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Note: JOHN AND JULIA MC CORMICK A Partial History From Reminiscences of Martha McCormick McMenamin and Julia McCormick Griffin As told to their granddaughter/grandniece, Jean Montgomery Bjorn c. 1975 Our father, John McCormick was born on May 7, 1844, in County Tipperary, Ireland. He came to the United States at the age of 7, in 1851. One of his sisters died during the voyage and was buried at sea. The family travelled down the St. Lawrence River to Chicago where they settled. He roped cattle on a farm located near the present site of State and Madison Streets in Chicago. One sister married and moved to Texas. Several years before the Civil War, the family moved to the country, buying a farm southwest of Shabbona, Illinois. His father asked John to go to Texas to find his sister, of whom the family had heard nothing for some time. The sister was never located. (There is a family story, unconfirmed, that the sister had died, and apparently her husband was either deceased or unable to care for their children who were put up for adoption and taken by adoptive parents to England.) While on the trip to Texas, the Civil War broke out and John was drafted into the Confederate Army. He deserted and fled back North, where he joined the Grand Army of the Republic. He served with the 105th Regiment of Illinois Infantry Volunteers from September 2, 1862 until June 17, 1865. Following his service in the Union Army he saved his army pay and worked approximately 5 years before marrying Julia Cargan in 1870. Julia had been born in County Meath, Ireland. They purchased a farm adjacent to his parents’ farm. There, Mary Elizabeth was born on February 16, 1871 (d Feb. 1964). During a visit of another of John's sisters and her son from Chicago, the boy set fire to a barn after playing with matches. Every building on the farm burned to the ground except the house. At about this time (1871), word was received that the C.B. & Q Railroad was coming to Shabbona; so John built a hotel in Shabbona in 1872. The railroad men and travelers having to wait to catch other trains ate and slept there. There was a long, narrow porch across the front, and in the office, a counter behind which was a cabinet which held cigars and tobacco, and lamps for each room. A round table was used for card games, and in the sitting room (or parlor) was a bookcase, with glass doors and a drawer at the bottom, which held books the travelers could borrow during their stay. On March 21, 1877, the hotel was heavily damaged in a fire. Thanks to an insurance policy a second hotel was built, and the family lived in a house next door. (This house still stands, in excellent repair, on the main street in Shabbona as of 1996.) "Mother's fondest Wish had been to see the day when they would out of the hotel, because father always ate with the men at the hotel, and we ate when we could. She wanted us to be a family again." John and Julia had eight children, all girls. They were: Mary Elizabeth b February 16, 1871 d March 16, 1964 Nellie F. b September 12, 1872 d August, 1885 Theresa b May 13, 1874 d May 18, 1874 Evelyn b February 9, 1876 d September 12, 1949 Lucy b March 10, 1879 d August 31, 1879 Catherine b May 10, 1880 d May 10, 1966 Martha Madeline b December 23, 1882 d May 13, 1976 Julia Cargan b February 3, 1884 d June 19, 1976 Rosella b September 13, 1889 d September 13, 1889 On September 13, 1889, when Martha was 6 1/2 years old and Julia 5 1/2 years old, their mother, Julia Cargan McCormick died after giving birth to Rosella, who had died at birth. On the 11th, someone sent for the priest in Leland, 18 miles away. He anointed her that evening. The children were awakened in the middle of the night and brought to their mother's room where they sat on the sofa and were summoned one at a time to say goodbye to their mother. Julia remembered her mother's farewell to her: "And here's little Julie. Remember to always be a good girl." Upon her death, rather than going the 12 miles to the Catholic Church in Lee (St. James, served by the priest from Rochelle once a month), or the 18 miles to Leland, the minister at Shabbona's Congregational Church offered the priest the use of the Congregational Church for the funeral. During the Mass the Congregational choir sang, having been coached in the Catholic liturgical music the night before by the priest from Leland. Note: The above was written down immediately after visiting with Martha and Julia at the Pine Acres Nursing Home in DeKalb, Illinois, where they shared a room for several years until their deaths in 1976. Having engaged them in a question and answer time, they became very active in their reminiscences, correcting each other gently over small details. How I wished I'd had a tape recorder with me. The verbal pictures they conjured up in my mind were very bright, and I immediately set out to record them. How completely accurate were their memories as far as dates and details, I couldn't know, but I wrote down as closely as possible what they had told me during that wonderful visit.
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