Baltimoreans associated the name McDonogh with a well-known private school founded in 1873. Buried here are the parents of the school's founder, Irish natives John (1734-1809) and Elizabeth McDonogh (1747-1808).
John McDonogh, a brickmaker, took part in two events that shaped early American history: the French-Indian War (1754-1763) and American Revolution (1775-1783). Serving under George Washington in 1755, John witnessed the disastrous defeat of British General Edward Braddock near Fort Duquesne. In 1777, he fought at the Battle of Brandywine as part of Cox's Company of Baltimore soldiers. John later served with David Poe, Edgar A. Poe's grandfather, in another Baltimore company. At his death in 1809, a Baltimore newspaper called John McDonogh "a patriotic veteran."
John and Elizabeth's son, John, the school founder, was born on December 29, 1779 during the war's coldest winter. He died in New Orleans in 1850, but was reburied in Baltimore's Greenmount Cemetery in 1860. McDonogh's remains were later moved to the campus of the school that bears his name.
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