William McCord (abt. 1715 - abt. 1759)

Born about 1715 in Ireland

Ancestors

Descendants

Died about 1759 at about age 44 in Cumberland, Pennsylvania

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Biography

WILLIAM McCORD OF THE FORT

William McCord was born between 1715 - 1716 in Ireland, and died between 1756 - 1759 in Franklin County, Pennsylvania.^[1] William McCord's parents were William McCord and Martha Ann (Sawyer). William is thought to have emigrated to America about 1720 with his father, William McCord. No documentation has been found to confirm the connection between William to William McCord the immigrant, though local sources in Franklin County suggest there is this connection. ^[2]

William McCord married Mary Irwin and had 6 children. Mary Irwin was born between 1715 - 1716, and died between April 1756 - 1758 in Pennsylvania. ^[3]

Thought to be the son of the Irish immigrant William McCord, William McCord Jr. was in Franklin County, Pennsylvania by 1743. ^[4] William McCord and his brother David McCord of Derry (Pennsylvania) both held original land patents for their lands granted by the sons of William Penn in the early 1750's. ^[5]

The Indian wars in Pennsylvania caused a large number of blockhouses and forts to be built for the protection of colonists, among them simple defences built around William M'Cord's House by the McCord brothers, William, John and David in Rocky-Spring Settlement (now Edenville) Franklin County. ^[6] The site of the McCade home is several miles north-east of Fort Loudon in Franklin County, not far from the Yankee Gap in the Kittatinny Mountains, west of Chambersburg. ^[7] Located at the base of the Kittatinny Mountain north of Parnell's knob, Fort McCade was used by the Colonial Militia during those troubled times, an neighbouring families gathered there when it was known hostile Indians were on the war path. One such night was on the eve of the 1st April 1756.

A party of Deleware Indians led by Shingas, Chief of the Turtle Clan, were thought to be in the area. They had come the Conococheague Creek, arriving during the night, and taking cover on a bluff overlooking the settlement. Remaining out of sight until the men had gone into the fields to work, the Indians attacked and quickly over ran the fort with its women and children. ^[8] Shingas and his warriors killed, scalped, or kidnapped all twenty seven of those in the fort at the time. Among those captured were Captain Culbertson and William's wife Mary, John McCord's wife Ann, their sister Jean Lowry and five children. ^[9] The Indians then burnt the fort to the ground.

Alerted, the men returned, and almost immediately a combined group of militia and settlers led by Captain Alexander Culbertson went after Shingas and his raiding party, led by an Indian guide.

Their path took them past Fort Lyttleton where Captain Culbertson's party was reinforced by men from the fort, and they were joined by a group of men from Fort Granville, also out looking for Shingas and his war party.

During the night, as the search party approached the gap in Sideling Hill, they saw Indian fires in the bushes beyond an open space. ^[10] Despite the protests of their Indian guide who insisted they should work around and attack the Delaware from the rear, the rescuers rushed the camp fires - and fell into the trap prepared by the Indians. A fierce battle ensued, hotly contested for two hours until the Indians were reinforced and outnmbered, the rescuers were repulsed with the loss of twenty-one killed and seventeen wounded. Among those killed were Captain Culbertson and Mary McCord, killed when caught in crossfire and accidentally shot by one of the militia men. They recovered no prisoners. (The Draper Papers, Lyman C.Draper, Reel 50, Volume 22, pages 61 through 79)

Ann McCord, the wife of John McCord was recovered at Kittanning - as were their two daughters.

The account of the massacre is recorded in an early colonial newspaper," The Maryland Gazette" of 15t April 1756. It is thought that William, along with two of his brothers, was away from the fort at the time of the massacre. He wasn't killed at the time, but died later; possibly from wounds recieved in this massacre, or during one of the follow-up engagements such as the Battle of Sidelong Hill. ^[11] That William of the Fort survived the massacre is evidenced by his being awarded money as compensation for destruction of his home. ^[12]

William McCord's estate was administered in the Cumberland County Pennsylvania court in 1759. :Recently discovered records suggest that he may have been residing in York County Pennsylvania at the time of his death, possibly with William and Jane McLeary.

Fort McCord was never rebuilt, the McCord land was sold to John Bossart about 1760. The McCords had probably moved on by this date. ^[13]

1. ↑ Michael McCord in his book The McCord Saga
2. ↑ http://iagenweb.org/page/famrecd/McCord/page3.htm
3. ↑ Michael McCord in his book The McCord Saga
4. ↑ Janet Ariciu Documentation McCords and Related Families of Cumberland County (Franklin County) Pennsylvania [1]
5. ↑ Fort McCord - Pennsylvania Historical Markers on Waymarking.com [2]
6. ↑ http://iagenweb.org/page/famrecd/McCord/page3.htm
7. ↑ The Indian wars of Pennsylvania by C. Hale Sipe p:261
8. ↑ The Draper Papers, Lyman C.Draper, Reel:50 Vol:22, p:61-79 http://iagenweb.org/page/famrecd/McCord/page3.htm
9. ↑ The Indian wars of Pennsylvania by C. Hale Sipe p:274
10. ↑ The Pennsylvania Rambler: Fort McCord - posted by Norman Houser [3]
11. ↑ Battle of Sideling Hill [4]
12. ↑ http://iagenweb.org/page/famrecd/McCord/page3.htm
13. ↑ http://iagenweb.org/page/famrecd/McCord/page3.htm

Notes

From the Fryberg Collection, Pennsylvania Historical Society Library in Philadelphia comes an anonymous history of the McCord Family that has useful references but jumbles up the William McCords rather badly http://iagenweb.org/page/famrecd/McCord/page3.htm

Sources

• The Indian wars of Pennsylvania : an account of the Indian events, in Pennsylvania, of the French and Indian war, Pontiac's war, Lord Dunmore's war, the revolutionary war, and the Indian uprising from 1789 to 1795 ; tragedies of the Pennsylvania frontier based primarily on the Penna. archives and colonial records by Sipe, C. Hale (Chester Hale) pub: 1929 The Telegraph Press, Harrisburg [5]
• the research of Guyte and Jean McCord of Tallahassee, Florida indicated that Robert and David McCord who had come to Tennessee from Georgia (circa 1820) had as their father John McCord (of Bedford County Virginia) the son of William McCord who built McCord's Fort in Pennsylvania. McCord family Bibles; transcribed family pages with explanation by Clan president James McCord [6]
• McCord's Fort by Kristianne Bartolome on Prezi [7]
• Built by the settlers; named for John McCord. Burnt April 1, 1756, by Indians, who killed or carried into captivity 27 persons. Fort McCord - Edenville, Franklin County, PA - Pennsylvania Historical Markers on Waymarking.com [8]
• DOCUMENTATION MCCORDS AND RELATED FAMILIES OF CUMBERLAND (NOW FRANKLIN) COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA Janet Ariciu family Bush [9]
• Fort McCord - Fort McCord was a private fort built by a Scots-Irish settler, William McCord in 1756.[10]
• Battle of Sideling Hill from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [11]
• The History and Topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams and Perry Counties by Israel Daniel Rupp - pub: Gilbert Hills, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 1846

See Also

• A journal of the captivity of Jean Lowry and her children, giving an account of her being taken by the Indians, the 1st of April 1756, from William McCord's, in Rocky-Spring settlement in Pennsylvania, : with an account of the hardships she suffered, &c. pub: Philadelphia 1760 Printed by William Bradford [12]

Acknowledgements

This person was created through the import of Pioneer Stock.GED on 31 October 2010.