O’Connell (William H.) is born in Lowell.

William O’Connell graduates from Boston College, attends seminary in Rome, is ordained a priest in 1884, serves in parishes in Medford and the West End, and as bishop of Portland, Maine (1901-07), then archbishop of Boston (1907-44). Named a cardinal in 1911,* O’Connell moves to 2101 Commonwealth Avenue in 1927,* and presides over a dramatic period of expanding the number of parishes, schools, and personnel in the archdiocese. Called Gangplank Bill for his frequent sea cruises, Pauline M. Kane subsequently writes, “[O’Connell] established a] triumphalist, separatist Catholic subculture . . sacred but equal, separate but integrated,” He dies in Boston on April 22, 1944,* and is eventually buried at St. John’s Seminary.