Fort was born in [[rural]] Bellevue in Bossier Parish, located west of Minden, to Thomas Moore Fort (1820–1887), a lawyer originally from Twiggs County, [[Georgia]], and the former Martha Ann "Mattie" Connell (1835–1927), a [[Mississippi]] native. The couple married in 1856 in Bossier Parish. In 1872, Thomas and Mattie Fort moved to Minden.<ref name=cemetery>Earlene Mendenhall Lyle, ''The Minden Cemetery: A Peaceful Resting Place,'' Self-published, June 2004, p. 4</ref> T. M. Fort, or "Colonel Fort", as he was known, was mayor of Minden from 1875 to 1876, when terms were for one year each. T. M. and Connell Fort are apparently the only father-son mayors of the city, at least since 1868; records before that date are fragmentary or nonexistent.<ref>City of Minden, List of Mayors since 1868</ref>
In 1901, Connell Fort married the former Ellie Miles (1873–1913), a native of [[South Carolina]]. The Forts had a daughter, later Mary F. Barnes of [[Shreveport]], and five sons, Connell Miles Fort, Jr. (1902–1975),<ref>"Connell Miles Fort, Jr., dies in Shreveport", " ''[[Minden Press-Herald]],'' March 4, 1975, p. 10.</ref> Thomas L. Fort, John L. Fort, Carlton A. Fort, and Owen Fort, all of Minden. John Fort (1906–1992) and his wife, Louise B. Fort (1906–2000), operated the former Fort's News Stand, which was located for many years on Main Street in Minden.<ref name=cemetery/>
In 1920, some seven years after Ellie's death, Connell Fort married the former Jessie Beopple. From that union came three more children. Bennard Moore Fort (1921–1945) died at sea during World War II, attached to the ''U.S.S. Saratoga'' in the battle of [[Iwo Jima]].<ref name=homes>{{cite web|url=http://www.mindenmemories.org/Residential%20Homes%20A-F.htm|title=Residential/Homes (A-L)|publisher=Minden Memories|accessdate=May 28, 2011}}</ref><ref>There is a cenotaph of Bennard Fort in the Minden Cemetery.</ref> The two younger Fort children were George W. Fort (1924–2005) and Katherine Virginia Fort, later Katherine Virginia Elliott (1922–2011), the last surviving child of Connell Fort.<ref name=fortdeath/>