Home Site and plantation house of early pioneer John McConnell, Sr. (1721-1801). McConnell was born in Ireland in 1721 and immigrated to the United States at the age of 19, arriving in Virginia in 1740. By December, 1748, McConnell is known to have been in North Carolina, working on land surveys in the Catawba Valley area. Between 1752 and 1761, McConnell received five Granville Land Grants totaling more than 2000 acres and an additional grant of 640 acres in 1778. In 1761, McConnell constructed his home (which became known as the McConnell Plantation) on the east bank of the Catawba River opposite to the location where Mountain Creek emptied into the river. McConnell lived in the house along with his wife Mary Winslow McConnell and their nine children (seven daughters and two sons). McConnell served as a constable in his district, was a militiaman, and was appointed as overseer of roads in the area in which he lived. The McConnell family was Presbyterian and joined the Centre Church after its founding in 1765. At his death in 1801, McConnell was buried in the Baker Cemetery. The site of the McConnell Plantation house, much of the land that made up the plantation, the site of the cemetery where he was buried (which was relocated during the construction of the lake), and part of Mountain Creek are all now under the waters of Lake Norman.
Location (approximate): 35.546, -80.958
Sources:
Duke Power Co. 19–? (nd). Relocation of Various Cemetery from Area Inundated by the Waters of Lake Norman. Published by Duke Power Co.
McConnell, Joel P. 1983. The McConnell Families of Davidson’s Creek Settlement Iredell County, North Carolina 1748-1982. Privately Printed: Joel McConnell, Mooresville, NC.
Yoder, Robert A. and Watson, Gaylord. “Map of Catawba County, North Carolina (Robert Yoder).” 1886. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina Maps Collection. Accessed: 01/21/2013.
Available: http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/ncmaps/id/260/rec/47.
Website Submission: George McConnell, 01/12/2013.