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biography
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Connelly, Eugene LeMoyne, of Pittsburg, who was born here, August 18,1870, is the sixth and youngest
son of William Cavin Connelly, Sr., and Elizabeth Sterrett (Brown) Connelly. His mother is a daughter of Allen Brown, one of Pittsburg's pioneer hotel-keepers. The father, who was a West
Virginian by birth, after his marriage located in Pittsburg, and became a partner in the ownership of the old St. Clair Hotel, which stood on the site of the present Hotel Anderson.
Later he had control of the United States, Central, St. Charles, and Exchange Hotels. Also, he conducted a hostelry at Turtle Creek, which was at that early day a sort of summer resort
for the wealth and fashion of the city. He is a member of the Writers' Club and of the Junior O. U. A. M., and he is a communicant of Oakland Methodist Episcopal Church.
Eugene Le Moyne Connelly was educated in the public schools and under the tutelage of his mother, a woman of scholarly attainments. At an early age, with a natural tendency to literary
pursuits, he obtained a minor position on the staff of the PittsburgChronicle, and thereafter for several years he spent the afternoon of each school day at a desk in the newspaper office.
After leaving school he obtained a permanent position in the service of the Western Union Telegraph Company. He was first assigned to work at the old Oil Exchange, situated where the
market-house now stands. Later he was transferred to the Pittsburg Petroleum, Stock, and Metal Exchange, where he kept the books and handled the accounts of several large brokerage firms,
in addition to his work as book-keeper for the telegraph company. Although he mastered the business of a telegraph operator in this employment, he has not at any time followed it as a vocation.
During the few years that he was employed in the oil and stock mart, he continued to scribble a little, doing special assignments for the Sportsman and Dramatic Critic; also for the Sportsman and Referee,
in which two of his brothers were interested.
In his seventeenth year Mr. Connelly became a reporter on the staff of the Pittsburgh Leader. With this paper he has since been connected, serving it in the capacities of
religious reporter, police court reporter, sporting editor, special writer, editorial paragrapher, and city editor. He is now editor of the Sunday Leader. Perhaps his best work was performed at
Johnstown, immediately after the great flood of May 31, 1889. Mr. Connelly was one of the first newspaper men to enter the Conemaugh valley after the warring waters had wrought desolation
and death throughout the whole stretch of territory lying between South Fork and Latrobe on the Pennsylvania Railroad. Besides sending reports of the great catastrophe to the Leader, he despatched
a graphic description of the course of the flood to the New York Journal, on the staff of which he was then serving. He collaborated with Frank Connelly and George C. Jenks in the
compilation of the "Official History of the Johnstown Flood." He was also one of the first men on the field in the summer of 1892, when Oil City and Titusville were swept by flood and fire;
and in the same year he helped to report the Homestead riots for the New York World and his own paper. He has also done special work for the New York Tribune, Boston Herald,
Boston Globe<, Cincinnati Enquirer, and ChicagoTimes, and has written short stories for some of the periodicals. At one period a predilection for theatrical
work led him to accept positions as press representative from Jefferson, Klaw & Erlanger, Rich & Harris, and the late Colonel Joel, the impresario; but he soon tired of this sort of employment, and got back to active newspaper work.
On February 28, 1893, Mr. Connelly married Minnie Allyn Leonard, youngest daughter of George W. and Sarah Elizabeth (Moreland) Leonard. Their only child, Elizabeth Leonard, was born March 4, 1894. The family residence is 332 Ward Street, Oakland.
Biographical review: containing life sketches of leading citizens of Pittsburg and the vicinity, Pennsylvania. Boston: Biographical Review Pub. Co., 1897, Author: Anonymous.
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