Biographical Sketch - Charles John McCourt

Charles John McCourt, the younger brother of my grandfather, Thomas Henry McCourt,  was the sixth child and third son born to Joshua Albert and Mable Jane McGee McCourt.  We was born at Lennoxville, Quebec on July 19, 1885 and was christened in the Catholic church at Sherbrooke that same year.

His family entered the United States when he was a young boy, probably around May of 1895,  and settled in the Hammond, New York area.  At the age of 19 he married Hattie Louisa Brown of Morristown, New York.  Hattie's father, Frank Brown owned a farm which bordered Black Lake near Morristown.  Charley, as he was known by his family, and Hattie lived with her family where Charley was employed as a farmhand.

Marriage Register

Charley and Hattie were the parents of one daughter, Mildred Glenna McCourt.  She was born October 16, 1913 and grew up on the family farm where Charely and Hattie continued to live and work.

Mildred Glenna - July 1971

Mildred would later become a school teacher and spent her adult life in that profession teaching in the local schools.

She never married and continued to live on the family farm until her death on May 29, 1988.






In February of 1915, at the age of 29, Charley filed a Declaration of Intention to become a citizen of the United States.  He became a naturalized citizen on September 17, 1917.

 

 

Declaration of Intention

Charley spent 50 years farming at the family homestead on Black Lake and occasionally worked at the general store in Edwardsville.  He also served as assessor for the town of Morristown for nearly 25 years.

Charley and Hattie - circa 1959

Charley at the family farm on Black Lake

Charley died at the age of 78 while a patient at Hepburn Hospital on May 15, 1964.  He had undergone surgery that morning for a peptic ulcer.  He was buried in the Edwardsville Cemetery on the shores of Black Lake, not far from the family farm.

Funeral Program

Morristown is a small village along the St. Lawrence river in upstate New York.  Like most small towns, people tend to know one another and there is a great sense of community.  I grew up in a town like that myself.

Charley lived near Morristown from the time he was a small boy.  He attended the local schools, eventually graduating from High School.  He married a local girl whose family had been in the area for generations.  He worked and served the community and was active in his church.  It's a given that he knew the people in the area and they knew him.

When I first started researching the family of Joshua and Jane McGee McCourt, Charley and Hattie were some of the first records I found.  I wrote to the town clerk of Morristown requesting some additional information.  The town clerk sent me a wonderful letter.  She knew and remembered the McCourts.  She was a personal friend of Mildred's and spoke fondly of Charley and Hattie.  They were loved and respected by their neighbors and the community who knew them best.