Leander James McCormick and Henrietta Maria Hamilton
Husband Leander James McCormick 1
Born: 8 Feb 1819 1 Christened: Died: Buried:
Father: Robert McCormick (1780-1846) 2 Mother: Mary Ann Hall ( -1853) 3
Marriage: 22 Oct 1845 - Locust Hill, Rockbridge Co, VA 1
Wife Henrietta Maria Hamilton 1
Born: 25 May 1822 - Rockbridge Co, VA Christened: Died: Buried:
Father: John Hamilton ( - ) 4 Mother: Elizabeth McNutt ( - ) 4
Children
1 M Robert Hall McCormick 5
Born: 6 Sep 1847 - Rockbridge Co, VA 5 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Sarah Lord Day ( - ) 5 Marr: 1 Jun 1871 5
2 F Elizabeth Maria McCormick 5
Born: 2 May 1850 5 Christened: Died: 31 Mar 1853 5 Buried:Spouse: Did Not Marry
3 F Henrietta Laura McCormick 5
Born: 22 Apr 1857 - Chicago, Cook Co, IL 5 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Frederick E. Goodhart, Esq. ( - ) 5 Marr: 14 Nov 1883 - Langley Park, Beckenham, Kent, England 5
4 M Leander Hamilton McCormick 5
Born: 27 May 1859 - Chicago, Cook Co, IL 5 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Constance Plummer ( - ) 5 Marr: 14 Feb 1887 5
General Notes: Husband - Leander James McCormick
He was brought up and educated in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, where, at the age of twenty-six years, he chose, as the companion of his life, one of its accomplished daughters. His health and physique were attributable to the salubrity of the climate and the out-door life of his early days. Although he removed to Chicago at the age of twenty-nine, his love for his native state continued, and to secure relief from business cares he often turned toward the associations of his youth, and sought recreation amid its mountain scenery and health from its restorative waters. He has traveled extensively throughout Great Britain and Ireland, and on the continent of Europe; the effect of this has been to broaden and enlarge his views upon international affairs, as well as upon the political situation of his own country, and to give him a great fund of delightful remembrances of the galleries of art and monuments of historical interest.
The life-work of Leander was identified with the McCormick Reaper. He inherited the inventive genius of his father, Robert McCormick, and during his life was associated with him in its development, in Virginia. Shortly after his death, in 1846, the three brothers, Cyrus H., William S. and Leander J., permanently established themselves in partnership in the city of Chicago, for the manufacture and introduction of the Reaper into the broad fields of the West, Leander assuming the management of the manufacturing department—a position which he held over thirty years. During, and previous to this time, he made many improvements of vital importance, without which it could not have been a completed machine, nor have become of world-wide fame. After the great fire of 1871, whereby the Reaper Works and other properties were destroyed, business suspended, and thousands of men thrown out of employment, by his decision and energy the works were immediately rebuilt, under his personal supervision and direction, according to his own selection of site and architectural designs. In 1879, the partnership was merged into a corporation, Leander retaining his interest until August, 1889, when he disposed of his entire stock to his nephew, Cyrus H. McCormick, and retired from business.
A firm believer in the great destiny of Chicago, he became one of the largest individual owners of centrally located business property, and the attention to these buildings occupied his time, and interested him in his later years.
Amid all the calamities which have befallen Chicago, he, like others, suffered, especially in the great fire of 1871, when his palatial residence, on the corner of Rush and Ohio streets, was destroyed with all its contents, including pictures, other works of art, and ancestral souvenirs, and his family forced to escape at an early hour of the morning and take refuge in the west part of the city, where they remained, at 515 West Adams street, until April 7, 1875, when they returned to the North side.
In 1874, he presented to the University of Virginia a fully equipped Astronomical Observatory, including the largest refracting telescope in the world, at the time of donation.
His deep interest in the McCormick genealogy led him to trace the lineage of his ancestors from the siege of Londonderry, to those, who, before and after the middle of the eighteenth century, established themselves In the United States, to follow the various branches, and to save the names of many, particularly of the past generation, from oblivion.
General Notes: Wife - Henrietta Maria Hamilton
She was born in Rockbridge County, amid the romantic associations of the beautiful valley of Virginia. The inspiration of her mountain home with its early opportunities for education and development, physically, intellectually and spiritually, were fitting preparations for the future which lay before her. She was married at the parental homestead, Locust Hill, and three years later, with her husband and infant son, Robert Hall, removed to Chicago, where her time was employed in attending to family, social and charitable duties, and where she made numerous friends and acquaintances. She traveled much in the United States and in foreign countries, and had many opportunities of seeing and enjoying the social life of England.
1 Leander James McCormick, McCormick Family Record and Biography (Chicago, IL: Publisher Unknown, 1896), Pg 303.
2 Leander James McCormick, McCormick Family Record and Biography (Chicago, IL: Publisher Unknown, 1896), Pg 249.
3 Leander James McCormick, McCormick Family Record and Biography (Chicago, IL: Publisher Unknown, 1896), Pg 300.
4 Leander James McCormick, McCormick Family Record and Biography (Chicago, IL: Publisher Unknown, 1896), Pg 321.
5
Leander James McCormick, McCormick Family Record and Biography (Chicago, IL: Publisher Unknown, 1896), Pg 322.
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