Harry McConnell

HARRY McCONNELL was born Henry Francis McConnell in Camden on May 12, 1899. He was the younger brother of journalist Dan McConnell, who was a reporter and columnist in Camden from prior to World War I through at least the 1950s, writing for the Camden Post-Telegram and the Camden Courier-Post from its 1920s inception, when the paper published two editions, the Evening Courier and the Morning Post. His column was known as Dan McConnell’s Scrapbook.

Harry McConnell was the youngest of four children born to Daniel D. McConnell and his wife Teresa C. McConnell. The elder McConnell, who does not appear in the 1893–1894 Camden City Directory, brought his family to Camden, and by the time the 1897 Camden City Directory was published, the McConnells were living at 211 Milton Street in the poet’s row section of North Camden.

Daniel D. McConnell worked a variety of jobs; the 1897 directory lists him as a printer, the 1898 directory as a “bag cutter.”

The 1901 Camden City Directory shows that Daniel D. McConnell had moved his family to 125 Main Street, also in North Camden, where he operated a restaurant specializing in Oysters, which were plentiful in Delaware Bay in those times.

Daniel D. McConnell is one and the same as the top-rated South Jersey boxer of that name, who was managed and promoted by Camden businessman Oscar Adams Eastlack. Dan McConnell the boxer is known to have had at least 25 professional fights in Philadelphia, Camden, Baltimore, and elsewhere from 1896 to 1902. Local newspaper reports from 1909 mention a Dan McConnell as a formerly top rated South Jersey lightweight boxer who was training for a comeback. Daniel D. McConnell would have been in his mid to late 30s, which makes this a possibility.

Daniel D. McConnell appears in Camden City Directories at 125 Main Street as late as 1913, but not in the 1914 Directory. It’s safe to assume that he passed away in 1913, leaving his son Dan McConnell to fend for his widowed mother and siblings. Remaining in North Camden, the family lived at 215 Grant Street until 1915, when they moved to 428 Bailey Street. Both Harry McConnell and his brother Dan McConnell gave this address when they registered for the draft in June of 1917 and September of 1918, respectively. Dan McConnell was writing for the Camden Post-Telegram while Harry was working as projectionist at the movie theater located at 203 Vine Street, next to Daly’s Cafe. Daly’s Cafe’s owner, John “Pop” Daly, would later acquire the theater. In 1919 the McConnell family moved once again, to 432 Penn Street.

The January 1920 Census shows Dan McConnell living in a rented house at 432 Penn Street in Camden, listing his occupation for the Census as a reporter for a daily newspaper. He also had worked in these years as a press agent for the Keith vaudeville circuit. The family included at the time his widowed mother Teresa, his sister Bertha, and Harry McConnell. Dan McConnell married Alice Irene Deegan of the Chelsea section of Atlantic City shortly thereafter. The couple made their home on Kwenwood Avenue in Camden’s Parkside neighborhood. Mae McConnell had married a man named Lodge and moved to Philadelphia. Bertha McConnell would also move to Philadelphia, as the bride of Frank W. Wolken.

By 1923, Harry McConnell had moved to 629 York Street. He was by this time working as a printer at the Victor Talking Machine Company. He does not appear in the 1924 City Directory but was listed in the 1929 City Directory in 1929, when he was living at 924 North 7th Street.

During these years Dan and Alice McConnell were blessed with two children, Elizabeth “Betty” Ann, born in Camden at Cooper Hospital on October 10, 1925, and Daniel J. McConnell around 1929 or so. The McConnell’s remained in Parkside through at least 1931. Harry McConnell remained single, and continued working in the printing department of the Victor Talking Machine Company. Harry McConnell and his mother still lived in Camden as late as 1931, when they resided at 229 Erie Street. They subsequently moved to Philadelphia, where Harry McConnell took a job at an office supply company. On March 31, 1942, Harry McConnell died at the age of 42, and was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Delaware Township (present-day Cherry Hill) NJ. He was survived by his mother, brother, and two sisters.

Mrs. Teresa McConnell passed away in December of 1950, at the age of 83, and is buried near her son. Dan McConnell passed away on September 6, 1956, at the age of 63, after a long struggle with cancer of the mouth, and is also buried at Calvary Cemetery.