Sacramento County

Biographies

THOMAS McCONNELL

In a history of development in the Sacramento valley mention must be made of Thomas McConnell, a prominent sheep raiser, a successful business man and a citizen of high personal worth, well known not only in San Joaquin township but also throughout the Pacific coast country. He was born in Pittsford, Rutland county, Vermont, January 30, 1827, and was of Scotch-Irish lineage, the ancestral line being traced back to the highlands of Scotland. The family history records that an Orangeman named McConnell was in Prince William’s army and after participating in the war established his home in the north of Ireland. One of his sons, named Thomas, emigrated to America, taking up his abode in New Hampshire, and his three sons, William, John and Samuel, became residents of Rutland county, Vermont. The last named, who was the grandfather of Thomas McConnell of this review, had two sons, Thomas and Barnard. The latter, removing from New England to the west, became a land speculator and spent his last days at Lima, near Quincy, Illinois. The other son, Thomas McConnell, continued to make his home in Rutland county, Vermont, where he passed away in 1854. He was the father of eleven children, of whom two died in infancy, while six sons and three daughters reached adult age. It was subsequent to his death that the widow came to California in 1863, accompanied by four sons and two daughters. Two of the sons, Samuel and Thaddeus, had settled in California in 1849, while Thomas came in 1850 and George in 1853. Another son, Frank McConnell, had arrived in California in 1851 but returned to the east and studied law in Poughkeepsie, New York, being admitted to practice in all of the courts of that state. Afterward he again came to California and engaged in law practice in Sacramento until he met an accidental death while hunting in the mountains in 1864. The youngest son, Charles McConnell, engaged in the sheep business in Nevada and was a very prominent and influential citizen there. Twice he represented Humboldt county in the state legislature. The mother, a native of Rutland county, Vermont, and a daughter of Thaddeus Curtis, passed away in California. The Curtis family was of English origin and was established in the Green Mountain state at an early day.

The youthful experiences of Thomas McConnell whose name introduces this record were those of the farm-bred boy and after mastering the branches of learning taught in the local schools he attended a military academy at Norwich, Vermont, where he was an apt student in military affairs and where his interest in civil engineering was aroused. Before pursuing this course, however, when he was nineteen years of age he began teaching school, receiving at first only eleven and a half dollars per month. After leaving the military academy he was teacher of a village school in Rutland and in Clarendon, Vermont, where he received eighteen dollars per month for his services. In the spring of 1850 he sailed from New York on the steamer Georgia, which took him to the isthmus of Panama, where he secured passage on the bark Sarah, bound for San Francisco, and arrived in that city in the latter part of August after spending seventy-six days en route. He had originally purchased a ticket for the Republic, but hearing that the boat had not left New York when he reached the isthmus, he surrendered that ticket and took passage on the vessel that bore him around the Horn and on to San Francisco. From there he proceeded to Sacramento on the steamer Gold Hunter, paying twenty dollars for deck space, which was practically standing room, and which left him with a cash capital of one hundred and eighteen dollars. His brothers were at that time near Garden Valley and toward their home he journeyed, walking fifteen miles the first day and forty miles the second day. On his arrival the first to greet him was the old family dog, which had come out with his brothers in the previous year. Thomas McConnell then joined his brothers in business. At that time Thaddeus McConnell, who had been gardening, was selling potatoes for thirty cents a pound and tomatoes for seventy-five cents per pound. Thaddeus, Samuel and Thomas McConnell continued gardening and a little later engaged in the grocery and general supply business. Having procured a barrel of vinegar in San Francisco, they sold it at half the price that another dealer was asking for the same commodity. The miners, realizing this, inquired if the McConnell brothers had other articles for sale and this led them to enlarge their stock until they were handling all kinds of general merchandise, much of which was shipped in from the east. They bought a team from newly arrived immigrants and did their own hauling to and from Sacramento. The enterprise prospered until 1857, when their store was destroyed by fire. In the meantime they had been operating a saw-mill which produced one million feet of lumber annually and the plant also went down in the conflagration.

