McCornack, Andrew
From Lane Co Oregon
Andrew McCornack. was born August 15, 1817 in the Galloway area of Scotland on a farm named Annabaglish southwest of Kirkcowan. Andrew was the fifth child and the youngest son of Andrew McCornack and Helen McGeough. It is believed that the reason the McCornacks came to America was because of the opportunity for a better economic life free from any Church interference. Andrew became opposed to drinking at an early age. Family records indicate that when he held a sale to dispose of goods before coming to America, he would not allow any liquor at the sale. As result he received a lot less for his property than he would have received if he had allowed the sale of liquor. In June 1838, Andrew McCornack's parents, Andrew and Helen McCornack, along with his brother Alexander and a sister Janet took a sailing vessel for New York. The vessel was named "Siddons" and was operated by Captain Alex Britton. They were on the Atlantic when the coronation of Queen Victoria took place on the 17 Jun 1838. They were still on the sailing ship on the fourth of July. Since the ship was an American ship the captain rigged out the ship with the stars and stripes. It is reported that he told the passengers: "Now you Britishers had your celebration for your Queen, now get out your shot-guns and have one for the country you are going to even if we Yankees did lick you in 1776."
Landing in the Port of New York on the 19 Jul 1838, the arriving McCornack family went to Croton Point, New York where George McQueen and his wife Margaret (Andrew McCornack's oldest daughter) were living. He was described as a joiner on the passenger list. Within a week of arrival he found a job with a joiner at 10 shillings per day. Records indicate that John McCornack, his brother William and sister Margaret McQueen immigrated to America two years earlier in 1836. After arriving, Alexander wrote the following on the 23 Jul 1838 to a uncle and aunt (The William Milligans) who remained in Scotland.
"Dear Uncle and Aunt:
It is with feelings of gratitude that I take my pen to inform you that we are all well at present. Thanks be to God for it and I hope this will find you in the same state. We left Liverpool on the 16th of June at 6 o'clock in the evening and were towed out 20 miles by a steamer and the next morning were a little west to the Isle of Man. They came around the west of Scotland as the wind was more favorable for the north channel than the south.
On the 19th we sailed past the Mull of Kentire, the Island of Isla and other parts in the west highlands so near that we saw sheep and other cattle feeding . On the 20th we passed the North of Ireland. The weather at that time was very cold and wet. We were a little sick for two days and my mother was sick for two weeks but afterward she came to her usual state of health.
We had contrary winds most of the way but the vessel was a fine sailor and passed all that we saw going the same way. We arrived at Statan Isle on the 18th of this month. The surgeon came on board to examine the state of the passengers and the vessel and he found them in health and the vessel clean. Then they hoisted sail and came up to New York and lodged in the City that night and we went back to the ship the next day and got our chests taken out and put them on board the steam packet and came up that night to Crotton Landing. There George McQueen (Andrew McCornack's brother-in-law) met us and put our baggage into a store and we went with him that night and found them all in good health and comfort and the children are asking me a good many questions at this time.
They (George McQueens) had a letter from John and William and they were in good health. They are near a place they call Rochester, State of New York. They have not found a situation for us yet but we intend going farther west if we are spared under Divine Providence and try to get a place to settle in as there is a plenty of land, both to let and sell but trial goes beyond report, but Mother and Jannet will stop here till we find a place, for it would be trouble in vain for them to travel the woods.
{signed - Alexander McCornack}
Andrew mother's Helen and his sister Janet remained with the George McQueens while his father Andrew and the two brothers Andrew and Alexander struck out for Illinois by taking a boat up the Old Erie Canal to Buffalo, New York. There they caught a sailing vessel around the lakes, landing in Chicago in the later part of July in 1838.
In Chicago, the three met an early day settler named Cyrus Larkin who owned a lumber wagon and a team. For $1.25 each they obtained a ride to Elgin, Illinois. Cyrus was very familiar with the Elgin area. At that time there very few streets in Elgin, no bridge across the river and one log store on the bank of the river. This store was kept by Jonathan Kimball. One of the passengers inquired of Kimball, "How far is it to Elgin?" He replied, "Gentlemen, you are right in the midst of the city."
The three after fording the river went out west on what later became Highland Avenue. About six miles west they found an early settler who had a claim of 160 acres with a log house on it for which he asked $125.00. Alexander and Andrew wanted to look around the country some, but the father, weary from the long journey, did not. As he had the money, they closed the bargain, and this claim afterwards became the home of Alexander and his family.
