PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM
page 841
ABRAHAM COY. The subject of this notice may be properly numbered among the most prominent and successful farmers of Beaver Creek Township, Greene County. He was born within its limits November 7, 1820, and is the son of Adam and Catherine (Martin) Coy, who were natives of Frederick County, Md. Adam Coy was born in 1783, and seventeen years later emigrated to this county with his parents, they settling in Beaver Creek Township, where both they and himself spent the remainder of their days, the latter dying at the advanced age of eighty-one years.
The father of our subject did good service as a soldier in the War of 1812, and subsequently settled down to farming, being successful and becoming the owner of four hundred and fifty acres of land; he was twice married. His first wife was Catherine Costler, and there was born to them one child only, a daughter, Catherine, who became the wife of William John. The mother of our subject was the second wife of Adam Coy, and to them there was born a family of eleven children, of whom only five are living, viz.: David, Abraham, Henry, Adam and Nicholas. The deceased are: Jacob, Andrew, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Susan and Peter.
The paternal grandfather of our subject was Leonard Coy, who upon settling in Beaver Creek Township secured thirty-two hundred acres of land. His father was Jacob Coy. The family originated in Germany, from which Jacob Coy, Jr., the great-grandfather of our subject, started with his parents for America. Both parents died on shipboard and were consigned to an ocean burial. Their effects were confiscated by the ship's crew, and thus Jacob, with a young brother and sister, was cast upon the shores of the New World penniless. They were consequently sold to pay their passage, and Jacob, then a youth of eighteen, labored six years for a Pennsylvania planter to free himself and his brother and sister. He was subsequently married and settled in Maryland, where he became well to do and the owner of three hundred and fifty acres of land. Even at the time of his marriage he was so poor that he was obliged to borrow the money to meet the necessary expenses. He finally started for Ohio, going down the river to Cincinnati, where he stopped two months, and when this now flourishing city was simply a collection of sixteen log cabins. After his arrival in this county he purchased thirty two hundred acres of land in Beaver Creek Township, and thereafter surrounded himself with all the comforts of life.
Mr. Coy from the time of his boyhood until a man of twenty-five years, after leaving school, occupied himself in farming, then purchased a store at Zimmerman, and engaged in mercantile pursuits for the following ten years. In 1847 he succeeded in having a post-office established there, and was appointed its first Postmaster. In 1855 he sold his store and invested the proceeds in a farm. Two years later he located upon that which he now owns and occupies. This comprises one hundred and sixty-two acres of choice land, which is highly productive, and which is supplied with good buildings, machinery and livestock. Mr. Coy is numbered among the solid men of his township, and both as a farmer and a member of the community, has made for himself a good record.
One of the most interesting and important events in the life of our subject occurred January 25, 1849, when he was united in marriage with Miss Catherine Zimmerman. This lady was born February 23, 1831, in this township, and is the daughter of Jacob and Mary (Shoup) Zimmerman, both of whom were born in Beaver Creek Township, and were children of its earliest pioneers, the former a son of Dr. G. Zimmerman. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Coy, seven in number, were named respectively: Cassius L.; Lewis E., of Dayton; Lodema, the wife of William Stewart; Emma J., Permelia J., Burley J. and Marcellus E. Mrs. Coy belongs to the Dunkard Church.
Sept 26, 1999