Fayette County, West Virginia - Biography: OLIVER FINLEY MCCOY ********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ********************************************************************** WEST VIRGINIA In History, Life, Literature and Industry The Lewis Publishing Company 1928 - Volume 5, page 73-74 OLIVER FINLEY MCCOY, member of a prominent pioneer family of Chillicothe, Ohio, began his career in the railroad business, and since coming to West Virginia has been a leading figure in the mining and transportation interests of Fayette County. His home is at Glen Jean, and he is vice president, secretary and treasurer of the K. G. J. & E. Railroad Company. He was born at Chillicothe, Ohio, June 12, 1870, son of Samuel F. and Jane (Carson) McCoy, and grandson of John McCoy. Both the McCoys and Carsons came from Pennsylvania, the McCoys from Lancaster and the Carsons from Philadelphia. John McCoy, the grandfather, was a pioneer merchant at Chillicothe and had an active part in the organization of the First Presbyterian Church there. He died a few years before the Civil war and is buried at Chillicothe. Samuel F. McCoy was born and reared at Chillicothe, graduated in law from Miami University at Oxford, Illinois, and became one of the leading lawyers of the old and historic City of Chillicothe. He served several times as judge of the Probate Court. Judge McCoy was a California forty-niner, going out to the West and sharing in its experiences before he took up the law. He died in 1898, and is buried at Chillicothe. His wife, Jane Carson, was born and reared in Chillicothe, was active in the Presbyterian Church and for many years was associated with that band of religious and temperance workers known as the Woman Crusaders, who during the '70s succeeded in destroying the curse of the saloon in a number of Ohio communities, before public opinion had been educated to the point of local option or prohibition. She died in 1908. her father was William Carson, a Chillicothe merchant. Judge McCoy and wife had seven children: Eliza, deceased, who married Dr. Frank Sproat, of Chillicothe; Janet, of Chillicothe, who for a number of years taught school in Ohio; Rev. John McCoy, who graduated from Princeton Seminary, won a Hebrew scholarship there, traveled abroad and studied in Berlin University and spent a number of years in the Presbyterian ministry, until his death in January, 1925; Alice McCoy, of Chillicothe, who was also a teacher in Ohio; William C., in the grain business, associated with the Orthwein Grain Company at St. Louis, Missouri; Oliver F., the next in age; Robert, who was educated in Chillicothe and studied law with his father, practiced successfully for a number of years at Columbus, Ohio and died in 1923. Oliver Finley McCoy was reared in in Chillicothe, where he obtained a public school education. As a young man he went into the service of the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway Company at Chillicothe, beginning in the store department, and was with this road ten years, rising to the responsibility of storekeeper in charge of stores on the division between Parkersburg, West Virginia, and cincinnati. Mr. McCoy has been a resident of Glen Jean, West Virginia, since 1901, coming here as auditor of the McKell Coal & Coke Company and its allied companies. He has been with these financial and industrial interests ever since, his present title being that of vice president, secretary, treasurer and of vice president, secretary, treasurer and auditor of the K.G.J. & E. Railroad Company. He is also secretary of the Nichol Colliery Company and is a director in the Bank of Glen Jean. He has taken a warm interest in the organizations for local welfare, being superintendent of the Glen Jean Union Church Sunday School. He is a Presbyterian, a Republican, is a Knight Templar Mason and member of Beni Kedem Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Charleston. While living at Chillicothe he was affiliated with the B.P.O. Elks. Mr. McCoy married at Baltimore, Maryland, June 22, 1910, Miss Mabel R. Willson, of Baltimore, where she was reared and educated, later attending school at Lykins, Pennsylvania, and Keene, New Hampshire. She was reared in the Episcopal Church, and since moving to Glen Jean has taken an active part in the religious work of the community and has charge of the branch of the Girls Friendly Society. She is a member and secretary of the Fayette Study Club. Her parents were Edwin H. and Susan (Keiser) Willson, who lived at Baltimore. Her father for many years was identified with anthracite coal interests at Lykens, Pennsylvania, and since the death of his wife in July, 1926, has made his home with his daughter, Mrs. McCoy, at Glen Jean. Mr. and Mrs. McCoy have one son, John, born, May 9, 1915, who is now attending the Fessenden School for Boys at West Newton, Massachusetts. Transcribed by (MRS GINA M REASONER), 1999 **********************************************************************