William Connell (September 10, 1827March 21, 1909) was a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

member of the U.S. House of Representatives from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Early life

Connell was born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

in the Nova Scotia colony of

British Canada British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

, and moved with his parents to

Hazleton, Pennsylvania Hazleton is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 29,963 at the 2020 census. Hazleton is the second largest city in Luzerne County. It was incorporated as a borough on January 5, 1857, and as a city on Dece ...

, in 1844. He worked in the

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

mines, and in 1856 he was appointed superintendent of the mines of the Susquehanna & Wyoming Valley Railroad & Coal Company, with offices in

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...

Career

Upon the expiration of that company's charter in 1870 he purchased its property and became one of the largest independent coal operators in the

Wyoming Valley The Wyoming Valley is a historic industrialized region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The region is historically notable for its influence in helping fuel the American Industrial Revolution with its many anthracite coal-mines. As a metropolitan ...

region. He was one of the founders of the Third National Bank of Scranton in 1872, and in 1879 he was chosen its president. He was also identified with many other industries and commercial enterprises of Scranton, including the

Scranton Button Company The Scranton Button Company was a U.S. corporation, founded in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1885. For much of its early history it was controlled by Canadian immigrant William Connell (September 10, 1827 – March 21, 1909). Connell's family moved ...

, one of the largest manufacturers of

button A button is a fastener that joins two pieces of fabric together by slipping through a loop or by sliding through a buttonhole. In modern clothing and fashion design, buttons are commonly made of plastic but also may be made of metal, wood, o ...

s in the United States, which branched out into the manufacture of

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

parts and

phonograph A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

records A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

. He was a delegate to the

1896 Republican National Convention The 1896 Republican National Convention was held in a temporary structure south of the St. Louis City Hall in Saint Louis, Missouri, from June 16 to June 18, 1896. Former Governor William McKinley of Ohio was nominated for president on the firs ...

, and a member of the Pennsylvania Republican committee. Connell was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-fifth, Fifty-sixth, and Fifty-seventh Congresses. He successfully contested the election of George Howell to the Fifty-eighth Congress. The father of

Charles Robert Connell Charles Robert Connell (September 22, 1864 – September 26, 1922) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, and the son of William Connell. Charles was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and graduated ...

, Connell died in

Scranton Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...

in 1909.

Legacy

His summer estate, Lacawac, was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1979.

Sources

The Political Graveyard
* 1827 births 1909 deaths Pre-Confederation Canadian emigrants to the United States Politicians from Scranton, Pennsylvania Politicians from Hazleton, Pennsylvania Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania 19th-century American politicians {{Pennsylvania-Representative-stub