Daniel McCoy-Revolutionary War Soldier

Daniel McCoy and Deborah Norris were my fourth great grandparents.  They were living in Armstrong Township in Westmoreland County in 1800 and Armstrong Township in Indiana County in 1810.  This was the same township since Indiana County was formed in 1803 from portions of Westmoreland and Lycoming Counties.  They had moved to Plumcreek Township in Armstrong County by 1820.  Armstrong Township in Indiana County and Plumcreek Township in Armstrong County are adjacent to each other.

Daniel McCoy's Revolutionary War Service is described in affidavits he and others gave when he applied for a pension from Pennsylvania and later the United States.  His service is also given in the Published Pennsylvania Archives and Pennsylvania in the War of the Revolution.

Daniel McCoy enlisted in Colonel Samuel Miles' Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment in April 1776 where he was a private in Captain John Murray's Company.  He was later a sergeant in Captain John Clark's Company under Colonel Walter Stewart's Regiment.  He was taken prisoner by the British on 27 August 1776 in the Battle of Long Island and was released in a prisoner exchange on 9 December 1776.  He was in the Battle of Trenton on 26 December 1776, in the Battle of Brandywine on 11 September 1777, and in the Battle of Germantown on 4 October 1777 where he was severely wounded in the head.  He was discharged from Valley Forge on 1 January 1778 since this is when his enlistment was up.  He began receiving a pension from the State of Pennsylvania on 13 January 1818 for $40 a year. He received a pension (S40985) from the United States on 10 July 1820 retroactive to 8 June 1818 for $96 a year.  He died on 30 January 1821.  His wife Deborah began receiving a widow's pension from the State of Pennsylvania on 1 January 1822 for $40 a year.  She died on 22 October 1829.  Captain John Clark, Alexander McCurdy, and Daniel Boyle gave affidavits attesting that they had served with him since he no longer had proof of his service.

Daniel married Deborah Norris on 27 February 1777 in St. Michael's
Church, Germantown, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.  He was a weaver but was indigent according to the affidavits he gave to the Court when he applied for a pension.  He owned a cow worth ten dollars but had been unable to work for seven years and needed assistance to walk in his affidavit of June 1820.

According to a biographical sketch for his grandson, Church Smith McCoy, in the Indiana County History by Arms and White, he was "an early settler on Crooked Creek" and "at one time resided on what is now the Benjamin Walker farm.  He was a scout in the Indian Wars."

Daniel and Deborah McCoy had the following children:

1)  Charles McCoy
2)  Mary McCoy born 4 November 1781 and baptized on 24 November 1781 at St. Joseph's Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
3)  Daniel McCoy married Nancy Smith
4)  Joseph McCoy married Nancy McCracken
5)  John McCoy married Jane Smith

More information regarding their children and grandchildren will be given in future posts.