MAJ. JAMES A. CONNOLLY, United States District Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, stand among the foremost members of the legal profession in this State. He was an officer in the late war, and won a distinguished record for personal bravery as a leader of men. As a prominent citizen of Springfield we are pleased to present his portrait on the opposite page.

Maj. Connolly was born in Newark, N. J., March 8, 1840, and is a son of William and Margaret (McGuire) Connolly. When he was about ten years old his parents moved to Morrow County, Ohio, and settled on a farm. Our subject laid the solid foundation of his education in the common schools and finished it at Selby Academy, Chesterville, Ohio. He was ambitious to be a lawyer and for that purpose became a student at Mount Gilead, Ohio, where he pursued his studies earnestly until he was prepared to enter upon the duties of his chosen vocation. He had previously while attending school kept books for a mercantile firm in order to pay his way and obtained his learning mainly through his own persistent efforts and great desire for knowledge. He was admitted to the bar in Ohio in 1859, and entered upon the practice of his profession with his old preceptor, Judge Dunn, of Mount Gilead, with whom he was associated one year. Wisely concluding that there was in this great State a larger field for usefulness, our subject came to Charleston and opened an office there in 1860.

The Major was a resident of that city when the war broke out, and in 1862 he threw aside his profession and offered his services to his country. He actively assisted in raising a company of which he was made Captain, and on the organization of the regiment as the One Hundred and Twenty-third Illinois Infantry, he was elected Major. His regiment joined the Army of the Cumberland, and was active in all its campaigns till after the fall of Atlanta, when it was transferred to Sherman's army, and marched with him to the sea, and thence to Washington and took part in the Grand Review. The Major displayed fine soldierly qualities on every occasion calling for coolness, courage and daring, and he was accounted a very capable officer, his services receiving due recognition by his being brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel. He was mustered out July 1, 1865, and thus closed a career which had been alike honorable to himself and to his adopted State.

Our subject re-established himself in Charleston after the war and was engaged there till March, 1876, when he was appointed United States District Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois. He held that position till June, 1885, discharging its onerous duties with characteristic fidelity. He was then removed by President Cleveland, but was reappointed by President Harrison July 1, 1889, and still holds the office. His legal attainments, sound judgment and executive capacity rarely qualify him for this position and he is justly considered one of the best Federal officers in the State of Illinois. While attending to his public duties, the Major also carries on an extensive general law practice in connection with Mr. Mather with whom he formed a partnership in 1886. Maj. Connolly and Miss Mary Dunn, a sister of Judge Dunn, and a daughter of Jacob Dunn of Gambier, Ohio, were wedded February 9, 1863, and have established here a home that is complete in its appointments and is attractive to their large circle of friends.

Our subject's ability and fine qualifications for public life have been duly recognized by his fellow-citizens. While he was a resident of Charleston, he was elected to the Legislature and served in the Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth General Assemblies. His course as a legislator showed him to be actuated only by the purest and most disinterested public spirit. He took an active part in the proceedings of his fellow lawmakers and was a member of the Judiciary, Railway, and Library Committees. In 1886 he made the run for Congress against Springer, carrying this and Morgan County, but was beaten in the district by a majority of nine hundred, his popularity having reduced the usual vote against his party from a majority of four thousand. He was again nominated for Congress in 1888, but refused to be a candidate. He is a member of the Masonic society, belongs to the Elks and to the Loyal Legion and is a Grand Army man. Religiously he and his wife belong to the First Presbyterian Church congregation, but are not members of the church, though generously supporting its various plans for the moral elevation of society.

In May 1884 he was appointed Solicitor of the Treasury by President Arthur, and confirmed by the Senate, but he declined the appointment preferring to devote himself to his profession. In 1888 he was a candidate before the Republican State Convention for Governor and received one hundred votes for the nomination, but was defeated, Gov. Fifer receiving the nomination.