Adam McCormick
Adam McCormick died July 3, 1849, aged sixty-five years. His wife, Margaret, daughter of Andrew and Mary Ellison, died March 6, 1845, in the fifty-fifth year of her age. Their only son, Joseph McCormick, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1814.
He was a plain common Irshman, with the strongest emphasis on Irish, as it shone out all about him. He lived on Brush Creek awhile, then moved to West Union. He was a member of the Baptist Church in West Union. He was a strong Whig. He owned a large tract of land near Jacksonville, in Meigs Township. He purchased the Palace Hotel property of the estate of his sister, Isabella Burgess, and died there. He lived in Cincinnati a good part of his time. He was living there in 1814 when his son Joseph was born. He was also living there in 1831 when his sister married Rev. Dyer Burgess. He was a strong Baptist. He donated the ground where the Baptist Church in West Union stands and built the church. He had considerable improved property in Cincinnati and was at that city to collect his rents in June, 1849, and when he returned to West Union, was taken sick and died. At the time of his death, he was Superintendent of the Baptist Sunday School in West Union.
It is said he came from Ireland a lad and worked about the furnaces in Adams County. He was the architect of his own fortune. He made money, but how, is now buried in oblivion, but he made it honestly and was highly esteemed as a citizen. He was a carpenter by trade, and was the contractor and builder of the first bridge built in Adams County where the iron bridge now stands. James Anderson crossed it with a team and wagon loaded with pig iron from Steam Furnace, and that was the only team which ever crossed it. There was a sudden rise in Brush Creek which undermined one of the piers and the bridge fell. Adam McCormick lived on the farm on which George A. Thomas now resides. He removed to West Union and purchased the Dyer Burgess property and lived there from 1842 until his death, in 1849.
He was married to Margaret Ellison. April 6, 1813. Andrew Ellison was running Steam Furnace and Adam McCormick was a patttern maker and made patterns at the furnace while his father-in-law run it. James Anderson teamed between Steam Furnace and the river, hauling pig iron, supplies, etc. When the furnace shut down, Adam McCormick went to farming.
From "History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time" - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900