Thomas Paul MacDonnell: February 2008

Sunday, February 3, 2008

GJ Stillson MacDonnell (niece)

Remembrances from a small child

My father, John was the oldest brother and the oldest of his generation. I am the eldest of mine and started my career as a test/ prototype baby for the MacDonnell clan. Diana and Tom, as well as a host of others, were diligent child care students.

Valerie, Barbara and Mac, if you experienced well positioned diapers and the "plane" spoon always flew into your "hanger"-mouths, remember I took a lot of pin sticks and took it on the cheek - literally, so your parents could perfect their skills and that they did. Tom was not half bad, for a Navy man.

Being the eldest, I got to be the fly on the wall to observe three generations. Tom clearly had the respect of his aunts and was well-cared for by them. He was the quiet one in a family of often loud people. While he stood or sat to the side, he too observed. He always did what needed to be done, in his own way. He had the patience to untangle a fishing line and a few lives. I am forever grateful for his generosity when my mother became ill and my father distracted.

Fast forward to Albee Court, Larchmont. Did you know that Henry Stevens Son and Stiles is today probably America's oldest bookseller? As a child it was all so confusing: was is sons or son? Stile or Stiles? Which came first - Sons or Stiles and what is a "Stiles", anyway? Getting it right was the price of admission to the "office".

Henry Stevens was a great place for Tom to make a career. First, he came from a family of bookworms (in the best sense of the word). Second, he had the patience for scholarship. Third, with that smile, he could sell ice to Eskimos.

Going to "Henry Stevens" was always a wonderful treat. Shelves and shelves of leather bound books, none with call letters, but all with little paper flags sticking above the binders.

Somewhat musty, but in a respectful way, the office was a place with big wooded desks, fat leather chairs, squeaky desk chairs, typewriters, smell of tobacco - ashtrays, humidors, loose tobacco, tobacco pouches, pipes, pipe tools and more pipes and pipe cleaners that could be fashioned into everything but a book!

Books, pamphlets, broadsides, maps, unbound manuscripts - were all feasts for the eyes. If you were really very good and could sit still and be very, very patient and promise not to touch, Tom, or sometimes Rollie, would talk you back through history.

As a small child, the trip to Henry Stevens was an adventure; as an adult, it was an education. As an adult, spending time with Tom, in the office, was both rare and wonderful. History could not only be relived but seen in the documents that recorded and literally mapped it all.

The bridge to history was through Tom, who was very much the friend of and befriended by the books and their stories. Tom knew not only their stories and what went with what but he understood and absorbed their significance to both the business and history.

While Henry Stevens was about acquiring, trading, cataloging, evaluating and selling historical materials, it was apparent that these "possessions" meant more to Tom than being part of an "inventory". They taught him, fed his soul, inspired his life and were very much his companions on his own journey of discovery. How many get to do what they love for a lifetime? Serendipity was generous.

