The stage was the best way to get around in the Lucan area at the time and business was good. Of course, with business comes competition, and the Donnellys were fierce competitors.
Within months, the pressure had become too much for the owner of the other stagecoach and he sold his business to Patrick Flanagan. Flanagan was a big Irishman and he had no fear of the Black Donnellys. A battle for the Roman line soon erupted between Flanagan and the Donnellys. The Stagecoach feud came to its worst one morning a couple years later.
They sawed up his stage, completed breaking it apart, and they attacked his horses. When Flanagan went to the barn the next morning, he found his stage in ruins and his horses mutilated. They approached, ready to take revenge on Will and anyone else they found with him. When they approached, however, they got more than they bargained for. James Sr. The Black Donnellys laid into the would-be lynchers with a vengeance, beating them mercilessly.
In short order, the Donnellys emerged victorious, their foes broken and bloody on the ground before them. Late in the night, there was a knock at the door. James answered and went to meet their visitors. Johnny awoke to James Sr. They soon learned that Tom Donnelly was out front, handcuffed and surrounded by a group of men. Twenty men barged into the kitchen, bringing clubs and spades with them.
They laid into James Sr. Tom, being strong and quick, barrelled past his attackers and ran outside, despite his handcuffs. Several men chased after. Minutes later, after beating him outside, the men returned and threw Tom to the floor.
She was only Covering the bed that Johnny was hidden under with coal oil, they lit the house on fire. After setting the farmhouse to the torch, the vigilantes moved on, not done with their grisly work. Johnny fled into the night, an unexpected survivor — and witness — to the attack. It was around am and Will, his wife, his brother Jon, and a family friend were all asleep in bed. When he was unable to follow through on this deal, the Canada Company was skeptic of their dealings with Lewis and the rest of the community.
They were also afraid that land sales would be affected if more Blacks settled. They ceased to do business with the Wilberforce settlers. Lewis sold land to fellow residents of the Wilberforce community.
Members who purchased land from Lewis could not get the deed or repayment for the improvements they had done to the property and were left without ownership. Payment was never fulfilled. Many left Wilberforce with absolutely nothing to show for the years of work they had invested in clearing the land for farming and building. Issues of racism began to arise in the township. In the London Times, dated May 4, , a reward was offered by Lord Elgin for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for burning the barns of some of the Wilberforce residents.
Turner were burned. None of the barns belonging to the Irish settlers were targeted that evening. In Cincinnati, the Black Laws began to relax again as many realized that the cheap labour force had left when they had chased the Black community from the city. Some members of the Wilberforce Settlement returned to the northern states, others moved to urban areas like London and Chatham, and some married settlers of other communities in southern Ontario.
The Village Voice, August 21, The Wilberforce Settlement Plaque located just outside the Museum's log cabin. The Founding of Lucan Plaque located just outside the Museum's barn. Lucan was founded in anticipation of the construction of the Grand Trunk Railway to Sarnia, projected in and built The first settlers had been members of the Wilberforce Colony in One of this group, Peter Butler Sr.
The eastern part was acquired jointly by the Hon. Donald and John MacDonald, and the first village lots were sold in A steam grist mill, stores and hotels were built.
Lucan Post Office was opened on June 1, , and, with the completion of the railway, the settlement prospered. The Lucan Foundry, a large plant specializing in agricultural machinery, was founded in John MacDonald renamed the settlement to Marystown, in honour of his wife. When a duplicate Marystown was found to have already registered with the Post Office the name Lucan was put forth and accepted by the postal authorities. A county by-law passed in provided for the incorporation of Lucan as a village.
On Feb. Passed down from generation to generation, many of the mementoes arrived in the hands of Mr. Egan in , after he inherited the family estate from his uncle Jack. There were pictures of his great-grandmother, letters from relatives and many artifacts he had yet to catalogue.
The little that he possessed disappeared in the flames. Seated on the couch of the downtown Ottawa hotel he has called home for a month, Mr. Egan retraced his roots in detail. James found work in London, Ont. The following year, they settled in Biddulph Township near Lucan. A third son, John, was born in and Johannah gave birth to four more sons over the next nine years: Patrick, Michael, Robert and Thomas.
Jennie married a James Currie and gave birth to 12 children, one of whom was a daughter named Jane. Jane in turn married Mike Egan. But the Donnelly bloodline still lives on. The Donnellys started out like most other poor immigrants in Canada. Having no claim to property, they squatted on acres that belonged to an absentee landlord. For many years, they were left in peace. When one day someone came to lay claim to the land, James Donnelly had no intention of giving up his home.
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