John McCoy is believed to have been born in Ireland around 1764. The names of his parents are not given by any source known to this wiki.
There are various sources of information about John McCoy, which provide contradictory information about some of the details of his life. These sources are listed below, with an abbreviation for each that will be used for subsequent citations:
According to JCOGS, John McCoy was born in Dublin, Ireland. According to ORAL, however, he was born near Letterkenny.
Both JCOGS and ORAL say that John McCoy ran away from home at age 12 and boarded a ship for New Orleans, where he worked as a servant for a time to pay for his ship's passage. After that, he is said to have worked his way up the Ohio River to Maysville, KY.
According to JCOGS, John McCoy married Mary Miller in Maysville, KY in 1784. If the estimated birth year for John is correct, he would have been ~20 year old at this time.
Military records indicate that John was engaged in some kind of military service in the year 1793 and was residing “south of the Ohio” at that time. This is consistent with the JCOGS account that has him farming in or near Maysville, KY following his marriage.
John acquired land in Jackson County, OH by direct purchase from the U.S. Government land office.
John died in 1822 and is said to have been buried near the Hamilton Christian Church in Jackson County, Ohio.