James McCoy was my great-great-grandfather and one of my few "Yankee" ancestors (among those born in the United States -- most are from so deep in the Deep South that Delaware seems like the frozen North in comparison). A cabinetmaker and thread-mill worker born in Wilmington, Delaware about 1841, James moved to Louisiana between 1865 and 1871 to work as a supervisor of a cotton-thread mill in Arizona, a small community near Homer in Claiborne Parish. (I'm fairly sure he served as a Union soldier for Delaware in the Civil War. Wonder if he mentioned that to any of his Louisiana acquaintances?)
He married Rebecca Jane Harrell and had two children, including my great-grandmother Maggie Elizabeth McCoy Stevenson. The family is listed in the 1880 census in Lincoln Parish, La. Some time after Jane's death in 1881, he either returned to Delaware to live or was simply visiting family when he died there on Jan. 26, 1906.
If anyone has more info on where James lived during his life, his wife Rebecca Jane Harrell's burial place, or what happened to their son "N.," who disappears after the 1880 census (I'm guessing he died young), please e-mail me at hallroots (at) sbcglobal (dot) net. Thanks!
Text copyright 2010 by Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.
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