Brown County Biographies
From "The Annals of Brown County", Grant Harrington, 1903
John McCoy.
Mr. John McCoy, proprietor of the
Rock Spring Herd of Scotch and Scotch
topped short horn cattle in Morrill
Township is known far and wide as
one of the most enterprising breeders
of fancy cattle in the state of Kansas. Mr. McCoy was born in the
North of Ireland, May 1st, 1841. In
1866 he left his native country and
came to Chicago where he worked
for three years at the carpenter trade
and then moved to Benton Harbor,
Michigan, where he lived, for three
years more. In 1872 he came to
Brown County and settled on 80
acres of his present farm. This he
has added to and improved from
year to year until now he has 480
acres all under the highest state of cultivation. Two hundred acres are in
blue grass and the four barns on the
farm will hold 150 tons of hay and 6000
bushels of corn. There is living water
in every field on the farm and the farm
takes its name from the fine large
spring near the McCoy's residence.
Among the other fine improvements that Mr. McCoy has added to
his farm is a fine residence, one of the
best in the country. It is large and
roomy well furnished in modern
style, heat with a furnace and equipped with many conveniences.
Mr. McCoy bought his first short-horn twenty-five years ago from the
J. G. Cowen herd. It was the produce
of "London Duke" VI, the famous
bull that cost Mr. Cowen $3,000.
He has bred up his herd into Scotch
top families through and through.
He breeds to secure thick, beefy
cattle and turns out an average
annual crop of about thirty head.
His herd is so well known
that there is a constant demand for all that he can produce and
he claims that there are more bulls
of his raising at the head of herds
than from the farm of any other
short horn breeder in the state of
Kansas. Mr. McCoy is a member of
and stock holder in the American
Short Horn Breeders Association.
He is also a Director of the Farmer's
Bank of Morrill. When the Farmers
Mutual Fire Insurance Company
was organized he was one of the
first Board of Directors and for nine
years served on its Finance Committee. In politics he is a Republican.
Mr. McCoy was married in March
1870 to Miss Victoria C. Nowlen at
Benton Harbor, Michigan. They
have three children, Jessie, a graduate of the Hiawatha Academy and
Ira and Edward, both of whom have
taken courses in the State Agricultural College at Manhattan, Kansas.
Both Mr. and Mrs. McCoy and children are members of the
Congregational church at Sabetha, Kansas.
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This website created Jan. 11, 2012 by Sheryl McClure.
� 2011 Kansas History and Heritage Project
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