Isaac McCoy
b. 13 June 1784, Uniontown, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, to William H. and Elizabeth (Rice) McCoy
d. 21 June 1846, Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky
m. 6 October 1803, Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky
Christiana Polk
b. 12 November 1784, Nelson County, Kentucky, to Charles and Delilah (Tyler) Polk
d. 6 August 1850, Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri
Children with Christiana Polk:
• Mahala (1804-1818)
• Rice (1807-1833)
• Josephus (1808-1831)
• Delilah (1809-1844) married Johnston Lykins
• John Calvin (1811-1889) married (1) Virginia Chick, (2) Elizabeth Woodson
• Elizabeth (1813-1822)
• Sarah (1815-1835) married (1) Thomas Jefferson Givens, (2) Thomas Gilens
• Christiana (1817-1837) married William Ward
• Nancy Judson (1819-1850)
• Eleanor (1821-1839) married Husband Dononue
• Maria Staunton (1823-1824)
• Isaac (1825-1849) married Martha Stone
• Charles Rice (1827-1831)
• infant (1831)
The family moved to near Sellersburg, Clark County, in the Indiana Territory in 1804. Later, they moved to Vincennes, Knox County, where Isaac was a spinning wheel maker and a jailer. In 1805, they moved back to Clark County, where he was licensed as a Baptist minister. Isaac served at Mariah Creek Church in Knox County, starting in October 1810. In 1818, he established an Indian mission north of Terre Haute near Montezuma on Raccoon Creek in Parke County. In 1820 he went to Fort Wayne in Allen County to establish a church for Indians; Christiana had a school that taught spinning and weaving. In 1828, Isaac was appointed a member of the commission to arrange the removal of Indians to reservations in Kansas. He and two sons moved to the Kansas City, Missouri area. In 1843, Isaac returned to Indiana where he was appointed Secretary and General Agent for the Indiana Mission Association of Louisville, Kentucky.
Isaac wrote a book on the white man’s attempt to Christianize the Indians in 1840. A memorial book Early Indian Missions by W.N. Wyeth tells of the lives and mission work of Rev. and Mrs. McCoy. Many of his writings are in the Isaac McCoy Collection of the Kansas Historical Society. The towns of Niles and Grand Rapids, Michigan were originally McCoy Indian Missions.
Submitted by:
Christie Hill Russell
Paris IL
E-mail: christie@cartar.com