The family of James McCoy 1777-1833

James McCoy is one of my favorite ancestors.  He was the son of a Baptist pastor and a "clerk" of the Baptist churches, and became a pastor after moving to Washington County, Indiana in 1820.  He was born in Pennsylvania, lived for some years as a boy and young man in Kentucky, and ended up in Clark County, Indiana, where he and his wife and a son died in the terrible cholera epidemic of 1833.  His wife, Nancy Lane, is also one of my favorites, simply because she endured. James and Nancy married when Nancy was barely sixteen years old, and she went on to bear children for close to 29 years.  I am not entirely clear on how many children, exactly, but census records from 1820 and 1830 appear to indicate perhaps as many as 12 children lived to make the slash marks on the census records.  There may be others who were born and died in between census reports, or prior to 1820.  It is also possible that some of the youngest children in the 1830 census were actually grandchildren or other relatives, rather than the children of James and Nancy.

Let's see what we can figure out...

Sarah seems to have been the first born, likely within a year or two of her parents' marriage.  She married Jesse Wilson, the son of James and Susan Decker Wilson.  They had three children together, Polly, Nancy, and James, who were granted 1/9 of their grandfather's estate.  Sarah must have been deceased by then, but whether it was in the cholera epidemic, or from childbirth, or other causes, I have not yet learned. (Jesse still had a wife of Sarah's age in 1830.)

Lewis was born January 31, 1806 and died in 1874 in Franklin, Johnson County, Indiana.  He married Rebecca Hester, daughter of Matthias and Susannah Huckleberry Hester.  Their children are George, John, Henrietta, and William.  Most of the McCoy children were named for someone else in the family but I can't say for sure about Lewis.  

Vincent was born in 1807, probably still in Shelby County, Kentucky, and died in 1857 in Fulton County, Indiana.  He married Eleanor Jackson, the daughter of Alexis and Catherine Moore Jackson.  Their children are James, Catherine, Nancy, Isaac, William, John, Eliza, George, Sarah, and Nelson.  I'll write more of this family in my next blog post.

Elizabeth may be the next child, born about 1808 and died in 1844 in Pike Township, Marion County, Indiana.  She married Thomas Hume, the son of John and Mary Barnett Hume.  Their children are Priscilla, James, John, Thomas, William, Isaac, and Henry.  The Pike Township location is interesting because that is where Eleanor Jackson McCoy's father died.  Vincent (above) may have lived there while he courted and met his wife.  

Priscilla is the next daughter, , born in 1812 and died in 1890 in Washington County, Indiana.  She married Richard Thompson, the son of Levi and Jane Nicholson Thompson.  Their children are Nancy, Jane, Elizabeth, Christiana, John, Richard, Thomas, William, Lewis, James, and Edwin.  

Milton, sometimes seen as James Milton, was born in 1814 and died in the cholera epidemic of 1833.  

Isaac was born in 1816 and died in 1903 in Boone County, Illinois. He married Cynthia Penwell, the daughter of Reuben and Cynthia Winslap Penwell in Boone County.  Their children include Esther, Mary, Amanda, Carrie, Frederick, Vincent, Sarah, and (possibly) James.  As yet, I do not know how or why Isaac was in northern Illinois.  Most of the family stayed fairly near to Washington County, Indiana, or at least had a reason and additional family for moving on.

Nancy was born in 1818.  She was alive at the time of her father's estate settlement, but I have not been able to trace her further.  There is a woman of that name who married Thomas Moulton in Decatur, Adams County, Indiana in 1839 and died there the same year, but I don't know if this is our Nancy.

Christiana was born in 1822 and alive in 1833.  Her court appointed guardian was Jeremiah Payne, but I haven't been able to trace her after that.  

John was the next son.  He was born in 1825 and died in 1893 in Johnson County, Indiana.  He married Mary Rozor or Razer, the daughter of William and Elizabeth Kean Razor.  Their children are Fleming, Christiana, John, Lucyh, Martha, Mary, Dora, Sarah, and Jennie.  

Finally, in 1829 Thomas was born, the last of the known children.  He died in 1916 in Marshalltown, Iowa.  His wife was Malinda Millsap, the daughter of Byrd and Gemima Morrow Millsap (Milsap).  Their children are Ida, Ollie, and Earl.  I have also seen James, John, and George as his children, but not as hers, so their may well be an earlier marriage I haven't yet uncovered.  Again, there is a mystery here, both as to a possible prior marriage, (the marriage mentioned here was in 1870, when Thomas would have been 41 years old) and how Thomas ended up in Iowa.  

