Dr Luella Day McConnell
(1870-1927)

Died aged c. 57

Dr. Luella Day McConnell was born in 1870 in Baltimore, Maryland. She was a practicing physician in Chicago, when, in 1898 she succumbed to "gold rush fever" and relocated to Dawson, a trading post that became the capital of the Yukon Territory. She was outspoken about graft and corruption in the territorial government, and officials passed laws that precluded her ability to practice medicine. About 1904, "Diamond Lil", as she was known, arrived in St. Augustine. She bought land adjacent to the Matanzas Inlet north of the Mission de Nombre de Dios and created the Fountain of Youth tourist attraction. Until her death in 1927, in St. Augustine, she fabricated stories to amuse and appall the city’s residents.

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