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... I. Richard Cunningham McCormick. (2nd.) Son of Richard Cunningham McCormick (1st) Grandson of Hugh McCormick (3rd) Great grandson of James McCormick. Great great grandson of Hugh McCormick (2nd) Great great great grandson of Hugh McCormick (1st) Born in New York City May 23, 1832.
Mr. McCormick received a classical education, with a view to entering Columbia College, (New York.) His health was not robust, and his father decided that, instead of going to college, he should travel extensively in Europe. This he did in 1854-5. His letters from the Crimea, where he spent some weeks, at the height of the Siege of Sebastopol, were published in book form in 1855 ; and in 1858-9 he edited the Young Men's Magazine, in New York, and was connected with various movements for the benefit of young men. In 1860 he was invited by Mr. William Cullen Bryant to a position in the editorial department of the Evening Post of that city. He went to Washington, upon the inauguration of President Lincoln, and in 1861-2 he was a war correspondent with the Army of the Potomac for the Post and other New York Journals.
Mr. McCormick was well known to President Lincoln, and was by him made Secretary of Arizona, upon the organization of that Territory, serving 1863-6. He was Governor 1866-9, and was elected Delegate to Congress for three successive terms, 1869-75 ; making a record of which Mr. Blaine, who was Speaker of the House of Representatives for the same period, thus speaks in his book : "Twenty Years in Congress" : "In Congress Richard C. McCormick became distinguished for the zeal and ability with which he guarded the interests of his constituents."
As Secretary and Governor of Arizona, Mr. McCormick took a leading part in the organization of the Territory, in the encouragement of the early settlers, in the opening of the mining districts, the construction of road and building of towns, as well as in the measures necessary, for years, for protection against the depredations of the hostile Apaches.
Mr. McCormick established the Arizona Miner in 1864, and the Arizona Citizen in 1870, journals still in existence. He was a Delegate from Arizona to the Republican National Conventions of 1872, 1876 and 1880, and was a Commissioner to the United States Centennial Exhibition 1873-6; First Assistant Secretary of the United States Treasury 1877, and Commissioner General to the Paris Exposition of 1878, when he was made a commander of the Legion of Honor by the French Government. In 1877 he was tendered the Mission to Brazil, and in 1879 that to Mexico, both of which he declined. In 1880 he retired from public life, and entered business in New York City, making his residence at the family home at Jamaica, Long Island, where he served first as President of the Board of Education, and secondly, as President of the State Normal School at that place.
In 1862 Mr. McCormick was nominated by the Republicans for Congress in the first District of New York (Long Island) and again nominated in 1886, but not elected, the district being heavily Democratic. In 1894 he was nominated and elected to the 54th Congress by a large majority ; and thus returned to public life. In addition to his volume on the Crimean War entitled "A Visit to the Camp before Sebastopol," Mr. McCormick published in 1860, "St. Paul's to St. Sophia," or, « Sketches of Travel in Europe." He is also the author of several political and historical pamphlets, and has written much for the press upon miscellaneous topics. He compiled the reports, (five volumes), of the United States Commissioners to the Paris Exposition of 1878. In his letter to Congress, submitting these reports, the Secretary of State, Mr. Evarts, said :
"The labor of planning and directing our national representation at the Exposition rested upon the Commissioner General, who accepted the responsibility at the special request of the President. It is a pleasing duty to say that the arduous trust devolved upon Mr. McCormick was not only fulfilled with exemplary diligence, ability and zeal, but it was due to his personal exertions that almost insurmountable difficulties were overcome, and that the credit of the people of the United States as exhibitors was not only maintained, but greatly advanced."
Mr. McCormick married in October, 1865, Margaret G. Hunt, only daughter of Isaac L. Hunt, of Rahway, N. J. She died at Prescott, Arizona, in April, 1867. At Washington, D. C, in November, 1873, Mr. McCormick married Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Hon. Allen G. Thurman, of Columbus, Ohio, at that time a Senator of the United States. ...
