Daniel McCormick

     Daniel McCormick was born on 11 May 1859 at Dernconner, Auchinleck, Ayrshire, Scotland.¹ He was the son of Bernard McCormick and Ellen O'Hara.



The following is a description of the Dernconner miners' rows as they were in 1913. The housing is all gone now but this description would be a fairly accurate representation of conditions when Daniel McCormick was born there in 1859:
Dernconner consists of two squares of houses and several rows. The houses are built of brick with cemented walls.
Low Square This square consists of 17 houses of two apartments. The rent is 5s 6d per month. There are no washing-houses, but several washing-house boilers have been erected. Whoever erected them forgot to build a house over them, and the women have to do their washing in the open air. There are two closets, without doors, for these 17 families; and an open ashpit in the entre of the square ws filled to overflowing and the stinking refuse strewn for yards. Another heap of refuse was dumped down at the corner of the houses. The coalhouses were do dilapidated that several tenants kept their coals below their beds. The kitchens measured 13 feet by 13 feet, and the room 9 feet by 5½ feet. The population of this square was 99.
High Square There are also 17 houses in this square, of the same description as in the low square. There is only one closet without doors, and two open compartments for these 17 families. The population was 90. The ashpit in the centre of the square is also filled to overflowing and the filth strewn about everywhere. There are no pavements, and the "glaur" is inches deep at the doors of the houses.
Railway Rows These are two rows running parallel to each other. Each row has 12 single apartment houses at the front and 12 single apartment houses at the bck, built back to back. In all they contain 48 single aprtment houses, 24 built back to back. In several cases families have rented two kitchens,and by means of putting through a communication have made them into two apartment houses. The rent is 5s per month, and where one family has rented two kitchens the rent is 9s 6d per month. For these 48 houses there are two closets without doors and two open compatments, and one closet in ruins, but surrounded by a sea of human excrement. The population of these houses is 137. The houses are very damp. The floors are brick tiles with a very uneven surface, and in one case where a tenant had attempted to improve the amenities by putting in a wooden floor, the damp was so destructive that the floor rotted, and we saw a floor with half of the wood relifted and the other half of the floor with the original brick tiles. The unpaved roadways in front of the houses are in a horrible mess. Pools of water several inches deep lay at the doors, and all the pathways were quagmires.....The population of Darnconner is approimately 400, and there is not a closet, for the whole of the population, with a door on it. There is not a washing house, and the whole place reeks of human dirt and "glaur." It belongs to William Baird & Co., and is inhabited by a mining population.²

Daniel McCormick was enumerated with Bernard McCormick on the census of 7 April 1861 at Cronberry Rows, Auchinleck, Ayrshire, Scotland, as Daniel McCormick. Daniel is 2 years old and was born in Auchinleck, Ayrshire.³ Daniel McCormick was the godparent at the baptism of William Edward Harrigan on 15 October 1877 at Neshannock Catholic Church, Neshannock, Mercer County, Pennsylvania.⁴

Daniel McCormick witnessed the marriage of Hugh Harrigan and Anna Marie McCormick on 1 May 1880 at St. Rose Catholic Church, Hermitage, Mercer County, Pennsylvania.^4,5,6
Daniel was a heavy drinker. All the McCormicks were and the Gallaghers did all right, too.⁷
Thie following 5 Jun 1880 enumeration for the John Brady household in Mineral Twp, Cherokee County, Kansas is interesting. Hugh Harrigan is a boarder in the household. He was just married a month before in Mercer County. His bride, Anna Marie McCormick, is working as a servant in the Asa Houy household in Mercer County. Asa Houy was the character witness for Bernard McCormick's naturalization application. Daniel McCormick is also present at the 1880 Kansas enumeration for John Brady. He was the best man at the wedding of Hugh Harrigan to his sister Anna. He and Hugh Harrigan are lodgers at the home of another of Daniel's sisters, Isabella, who married John Brady in 1872. Hugh is a year older than Daniel and he will stay in Cherokee County while Daniel will return to Mercer County and eventually settle in Columbiana County, Ohio where he marries Hannah Gavin in 1882 and they have six children born to them before migrating to Cherokee County by 1900.

Daniel was enumerated with John Arthur Brady Sr. on the census of 5 June 1880 at Mineral Twp, Cherokee County, Kansas, as Daniel McCormick. Daniel is a white male 22 years of age. He is indicated as a boarder and works as a coal miner. He was born in Scotland and both of his parents were born in Ireland.⁸

Daniel McCormick married Hannah Gavin on 23 December 1882 at Columbiana, Columbiana County, Ohio.⁹

Daniel is head of household on the census of 1 June 1900 at Mineral Twp, Scammon, Cherokee County, Kansas, as Daniel McCormick. Daniel is listed as a 41 year old white male born May 1859 in Scotland. He has been married for 17 years and both of his parents were born in Scotland. He immigrated to the United States in 1871. Enumerated with him were Hannah Gavin, Bernard McCormick, Mary McCormick, Patrick McCormick, John McCormick, Anna McCormick, Daniel McCormick and Barbara McCormick.¹⁰
In 1905, Daniel is working as a miner in Scammon.¹¹

Daniel McCormick died on 26 August 1908 at Scammon, Cherokee County, Kansas, at age 49.¹²
Daniel developed throat cancer and died.¹³ He was buried on 27 August 1908 at St. Bridget's Cemetery, Scammon, Cherokee County, Kansas.¹²

An obituary was in the local newspaper: Dan McCormick, who has been suffering with a cancer for the past three years, died at his home in this city, Wednesday afternoon and was buried yesterday in the St. Bridget's cemetery. He was born in Scotland and, at the time of his death, was 49 years, 3 months and 15 days old. He leaves a wife and a large family to mourn his departure.¹⁴