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M Alexander McCormick

Huwelijken en kinderen

Notities

Aantekeningen

The Loyalists in Ontario - Sons and Daughters of the American Loyalists of Upper Canada, William D. Reid, Hunterdon House, Lambertville, N.J., 1973, p.188:
McCORMICK, Alexander of Colchester.
William of Colchester, m. Mary Cornwall. OC 30 June 1819.
Elizabeth. OC 30 June 1819.
Mary, m. John Farriss of Colchester. OC 21 Feb 1821.
Matthew of Colchester. OC 21 Feb 1821.
Alexander of Colchester. OC 21 Feb 1821.
John of Colchester. OC 21 Feb 1821.
Ann, m. --- Stockwell of Colchester. OC 21 Feb 1821.

McCormick Family Cemetery, Harrow, Essex Co., ON, HEIRS files:
McCormick, Alex - October 20, 1803, 75 yrs. Formerly of County Down, Ireland.
McCormick, Elisabeth - June 6, 1838, in her 80th year.
McCormick, John - December 21, 1867, 55[sic] yrs.
McCormick, Anna - April 18, 1865, 68 yrs. Wife of J. McCormick.
McCormick, John - December 8, 1858, 21[sic] yrs., 10 mos., 8 dys.
McCormick, Mathew - April 14, 1884, 87 yrs. Husband of Deborah (Wright) McCormick. McCormick, Deborah (Wright) - April 20, 1874, 71 yrs. Wife of Matthew McCormick.

Commemorative Biographical Record of Essex Co., pp. 128-130:
McCORMICK. Our knowledge of the McCormicks dates back to the reign of George II of England. Of the three brothers of whom we have record, John was a surgeon in the British army, and served on Admiral Boyne's ship, but resigned after the court-martial and death of that gallant officer. John McCormick died at Bath, England. Another brother, David, was a linen merchant, and conducted his business at a place some twenty miles from Belfast, Ireland. Alexander, the third brother, came to America, and from him descend those of the name in the County of Essex, Ontario.
     (I) Alexander McCormick was born in County Down, Ireland, in 1728, of Scotch descent, and as a young man he emigrated to the British colonies, locating in Pennsylvania. There he took up the active life of a trader among the Indians, following that business for a number of years. Upon one of his western trips he met a tribe of Shawnee Indians who had with them a captive white girl, who had been adopted into the tribe. She was a native of Pennsylvania, and while out making maple syrup, in company with others, had been captured by Indians and forced to take up their wearing life. Mr. McDonald loved the unfortunate captive, but at first could not gain her consent to a marriage, for he was thirty years her senior, but when a young brave also decided that he wanted to wed her, she planned to make her escape. In this she was assisted by a squaw, who put her in a place of concealment, and then communicated with Mr. McCormick, who hastened to the girl he loved, and gained her consent to a marriage if he succeeded in effecting her escape. He took her to his boat, and so arranged his load of hides and pelts that she was entirely hidden. His interest in her escape was suspected by the Indians, who came to him at his boat and accused him of knowing her whereabouts. This he denied, inviting a search of his craft. The Indians began to remove the hides, but after taking off several layers, and believing it impossible for a human being to be concealed under the remainder, they permitted him to go on his way. Upon reaching Detroit they were married at the home of Col. Abbott, and soon returned to Pennsylvania. In a short time he moved to Ohio, and settled on a 600-acre tract of land, now a part of Toledo, where he established an Indian trading station. In 1795 he came to the County of Essex, taking up a tract of Government land consisting of Lots 77 and 78, Concession 1, in the township of Colchester South. He later came to the 200-acre farm now owned and occupied by the father of our subject, and upon that place he died, Oct. 20, 1803, aged seventy-five years. His widow survived him until June 6, 1838, passing away at the age of eighty years. At the time of Alexander McCormick's death he owned in this township between 900 and 1000 acres of land. Both himself and wife are buried on the Matthew McCormick farm.
     To Alexander McCormick and his wife were born children as follows: (1) William, who lived for many years in this township, and later on Pelee Island, was a man widely known, and during the war of 1812 was a member of Parliament, continuing to serve as such for eleven years. (2) Nancy married a Mr. Stockwell, and lived on Lot 71, Colchester South. (3) Elizabeth died unmarried. (4) John is mentioned below. (5) Matthew lived in Colchester South, and has grandsons there now; his wife, Deborah (Wright) McCormick, died April 20, 1874, aged 71 years, one month and eleven days. (6) Alexander made his home near Oxley, where he had 400 acres of land; he married Mary Lidwell.
     (II) John McCormick was born in October, 1790, on a 600-acre tract on the site of the present city of Toledo, Ohio. He was a child when the family came to the County of Essex...

