JOHN McCOY, a descendant of one of the prominent early pioneers of this county, and himself one of the most highly respected citizens of West Finley township, is a native of the same, born in 1836 on the farm whereon he now lives. Daniel McCoy, his grandfather, a native of Scotland, came to America in 1772, with his brothers, Angus and James, landing in Baltimore, Md., where, as was the custom at that period with impecunious immigrants, they were hired to a tobacco planter to work out the price of passage. On the same trip there came over a Miss Nancy McCoy, who for a similar reason was hired to the same planter who employed Daniel, and the friendship which sprung up between Nancy and Daniel ripened, in course of time, into a love which resulted in their union for life as soon as their passage had been fully worked out. They then came to Washington county, Penn., and here bought the farm, in what is now West Finley township, that has been in the possession of the McCoy family ever since, the original land patent for which was obtained from the Craig heirs. The old deed, dated 1788, is still in the possession of the subject of this sketch. To Daniel and Nancy (McCoy) McCoy were born nine children: Alexander, John, William, Angus, Kenneth, James, Betsey, Christy and Joseph, all now deceased. Angus McCoy's children were Joseph D., Janet, Margaret, William and Alexander; while the children of James McCoy were Alexander, John, William, Daniel and David.
Kenneth McCoy, who was the fifth child in the family, was born May 25, 1791, on the farm his father had settled on, and here lived all his life cultivating the soil, and every year adding to the improvements thereon. This farm he bought at the time of his marriage with Jane Brownlee, which happy event occurred April 18, 1817. Their home was brightened by the birth of children as follows: Jane, born June 4, 1818; Joseph, born November 1, 1819; Elizabeth, born October 4, 1824; Mary, born August 29, 1827, and John, our subject, all yet living except Jane and Joseph, the former of whom died August 15, 1844, and the latter December 27, 1887. The father departed to that Better Land, "where all have gone and all must go," January 19, 1873, the mother, July 27, 1869.
John McCoy was reared to the occupation of his forefathers, and has never left the old home farm, excepting the time he spent in traveling in the western States, shortly after his father's decease. His education was received at the common schools of his district, which he supplemented with much reading and close observation of men and things. With the savings from his hard earnings, he was enabled, on his return home from the West, to buy off the other heirs to his father's estate, and he is now sole proprietor, the property being one of the finest in the township. Mr. McCoy was married November 19, 1877, to Mary E., daughter of George Eckles, of West Finley township, and their union has been blessed with four children: Margaret, born August 26, 1878; John, born December 7, 1879; George, born February 18, 1882, and Edwin B., born September 10, 1886. In politics Mr. McCoy has been a lifelong Republican, but has never aspired to office. The McCoys have always been liberty-loving people, and some members of the family, in days gone by, were prominent Abolitionists.
Kenneth McCoy, father of our subject, aided at various times many slaves in their escape by the "Underground Railroad" into Canada, and at one time he had eleven colored fugitives secreted in his barn, whom he fed and sheltered until an opportunity offered for them to continue on their flight to liberty. It is said of his cousin Kenneth McCoy, of Ripley, Ohio, that some years ago he pried open the doors of a jail, cut the hand-cuffs and shackles off the prisoners, and liberated a number of unfortunate runaway slaves, who had been recaptured and temporarily incarcerated. He was a blacksmith and tool-dresser. Knowing where quarrymen had left a crowbar, he seized it and carried out his project of freeing the slaves. The authorities arrested another man, and summoned McCoy as a witness to identify the crowbar. The prosecutor asked him when he saw the crowbar last? "Why," he responded, "at the jail, the night I let the darkies out." The prisoner was discharged; but there is no record of the prosecution of McCoy for this early effort to emancipate the colored brothers.
Text taken from page 1021 of:
Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893).Transcribed March 1997 by Neil and Marilyn Morton of Oswego, IL as part of the Beers Project.
Published March 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.[ [Back to Beers Table of Contents] [Back to Beers Project Page]