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WILLIAM OF THE FORT (William,1) ===================================================================== Family Group Record - 1033 ===================================================================== HUSBAND William MCCORD-3145 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Born: Place: Ireland Chr.: Place: Died: Abt 1759 Place: Cumberland Co., Now Franklin Co., PA Bur.: Place: Marr: Place: Father: William MCCORD-3141/1031 Mother: Martha-3142 Other wives: ===================================================================== WIFE Mary IRWIN ?-3149 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Born: Place: Chr.: Place: Died: Apr 1756 Place: Ft. McCord, Franklin Co., Penn. Bur.: Place: Father: Mother: Other husbands: ===================================================================== SEX Children (in order of birth) (Marr:* means multiple marriages) ===================================================================== 1 Name: William MCCORD-3150 Spouse: ---- Born: Place: Died: Place: Perry County, Pennsylvania ? M Bur.: Place: Marr: Place: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Name: Jane MCCORD-3151 Spouse: William MCCLEARY-3169/1037 ---- Born: 1731 Place: Pennsylvania ? Died: 1791 Place: Mecklenburg Co.,North Carolina F Bur.: Place: Steele Creek Cem,Mecklenburg Co. Marr: Place: Cumberland Co.,Now Franklin Co. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Name: John MCCORD-3152 Spouse: Agnes-3170/1038 ---- Born: Place: Pennsylvania ? Died: 1 May 1797 Place: Oglethorpe Co., Georgia M Bur.: Place: Marr: Bef 1758 Place: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Name: Robert MCCORD-3153 Spouse: ?-3177/1039 ---- Born: 1739 Place: Pennsylvania ? Died: 1801 Place: Mecklenburg Co., North Carolina M Bur.: Place: Steele Creek Cem., Mecklenburg Co. Marr: Place: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Name: David MCCORD-839 Spouse: Ann SHIPLEY-149/241 ---- Born: 1746 Place: Pennsylvania Died: 1818 Place: Madison Co., Kentucky M Bur.: Place: Marr: 1765 Place: Bedford Co., Virginia ? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 Name: James MCCORD-3155 Spouse: Catherine?-3178/1040 ---- Born: 1747 Place: Franklin Co., Pennsylvania Died: 12 Nov 1781 Place: Mecklenburg Co., North Carolina M Bur.: Place: Steele Creek Cem, Mecklenburg Co. Marr: Place: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 Name: Mary MCCORD-6262Spouse: Robert ANDERSON-6263/2005 ---- Born: 1751 Place: Now Franklin Co., Pennsylvania Died: Place: F Bur.: Place: Marr: Place: ===================================================================== There are a number of questions as to the accuracy of this family record. It is highly probable that William2 is the son of William1. Whether Mary Ryan is his wife as some believe and if she is the Mary McCord killed at the fort is not documented. Mary Ryan McCord Mears wrote that she was named after a grandmother (hers or her father's?) or a great-aunt, stating that one was Mary Ryan McCord and the other was Jane Lowry. It is probable that John and William3 are the oldest sons and served under Colonel Armstrong in 1755. We don't know whether William survived the massacre although there appears to be another William's records beyond the William3, son of David, and the William who is the son of John of Hanover Township, who marries Agnes McKinney. Robert, David and James are certainly established by their dealings with William McCleary. It is certainly probable that Jane is their big sister, born in 1731 accounting for the many contacts in Pennsylvania and North Carolina to be documented subsequently. On the other hand she could be their aunt, a daughter of William1, and Jane or Jean Lowry their sister, but with the latter Jane having had five or six children and pregnant with another at the time of the massacre, her date of birth is probably before 1730 by several years. DOCUMENTATION MCCORDS AND RELATED FAMILIES OF CUMBERLAND (NOW FRANKLIN) COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA William McCord, probably the son of the Immigrant William McCord, was in Hamilton Township of Cumberland (now Franklin) County by 1743. He is probably not the William McCord, a