William J. McConnell

Infobox Senator
name = William J. McConnell


jr/sr =United States Senator
state = Idaho
term_start = December 18, 1890
term_end = March 3, 1891
preceded = (none)
succeeded = Fred Dubois
order2=3^rd
office2=Governor of Idaho
term_start2=January 2, 1893
term_end2=January 4, 1897
predecessor2=N. B. Willey
successor2=Frank Steunenberg
lieutenant2=F. B. Willis (1893), F. J. Mills (1895)
date of birth=birth date|1839|9|18|mf=y
place of birth=Commerce, Michigan
dead = dead
date of death=death date and age|1925|3|30|1839|9|18
place of death=Moscow, Idaho
residence=Moscow
spouse=Louisa Brown
profession=Agriculture, Mining
religion=Presbyterian
party=Republican

William John McConnell (born September 18, 1839 in Commerce, Michiganndash died March 30, 1925 in Moscow, Idaho) was Governor of Idaho from 1893 until 1897. Prior to that he represented Idaho as one of its first United States Senators after statehood.

As a young man McConnell moved to California to engage in mining, cattle, merchandising, and banking. He then lived in Oregon from 1862 to 1863, where he taught school, and then moved to Idaho Territory in 1863. From 1865 to 1867 he served as a deputy U.S. Marshal.

McConnell returned to Oregon and worked in the cattle business. In 1886, McConnell returned to Idaho and became a member of the state constitutional convention in 1890.

to serve the full six-year term from that point forward.

McConnell was elected Governor of Idaho in 1892 and then again in 1894. He was appointed Indian Inspector by President William McKinley in 1897, serving until 1901. In 1909, McConnell was appointed as an Inspector of the Immigration Service in Moscow, Idaho, by President William Howard Taft, and served in that position until his death.