Series 20 - James McConnell letters

286pp

Kerby A. Miller created his transcripts of the James McConnell letters from reproductions provided by the Illinois State Historical Library (now part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum). The original letters are held in the James McConnell family letters, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum [identifier number MS-SC2313].

Per Kerby A. Miller, the James McConnell letters are ‘Twenty-five letters in the Illinois State Historical Society Library. From James and Sarah McConnell, and their children, to Captain James and Sarah Smith, relatives of Mrs. McConnell, in Liverpool, England. The letters date from 1838 to 1874.
James McConnell was born in 1789, near Belfast; his wife, Sarah, was born at the same place in 1787. They were married in 1811 and soon after emigrated to New York City. McConnell first went to Belleville, N.J., where he worked in a powder mill for three years during the War of 1812, which occasioned a great demand for powder. Having learned all the processes of manufacturing powder, McConnell went to Madison Co., New York, where he established his own works, making powder there for 7-8 years before turning his attention to farming and raising stock. In 1840, he made a trip to Illinois to sell some of his stock, and became so enamoured with that state that he decided to settle there. He bought land near Springfield, went back to New York and moved out with most of his family the following year. McConnell was the first man to bring fine blooded merino sheep and thorough-bred Berkshire hogs into Illinois. Surrounded by most of his eight children and their families, McConnell lived happily and prosperously near Springfield until the late 1860s or early 1870s. He survived his wife by a few years and married again. His letters show the writing of a very literate man, an enthusiast for the United States in general, and for Illinois in particular, and an ardent supporter of freedom for Ireland and for all oppressed peoples. His family was undoubtedly Protestant, but he urged cooperation among all the Irish, and displayed no prejudices against the Catholics in his letters.’
The series consists of: Kerby A. Miller’s introductory notes on McConnell and his abstracts of the letters; the Illinois Historical Society’s transcripts of the letters and attached genealogical information; and reproductions of the letters provided by the Society.

Kerby A. Miller’s own transcripts of the McConnell letters are located in P155/108/7.