John McDonald

Early Life and Family Background

John McDonald was born on 19 September 1846 in the parish of Cloone, County Leitrim, Ireland. He was the son of Michael McDonald, a small farmer, and his wife Margaret (née Reynolds), and was raised in a devout Roman Catholic family. McDonald received his early education in local national schools and went on to train as a schoolteacher, reflecting the limited but valuable educational opportunities available in rural Ireland at the time.

In 1879, McDonald married Mary Anne Muldowney of Bornacoola, County Leitrim. The couple settled at Cloonboniagh South townland near Dromod, close to the River Shannon on the Leitrim-Longford border, where they would raise a large family. They had eight children (among them Michael, Patrick, Mary, John, Anne, and Charles) and lived a modest agrarian life. To support his family, John McDonald ran a small farm in Cloonboniagh South while simultaneously working as a national school teacher in neighboring County Longford. This dual occupation of farmer-schoolteacher was not uncommon in late 19th-century Ireland, where educated rural inhabitants often balanced professional work with farming duties. Many of McDonald’s children emigrated to America, reflecting a common pattern of rural Irish families in the early 20th century, where the next generation often sought opportunities abroad.

McDonald’s life had an international chapter as well. In 1881, amid Ireland’s turbulent political climate, he travelled to the United States and spent several years living in New York City. This sojourn in America likely broadened his perspectives and connected him with the Irish diaspora and nationalist networks abroad. By the mid-1880s, however, he had returned to Leitrim to continue his teaching and writing. McDonald remained rooted in his local community for the rest of his life. He died on 29 October 1932 at his home in Cloonboniagh South at the age of 86. He was laid to rest in Cloonmorris Cemetery in the parish of Bornacoola, where his gravestone honors him as a “Poet and Patriot,” a testament to the esteem in which he was held.

 

Literary Career and Irish National Poems (1886)

By vocation John McDonald was a teacher and farmer, but by avocation he was a poet. Writing under the signature “J. McD. (Dromod)”, he became known as a talented local poet and a committed Irish cultural nationalist. McDonald’s literary career unfolded during the late 19th century, a period of vibrant popular journalism and nationalist literature in Ireland. He was a prolific contributor to Irish newspapers and periodicals, through which his verse reached a broad audience of Irish readers. Over the span of two decades, McDonald regularly published poems in nationalist weeklies and local papers. He was a frequent contributor of verse to United Ireland, a prominent weekly aligned with Charles Stewart Parnell’s Home Rule movement, and to the Weekly News and Young Ireland magazines. In the early 1890s he also placed a few pieces in the Weekly National Press. These publications were vital outlets for nationalist and cultural expression, and McDonald’s writings found a ready audience there. In addition, he contributed poems to local newspapers in Leitrim and Longford, bringing literary flair to the regional press.

McDonald’s time in New York during the 1880s did not interrupt his literary output; instead, it broadened it. While living in America, he wrote for the Irish World of New York, a leading Irish-American newspaper that circulated among the immigrant community. Through the Irish World, his patriotic verse reached Irish diaspora readers and helped maintain the transatlantic ties of the Irish nationalist cause. His ability to publish on both sides of the ocean underscores the widespread appeal of his themes – principally Ireland’s quest for self-determination and the valorization of Irish heritage.

The crowning achievement of McDonald’s literary work was his sole book, Irish National Poems, published in Dublin in 1886. This volume is a collection of his original poetry, and its title itself proclaims its contents: verses inspired by Irish national sentiment. Irish National Poems was issued by the Dublin publisher Sealy, Bryers & Walker in a handsome green cloth binding, stamped with a gilt harp and shamrocks – symbols of Irish nationalism. The book appeared in the same year as the first Irish Home Rule Bill was introduced in Parliament, reflecting the spirit of hopeful nationalism that defined the era. Many of McDonald’s poems in the collection championed the cause of Irish self-government and paid homage to Ireland’s past heroes and folk culture. For example, one piece from that year was entitled “Home Rule Song,” indicating McDonald’s poetic engagement with the Home Rule movement for legislative independence.

Because McDonald was a working farmer and teacher, he necessarily composed much of his poetry in the margins of a busy life. He later explained that he wrote mostly at night or on Sunday evenings, snatching whatever spare hours he could from his weekly labors. In the preface to Irish National Poems, McDonald offered a humble apology for any literary imperfections in his verses, while affirming the higher purpose that animated his work. He wrote that he placed his “unpretending little work before the public ‘with all its faults’” and hoped readers would remember that his aim had always been “to infuse hope and courage into the hearts and minds of [his] countrymen, and to hasten, as far as in [his] power lay, Ireland’s deliverance”. This statement encapsulates McDonald’s role as a poet-patriot: he saw his writings not just as artistic expressions, but as contributions to the national cause, meant to uplift and inspire a downtrodden people in their struggle for freedom. The simplicity and sincerity of his verse were, in his view, justified by the patriotic object it served.