I have seen one other daughter mentioned as being the child of James and Nancy.  Her name was Rebecca, reportedly born in 1808.  It looks to me like she belongs to another of the McCoy families, but there is a female mentioned in the 1820 census aged 10-15, which would fit Rebecca.  The jury is still out on this one.

As always, I'd love to hear from anyone who can shed more light on some of the questions I've posed in this post.  I'd also love to hear from you if you are a cousin!  We can honor these ancestors, who surely led difficult and dedicated lives. 

 

The family of William McCoy 1754-1813

 Learning just a little bit about this family has been so very interesting to me.  William is the son of James Thomas and Ann Bruce McCoy, and a Revolutionary War veteran, and a Baptist pastor.  He is also a survivor.  In learning about his family, I was able to see life breathed into the history books I've been reading, and since I've briefly visited southern Indiana, some of it really hits home.

William's story starts in 1754, in either Virginia or Pennsylvania.  I am unable to find documentation for an earlier date than his father's deed in 1769 near Uniontown, Fayette County, Pennsylvania.  There were not many settlers that far west in 1754, and of course later many people who had gone west were forced to return east due to the many raids and battles of the French and Indian War.  William married Elizabeth Royce, said but not yet proven to be the daughter of John and Hannah Royce.  (There are records for a John Royce who married Hannah Bellamy in Wallingford, Hartford County, Connecticut in 1751.  The dates fit.  There is also a John Royce who died in 1808 in what is now Hampshire County, West Virginia.  But are these the same man?  I can't tie them together-yet.  Can you?)

I have found varying lists for William and Elizabeth's children, and for their grandchildren, and also varying birthdates.  I have not proven all of them, especially the grandchildren, so this is another family that needs further research.  However, what I have found is, to me, exciting. 

First, I've found three daughters listed on some sites whom I can't confirm.  They are Mary, who lived from 1777 to 1787, Ann, given a birth year of 1779, and Rachel, given a birth year of 1781.  Mary may well have been their child; Rachel is more likely to have been the daughter of Isaac and Lydia Gaddis McCoy, so a niece to William and Elizabeth.  About Ann, I haven't a clue.  

James, however, is their son.  He was born in 1777, and married Nancy Ann Lane in 1800 in Shelby County, Kentucky.  She is the daughter of Lambert Lane and possibly Nancy Ann Anderson, although the jury is still out on that.  Their children are Vincent, Priscilla, Isaac, Thomas, Elizabeth, John, Nancy, Christiana, and Sarah.  I will follow this family in my next blog post.  James and Nancy both died in the cholera epidemic of 1833 in Salem, Washington County, Indiana.  

William was born in about 1778, and may be the William who died in 1842 in Spencer County, Indiana.  He may have had a first wife, currently unknown, and they may have had two children, Lucinda and John.  He also may have married a Nancy Craycraft, the daughter of Charles and Eleanor Atkinson Craycraft.  Their children are Reuben, John, Susanna, Thomas, William, James, Nancy, Uriah, Eveline, and Lucy (unless she is the same as Lucinda, mentioned earlier.)   Clearly, this family needs further research.

Sarah, also known as Sallie, was born in 1779 and died in 1851 in Washington County, Indiana. She married Jeremiah Payne, the son of Samuel and Mary Stilwell Payne.  Their children are Elizabeth, Lewis, Indiana, William, Simon, Priscilla, James, Sarah, Mary, Christiana, and Martha.  

John McCoy was born in 1782 and died in 1859 in Clark County, Indiana, where his parents had died.  He married Jane (called Jincy) Collins, the daughter of Spencer and Jane McClure Collins.  Their children are Lydia, Lewis, Spencer, Isaac, Thirza, Mahala, Eliza, William, George and John.  John was a major in the War of 1812, mainly against native Americans who raided the area, and was also a pastor.  

Isaac seems to have been the next born, in 1784 and died in 1846 in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky.  He was a Baptist missionary to several native American tribes, and I've written about him previously.  His wife was Christiana Polk, the daughter of Charles and Delilah Tyler Polk.  Their children are Isaac, Mahala, Rice, Josephus, Delilah, John, Elizabeth, Sarah, Spencer, Christiana, Nancy, Eleanor, Maria and Charles.  

Lydia was born in 1787 and died in 1857.  She married Amos Littell, the son of Absalom and Mary Norris Littell.  Their children are Lucinda, Elizabeth, Naamah, Malinda, Ozena, Hiram, Lydia, and Abraham.  

