 1930s a group organized to press for a state park at Donnelly's house at Nininger, near [[Hastings]], Minnesota.[^4] The campaign did not succeed. The house was still there in 1939 but has since been torn down.[^4] ## Reception Scholars and scientists have rejected Donnelly's Atlantis writings, and he has been called a crank and a promoter of pseudoscience.[^5] Gordon Stein has written that "most of what Donnelly said was highly questionable or downright wrong."[^5] Donnelly's idea of "hyperdiffusionism" holds that prehistoric catastrophes can be traced in the mythologies of unrelated cultures. It is credited with inspiring J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Númenor, and in his 1939 essay *On Fairy-Stories*, Tolkien allowed diffusion some weight as an origin of myth.[^5] ## Works Donnelly's books include the following:[^6] - *The Mourner's Vision: A Poem* (1850), a long poem written when he was 18. - *Atlantis: The Antediluvian World* (1882), which sought to show that every known ancient civilization descended from a high-Neolithic Atlantean culture. - *Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel* (1883), which argued that a comet struck the earth in prehistoric times and wiped out a high civilization. - *The Shakespeare Myth* (1887). - *Essay on the Sonnets of Shakespeare*. - *The Great Cryptogram: Francis Bacon's Cipher in Shakespeare's Plays* (1888), which claimed to have found codes in Shakespeare's works naming Francis Bacon as their true author. - *Caesar's Column* (1890), a science fiction novel set in 1988 about a workers' revolt against a global oligarchy, issued under the pseudonym Edmund Boisgilbert. - *Doctor Huguet: A Novel* (1891), also under that pseudonym. - *The Golden Bottle or the Story of Ephraim Benezet of Kansas* (1892). - *The Bryan Campaign for the American People's Money* (1896). - *The Cipher in the Plays, and on the Tombstone* (1899). ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Ignatius L. Donnelly*, lead section (revision 1372812823, retrieved 2026-10-25), CC BY-SA 4.0 — birth and death dates; description of his Atlantis, catastrophism and Shakespeare works and their reception. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatius_L._Donnelly [^2]: Wikipedia contributors, *Ignatius L. Donnelly*, "Political and literary career" section (revision 1372812823, retrieved 2026-10-25), CC BY-SA 4.0 — party, offices and terms, Freedmen's Bureau and suffrage positions, 1877 preamble, *Atlantis* (1882). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatius_L._Donnelly [^3]: Wikipedia contributors, *Ignatius L. Donnelly*, "Life and career" section (revision 1372812823, retrieved 2026-10-25), CC BY-SA 4.0 — family, education, bar admission, marriages, move to Minnesota Territory, Nininger City, death and burial. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatius_L._Donnelly [^4]: Wikipedia contributors, *Ignatius L. Donnelly*, "State park" section (revision 1372812823, retrieved 2026-10-25), CC BY-SA 4.0 — 1930s state-park effort at Nininger and the house's demolition. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatius_L._Donnelly [^5]: Wikipedia contributors, *Ignatius L. Donnelly*, "Reception" section (revision 1372812823, retrieved 2026-10-25), CC BY-SA 4.0 — scholarly rejection, Gordon Stein quotation, Tolkien and *On Fairy-Stories*. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatius_L._Donnelly [^6]: Wikipedia contributors, *Ignatius L. Donnelly*, "Works" section (revision 1372812823, retrieved 2026-10-25), CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of publications with dates and pseudonyms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatius_L._Donnelly