Although Irish National Poems did not gain wide renown beyond its region, it held significance for those involved in the Irish nationalist and literary circles of the time. The print run was likely small, and surviving copies of the 1886 edition are now quite rare. One known copy is preserved at Keenans Hotel in Tarmonbarry, County Roscommon (not far from McDonald’s home), perhaps kept as a local treasure. Another copy resides in the archives of the National Library of Ireland in Dublin, ensuring that McDonald’s work remains accessible to scholars and interested readers. Decades after its publication, McDonald’s poems continued to echo in his home region. In the 1960s, during a period of renewed cultural nationalism in Ireland, the Leitrim Observer newspaper reprinted several of his poems. These reprints indicate that McDonald’s verses retained local resonance, being valued as part of Leitrim’s cultural heritage long after his death.

 

Irish Nationalism and Literary Context

McDonald’s poetry is inseparable from the historical context of Irish nationalism in the late 19th century. He came of age during an era of political agitation and cultural revival in Ireland. In particular, the late 1870s and early 1880s saw the rise of the Irish National Land League and the unfolding of the Land War – a mass movement of tenant farmers resisting the injustices of landlordism. As the son of a small farmer in Leitrim, John McDonald was directly connected to the struggles of the rural poor. He became an ardent supporter of the Land League, using his pen to advance its aims. McDonald’s commitment to Irish nationalism was not only literary but also practical and political. Throughout his life he identified with the cause of Irish self-determination and agrarian reform, aligning himself with leaders and movements that sought to improve Ireland’s fate.

Evidence of McDonald’s political engagement is found in contemporary correspondence. In April 1881, as the Land League agitation was at its height, the young Irish politician Thomas Sexton penned a letter of introduction for McDonald to the veteran revolutionary John Devoy in New York. Sexton’s description of McDonald was glowing: “Before I ever had the pleasure of meeting Mr. McDonald, I knew him through my connection with the Dublin press, as a graceful and frank writer, both in prose and verse… indeed I am aware that he has been a tower of strength to the Land League cause in Leitrim, his native county”. This testimonial from a prominent Irish nationalist underscores how McDonald’s writings had made an impact beyond his locality. His poetry and prose in the press had bolstered the Land League’s campaign in Leitrim, rallying public opinion in favor of tenant rights and justice for the poor. The letter also suggests that McDonald’s reputation as a writer had spread to Dublin and overseas, to the extent that he was introduced to exile leaders as a valued ally of the cause.

The 1880s were also the years of Charles Stewart Parnell’s leadership of the Home Rule movement, and McDonald’s works resonated with the Home Rule aspirations of that decade. Poems like “Home Rule Song” (1886) celebrated the prospect of an Irish legislature and encouraged unity and hope among Irish people. In composing such pieces, McDonald contributed to a long tradition of Irish nationalist verse dating back to Thomas Davis and the Young Ireland movement of the 1840s. This tradition saw poetry and song as vital instruments of political persuasion and national identity. McDonald can be seen as a late 19th-century heir to that legacy – a local bard whose verses, published in newspapers or recited at gatherings, helped to spread nationalist ideals in an accessible and emotive form.

Culturally, McDonald’s lifetime coincided with what is often called the Irish Literary Revival or Celtic Revival, roughly spanning the 1880s through the early 20th century. While that revival is most famously associated with literary figures like W. B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, and Douglas Hyde, its influence pervaded even the rural corners of Ireland. John McDonald is sometimes described as a “cultural nationalist poet” of the Irish Literary Revival period. Unlike the Anglo-Irish literary elites, McDonald wrote in plain, heartfelt language and from a Catholic agrarian perspective, but he shared the Revival’s goal of celebrating Irish nationhood. Notably, McDonald was bilingual; the 1911 census records show that he and his family spoke both Irish and English. Though he wrote his poems in English to reach a broad readership, he lived in a community where the Irish language still survived, and he was part of a broader movement to preserve Irish culture. In this era, many schoolteachers and local intellectuals participated in cultural nationalism by founding Gaelic League branches, teaching the Irish language, or promoting Irish music and folklore. There is no specific record of McDonald’s direct involvement in the Gaelic League, but his poetry clearly aligns with the spirit of the Gaelic revival – cherishing the Irish nation’s heritage and expressing pride in Ireland’s identity.

Furthermore, McDonald’s role as a poet in rural Ireland speaks to the vibrant literary culture of the Irish countryside. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was common for local poets, sometimes called rhyme-makers or balladeers, to publish their verses in regional newspapers or to circulate them in manuscripts and song. These works often commemorated local events, evoked the beauty of the landscape, or, as in McDonald’s case, voiced national political sentiments. By contributing to the newspapers of his day, McDonald took part in this grassroots literary culture, ensuring that the flame of nationalism burned not only in Dublin salons or public rallies, but also in village hearths and schoolhouses. His poetry gave voice to the views and emotions of ordinary Irish farmers and tenants who longed for land reform and self-governance. In summary, the historical backdrop of McDonald’s life – marked by the Land League, the Home Rule movement, and the Literary Revival – profoundly shaped his work. In turn, his writings provide a window into the aspirations of rural Irish communities in that transformative era.

