Biography
William McCormick (1866-1923) was the son of James McCormick and Mary
W. Alricks. He remained unmarried all of his life, in the McCormicks'
stately mansion on Harrisburg's Susquehanna Riverfront. His siblings
were Herman and Mary-Kerr McCormick, both of whom died in infancy, and
Eliza Finney, the only one of her immediate family to marry, and Henry,
Donald, James and Robert McCormick, all four of whom were bachelors.
William, a graduate of Yale University, was a journalist, working in
Boston Philadelphia and Allentown, before finally purchasing Reading
newspapers, the Herald and the Telagram, and acting as both editor and
publisher of the News-Times. A lifelong philanthropist with a keen interest
in the welfare of children, he was also a teacher at the Burnham Industrial
Farms in Canaan, New York, early in his career, and completed social
work for boys. Interestingly, William managed to combine his journalistic/writing
talents and his interest in the welfare of children, as well, penning
a number of children's books under the name of George Gordon.
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
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