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Show ILLINOIS G. A. R. LEADER Col. James A. Connolly, Former Member Mem-ber of Congress, Elected Department Depart-ment Commander. Springfield, 111. James A. Connolly, of the Illinois department of the Grand Army of the Republic, was born at Newark, N. J., March 8, 1843. The family moved west to Chesterville, O., where Mr. Connolly took an academic course at the old Selby seminary. He was admitted to the bar in Ohio in 1860, when barely 18 years old, and the same year he moved to Charleston, 111., where he began practise. When war broke out he enlisted as a private In a company which became a part of the One Hundred and Third Illinois infantry. He fought through the entire war and was brevetted lieutenant colonel. He was elected to the legislature in 1872 and 1874 and was appointed United States district? dis-trict? attorney for the southern Illinois district by Presidents Grant and Ar- Commander James A. Connolly. thur, was removed by Cleveland and reappointed by Harrison. He moved to Springfield, his present home, in 18S6, and was sent to congress in 1874 to succeed Representative "Bill" Springer. |