My Genealogy Hound

JOHN McCONNELL, farmer and stock-raiser; P. O. Le Roy; born in Hamilton Co., Ohio, April 9, 1832; his father, William McConnell, was born in Pennsylvania April 12, 1788. He married Catharine La Fever; she died in 1834; Mr. McC. died in Hamilton Co., Ohio, Oct. 2, 1876; he first came to Ohio upon a flat-boat down the river, early in the present century, and was offered for his boat a large tract of land upon which the city of Cincinnati now stands; of their children, which were twelve in number, only four now survive; the rest all died of consumption. The subject of this sketch attended the common schools in his youth, and finished his studies at the Farmers’ College, located upon College Hill, near Cincinnati, Ohio, where he attended two years; in 1854, he came to Illinois and purchased 160 acres of land, at $4.50 per acre, upon Sec. 35, Downs Township, McLean Co., and the following year located upon the same, and which he has since brought from its wild prairie condition to its present high state of improvement by continued hard labor; he now owns 327 acres in his home farm and fifty acres of timber in Empire Township. Mr. McConnell was clerk of the meeting called to organize Downs Township, and assisted in the organization of the same; township and school offices have been his in plenty, often holding two offices at the same time; he has held the offices of Justice of the Peace fourteen years, Assessor two years, and Highway Commissioner, School Director and Trustee, one of the Executive Committee of the County Grange, and is now Master of the Downs Grange, No. 1163, and the present Supervisor of Downs Township, and Director of the County Insurance Company. His marriage with Martha Buck was celebrated June 17, 1862; she was born in McLean Co., Ill., Dec. 14, 1838; they have three children by this union - Anna Belle, born March 18, 1863; Hiram E. and William M. (twins) Oct. 25, 1866; Mrs. McConnell is a daughter of Hiram Buck, whose biography appears among the sketches of Empire Township, in another part of this work. When Mr. McConnell purchased his land, there were but few settlers upon the prairie; he commenced breaking prairie in 1856, with a team of eight oxen, six of which were perfectly wild and were handled with great difficulty. He commenced school-teaching in 1855, and taught for nine winters; he has been a hard-working, industrious farmer, and by his correct business habits has placed himself among the large land-holders and successful farmers of McLean Co.