The life story of Thomas McConnell, if written in detail, would present a complete picture of pioneer existence on the Pacific coast, for he and his brothers were associated with many of the early enterprises leading to the development of this section of the state, and most of their purchases were paid for in gold dust. Their mill supplied the first lumber to Friend & Terry in 1857. The brothers slept in the store and each carried two cocked pistols, for those were the days when there were many desperadoes and bad characters throughout the west. In 1853 Thomas McConnell made a trip to the east, carrying safely to the mint at Philadelphia twenty-five thousand dollars in gold dust. In 1856 he purchased the place which later became the family home. After the fire Thomas McConnell went to Addison county, Vermont, where he purchased seven Spanish merino sheep, which were the first and finest ever brought to California. This was the beginning of a ranching and sheep raising business of extensive proportions which was developed by the McConnell brothers. They had purchased a ranch and commenced raising sheep in large numbers. When the Central Pacific was completed across the Sierra Nevada mountains they drove a band of sheep to Winnemucca in the late ‘60s and seventy-five miles to the north found good grazing and there developed from two thousand head a herd of twenty-five thousand. They purchased a ranch were they could cut wild hay and with the passing years the enterprise showed a steady development and success. After 1870 the business was carried on by Thomas McConnell and his brother Charles, of Nevada. In 1889 they sheared twelve thousand head of sheep, obtaining eighty-six thousand pounds of wool, which was sent to Boston, and their largest shipment was one hundred thousand pounds. At this time Thomas McConnell owned over three thousand acres of land in northeastern Oregon which he afterward sold. The home place consisted of fifteen hundred acres, half of which bordered the Cosumnes river. He also had seven hundred acres in Eldorado county, about ten miles from Folsom. A man of notably sound judgment and keen business insight, he prospered in his undertakings, carrying forward to successful completion the various interests with which he became associated.

In Rutland, Vermont, on the 19^th of June, 1856, Mr. McConnell was married to Miss Louisa Chaplin, a daughter of George W. Chaplin and also a native of Pittsford, there being only a few months’ difference in their ages. They became the parents of three daughters and a son: Anna L., who is deceased; Mrs. Mary A. Bostwick; George W.; and Jennie A. McConnell.

In early life Mr. McConnell was what was known as a Douglas democrat but afterward became a republican and earnestly expressed himself in favor of protection of American industries. In 1854 he was a member of the democratic state convention which met in the Baptist Church in Sacramento. He was also a member of the constitutional convention in 1879 which met in Sacramento and formed the present organic law of the commonwealth. In addition he attended various other important conventions and was active in every way in promoting public welfare and progress. The foremost leaders of thought of his day proudly claimed him as an intimate friend, the number including Mark Hopkins, C.P. Huntington and others of like standing. In a personal letter, which is still in possession of the family, Mark Hopkins requested Mr. McConnell to become a candidate for state senator but he had no desire for office holding. He was a deep and thorough student not only of local affairs, but of matters of national and international moment, and he was always ready to give careful consideration to modern ideas. His mind was not only stored with a vast fund of knowledge, but he also had many interesting stories and anecdotes to relate and these enriched and enlivened his conversation. All who knew him remember him as a handsome man of fine physique, striking personal appearance, and gracious, genial manner. In 1872 he returned to the east on a leisurely trip, stopping at various points of interest en route. He found joy in noting the progress and upbuilding of the country and few men of California have contributed more largely to the advancement and welfare of the state. He was a director of the Grangers Bank of San Francisco, having served in that capacity since the organization of the bank in April 1874. In 1854, in Georgetown, Eldorado county, he was made a Mason and in 1890 was the only remaining charter member of Elk Grove Lodge, No. 173, F. & A.M. His home on the Cosumnes river was near Elk Grove and McConnell Station was situated on his property. Death called him in June 1919. No history of the Sacramento valley would be complete without mention of this honored and worthy citizen.

Transcribed by Debbie Walke Gramlick.

Source: Wooldridge, J.W. Major History of the Sacramento Valley California, Vol. 2 pgs. 309-312. The Pioneer Historical Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.

Sacramento County Biographies