JOSEPH JOHN O'DONNELL, Sr.

 

Joseph O'Donnell was born June 24, 1900 in Jenkintown, PA. His history presents a lot of gaps, but it appears he lived a full life of jobs, military service, marriage and retirement in which aviation was mostly an interest, but not a life-long occupation.

The 1910 U.S. Census placed him at age 9 living in Jenkintown with his father, John (1861-1936) age 49), mother, Mary (nee: Devinney; 1859-1951; 49 [sic]) and four older siblings ranging in age from 23 to 12. He was a first-generation American, his father having been born in Ireland and migrated to America in 1874. His father's occupation was coded as "Driller" of "Artesian Wells."

In 1920, the Census placed him at the same residence, 414 Cedar St., Jenkintown. That address today is the site of a residential parking lot. He was nineteen years old and employed as a bookkeeper for a leather manufacturer. Living with the family was William Devinney, his maternal uncle.

By the 1930 Census, he had joined his father's well drilling business and was still living at home with his parents and uncle. All his siblings had moved away. By 1940 his father had passed away, he had taken over the well business and he lived in the same home wit his widowed mother and his uncle. He was coded "single" up to 1940.

I don't know when he first decided to take up aviation, but he landed once at Willow Grove and signed the Register on December 28, 1941 at 3:10PM. For context, the attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor occurred three weeks earlier.

He was solo in the Monocoupe Model 113 he identified as NC11895 (S/N 368). According to FAA records, this airplane was airworthy until November 23, 1951 when it was deregistered. At the airplane's link you will discover its deregistration was a result of its destruction, "...in a garage fire" ca. 1949.

O'Donnell arrived in 11895 at Pitcairn Field from Jenkintown and identified his destination as Lansdale Airport in Lansdale, PA, a round-robin distance of about 30 miles between the three cities. He might have seen Blue Bell Airport off his starboard wing as he returned to Jenkintown from Lansdale.

A month later on February 16, 1942, O'Donnell was registered for the draft below. He was 41 years old, but the pattern seemed to be, as WWII spooled up, to draft every able-bodied male, regardless of age.

O'Donnell Draft Registration, February 16, 1942 (Source: ancestry.com)

J. O'Donnell Draft Registration, February 16, 1942 (Source: ancestry.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He did serve during WWII, both domestically and abroad. His application for post-war vereran's compensation, below, provided dates, but not locations, of his service. According to his obituary, c.f. below, he served with the Army Corps of Engineers in the Aleutian Islands. His experience with drill rigs was probably used to good effect with the Corps of Engineers. Note this application was filled out about 12 weeks before it was marked received.

J. O'Donnell Veteran's Compensation Application, January 17, 1950 (Source: ancestry.com)

He qualified to receive $500. Page two of his appliation follows.

J. O'Donnell Veteran's Compensation Application, January 17, 1950 (Source: ancestry.com)

 

Roberta Kate Nash, 1939 (Source: ancestry.com)

 

 

 

In 1951, he married Roberta Kate Nash (1920-2003) in Ft. Myers, FL. He would have been 52 years old; she 31. Roberta's photograph is at left, from her 1939 yearbook when she was a freshman at Salem College. Salem is a small women's school in Winston-Salem, NC. Their marriage appeared to the first for both of them. Information from a couple of sources show the birth of a son, Joseph John, Jr., in 1953. If you read this, sir, please CONTACT ME. Roberta died March 2, 2003, surviving her husband by about two decades.

 

 

 

 

Joseph O'Donnell, Sr. flew West on June 20, 1983 from St. Petersburg Beach, FL, from a home in which he and Roberta had lived for a number of years.

Joseph O'Donnell Obituary, The Philadelphia Inquirer (PA), June 23, 1983 (Source: Woodling)

"Joseph J. O'Donnell Sr., 83, a former Jenkintown businessman, died Monday at the Bay of Pines Veterans Hospital near Tampa, Fla. He lived nearby in St. Petersburg Beach. The former owner of O'Donnell Artesian Well Drillers Inc., he was a veteran of World War II service in the Army Corps of Engineers. He served as a captain in the Aleutian Islands. Before the war, he flew the mails. In 1938, he flew a bag of mail from Pitcairn Airfield to Philadelphia Municipal Airport in a demonstration of speed. The two airfields are now known as Willow Grove Naval Air Station and Philadelphia International. Surviving are his wife, Roberta; a son, Joseph J. Jr., and a sister. A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered Thursday at St. John's Church in St. Petersburg Beach."

A similar obituary appeared in the Tampa Bay Times, June 21, 1983.

I found no Information regarding his airmail work. Airmail Week, during May 1938, commemorated the 20th anniversary of U.S. airmail service. A couple of news articles appeared in Pennsylvania papers that week, below, but neither mentioned O'Donnell.

The Hazelton Speaker, May 14, 1938 (Source: newspapers.com)

In the article below, Mrs. Roosevelt bought her airmail stamps, and an autogiro shuttled mail from the roof of the Chicago post office to the airport (probably Midway). Fellow Register pilot John M. Miller flew similar duty from the oof of the Philadelphia, PA post office to the the airport in Camden, NJ. Follow his link to learn about his flights and to see a film of him performing one in 1939.

The Plain Speaker, Hazelton PA, May 18, 1938 (Source: newspapers.com)

 

 

---o0o---

SPONSORED LINKS

THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 09/05/20 REVISED: