John MacCormac, (24 March 1791,

Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh and roughly southwest of Belfast. The town is linked to Belfast by both the M1 motorway (Northern Ireland), M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin rail ...

20 March 1865) was an Irish timber merchant who pioneered the

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

trade in the Colony of

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

. John MacCormac was also the founder of the first

Free Will Baptist Free Will Baptists or Free Baptists are a group originating from General Baptists that emphasizes the teaching of free salvation and free will. The movement can be traced back to the General Baptists in 17th century England. In 1702, Paul Palm ...

church in Sierra Leone and served as a member of His Majesty's Colonial Council and was styled with the title of 'Honorable'. MacCormac was the grandfather and namesake of Dr

John Farrell Easmon John Farrell Easmon, MRCS, LM, LKQCP, MD, CMO (30 June 1856 – 9 June 1900), was a prominent Sierra Leonean Creole medical doctor in the British Gold Coast who served as Chief Medical Officer during the 1890s. Easmon was the only West A ...

, the Chief Medical Officer of the

Gold Coast Colony The Gold Coast was a British Crown colony on the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa from 1821 until its independence in 1957 as Ghana. The term Gold Coast is also often used to describe all of the four separate jurisdictions that were under the ad ...

who coined the term '

Blackwater Fever Blackwater fever is a complication of malaria infection in which red blood cells burst in the bloodstream (hemolysis), releasing hemoglobin directly into the blood vessels and into the urine, frequently leading to kidney failure. The disease ...

' and wrote the first English-based clinical diagnosis of Blackwater fever.

Background

John MacCormac was born on 24 March 1791 in

County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...

in Northern Ireland to John MacCormac, a wealthy linen merchant and Ann MacCormac, née Hall, a daughter of Colonel or General Joseph Hall Jr., a wealthy distiller and proprietor of Hall Place, in Lurgan, Northern Ireland. MacCormac was the paternal grandson of Cornelius MacCormac, a high-ranking British

naval officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent ...

who died in England during the process of trying to recover his gold-laced hat. John MacCormac was born to the

MacCormac family of County, Armagh The MacCormac family is a family of People of Northern Ireland, Northern Irish ancestry that originates in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The MacCormac family produced four medical doctors and at least three members of the family received knight ...

and was the elder brother of Henry MacCormac, a lecturer at

Queen's University, Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

. MacCormac was the paternal uncle of Sir William MacCormac, a lecturer at St Thomas Hospital and a senior physician to King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...

of the United Kingdom.

Business

MacCormac first arrived in West Africa by the age of eighteen and originally settled in the Gold Coast. MacCormac settled permanently in Sierra Leone in 1814 and by 1816 he introduced the timber trade to Sierra Leone by shipping a type of timber called

African Teak African teak is a common name for several plants and may refer to: *'' Baikiaea plurijuga'', native to the northern Kalahari *'' Milicia excelsa'', also known as iroko, native to Africa from the Ivory Coast to Ethiopia and south to Angola and Moz ...

, which was really African Oak, from the estuary of the

Rokel River The Rokel River (also Seli River; previously Pamoronkoh River) is the largest river in the Republic of Sierra Leone in West Africa. The river basin measures in size, with the drainage divided by the Gbengbe and Kabala hills and the Sula Mountain ...

to England. He built himself a home and a timber yard on Timbo Island. He contracted a workforce of Temne labourers as well as Black colonists from the Sierra Leone some of whom also acted as overseers of the timber production process. He also built a large stone house in the Sierra Leone hinterland and a spacious mansion worth £10,000 on the corner of Rawdon and Oxford Streets. MacCormac was financially ruined by the late 1830s and he retired to

Liverpool, England Liverpool is a port city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population of (in ), Liverpool is the administrative, c ...

alongside his brother and business partner, Hamilton Edmund MacCormac. MacCormac returned to Sierra Leone after declaring bankruptcy but was allowed to keep his commodious mansion by his creditors. He subsequently undertook a number of government appointments.

Political career and colonial appointments

MacCormac was one of the wealthiest merchants in Sierra Leone and he was appointed by His Majesty's Colonial Council of Sierra Leone in the 1820s. MacCormac was a contemporary of Honorable Kenneth Macaulay, a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

merchant and colonial official in Sierra Leone, who served on the Colonial Council of Sierra Leone. MacCormac also served on the Colonial Council alongside Benjamin Campbell, a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

merchant of

descent who served as the first Consul-General to the

Lagos Colony Lagos Colony was a British Empire, British colonial possession centred on the port of Lagos in what is now southern Nigeria. Lagos was Lagos Treaty of Cession, annexed on 6 August 1861 under the threat of force by Commander Beddingfield of HMS ...

. MacCormac and Campbell entered into a treaty with the Koya Temne on behalf of Governor Alexander Findlay the representative of the Crown colonial government. MacCormac served in various positions of responsibility within the colonial government and civil service.Sibthorpe, Aaron Belisarius Cosimo, ''The History of Sierra Leone'', (1868. 1906. Reprint: United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis, 1970) MacCormac served as a Justice of Peace and was subsequently appointed as an Assistant

Police Magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a ''Roman magistrate, magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and pos ...

for the Colony of Sierra Leone. MacCormac was eventually appointed as the Police Magistrate of the Colony of Sierra Leone in the mid-nineteenth century. MacCormac's former extensive business interests with the Koya Temne allowed the colonial council to appoint MacCormac as an unofficial envoy or ambassador for the Colony of Sierra Leone and the neighbouring indigenous ethnic groups. MacCormac undertook trade missions and engaged treaties on behalf of the colonial government of Sierra Leone. MacCormac was eager for the Temne to reject Islam and accept Christianity and some historians have stated that this bias is reflected in MacCormac's decisions as a representative of the Crown Colonial Government of Sierra Leone.

Ministry

After suffering financial ruin, MacCormac became a pious convert to Christianity and became a

. MacCormac was the founder and first pastor of Church of God, Regent Road, which was initially located at MacCormac's mansion at the corner of Rawdon and Oxford Streets. MacCormac left an endowment for the church in his will and the church was subsequently established at Regent Road, Freetown and has an active congregation in Freetown, Sierra Leone. MacCormac was succeeded as the first pastor of the Church of God by his adopted son or ward, Thomas George Lawson, a Popo prince who served in the senior civil service of Sierra Leone.

Parliamentary testimony

John MacCormac was one of several

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an residents called to testify before the British

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in 1830 regarding the governance of Sierra Leone and the effectiveness of maintaining the Colony. MacCormac attributed his longevity to eating the local diet of rice, fish, and other African-based foods.

Death

After suffering from a bout of illness, John MacCormac left Sierra Leone permanently on 21 June 1864 and settled in

Barnsbury Barnsbury is an area of north London in the London Borough of Islington, within the N1 and N7 postal districts. History The name is a syncopated form of ''Bernersbury'' (1274), being so called after the Berners family: powerful medieval ...

Islington, London Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

. He died in Barsnbury on 20 March 1865 and his obituary was recorded in the ''Law Magazine and Law Review'' and the ''Solicitors' Journal & Reporter''. MacCormac was one of the oldest and longest European residents of Sierra Leone and he lived in

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

for over fifty years. He left a fortune of £4,000 to his grandchildren and other benefactors. MacCormac's grandson and namesake,

, received a £400 inheritance at the age of eighteen or nineteen years old and used the inheritance from his grandfather's estate to fund his medical studies.

Descendants

John MacCormac possibly had a relationship with Hannah Cuthbert, a daughter of

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

from

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...

Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...

and had at least one daughter, Catherine MacCormac, who regularly visited her uncle, Dr Henry MacCormac in

Belfast, Northern Ireland Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. John MacCormac was the maternal grandfather of Dr

and the paternal great grandfather of Dr McCormack Easmon.

Charles Odamtten Easmon Charles Odamtten Easmon or C. O. Easmon, popularly known as Charlie Easmon, (22 September 1913 – 19 May 1994) was a medical doctor and academic who became the first Ghanaian to formally qualify as a surgeon specialist and the first Dean of t ...

, a

Ghanaian The Ghanaian people are a nation originating in the Gold Coast (region), Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 34 million people as of ...

surgical consultant, was a great-great grandson of John MacCormac.