THE GENEALOGY

Of

Gene Charles and Betty Jane McCoy



Researched and Prepared

By

Gene C. McCoy



Dad, Mom, Addie and Mammie

Gene is Kneeling

Betty Jane is probably taking the picture




In Memory

of

Betty Jane McCoy

1920 - 1993

Beloved and loving Sister, Wife, Mother and Grandmother




INTRODUCTION

In a study of the McCoys of South Carolina John Michael Milton prepared the following sketch of the origins of the McCoy name. I present his work with permission

II McCOY, (Origins of name)

{Galloglas}

Derived from the Scottish clan name MacKay.

Crest Badge: a dexter cubit arm holding erect a dagger in pale, all proper, hilt and pommel or.

Motto: Manu forti (With a strong hand).

Gaelic Name: MacAoidh,

Origin of name: Gaelic MacAoidh (son of fire).

Plant Badge: Great bulrush.

War cry: Bratach Bhan Chlann Aoidh (The White Banner of MacKay).

This powerful clan was known as the Clan Morgan and as the Clan Aoidh. The former name is claimed from Morgan, son of Magnus in the early 14th century, the latter from his grandson Aodh or Hugh. The MacKays are descended from the old Royal House of MacEth. In Gaelic the MacKays are known collectively as CLANN MHORGAIN, but this applies usually only to the Sutherland MacKays. The Argyle MacKays being, as a rule, CLAN AOIDH.

The MacKay country was the most remote from the seat of government of any part of the Scottish mainland. It extended from Cape Wrath along the north coast to the Caithness border, and varied between sixteen and twenty miles in depth, its southern frontiers defended by bleak uplands and splendid mountains. In 1427 it was estimated that the Chief of MacKay possessed 4,000 fighting men with whom to defend this province.

It was called Strathnaver, after the largest river that flows through it. Both Gaelic and Norse derivations have been offered for this name, but it is more likely that it has survived from some earlier language. The Gaelic still spoken in Strathnaver has many affinities closer to the Munster Gaelic of southern Ireland than to any Scottish dialect. Until the 17th century every known marriage of a Chief of MacKay was with a member of the Scottish Gaelic aristocracy

(Researched and written by Michael Joseph Milton)(1)



GENE'S ANCESTORS

For most of my life I knew practically nothing of the origins or history of the McCoy Clan, and even less of my maternal roots in the Sisloff family. However, my Uncle Harry McCoy was sufficiently interested in McCoy genealogy so as to leave us several typewritten pages of names, birth and death dates of many McCoys, wives, children and grandchildren along with the following brief family sketch:

The McCoy family, the ancestry of which we are about to relate, is a people coming from North Ireland to America, and most probable, they came from Scotland. The name as first known was spelled MacCoy. We do not know who made the change in spelling, neither do we know when. John McCoy was born in North Ireland, about the year 1756. He and two brothers went to Antwerp to enter school when he was 15 years old. Antwerp is a seaport; the boys not being accustomed to the sight of big boats and other seaport wonders went to see them. John went aboard one of the vessels at a time when it was ready to sail. It looked good to him and he went with it without telling his brothers of his intentions of departure. He just sailed with it, not having any idea of whither it was bound or when it would return. He was gone five years before he came back. In 1776, he and two brothers left Ireland and came to America, settling in Pennsylvania. The Revolutionary War was on. He was not here long when he disappeared. Nothing was heard of him until 1780 when he was found with Gen. Green in the Carolinas. After the Revolution he went to Virginia, remained thereabouts two years and married. After marriage, he and his wife moved into Kentucky. Here he met the famous Daniel Boone; disposition, condition and association proved them fast friends. He kept moving westward until he reached what is now Louisville. While living there, there was an Indian uprising against the palefaces of the locality. Knowing the uncertainty of life in the time of war John and his wife took their eight children, John, Stephen, Daniel, George, Moses, James and two girls, their names not known, to the Indiana side of the Ohio River where they presumed them to be safe, and went back across the river to their white friends to help battle the Redskins. Both John and his wife were slain, thus their children scattered in the several directions. Now this son John (Jr.) went up the Ohio River above Madison to near Canaan (Indiana). In the meantime he met a Miss Youtsey, to whom he was married; unto them in 1809 a son was born and they gave him the name of Daniel, and about two years later a second son was born to them and they gave him the name of Wesley. The Mother soon died. After the death of the first wife he took unto himself a second wife and unto them were born five children, then John died.

From this sketch and the several pages of genealogical material that followed I found that many persons listed in Uncle Harry's material were also in the LDS (Mormon Church) familysearch.com data bank. From the two sources I was able to piece together what I believe is my branch of the McCoy family tree that follows below. The underlined names are Links to the LDS Family Search Files. These include Pedigree Charts and Family Group pages where you can find information on their spouses, children and, in some cases, the parents of the spouses: (Use the "BACK" function on your browser to return to my page from the LDS Data Bank.) 

