Pioneer Families of Missouri
| Margaret McCoy was a daughter of Daniel McCoy and Rachel Zumwalt, according to a history of early Missouri published in 1876.|
Pioneer Families of Missouri by Bryan and Rose gives a synopsis of the history of the McCoy family which settled in St. Charles County, Missouri: Daniel McCoy, for whom McCoy's creek is named, came to Missouri, or Upper Louisiana, in 1797, in company with his brother, John and Joseph, and his father-in-law, Henry Zumwalt. In 1804 Mr. McCoy was commissioned Lieutenant of a company of militia in St. Charles district, and served until the close of the Indian war in 1815, when he was discharged. His discharge papers were signed by Capt. Bailey, who was First Lieutenant in Capt. Callaway's company before the death of the latter.
Mr. McCoy married Rachel Zumwalt, by whom he had eight children -- John, Frances, Sarah, Nancy, Elizabeth, Mahala, Margaret, and Joseph. John died single. Frances married her cousin, William McCoy, a son of James McCoy, who settled in St. Charles county in 1814. They had ten children -- Nathan, Rachel, Susan, Lucinda, John, Elizabeth, Mary, William, James M. and Frances. Sarah McCoy married Fred Keishler, who settled in Lincoln county. Nancy married John Cain, who settled in St. Charles county. Elizabeth married Phillip Cannon, of St. Charles county. Mahala married James Cain, of St. Charles county. Margaret married James [s.i.c. should be Ambrose] Tenney, of St. Charles county. Joseph died a bachelor, in St. Charles county, in 1849.
(Children of James McCoy, Sr.) James, Jr., came to Missouri with his father in 1814. He married Rachel Doty, and settled in Lincoln county.
Four of his brothers, John, Martin,Benjamin, and David, also settled in that county.
John McCoy, St., brother of Daniel, had four sons -- David, John, Joseph, and Timothy. David and John settled in Texas. Timothy, usually called Tim, was an original character, and we give some anecdotes of him elsewhere He married Sarah Van Burkleo, daughter of William Van Burkleo.
Margaret McCoy was born about 1810. Her age varies in census reports,so this is an estimation. In the 1830 census of Missouri, her age is shown as between 15 and 20. Margaret was married in St. Charles County, Missouri, on Oct. 30, 1828, to Ambrose Tinney. [See Marriage records of St. Charles County, Missouri, Vol. 1 p 25, Ambrose Tena and Peggy McCoy.]|
The Certificates of Reception in the Spanish Archives of the General Land Office of Texas give the date each settler arrived in DeWitt's Colony. Those records show that Ambrose Tinney arrived on 20 March 1830, that he was married and the family included four persons. His petition for land says he had two male children.
Ambrose and Margaret's oldest known child was John, who was reportedly born 14 March 1830. Thus he was probably born on the trip to Texas. If Ambrose had two male children when they arrived in Texas, then there was a son older than John. John was born less than seventeen months after Ambrose married Margaret. The first son was probably "early".
Tinney Family in Texas
Margaret and Ambrose Tinney were among the early settlers from Missouri who took up land in DeWitt's Colony. Ambrose Tinney received a headright on Tinney Creek.|
A sketch of the history of the McMahan community in the Caldwell County history book states that "The settlement of McMahan dates back as early as 1831. At that time Ambrose Tinney (the father of Grift Tinney) left Germany and came to Texas...[buying] a league of land...The highway 713 is the northern boundary of the league, and it extends three miles south....The original deed was written in Spanish."
Tinney's family may have come to this country from Germany, but Ambrose and Margaret came to Texas from Missouri with her parents, her brother Joseph and her sister Sarah with her own husband and five children.
The Archives show that March 20, 1830, was also the date of the arrival of Joseph McCoy (single); of Daniel McCoy, married; and of Frederick Kiesler, "married, five children, two of them males".
Ambrose Tinney died in Gonzales