JAMES McCONNELL, who is a well known grain and lumber dealer of Carlisle, Indiana, was born July 17, 1871, in Haddon township, Sullivan county, Indiana, son of Baily and Jennie (McDowell) McConnell. Baily McConnell was born in Haddon township, and his wife in Ohio, in Columbiana county, at Mooretown, April 29, 1852. She was a daughter of Dr. James McDowell, who came to Carlisle when she was a young girl. He began the practice of medicine at Pleasantville, Jefferson township. Andrew McConnell, the father of Baily McConnell, also came to the county at a very early day.
James McConnell, of this notice, was reared on the farm and educated in the public schools, after which he attended DePauw College at Greencastle, Indiana, for four years. He then turned his attention to agriculture and still owns his well-tilled farm, although he has never lived on the place, having resided in town ever since his marriage. He owns a creamery and a herd of seventy-five registered Jersey cattle, and operates a strictly sanitary milk business. In the spring of 1905 he purchased the lumber and grain business of J. N. Roberts, and now has the only lumber yard of the place. He also carries a full line of clay products. In connection with his extensive lumber trade, he runs a planing mill. Both his lumber and creamery interests are models of uniformity and correctness. He keeps an exact account of every pound of butter produced from each cow he owns. It is said that his system is not equaled within Indiana.
Politically, Mr. McConnell affiliates with the Republican party. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Carlisle Lodge No. 3, F. & A. M.; Council, Chapter, and Royal Arch Masons of Sullivan; also belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America at Carlisle. He was married in 1896, to Eloise Akin, by whom three children were born: Bernice, Bailey, and Wall. The reader is referred to the sketch of Edgar W. Akin for the ancestry of Eloise (Akin) McConnell.