Biographies and Obituaries
In loving memory
Joseph Allen McCord
Joseph Allen McCord. The following was taken from History of Knox and Daviess Co.J. A. McCord is the tenth of eleven children, and was born March 6, 1824, son of William and Margaret Allen McCord. The father was a native of Pennsylvania. Our subject was born in Kentucky, where he lived with his mother until the age of fourteen years. He them removed to Daviess County, Indiana, where he has since remained. He engaged in farming, which occupation he followed eighteen years. He obtained his education in the public schools, and was married April 8, 1849, to Emily, daughter of these fourteen children: Helen, Mason, Florian, Sarah, William , Benjamin, Margaret, Joseph, Emily, George, Matthew, Clara, Orleana and Thomas. Mr. McCord is a staunch Republican, and cast his first vote for Taylor. He was elected town trustee in 1873. He has been postmaster of Alfordsville since 1861, with the exception of a short time. He has been a member of the Christian Church since 1865, and has raised his family in that belief. He owns 140 acres of land and has a fine stock of general merchandise. He carries on farming and stock raising and is the most prosperous merchant in his town. From Mary Lou White...Joseph McCordHe was as a storekeeper in Alfordsville. He paid Bill Potts to go to the Civil War for him. The payment was 40 acres of land and a team of mules. Joseph was a widower and had fourteen children to take care of so he paid Mr. Potts to go in his place which was permissible at that time.Joseph McCord was a half brother to Sarah Vannoy (Margaret Allen's daughter by first marriage) and David McCord (William McCord's son by first marriage). He was born in 1825 and was 14 years old when Sarah and David came to Indiana. He came with them also. They came in a covered wagon from Maysville, Kentucky to Reeve twp, Daviess Co. Indiana in 1839. They settled about 2 miles south of Alfordsville. There probably was no town there then. From Joanna Brooks...The Isaac Harris connection certainly helped Joseph Allen McCord. In June 1840, according to Daviess County land records, Harris sold 16 year old J. A. McCord three lots in Alfordsville at the tremendously low price of $15. (In 1872, three lots of similar size cost McCord $540. Even with price index adjustment, Harris' sale gave McCord quite a break.)
In June 1843, Harris sold him an additional $300 of land in Section 34 of Township 2, Range 5--land surrounding Alfordsville. By the time he was 19 years old, J. A. McCord had begun building a sizable estate.J. A. McCord's Land Purchases 1840-1880 Date Price Acre Location June 1840 $15.00 Alf. lots 12, 14, 16 June 1843 $300.00 Section 34-2-5 October 1850 $ 75.00 34-2-5 November 1850 $ 35.00 20 34-2-5 September 20, 1852 $200.00 34-2-5 October 6, 1856 $500.00 36 34-2-5 October 4, 1857 $325.00 39 12-31-36 March 20, 1861 $400.00 34-2-5 August 24, 1864 $100.00 34-2-5 October 8, 1864 $650.00 40 28-2-5 November 25, 1865 $1600.00 34-2-5 July 5, 1869 $1500.00 42 34-2-5 September 6, 1872 $540.00 Alf. lots 34, 63, 64 July 5, 1871 $131.11 Alf. lot 65 December 11, 1871 $500.00 73 37-2-5, 23-2-5 August 13, 1872 $125.00 Undeveloped Daviess August 11, 1873 $3000.00 Lots 42, 43, 44, 53, 54, 55 October 1, 1873 $1000.00 Lots 61, 52, 35, 36 August 11, 1874 $54.74 Lot 68 December 9, 1875 $1000.00 34-2-5 Total Land purchases $12,140.85 (1870 dollars) ($117,337. in 1990 dollars.
When he was 25, in April 1849, J. A. McCord, married Emily Alford, the seventh daughter of the richest man in town. For J. A., Marriage again proved a profitable venture. Between 1850 and 1860, he paid (at reduced rates, either to the Harrises or Emily's family) $1450 for land valued at $4000 during the 1860 census. That same census valued his personal belongings at $300. The 36 year old J. A. McCord already had an estate worth $4300. In Indiana, the per capita valuation of real and personal property in 1850 was only $205. McCords probably avoided the war in order to stay with his rapidly growing family. Emily Alford and J. A. McCord had 14 children together--Helen (1851), Mason (1853), Florian (1854), Sarah (1855), William Jefferson (1856), Benjamin Franklin (1858), Margaret Hannah (1859), Joseph Allen Jr, (1860), Emily (born either December 31, 1861 or January 1, 1862), George (1863), Martha (1865), Clara (1866), Orlena (1868) and Thomas (1869). With the average woman in the 1850-60 period bearing five children and only 27% of women bearing over seven children, Emily certainly did her share with fourteen children. Of Emily's children, two died in infancy--George at five months and Thomas at nine months. In 1865, 205 infant deaths occurred for every live birth, a 20% mortality rate. By only losing two out of fourteen, Emily McCord beat the rate.However, childbirth eventually beat her to death. Emily McCord died three months after the birth of Thomas. When she died, her eldest child was 17. Emily was 41. Her daughters Clara and Orlena probably died from childbirth just as ther mother did--Clara died at 29 and Orlena at 30.
A map of Alfordsville in 1880 describes J. A. McCord as a "Dealer in Dry Goods, Groceries, Hardware, Cutlery, China, Glass and Queensware, Clothing, Hats, Caps, Boots, Shoes, Family Medicines, etc." J. A. McCord died in 1896 at the age of 72. Surprisingly, there is no record of his probate or will in Daviess County
Contributed by: Michele