Col. Frank Percy McConnell was a cashier of the Isbell bank in 1904, at Talladega, and was one of the most popular and enterprising young men of that city. He was born at Union City, Obion County, Tennessee, July 6, 1870.
He was a son of William Kennedy and Ellen (Smith) McConnell, the former a son of Hon. Felix Grundy and Evaline (Blakely) McConnell, of Talladega County, Alabama, and the latter a daughter of Frank and Evaline (Blakely) Smith, of Columbia, Maury county, Tennessee. Before the war, his father was the station agent for a railroad company. He was the commandant of the cadets at the University of Alabama, 1869-71, and during the Civil war served with distinction in the Confederate army.
After the war, he served as tax collector of Dallas county, Ala., and was for several years station agent at Talladega. He was a prominent Democrat and a member of the Masonic fraternity. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. They had five children, four of whom were still living in 1904.
Col. F. P. McConnell received his early education in the public schools of Selma and Talladega. Among his early teachers were Misses Emily Ferguson and Kate Young, and Profs. A. Woodward and D. M. Callaway, of Selma, and Profs. J. B. Graham and A. H. Todd, of Talladega.
During the years 1886-87, he attended the Alabama Polytechnic institute at Auburn, Ala., but did not complete the course. After leaving school, he was employed with his father in the railroad office, acting as clerk, baggage master, ticket and freight agent, express agent, etc. He was then employed by the Talladega Mercantile company, as shipping clerk, and later as bookkeeper, and still later was bookkeeper for Ulman Bros. When he was about twenty years of age he entered the Isbell bank as bookkeeper, where he has risen, step by step, until he now occupied the important position of cashier in 1904.
Besides his interests in the bank, Colonel McConnell was a member of the firm of McConnell & Boynton, general insurance agents, and merchandise brokers; secretary and treasurer of the Talladega Coal & Wood company; and treasurer of the Eastern railway of Alabama. He was an active young Democrats of Talladega and filled the offices of alderman from the Fourth ward, city treasurer, and was mayor pro tem. He filled almost every position in the militia from private to commander in chief. For three years he was major of the Third regiment, Alabama National guard, and was appointed by General Clark on his staff, with the rank of brigadier inspector of rifle practice. After holding this position for six years he was elected on what was called the “harmony ticket” to the command of the Third regiment, in where he held the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was for three years captain of the Talladega Rifles, a company whose fame extended far and wide.
Colonel McConnell was well known in fraternal circles. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, held the degrees of Knight Templar and the Mystic Shrine in the Masonic fraternity, was a past exalted ruler of Talladega lodge, No. 603, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, a member of the grand lodge of Elks, and grand purser for the Kappa Alpha fraternity. In religious matters, he has espoused the faith of his parents and belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church South, in which he held the office of steward.
SOURCES
1.Notable Men of Alabama: Personal and Genealogical, Volume 1 edited by Joel Campbell DuBose
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