[1] John's son was usually called Morgan John O'Connell to distinguish him from Daniel's son Morgan O'Connell, such a patronymic being a common Irish practice.
He was "wild and extravagant" in his youth, and in middle age financial necessity made him practice at the English bar.
[4] His uncle William Coppinger died in 1862; O'Connell inherited an estate in County Cork directly and another in Kildysart, County Clare, after his mother died the next year.
[5] In 1865 he married Mary Anne Bianconi,[4][6] daughter of entrepreneur Charles Bianconi;[1] she remembered him as "a very handsome, tall, stout, jolly, fresh-looking man".
[7] Their only child, John O'Connell Bianconi,[1] was a reforming landlord,[6] and in 1914 the County Clare commander of the National Volunteers.