McCoy, Hiram C. - Hon.

HON. HIRAM C. McCOY
The progenitors of the McCOY family in Pennsylvania, were Thomas and Catherine McCOY, natives of Virginia, who emigrated from that State to Mercer County, Penn., some time previous to the year 1800; he was a farmer and a man of ability and influence. Joseph McCOY, son of Thomas and Catherine McCOY, and father of the subject of this biography, was born in Virginia, and came to this State with the family. He married Miss Isabella CRAIG. The CRAIGs were Virginians of Scotch extraction, a sturdy race of people, inheriting the prominent characteristics of their Scotch progenitors. But little is known of Joseph McCOY, farther than that he was an industrious man of good habits, a millwright by occupation. About 1820, he engaged to construct a mill in Louisiana, and was there taken sick and died, leaving his wife with a family of nine small children.

Hiram C. McCOY, or Judge McCOY, as more extensively known, was born in Mercer Township, Butler County, August 17, 1811, where his father had settled shortly after his marriage. At the time of his father's decease, he was but nine years of age, and the family being in limited circumstances, he was obliged to assist in their maintenance, and received only a limited education. At the age of seventeen, he was apprenticed to the trade of a wagon-maker, and after the completion of his indentures, he followed his trade as a journeyman for some time. He went into business in Harrisville, where he was engaged until in 1839, when he came to Annandale, and in company with Judge VIERR engaged in merchandising, where he has since remained. The Judge has always taken an active interest in matters of public import. In 1861, he was elected to the representative branch of the assembly, and on the completion of his term was re-elected. In 1865, he was appointed Associate Judge, and since that time has served his fellow townsmen as Magistrate for eight years. In 1834, he was married to Miss Sarah McCALLEN. She died in 1837. The Judge is now in his seventy-second year, and during his life-time he has never known a single day's sickness; he appears as hale as a man of fifty. In company with his son John, he is engaged in merchandising under the firm name of H. C. MCCOY & Son. In his political and religious affiliations, he is a Republican, and a member of the United Presbyterian Church.

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