Joel McCoy (son of Hiram McCoy and Lucretia Richardson) was born Nov 1854 in Monroe County, Indiana, and died Nov 1907 in Monroe County, Indiana. He married Sarepta Cox on 25 Aug 1874 in Monroe County, Indiana.
Notes for Joel McCoy: Killed by Robert Ford of Jessie James gang. Bloomington (IN) Telephone, Dec 3, 1907, p. 1. NOTE: The bottom of the newspaper was missing and, consequently, a portion of the article is missing as well, as is noted by the ellipsis.
THE FUNERAL OF THE M'COYS Father and Son, Side by Side, Laid to Rest in Unionville Cemetery
From Monday's Daily--A sadder sight was never seen in Monroe County than the laying to rest in the cemetery at Unionville Sunday of Joel and Frank McCoy, father and son, slain by Edward Ford, their closest neighbor in the fatal affray at the Hawley home Friday morning. Side by side their bodies, the very first to be laid in the new cemetery at the little country church, were gently lowered into the yawning graves and the rattling clods mingled dispairing tones with the anguished cries of the relatives.
Never was there such a funeral in the Unionville neighborhood. At high noon, a full two hours before the hour set for the last sad rites, fifty vehicles and thrice that many people were already assembled at the church. From all sections they came, from Benton, Polk and Bloomington townships, from Brown County and from this city, until the church was packed and the yard overflowing when the two hearses, heading the sad procession, reached the scene.
At the Joel McCoy home up on Brummet's Creek, relatives and friends of the dead were early assembled to comfort and aid the bereaved famlies. A brief prayer by Rev. James Goodman, an old friend, and the two bodies were carried to the funeral cars for their last journey. Over this sad scene the Ford family in their home on the hill, a hundred yards away, gazed with mingled feelings. Perched on the fence at the side of their home the Ford boys looked down into the valley upon the sad consequences of their father's deed. None of the family attended the funeral.
The services in the church were conducted by Rev. Barrow and Rev. James Goodman of the Baptist Church at Unionville, and Rev. McPike of the Freedom Church in Polk Township. In their ten-minute talks not one of the ministers referred to Ford, the slayer. Their remarks were confined to praise for the dead for their Christian lives. Rev. Barrow spoke especially of the father while Rev. McPike began with the quotation, "Let not your hearts be troubled," which he declared Frank McCoy loved so well. He held the life of the dead young man up as an example of moral rectitude.
As an old friend of the family, Rev. "Jack" Goodman, as he is popularly called, gave a brief obituary of the deceased. Joel McCoy was married in 1874, twelve children being born to the union, six boys and six girls. Nine children and the widow survive him. He had been a faithful menber of the Baptist Church for 8 years. Frank McCoy was wedded to Nora White, daughter of Rev. David White, in 1902. Two children have been born to the union and one of them, Glen, a two-year-old boy survives. Frank had been a Baptist for five years.
There was no music at the funeral, except a solo by Rev. Goodman who sang "In This World of Sin and Sorrow." As the three gray-haired pastors talked so feelingly of Ford's victims, the vast audience which crowded every available inch of standing room in the church and collected in great crowds at the doors and windows, was hushed to a stillness only broken by the sobs of the bereaved ones. The twin coffins, side by side with a narrow passage way between, were awful reminders of the lost father, son and husband, and the unfortunate families were crushed.
Undertaker Pauley took charge and the big crowd filed slowly, one by one, between the two biers. For twenty minutes those in the church remained in their places while the crowd from without came into take last look at the dead. An hour was consumed before the entire audience has passed by, as over 1,200 peple viewed the unfortunate victims of the hillside encounter. Father and son were neatly dressed in black and reposed peacefully as in sleep.
Northing more pathetic than the grief of the stricken families has ever been portrayed. With dry-eyed anguish, the widow, Mrs. Serepta McCoy, gazed at the lifeless forms of her husband and son. The two daughters, Lizzie and Eliza and the sons, Andrew, Hiram, George and David were convulsed with grief which was made all the harder by the thought of Jasper, a younger brother dangerously ill at home. The illess of this 13-year-old boy added to the grief of the mother who bemoaned...venerable lady of 74 years, stood long at the casket, bidding farewell to her son. By her side stood Bud Mccoy, brother and uncle of the dead men. Mrs. Millie Hawley, at whose home the murders were committed, wept bitterly. She brokenly sobbed that the crime might not have been had the men not met for the wood-chopping at her place.
The pall bearers were Frank Young, Oliver Durnal, Timothy Richardson, Ralph Arnold, John Robertson, Cornelius Fielder, William Culver, Peter Goodman, Fred Irvin, Joshua Richardson, George Rockwell and John Richardson.
Nothing is heard around Unionville but talk of the terrible affair of Friday morning. Sentiment is running high for the McCoys and dire threats have been made which jeopardize the safety of Ford. The friends of the McCoys draw their brows darkly and speak in tense whispers of Ford's awful deed and its terrible effects. Even if he were allowed out on bail, or set free by the hands of the law, it would not be safe for him to go to his old home, is the general sentiment. Aside from men's opinions as to who was to blame for the trouble, this pro-McCoy feeling is due partly to the fact that half the people in Benton Township are relatives of the slain. The McCoys, Rogers and Richardsons predominate up on Brummet's Creek and all three famileis are related by inter-marriage. The McCoys were of an old family in the neighborhood and the name is synonymous with honesty and integrity.
Yet their reputation, good as it was, scarecely surpasses Ford's in a business way. During his four years on Brummet's Creek he has established a reputation for paying his debts and meeting obligations. From his old Brown County home he moved to near Dolan for a short time before settling in the Unionville neighborhood. Acquaintances at Dolan have much to say of his business integrity. He owned 80 acres on Brummet's Creek and 40 near Dolan, the estimated value of the two being $6,000.
But his business stablity is always qualified with remakrs about his peculiarities. Though a man of means, he rarely dresses in anything but rags. Biting winter weather came before he ever put on shoes. His trips to Bloomington on anything but freezing weather were made barefoot. He himself had declared that he took a trip to Arkansas not long since barefoot. He displayed an Indian's instinct in trying to trace the people who poisoned his horses by their dim footprints on dry ground.
Ford's trouble in Brown County years ago is being recalled. It has an odd aptness. Carrie Rogers, one of the principals now of Seattle, Washington, has just completed a month's visit with Brown and Monroe County friends. Some wheat was stolen from the Rogers home on Jackson Creek and Ford, then a neighbor, was accused. He was indicted and tried at Nashville but was cleared with John R. East of this city as his attorney. Shortly after this, Carrie went west without even selling his farm and his departure was said to be from fear of Ford.
More About Joel McCoy and Sarepta Cox: Marriage: 25 Aug 1874, Monroe County, Indiana.
Joel McCoy (b. Nov 1854, d. Nov 1907)
Notes for Joel McCoy: