The McConnell Family

Alexander McConnell, his wife and family migrated from Ireland sometime in the first part of the Nineteenth Century and settled for a short time in Pennsylvania. In the 1820 PA census Alexander is listed with the prefix “Esq” living in Borough of Henderson, Huntingdon County. Henderson is located in the south central part of Pennsylvania in the middle of the Tussey Mountains. He is listed as over 45 years old with his wife [between 25 and 45], and a young boy and girl. His older son Alexander Jr., born in 1800, was listed in the same county but living in Porter Township. He is listed in the 1820 census with his wife, age 16 to 26, and son, between the age 10 and 16, as unnaturalzed residents.

Alexander Jr. and his family migrated west to Missouri, and by the 1850 census, was in Andrew County MO, the western part of state. His wife is listed as Sarah Ann, 13 years younger than Alexander, and not the same wife he had in Pennsylvania. Apparently he was divorced or his first wife died and he married Sarah Ann Graves.

There is some information on Sarah Grave’s family that was passed on to through family stories. It is said that Sarah’s great grandfather, John, came from Germany to Pennsylvania around 1730. His son, Peter was killed and scalped by Indians near Sharps Fort, Tennessee in 1794. Peter son, Boston Graves was born in Claiborne County TN but first appears in the 1810 census for Orange County, Hillsboro, NC. On the same census page with Boston Graves is the family Boston Sharp. One of Boston Sharp’s daughters, Elizabeth or “Betsy,” married Boston Graves. Their daughter Sarah was born in 1813 in Tennessee and some years later she married Alexander McConnell Jr.

It is not clear who arrived in Missouri first or if Alexander and Sarah were married and migrated together. In the 1850 census they were together on a farm in Andrew County, just north of St. Joseph and bordering DeKalb County. Alexander was 50 and Sarah 37 with seven children, Mary, William, John, Elizabeth, and twins Boston and Martha Emerline, and Frances. Martha, our connection, and Boston were born March 6, 1842 in Gower, Missouri. Boston is named after his grandfather on his mother's side.

Alexander died August 27, 1858 at age 58. He left his wife and children whose ages ranged from 9 to above 30. In the 1860 census for Andrew County, Sarah is listed at age 46, as a “housekeeper” with Alexander 17, Martha 15, Louisa 11 and Elvira 6. These are not the same children’s names listed in the 1850 census. In the same census her oldest son, William is found in St. Louis working as a “bar keeper” with his wife Johanna, sons Richard and Edward. With him is Mary McConnell, age 48, who could be a half-sister. His sister Mary would have been 31 years old. Also living with William was his brother John, age 25, whose profession is listed as “cooper.” John is the only McConnell family member in the 1870 Missouri census. He is with his wife Elisa, age 31, and their son Robert, 1 living in St. Charles, MO.

What about other members of the McConnell family? The only other one, found in the 1860 census is Martha Emerline, 18 years old, living in St. Francisville, Missouri, Clark County. The county is in the northeast part of Missouri, with Iowa to the north and the Mississippi River on the east. She is living in a “hotel” with the owner Wm. H Means and his family of five and two lodgers. Why is she living there? Within the year she would be back in DeKalb County, Missouri and married to Jeremiah Todd Thornton. [Photo right: Martha McConnell.]

Jeremiah Todd “Jerry” Thornton and Martha McConnell

Jeremiah and Martha were married on March 7, 1861, and Martha would have her first child nine months later. As a twin, Martha must have carried the multiple birth genes with her because in the 15 children she and Jerry Thornton had between 1861 and 1886, they included a set of triplets and twins.

Their farm was two miles west of the tiny town of Clarksdale. By 1890 the town had 145 people and it would not double its population in the next 100 years. The “commercial” section of the town was a series of stores that surrounded an open space. This town design, with shops built around a square, was popular in much of the Midwest. In most towns the center of the square would be the county court house. Since Clarksdale was not the county seat the square was a park that had hitching posts for teams of horses. In the center was a bandstand for summer concerts and picnics. Two blocks away was the depot for the Chicago Rock Island Railroad. In the photo below you can see that his left arm is shorter than the right. This is the result of the wound from the Civil War discussed in the previous page.

Most of Jerry and Martha’s children settled in the Clarksdale area, married local residents, made their living from farming; and when they died, they were buried in the Thornton Cemetery in Clarksdale, Missouri. Here is a brief review of their lives:

The two oldest boys were the exception for most members of the family. William Alexander, born in 1861, never married and settled in Oregon as a teacher and rancher. When his father died in 1916 he returned to Clarksdale to care for his mother until she died in 1925. After which he returned to Oregon where he died nine years later. John Boston, born in 1863, also varied from the others in that he moved to Oklahoma City and married Ella Courtney. They had 8 children.

The triplets, born in 1865, married local men and lived their lives in Clarksdale. Sarah Cyrenia had 4 children and lived to be 100 years old. Elvira Jane married George Swaits and had 5 children. Mary Frances married Wm. Walter Minter who was a salesman and inventor, and had 4 children.

James Calvin, born in 1868, married a local girl, Anna Mary Redman, and had 6 children. Since they are the direct link to our family there is more about James, Anna and their family in the next section of this narrative.

Robert [Robbie] lived only 6 months before his death in 1870. Oliver Albin, born in 1871, married another local girl, Adria Chambers, and farmed in the community. They had 9 children. Adria's sister, Mary, also married into the Thornton family. She married Oliver Albin's cousin, one of William Todd Thornton's sons. Laura Alice, born in 1874, married Willis Coffey and had 3 children. Willis joined his father-in-law, Jerry Thornton, in the hardware and implement business in Clarksdale. Albert Edwin, born in 1876, married Ida Josephine Groom and had 5 children. Ida lived to be only 29 years old. Artie Belle married Albert Carter and had one child.

The twins, born in 1881, Lula May and Lillie Maud spend most of their lives in northeast Missouri. Lula May married David Russell and had 4 children. Lillie Maud first married Robert Crain and then married George Swails and had 4 children. She is buried with her first husband in the Lebanon Cemetery near Hemple, Mo. George Swails is buried in Oklahoma. De Ethelbert, born in 1884, died at 27 with tuberculoses. The last child, Minnie Etta, first married Benjamin Sherwood and had 3 children. Later, she married Melvin Poland.

After several years of farming on the 500 acres in Clarksdale, “Uncle Jerry,” as he was called, opened an implement and hardware business in Clarksdale in 1898 with his son-in-law W. F. Coffey. It was located in a two-story brick building on the southwest corner of the square, just down the street from the Baptist Church. The windows in front were painted with the words “J.T. Thornton & Co. Carriages Buggies and Wagons” and “Hardware and Implements.” [Photo on right.] From the street you had to walk up some wooden steps to reach the double front doors. As the business grew, in 1900 he moved his home into town and remained there for an additional 6 years. When he sold the business in 1906 he returned to the farm and continued working the saw and gristmill that had been in operation before the War.

Jerry Thornton died on February 17, 1916 at 82 years of age, after a lingering illness of many months. His funeral was the last service in the Salem Church before it closed. Elder Calvin C. Moore, one of William Todd Thornton’s son-in-laws, officiated. Jerry’s oldest son, William Alexander, left his ranch and school where he was teaching in Oregon and returned to Clarksdale to take care of his mother. Martha Thornton lived until October 26, 1925. She was 90 years old.

We are most interested in Jerry’s and Martha’s son, James Calvin. In the 1870s when James was in school he was taller than most of the other students and later when photography was introduced to record the students, James stood above others in the back row. As a youngster his family had a dog they named “Nips.” Apparently when the mother wanted to locate James she found it was easier to call the dog because Nips and James were always together. The family ended up giving James the nickname “Nips,”— a name that lasted the rest of his life. He was musical, loved to sing and played the E-flat alto horn in the Clarkston band at summer concerts in the town band shell. Philip Thornton, Louin’s grandson, has the horn and has restored it to its original luster.

Near the Thornton farm was the family of Francis Redman and their children played together. The oldest daughter, Anna, played with several of Jerry's children but one attracted her attention. Here is her family story:

Next Page: Redman Family