John McDonogh was an American entrepreneur whose adult life was spent in south Louisiana and later in Baltimore.
17 Facts About John McDonogh
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John McDonogh made a fortune in real estate and shipping, and as a slave owner, he supported the American Colonization Society, which organized transportation for freed people of color to Liberia.
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John McDonogh had devised a manumission scheme whereby the people he held as enslaved could "buy" their own freedom, which took them some 15 years.
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John McDonogh was successful, and after a second such voyage decided to make his home in New Orleans.
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John McDonogh reportedly expanded his holdings by renting properties in respectable neighborhoods to brothel owners.
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The young John McDonogh was mentioned as having unsuccessfully courted Micaela Almonester, who went on to become the Baroness Pontalba, one of the most important figures in New Orleans history; however, there are no documented sources of this rumor.
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John McDonogh was a workaholic and worked long hours almost until the time of his death, administering his vast land holdings, which were believed to be the largest of any private individual in the country in 1850 when he died.
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John McDonogh was active in, and contributed to, the American Colonization Society, which enabled freed black slaves to emigrate back to Africa.
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John McDonogh used the Society to provide passage to Liberia for many of the people he had once enslaved.
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In preparation for manumission, John McDonogh taught David and Washington to read and write, in violation of Louisiana laws.
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John McDonogh's heirs contested the will, and the case, McDonogh's Executors v Murdoch, went to the US Supreme Court.
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Baltimore already had a substantial public school system, but John McDonogh's will stipulated the creation of a "school farm" for underprivileged boys outside of the city.
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The New Orleans public school system had been established in 1841, but the John McDonogh Fund facilitated major expansion.
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John McDonogh's will proved difficult to administer because of the large number of properties involved, many of which were rented.
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Also, John McDonogh had stipulated the properties to be a perpetual trust and that no properties could ever be sold.
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In 1945, John McDonogh's remains were again exhumed and re-buried, this time on the campus of McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Maryland.
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John McDonogh rests there to this day, under a monument on which his rules for living are inscribed.