Rice, also seen as Royce, was their last child.  He is said to have been the first white child born in Cincinnati, when his parents were enroute from Pennsylvania to their new home in Kentucky.  Whether or not he was the first white child in Ohio, he was born in 1789 and died in 1834.  He married Malinda Pound, the daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Stark Pound.  Their children are Elizabeth, Ann, Eusebius, Christiana, Elizabeth again, Priscilla, Isaac, Sarah, Adoniram, William, John, Rice, Josephus, Melinda, Sarah, and Ann.  Rice was also a Baptist pastor and, as his brothers did, fought in battles with the native Americans.

Almost all of these people were Baptists, with their home or mother church being Silver Creek in Clark County.  They were pastors, missionaries, and clerks for the church.  They came to Indiana at an early date and fought for their families and their homes against the native Americans who did not want white people on their lands.  In their time, they were heroes, fighting both secular and spiritual battles.  We owe much to this family.

The family of James Thomas McCoy 1720-1801

 James Thomas McCoy is another of the rather mysterious ancestors in our Allen line.  He is the first immigrant in the family, who came as a young teen-ager from Ireland.  But his birth date and his parents are in doubt.  I am using the birth year of about 1720 although some say he was born as late as 1738.  My reasoning for the earlier birth date is that his children were born starting in 1748.  And I'm not going to make a guess as to his parents.  I have long thought they were John and Anna Kallas McCoy, but in reviewing the available material prior to writing this blog post, I have seen at least two alternative sets of parents.  One set seems to lead back into a Lord and a Lady, and since I have been burned several times by believing fraudulent genealogies that wrongly tied back to nobility and royalty, I can only say "Show me the evidence."  

We do know that James married Ann Bruce by about 1747 in Frederick County, Virginia.  Ann is the daughter of John and Sarah Parrell Bruce.  James and Ann had several children and moved at some point to Fayette County (which was then Westmoreland County), Pennsylvania, where land was purchased in 1769 and a fort was built for family and community protection from expected indigenous people's attacks.

I am not at all sure how many children James and Ann had.  There are seven mentioned in James's estate records and I have seen as many as 6 others named as his children.  I have also seen varying birth dates for several of the children, so take these with a grain of salt.  I am fairly confident that I at least have spouses and children (or some of the children?) identified correctly.

Mary Catherine does appear to be the first child born, in 1748. (She may have had a twin, as Joseph is also attributed to this family and also was born in 1748.  I can find no record at all for Joseph, so he may have died as an infant or young child, if in fact he existed.)  Mary married Thomas Broomfield, the son of Charles and Elizabeth Bird Brownfield.  Their children are Ann, Elizabeth, Sarah, John, William, Nathan, James, Enos, Isaac, and Thomas.  Mary died in 1818.

There may or may not have been a James Thomas Jr., born about 1752.  He was not mentioned in his father's will.  A James McCoy was a member in 1782 of the expedition to Sandusky, and that credit, if you can call it a credit, is usually given to James who was born about 1720.  He would have been 62 or so at the time of that expedition, so I have wondered whether it might be this James who should have the credit for the service.  I simply don't know, but wanted to put that idea "out there".

William was born in 1754 and died in 1813 in  Clark County, Indiana.  He became a Baptist pastor and married Elizabeth Royce, whose parentage is in some dispute but most often is shown as a daughter of John and Hannah Royce.  William and Elizabeth's children are James, John, Isaac, Sallie, Lydia, and Royce or Rice.  I will follow this family in my next blog post.

George was born about 1756 and died in 1820 in Ohio.  He is reported to have never married.  He was not included in the estate records of James, so there are several explanations.  Perhaps James gave him his "inheritance" when he left the state.  Perhaps George died earlier than the 1820 date I've seen.  Perhaps the father and son had parted ways.  Or perhaps, just perhaps, George doesn't belong to this family. His name isn't used in the children of any of his siblings, although other names were used over and over.

Isaac was born in 1758 and married Lydia Gaddis, the daughter of Colonel Thomas and Hannah Rice Gaddis.  I have not been able to determine whether Hannah Rice is of the Royce/Rice family that included Elizabeth, wife of William mentioned above.  Isaac is said to have had five children but I have been able to identify only four.  They are Lydia, Thomas, Mary, and James.  Isaac died in 1796.

Sarah may have been born next.  I show her birth year as 1758 which would possibly make her a twin, also, to Isaac.  Or the birth years may very well be off.  She married Samuel Sutton, the son of Moses and Rachel Doty Sutton.  Their children are David, John, Benjamin, Moses, Aaron, Samuel, William, Jacob, Rachel, Isaac, James, another James, and Amy. 