GJ Stillson MacDonnell
Berkeley, California

1 January 2007

Eulogy to Thomas P. Macdonnell

Written and read (largely intact) by Thomas H. MacDonnell at the Memorial Service for Thomas P. MacDonnell on January 3rd, 2007 at Bruton Parish Church, Duke of Gloucester Street, Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. An “Ornament to Civilization” It is wonderful to see so many family and friends assembled here today to celebrate the Life of my father, Thomas P. MacDonnell. In an effort to further the development of a growing family tradition (in so much as this tradition has evolved over the course of my adult life), I would like to bring to your attention a few “Mactoids”, which are closely akin to “Factoids”, but differ in that “Mactoids” are “facts that are thought up and subsequently disseminated from someone within the family MacDonnell” as apposed to “factoids” which are facts presented on CNN television programs. “Mactoids” relating to November 25th. - My father was born on Thanksgiving Day, November 25th, 1922 in Richmond, New York. Richmond is a borough of New York City, which is better known today as Staten Island. - November 25th is the feast day of St. Catherine of Alexandria, patron saint of, among other things, unmarried women, wheelwrights, lacemakers, philosophers and librarians. - A number of traditions have attached themselves to St. Catherine’s Day. These include baking and eating Cattern cakes, rituals and prayers to summon a husband, and the game of jumping-the-candlestick. Presumingly, if one’s jump over the candlestick extinguished the candle, the jumper would have bad luck! - He was born Thomas Patrick MacDonnell, later adding “Paul” as his confirmation name. The later, Paul, was replaced by the former, Patrick, as his official middle name, presummingly sometime after his confirmation and induction into the military. - Agatha Christie’s play “The Mousetrap” opened in London, November 25th 1890 and went on to become the world’s longest running play, through 1976. - Notable people born on November 25th, German engineer and car manufacturer – Karl Benz (1844), Chilean soldier and statesman – General Augusto Pinochet (1915), family friend and sometimes French interpreter – Marie-Nicole Meyers (1930?), and, of course, Thomas Patrick Paul MacDonnell (1922). “Mactoids” relating to December 21st. - December 21st – traditionally the first day of winter (?). - December 21st is one of the days of the “Feast of St. Thomas”. St. Thomas, also called Didymus and popularly known as Doubting Thomas, because as one of Christ’s apostles, he refused to believe that Christ had risen from the dead until he had actually seen him and touched his wounds (John 20.24-8). - St. Thomas’ Day, which grew out of several traditions, one being that of almsgiving, grew into the practice of thomasing or gooding, in which children, widows, old women and other needy people went from house to house begging for money, winter provisions or Christmas treats. It is said that the hospitality shewn on such occasions provided sometimes rather overpowering, and the recipients of this and other charitable benefactions found themselves occasionally wholly unable to fine their way back to their own habitations, having been rendered, through the agency of John Barlycorn, as helpless as the ‘We bit Wifikie’ immortalized in Scottish song. (Chambers book of Days 1864). - Richard I ‘the Lion Heart’, King of England, was taken prisoner in Vienna by Leopold Duke of Austria and handed over to the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VI. (1192) - The Pilgrim Fathers in the Mayflower landed in Massachusetts (1620) - Charles De Gaulle was elected the first president of the Fifth Republic of France. (1958) - Notable people who passed away on December 21st, Italian writer – Giovanni Boccaccio (1375), Scottish-born US mathematician – Eric Temple Bell (1960), English cricketer – Sir Jack Hobbs (1963) and of course - Thomas Patrick Paul MacDonnell (2006). I’d like to mention that I am accompanied here today by my loving family and friends, particularly … My mother - Diana Marie Tree MacDonnell - 1st generation American immigrated of course from England (& 80 years of today!) My wife - Kaja Lin Falk MacDonnell - 2nd & 3rd generation Norwegian My two sisters- Valerie Elizabeth MacDonnell Copping Barbara Marie MacDonnell O’Donnell 2nd gen English, 3rd gen Irish and 4th or 5th gen Scottish (???) My uncle - Francis Henry James MacDonnell - 2nd gen Irish and 3rd of 4th Scottish (???) My aunt - Judith Tree Smith – 1st generation English And, of course, my many cousins, nieces, nephews, bother-in-laws….and friends, who have come here today from their humble abodes, both near and far! Our assembly here today, in this most storied religious establishment of our nation, reminds me of our fore-fathers, and to be sure, our fore-mothers, who, as progenitors, and with heaps of sweat and toil, created a world of hope, that has truly become, after decades and generations, a nation, and country, which for our family, as provided by my mother and father, a life that Thomas Jefferson so aptly penned, one with “an opportunity" for “the pursuit of happiness”. Tom Brocaw, the NBC retired T.V. anchorman, wrote of my father’s generation as “The Greatest Generation”. You see, my father was indeed a child of the great depression. However, just as our country outlived the depression, so did my father - Thomas MacDonnell. Thomas Patrick Paul MacDonnell was a very fortunate young man to have had several caring Aunts (Fran and Lorette) and Uncles (Frank and Jim), who took him under their wings at a very crucial time in his development. He was able to attend and graduate from Manhattan Prep School, and develop a sense of opportunity beyond the immediate familial footprints of his mother and father. Although my father, like so many of “The Greatest Generation”, was a descendent, a child, and a prodigy of the “Classical Greek Ideal” – that of “Realized Limitations”, he was able, and obviously hungry, gifted, and smart enough to overcome his world’s many obstacles and gain access to the opportunity for his pursuit of his happiness. Dad’s pursuit for happiness, began to take shape, through the chance meeting that he had by being introduced to my mother, Diana, by one, or several, of his Aunts. While it was during, between and after WWII, that their courtship unfolded, it was after their marriage, and once again, outside of dad’s nuclear family, that Thomas Paul’s intellectual passion for the pursuit of a meaningful career sprang forth in his hiring as an apprentice with the Antiquarian Book Firm of Henry Steven, Son & Stiles. As I prepared for this day, I reached out to a special and dear friend of mine who is well versed in the arts, history, poetry and philosophy. After several impromptus, back-and-forth-phone calls, some of which were quite digitally challenged, I received the following insightful email from my good friend, Gary Dean Timm. “Derek Mahon, the Irish Poet, once described the author J.G. Ferrell as an “Ascetic epicurean”, “gregarious solitary”, and an “aristocrat of the spirit”. From what you have told me of the rich and substantial character of your progenitor, “gregarious solitary” might be an apt moniker for your father too. Myself, I measure wealth in an unconventional manner, so your father, to me, was the wealthiest man in town in may ways and certainly “an ornament to civilization”. In closing today I want everyone to know that we have created a bookmark to commemorate my father’s life. We will hand them out as everyone departs from this historic assembly today. Before I end, I wanted to read a poem that was also included in that email that I received from Gary Dean Timm, (or the Snake, as his is also known). The poem, titled “ Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction” was written by Wallace Stevens and published in Stevens’ 1947 collection of poems titled, “Transport to Summer”. The poem was read and dedicated to Stevens’ very good friend and neighbor, Henry Church, who had recently passed away. We also need to look up whether Wallace Stevens is related to Henry Stevens. "And for what, except you, do I fell love? Do I press the extremest book of the wisest man Close to me, hidden in me day and night? In the uncertain light of a single, certain truth, Equal in living changingness to the light In which I meet you, in which we sit at rest, For a moment in the central of our being, The vivid transparence that you bring is ..peace."

