ALEXANDER C. McCOY, a prominent agriculturist of Chartiers township, was born August 4, 1829, in North Strabane township, this county. His grandfather, John McCoy, was a native of York county, Penn., where he was married to Mary McNary. In 1803 he purchased and moved upon an uncultivated farm in Chartiers township, Washington Co., Penn., which is yet owned by his grandson, Alexander C. John and Mary (McNary) McCoy were the parents of the following children: Esther, Jane, Margaret, Elizabeth, James and William. The father followed farming and stock raising. In religious faith he was a member of the Seceder Church, and in politics a Whig. William McCoy was born in 1801, on the home place in York county, Penn., and was educated in the schools of Washington county, where his parents had settled soon after birth. He was married to Martha, daughter of John Chambers, of South Strabane township, this county. Mr. and Mrs. McCoy first settled on the home place, and in 1867 moved to Canonsburg, where he died in 1870, leaving the following children: Alexander C., Mary (married to James Templeton), Sarah J. (wife of Rev. L. Y. Graham, D. D:, pastor of a Presbyterian Church at Philadelphia), Abbie C. (wife of Rev. J. D. Shanks, D. D., pastor of a Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia), and Isabelle (married to Rev. D. B. Rogers, also a minister in a Philadelphia Presbyterian Church). The father was a man of strong religious convictions and a liberal supporter of the Chartiers U. P. Church, of which he was a trustee for many years. In politics, he was a Whig and Republican; he served his township as school director, and often assisted in the settlement of estates. Alexander C. McCoy passed his youth on the home place in Chartiers township, and received his education at the public schools of Canonsburg. On February 28, 1867, he married Sarah J., daughter of James Linn, of Washington, Penn. The first years of their married life were passed on the home place, and in 1891 they settled in Canonsburg. No children having been born to them, Mr. and Mrs. McCoy adopted Maggie Chambers, giving her a good education. In 1891 she became the wife of Albert Sauer, of Canonsburg. Alexander McCoy is a very prominent stockman, and for many years has raised registered sheep and Shorthorn cattle. He is a member of the Western Pennsylvania Agricultural Association. Politically he votes the Republican ticket, and has served as school director. He is an earnest member of the United Presbyterian Church, of which he been a trustee for nine years.

Text taken from page 570 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed May 1997 by Linda Vourlogianes of Petaluma, CA as part of the Beers Project. Published June 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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