 

Later Years and Legacy

John McDonald remained in County Leitrim throughout his later years, witnessing Ireland’s journey through the tumultuous early 20th century. By the time of his death in 1932, Ireland had undergone World War I, the Easter Rising of 1916, the War of Independence, and the establishment of the Irish Free State. McDonald, as an elder of his community, lived to see some of the long-held dreams of Irish nationalists realized – an independent government (at least for the 26 counties) and the securing of tenant farmers’ rights through land reforms. Although he was not on the front lines of political events, one can imagine that his patriot’s heart took satisfaction in these developments that fulfilled the hopes he had espoused in verse decades earlier.

In his final years, McDonald continued to be regarded with respect in his locality as both an educator and a man of letters. He carried the unofficial title of the “Poet of Dromod” in the eyes of neighbors who knew of his literary accomplishments. After his passing, his immediate fame did not extend much beyond Leitrim and Longford, yet his legacy endured locally and among scholars of Irish literature. McDonald’s gravesite in Cloonmorris (Bornacoola) is emblematic of that legacy: the inscription “Poet and Patriot” succinctly captures how he is remembered. It is rare for a headstone to bear such a bold epithet, and its use signals that the community acknowledged John McDonald’s dual contribution – as a man who enriched local culture and as one who served the Irish nation’s cause in his own way.

McDonald’s writings have attracted interest from historians, literary scholars, and genealogists, particularly those exploring Ireland’s regional literary heritage. The National Library of Ireland holds a collection of his papers, including manuscripts of his poems (some in his own hand), newspaper clippings of his published work, and correspondence. Among these papers are letters that shed light on his connections and reputation. Notably, the archive contains a Land League circular from the 1880s and letters from T. D. Sullivan – a prominent journalist, politician, and balladeer of the day – to McDonald, including Sullivan’s remarks on McDonald’s poems. Such documents suggest that McDonald’s poetry was recognized and appreciated by leading nationalist figures of his generation. The preservation of his manuscripts in the national collections ensures that McDonald’s voice is not lost to history. Researchers can consult these primary sources to gain insight into the concerns of an Irish country poet and the stylistic conventions of popular nationalist verse in the 19th century.

Within County Leitrim, John McDonald is today remembered as an important local literary figure. He is frequently mentioned in county histories and anthologies of Leitrim writers. A 1980 survey of Leitrim’s authors in the Leitrim Guardian magazine, for instance, lists McDonald as one of the county’s notable poets, noting his authorship of Irish National Poems and his origins in Dromod. While acknowledging that Leitrim has produced more famous poets (such as Susan Mitchell, a poet from Carrick-on-Shannon who moved in the Dublin literary circle), local historians ensure that McDonald’s contribution is not forgotten. His inclusion in such retrospectives indicates a lasting regional pride in the “poet-farmer” who lent Leitrim a voice in the canon of Irish nationalist literature.

In the broader scope of Irish literary tradition, John McDonald’s influence was subtle and localized rather than revolutionary. He did not found a new school of poetry nor attain the renown of major literary revival figures. However, his work exemplified and likely reinforced the tradition of patriotic popular poetry that persisted in Ireland’s rural communities. The fact that the Leitrim Observer revisited his poems in the 1960s, around the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Rising, suggests that new generations found relevance and inspiration in his verses during periods of nationalist commemoration. His poems, with their straightforward emotional appeal and nationalistic fervor, can be seen as precursors to later ballads and folk songs that celebrated Ireland’s heritage and quest for freedom.

Moreover, McDonald’s life story – as an educated small farmer who wrote by candlelight about Ireland’s destiny – has an inspirational quality in itself. It reflects the idea that one did not have to be a Yeats or a famous revolutionary to contribute to Ireland’s national revival; even in a quiet rural townland, a determined individual could rally hearts and minds through the written word. In this sense, McDonald’s legacy is part of the grassroots cultural nationalism that underpinned Ireland’s independence movement. His dedication to “hasten Ireland’s deliverance” through poetry personifies the fusion of art and patriotism characteristic of his era.

Today, John McDonald’s Irish National Poems stands as a rare artifact of Leitrim’s literary past and a window into the popular nationalist imagination of its time. Scholars with an interest in regional literature or the intersection of politics and poetry in Ireland continue to find value in his work. Genealogists and local historians, too, cherish his memory, as it intertwines with the story of a community and a nation. In summary, John McDonald of Dromod is remembered not only for the content of his poetry but for the figure he represented: the humble schoolmaster-poet who devoted his talents to the love of his country. His life and writings collectively highlight the role of local voices in the grand narrative of Irish nationalism, confirming that the spirit of Ireland’s literary revival reached even the quiet lanes of County Leitrim.