James F. McConnell
The City of Ironton has become one of the most thriving and prosperous commercial and industrial centers of the Hanging Rock and Calumet Region, and its prestige in the business world is due to the efforts and activities of such men as James F. McConnell, who for twenty years has been engaged as a commission merchant in the line of wholesale fruits and produce. Mr. McConnell 's contributions in advancing the material interests of Ironton are so generally recognized that they may be considered as no secondary part of his career of usefulness, for he belongs to that class which appreciates the fact that community prosperity spells individual success.
Mr. McConnell was born at Gallipolis, Ohio, March 18; 1867, and is a son of James W. and. Amelia (Wooly) McConnell. His father, born in Pennsylvania in 1835, was brought to Ohio as a lad of seven years, the family locating in Gallia County, and there he has spent his life, his active career being devoted to the trade of cooper. He retired from active pursuits in 1912 and is now living quietly at Gallipolis. Mrs. McConnell, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1842, died in 1885. There were ten children in the family of James W. and Amelia McConnell, namely: Flora, who is single; Charles, who died at the age of twenty-one years; James F., of this review; Belle, who married Col. A. M. Woolridge, a coal operator of West Virginia; Morris, who is storekeeper at the Gallipolis Hospital; Fred, who is a coal operator in West Virginia; Anna, who died at the age of eighteen years; Robert, an engineer on the C. & O. Railway; Clara, who married Sam McConnahay, of Dakota, West Virginia; and Thomas, who is a clerk in the offices of the C. & O. Railway.
James F. McConnell attended the public schools of Gallipolis, Ohio, until sixteen years of age and then entered upon his career in the capacity of clerk in a grocery store of his native place. He came to Ironton in 1892 and became a salesman for a shoe company here, but in 1894 entered business on his own account, and since that time has been engaged as a wholesale commission merchant, handling fruit and produce. His business has grown steadily, and in addition he has interested himself in various other enterprises, being president of the Iron City Building and Loan Association and a stockholder and director in several of Ironton's and Lawrence County's important industries. His large business interests make him a very busy man, yet he has found time to assist the city in its advancement in various ways. For many years he was financial secretary of the old board of trade and at this time is a member of the chamber of commerce, is a member of the board of health and president of the Board of the Children's Home, and no worthy movement is considered complete that does not have his name on its list of supporters. Since 1904 Mr. McConnell has been agent at Ironton for the American Express Company. He owns his own home at Ironton, in addition to several other pieces of city realty, and has also 540 acres of good farming land in Scioto County. In politics Mr. McConnell is a democrat, with independent leanings. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in the work of which he has taken an active part, and at this time holds membership on the board of trustees.
On March 9, 1898, at the home of the bride. Mr. McConnell was married to Miss Jennie Davis, daughter of George B. Davis, one of the first ironworkers of the old iron region. Three children have been born to this union: Miriam, Clara and Gwendolyn.
From "A Standing History of the Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio" by Eugene B. Willard, Daniel W. Williams, George O. Newman and Charles B. Taylor. Published by Lewis Publishing Company, 1916