Maj. J. A. Connolly, attorney at law, Charleston; was born in Newark, N. J., March 8, 1838; his parents removed to Chesterville, Morrow Co., Ohio, when he was about 12 years old, and at the age of 18, he went to Mt. Gilead, the county seat of Morrow Co., and began reading law with Judge A. K. Dunn, of that city; he was admitted to the bar in September, 1859, and began practice in Mt. Gilead; in 1860, he removed to Charleston; while living in Mt. Gilead, he held the position of Second Assistant Clerk of the Ohio Senate for two years. In August, 1862, he entered the army as Major of the 123d Ill. V. I., serving till the close of the war, being for two years Inspector General of the 3d Division 14th Army Corps; he participated in the battles of Perryville, Ky.; Milton, Tenn.; Hoover’s Gap, Chickamunga, Mission Ridge, Resaca, Ga.; the Atlanta campaign, Sherman’s ” march to the sea,” Bentonville, N. C., etc.; immediately after the last-named battle, he was brevetted Lieutenant Colonel for meritorious conduct in that engagement. Returning to Charleston, in 1865, he resumed the practice of the law. At the funeral of President Lincoln, in New York City, in April, 1865, Maj. Connolly was a member of the Guard of Honor, being the only Illinois volunteer officer present. In 1866, he was elected a member of the Board of Supervisors, and, the following year, of the Board of Education, and strongly advocated the building of the new schoolhouse in Charleston; he was elected to the Illinois Legislature in 1872, and re-elected in 1874; he was a member of the Judiciary Committee, and of the Railroad and Warehouse Committee, which reported in favor of the Granger legislation of that year. Maj. Connolly is at present U. S. District Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, to which office he was appointed by President Grant in March, 1876. He was married Feb. 9, 1868, to Miss Mary Dunn, of Mt. Gilead, Ohio.