   
GREAT/GREAT/GREAT/GREAT GRANDPARENTS:
  PATERNAL LINE                SPOUSES                   SPOUSAL PARENTS

John McCoy of Ireland
John McCoy                  Rebecca Blair                F. Brice Blair; (b.
(b. circa 1757              (b. circa 1759                  circa 1720.Pos.
North Ireland;              possibly, Fredericks,MD)        Fredericks, MD
M. abt,1779; d                                              d.10 Sept 1785,
d.28 Jan 1818                                               Bedford, PA 
Pos. Bedford,PA                                          
                                                         M. Sussannah; (b.21
                                                            Aug. 1741 Pos.
                                                            Fredericks, MD
                                                            d. 14 Feb 1819 
 
 
* * * * *

GREAT/GREAT/GREAT GRANDPARENTS:
  PATERNAL LINE                SPOUSES                   SPOUSAL PARENTS

John McCoy, Jr.
John McCoy, Jr                      Miss Youtsey                     NO DATA
(b. 1 Sept 1787 in                  (b. cica 1789 in                  
 Virginia or Kentucky)              Virginia or Kentucky)
 M.13 Dec 1827 (1)
 d. 19 Apr 1864 in
 Jefferson Co., IN)
(1)This is the marriage to Nancy Herring.  There is no record of John's marriage to
Youtsey who was the mother of Daniel McCoy to whom I am related. See my comments below.
 <
 
 
* * * * *

GREAT/GREAT GRANDPARENTS:
  PATERNAL LINE                SPOUSES                   SPOUSAL PARENTS

Daniel McCoy                           
Daniel McCoy                      Rachel Phillips          F. Robert Phillips  
(b. 26 Mar 1809                   (b. 30 June 1809.           (b. 18 Apr. 1785
in KY; M.17 Oct. 1826             Jessamine Co.,KY;           Jessamine Co., KY;]
Jwfferson Co. IN;                 d. 10 Dec. 1893,            d. 5 Jul 1858)
d. 28 Oct 1888, Ripley Co.,       Ripley Co., IN)
IN)                                                         M. Rebecca Phillips
                                                               b. 1787, Jessamine
                                                               Co., KY)
 

 
* * * * *
 
GREAT GRANDPARENTS;
  PATERNAL LINE                SPOUSES                   SPOUSAL PARENTS

Robert W. McCoy            
Robert Ward McCoy                 Letitia Scothern          F. Isacc Scothorn
(b. 26 Jun 1832 Near              (b. 26 Jun 1843              (b. 16 Mar 1805
Canaan, Jefferson Co.,IN;          d. 9 Mar 1884,               Allegheny, PA;
M.21 Oct.1865;                     Ripley Co., IN)              d. Rioley Co.,IN)  
d.15 Nov 1904
Ripley Co.,IN)                                              M.  Elizabeth Scothorn
                                                                (b. 1800, DE; d.
                                                                Ripley Co., IN)
 <

* * * * *
 
GRANDPARENTS:
     PATERNAL LINE                SPOUSES                   SPOUSAL PARENTS
Henry Clay McCoy          
Henry Clay McCoy               Adeline (Addie) Myers          NO DATA
(b. 1869 d. 1956               (b. 1872, Indiana)
M. 22 Oct 1893)
 
       

 
* * * * *

PARENTS:
     PATERNAL LINE                SPOUSES                   SPOUSAL PARENTS
James B. McCoy
James McCoy            
James Bonner McCoy            Elizabeth Sisloff          F. Charles T. Sisloff
(b.18 Mar1900                 (b.29 Apr 1900; d. 1973)      (b.1861,Hamilton, IN d.29 May 1958)                                               M. 24 Dec 1890
                                                         M. Amanda Maude Barnhiser
                                                             b.1861,Hamilton, IN
                                                             M. 24 Dec 1890)
 

* * * * *
 
THAT IS THE END OF MY ANCESTORS - NOW WE COME TO BETTY JANE AND GENE

Part II
The Decendents

     PATERNAL LINE                SPOUSES                   SPOUSAL PARENTS

Gene Charles McCoy
M. 21 Jan 1951 Pasadena, CA        MarCiele Perry   F. Vernon D. Perry;
                                                    M. Margaret Lauder
M. 16 Sept 1966 San Antonio, TX    Yvonne Cador     F. Victor Cador
                                                    M. Carmen Marticorena

* * * * *

     PATERNAL LINE                SPOUSES                   SPOUSAL PARENTS

Betty Jane McCoy - Gene's Sister
Betty Jane McCoy Cochran
(b. 21 Jul 1920 Indianapolis, IN)


* * * * *
Gene's Comments:

