James O’Donnell

In 1886, Elizabeth “Lillie” Williams met John O’Donnell. He came from New York and had been rafting logs with a partner, O.M. Stone, on the Albion River before coming to Mendocino.

John and Lillie were married a few days before Christmas in 1887. Before their son James was born on February 4, 1889 (a hefty 12-pound baby), they moved into a house at the north end of Big River Bridge. It’s not known how long they lived there, but James was quite young when they moved to town. Two more children were born, Elizabeth Rosalind in 1890 (she died when she was 16) and John in 1891. The family lived a while at the Williams House, but uncles John, James, and George were full of high spirits, too boisterous and rough for Lillie’s small children. 

James attended the elementary and secondary schools in Mendocino, preparing his lessons at night after his chores were done. “Remember,” he says, “fathers worked a six-day week, often a 12-hour day with a half hour for lunch; children were expected to help with the chores. So, also, were they expected to bring home their earnings if they worked for wages.”

Once James worked making bricks with some of the Mendosas. What he really liked to do was to go to the point and watch boats coming in with cargo for the stores of Eugene Brown, Brown & Gray, and Jarvis & Nichols, among others. He would watch the variety of items lifted to the loading platform on the bluff to be collected and placed on horse drawn wagons for delivery. There might be a job in this busy endeavor that would pay 50 cents to $1 if he were there on the spot.

Sometimes James was given a job helping to load a schooner, which was very hard work and the captains were always urging speed to get the lumber on board. Once, Captain Hammer worked James from 7am until midnight when the ship, the Cacique, sailed. If Lillie was disturbed about James being gone from home until late in the night, she must have been pleased to see the $20 gold piece he brought home. “I spent a lot of time on the old steamers,” he said. “You could leave here at 4 o’clock in the afternoon with a load of lumber and get to San Francisco at 6 or 7 the next morning. Coming back, it was the same thing, leave there about 4 and get to Mendocino with a load of freight.” If the wire cable and sling were not used for unloading, the boom and crane would lift the cargo from a small lighter that had brought the load from the ship to the base of the bluff.

Graduating from Mendocino High School with the class of 1908, James decided to continue his schooling in the city. Although he had saved money for expenses, he gave it to his hard-working mother (by now his father’s eyesight was gone and his mother was taking in boarders), confident that he could make his way. He entered the Oakland Polytechnic Business College and worked for his room and board at the Glendale Inn in Berkeley. One wonders how there was time for fun, but with the house full of university students he made many friends, and they took him to dances and ball games whenever he could spare the time.

Upon completion of the two-year course at Poly, James applied for and got a job with Armour & Company at the Oakland plant. Within three or four years he had learned so much of the operation that he was made Foreman of the packing plant, a well-paying position which he held for almost 20 years.

James and Nora Sheean met in 1916. They were married September 8th, 1917 and lived in San Francisco for two years. Their first son, James, was born there in 1919. Two more children were born in Oakland, Eleanor in 1921 and William in 1925.

Ownership of Armour & Company changed when the Depression came to Oakland. The new owners moved the plant from Oakland, but Jim and Nora didn’t want to leave. Jim opened his own general repair and contracting business in 1931. His business prospered for 10 years, but when World War II shipbuilding began in the Oakland estuary, and there was a need for workers, Jim closed his business and went to work for the Moore Shipyard.

The war ended in 1945, and Nora died in 1946. The children were grown, and Jim thought of Mendocino, and returned in 1947. His old interest in carpentry and building was reactivated and soon he was engaged in the construction field as a building contractor. 

—Excerpted from Mendocino Historical Review, vol. 3, no. 2.

The Kelley House Museum is open Friday-Sunday, 11am-3pm. Visit the Kelley House Event Calendar for a walking tour schedule.