Born in 1839 in Commerce, Michigan, William John McConnell lived in California and Oregon before settling in Idaho. Before his governorship, McConnell served as a deputy United States Marshal, cattleman, general store owner, teacher, state senator and senate president.

He and his family settled in the Idaho Territory in Moscow in 1886 and in July of that year McConnell began work on what would become the McConnell Mansion, with local teams hauling rock for the foundation. The house was completed by December 1886 and it was eventually sold in 1901. It changed hands twice since then and is currently a local historical museum.

In 1889, William McConnell was an integral part of the Idaho Territorial Legislature’s decision to locate the University of Idaho in Moscow. This was a conciliatory move to prevent northern Idaho from seceding and joining Washington (which became a state that year). McConnell served as a member of the Constitutional Convention when Idaho was admitted as a state into the Union in 1890, after which he was promptly appointed by the state legislature as a Republican to the United States Senate. He then successfully campaigned to be the third governor of Idaho (January 1893 to 4 January 1897).

Following his term as governor, McConnell was appointed Indian inspector by President William McKinley and served in that capacity from 1897 to 1901. He was later appointed as an Immigration Service inspector by President William Taft in 1909, a post in which he served until his death in Moscow, Idaho, on 30 March 1925.

He is interned in the Moscow Cemetery. - Annie

(Sources: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, Idaho State Historical Society, Latah County Historical Society)

From the Kyle Laughlin Photograph Collection