Later in the fall most of the family (including Andrew McCornack) came west. The parents, John, Janet, and Alexander lived in the original log house for some three or four years, until William Fraser (who married Janet) put up an oak frame building for the parents.
Brother William McCornack records more about the movement to Illinois in a letter dated 5 Nov 1838 written to Scotland.
"They wrote to John and I when we were stopping at Rochester on the Erie Canal. Then John went to George McQueens and found them all in good health. Mother and Janet hoisted sail again for Illinois on the 25th September which is a route of 1770 miles - no small journey. On the October 9th they called on me and I joined the family there and found my mother a long way from her native shore but still in good health and good spirits. We came on our journey and took a steam boat at Buffalo for Chicago called Dewit Clinton on the 5th of October. So we set out again and had different kinds of weather. We had some heavy gales on the Lakes. My Mother and Jannet were not sick but tossed a little with the storm. We hired a wagon which took us and our luggage to our new home in two days."
{signed - William McCornack}
The immigration of the McCornack Family to Kane County, Illinois was completed in 1839 when the daughter, Margaret and her husband George McQueen, left Croton Point, New York where they had settled three years earlier and came to Kane County. George and Margaret purchased 230 acres in Plato township, and the immigration was complete.
The McCornacks were very religious people and the Church was an integral part of their lives. In those humble log cabins in Kane County many psalms of praise and fervent prayers of thanksgiving were heard. The "faith of our fathers" was not overlooked in those pioneer homes. Their religion was paramount to them. It was their help and their shield in those days of discouragement and struggle. "God was their refuge and their strength."
In a letter written on the 17 Feb 1841 by Alexander McCornack, Andrew's brother, the following is recorded: "We have not enjoyed the publick ordinances of the Gospel from any one belonging to the Reformed Synod. There is no minister belonging to the body in this place as yet, but we are endeavoring to attend to the duty by holding a fellowship meeting at our house where all different members belonging to the family and a few Christian neighbors gather."
In a 24 Dec 1841 letter the following is recorded: "We have the comfort of informing you that we had a visit from a young minister from the Reformed Pesbytery of Illinois, who preached two Sabbaths, one in George McQueen's house and one in ours (Andrew McCornack's). There were about forty the first day and about seventy the second day hearing him. It was very refreshing to us in our lonely situation to have his company and conversation during a whole week and gospel faithfully preached to us."
The Church was "organized" in 1841 and the church building was started in 1844 or 1845. Land was donated by Alexander McCornack for the site. The timber for the building was hewn in the woods nearby and other lumber was hauled by oxen from Chicago. It was erected under the supervision of William and Daniel Fraser and designed like the one they had attended in Scotland. Even the laths and shingles were hand cut by the zealous members whose very souls and beings were built into this structure which has since become a permanent memorial to their faith, their courage and their convictions. The final touch of Mr. William Fraser's hand was the placing of the sun dial above the door, where it still faithfully marks off the hours.
Part of the site surrounding the Church became the cemetery. The last continuing service was held in the Church on the 9 Sep 1906. In 1916 the Washington Cemetery Association was organized and the Association has met annually since its organization.
Andrew married Marie Eakin on the 27 Nov 1843. She was born on the 7 Jan 1824 in County Derry, Ireland. She was the younger sister of Margaret who married Andrew's brother Alexander. Andrew and Marie had a family of 12 children.
Andrew and Marie moved from Kane County, Illinois to the west coast in 1853. It took them six months to cross the plains. They reached Olympia, Washington with their five sons. They moved to Lane County Oregon in 1858. Andrew was a farmer. He was in the 1st Oregon Regiment during the Civil War. He was in the State Legislature from 1865 till 1867. Andrew was killed while trying to control a runaway team of horses on June 6, 1872 at Huddleston Place near Eugene, Oregon. Marie died on the 30 Jun 1902.
Their children were Walter (July 13, 1845 to March 12, 1903), Edwin (October 7, 1846 to January 11, 1918), William Andrew (September 15, 1848 to February 9, 1918), Eugene (August 7, 1850 to July 28, 1916), Herbert (April 10, 1852 to November 6, 1916), Helen (December 10, 1854 to January 27, 1936), Janet (February 3, 1857 to October 15, 1938), Agnes (May 26, 1859 to August 2, 1944), Mary (April 11, 1861 to November 15, 1936), Robert John Knox (April 4, 1863 to March 16, 1937), Leathe McCornack (July 2, 1866 to October 1, 1944), Frank (January 31, 1868 to April 11, 1929).