Most of the names contained in the LDS Family Search Data Bank were known to us before the discovery of the LDS Data Bank. Nevertheless, the discovery of the LDS source was an important event. It has, in a sense, confirmed the material we already had, and it has added several new names to our knowledge of our ancestors. Specifically the new names are:
     Name                           Relation
Amanda Barnhiser       The maiden name of "Mammy," my Maternal
                       Grandmother, Her married name was Sisloff.
Brice and              The parents of Rebecca Blair, John of
Sussannha Blair        Ireland's Wife.  Born in 1720, Brice would
                       be our earliest known ancestor.
Robert and             The parents of Daniel's wife, Rachel.
Rebecca Phillips
Isacc and              The parents of Letitia, Robert.W's wife.
Elizabeth Scothorn

In the course of this research I came to realize that it is very sad that we do not have more information about the lives of the people who were our ancestors. It would be nice to have letters, diaries, anecdotal stories or other material about their lives, and not just dates that are impersonal and cold. They were flesh and blood people who lived in interesting and exciting historical times.

I did establish a new contact with a second cousin, William McCoy of Hardy, Arkansas, whose name was mentioned in the LDS material as a "Submitter" of information to the LDS Data Bank. I wrote a letter to him and he called me back on the phone. Bill's father was my Grandfather Clay McCoy's brother. Bill is the author of the "Hand-me-down" material that I thought came from Uncle Harry McCoy. He has a lot of infomrmtion about the McCoy's and I will be in future contact with him.

During this research I also realized that there is a discrepancy in some of the data. The hand-me-down story has John of Ireland, (I will in the future refer to him as John,Sr.) and his wife Rebecca being killed in Kentucky during a skirmish with indians. This story (as written by Bill McCoy) says, "Knowing the uncertainty of life in the time of war John and his wife took their eight children, John, Stephen, Daniel, George, Moses, James and two girls, their names not known, to the Indiana side of the Ohio River where they presumed them to be safe, and went back across the river to their white friends to help battle the Redskins."

With the exception of John McCoy, B. 1787, these names of the children do not coincide with the names of the children listed in the LDS "Family Group Record" contained as Appendix A. Page 5 of my material. The LDS data also shows John and Rebecca as being buried in Bedford, PA rather than in Kentucky. Nevertheless, Bill McCoy says that he believes that both John McCoy, Sr.,born in Ireland, in 1757 and John Jr. born in 1787, are our ancestors. Bill has more material in Arkansas, (He was in California when I talked to him on the phone) and he will give me more information on this in the future. Of passing interest is the fact that Bill believes that the person he refers to as "Miss Youtsey" is actually named Polly Youtsey.

After-thoughts

When I first started my search in the LDS files I think I entered the names of Letitia Scothorn, and her spouse Robert McCoy, along with Letitia's parent's names, or some combination thereof. In any case, I was led to a list of unrelated websites. Another try with some new combination led to the Scothorns of Nottingham, England; finally with just the name Letitia Scothorn I was led to her file as the wife of Robert W. McCoy, whom I knew to be my Great Grandfather. From there I went backward to John McCoy of Ireland, and forward to James B. McCoy, my father. Aside from the exhilaration of finding the names, I felt a wave of tenderness toward this woman, Letitia, my Great Grandmother. Born on 26 Jun 1843, she married Robert at age 22 on 21 October 1865 (21 October 1929 is my birthrate). Letitia was from a family of 7 children, and after bearing 9 children herself, Letitia died on 9 Mar 1884. She was just 41 years old. She is buried in Lincolnville Cemetery in Benham, Ripley County, Indiana. All of this transpired over 100 years ago, some 2000 miles away from where I sat looking into my computer screen in Las Vegas, Nevada practically on the eve of Y2K.

My Grandfather Clay lived to 87 years of age, and his wife Addie lived to almost 80. Of the seven couples from John of Ireland born in 1757 to my mother and father, there were 54 children born. Of these 68 people (7 couples + 54 children) birth and death dates are known for 45 people, 22 men and 13 women. The average life span for a man among the 22 known subjects was 43.9 years, and for the 13 woman the average was 63.3 years.

For the information of those concerned I also searched the LDS Data Files on the names of Vernon Perry, Margaret Lauder, Clinton Minore, Victor Cador and Carmen Marticorena. There were no matches.

I think that families who know where they came from find it a little easier to get where they are going without having to relive the history they don't know about. Thus progress is made; although there is much more we could know, this effort is my small contribution to that progress.

Gene C.McCoy

Las Vegas, Nevada

July, 1999

                                       
LINKS:
(1)Milton's presentation of the McCoy Family of South Carolina is located at McCoy Family


HERE IS A LINK WHERE I HAVE SOME OF MY WRITING - PHOTOS AND PAINTINGS:
Gene's Home Page

 

E-MAIL [email protected]

Copyright
) Gene McCoy - June 1999
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