His grandfather, George Connell was a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate whose accomplishments including pushing legislation for the creation of Fairmount Park and Mount Moriah Cemetery.

[2] He obtained a $41 million loan from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in September 1939 that would be backed by revenues of the city's natural gas plant as an initial step.

In 1943, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the case of Kiker v. Philadelphia ruled that the wage tax was indeed constitutional and upheld it.

[10] Regardless of the decisions around seating Connell as mayor, he served out the remainder of Wilson's term until Robert Lamberton's inauguration on January 1, 1940.

Connell died on October 22, 1955, after a stroke and is interred at Mount Moriah Cemetery in Philadelphia.