My Genealogy Hound

Joseph McCormack, one of the old settlers and highly respected citizens of Barry County, Mo., was born in Jackson County, Tenn., in 1834. He is a son of William and Rhoda (Taylor) McCormack, natives of Virginia and Tennessee, respectively William McCormack was born in 1808, and when a small boy went with his father to Middle Tennessee. The next year they immigrated to Pike County Mo., where they remained one year, but not being satisfied with the country, they determined to return to Tennessee. While traveling in Southern Missouri the father died very suddenly. William buried his father properly, and returned to Jackson County, Tenn. The trip from Tennessee to Missouri and return was accompanied by many hardships, as the country was unsettled and teeming with Indians and wild animals. In 1859 William McCormack married in Tennessee, and removed to Barry County Mo., settling in Lawrence County, where he died in 1868. His wife died in 1855. They were the parents of thirteen children, viz.: Sarah, deceased; Joseph, Enoch who resides in Kentucky; Elizabeth, wife of John Viteto, of Kentucky; John, of Lawrence County, Mo.; William, deceased; Maria, wife of Abner Taylor, of Illinois; James, of Lawrence County, Mo.; Ellen, wife of John Cormack, of Barry County; Mary, deceased; Margaret, wife of William H. Mulkey, of Lawrence County; Fannie, deceased, and Martha, deceased. Joseph remained on the farm with his father until he was twenty-one years of age, and in 1858 married Juda Lambert, who was born in North Carolina in 1838. Nine children have been bora to their union: William T., Andrew, Martha, Catherine (Mrs. Lawrence Handlen), John, Ollie, Joseph, Reams and Alfred E., who was killed in July 1882, by a runaway team. In 1859 Mr. McCormack immigrated to Barry County and purchased 240 acres in the northern part of the county, on which he located. A part of his original farm comprises the northern portion of the city of Monett, in which beautiful city he now resides. Mr. McCormack is highly esteemed, and is a Republican in politics. His wife is a consistent member of the Protestant Methodist Church.