Wiley Family History

Daniel Washington Donnell
(1843-1928)

         DANIEL WASHINGTON "WASH" DONNELL, son of Reuben Donnell and Mariah Ann Hill, was born 09 January 1843 in McNairy County, Tennessee, where he spent his childhood years. His father and mother had moved there from Madison County, Tennessee. Reuben was the son of John Donnell and Jane S. McGaha. John was a member of the prominent Scotch-Irish Donnell family of Guilford County, North Carolina, who were among the founders and elders of the Buffalo Presbyterian Church in Greensboro.

In the 1860s, Wash moved with his parents to Mississippi, where he enlisted in the Confederate Army on August 1, 1862 in Ripley, Mississippi, and served as a Private in Company A, 9th Mississippi Cavalry under Col. W. C. Falkner.

After the war, he married JANE CATHERINE "CASS" GRISSOM, daughter of EDWARD GRISSOM and MARGARET KINNEY. The marriage license was issued 09 January 1868 in Ripley, Tippah County, Mississippi. Cass was born 06 June 1850 in Tippah County. Wash's mother, Mariah, died in 1874 and was buried in Antioch Cemetery, located four miles west of Ripley, in Tippah County.

Shortly after his mother's death, Wash and Cass moved to north Texas along with his father, Reuben, and other family members. They stopped first in Grayson County, then Cooke County, and finally Montague County, which is in north central Texas near the Oklahoma border. At the time they arrived, the county had only recently been declared safe from the frequent Indian raids that occurred up until the mid-1870s and had discouraged settlement of the area. The Donnells bought land, farmed, and raised cattle near the settlements of Gladys and Hardy. Later, Wash worked as a cattle dealer in the town of St. Jo, an important farm-to-market center situated at the intersection of the Chisholm and California trails in the eastern part of the county, while his sons continued to work the land and raise cattle. The abundant grasslands had attracted cattlemen to the area as early as the 1860s and the cattle industry became the focus of most farmers in the county, who produced forage for livestock and food rather than raising a cash crop. The town of St. Jo was incorporated in 1886, having reached a population of 500. The community then had two steam-powered cotton gins, several gristmills, and a weekly newspaper. During that same year, contruction on the Gainesville, Henrietta, and Western Railway reached the town, further accelerating its growth. By 1890, St. Jo had a population of 1,000 and experienced steady growth throughout most of the twentieth century.

Cass and Wash reared six children together - four boys and two girls - Rufus, John, Isaac, Fannie, Homer and Ola Mae. All six married and settled in the north Texas area. Cass died 05 July 1920 and was buried in Mountain Park Cemetery in Saint Jo. Wash died 31 March, 1928 and was buried beside his wife. By the time of his death, thirty-two grandchildren of this pioneer couple had been born in Texas.