ANDREW JACKSON McCORMICK

BIOGRAPHY

AS RECORDED IN:

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF
TOLLAND AND WINDHAM COUNTIES CONNECTICUT.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PROMINENT AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS AND OF MANY OF THE EARLY SETTLED FAMILIES
PUBLISHER: J.H.BEERS & CO., CHICAGO; 1903 P. 1021

ANDREW JACKSON McCORMICK, of Tolland, was born in Phillipsburg, N.J., and is a son of David McCormick, who was a native of the North of Ireland.

The father was a contractor and builder, and an extensive lumber dealer, who came to this country in 1824, at the age of sixteen years. Settling in Luzerne county, Pa., he presently became very wealthy, and bought a tract of 1,000 acres of timbered land, building a steam saw-mill and calling into existence a village of some twenty-five houses in which he kept his help. An energetic and pushing man, he had a large and growing business until a fire swept through the woods, destroying his mills and houses, and everything within a radius of fifteen miles. He lost over $80,000, and died shortly after the fire, in which his health was greatly broken. The Morris canal, running from Easton, Pa., was built by him, the work extending through several years and employing over 400 men. It is said that he built the first brick house in Phillipsburg. A Republican, and earnest for the party welfare, he was not a politician or an office seeker, his business demanding all his energies. A popular and genial gentleman, he was one of the best informed men in the State regarding the things in which he was interested. In religion he was a member of the Presbyterian Church.

Mr. McCormick was married about 1830 to Mary Lockwood, who was born March 15, 1813, in New Jersey and died May 20, 1900, in Pennsylvania. The children, besides Andrew J., whose name heads these lines, were: William C., of Lehighton, Pa., the general manager of the Lehigh Valley Emery Wheel Company, who holds a prominent position in the city, is at present a member of the city council and has been three times married; George W., who is married, and is living in Laurel Run, Pa., where he holds a position with the Lehigh Valley Railroad; Thomas, married, a cabinet maker in New Haven; David, married, and a decorator and painter in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he died; Agnes, who married Hiram Transue, a farmer, and died in Delaware Water Gap, Pa.; two children who died in infancy.

Andrew Jackson McCormick was born in Phillipsburg, N.J., and had his education very largely in the public schools of Easton, Pa. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to the cabinet maker’s trade to a man who did not treat him well, and he ran away after working about a year, and made his way to his widowed mother, who was living at that time in Brooklyn, N.Y. His father died when he was but five years of age, shortly after the great fire, and the vast changes of the family fortunes indicated the greatness of that disaster.

In Brooklyn the stout young lad worked for a stair-builder some six months and then clerked in a hardware and cutlery store for about twelve years. At the expiration of that period he began a business in hardware and painters’ supplies, with a partner; the firm was known as A.J. McCormick & Co., located at 914-916 and 977 Fulton street. The firm conducted a very successful business from 1874 until 1880, when Mr. McCormick sold out to his partner on account of ill-health, and removed to Coventry, Conn., where he went on a farm in hopes of regaining his health. In 1883 he came to Tolland and settled on a farm belonging to his wife’s mother. It consists of ninety-four acres, and there he still resides, carrying on a considerable papering and painting business in addition to his farming operations. Mr. McCormick is making quite a business of poultry raising. For several years he was secretary of the Tolland Grange and is one of the active workers in that valuable organization. All the family belong to the Methodist Church.

Mr. McCormick is a staunch Republican, and has served on the board of selectmen for a number of years, and at the present is its chairman. He was one of the special assessors of the town in 1893, having served as assessor for several years. Mr. McCormick has also filled the office of justice of the peace with satisfaction to the community and credit to himself. He was also a corporator of the Savings Bank of Tolland, and a director in the public library.

Mr. McCormick was married Sept. 6, 1871, to Lizzie Naomi, the daughter of William Hamlyn, and a native of New York. She died Feb. 6, 1877, at the age of twenty-five years, and was mother to Frank Lockwood, who was born July 24, 1872, and Andrew Jackson, Jr., born May 16, 1875. Both these sons are at home. Mr. McCormick was married a second time, April 15, 1878, to Isabelle M. Woodruff, born Nov. 27, 1858, and a daughter of David and Nancy S. (Benham) Woodruff. To this union were born: Edith Abbie, born Sept. 5, 1881, deceased April 13, 1898; Ida May, April 16, 1884, at home; Clara Belle, born March 18, 1888, at home; Wilbur Benham, born July 1, 1901.

Mr. McCormick is an ideal citizen, well liked, and highly esteemed in the community.

Reproduced by:

Linda D. Pingel

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