William Connell (Pennsylvania)

William Connell ( born September 10, 1827 in Sydney, Nova Scotia, † March 21, 1909 in Scranton, Pennsylvania ) was an American politician. Between 1897 and 1905 he represented two times the state of Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

William Connell received only limited education and came in 1844 from his Canadian home to Hazleton in Pennsylvania. There he first worked in the mines. He then headed the company Susquehanna & Wyoming Valley Railroad & Coal Company, headquartered in Scranton. After its dissolution in 1870, Connell acquired their property and thus became one of the largest private operator of coal mines in the area. In 1872 he was co-founder of the Third National Bank of Scranton, whose president he became in 1879. He was also involved in various other economic enterprises in Scranton and the surrounding area. Politically, he was a member of the Republican Party. In June 1896 he was a delegate attended the Republican National Convention in St. Louis, was nominated on the William McKinley as a presidential candidate. He also belonged to the State Board of his party.

In the congressional elections of 1896 Connell was in the eleventh electoral district of Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of Joseph A. Scranton on March 4, 1897. After two re- election he was able to complete in Congress until March 3, 1903 three legislative periods. In this time of the Spanish-American War was from 1898. In 1902 he stood as a candidate in the tenth district of his state for his whereabouts in Congress. He defeated Democrat George Howell. Connell laid but against the election results a contradiction. As this has been complied with, he could take on 10 February 1904 the mandate of Howell and end the current parliamentary term until March 3, 1905.

After the end of his time in the U.S. House of Representatives William Connell is no longer politically have appeared. He died on March 21, 1909 in Scranton. His son Charles (1864-1922) was also a congressman.