Harry T. Connelly

    Cashier of the Upland State Bank, Mr. Connelly is one of the most successful farmers and stockmen of the county, and since 1909 has divided his time and attention between the business of agriculture and banking. The Upland State Bank was incorporated November 22, 1909, with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars and at the present time its surplus is four thousand dollars. The total resources amount to one hundred and forty thousand dollars, and the deposits of one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars indicate better than any other item the complete confidence placed by the community in this institution. Since it opened its doors for business, the bank has made a most remarkable growth, and its position is due both to its successful management and to the fact that all its officials and directors are well known residents of Grant County. The officers are: John Smith, president; Herman Fisherbuck, vice president; Harry T. Connelly, cashier; R. O. Smith, assistant cashier; and the directors are John Smith, H. Fisherbuck, R. J. Spencer, Edward Block, N. E. Duckwall, Daniel Marine, A. L. Horner, Charles W. Reed, and A. N. Kizer. All except Mr. Kizer were on the original board, and he has been connected with the institution since its second year.

Officers and Directors of the Upland State Bank, Upland, Indiana

    The Upland Sate Bank has correspondents in Chicago and Pittsburgh, and carries an account with the Grant Trust and Savings Bank at Marion. The bank has membership in the State Bank Association.

    Harry T. Connelly was born on a farm near Upland, on February 10, 1874, a son of John W. and Rebecca J. (Clevenger) Connelly. He comes of old Scotch-Irish ancestry. His grandfather, Rev. John Connelly, who was born in Virginia, was a prominent Methodist minister of his time. In 1808 he was made presiding elder over a district comprising portions of Virginia, Maryland and western Pennsylvania, and his last appointment to that office was made in 1821. He died in Wayne County, Indiana, when past eighty years of age in 1846. Rev. Connelly married Elizabeth Fell, a Virginia girl, and of an old family in that commonwealth. Her ancestors came from England to Baltimore during the seventeenth century, and played active parts in their respective communities, both in that State and in Virginia. Elizabeth (Fell) Connelly, died in Wayne County, Indiana, about 1830, being under forty years of age at the time. She became the mother of three children, namely:

1. Joseph, who was one of the pioneer settlers of Kansas, a farmer, there, and died leaving a family of six children

2. A daughter who died early in life

3. John W. Connelly

    John W. Connelly, father of the Upland banker, was born in Williamsburg, Virginia, May 11, 1825, and was a very small child when his parents moved out to Wayne County, Indiana, where they were among the pioneers and took an active part in the establishment of Methodism in that section.

    Reared and educated in Wayne county, John W. Connelly gave perhaps the greater part of his productive years to the cause of education. He taught school in Wayne County, and in 1856 came to Grant County, where he bought land in Jefferson Township, now a part of the Millerton Farm. He combined the occupations of teaching farming, and his record as a teacher aggregated about thirty-years. In 1871 he bought one hundred and ten acres in Monroe Township, later increased his holdings, and lived there in prosperous circumstances until his death on October 27, 1893. In politics he was a Republican after the war. His first vote was cast fro Franklin Pierce, and after voting for Douglas in 1860 he transferred his allegiance to the Republican candidates, and voted in 1892 for Harrison. John W. Connelly was married in Wayne County to Miss Rebecca Clevenger, who was born in that county, September 6, 1834, and who died in Monroe Township of Grant County, December 28, 1909. Early in her life she joined the Methodist Church and she and her husband had membership in the Doddridge Church in Wayne County, one of the oldest societies of that denomination in Indiana. Later they were among the leading members of the Upland Church in this county. Rebecca Clevenger was a daughter of Samuel and Ruth (Spahr) Clevenger, who were both natives of Virginia, but were married in Wayne County, Indiana. Samuel Clevenger was born in 1808, and his wife in 1812. He died in 1881 and she in 1884. They were pioneers, upright and worthy people, both as neighbors and citizens, and active members of the Doddridge Church in Wayne County. Mrs. John W. Connelly was the oldest in a family of eight children, and all of them lived in Indiana. Her sister Sabra died at the age of seventy-six. John W. Connelly and wife had eight children, named as follows:

1. John, who lives at home and is unmarried.

2. Belle, who died after her marriage to Noah Johnson, leaving three children, Alva, Elva and Bertha.

3. Samuel, now postmaster of Upland.

4. Mary, who died in infancy.

5. Joseph, who is an oil man in Oklahoma and is married but has no children.

6. Dora, wife of J. P. Richard, a resident of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and their children are Hugo and Homer.

7. Flora, who died at the age of twenty-two years.

8. Harry T., the youngest

    Harry T. Connelly was educated in the schools and at the Fairmount Academy, and in the Marion Normal College. from 1893 until 1902 he was one of the successful teachers, most of his work being done in Jefferson and Monroe Township. While a man of extended activities in business, Mr. Connelly's life is also distinguished for much public service, and his record as a teacher might be well included under that head. From 1905 until January 1, 1909, he gave four years of capable administration in the office of township trustee of Monroe Township. He was elected on the Republican ticket, and was the second republican ever elected to that office in the township. His majority of sixty-four votes was a noteworthy showing in a Democratic community, In the fall of 1908 Mr. Connelly was elected to the state legislature and served during the sessions of 1909-10 and in 1911. During the first session he was on the committee of education and roads, and in 1911. During the first session he was on the committee of counties and townships and also on the committee of banks and trusts companies.

    In 1899 Mr. Connelly came into the possession of the old home place by buying out the other heirs, and soon after settled down to farm life. The farm, located in Section thirty-four of Monroe Township, comprises one hundred and eighty acres of land, all under the plow, with the exception of a timber lot of thirty-five acres. In 1912, his crops were represented by the following figures: Eight hundred bushels of corn, nine hundred bushels of oats, and one hundred and sixty bushels of rye. He sold about one hundred head of hogs during that year, and he averages from one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five hogs a year. He has a herd of twenty-three short horn cattle on the place, twenty-five sheep and four horses. These figures, without further comment, are sufficient to show that Mr. Connelly is in the farming business for something besides recreation, and he is rightly entitled to his reputation as one of the most progressive and successful farming men in the county.

    On June 23, 1904, at Upland, was solemnized the marriage of Harry T. Connelly, with Miss Edith Kline. Mrs. Connelly was born in Mill Grove, Blackford County, Indiana, August 5, 1874, and is a woman of splendid education and thorough culture. Her schooling was in Hartford City, and in the well known private school kept by Mrs. Bleaker. For eleven years Mrs. Connelly was a successful teacher in Hartford City, and in Upland. Her father is Henry J. Kline, who for the past twenty years has had his home in Upland, and in early years made a record as one of the popular teachers in this part of the State.

    Mr. and Mrs. Connelly have five children: D. Gretchen, who is now in school at Upland; Barbara H., also in school; Marjorie E., Phillip and Roger Thomas. Mr. and Mrs. Connelly are members of the Upland Methodist Church, and he has fraternal associations with the Masonic Order at Upland, and the Royal Chapter at Hartford City.

Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914.

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