Mrs. J. J. Donovan, a beloved pioneer resident of Bellingham, who came here in 1888 as the bride of a young Northern Pacific railway construction engineer, passed away early Saturday morning at the family home on Garden street, after an illness of several months.
Mrs. Donovan was born in 1858 at Haverhill, New Hampshire, a member of a pioneer New England family. One of her great grandfathers was the first governor of New Hampshire and another was a member of the first graduating class of Harvard university. As Miss Clara Isabel Nichols, she was married April 29, 1888 at her home in Melrose, Mass., to John Joseph Donovan, who for several years had been employed in the construction of the Northern Pacific in the Pacific Northwest. After living for a short time in Tacoma, Mr. and Mrs. Donovan came to Bellingham bay, first residing in Fairhaven and later in Whatcom. Mrs. Donovan was an active member of the First Congregational church, and of the Monday club, of which she was a charter member, and for many years she was a member of the board of the Young Women's Christian Association.
The immediate surviving relatives are the husband, J. J. Donovan; two sons, John N. Donovan, of this city, and Philip Donovan, of Portland, Ore.; one daughter, Mrs. Leslie Craven, of Chicago, who arrived in Bellingham last week, and eight grandchildren. The remains are resting at the family home on Garden street, where private funeral services will be conducted Monday afternoon at 3 o'clock by the Rev. James M. Wilson, minister of St. James Presbyterian church. Interment will be made in Bay View cemetery under the direction of the Harlow-Hollingsworth funeral home.
