Family indicates he told of guard duty in War of 1812 during bombardment of
Ft. McHenry. Service record for a John McCoy in MD does exist, private in
Captain Wm. Brown Jr.'s Co., 6th Regt. Maryland Militia, 19aug1814 to
05nov1814, deserted 05nov1814. The seige of Ft. McHenry occurred September
13-14, 1814, preceded by General Ross burning Washington DC and taking
Alexandria, VA.
MARRIAGE: 11 FEB 1929, Seattle, King Co., Washington
He lived for many years in a little house in the woods at Des Moines, WA, overlooking a deep gully. Every evening, troupes of raccoons and skunks would make their way up from the gully to his back door to be fed. He loved fly fishing so much that he gave up his first career as a pharmacist to start a fishing tackle company, which he eventually sold after many years. His house was always full of intriguing heaps of fur, feathers, and brightly colored yarns used to make the flies and other lures. Not only did the local fisherman appreciate his products, so did the fish. He had mastered the art of creating lures that looked like succulent insects to the trout of the Pacific Northwest. Whenever our family stopped at a lake or river in that region, we nearly always saw empty wrappers left by untidy fishermen, showing the McCoy label.
In the Pennsylvania Archives series, there is a list of marriage licenses issued by the Province of Pennsylvania — but without further source information. One of these is a marriage of Joseph McCoy to Eleanor Stewart, in 1869, but without any indication of where they lived or where the marriage might have taken place. It is tempting to see in this the origin of the name Joseph Stewart McCoy, but both family names are relative common in Pennsylvania at that period.
That this Joseph Stewart McCoy was the father of William Watson McCoy seems to be established by his will:
Crawford Co., Ohio: Will Book 1 (digitized on www.familysearch.org)
pp. 267-268
In the matter of the last will and testament of Joseph S. McCoy deceased.
Proceedings in said matter:
December 30th A.D. 1853. The last will and testament of Joseph S. McCoy late of Whetsone [=Whetstone] township Crawford County Ohio deceased was this day produced in court by M. Adams, Attorney for the Executor in said will named, and Martin Bacon and John Swonger the subscribing witnesses to said will appeared and in open court on oath testified to the due execution of said will which testamony was reduced to writing and by them respectively subscribed and filed with said will. And it appears to the Court by said testamony that said will was duly attested and executed and that the said testator at the time of executing the same was of full age and of sound mind and memory and not under any restraint, it is ordered by the Court that said will and the testamony so reduced to writing be recorded. James H. Eaton, Probate Judge.
Will:
I Joseph S. McCoy of Crawford County Ohio do make and publish this my last will and testament. 1st I give and devise to my son William W. McCoy all my property both real and personal, and the said William W. McCoy is to support his mother her lifetime, or if she choses, the said William shall pay over to his mother one hundred dollars per year in cash, also to pay his sister Ellen S. Forbes seven hundred dollars at or before his mother's death. I do here by revoke all former wills by me made. In testamony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 3rd day of June 1852. Signed and acknowledged by said Josep[h] S. McCoy as his last will and testament in our presence and signed by us in his presence, John Swonger, Martin Bacon. Joseph S. McCoy.
Testamony:
The State of Ohio Crawford County ss. We Margin Bacon and John Swonger being duly sworn in open court this thirtieth day of December A.D. 1853 depose and say that we were present at the execution of the last will and testament of Joseph S. McCoy hereunto annexed, that we saw the said testator subscribe said will and heard him publish and declare the same to be his last will and testament and that the said testator at the time of executing the same was of full age and of sound mind and memory and not under any restraint and that we signed the same as witnesses at his request and in his presence and in the presence of each other. Martin Bacon. John Swonger. Sworn and subscribed before me in open court this 30th day of December, A.D. 1853. James H. Eaton, Probate Judge.
The US GenWeb archives for Crawford Co., Ohio include a reading of the Stewart Cemetery by www.ohioexploration.com (transcript at http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/crawford/cemeteries/stewart.txt), as of 2008, photos deposited at that time at http://www.ohioexploration.com/stewartcemeteryG.htm. Unfortunately, only a few of the stones seem to have been photographed.
There are two stones that appear to belong to this family:
"Father", surname illegible, date June 1, 1852?, age 68 years, 3 months, 26 days, mentions Eleanor _____ and William W. McCoy, children of deceased ? This stone must be that of the present Joseph Stewart McCoy, but the date of death cannot be 01 jun 1852, as he made his will on June 3 of that year. The correct date might be 04 jun 1852, based on photographs of the numerals on the other stones in this cemetery for the McCoy family, where the numeral 4 looks very much like a 1 on worn stones.
"Mother", surname illegible, but also mentions son William W. McCoy, death date 1860.
A possible origin for Joseph Stewart McCoy, which, however, involves a great deal of reading between the lines, appeared in the Stewart Clan Magazine 1(1):134-135 (1922), discussing the descendants of John Stewart of Lack, Juniata Co., PA. "John Stewart was born probably about 1758. He settled in Cumberland county, Pa., before or during the Revolutionary was. He lived in Lack township, near McCoysville, which was in Juniata county when it was detached from Cumberland County, and later lay in Mifflin county." (This last statement appears incorrect. Juniata was formed in 1831 from Mifflin, and there were no further changes.) Will of John Stewart dated 14 oct 1796, probated 27 aug 1817, his executor, his son Joseph Stewart, having died 09 dec 1815. Children include Joseph, b. 17 feb 1755 ("as revealed by a faded copy of a family record found among old papers in an attic by Miss Mary A. Steuart of East Waterford, Juniata county." He married Agnes, born 08 feb 1757. Children of Joseph and Agnes include Eleanor b. 29 apr 1781, who married _____ McCoy. Joseph also had a son Watson, b. 1798. There is no mention of Hugh Stewart in this family, and it appears that there must have been multiple Stewart and McCoy families in the general area.
