McCoy family papers

Ezekiel and Margaret (Alexander) McCoy moved from Cecil County, Maryland and settled on land along Gar Creek in northern Mecklenburg County in 1768, and their descendants have lived on and farmed this land continuously since then. Margaret was the half sister and half first cousin of Hezekiah and John McKnitt Alexander, and as descendants of Scotch-Irish immigrants the McCoys were Presbyterians. Their son, John, lived on the land with his wife Ester (Frazier) McCoy. Records from the historic Hugh Torance House and Store on Gilead Road show that John traded there in the early nineteenth century. In 1854, John’s son Marshall Rudolphus McCoy was killed in a copper mine explosion on the farm between Hopewell Church and McCoy Road. Marshall left three sons, John, Columbus Washington, and Albert. Albert (many of whose papers are in this collection) was born on September 1, 1843 and was educated at the Statesville Military Institute. Soon after the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in the Confederate Army—37th North Carolina Infantry, Company C. John and Washington also served the Confederate cause, and John was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg in July of 1863. During a furlough from military service, Albert was accepted in the local Masonic Lodge, and he remained a life-long member, steadily rising through its ranks.

After the war Albert lived with his widowed mother until he had his own house built on McCoy Road in 1886. This was the first complete house built by John Ellis McAuley (this house was restored in the 1990s and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places). After the Civil War, Albert married the former Miss Kate Potts. This couple had one child—a daughter named Lura. Kate McCoy died soon after Lura’s birth, and a significant accumulation of documentation indicates that Albert was designated as the guardian of his daughter following Kate’s death. Why Albert McCoy would have to be designated as the guardian of his own child is not known. This documentation suggests that after her death, Lura may have inherited property from her maternal ancestors, and since the death of her mother Albert had a fiduciary responsibility in managing her inheritance.

Not long after the death of his first wife, McCoy married again, this time to Mary Catherine Gluyas (“Gluyas” rhymes with “Lewis”) and with her had twelve children. The McCoy’s were instrumental in the founding of Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church on Mount Holly-Huntersville Road in 1886. Albert, Mary and Columbus Washington McCoy were among the first communicants. Their reasons for leaving the Hopewell Presbyterian Church are sparsely documented, but according to family lore, it was because the Presbyterians would not allow dancing. Over the years McCoy accumulated large tracts of land in Long Creek Township in order to augment the size of the property. It was there where he died of pneumonia in 1925. By the time of his death, he had been one of the oldest freemasons in North Carolina, and one of the most respected citizens of Long Creek Township. In his will he decreed that his property would be divided up into portions for each of his twelve children from his second marriage—but none to Lura. Some of this land has remained with McCoy descendants into the twenty-first century.

Several of the McCoys' captives continued to live on the McCoy plantation after emancipation. Aunt Lizzie, an individual enslaved by the McCoy family, played an integral role in raising Albert and Mary’s large family. Her riddles and “Old Bad Man” stories remain part of the McCoy family oral heritage. After her death Aunt Lizzie was buried in the cemetery where the McCoys' buried enslaved individuals on McCoy property. Funds for the perpetual care of the cemetery were provided through the estate of Thomas Marshall McCoy, second son of Albert and Mary.

Two of Albert’s sons served in the American Expeditionary Force during World War I. These were Robert Oates and Joseph Bennett McCoy; and several of their letters are included in this collection. One of Albert’s daughters, Ella Letitia McCoy Nisbet, and her husband William, opened their home to a few of the American recruits stationed at the army training camp at Charlotte. These were Fred Guthery and J. A. Peterson; and the Nisbets carried on a correspondence with these two “doughboys” and their families throughout the war. A poem found among the McCoy family papers (unsigned, but probably written by Ella) elaborates about the Nisbets opening their home to these soldiers (see file 41). After Albert’s death in 1925, Ella and William Nisbet inherited the Old Homeplace, and it was there where they raised their children. Upon their deaths, the home passed to their son Thomas Gluyas Nisbet who practiced dentistry in Charlotte and raised polled Hereford cattle on the farm. In accordance with his wishes, his estate transferred the Old Homeplace to his mother’s brother’s grandson, Tom McCoy. Tom and his wife, Robin now live at the Old Homeplace with their son, Tom, Jr., and daughter, Arrington. [Sources: McCoy family papers, 1796-2001, Mss 409.]