Rev Timothy Joseph Donahoe, pastor of St Vincent's Roman Catholic Church, Plymouth, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, was born in New York city, 16 May 1839, the son of Cornelius and Mary (Sheehan) Donahoe, both natives of county Cork, Ireland, who emigrated to this country in 1835.
Cornelius Donahoe was the son of Timothy and Mary (Desmond) Donahoe, of Cork, Ireland, and was born in 1812. He was one of thee children, Ellen, Cornelius and James. He was educated in the national schools of his native place, and followed the occupation of a farmer in Ireland. In 1837, at the age of twenty-five years, he emigrated to this country, locating in New York city, New York, and remained there for two and a half years. He then removed to Schuylkill county, and for the succeeding three and a half years was there engaged in the coal mines. Later he moved to Sullivan county, three miles from Dushore, Pennsylvania, and there purchased a farm, in the cultivation of which he engaged for twenty-two years, when he became incapacitated for work and retired to Dushore, where he spent the remainder of his days. In political relations Mr Donahoe was a strong defender of the principles of the Democratic party, and in religious faith was a devout Roman Catholic. He was an honorable, reliable man and well thought of throughout the community. Cornelius Donahoe married Mary Sheehan, who was the daughter of Thomas and Mary (McCarthy) Sheehan, natives of the county of Cork, and a descendant of a long line of Sheehans of the same locality. The family of McCarthy, of which Mary (McCarthy) Sheehan is a member, trace their lineage back a number of generations from the province of Munster, Ireland, which includes the counties of Cork, Carey, Waterford and Tipperary, the section in which Thomas Sheehan and Timothy Donahoe both followed farming. Cornelius and Mary (Sheehan) Donahoe had children as follows: A daughter, born in Ireland, 12 Jan 1837; Timothy Joseph, further mentioned hereinafter; and four who died in infancy. The eldest child obtained her education in Dushore. She is unmarried and resides in Philadelphia.
Timothy Joseph Donahoe, second child and eldest son of Cornelius and Mary (Sheehan) Donahoe, obtained his early education in the public schools of Sullivan county, Pennsylvania, which he attended until he was twenty-one years of age. He engaged in school-teaching for two years, after which he entered St Vincent's College in Westmoreland county, remaining there for two years. He then entered the college of St Bonaventure, Cattaraugus county, New York, in which he remained seven and a half years, and at the close of his studies in this institution was ordained into the priesthood 4 Nov 1873. He was immediately thereinafter appointed assistant in St Peter's Cathedral in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in the duties of which position he engaged for ten months. He was then appointed assistant to the late Father O'Haran, pastor of St Mary's Church, Wilkes-Barre, 27 Aug 1874. Three years later, 4 Sep 1877, he was removed to Plymouth, Pennsylvania, where he assumed the duties of pastor of St Vincent's Church, where he has since remained. He is an indefatigable worker, and has made remarkable progress since locating in Plymouth. Upon his arrival in his new field Father Donahoe found the church to be small, badly lighted and ventilated. He immediately set himself the task of rebuilding, and with this end in view, purchased a fine site on the corner of Eno and Church streets, where he has erected one of the finest edifices in the state at a cost of $77,000. Being a man of mechanical genius as well as spiritual talent, Father Donahoe designed much of the inside work himself. The windows are of the finest quality, eleven of them being imported from Munich. The pulpit is of white marble, and the church is in all respects artistically beautiful. Besides the erection of this splendid church Father Donahoe has also built a parsonage at a cost of $18,000 and converted the old church into a parochial school, which has an average attendance of over five hundred children at a cost of $10,000, and the maintenance of which has cost $50,000. This school is free to all and is under the charge of the Sisters of Mercy. The erection of a new convent is now in progress, this having been begun 1 Ju 1904 and will be completed in the early part of 1905, the most imposing and beautiful convent in this part of Pennsylvania. It will have seven handsome windows imported from Munich at a cost of $1,375, and a beautiful marble altar costing $1,200. Father Donahoe's work for his church and people has indeed been wonderful, and the erection of the beautiful buildings above mentioned has been accomplished wholly through subscriptions which Father Donahoe started in his own congregation. He arrived in the parish at a time when conditions were most unfavorable, but his indomitable will and untiring energy soon surmounted all obstacles and his kind and loving attention has endeared him to the hearts of his parishioners. He passed through three serious epidemics in Plymouth, one of typhoid fever, one of small-pox in 1882, and another of small-pox in 1901, caring for the sick in his congregation during these periods with unusual fortitude. Politically Father Donahoe is bound to no party, reserving the right to cast his vote for the man whom he considers best adapted to the office sought.