William J. McCormick

player; private and commercial recordings exist

b. Waterford City, County Waterford Aug. 12, 1864
d. Chicago, Illinois April 27, 1946

Dancers with fiddler Joe Owens and piper William J. McCormick. Photo taken about 1917. From Richie Piggott Nov. 2121.

William McCormick was associated with Francis O'Neill and the Irish Music Club of Chicago, organized in 1902. He is in a well-known photograph of the club, probably taken about that time and reproduced in O'Neill's Irish Minstrels and Musicians. McCormick is holding pipes, and sits with Francis O'Neill, John Ennis, Barney Delaney and other musical luminaries.

McCormick was born in the city of Waterford, Ireland, and may have come to America for a time in the late 1870s - early 1880s, then returned to Ireland. He and wife Anna were married in Ireland in 1884 and came to Chicago on their honeymoon. They never went back. By 1900 he was working for the city of Chicago as a day laborer. He worked for the street department for 40 years as laborer, alley inspector, foreman. He and his family lived in the same place, 6624 Peoria Street, for almost 50 years.

O'Neill says McCormick began as a fiddle player and started playing pipes "in mature manhood." In 1897 McCormick bought a fine set of Taylor pipes previously owned by Eddie Joyce; the money was used to pay for Joyce's funeral expenses. "... thus equipped he has obtained the ambition of his life."

O'Neill judged him a fine player on pipes and fiddle and "one of the most amiable of men, always companionable and obliging...."

References to McCormick playing in public are infrequent. The earliest found is for a card party and dance held by the Irish Language League of Chicago, Oct. 30, 1903. "Music will be supplied by Mr. Wm. McCormack on bagpipe and violin. There will also be a harp accompaniment." At the Irish Day celebration in Cincinnati, Ohio, August 15, 1909. Three "world-famous Irish bagpipe players, Messrs. Tobin, Delaney and McCormick, of Chicago" were scheduled to play.

He played for dancers, often as part of a band. Instrumentation for the bands usually not given. In January 1924, however, he played violin at a dance in Chicago sponsored by the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic, accompanied by saxophone, piano and drums.

The McCormicks had five surviving children. Hugh, second eldest, took up the pipes. There is one newspaper reference to the father playing violin, the son pipes, for step dancing at a neighbor's birthday party, 1929.

The 1940 US Census data has William McCormick as completing the 4th grade in school. Nonetheless in later years he became known as an authority on Irish history and music. A "large number of Irish books," bequeathed to Micky McNamara, presumably a friend, were donated to the Chicago Gaelic Athletic Club library in 1949.

A cylinder recording, made before 1915, exists, and a 78 record was published by Columbia Records in 1927. McCormick is presumed by discographers to be playing violin on both.

Anna McCormick died in the 1930s. William J. McCormick died at home, age 83, April 27, 1946. He is buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery & Mausoleum, Alsip, Cook County, Illinois.

Selected References

"A. A. R. I. R. to Have Rally" Chicago IL Merchants Telegram Jan. 17, 1924 p. 4 column 7
World Newspaper Archive

"Bagpipers ... 'Irish Day' at Chester Park to-day...." Cincinnati [OH] Enquirer Aug. 15, 1909 p. 2 column 4
Newspapers.com

"Chicago Gaelic Notes" [donating McCormick's books] NY Advocate April 2, 1949 p. 6 column 3
New York NY Irish American Advocate 1949-1951 - 0094.pdf

Ennis, John "The Revival of Erin's Language and Music in Chicago." [Irish Music Club of Chicago] Chicago IL Inter Ocean June 11, 1905 Magazine p. 2 column 1
Newspapers.com

"Fifty Years Since The McCormicks Began Honeymoon" Chicago IL Southtown Economist Sep. 27, 1934 p. 24? column 2
World Newspaper Archive

"The Irish Language League of Chicago." Chicago Citizen Oct. 17, 1903 p. 3 column 6
Microfilm from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield IL

"Obituaries William J. McCormick" Chicago [IL] Sunday Tribune April 28, 1946 part 1 page 26 column 2
Proquest Historical Newspapers

"One hundred relatives and friends were entertained...." Chicago IL Southtown Economist March 15, 1929 p. 6 column 5
World Newspaper Archive

O'Neill, Francis Irish Minstrels and Musicians Chicago 1913 pp. 263, 336-7, 479

Nick Whitmer
August 2018 photo added Nov. 2021, addition Oct. 2022