This was a man not likely to fit into any polite society. He married at least twice, possibly three times and fathered 10 known children. His was a hard life and he was a hard man. But he was a pioneer who fought his way west to build a new land.

To see what a mess his probate was since he died intestate, read the transcript I typed from the original papers located in the Gonzales County, Texas archives. To see how hard it is to read the papers, look at a couple of the original papers. . Page 1, with Daniel McCoy's mark, shows that he & Jesse McCoy, were both sons of John McCoy. Page 2  & 3, unfortunately cut off on both sides due to the size of my scanner, is a copy of John's family bill at the store. Page 4 is sworn testimony about his children.

{I realize that the story of his scalping an Indian (family group sheet #2) is probably not a completely accurate unexaggerated story, but it’s still interesting. What I can’t figure out is who E. G. McCoy was. Since all of John’s children were listed in the paper in the archives and there was no E.G. there, perhaps he is the son of Jesse’s mother by an earlier marriage? I can’t figure it out. Another mystery to solve – unless he was just an imposter hoping for part of the estate, however that was settled in 1860.}

I have not yet acquired paper proof of all the following facts. I am indebted to Connie Cooperthwaite for her work on our family tree and to Jesse Eloise Dietzman for sharing Connie's papers with me. Also I am indebted to various works on the internet. If anyone reading this has papers validating or refuting any of the following information and wouldn't mind sharing, I would appreciate being able to correct my records. Also, if anyone would like better copies in PDF format of my papers, please let me know.