MCCOY, JOSEPH (1848-1927)

MCCOY, JOSEPH, Presbyterian minister, St Andrew's Church, Chatham, 1889-97; b. Hamilton, Ont., 23 Sep 1848, s/o John McCoy and Elizabeth Jane Scott, natives of Ireland; m. 1879, Mary Helen Huckins, of Stratford, Ont.; d. Victoria, B.C., 27 Jun 1927.

Joseph McCoy was educated at the University of Toronto (BA 1875, MA 1878) and trained for the ministry at Knox College. Ordained in 1879, he was the Presbyterian minister at Egmondville, Ont., for ten years before accepting a call to St Andrew's Church in the fall of 1889. During eight years in Chatham he earned "the respect of all classes on account of his many sterling and self-respecting qualities," and at the same time, his wife was popular with the congregation. A public criticism which he voiced was that New Brunswick teachers were unduly harsh as disciplinarians, but when invited to address the Teachers' Institute on the subject in 1894 he took a moderate position.

When he left in the fall of 1897 McCoy went to British Columbia as a frontier missionary. In 1899 he had a makeshift manse and church at 'Cascade City' and was preaching at mining camps in the vicinity. In 1900 he and his family settled in Vernon, B.C. From 1902 to 1906 he was principal of the British Columbia Ladies' College. In this period he became associated with Knox Presbyterian Church in Victoria, into which he was inducted as minister in 1907. His pastorate was again successful, and in 1922 he was awarded an honorary DD by Westminster Hall in Vancouver. He remained with Knox Church, which did not enter into union with the United Church of Canada, until his death. His widow, Mary H. Huckins, survived him by four days.

Three children were enumerated in the McCoy home in the census of 1891, and at least two others were born before the family left the Miramichi.