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.