Ignatius Donnelly was born Nov. 3, 1831, and was raised
in Philadelphia where he studied law, recieved his bar,
and practiced his profession. In 1857, he moved to
Minnesota where in 1859 and again in 1861, he was elected
lieutenant-govenor. He served in Congress from 1863 to 1869. He was a prominent individual within the People's, or Populist, Party.
Besides being a great orator, Donnelly was also a journalist. Several of his works included:
"Essay on the Sonnets of Shakespeare"
"Atlantis, the Antediluvian World"
"The Great Cryptogram: Francis Bacon's Cipher in Shakespeare's Plays."
In "Atlantis..."Donnelly demonstrated the existance of Atlantis in theAtlantic Ocean.
Donnelly is probably most famous for his discovery of a
cipher in Shakespeare's work which revealed that
Shakespeare had not written all he was credited for, and that
Francis Bacon had. Donnelly's book on the issue in entitled
"The Great Cryptogram: Francis Bacon's Cipher in Shakespeare's Plays."
It is a huge book which ultamately constitues 1000 pages. Many
people supported this idea.