When Bessie McCoy was born on 14 December 1902, in Calvert City, Marshall, Kentucky, United States, her father, William Rudolphus McCoy, was 40 and her mother, Naomi Reeves, was 36. She married Raymond Lee Vasseur on 7 April 1923, in Massac, Illinois, United States. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 4 daughters. She lived in District 2, Spencer, Kentucky, United States in 1930 and Magisterial District 2, Marshall, Kentucky, United States in 1940. She died on 22 October 1947, in McCracken, Kentucky, United States, at the age of 44, and was buried in Palma, Marshall, Kentucky, United States.
Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Aoidh ‘son of Aodh’, an old personal name meaning ‘fire’, originally the name of a pagan god. Thus it has the same origin as McGee , McKay , and McKee . It has sometimes been Anglicized as Hughes .
History: The McCoy clan of KY, led by Randolph McCoy, was involved in one of the bitterest mountain feuds, with the Hatfield clan of WV, from the Civil War to the end of the 19th century. The expression ‘the real McCoy’ probably originated with an American boxer, Norman Selby (1873–1940), who adopted the name “Kid McCoy” to distinguish himself from another fighter of the same name.
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