BIO: William Appleton McCONNEL, Beaver County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja & Joe Patterson Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/beaver.html http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/beaver/bios/bbios.htm Index for this bio book. _________________________________________________________________ BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES. This Volume Contains Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Buffalo, N.Y., Chicago, Ill.: Biographical Publishing Company, 1899, pp. 408-410. _________________________________________________________________ 408 BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES WILLIAM APPLETON McCONNEL, of the law firm of Buchanan & McConnel, is one of the members of the Beaver county bar, of some prominence although still a young man. He was born in the borough of Bridgewater, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, October 23, 1866, and is a son of William Phillips and Lydia Ann (Stewart) McConnel, grandson of James and Elvira (Phillips) McConnel, and great-grandson of James and Rebecca (Wisbie) McConnel. This latter James McConnel was of Scotch-Irish descent, and was born in the northern part of Ireland, from which he emigrated to America, locating near Green Garden, Raccoon township, Beaver county, Pa. He was described as being an exceedingly tall man, very active and exceedingly witty, and was familiarly known as "Uncle Jimmy." He was joined in wedlock with Rebecca Wisbie, who died while still a young woman, and was survived by her husband until he attained the age of about eighty years. They were the parents of the following children: Henry; James; John; Jane (Orr); and Polly (Ensley). James McConnel, Jr., the grandfather of our subject, was born in Washington county (now Allegheny county), Pa., and was a steamboat carpenter and builder. He settled in Freedom, Pa., where his death occurred in 1862, at the age of sixty years. He was united in marriage on Sunday, February 28, 1830, by the Rev. George Holmes, to Elvira Phillips, who was a daughter of Stephen and Rhoda (Parsons) Phillips. Stephen Phillips, was one of the prominent men of Beaver county in the early days, very largely interested in the development of the country, especially in the line of steamboat building. He and Jonathan Betz bought a large tract of land, on the northern side of the Ohio River, from William Vicary, in 1832, and laid out the town of Freedom as it is at present; afterwards, associated with John Graham, he bought a tract of land on the south side of the river from Frederick Rapp, which afterwards became the borough of Phillipsburg (named after him), and is now the borough of Monaca. In both places, boat-yards were established and the one in Freedom has been in operation until within very recent years. The panic of 1837, however, almost bankrupted him, and on the 17th of November, 1855, he was drowned off the steamboat Jacob Poe, at the port of Wheeling, West Virginia, on his passage home from Portsmouth, Ohio, and his body was never recovered. His age was seventy-five years, eleven months and twenty-one days. His wife, Rhoda (Parsons) Phillips, survived him until March 1, 1861, when she died at the age of seventy-eight years. Elvira (Phillips) McConnel was a native of Vermont, having been born March 28, 1811, on the eastern shore of Lake Champlain, whence she came West with her father about 1820. She died January 6, 1897, in the eighty-sixth year of her age, leaving to survive her the following children: William Phillips; James, of Bridgewater, Pa.; Alonzo Henry, located in Pittsburg; Alcinus Clark, BEAVER COUNTY 409 of Allegheny, Pa., Hiram Smith, a leading physician of New Brighton, Pa.; Emma Annette, widow of Ben. J. Stephenson, of Seattle, Washington; and Omar Montague, of Atchison, Kansas. William Phillips McConnel, above-named, was born at Phillipsburg (now Monaca), and with his father became a steamboat carpenter and builder, engaging in this occupation for about ten years, during which time he assisted in building boats on the Ohio, Mississippi and Tennessee rivers. After that he engaged in the business of keeping a general store, for several years at Olean, Ohio, and later at Freedom, Pa. But river life suited him better, so he accepted a position as clerk on a steamer, and was soon promoted to secretary and treasurer of Gray's Iron Line of the city of Pittsburg, which position he held for twenty-five years. Having resigned his position with Gray's Iron Line, he became, in 1895, secretary of the Beaver Valley Traction Company, which position he still occupies. Mr. McConnel was twice married, his first wife being Elizabeth Stewart, a daughter of David and Catharine (Baker) Stewart of Bridgewater, Pa. She passed to the life beyond at the early age of thirty-one years, leaving three children: Ada Annette, who died April 1, 1896; Laura Stewart; and David Stewart. Mr. McConnel was married afterwards to Lydia Anne Stewart, a daughter of Charles M. Stewart of New Brighton, Pa., and a cousin of his first wife. She bore her husband the following children: William A., subject of our sketch; Lillian Augusta, who, after graduating from Mount Holyoke Seminary, South Hadley, Mass., in 1891, and teaching in the high school at New Brighton, Pa., died on October 28, 1898; Jessie, who is a teacher in the Allegheny Kindergarten Association; Richard Gray, who served during the War with Spain, in 1898, as an ensign in the U. S. Navy, and is now a lieutenant in the U. S. Marine Corps; Paul George, who graduated in medicine at the Western University of Pennsylvania, in 1899, and is now on the staff of the West Penn Hospital, Pittsburg; and Charles Hiram, a student at Pennsylvania State College. William A. McConnel attended the public school at Bridgewater until 1882, when he entered the high school at Beaver, Pa. From there, in 1884, he went to Phillips Exeter Academy, at Exeter, New Hampshire. In June, 1886, he took his examinations at Shadyside Academy, near Pittsburg, for admission to Yale University, which he entered that fall. He graduated, with a High Oration standing, from Yale, in 1890. He then studied law under the preceptorship of John M. Buchanan, Esq., of Beaver, and was admitted to the bar January 23, 1895. He was immediately taken into partnership by his preceptor, under the firm name of Buchanan, Reed & McConnel, which afterwards became Buchanan & McConnel, Lewis W. Reed retiring from the firm. Since then he has risen rapidly in his chosen profession, and today the firm of which he is a member is considered one of the best in Beaver county. 410 BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES Our subject was united in marriage with Sarah Stokes Bruce on July 10, 1895, in the First Presbyterian church, Beaver, Pa., by the Rev. P. J. Cummings. Sarah (Bruce) McConnel is a daughter of William H. Bruce, a highly respected citizen of Beaver, Pa. This union has been blessed with two children: William Bruce, born May 5, 1896; and Stewart Phillips, born March 10, 1898. Mr. McConnel is a member and trustee of the Methodist Episcopal church of Beaver, Pa., a member of the Epworth League, and teacher in the Sabbath School of that church, taking great interest in all church work.