John J. Mackrell

John Joseph Mackrell (March 29, 1879 – August 31, 1961) was an American lawyer and politician from New York.

Life Mackrell was born on March 29, 1879, in Lansingburgh, New York, the son of John Mackrell and Ellen Egan. His father died when he was one.

Mackrell attended St. Augustine's Academy, Powers School, and then St. Augustine's Academy again, graduating from there in 1897. From the age of 12 to his graduation, he spent his vacations working on farms, as a collar express operator for Eugene Morris, for the United Shirt and Collar Company, the Holmes and Ide Collar Company, the Madden Lumber Company, the Morrison Brush Company, and the Lansingburg Forge Works. After graduating, he began studying law in the office of Farrell & Finder in Troy. While studying law, he worked for the Trojan Clothing Company and shoe store owners A. T. Small and W. A. Dorrance. He also worked as manager of a daily reporting financial agency. He was admitted to the bar in 1901, and after recovering from an illness for several months he worked with the law firm Farrell & Finder. In 1904, he opened a law office in Troy. He practiced law on his own until 1923, when he formed a partnership with Charles J. Ranney called Mackrell & Ranney. and 1920. While in the Senate, he sponsored and supported bills that made the Congress Street Bridge and the Greenbush Bridge free, to reconstruct the destroyed Cohoes-Lansingburg Bridge, and to increase teachers' salary. He was appointed to a committee that investigated state-wide teachers' salary conditions, and as a member of the judiciary committee he investigated the charge Senator George L. Thompson was offered a $500,000 bribe. In 1921, he was elected chairman of the Democratic City Committee of Troy, and in that office served as the personal manager of James W. Fleming's successful mayoral campaign. In 1923, he unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Troy, losing to Harry E. Clinton. At some point, he became senior member of the law firm Mackrell, Ranney and Rommel. He served as vice-president of the New York State Bar Association and was on important committees in the Association for a number of years. He served on the Lansingburg board of education for 12 years. During World War II, he was chairman of the legal board

Mackrell was the first president of the Lansingburg Playgrounds Association, president of the Laureate Boat Club, and grand knight of the Knights of Columbus Lansingburg Council. He was also a member of the Elks, the Rensselaer County Society, the Rensselaer County Bar Association, and the Troy Chamber of Commerce. He attended the St. Augustine's Church in Upper Troy. He was buried in St. John’s Cemetery.