Francis Edmund "Frank" Donoghue (November 27, 1872January 8, 1952) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician from

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He served three terms in the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 re ...

, and later served 12 years as a Chicago municipal judge. He was also a co-owner of the Logan Squares Chicago City League baseball club. His brother, George Terry Donoghue, was the first general superintendent of the

Chicago Park District The Chicago Park District is one of the oldest and the largest park districts in the United States. As of 2016, there are over 600 parks included in the Chicago Park District as well as 27 beaches, several boat harbors, two botanic conservatories ...

; his granddaughter,

Sheehan Donoghue Julia Sheehan Donoghue (born December 13, 1943) is a retired American lawyer and Republican politician from Merrill, Wisconsin. She was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly for six terms, from 1973 through 1985. She later served more than a ...

, served in the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

in the 1970s and 1980s.

Biography

Francis Donoghue was born and raised in the

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the British ...

community in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He graduated from

St. Ignatius College Prep Saint Ignatius College Prep is a selective private, coeducational Jesuit college-preparatory school located in the Near West Side neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The school was founded in Chicago in 1869 by Fr. Arnold Damen, S.J., a Dutch ...

and went on to earn his law degree from

Kent College ) , established = 1885 , closed = , type = Public SchoolIndependent day and boarding school , religious_affiliation = Methodist , president = , head_label = , head ...

in 1896. In 1900, he was elected to his first term in the

, serving in the 42nd Illinois General Assembly. Following a 1901 redistricting, he was elected to his second term from another district in 1902, and was elected to a third term in 1906. After leaving the House of Representatives, Donoghue became a business partner to

Nixey Callahan James Joseph Callahan (March 18, 1874 – October 4, 1934) was an American pitcher and left fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Colts/Orphans, and Chicago White Sox. He also managed the White Sox, as we ...

in the ownership of the Logan Squares baseball club in the Chicago City League. The partnership lasted about five years. Donoghue subsequently worked as an attorney and dealt real estate. In 1931, he was appointed city fire attorney, and shortly thereafter he was hired as an

assistant state's attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a loc ...

in the office of the

Cook County State's Attorney The Cook County State's Attorney functions as the state of Illinois's district attorney for Cook County, Illinois, and heads the second-largest prosecutor's office in the United States. The office has over 700 attorneys and 1,100 employees. In ad ...

, where he remained until his election as a Chicago municipal judge, in 1938. He served 12 years as municipal judge, retiring in 1950. He died two years later, on January 8, 1952, after a brief illness.

Personal life and family

Francis Donoghue was one of eight children born to

Irish American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

immigrant Michael Francis Donoghue and his wife Elizabeth Anne (' Shields). Michael Donoghue was a successful pioneer businessman in Chicago. Francis Donoghue's younger brother George Terry Donoghue, was the first general superintendent of the

, serving from its formation in 1934 until his retirement in 1960. Francis Donoghue married Mae Anson, a daughter of Leonard Niles Anson, a pioneer businessman in

Merrill, Wisconsin Merrill is a city in and the county seat of Lincoln County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located to the south of and adjacent to the Town of Merrill. The population was 9,347, according to the 2020 census. Merrill is part of the United Sta ...

. They had at least two children together, she died in 1942. Their granddaughter,

, went on to represent the Merrill area in the

for six terms in the 1970s and 1980s.

References

1872 births 1952 deaths Politicians from Chicago Lawyers from Chicago Democratic Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives American people of Irish descent Catholics from Illinois 20th-century American legislators Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Evanston, Illinois) 20th-century Illinois politicians {{Illinois-Ilrepresentative-stub