laborer, age 30, born in Ireland who enlisted July 24, 1746 and was under the command of Samuel Perry on the 4th of August 1746. These troops were enlisted for an expedition into Canada and stationed at Albany for the winter. They probably were enlisted more in the Philadelphia area. (Pennsylvania Archives; Series 5, Vol. I, page 15.) This would give his year of birth as 1715 or 1716; this late a birth date is difficult to reconcile with a daughter Jane born in 1731. From History of Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1887. p.568 Andrew McCleary (probably father of William McCleary) has a land title in what is now Peters Township dated 17 August 1738. James Irwin's land is given as a boundary to land titles of 1745 and 1751 in this area. p. 577 A history of Hamilton Township founded 1752 is given. Among the earliest land entries was Samuel Pollock, September 22, 1743. Among his neighbors listed to show his boundaries was William McCord; this establishes William McCord as having settled here prior to that date. John Lowry's land is also listed as one of the boundaries. David Guthrie entered land on March 25, 1748 and John Irwin is listed as one of his neighbors. pp. 153 and following Taxable names in 1751 and 1752 included William McCord in Hamilton Township and James Erwin in Peters Township. (Jean P. McCord states that in 1753 William McCord's land was recorded as surveyed in three groupings, 50 acres; 25 acres; and 50 acres making a total of 125 acres. In 1752 the tax returns of Cumberland County, Hamilton Township showed that he paid tax on 125 acres. A historical record states that these warrants were issued at least nine years ahead of this survey.) In Antrim Township William and Robert Erwin are listed; in Lurgan Township William and John Erwin, Christian Irwin and John Lowrie. p.115 Following Braddock's defeat in 1755, the second battalion of 700 men was raised and placed under the command of Col. John Armstrong of Carlisle and stationed west of Susquehanna River. Capt. Joseph Armstrong of Hamilton Township was one of his subordinates. In the latter's private army of sixty-two men John McCord, Abram and Christopher Irwin are listed. Another source states that among the seventy North Hamilton Associators of Rangers raised by Capt. Joseph Armstrong in 1755 were Abram Irwin and John and William McCord. (Pennsylvania Archives; Series 5, Vol. I, page 38.) p.169 April 5, 1756, McCord's Fort was burned and many inhabitants killed and captured by the Indians. p.593 In Letterkenny Township formed from Lurgan in 1762, Christopher and John Irwin are listed as land owners by 1754. (From Egle's notes and Queries, V.1, 4th series, p.113 -- in Letterkenny twp. Thomas McCord was a brother of John, James, Eliz and Sarah - no date is given) This refers to Family R. p.594 In Southhampton Township formed from Lurgan in 1783, William Irwin is listed as a landowner by 1749 and in the list of taxables of 1786 are Mark, William and David McCord and William Erwin. p.577 Hamilton Twp formed in 1752. Among earliest land entries is Samuel Pollock 22 Sept 1743. Neighbors: Cy Eaton, William McCord, John Lowry. Bounded on two sides by mountain and Dutchman's land. p.577 List of Taxables 1786 include John Chesnut. p.586-8 An article on the Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church, where William McCord held Pew 19 in the early period, listed John Chestnut and Samuel McCord as members about 1787 (100 years ago). p.594 Southhampton Twp formed in 1783. List of taxables in 1786 include Mark McCord and William McCord and David McCord as a freeman. On a petition to the governor from Cumberland County dated 15 July 1754 (original in Pennsylvania Historical Society library in Philadelphia) William McCord and John Irvin are among the signers. From George O. Seilhamer, Esq., "Old Mother Cumberland" The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography VolXXIV, 1900 pp. 17-47: In an extensive history of the settling of the Cumberland Valley he mentions the four pioneer Irwin brothers including James. Whether the Erwin and Irvine spellings also refer to this family, I have not determined. (My recording Irwin family data is based on Mary Irwin's being the wife of William of the Fort; I have also much data on Irwins in Bedford County, Virginia with the possibility that it is a later John who marries a Mary Irwin.) From Harry E. Foreman North Mountain Shadows and Loudon Road History, 1952 pp. 23-29 there is much additional documentation given. Pertinent extracts follow: The Ft. McCord site was near a branch of Dennis Creek now called Palmer Run. The fort was on the William McCord land. William McCord owned this land before 1743 as is shown by the Samuel Pollock draught of 1743. William McCord is named as a neighboring land owner at this date. The Pollock draught is bounded as follows: on the west by the Mountain, on the south by William McCord and Joseph Eaton, on the east by John Lowry, and on the north by a Dutchman. This Pollock draught embraced the present J. Walker Martin, Wiland Bricker, Jacob Brechbiel and Clarence Burkholder farms. The John Lowry mentioned on the Pollock draught of 1743 is evidently the same John Lowry who shot an Indian at Fort McCord on April 8, 1756 (Maryland Gazette 1756.) (His wife Jane is probably Jane McCord, daughter of William the Immigrant. Egle's History of Dauphin and Lebanon County, Pennsylvania gives a number of references to John Lowry. p.24 Warrantees of Land in Paxtang Township: John Lowry 200 acres Feb. 7, 1737 and 150 acres Aug 28, 1734. Egle's Pennsylvania Genealogies p. 18 states that Alexander Lowrey, the son of Lazarus Lowrey, was born in the north of Ireland in December, 1725. His parents, with several elder children [was one John?] came to America in 1729, and settled in Donegal township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.) The Fort McCord Massacre occurred April 1, 1756. Records state that there were twenty-seven victims although some accounts claim that there were more than thirty victims. Not many of the twenty-seven victims are known. Among the known was the Thorne family. Mrs. John Thorne and babe, with two of William McCord's daughters escaped during the Battle of Sideling Hill or Bloody Run and found their way back to Fort Littleton. Martha Thorn and Mrs. John (Ann or Annie) McCord were rescued in August 1756 when Kitanning was destroyed. (From Fred Anderson. Crucible of War. Alfred Knopf: New York, 2000, p.163-4) It must be noted that the only successful Anglo-American offensive to be mounted in America in 1756 did occur in Pennsylvania, but even that victory cost the Pennsylvanians more lives than it took from their enemies. The raid was a daring attempt to attack Shinga's and Captain Jacobs' base, the Delaware settlement of Upper Kittaning, a town of thirty houses on the Allegheny River perhaps twenty-five miles above Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh). Colonel John Armstrong, a surveyor from Carlisle, led a party of three hundred provincials overland from Aughwick and succeeded in surprising the town at dawn on August 8. Resistance proved stiff, however, and Armstrong's men suffered at least forty casualties before setting fire to the town and retiring, having recovered eleven English captives and taken perhaps a dozen scalps. The Samuel Pollock draft lists William McCord as a neighboring land owner. William McCord secured a warrant to this land in 1752. (Office of the Clerk of the Courts) Another source states he received a Warrant for one hundred and twenty-five acres, the date of survey being May 24, 1753. (Pennsylvania Archives 3rd Ser., Vol. 24, P.?) William McCord and John McCord were on Captain Joseph Armstrong's muster roll of August 1755. William McCord was on the tax list of 1751 while his pew number at Rocky Spring was number 19. Mary McCord was shot by a Provincial soldier by mistake. On April 1, 1756 occurred the Fort McCord Massacre. William McCord died from wounds received at Fort McCord or in the fighting directly afterwards. (Is this the father whose estate was not inventoried or settled till 1759 and may have lingered several years after being wounded or is it his son?) Mrs. John McCord and Martha Thorn aged seven were taken prisoners and both were rescued in August 1756 after Col. Armstrong destroyed Kittaning. Mrs. John Thorn with babe and two of William McCord's daughters escaped during the Sideling Hill battle and returned to Fort Littleton. |