William McCoy (September 20, 1768 – August 19, 1835) was an American merchant and politician who was aU.S. representative fromVirginia from 1811 until 1833.

William McCoy was born nearWarrenton inFauquier County in theColony of Virginia.

He moved westward toPendleton County, which the Virginia legislature had formed from western Rockingham County in 1789 (and part of which would form Highland County in 1845, after this man's death). William McCoy, Oliver McCoy and Jacob Conrad were three of the ten men who were the original trustees ofFranklin (the Pendleton county seat), which received a legislative charter in 1794.^[1] McCoy operated a store as well as bought amill (which is now a historic site) three miles south of Franklin from Ulrich Conrad.^[2] In the 1820 census, McCoy's household included 12 white people and nine slaves.^[3]

Pendleton voters elected McCoy (and re-elected him) as one of their representatives in theVirginia House of Delegates from 1798 to 1804.^[4]

CongressmanJacob Swoope of Staunton (the Augusta county seat), the German-speaking local leader of the Federalist party, announced he would not seek re-election to Congress in 1810. Federalists named GeneralSamuel Blackburn as their candidate, because of or despite his acquittal in 1809 of collecting illegal fees from litigants.^[5] Despite Pendleton County being the least populous of the six counties inVirginia's 4th congressional district in 1810 (the others being Augusta, Hardy, Rockbridge, Rockingham, and Shenandoah),^[6] McCoy ran for the seat and won. He was repeatedly re-elected to theUnited States House of Representatives. He initially ran as aDemocratic-Republican, then as aCrawford Republican and finally as aJacksonian. Thus he served from 1811 to 1833, with district number changing toVirginia's 19th congressional district in 1822 due redistricting following the censuses of 1820. During the War of 1812, McCoy wrote President James Madison concerning two applications for commissions as military officers.^[7] McCoy served as chairman of theCommittee on Claims from 1827 to 1829.^[8]

McCoy also served as a delegate to theVirginia Constitutional Convention of 1829-1830, one of four men from a state senatorial district that included Augusta, Rockbridge and Pendleton Counties.^[9] That convention succeeded in getting more legislative seats for western Virginia, but also wrote slavery into the state constitution. That district's other representatives wereBriscoe G. Baldwin,Chapman Johnson and fellow CongressmanSamuel McD Moore.^[10] In that convention, McCoy served on the Committee of the Executive Department.^[11] Although in the rest of the state voters adopted the constitution 24,672 to 7198, his constituents in Pendleton County voted against it 8365 votes to 1383, dissatisfied with the continued voting dominance of planters west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, after which Virginia legislators reduced Pendleton County from two to a single representative in the Virginia House of Delegates.^[12]

He married Elizabeth Harrison (1760-1804), and outlived both their son John (1803-1823) and their daughter Caroline (1804-1830). Before her death, Caroline had married another William McCoy, who had been assisting his father-in-law with the store, as well as raising their son (also William McCoy). Hence this man in his last will and testament, executed in Washington on April 30, 1832, provided that his late son-in-law would become his executor, and other property would be inherited by his grandson, after making financial provision to Mrs. Dyer, who had helped raise his children and that grandchild.^[13]

William McCoy died inCharlottesville, Virginia, in 1835^[14] and was interred in theUniversity of Virginia Cemetery. His mill was inherited by his nephew, also William McCoy (who died in 1864, hence some confusion).

• 1811; McCoy was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives with 52.64% of the vote, defeating FederalistSamuel Blackburn.
• 1813; McCoy was re-elected unopposed.
• 1815; McCoy was re-elected with 51.01% of the vote, defeating Federalist Robert Porterfield.
• 1817; McCoy was re-elected unopposed.
• 1819; McCoy was re-elected unopposed.
• 1821; McCoy was re-elected unopposed.

• "Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 - Present".bioguide.congress.gov. United States Congress. Archived fromthe original on April 23, 2010. RetrievedJanuary 1, 2016.

• Pulliam, David Loyd (1901).The Constitutional Conventions of Virginia from the foundation of the Commonwealth to the present time. John T. West, Richmond.ISBN 978-1-2879-2059-5.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)

• United States Congress."William McCoy (id: M000377)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Virginia State Elections Database Project Electoral History and Biography

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