My McCord Family
MCCORD is the line of my father's mother, Mabel Maude McCord Wood.
See historical McCord and Hill Family Photos
My Great Great Grandparents:
Samuel and Eleanor McCord
My great grandparents, Samuel and Eleanor McCord are somewhat of a mystery. They showed up in Iowa about 1844 to 1849 and the only record of where they originated from are the US Censuses for Iowa, which indicate Samuel McCord and wife Eleanor were born in Pennsylvania. The 1850 Census showed Samuel age 29, Elenor age 29, daughters Drusilla age 7 and Henrietta age 5, all born in PA. Thier third daughter Almira age 2, was born in Iowa. Based on the family's ages in this Census, Sam and Eleanor were likely born around 1820 and married around 1840. However, where in PA they came from or who their parents were is unknown.
Complicating things, there were multiple "Samuel McCords" found in Pennsylvania in the early late 1700s and early 1800s and there was even another Samuel McCord (1817-1886) from Pennsylvania who lived and died in the same area of Iowa during the same time period.
Sam and Eleanor arrived in Johnson Co. Iowa circa 1845 with two young daughters Drusilla and Henrietta. Once in Iowa. We know Sam was a blacksmith and voted in the elections for the establishment of Iowa City and to elect a mayor. He was also appointed as a postmaster.
During this time period Samuel was mentioned in an article in the Jan. 1849 edition of the Iowa Capitol Reporter in the Lirbary of Congress' Chronicling America newspaper collection that stated that he was paid $1.50 "for ironing Ketchum." I noted this but had no idea what was meant by "ironing" or what Ketchum was. Months later, I followed up on this and found an earlier article from Sept 1848 in the same paper. It was about a man named Ketchum that had been arrested and jailed for stealing a horse. Soon after his arrest, Ketchum turned up missing from the courthouse jail. The article continued that "though ironed, he escaped." Seeing that he was "ironed", and knowing Samuel was a blacksmith, it suddenly dawned on me that the latter article recorded Samuel's payment for providing the irons (as in leg irons or handcuffs) to restrain the thief Ketchum.
Samuel and Eleanor had two more children, Samuel Quinn in 1851 and Alice in 1859. When Samuel passed away in 1862, two of their daughters, Almira and Alice, had already passed in 1860. All three were buried in the Oakland Cemetery, Iowa City, Johnson Co., Iowa. Daughter Dursilla was married to Oliver J O'Keen in 1859. Little is known about their daughter Henrietta after the 1860 US Census.
Years after Sam's death, Samuel's widow Eleanor married Archibald Worley Blaine in 1874. Blaine had been born in Carlisle PA in 1814 and the Blaine family in Pennsylvania had intermarried with McCords however, no prior connection of the Blaine family to either Sam or Eleanor has been established.
Descendancy Chart for Samuel McCord
My Great Grandparents:
Samuel Quinn McCord and Hester Mary Hill
Samuel Quinn McCord and wife Hester Mary Hill
Most likely taken at their wedding May 23, 1874, in Atlantic Iowa
Samuel and Eleanor's son Samuel Quinn McCord was born in 1851 in Iowa, most likely in Johnson Co. He would have been about 11 when his father died in 1862. He was called Quinn in the 1860 US Census and in the 1870 Linn Co. Iowa US Census "Quinn" McCord was shown as a 17-year-old student at Western College established earlier in 1857 by the United Brethren in Christ.
He was listed as a person subject to military duty in Audubon Co. Iowa from the early 1870s until at least 1881. It was in Audubon Co. where he married Hester Mary Hill in May 1874, whose parents were John Frederick and Elizabeth May Hill.
Hester was from German stock. Her great grandfather Frederick Hill was a Hessian soldier who had been conscripted by the ruler back in Germany to fight for the British against the Americans in the Revolution. While he was stationed in Canada, along with some friends they deserted the British by crossing over the frozen Saint Lawrence River on the ice during the winter to join the American cause.
Samuel Q and Hester McCord had eight children, five sons and three daughters.
Charles Leonidas McCord 1877-1941
Grace Lula McCord Hendrickson 1879-1960 (Need better photo)
Clarence McCord 1881-1931 (photo needed)
Kenneth McCord 1884-1887 (Photo needed)
Mabel Maud McCord Wood 1885-1968, my grandmother
Verna May McCord Fowler cir 1913 1890-1936
According to family legend Samuel deserted his family around 1895. An alcoholic, he went to town to sell a wagon load of grain and was never heard from again. The wagon was found abandoned and empty. There were unsubstantiated rumors that he might have been seen in another town in Iowa but no one knows for sure. Research has been unsuccessful in locating him but some have mistakenly described his death and burial.
While several of the children would have been old enough to help out, Hester must have had a rough time raising seven kids, all teenagers or younger. However, she had friends and family to support her as the Hill and McCord families remained close. About six years after her husband's disappearance, and after suffering for several years from cancer, Hester passed away in 1901 at the age of forty-five. Her obituary in the Audubon County Journal, May 23, 1901, stated: "Many friends and relatives had gathered to pay their last regards to the departed one, after which the remains were laid to rest in a grave at the Exira Cemetery in Audubon Co. Iowa. She had been a faithful member of the Christian church for several years and died in the faith of Christ, which is the hope of the world. "
One of Hester's daughters, my grandmother Mabel, was 15 years old when her mother died in Exira Iowa. By 1904 Mabel had moved to Sioux City Iowa where she worked as a domestic. However, she made several visits to Exira to see her Hill Grandparents in 1905 and 1907 and a sibling or two.
My grandfather, Walter G Wood, had also moved to Sioux City from Kentucky about the same time was farming a parcel of land on the bank of the Perry Creek about a half mile upstream from the Missouri River. It is not known how they met, but I suspect they were introduced by her cousin who was in the Berean Bible Society with Walter. They were married in January 1909. My father Clifford, and their only child, was born a little over a year later there in March 1910.
Fortunately, I have been able to contact with many of the McCord family's descendants. Those I am aware of are found in South Dakota, Kansas, British Columbia, Oregon, Nevada and the Los Angeles area, and at least one other located in Florida besides me.
Thanks to some of my McCord and Hill family cousins, I have been able to obtain many photos of this family. You can see these at My McCord & Hill Family Photos under Family Photos on the main menu. Because they have been provided by others, you may find some that are not identified or might be misidentified. If you see any of these, please let me know about them so I can update their information. Also, additional photos of this family would be greatly appreciated. My contact information can be found at the bottom of each page.
McCord Family Groups
Years ago, Clan McCord organized all the known McCord families in America into groups based on their oldest known common McCord ancestor. Samuel and Eleanor McCord's descendants are known as family "MM" in the records of Clan McCord. In many cases it was not known how each of these diverse McCords are related. The "family groups" are a convenient, although a confusing way to identify the McCord family, but DNA is now helping to link some of these groups together. See the McCord Surname - DNA Genealogy Facebook page for more on McCord DNA.
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