JOHN R. CONNELLY

Sacramento County

Biographies

JOHN R. CONNELLY

JOHN R. CONNELLY.--An attorney whose life-story since he established himself in practice in Sacramento, now having a handsome suite of offices in the Ochsner Building, is the record of a learned and eminently capable lawyer who has more and more made good, is John R. Connelly, an native of Minnesota, where he was born, the son of Michael and Elizabeth (Martin) Connelly, the former a farmer born in England, who came to the United States before the Civil War, and served throughout the great struggle; the latter, on the other hand, a native of Connecticut, who had come West, and married in Minnesota. They settled on a farm near St. Paul and reared eight children, two daughters and six sons, and bravely did their part in helping to develop the section of country in which they lived, and by their lives and example to improve local social conditions.

John R. Connelly was able, as he grew up, to go to the normal school at Mankato, Minn., and then to matriculate in the University of Minnesota, where he received the B. S. degree in 1910, and two years later the L.L. B. degree, having worked his own way through school and university. In 1913, he came West to California, and commenced to practice his profession under the shadow of the capital. He has been “fairly successful,” according to his own modest version, but those well acquainted with his demonstrated capacity, some of the results of his labors, and his considerable circle of devoted and admiring friends, feel that he has done very well, wielding an enviable influence for uplift and for the betterment, at all times, of local civic conditions. He belongs to both the state and the county bar associations. He chose Sacramento for his professional field after spending a year looking over the country, by means of the convenient automobile, before he made his decision to pitch his tent here, believing that Sacramento presented the best opportunities for health, enjoyment and financial success, and he has never regretted his choice. He is a man above mere party, which means that he is a non-partisan, broad-minded booster for the section in which he lives, labors and thrives.

Mr. Connelly is an Elk, a Knight of Columbus of the fourth degree, a member of the Sons of St. George, one of the Red Men, and a member of the Grange. He is fond of tennis, as might be supposed, when one recalls that as a student at the university, he belonged to the athletic team and held the two-mile record. First, last and all the time, he is a patriotic American, and finds true pleasure in helping to hasten the day when everybody will know that California is the best place in the world in which to live.

Transcribed by Vicky Walker, 8/30/07.

Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches, Pages 971-972. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.