Return To Idaho
Around 1879, McConnell had begun investing in the growing town of Moscow, Idaho and in 1884 he moved his family there. The general store he opened with a partner in Moscow was for many years considered the finest in the region. When leaders convened a constitutional convention, preparatory to Idaho statehood, McConnell represented Latah County.
After Idaho became at state on July 3, 1890, McConnell was one of its first U.S. Senators. He served only a short term, which was meant to get the state "in sync" with a normal election cycle. For a time, the new state actually had three Senators-elect: McConnell, Fred T. Dubois, and "Judge" William H. Clagett. The Senate had to vote on which of the two besides McConnell they would seat – they chose Dubois.
McConnell's term ended in March 1891, and he decided to run for Governor as the candidate for the Republican Party. In a state-level reflection of political turmoil across the country, he won with only a plurality (40.6%) of the vote: candidates for the Democratic and Populist parties split 58% of the rest. A Prohibition Party candidate polled about 1.3%. When he ran for re-election, he won in a similar manner, polling 41.5% of the votes with the Democrats and Populists splitting most of the remaining votes. After his first gubernatorial election, McConnell ended his involvement with the store in Moscow and moved to Boise. There, in 1895, his daughter Mary (or sometimes Mamie) married attorney William E. Borah, who would later serve as a U.S. Senator for nearly 33 years.
Read more about this topic: William J. Mc Connell
Famous quotes containing the words return to and/or return:
“Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love. Everything is united by it alone. Love is God, and to die means that I, a particle of love, shall return to the general and eternal source.”
—Leo Tolstoy (18281910)
“I find very reasonable the Celtic belief that the souls of our dearly departed are trapped in some inferior being, in an animal, a plant, an inanimate object, indeed lost to us until the day, which for some never arrives, when we find that we pass near the tree, or come to possess the object which is their prison. Then they quiver, call us, and as soon as we have recognized them, the spell is broken. Freed by us, they have vanquished death and return to live with us.”
—Marcel Proust (18711922)