Biography of R H 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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R. H. McConnell was born March 6, 1815, in Blount County, Tenn. His father,
Samnel McConnell, was of  Scotch descent, and was born in Pennsylvania. Early
in life he went to Tennessee, where he grew up on a farm.  He served throughout
the entire War of 1812, and in 1820 immigrated to McMinn County. In 1840 that
county  was divided, and the part he resided in was named Polk County. He died
there in 1849. The mother, Mary (McGill) McConnell, was born in Tennessee, and
reared on Duck River. She bore seven children, named as  follows: Peggy A.,
Susan, Eliza J., Marella, Elizabeth, Robert H. and Isabella (deceased). The
paternal  grandfather of our subject was a soldier in the Revolution, and a
native of Pennsylvania, as was also his wife. R.  H. McConnell grew to manhood
upon his father's farm in Tennessee, and received a good common-school
education. In 1842 he married Minerva Hawkins, also a native of Tennessee, who
died in 1864, and was the  mother of eight children: James H., Samuel K., Mary
J., Robert H., Jane A., Mary E., William O. and John  (deceased). In 1866 Mr.
McConnell married Martha Pitts, a native of Madison County, Miss., and daughter
of  Samuel and Mary (Frazier) Dufful, natives of Tennessee and Kentucky,
respectively. This union was blessed  with but one child, Alma E., who is
deceased. While in Tennessee Mr. McConnell served twelve years as  justice of
the peace, and for four years was president of the county court. During the war
he served a short time  in the Confederate army, and at the battle of Pea Ridge
he supported a battery. In 1853 he came to Sebastian  County, which he
represented in the Legislature in the years 1856, 1858, 1874, 1878 and 1883. In
1885 he was  elected State senator from the Twenty-eighth Senatorial District,
which term of office has just expired. He is  one of the influential and highly
respected citizens of the county, and himself and wife belong to the Missionary
Baptist Church. He has been a Mason over thirty-two years, and is a member of
the “Alliance.” In politics he is  a Democrat.