Biography of Joseph C. McConnell - Mercer Co. WV


The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II,
pg. 567-568


JOSEPH C. McCONNELL is giving a most effective ad-
ministration as mayor of the City of Princeton, judicial
center of Mercer County. His birth occurred on a farm in
Mercer County, Pennsylvania, on the 30th of March, 1876.
His parents, Joseph and Sarah (Welker) McConnell, were
born and reared in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, and
shortly after their marriage removed to Mercer County,
that state, where they passed the remainder of their lives on
their excellent homestead farm, the father having died in
1895, at the age of fifty-two years, and the mother having
been sixty-three years of age when she passed to the life
eternal in 1903. All of the twelve children attained to
years of maturity, the subject of this sketch having been
the eighth in order of birth, and of the number ten are
still living. Four of the sons became successful contractors
in the coal fields of West Virginia, and these four had
previously been teachers in the public schools. One son is a
clergyman of the Presbyterian Church, of which the par-
ents had been earnest members. The son, Norman is now a
contractor in Tazewell County, Virginia; Harry resides on
a farm near the old home in Mercer County, Pennsylvania;
George is a contractor and resides at Princeton, West
Virginia, the. four brothers, including Joseph C., of this
review, having come to this state in 1895 and having been
partners in their original contracting operations in the
coal fields, all of the number having previously learned the
trade of brickmason in their native county. The father
served many years as justice of the peace in Springfield
Township, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, and was otherwise
a prominent figure in community affairs. One of his broth-
ers was killed in battle while serving as a Union soldier in
the Civil war, and another brother likewise was in the
service of the Union, he having been captured and having
been held a prisoner both at Andersonville and Libby
prisons, notorious in the history of the war. The lineage
of the McConnelI family traces back to Scotch-Irish origin,
and the Welker family is of the old Pennsylvania Dutch
stock.

Joseph C. McConnell supplemented the discipline of the
public schools by attending Volant College, and in his early
experience as a teacher in the district schools he received
$28 a month for his services. He devoted four years to
teaching, a work which he greatly enjoyed, but low salaries
then paid in this profession caused him to abandon the
same. He learned the trade of brickmason, and joined his
brother Norman at Clarksburg, West Virginia. Thereafter
the four brothers engaged in contracting at Huntington,
this state, and one year later removed to Williamson, where
they continued operations five years.  In August, 1909,
Joseph C. McConnelI came to Princeton, Mercer County, to
complete a small contract and with no intention of remain-
ing here. The city was then a mere village, as this was
prior to the building of the railroad roundhouse, which
greatly spurred the civic and industrial advancement of the
town. He was led to establish here his permanent residence,
and has been closely and influentially associated with the
civic and material development and upbuilding of the thriv-
ing city of the present day. His civic loyalty and progres-
siveness led to his being importuned by leading citizens to
become a candidate for mayor of the city in 1920, in No-
vember of which year he was elected by a majority that
emphatically showed his secure place in popular confidence
and esteem. He had been a member of the city council in
1919, but had resigned after making a vigorous fight for
better city government. His election to the office of mayor
shows the popular estimate placed upon his course in this
connection, and he is making every effort to bring about a
clean and adequate administration of all departments of
the city government. As a contractor and builder Mayor
McConnell's operations have extended throughout the coal
fields of West Virginia, and for the past seven years his
brother George has been his associate in this extensive
business which is now conducted under the title of The Mc-
Connell Construction Company, with Princeton's mayor as
president of this important industrial corporation. As a
builder he has been associated with the construction of all
manner of buildings, from mine houses to bank and school
buildings of the most modern type. In national politics the
mayor is a democrat, and in a fraternal way he is affiliated
with the Knights of Pythias and the Loyal Order of Moose.

In 1907 Mr. McConnell wedded Miss Macie Rodgers,
daughter of Richard Rodgers, of New Castle, Pennsylvania,
and they are zealous members of the Presbyterian Church,
in which he is a deacon, as had also been his father.


Submitted by Valerie Crook <vfcrook@earthlink.net> 

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