Many people over the years have asked me if I was related to the McCoy / Hatfield feud. The majority of those McCoys settled in Kentucky and West Virginia having moved there from Maryland. My ancestors, I believe, may have come from the Maryland area as well, but traveled south to Virginia, and the north part of North Carolina. the county where most of my research has taken me is to the Camden and Pasquotank County areas of North Carolina. Elizabeth City and South Mills is a strong gathering area for my family.
I have also been asked many many times if I was the “Real McCoy”. When I was first starting grade school, there was a TV show running called “The Real McCoys”. The Real McCoys is an American situation comedy starring Walter Brennan, Richard Crenna, and Kathleen Nolan. Co-produced by Danny Thomas‘s Marterto Productions in association with Walter Brennan and Irving Pincus’s Westgate Company, it was broadcast for six seasons. For years I was always asked, “Which one of the Real McCoy’s are you?” It got old pretty quick.
Some have asked me what the term “The Real McCoy” means. If you describe someone or something as the real McCoy, you mean that they really are what they claim to be and are not an imitation. Synonyms: real thing, genuine article
Some stories suggest the term originated with Elijah McCoy.
Elijah McCoy’s “Improvement in Lubricators for Steam-Engines” was patented in 1872. While other inventors put forth similar devices, “the real McCoy” was the one the railroaders asked for by name. By 1900, the device was in use on almost all railroads in North America. In his lifetime, Elijah McCoy held over 57 patents.
Where did McCoy originate?
McCoy is a common surname of unrelated Scottish and Irish origin. It was anglicized into the Scottish name from the Irish McGee and McHugh surnames in Irish Mac Aodha. It is an Anglicisation of its Irish form Mac Aodha, meaning son of Aodh (a name of a deity in Irish mythology and an Irish word for “fire”).
The root of the McCoy surname is the old Gaelic Mac Aodha, meaning “son of fire,” which was originally the name of a Celtic pagan god.
This name cropped up in the Western Isles of Scotland, where Gilchrist M’ay of Ugadale was recorded in 1326, and this produced the Mackays of Kintyre and Islay; and on the Isle of Man, where the name Cucail Mac Aedha appeared as early as 1098, and here it came out as MacQuay or Quay.
Many of them became mercenaries, called Gallowglasses, to Irish chiefs in the 14th century and stayed. Their surnames in Ireland were various but the most common one became McCoy.
The anglicized spelling of the name was initially very variable – from McCoy and MacCoy to MacCay, MacKay, McKie, MacCooey and others as well. Often the MacKay and McCoy spellings were interchangeable. In general it is true to say that whenever McCoys were found, there were MacKays close by. Many McCoys emigrated to America in the 18th century. So it seems that most of the items associated with the Mackay Klan, such as their motto and kilt colors are the same.
The McCoys of Norfolk county, Virginia – starting with Dennis McCoy in 1648 – appear to have been the first McCoys in America. But there is no indication of where they came from and why.
James McCoy from county Tyrone meanwhile was in Augusta county, Virginia by the 1730’s. A descendant John McCoy was captain of the Augusta county militia during the Revolutionary War. Another McCoy line from Augusta county made its home in McCoy, Montgomery county.
An early arrival from Scotland was Alexander McCoy who came to Windham, New Hampshire in 1721. He was a soldier during the French and Indian wars. The only thing remarkable about his son John was the manner of his death. “One day John McCoy laid down under a tree. While here, an earwig entered his ear. Efforts to dislodge it were made, but they were unavailing and it caused his death.”
John McCoy from county Down came to Rye township in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania sometime in the 1750’s. He operated a sawmill and gristmill there. His descendants migrated first to Kentucky and then to Louisiana.
Perhaps someday I will be able to link our family line to one of these early McCoy ancestors.