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McCormick Family History
The ancestors of the McCormick family were of Scotch-Irish lineage.
They emigrated to America sometime after the siege of the city
of Londonderry, Ireland in 1689. The McCormick family who settled
in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania were descendants of Thomas
McCormick, who married Elizabeth
Carruth in 1728, and emigrated to America in 1735 with his
brother Hugh McCormick. The McCormick name became prominent in
the early settlement of the county and members of the family in
each succeeding generation distinguished themselves in every field
of endeavor, including business, finance, law, politics and the
military. The best-known McCormick was Vance
McCormick(1872-1946)
(son of Colonel Henry McCormick), who
went on to serve as chair of President Woodrow Wilson's Commission
for Peace at Versailles.
Several prominent Daupin County, PA families married into the
McCormick family, and their mementos, letters and photos are incorporated
and preserved within the McCormick Family Collection.
The Cameron Family is among these. A very well-known and influential
family in Central Pennsylvania history, the Camerons boasted statesmen
and high-standing business leaders in their ranks. In fact, during
the time that the McCormick Family Papers were collected, the
Harrisburg-Lancaster County McCormick-Cameron family included
two U.S. Senators, six bank presidents, a mayor and gubernatorial
candidate and three President-makers, plus a U.S. Attorney General
(by marriage). The best known Cameron family member was Simon
Cameron.
The Alricks family was related to the McCormick family through
the marriage of James and Mary
Alricks McCormick. The Alricks family traces its lineage back
to Peter Alricks, who
arrived in America in 1657 with dispatches from the Holland Commissioners
to his uncle, Jacob Alricks, director of the Amsterdam Colony
on the Delaware River. He was a successful trader and became a
prominent figure in the early settlement. He married Maria Wessels
in New York in 1664. Mary Wilson Alricks,
a direct descendant of their youngest son, Wessell, married James
McCormick (1832-1917) in 1859.
The Finney family is related to the McCormick family through
the marriage of Eliza McCormick, daughter
of James and Mary
Alricks McCormick. It was the Finney branch of the family
that preserved the McCormick Family Collection.
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Individual Family Members
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- The most celebrated McCormick
is Vance (1872-1946), who remains one
of the most influential figures in Cumberland and Dauphin County,
Pennsylvania history. For information about Vance's life,
or to see photos, or documents and other memorabilia related
to Vance within the McCormick Collection, visit
Vance's page.
- To learn about other family members
(bios, photos, and other documents, as they become available),
click on the names at left.
- For further general information about
the McCormick Family history, see our Simple
Family Tree/ Genealogy Page
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About the
Collection |
The McCormick family history is preserved in the McCormick Family
Papers, a collection of letters, photos, publications, collected
objects and personal and official documents that have been passed
down by family members. The papers were donated to the Historical
Society of Dauphin County in the spring of 1993 by Louisa France,
whose mother, Eliza McCormick Finney, was a sister of James McCormick,
Jr. Several papers, including J.G. Finney and William W. Finney's
correspondence, original deeds and materials about the Harrisburg
Flood, 1936, are included in the McCormick Family Papers collection.
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This site is sponsored by the Center
for Pennsylvania Cultural Studies at the Pennsylvania
State University at Harrisburg, in cooperation with the Historical
Society of Dauphin County, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Director of
the McCormick Family Papers Project at the Center is Professor Michael
Barton.Learn more about the
Center, and the program that sponsors this project
McCormick Family
Papers - Home
The Center for Pennsylvania Culture Studies - Home
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