"One of Ireland's truest and best sons"

Memoir by David Morton


Thomas McCormack, who was the son of Wm. and Ann McCormack, was born near the town of Clonis, Ireland, Oct. 16, 1807, and in his fifteenth year, was sent to live with a relative at Manchaster, England, with whom he worked as a painter until in his thirtieth year when he emigrated to the United States. He stopped for three years at New York, and then lived for one year in Louisville, after which in 1840 he went to Nelson County, Kentucky, settling on a farm about twelve miles above New Haven, and immediately on the bank of the Rolling Fork of Salt River, where he was engaged for the rest of his live in farming and merchandising. By close attention to this joint business he succeeded in securing several hundred acres of valuable land, which were transformed into one of the best improved farms in the neighborhood, and in building up a trade in general merchandise, which proved constantly remunerative for many years and was left in prosperous condition,.
While in New York, he was married to Mrs. Lucy W McCormack, the widow of his brother, and the mother of two children, by whom he had two other children. She came with him to Kentucky and after about five years, died, leaving to his care her four children. He was soon after married to Miss Sarah Elizabeth Brown, of Larue County, Kentucky, who became the mother of eleven children, all of whom, except a daughter, who died at seventeen, are living and were present when he died at the homestead, Friday, November 25th, 1881. His parents were Wesleyan Methodists, and two of his brothers, older than himself were ministers of that church; so that he was carefully instructed in the doctrines and duties of religion from his birth, and joined the-church at the early age of seven, a fact to which he always referred to with great pleasure, avowing it as his conviction, that a child, trained up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, was likely to make the very best type of Christian. Notwithstanding this good start, he was for several years after his removal to America, not pronouncedly religious, but was at length, under the ministrations of Revs. James Penn and John G Thompson, during a revival at Level Woods Church, in Larue County, Kentucky, fully reclaimed and brought into active connection with the Church. His house was for several years a preaching place when there was no church edifice in the neighborhood, and when one was built he took the lead, donating the ground, soliciting subscriptions, working with his farm force, and giving several hundred dollars beside, to it's erection. He was very busy in church work, and from time to time, filled every position to which a layman is eligible, always sustaining the interest confided to him in a manner creditable to himself, and profitable To the Church. After nearly forty years of such service in the same community, his help in church affaire and in revival times was sought and prized by those among whom he lived, a rare tribute to his skill and consistency. In the fall of 1854, twenty-seven years ago, I was appointed to the circuit to which he belonged, and thus became his pastor. For two years I met him every month at his own church and often in other parts of the work, and seldom failed to spend one or more days, out of the thirty with him at his own home or elsewhere.

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In Memoriam
Thomas McCormack


Tribute
By Rev. Joseph B. Cottrell, D. D.


Dr. J. N. McCormack of Bowling Green, Kentucky, was summoned last week to the bedside of his venerable father, Mr. Thomas McCormack, near New Haven, Kentucky, and with brothers and sisters and other kindred called from afar, witnessed on Friday, November 25th, the peaceful death of one who has been through life an honor to his kind and a blessing to his family, neighborhood, and church. Rev. David Morton, now Presiding Elder of the Louisville Distr1ct, was with his friend the last three days, and preached the funeral sermon. He has done me the great favor to send me the notes of his sermon, and after reading them aloud -(they are ample)- to my own household, I take up the pen merely to say that what the preacher gives, specifically, regarding the personnel, life, and character of the venerable man, fully justifies the enthusiasm in which I spoke of him editorially, a year ago, after his visit to Bowling Green. He impressed me then as one whose name could be appropriately mentioned in association with those of men who had stood for facts in the world's history; for he was after an order that gives inspir-ation and assurance. I had no hesitancy in ranking him for manliness of sentiment, originality and closeness of thought, as also for unaffectedness of sympathy with humanity, with historical characters whom I named. Bro. Morton's delineation of the character and history of his friend does himself honor, showing heart as well as judgment, Indeed, so graphic is the portrayal, and so delicate the touches of grateful memories of association with one whom he found, in the earlier days of his itinerancy, a friend in more than word, that I have paid the tribute of impulsive tears, in the perusal. A native of Ireland, Brother McCormack was raised a Wesleyan Methodist, having brothers who were Wesleyan ministers.
He passed away in his seventy-fifth year of age, exempt from any pain in his last sickness, ready, willing, and confident.


Father: William McCormack
Mother: Ann Jackson

Marriage 1 Mary Childs

Marriage 2 Lucy Wilson
Children: Eliza Jane and William E

Marriage 3 Sarah Elizabeth Brown
Children: Thomas Jefferson, Joseph Nathaniel, Lucy Wilson, John Alexander, Alice B, Lula B, Elizabeth S, Charles W, Sallie Lettie, Rosa Edwin and Edward Gains