Obituary

Thomas Paul MacDonnell, 84, died on the 21^st of December 2006 surrounded by his family at the Williamsburg Hospice House. He had been a resident of Williamsburg, Virginia since 1980.

Born on Thanksgiving Day 1922 on Staten Island, NY, he was the son of Thomas Snow MacDonnell of New York and Anne Grace MacDonnell originally from Ballinakill, Ireland. During the Great Depression, while his father was an electrical engineer for the Con Edison Company, Thomas attended NYC public schools, served as an altar boy and Boy Scout, before relocating to Larchmont, NY with his Aunt Mary Lorette MacDonnell Broderick and her husband, James G. Broderick, General Counsel and Treasurer of Todd Shipyard in NYC.

In September 1941, after graduation from Manhattan College Prep School, he enlisted in the United States Navy, trained at Great Lakes, Illinois and at Northwestern University and served as a Radioman Second Class, in New Guinea, Australia, the Woodlark, Philippines, New Hebrides, Admiralty and Okinawa Islands and Yokahoma, Japan.

General Douglas MacArthur’s famous “I shall return” promise made to the people of the Philippines people was fulfilled when the invasion took place on October 20, 1944. MacDonnell then a radioman in a US Navy Mobile Communication Unit attached to the Army’s 24^th Division was amongst the first to land via Landing Tank Ship on Red Beach, Palo, Leyte, Philippine Islands paving the way for MacArthur’s return. The Unit waded ashore amidst the Japanese machine gun bullets, remarkably suffering only four minor wounds. The sight of MacArthur’s party’s arrival, Thomas later remarked, “I sat down on a rock and watched MacArthur walk ashore.” The LST landings and MacArthur’s return were captured on film and featured in the newspapers. For his service during World War II, Thomas received the Philippine Liberation, Asiatic Pacific, Victory and American Theatre Medals. Later, in Japan he worked at MacArthur’s headquarters during the occupation, and upon discharge from active duty, continued to serve in the US Naval Reserve.

