McConnell, Illinois

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1939 and the latest in 1981. It stands in Waddams Township. It lies in ZIP code area 61050. It stands on Muddy Creek. The Survey maps it on the Orangeville quadrangle.

McConnell within Stephenson County

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 13 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

1939 USGS Freeport quadrangle1:62500
1939 USGS Freeport quadrangle1:48000
1944 USGS Freeport quadrangle1:62500
1954 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000
1955 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000
1958 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
1963 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000
1971 USGS Orangeville quadrangle1:24000
1981 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

In the county-history sources

5,758 words on this township

The History of Stephenson County, Illinois : Containing ... Biographical Sketches ... War Record ... Statistics ... Portraits of Early Settlers ... History of the Northwest, History of Illinois, &c. .., published 1880 names this settlement in its chapter on Waddams Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

MRS. liUCY AUJLT, proprietor of the Pennsylvania Hotel, McConnell's Grove; her husband. James Ault, was born Jan. 1, 1825, in Centre Co., Penn.; he died in November, in 1860. She came with lier parents to Stephenson Co., in 1844 ; they were married in 1845 ; she was the daughter of George and Rebecca Lara, and was born Jan. 31, 1827; she owns 172 acres of land about this hotel property; have eight

Passage source: The History of Stephenson County, Illinois : Containing ... Biographical Sketches ... War Record ... Statistics ... Portraits of Early Settlers ... History of the Northwest, History of Illinois, &c. .., published 1880.

Li. B. CHURCHILL, farmer, Sec. 19; P. 0. McConnell's Grove; born Dec. 12, 1831, in Georgia, Franklin Co., Vt. ; in 1841, he came with his parents to Franklin Co., N. Y. ; in 1849, they removed to Freeport, 111. ; in 1867, he came to his present farm, consisting of 73 acres. Married Mary J. Hawkins, daughter of Thomas H. Hawkins, who came to this county in 1835 ; he died May 16, 1879 ; she was born in Pendleton Co., Ky., in 1833 ; they have five children - Herbert, William, Abbie, John and Frank. He enlisted in 1861 in the 12th I. V. I., Company B ; served till April, 1862, and participated in the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh.

J. C. CONATY, retired, McConnell's Grove; born in 1818, in Boston, Mass. ; after completing his education, he secured a position with the Boston Water Works, under the supervision of Chief Engineer Thomas S. Williams ; continued about three years ; he was then appointed station agent of the Boston & Maine Railroad at Summerville, and held this position a short time; in 1856, he came to Stephenson County, and was emplowed by the Illinois Central Railroad Company to superintend getting out timber and having charge of their property at McConnell's Grove ; he held this position till 1865 ; he then purchased the McConnell tract, consisting of 905 acres ; he now owns about 300 acres of land, also a portion of the town plat, including the brick store and other town property. Married Mary Riley in 1842 ; she was born in Ireland ; they had five children, three living - Mary A., now Mrs. Rogers ; William and Charlotte ; Elizabeth, died October, 1874^ aged 22 years ; Helen, died February, 1880, aged 28 years ; his daughters all received a good education. Mrs. Rogers graduated in Chicago ; during her course of studies, she lived with the family of the Hon. E. S. Chesborough ; she taught the Grammar School in Lena during 1870 ; she and her sisters have taught school about eight years each.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Waddams Township - it names this place 22 more 22 times.

Fires near this place

4 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of McConnell between 2004 and 2018, burning about 112 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	2
Arson/incendiarism	1
Recreation and ceremony	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
5 April 2004	Recreation and ceremony	100 acres	Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office	not named
17 April 2008	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Illinois Division of Forestry Resources	8010
13 April 2004	Arson/incendiarism	10 acres	Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office	not named
3 March 2018	Debris and open burning	2.0 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	262018

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Stephenson County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 14 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 14 workings within 5 miles of McConnell: 11 past producers, 2 producers, 1 occurrence. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
J. Wagner Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Lena Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Limestone Prospect	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Occurrence
Lobdell Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
R. E. Cox Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Stich Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Unnamed Limestone Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Unnamed Limestone Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Unnamed Limestone Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Unnamed Limestone Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Stephenson County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Buena Vista	2.9 miles	13
Red Oak	4.3 miles	13
Damascus	4.5 miles	15
Buckhorn Corners	5.0 miles	13
Oneco	5.1 miles	13
Winslow	5.1 miles	15
Orangeville	5.2 miles	13
Lena	6.1 miles	15

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 413218. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.