Biography of John W McConnell, Sebastian Co, AR

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SOURCE: History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford,
Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago: The Goodspeed 
Publishing Co., 1889.
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page 1339

Dr. John W. McConnell, physician and surgeon for the Kansas & Texas Coal
Company, at Huntington, and  senior member of the drug firm of McConnell &
Brewster, was born in Lawrence County, Mo., in 1855, and is  a son of Samuel C.
and Catherine (Miller) McConnell, natives of Blount County, East Tenn., and
Huntsville,  Ala., respectively. The father was born in 1826, and when twenty-
eight years of age went to Missouri. The mother was born in 1828, and [p.1339]
when young accompanied her parents to Missouri. After their marriage  Mr. and
Mrs. McConnell lived in Lawrence County until 1858, when they located near Fort
Smith, in Sebastian  County, Ark., where they are now successfully engaged in
farming. During the war Mr. McConnell served in  the Confederate army some time
as a forage master. His father, John McConnell, came to the United States  from
Ireland or Scotland after the Revolution, and served in the War of 1812. He was
a farmer and hunter, and  died in East Tennessee. Our subject is the eldest of
three living children, and after receiving a common-school  education attended
Cane Hill College. At the age of twenty he began the study of medicine, and at
the expiration of eighteen months he practiced for two or three years. He then
attended the medical department of  the Arkansas Industrial Institute, at
Little Rock, one year. After practicing two years more he returned to that
institution, from which he graduated, in 1884, in a class of fifteen, receiving
the first prize for general  proficiency. Since that time he has had two
students who have graduated from the same college with highest honors. After
graduating he lived in Hackett City until 1887, when he came to Huntington,
where he enjoys a  good town practice. Since November, 1887, he has been
engaged in the drug business in connection with his  practice. He is a member
of the Sebastian County Medical Association at Fort Smith, and is secretary of
the Greenwood Medical Association, besides being a member of the State Medical
Association. In 1872 he married  Sarah, daughter of the Rev. N. B. and Belle
McNabb, formerly of Tennessee, where Mrs. McConnell was born.  About 1872 the
family came to this county. Since the age of eighteen Mr. McNabb has been a
minister in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The Doctor has a family of two
living children, and himself and wife belong  to the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South. He is a Democrat, and cast his first presidential vote for
Hancock in  1880. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, American Legion of
Honor, and Independent Order of Odd  Fellows.