Ann was born about 1760 and married David Askren, the son of Thomas and Martha New Askren.  Their children are shown as Mary, Joseph, John, Anna, Isaac, Sarah, and Elizabeth.  She died about 1840 in Blair County, Pennsylvania.  

Rachel was born about 1762 and married Lambert Flowers, the son of Charles and Priscilla Flowers.  Their children are Thomas, James, George, John, and William.  Rachel died in 1827 in Charles City, Virginia.  

John was probably the last born child.  He was born about 1764 and married Rith Gaddis, another daughter of Thomas and Hannah Rice or Royce Gaddis.  Their children are Sarah, Rachel, Hannah, Mary, Leah, Ruth, Anna, John, Priscilla, James, Thomas, Bruce, and Asenath.

By this count, which may not be complete, the McCoys were blessed with 58 grandchildren.  As you can see, this is less of a documented blog post than it is a collection and an attempt at analysis of conflicting dates, with not many written records to review.  It should be headed "Notes for further research".  I am hoping there are McCoy cousins who will find this and communicate with me and share their information. 

The family of Jude Foster 1759-1789

This is the last post in the Foster family series, because Jude Foster, the son of Nathan and Elizabeth Lansford Foster, had five children, all female.  He was born in 1759 and died in 1789 in Paxton, Worcester, Massachusetts.  He actually lived in Rowe, as noted in the town records but probably had been either visiting or staying with his brother, Rev. Joel Foster, when he died.  He was just thirty years old, but he had been involved in some of the hard campaigns of the Revolutionary War, and had just received pension approval at the time of his death.   I don't know whether he actually made it to Canada or not, but he seems to at least have been at Fort Ticonderoga and possibly other battles.  He would have been in his late teens then.

There is confusion about the identity of his wife.  Some say she was Sally Goodenough or Goodnow, and it's possible that she was his first wife but died early.  Some say she was Lydia Goodenough, the daughter of David and Mary Bent Goodenough.  In the Rowe records, she is noted simply as "Lydia M." and I have found no records that would further identify her.  However, Lydia is recorded as being the mother of all the daughters.

The daughters themselves have also been a bit of a mystery to trace.  Sally was the first one, in 1780.  She married Luke S Blackmun, the son of Andrew and Deliverance Hill Blackmun.  Their children are Polly, William, Delia, Jude, Samantha, Andrew, and Martin.  Sally died in 1827 in Mooers, Clinton County, New York.  (I have seen other dates as 1854 in a different part of Massachusetts, but that woman is clearly identified as Sally Foster, not Blackmun, and I think these were two different women.)

Next was Lydia, born in 1782 and died in 1802 in Hartford, Washington County, New York.  

I am not absolutely sure about Polly.  Her name in the Rowe records is clearly Polly, not Mary, but there are a lot of sites that list Mary (Polly) as the daughter of Jude and Lydia.  Polly was often a nickname for Mary so I am including the information about "Mary" here, although I am not 100% sure this is correct.  Mary/Polly was born in 1784 and married William L. Bull, the son of Nathaniel and Sarah Bartholomew Bull.  Their children are Sophronia, Laura, Nathaniel, Sarah, Betsy, Lydia, Sarah, John, Caroline, Mary, William and Minerva.  Mary died in 1869 in Otto, Cattaraugus County, New York.

Betsy was born in 1787 and married Josiah Whittemore, the son of Josiah and Lucy Snow Whittemore.  Their children are Josiah, John Dexter, John Foster, Mary Elizabeth, and Martha.  I have written of this family earlier. Betsy died in 1854 in South Hartford, Washington County, New York.  

Finally, there is the big mystery of Judith, who was born in 1789, a few weeks after her father died.  All that I can find of her is that she was still alive in 1801, when Lydia was appointed guardian for her three youngest daughters.  If there are marriage records for her, they would probably be in Washington County, New York, but I have not located them there, or anywhere else.  

So our mysterious Lydia was left to raise five daughters.  As mentioned earlier, I don't know what happened to her.  I don't know what the "M" stood for in the Rowe documents that recorded her family.  I only know that I would certainly like to find out more about her, and Judith, too! Jude was a Revolutionary War hero, but Lydia certainly fits the definition of heroine.

The family of Nathan Foster 1728-1809

 Rabbit holes and BSOs (bright shiny objects) are so much fun, and I've been chasing both as I write these family blog posts.  I've learned a few interesting things about some of the folks who would are siblings to our direct ancestors, and I usually try to include at least a brief summary of what I've learned as I write.  Since Nathan Foster and Elizabeth Lansford had such a large family, this would have been a long post anyway, but the side trips made it even more interesting, at least to me.

