Andrew Phelps McCormick Scotch-Irish in Ireland and in America : as shown in sketches of the pioneer Scotch-Irish families McCormick, Stevenson, McKenzie and Bell, in North Carolina, Kentucky, Missouri and Texas New Orleans: unknown, 1897, 251 pgs. Note that this book was written in 1897. We often have a question about Mortimer Steele. I happened to run across this when I was looking on Heritage Quest. I liked the Go West section so I included it for your enjoyment. Page 27, 28 Not far from this McCormick farm , but probably across the Catawba River, in Iredell County, lived Mortimer Steele, who had commanded a company of Whigs in the War for Independence, and who was known far and near as Captain Steele. He was a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian. His wife was a native of Wales. They had at least five children - three sons and two daughters, of whom I have hear my parents make mention. The sons were named John, William and Henry, and the daughters were named Sarah and Rebecca. Of John and William, I have been able to learn only their names, and that they lived to become men of family and moved from North Caroloina to some point in the then West in the early years of this century. Of Henry and Rebecca some further mention will be made as we proceed in this chapter. Sarah Steele, who was barn in North Carolina in 1774, became the wife of Andrew McCormick, in 1803. These are my grandparents. After the fashion of those times (still observed in many Presbyterian families) they are kept their family record on the suitable leaves inserted between the Old and New Testament, as the sacred scriptures were then bound for such family use. <snip> the record has become so marred that the writing showing the exact date of the birth and marriage of these grandparents has become illegible.The sister, Rebecca, married Robert Stevenson, who was my mother's uncle and was a great uncle of Vice-President Adlai E. Stevenson. Jane Stevenson, a sister of Robert, married William Sloan. About this time, Mr. Jefferson's purchase of Louisiana began to thrill the pulses of aspiring young people throughout the South Atlantic States. Long before Mr.Greenley had made himself noted by his oft repeated iteration of the advice, "Go west, young man, and grown up with the country, " that thought had been acted on in all the Coloinies and States from Maine to Georgia. The impulse now became epidemic in the Catawba County. In one year forty families of the Bethany Church and congregation moved across the mountains into Tennessee and further west.