Rev. Cyrus Cort and Susan M. Patterson

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Husband Rev. Cyrus Cort ^{1 2}

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           Born: 15 Mar 1834 - Greensburg, Westmoreland Co, PA 3
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         Father: Joseph Cort (1805-Aft 1887) 2 3 4 5
         Mother: Mary Skelly (1809-1843) 3 5 6

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       Marriage: 1 May 1866 7

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Wife Susan M. Patterson ⁷

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         Father: William Patterson (      -      ) 7
         Mother: Sarah Fegley (      -      ) 7

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Children

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1 M Paul L. Cort ⁷

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2 M Ambrose Cort ⁷

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3 F Sarah Agnes Cort ⁷

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4 M Ralph Bouquet Cort ⁷

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General Notes: Husband - Rev. Cyrus Cort

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He was reared principally amid the life usually found among the substantial and best farmers. At the age of twenty he became a student at Irwin Station Academy for one year, then at Turtle Creek Academy one year, and in 1856 he became a member of the freshman class at Franklin and Marshall College, and was graduated there in 1860, taking the highest scholarship honor of his class, delivering the Marshall oration on graduating day. The next two years he spent in the study of theology at the Theological Seminary at Mercersburg, under the presidency of the Rev. Dr. Philip Schaff, and was graduated from that institution in 1862. In September, 1862, shortly after leaving the seminary, in response to the call made by Gov. Curtin for 50,000 emergency men, he raised a company of Westmoreland yeomanry, was elected captain, and brought them as far as Harrisburg, but the emergency having passed, caused by Lee's invasion of Maryland, and the battle of Antietam, they were sent back to their homes without getting into actual service. A few days later he was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Classis of the Reformed Church in Westmoreland County, and began his ministry as missionary pastor at Altoona, Pennsylvania. After four years of hard labor he succeeded in getting together a congregation of 100, and built a fine two-story Gothic sandstone church edifice. Afterward he labored thirteen years in missionary work in Illinois and Iowa, holding the chair of languages at Henry Seminary, Illinois, for two years, and the rest of the time was missionary pastor of the congregations near Vinton, Maquoketa, etc., Iowa; during this time he also for seven years edited and published a monthly religious periodical called the Reformed Missionary. June 1, 1881, Mr. Cort became the pastor of the Reformed churches at Greencastle and Middleburg, Pennsylvania. Besides the labor of attending to his large pastoral charge of 340 members, he took great interest in historical matters; was prominent in securing the centennial celebration, July 4, 1882, of the founding of Greencastle. A few weeks later he delivered an eloquent address that was afterward published widely, on the burning of Hannastown (burnt by Indians July 13, 1782). August 6, 1883, he was largely instrumental in securing the celebration of Col. Bouquet's victory at Bushey Run, on the occasion of the 121st anniversary, also delivering the principal address, 15,000 people being present. In 1884 he took an active part in the centennial celebration of the organization of Franklin County, and was chairman of the Antrim Township centennial committee, and April 22, same year, at the convention at Chambersburg, was appointed chairman of the Enoch Brown memorial committee, and August 4, 1885, the monument was dedicated with imposing ceremonies, at which time he delivered the presentation and dedicatory speech. He edited and published the "Bouquet and Brown Memorial Volume," giving an account of different centennial celebrations, Enoch Brown's monument and others, in which he took part. The book met with great favor among historians and literary people. June 20, 1886, he delivered the address at the re-interment of the remains of Corp. Rihl, the first Union soldier killed on Northern soil. At about the same time he was appointed by the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society, of Philadelphia, to furnish data for an archaeological map of the water-sheds of the Delaware, Susquehanna and Potomac Rivers, and he furnished considerable matter relating to Indian mounds, graves, relics, etc., found in that region, to the society.
Mr. Cort was a regular correspondent and writer of literary articles and reviews for different magazines and periodicals, chiefly in prose, but also, on several occasions, wrote poems that were widely circulated, such as "Response to the Blue Juniata," "They Have Called Me Back from the Golden Gates," the last words of Dr. Henry Harbaugh, etc.

He and his wife had six children; four were still living in 1887.

He was a well-known author and divine of the Reformed church, and in 1895 chaplain of the Delaware state senate.

1 —, History of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Warner, Beers & Co., 1887), Pg 702.

2 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915), Pg 1004.

3 —, History of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Warner, Beers & Co., 1887), Pg 703.

4 Samuel T. Wiley, Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: John M. Gresham & Co., 1890.), Pg 91.

5 John W. Jordan, History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Genealogical Memoirs, Vol. II (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906), Pg 465.

6 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915), Pg 182.

7 —, History of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Warner, Beers & Co., 1887), Pg 704.