McCoy & Straub Genealogy
By Wilson McCoy, Jan 2023
The McCoy and Straub families have a strong presence in the United States dating back to the 1600s. I have been researching the families since the 1980s utilizing Ancestry, DNA, family trees, and documentation from many families. I have confirmed some of the data but still have many names that need checking. If you find any information incorrect, please let me know so that corrections can be made. If you have additional information or pictures of individuals, please send them to me. As of January 1, 2023, I have 26,980 matches to my DNA.
If you wish to view our family tree, please contact me and I will send you a link. For privacy purposes, I do not want to place the link on our website.
McCoy is of Irish, Scottish, and Manx origins. It is a developed form of the Old Gaelic Mac Aodha, meaning the son of Fire, originally the name of a Celtic pagan god. The McCoys came to Ireland as gallowglasses, their home territory being the Isle of Man and the southern isles of Scotland such as Islay. The name dates to the late 11th Century and it is said that there are at least fifteen forms of the name.
Our ancestors are believed to have originated from northern Scotland. My research is continuing to determine exactly where our family came from and when they crossed the Atlantic Ocean.
The first McCoy that I have confirmed in the United States is John McCoy Sr. He was born in South Carolina in 1748. He was a private in the South Carolina militia. In 1770, he married Catherine Sibley Capers. The couple had 16 children. John McCoy died in 1818 in Sumter, Sumter, South Carolina.
The latest McCoy is Grayson Dinh McCoy born November 2, 2022.
The Straub surname is derived from the Old High German strub, equivalent to the Latin strobilus, meaning unkempt. As such, it was probably originally a nickname for someone who appeared scruffy-haired. Nickname surnames came from eke-names, or added names, that described their initial bearer through reference to a physical characteristic or other attribute.
The surname Straub was first found in the southern provinces of mediaeval Germany, where the name Straub was closely identified in this period with the feudal society that would eventually shape the course of European history. The name would later emerge as a noble family with great influence, having many distinguished branches in Southern Bavaria, and become noted for its involvement in social, economic, and political affairs.
One can encounter great variation in the spelling of surnames.
The first Straub that I have confirmed in the United States is Johann Jakob Friedrich Straub. He was born in Gruibingen, Goppingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany on January 16, 1814. Between 1814 and 1841, Jakob moved to the United States. On November 7, 1841, he married Anna Margarethe Maichel in Coshocton County, Ohio. They had 8 children. Jakob died in 1898 in Missouri City, Fort Bend, Texas (I have not confirmed this as he lived most of his life out of state in the northeast).
Do you want to see information about a relative that has served in the military? Do you want to add a link to their history in the military? Go to Military Service to review some service histories, how to search for family military records and how to create an entry in the records.