History of Fulton County, Illinois; together with
Sketches of its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious,
Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons
and Biographies of Representative Citizens. Chas. C. Chapman & Co.,
Peoria, Illinois, 1879, page 447, Astoria Township
Harvey McCormick, farmer and stock-raiser, sec. 9; P. O.,
Vermont. Mr. McCormick ranks among the prominent farmers of Fulton Co.
He was born in Fayette Co., Pa., 33 miles above Pittsburg, April 30,
1819. His father, Booth McCormick, came from Ireland in an early day
and settled in New Jersey, where he married Miss Phoebe Wheaton, by
whom he has had 11 children. During the early settlement of
Pennsylvania he located in Fayette Co. Owing to the limited means of
his parents and the poor advantages, he received only a meager
education; he has, however, by personal exertion and observation gained
much knowledge. In 1845 he married Miss Elizabeth Hogsett, of Pa. He
followed farming in Pa., and in 1853 came to Astoria tp., where he
purchased 160 acres. He set to work in his Western home and soon
displayed more than ordinary skill as a farmer. Step by step he
accumulated land and other property, and now he owns over 800 acres of
valuable land. Of the marriage above referred to 7 children were born,
- Clark, Irwin, Amzie, Finley, Thomas B., Benton, Ella and Ida.
submitted by Carla Finley
