The McCoys

The McCoy's were on my Mothers side of the Family

Jesse McCoy, 32, born 1804 in Gyrosburg, Tennessee, a resident of Gonzales and Private rifleman in the Gonzales Rangers.

He was son of John and Martha Dunbar McCoy who were among the first settlers of the DeWitt Colony at Old Station on

the Lavaca. Jesse McCoy arrived with his parents in the DeWitt Colony on 9 Mar 1827 from MO where he received one

fourth league. His tract on which he paid his first installment "At Gonzales, this 4th of July 1835, we having been appointed by

the Ayto of Gonzales as Commissioners of the State for collecting the State dues for lands under the 25 art of the law of the

24th of March, 1825 certify that we have been paid the sum of three Dollars and ninety cents and 5/6 in full of first installments

in Jesse McCoy's Quarter of a league of land deeded to him by the Commissioner Jose Antonio Navarro. Thomas R. Miller

Adam Zumwalt B. D. McClure" was on the east bank of the Guadalupe River south of Gonzales on the current

Gonzales-DeWitt County border. The author's 3rd great grandparents David and Mary Ann Zumwalt Burket purchased a

portion on the tract after their return in 1837 from the Run Away Scrape. Jesse McCoy's widow was named Kitty.

Jesse McCoy's father and family of four received a sitio of land next to Jesse McCoy's tract at the same time. Father John

"Devil" or "Padre" McCoy as he was known by Indians and the Mexicans, respectively, was the head of the McCoy clan in TX

and Indian fighter in LincolnCo, MO before coming to TX. John McCoy and members of the Zumwalt family served together

in Daniel Boone’s Mounted Rangers in MO and directly under his son Capt. Nathan Boone in LincolnCo, MO. On 12 Apr

1834, Jesse McCoy requested "...to have his stock mark and Brand recorded which he says is as follows--Ear mark a

swallow fork in each ear and an under bit in the left, and his brand the letters J and T joined which he declares to

be his true mark and that he has no other." A claim presented to the House of Representatives and the Senate of the

Republic of Texas in Dec 1837 by "Alamo widow" Kitty McCoy suggests that Jesse provided supplies to the young Texas

Army: "...the first auditor is authorized to audit the claim of the widow Kitty McCoy as per vouchers of Byrd

Lockhart and Colonel William H. Patton for beef and corn valued at three hundred and seventy dollars in military

script." Joseph Rowe, Speaker of the House (signed); S.H. Everett, Pres. Pro Tem Senate (signed); Approved by Sam

Houston (signed).

RUNAWAY SCRAPE. The term Runaway Scrape was the name Texans applied to the flight from their homes when Antonio López de Santa Anna began his attempted conquest of Texas in February 1836. The first communities to be affected were those in the south central portions of Texas around San Patricio, Refugio, and San Antonio. The people began to leave that area as early as January 14, 1836, when the Mexicans were reported gathering on the Rio Grande. When Sam Houston arrived in Gonzales on March 11 and was informed of the fall of the Alamo, he decided upon retreat to the Colorado River and ordered all inhabitants to accompany him. Couriers were dispatched from Gonzales to carry the news of the fall of the Alamo, and when they received that news, people all over Texas began to leave everything and make their way to safety. Houston's retreat marked the beginning of the Runaway Scrape on a really large scale. Washington-on-the-Brazos was deserted by March 17, and about April 1 Richmond was evacuated, as were the settlements on both sides of the Brazos River. The further retreat of Houston toward the Sabine left all of the settlements between the Colorado and the Brazos unprotected, and the settlers in that area at once began making their way toward Louisiana or Galveston Island. The section of East Texas around Nacogdoches and San Augustine was abandoned a little prior to April 13. The flight was marked by lack of preparation and by panic caused by fear both of the Mexican Army and of the Indians. The people used any means of transportation or none at all. Added to the discomforts of travel were all kinds of diseases, intensified by cold, rain, and hunger. Many persons died and were buried where they fell. The flight continued until news came of the victory in the battle of San Jacinto. At first no credence was put in this news because so many false rumors had been circulated, but gradually the refugees began to reverse their steps and turn back toward home, many toward homes that no longer existed.