Commemorative Biographical Record of Essex Co., pg. 308-313:
...
The history of the McCormick family extends back to the reign of James II. of England. In the latter years of the seventeenth century, about 1688, the Duke of Scomburg, was sent on a military expedition to Ireland. In his army were many Scotchmen, who remained, settling in the North of Ireland, and among these was a McCormick, who made his home in County Down. There he reared a family of six children, four sons - Robert, John, David and Alexander, the youngest - and two daughters. Of the sons, John was a surgeon in the British navy, and served in Admiral Boyne's ship, but resigned after the court-martial and death of that gallant officer. John McCormick died in Bath, England. David was a linen merchant, doing business in a place some twenty miles from Belfast, Ireland. Alexander was the ancestor of the gentleman whose name opens this sketch.
     Alexander McCormick received such education as the times afforded, mostly in the commercial line, and had scarely reached manhood when he determined to come to America, one of his older brothers, who shared his adventurous disposition, coming with him. After their arrival in the English colonies, they separated, the elder brother going to the Carolinas, and he was never afterward heard from by the family. Alexander found a position in business with a merchant in Philadelphia, and remained in the Eastern States for several years. But his restless and roving disposition soon reasserted itself, and presumably, between 1768 and 1770, he joined a company of traders going into the western wilderness across the Allegheny mountains...The next known of him he had passed over the Ohio river, and on into the vast unexplored region north to the Great Lakes and the Detroit river, known as the western district or the Northwest Territory. It was inhabited by tribes of the Wyandotte, Shawnee, Cherokee, Delaware and other Indians, and Mr. McCormick was living with a band on Wyandottes, but whether as a captive or trader is not known...The Indians were pleased with him, formally adopting him into the tribe as brother with appropriate ceremony, and the chief gave him his sister, a comely young squaw, for a wife, the young couple marrying by the Indian ceremony...By his Indian wife McCormick had a son, of whom he always took great care, and who came to Canada with him, when, years later, he settled down to civilized life. It is said the mother died a few years after the son's birth.
     In his wanderings and trading expeditions, Alexander McCormick often came across white people who took to the Indian life - traders and trappers, or captives - and among a band of Chippewas visiting the Maumee country he discovered a white woman who had, judging from appearances, been with the tribe for some time...taking an opportunity to speak to her found that her name was Elizabeth Turner, and that she had been captured in March, 1780, at Pittsburg, about three years previously...she consented to become his wife...
     ...McCormick took Elizabeth to the house of one tof the friends he had made in Detroit on one of his former visits - one Col. Allen. There he boutifully provided her with the dress of civilization, to which she had been a stranger for three years. He also provided her with the best wedding dress and outfit that could be bought in the town, and they were married in the house of Col. Allen in May, 1783, by an English Church minister. Mrs. McCormick often described to her children and grandchildren her wedding outfit in detail and it would now be a curious costume.
     After the marriage of Alexander McCormick to Elizabeth Turner they soon began to make preparation to return to the Indian Settlement in the Maumee country from which he had lately come; ... It seemed that McCormick preferred to live among the Indians and keep up his fur trade. With his Scotch thrift he had made money, and proposed to take up land and establish a more permanent home than he had had with the Indians...      On May 30th, 1784, a child was born to them, whom they named William. The veil of the future of this child has been opened to us, and we know his future career; but at that time the most sanguine optimist could not have predicted that a child born in such unfavorable circumstances would become a prominent man in his sphere - a member of the Canadian Parliament, and the first white owner of Point au Pelee Island.
...
     Mr. and Mrs. McCormick had eight chidren altogether, William, Alexander, Matthew, John, Elizabeth (Betsy) (who never married), Mary (Mrs. John Ferris), Nancy (Mrs. Stockwell) and Sarah (Mrs. Price).      It is not known just when Alexander McCormick came into Canada. The date is placed variously at 1787, 1788, or the early nineties. McCormick may have fought the Revolutionists with the British, or their Indian allies, but there is no doubt that he sympathized strongly with the British, and had, perhaps, done things which gave the "Yankees" reason to regard him as an enemy. So the circumstances made it unpleasant for him to remain in the States, and the British government, on the other hand, was encouraging Loyalists to come into Canada, by offering 200 acres of land to each family that wished to settle. McCormick selected a 200-acre tract in what is now known as Colchester township, County of Essex, near the shores of Lake Erie...there is little doubt that he resumed trading with much success, besides doing a little farming. In 1802 he made a trip to Ireland to visit his people, and he reached a grand old age. His wife, who was much younger than he, having been but eighteen at the time of her capture, survived him many years, her death occurring in 1839, when she was seventy-seven years old. She lived to see her children reach maturity, and to see many grandchidren, to whom she often related tales of her life and sufferings among the Indians. When her son, William, moved to Pelee Island (of which he was the first white owner) she moved with him, and lived there several years, though she died in the township of Colchester, while on a visit. Her sons all married and settled in the country, and some of them attained old age and raised large families, the name being still well known and respected in the old neighborhood.