John Wesley McCormick, Sr.

A Patriot of the American Revolution for VIRGINIA - PENNSYLVANIA with the rank of Private. DAR Ancestor #   A075651

from DAR Library Pension Papers Vol 113 1775-1783

App for pension September 15, 1832. Issued $40.00 per Annum

John McCormick was born near Winchester, Fredrick County, VA, August 30, 1754. While residing on the Holston River in what is now called East Tennessee, he volunteered April or May 1776. Served as a private for one year in Capt. James Robinson's Company, Col. Christie's Virgina Regiment and also served in Capt. James Shelby's company, and Major Anthony Bledsoe in the Virginia Troops, was in the battle with the Cherokee Indians and aided in destroying several of their towns.

He then moved to Bedford county, PA. where he enlisted in the summer or fall of 1780, served 3 months in Capt. McCall's company, Col. Robert Culbertson's Regiment Pennsylvania Troops. This company was employed in scouting about the country in the neighborhood of Bedford, Pa., but this applicant did not march with them, he was retained as a sentry in the town.

After the Revoluntionary War, he moved to Butler county, Ohio, remained there for 9 years, and then moved to Preble co, Ohio. In 1813 he settled in Fayette co, Indiana.

He was of Scotch ancestry. One of the family is said to have donated to the State of Indiana the land on which the State Capital is located.

From "History of Fayette County, Indiana", F. Barrows, Indianapolis, 1917 pg 602-604:

According to the best authorities the first settler on the present site of Indianapolis was John McCormick who was one of the first settlers in Connersville. O.H.Smith states that Mccormack was the first man to build a house outside the of the stockade in Connersville, and that he continued to reside there until Februsry, 1820. In view the fact that Connersville furnished the first permanent resident of Indianapolis it seems fitting to give in this connection some facts of McCormick's career. It is planned to erect a monument of some kind at Indianapolis on the site of McCormick's cabin, which was located near the east end of the Washington street bridge over the White River.

His marriage to Catherine Drennen resulted in 14 children, nearly all of whom lived to be 70 and some of more than 90.

From "OUR FOLK", McCormick Family Geneology: The history of the McCormick family can be traced back to an early period in Scotland. Duringthat period known as the "Covenanters" when the trouble arose between the established church and the Presbyterians, the McCormicks on account of persecution emigrated to the northern part of Ireland. They remained there for a time and later emigrated to America settling in Virgina and Pennsylvania.

John Wesley McCormick, Sr. (August 30, 1754–April 18, 1837) was a nineteenth-century settler in Indiana. He was one of the first white settlers in the future Indianapolis area. McCormick's Creek State Park, near Spencer, Indiana, is named after him.
History
John Wesley McCormick was born near Winchester, Virginia, on August 30, 1754. He served in the American Revolutionary War from 1776 to 1783, his first enlistment being with Captain James Robinson's Company in Col. Church's regiment, He enlisted in January 1778 in Captain James Shelley's Company and afterward served in Captain Mark's Company of the 14th Virginia Regiment, then with the same company in the 10th Virginia Regiment under Col. Charles Lewis. His last enlistment was from Pennsylvania for three months of service.
Part of his service was against the Indians on the frontier, where he engaged in a fight on the Watauga River. His residence at the time of his first enlistment was Molachucky River, Virginia, now a part of Tennessee. With the expiration of his second enlistment in 1780 he moved to Bedford, Pennsylvania, where on March 24, he married Catherine Drennen (born January 25, 1769 in Pennsylvania). In 1808, the McCormicks moved to Ohio, settling in Preble County not far from Eaton. The overland trip was made in wagons, then down the Ohio River in flatboats.
They remained in Ohio only a short time before moving to the Indiana Territory, accompanied by John's two brothers (Samuel and James) and their families. They lived initially at the fort at Connersville because of trouble with the Indians, but John was the first man to leave the protection of the defense to look for permanent settlement. In 1816, he settled nearly 100 acres (0.40 km2) along a canyon by waterfalls in what later became Owen County, in the area of what is now McCormick's Creek State Park. On December 11, 1816, Indiana became the nineteenth state admitted into the union.
John Wesley McCormick, Jr., John's son, built the first white settlement in Indianapolis in 1820, a log cabin on the east bank of the White River, where he lived with his wife Bethia Case McCormick and their eight children. John Jr. also built a tavern where a meeting was held in June 1820 to decide the location of the capital of the new state of Indiana. In 1822, he became one of the first county commissioners of Indiana, and in 1825, the state capital was moved from Corydon to Indianapolis.
John died on April 18, 1837, aged 83, and Catherine died on February 22, 1862, aged 93. The site of the John McCormick, Jr. log cabin is today marked with a boulder and plaque in White River State Park, and a student residence at nearby Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) is named for him. The McCormick Cabin Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wesley_McCormick]

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