James K. O'Connor
Mayor of Utica, New York
In office
1920–1922
Member of the New York State Assembly
from the Oneida's 1st district
In office
January 1, 1890 – December 31, 1890
Personal details
Political partyDemocratic
OccupationLawyer

James Keegan O'Connor (1864–1922) was an Irish-American judge and Democrat politician from Utica, New York.

O'Connor graduated from Utica Free Academy and studied law at a local law office. He served in the New York State Assembly during the 113th New York State Legislature, but was not reelected. He was elected as a Utica city judge in 1899, and reelected in 1903.[1] He was a founder of the New York State Magistrates Association[2] and served as its president in 1912.[3] He was the Mayor of Utica, New York from 1920 to 1922.[4] He died in 1922.[5]

He had a reputation as a supporter of all immigrants in Utica, who at the time accounted for around a third of its population. The shooting of Italian mill workers by city police during a 1919 textile worker's strike likely played a role in the defeat of the incumbent mayor.[6] A staunch Irish nationalist, he publicly spoke in favor of armed revolution against English rule in Ireland, and in the years before World War I called for an alliance between Ireland and Germany against England.[7]

O'Connor was known as an orator and writer.[1] His collected speeches and writings were published in 1913.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 McGuire, James K., ed. (1905). The Democratic Party of the State of New York: A History of the Origin, Growth, and Achievements of the Democratic Party of the State of New York, Including a History of Tammany Hall in Its Relation to State Politics. Vol. 2. United States History Company. pp. 355–357. OCLC 1043272000.
  2. ↑ Thirteenth Annual Report of the New York State Probation Commission. Albany: J. B. Lyon Company. 1920. p. 409.
  3. ↑ "Past Presidents". New York State Magistrates Association. Retrieved January 21, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Mayors of Utica". City of Utica. Retrieved January 21, 2023.
  5. ↑ Journal of the Assembly of the State of New York at their One-Hundred and Forty-Fifth Session. Vol. 1. Albany: J. B. Lyon Company. 1922. p. 401.
  6. ↑ Bean, Philip A. (February 1994). "The Irish, the Italians, and Machine Politics, a Case Study: Utica, New York (1870-1960)". Journal of Urban History. 20 (2): 205–239. doi:10.1177/009614429402000203. ISSN 0096-1442. S2CID 145019677.
  7. ↑ Bean, Philip A. (1993). "The Great War and Ethnic Nationalism in Utica, New York, 1914–1920". New York History. 74 (4): 389–404. ISSN 0146-437X. JSTOR 23181919.
  8. ↑ O'Connor, James Keegan (1913). O'Connor, Margaret Mary (ed.). James K. O'Connor, His Voice and Pen: Being a Collection of Addresses, Speeches, Newspaper Articles, Etc., Emanating from the Above Source. Davis' Union Printery. OCLC 1047453484.
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