Fernando Coello McConnell was born on August 2, 1856, in Clay County, North Carolina. He became a Christian at age 11 at Macedonia Baptist Church near Hiawassee, Georgia. He attended the high school in Hayesville, North Carolina. McConnell attended the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He married Emma England, and the couple raised six children. Prior to becoming a pastor, McConnell was a mercantile businessman in Mt. Airy, Georgia, and a missionary in the North Georgia mountains. In 1880, he was ordained to the ministry and pastored in Jeffersonville, Byron, Eatonton, and Harmony, Georgia, before founding Hiawassee High School in 1886. In 1888, McConnell graduated from Mercer University and went on to serve as the pastor of First Baptist Church of Gainesville, Georgia, until 1893. His next posts were assistant secretary for the Home Mission Board (1893); pastor of First Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia (1894-1901); corresponding secretary for the Home Mission Board (1901-1903); pastor of Calvary Baptist Church Kansas City, Missouri (1903-1909); and pastor of First Baptist Church Waco, Texas (1909-1914). He finally moved back to Georgia, where he served as pastor of Druid Hills Baptist Church from 1915 until his death in 1929. During his career, McConnell also served as a trustee at William Jewell College and Mercer University. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Georgia Baptist Convention and chairman of the Board of Directors of The Christian Index. Fernando Coello McConnell died on January 12, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia.