McCormick, William

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: K. G. Pryke, “McCORMICK, WILLIAM,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 7, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mccormick_william_7E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Politician, militia officer, businessman, office holder, jp, and author; b. 30 May 1784, probably in the Ohio country, eldest child of Alexander McCormick and Elizabeth Turner; m. 29 Jan. 1809 Mary Cornwall in Colchester Township, Upper Canada, and they had 13 children, one of whom died in infancy; d. 18 Feb. 1840 on Pelee Island, Upper Canada.
    • During the American Revolutionary War, William McCormick’s father, a fur trader in the Ohio country, served with Captain Henry Bird’s expedition against Kentucky and also with Captain William Caldwell of Butler’s Rangers. After the war he appears in records as a resident of Detroit but he also operated a trading post at the rapids of the Miamis River (Maumee, Ohio). When his post was destroyed during the battle of Fallen Timbers in August 1794, he moved to Upper Canada, settling first in Malden Township and then in Colchester Township
    • During the War of 1812 McCormick had seen action with the 1st Essex Militia, initially as a lieutenant and then as a captain; he was present at the attacks in 1813 on Frenchtown (Monroe, Mich.) and on Fort Meigs (near Perrysburg), Ohio. His service in the war ended with his capture in late 1813 or January 1814.
    • McCormick’s financial position improved markedly around 1819 as a result of an inheritance of some £10,000 from an Irish uncle. He used his new source of wealth to add to the land which he had already acquired. In addition to Pelee Island, the lease of which he bought in 1823, he made large property investments on the mainland; from 1820 to 1824 he purchased 1,290 acres and held a mortgage on over 700 more. 
  • Son of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=5194
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/128523754/william-mccormick