This page covers the second and third generations in my Family Tree. If you have information on any of John and Mary MECOY'S children please contact me. If you would like to visit the page that covers the first generation please click on the McCoy/Mecoy Information Forum.
JOHN MECOY married Mary BEESLEY in 1797, in Craven County, North Carolina. They moved to Rutherford County, Tennessee, in 1804, with Mary's family the Beesley's. Her brother Solomon BEESLEY, and his wife Casandra ECCLEN, and her father John BEESLEY, along with the Mary and John, settled near the town of Murfeesboro. All together they owned close to 2000 acres of land. John Mecoy and Solomon Beesley were instrumental in laying out the first roads in Rutherford County. John Mecoy was killed in the War of 1812, in New Orleans, on March 16, 1815. Mary married again to John PATTERSON in December of 1817, and they moved to MCNAIRY COUNTY, Tennessee, where they lived until John Patterson died of old age. The Beesley's remained in Rutherford County. John Beesley died in 1819.
John and Mary Mecoy had seven children:
1)HARDY MECOY married Louisa THORTON on September 23, 1822.
2)ABNER MECOY was born May 22, 1802. He married Polly Ann FERRELL on January 8, 1924. They moved to TIPPAH COUNTY, Mississippi in 1836, and bought 4000 acres of land from the Chickasaw Indians. He died September 4, 1890. Polly died on March 24, 1864. They had 7 children.
*Charles W. MeCoy, born December 9,1825.
*Elizabeth MeCoy, born December 24,1825.
*John Ferrel MeCoy, born January 1,1830.
*William Carroll MeCoy, born February 3,1833.
*Mary Ann MeCoy, born October 28,1834.
*Margaret Samantha MeCoy, born March 26,1838.
*Abner Martin MeCoy, born December 31,1842.
If need further information on any of Abner and Polly's children, or if you have information to share, please feel free to send an email.
3)JOHN MECOY
4)SIDNEY MECOY
5)MARY MECOY
6)ELIZABETH JACKSON MECOY
I am currently searching for information on Abner's siblings, any information you might have would be greatly appreciated.
The name McCoy was changed several times over the generations. In Willis Mecoy's will he spelled it Mecoy, John also spelled it that same way. Abner could not write his name, so I'm not sure how he would have spelled it, if he could. Abner's children all spelled it MeCoy, with a capital C, making it more like the original McCoy. Abner's grandchildren went back to the original spelling of McCoy in the 1920's. Throughout all the generations, in census records, it is almost always spelled McCoy.
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I grew up hearing how the name had been changed over a dispute
between two brothers during the Revolutionary War. The story I always heard was, there was two brothers, one named John, and one named George, who fought on opposite sides of the war, one for the mother country, and one for the colonies. The dissention became so great that George changed the spelling of his name to Mecoy, end of story. When I began researching it became apparent that there was never a GEORGE, there was a WILLIS!! That really made me sceptical, I began thinking that maybe Abner just made up this whole story, and how would he know anyway, he could'nt even write his own name. Low and behold, I found Willis' will, and on it his signature "Willis Mecoy." More documents soon surfaced and it appeared the story was true, however, I don't believe actual documentation of this fued will ever be uncovered, but we shall see. Back to my digging.
(Forgive me Grandpa Ab, for being so disrespectful!)
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