During the war, Thomas’ Aunt Lorette encouraged her young English neighbor, Diana, who had come to Larchmont from Upper Norwood, London with her parents during the Blitzkrieg, to write to her nephew. After successful correspondence, they eventually dated and in 1949, he married his correspondent, Diana Marie Tree, daughter of the late Dulcie Stevens and Roland Tree of London and Larchmont, NY.

After World War II, Thomas studied at The City College of New York, School of Business and worked in sales for Anderson Brick and Supply Company, in Harlem, NY. He had just taken a position with Chubb Insurance Company when called back to active Naval duty in 1950. He served aboard the USS Albuquerque, PF7, patrolling between Yokosuka, Hong Kong and Singapore, later receiving the China and Navy Occupation Service Medals and was honorably discharged from active duty in 1953. In October 1984, he returned to the Philippines with about 500 veterans to celebrate the 40^th anniversary liberation of the Islands.

In late 1951, MacDonnell accepted a position at the renowned Henry Stevens, Son and Stiles antiquarian booksellers. It was one of the earliest English firms specializing in Americana, established by Henry Stevens of Vermont in 1843, moved to London in 1845. MacDonnell apprenticed under his father-in-law Roland Tree, who established the NY branch of the firm in the 1940’s, then located at the H.P. Kraus building at 16^th East 46^th Street. MacDonnell became a partner in 1963. At that time, the London office, located for more then 60 years at 39 Great Russell Street across from the British Museum, relocated to Farnham, Surrey. The NY office moved to Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1980. When the Farnham office closed in 1986, after 141 years in England, the business returned entirely to America.

MacDonnell’s work required extensive travel throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe, searching for “nuggets” of history, specializing in manuscripts, books, pamphlets and maps pertaining to the early voyages, travels and exploration of America as well as 18th century colonial history. In the late 1960s, he assisted with cataloguing the books of the Thomas Streeter Collection, which formed the basis for one of the greatest Americana auctions of the 20th Century. In 1988, he hosted a dinner celebrating the History of Printing of the South Symposium held in Colonial Williamsburg.

His vast knowledge of history and meticulous research into historic documents was the basis for scholarship in the numerous antiquarian bookseller catalogues produced by the Henry Stevens firm. Many important documents passed through this firm. He also advised and assisted in the creation and expansion of many private collections, such as the collections of Paul Mellon, Pierre S. du Pont, and Frank T. Siebert as well as many institutions and libraries specializing in Americana, including Yale University and University of Vermont.

MacDonnell was a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association, Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America, past President of The Old Book Table, numerous historic associations, and was a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

He is survived by his wife, Diana Tree MacDonnell, daughter Valerie and husband George Copping, grandchildren Cheryl Klotz, Timothy Klotz, Kevin Copping and Kevin Ernst; son Thomas H. MacDonnell and wife Kaja and grandchildren Kirsten and Christopher, daughter Barbara and husband Thomas O’Donnell and grandchildren Jennifer, Erin, Thomas III, Katie, and great grandchildren Adara and Seraphin. He is also survived by a sister Mrs. Marirose Weymouth, a brother Francis H. J. MacDonnell, and was predeceased by his elder brother, John Joyce MacDonnell.

A memorial service was held at on the 3^rd of January, at Bruton Parish Church on the Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, U.S.A.

Thomas Paul MacDonnell

Sunday, February 3, 2008

GJ Stillson MacDonnell (niece)

Eulogy to Thomas P. Macdonnell

Click for Full TPM photo gallery

Thom and Diana

Christmas 2003

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