First edition, second printing, August 2019

William McConnell's Pennsylvania origins -- William McConnell's migration to Illinois: 1836-1837 -- Reaching McHenry County: 1837 -- The ancestors of Elizabeth Bodine McConnell: Huguenots, Quakers, and Methodists of New York and New Jersey -- Montelona: McHenry County, 1837-1848 -- End of the frontier: McHenry County, 1848-1871 -- The Richmond McConnells: McHenry County, 1846-1871 -- The 20th century at Montelona Farm -- McConnell's Montelona farmstead today

"In 1836 William Alexander McConnell, age 27, left his home in Muncy, Pennsylvania to seek his fortunes in the newly opened 'Northwest Territory' outside Chicago, Illinois. Journey with McConnell as he ... builds a log cabin, returns to Pennsylvania for his bride, and, with his newly arriving neighbors, begins to tame the wilderness to create Montelona Farm. McConnell ... would go on to own over 1400 acres in McHenry County, build two landmark homes that survive today, build a railroad, provide banking services to his neighbors, create the county's first cheese factory, and serve mutiple terms as County Board Chairman and Associate Judge for the McHenry County."--Inside jacket