Mcdonogh, John

Mcdonogh, John, an American philanthropist, a merchant of New Orleans, was born at Baltimore in 1778, and in 1800 removed to the Southern city, where, after having by hard labor and strict economy amassed an immense fortune, he delighted to serve the cause of humanity. He founded free schools and asylums for orphans, and also aided greatly the cause of the "American Colonization Society." He established himself a colony in Africa, and sent thither many of his own negroes, after having previously provided them with a thorough education and a trade. He died Oct. 26. 1850. See Drake, Dict. Amer. Biog. s.v.