Samuel Black McCormick, D.D. and Ida May Steep

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Husband Samuel Black McCormick, D.D. ^{1 2 3}

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           Born: 6 May 1858 - Irwin, Westmoreland Co, PA 2 3
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         Father: Dr. James Irwin McCormick (1828-1881) 1 3 4 5
         Mother: Rachel Long Black (Abt 1834-1869) 1 2 3 6

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       Marriage: 29 Sep 1882 - Carnegie, Allegheny Co, PA 7 8

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Wife Ida May Steep ^{7 8}

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         Father: William M. Steep (      -      ) 8
         Mother: Harriet Newell (      -      ) 8

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Children

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1 M James Irwin McCormick ^{7 8}

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           Born: 21 Oct 1884 8
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2 F Gertrude McCormick ^{7 8}

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           Born: 9 Aug 1886 8
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3 M Samuel Black McCormick, Jr. ^{7 8}

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           Born: 25 Feb 1892 8
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4 F Rachel McCormick ^{7 8}

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           Born: 22 May 1898 8
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General Notes: Husband - Samuel Black McCormick, D.D.

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He was born in Irwin, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and his boyhood, until his father returned to Irwin in 1871, was spent at West Fairfield in the Ligonier valley, a beautiful spot, and in those days a community filled with young people furnishing an environment peculiarly excellent and wholesome. At fifteen he began a mercantile life with Mr. Leonard Hunker, but at seventeen felt that he should return to his studies. With his father he began preparation for college, and also began teaching at a little past sixteen in the North Huntingdon schools. Two years later in 1877 he entered the sophomore class of Washington and Jefferson College, graduating in the class of 1880. He afterwards taught in Canonsburg Academy and in the Washington and Jefferson College, assisting in the department of Greek. While still a student in college he had passed the preliminary examinations as a student at law and was registered with his uncle, Hon. H. H. McCormick. He was admitted to the Allegheny County bar July, 1882. One year later he removed to Denver, Colorado, where he engaged in the practice of law with Mr. R. D. Thompson, continuing until June 1, 1887. While practicing law he was moved to enter the ministry, and returned to Allegheny and entered the Western Theological Seminary in September, 1887. He was ordained as a minister and installed as the pastor of the Central Presbyterian church, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, on April 30, 1890. During his five years' pastorate at this church he frequently met the classes in the Theological Seminary, and was a member of the board of directors, was also a member of the Freedmans board, and of the Pennsylvania College for Women, and of the sustentation committee of Pennsylvania. He was called in October, 1894, to be the pastor of the First Presbyterian church, Omaha, and continued as such for three years. He then became president of Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and remained president until September, 1904, when he returned to Pittsburgh as chancellor of the Western University of Pennsylvania, to which he had been elected in the preceding May. He received the degree of D. D. from his Alma Mater in 1896, and the degree of LL. D. at the Centennial of the College in 1902.

He was educated in the public schools of Westmoreland County and prepared for college under his father's guidance, entering Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1877 as a sophomore and graduating in 1880 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He then taught for one year at Canonsburg Academy and in 1881 and 1882 was a member of the faculty at Washington and Jefferson, studying law at the same time. In 1882 he was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar and for the next two years practiced his profession in Pittsburgh, removing, in 1883, to Denver, Colorado, where he continued his legal practice until 1887. In the latter year he entered the Western Theological Seminary, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1890, being ordained a minister in the Presbyterian church in the same year. From 1890 to 1894 he was pastor of the Central Presbyterian Church at Allegheny, now North Side, Pittsburgh, and from 1894 to 1897 pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Omaha, Nebraska. In the latter year he accepted a call to the presidency of Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he remained until 1904, when he was appointed Chancellor of the Western University of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh. He continued at the head of this institution until 1921, retiring in that year from active work with the title of Chancellor Emeritus of the University of Pittsburgh, by which name the former Western University of Pennsylvania has been known since 1908. In the latter year the university acquired forty-three acres of land in the Schenley district of Pittsburgh, on which many new buildings were subsequently erected and to which still more property was added in 1921. During Dr. McCormick's administration the student registration, like everything else connected with the institution's work, grew tremendously, from 966 in 1906 to over 6,500 in 1921. In later years various honorary degrees were conferred upon him in recognition of his eminent services, including the degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Divinity from Washington and Jefferson College, and that of Doctor of Laws from Washington and Jefferson, William and Mary, Allegheny, University of Pennsylvania and University of Pittsburgh. During the World War he was a director of the Pennsylvania Committee of Public Safety and a member of its executive committee. He was also a member of the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity, the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Victoria Institute (Philosophical Society of Great Britain) of London, England; the Pennsylvania Society of New York; and of several Masonic bodies, including the Blue Lodge, Commandery, Consistory and the Supreme Council of the Thirty-third Degree, of which latter he was an honorary member. His clubs included the Duquesne, University, Longue Vue Country, and Shannopin Country clubs of Pittsburgh, and the University and Phi Gamma Delta of New York City. [PAH, 259]

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General Notes: Wife - Ida May Steep

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from Washington, PA

1 George Dallas Albert, History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 558.

2 John W. Jordan, History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Genealogical Memoirs, Vol. III (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906), Pg 633.

3 George P. Donehoo, Pennsylvania - A History (SW) (New York, NY; Chicago, IL: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1926), Pg 259.

4 John W. Jordan, History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Genealogical Memoirs, Vol. III (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906), Pg 632.

5 Fenwick Y. Hedley, Old and New Westmoreland, Vols. III & IV (New York, NY: The American Historical Society, Inc., 1918), Pg 1215.

6 Samuel T. Wiley, Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: John M. Gresham & Co., 1890.), Pg 657.

7 John W. Jordan, History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Genealogical Memoirs, Vol. III (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906), Pg 634.

8 George P. Donehoo, Pennsylvania - A History (SW) (New York, NY; Chicago, IL: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1926), Pg 260.