Nathan was born in 1728 in Stafford Connecticut, the son of Nathan and Hannah Standish Foster.  He married Elizabeth Lunsford or Lansford, daughter of Michael and Elizabeth Hackben Lunsford, in 1750 in Stafford, and died in 1809 in Western (now Warren), Massachusetts.  Most of his children stayed near either Stafford or Western, so he would have known many if not most of his grandchildren.  That's my definition of a wonderful life, although of course there were difficult times along the way.

One of those difficult times may have been the birth of their first daughter, Tirza or Thirza.  She was apparently born "about 1750".  I have not found a further record about her, and I wonder if she was perhaps a short-lived twin to Azubah, who was born in 1751.

Azubah married Caleb Rogers, the son of Caleb and Mary Harlow Rogers.  They had possibly three children, Nathan, Thirza, and John Foster.  Azubah died in 1777 and her husband remarried.  

Nathan and Elizabeth's first son, Nathan, was born in 1753 and married Abigail Seely, the daughter of Nehemiah and Abigail Guyre Seeley.  Their children include Clarissa, Eliza, Tryphena, Rebecca, Huldah, Abigail, Anna, Nathan (finally, a son!) and Sophia.  Nathan died in 1820 and Abigail remarried, but she was past child-bearing age.  There are several men named Nathan Foster who served in the Revolutionary War but I am not able to find records that prove that any of them were this Nathan.

Joel Foster was the next son, born in 1755.  He married Priscilla Foster, who was the daughter of Rev. Isaac and Elizabeth Emerson Foster.  Rabbit hole warning:  Isaac Foster was Nathan's first cousin, and he preached the ordination sermon for our Joel, who was Rev. Joel Foster.  Joel and Priscilla were second cousins.  Their children are Sophia, Priscilla, Fanny, Joel, and Nathan.   Joel served as the executor for his brother Jude's estate (see below) and died in 1812.

Elizabeth, called Betty in some records,  was born in 1757 and died about 1778.  She married Nathan (which apparently was a popular name in this area and era!) Wood, the son of Joseph and Tabetha Haseltine Wood.  Their son Jasper was born in 1776, and Betty died about 1778. 

Jude was born in 1759, served in the Revolutionary War and died in 1789, shortly after his application for a pension was approved.  He married Sarah Goodenough and "Lydia M."  According to Rowe, Massachusetts records, all of the children appear to his and Lydia's, but there are family historians who disagree about this.  At any rate, his children, all girls, are Sally, Lydia, Pollly, Betsy and Judith.  I will follow this family in my next post.

John, a pastor and graduate of Dartmouth College, was born in 1762 and married Harriet Webster, the daughter of Grant and Hannah Wainwright Webster.  Harriet is interesting because she wrote two early American novels, one considered scandalous.  The Coquette was based on a true life situation of a woman who was seduced and then abandoned, with the baby stillborn and the heroine/object lesson dying in an inn.  She wrote another novel, and newspaper articles, and passed the writer's gene to two of her daughters.  John and Harriet's children are Wainwright, John, Hannah, Henry, Elizabeth and Harriet.  John died in 1829 and Harriet actually died in Canada, where she had gone to live with two daughters after John died.

Asa was their last son, born in 1764.  He married Elizabeth Thomas, the daughter of Archibald and Hannah Conkey Thomas.  Their children are Thomas, Asa, Justus, Elizabeth, Asa, and Hannah.  He died in 1803.  I have wondered if this was the source of the rumor reported in my last post, about an Asa Foster who was sued for desertion by Elizabeth Thompson in 1803.  Were these two separate Asas, each married to a woman with a similar name?  I don't have an answer to that question yet.

Surely Elizabeth was tired of child bearing by this time, but she delivered yet one more daughter, Lydia.  Her birth date is given as 1771, with a question mark.  If this is accurate, this is 7 years after the birth of their son Asa, and Elizabeth would have been 42 years old, which is not out of the question.  But were there other children born, or pregnancies which were not successful, in that seven year interval?  That's another question to determine.  Lydia has a death date of 1776. so she lived only a few years.

By my count, this gives Nathan and Elizabeth 35 grandchildren, which is a lot but others of the Foster family had even more.  The family includes at least two pastors, at least one Revolutionary War soldier, and others who were well respected and successful in their communities.  I'm happy to honor them in some small way with this post.