MCCOY, DAVID
, was born in 1790, in the State of Georgia. His parents moved to Tennessee, and both died there when he was quite young. He went with a married sister to Ohio, and from there to Montgomery county, Ill. Mary Kilpatrick was born March 29, 1800, in Fayette county, Ky. In 1817 her parents moved to Montgomery county, Ill. David McCoy and Mary Kilpatrick were there married in the fall of 1818, and moved to the south side of Richland creek, in what became Gardner township, Sangamon county, arriving in the spring of 1819. They came in company with her brother, Wm. Kilpatrick, and his wife, both couple having just been married. They lived there one year before they had any knowledge of another family coming into that region of country. His improvements were on a piece of school land, which was not for sale when the other land came into market. In the fall of 1823 Mr. McCoy moved five miles south, to the north side of Spring creek, in what is now Cartwright township. They had three children on Richland creek and eight on Spring creek; two of the latter died in infancy. Of their nine children--OWEN F., born Feb., 1820, went to California in 1849, and died there in 1856.
HUGH, born March, 1821, died unmarried, March, 1848, in Sangamon county.
POLLY A., born April 8, 1823, on Richland creek, married in Sangamon county, Oct. 29, 1844, to Elihu Scott, who was born August 18, 1821, in Tennessee. They had six children; one died in infancy. MARY E., born July 30, 1845, married April 16, 1868, to C. Howard Sowle, who was born Jan. 8, 1839, near Rochester, N. Y. They have two children, JOSEPHINE and CHARLEY, and reside one mile northeast of Richland station, Sangamon county, Ill. MARTHA J. lives with her mother. JOHN B. resides at Kansas City, Mo, OWEN M. and ELIHU, Jun., live with their mother. Elihu Scott died May 21, 1869, in Sangamon county, and his widow resides one mile northeast of Richland Station, Sangamon county, Illinois.--1876.
NANCY, born Feb. 1, 1825, on Spring creek, married Feb. 9, 1843, to Robert Bone. They have a family of children, and live in Menard county, five miles north of Richland station.
THOMAS K., born in 1827, in Sangamon county, married in 1848, to Margaret A. Kendall, have five living children, and live in Umatilla county, Oregon, near Walla Walla, Washington Territory.
WILLIAM K., born April, 1829, in Sangamon county, is unmarried, and resides at Bancroft, Daviess county, Mo.
JAMES P., born July 3, 1832, in Sangamon county, married Jane L. Seeley, had eight children, five of whom are living with their parents in Topeka, Kansas.--1874.
RACHEL, born in Sangamon county, married Rev. John C. VanPatten. See his name.
JOSEPH G., born Dec., 1838, in Sangamon county, married Sarah Epler, had five children; two died in infancy. The three living reside with tneir parents in Kansas City, Mo.--1874.
Mrs. Mary McCoy died Jan 20, 1848, and David McCoy died Jan 22, 1868, both in Sangamon county.
David McCoy had some experience in breaking prairie before he came to Sangamon county. He was one of the few early settlers who never cleared the timber from his land, but made his farm in the prairie. He brought a plow with him suitable for breaking prairie. He hung it under the axle of his wagon, and thought he could drive the oxen and hold the plow himself, but found that he could not. His wife volunteered to drive while he held the plow, but then another difficulty arose. The baby could not be left alone long at a time. In that dilemma Mr. McCoy made a box similar to a cradle, made it fast on the beam of the plow, put the babe into it, and in that way broke his land. He built a saw mill on Spring creek, about 1825 or '26, and added grinding machinery soon after When that mill was put in operation, there was great joy in the settlement, as it was the only place where grinding could be obtained. He adopted as a rule that a grist belonging to a widow should never be tolled. He would loan money without
interest for the purpose of entering land. Mr. McCoy went annually to St. Louis, with strained honey and deer-skins, and exchanged them for groceries and other necessaries for the family. His daughter, Mrs. Scott, remembers when the first shoes were made for the children. The eldest one was seven years old.