John Clark McCoy and Martha McFarlin
John Clark McCoy was born in Alabama on 7 May 1835, to Daniel McCoy and Eliza Clark. John C. McCoy came to Texas with his sister, Emmaline McCoy, and her husband, Joseph B. Long. John is found in the Long household in 1850 as a 14 year old. In 1850 they were living in Cherokee County, Texas. The Joseph Long family soon moved to Caldwell County, Texas.
On 29 January 1857, John McCoy married Martha McFarlin in Caldwell County, Texas. Martha was the daughter of Louisa McFarlin who was married in 1844 to Sam Long, the elder brother of Joseph B. Long. Martha was Sam's step-daughter. The identity of her father is unknown. This writer believes McFarlin was her mother's maiden name.
The mystery of Martha's father is complex. In a biographical sketch, one son of Sam Long and Louisa McFarlin named his mother as "Louisa McRae". A story in the McCoy family says that 'Martha McFarlin McCoy's father and uncle were both killed in a battle near Goliad "after Santa Anna and the Alamo". Sarah's mother remarried to a man named Long.'
In 1842, Erasmo Seguin was accused of killing three men, one of whom was named McRhea "at the Sulphur Springs" about a week before Dawson's Massacre in which Robert Cummings was killed. Robert Cummings is believed to have been Louisa McFarlin's brother-in-law. This McRea/McRhea could have been the father of Louisa McFarlin's daughter, Martha. He may have married Louisa and deserted her or mistreated her enough for her to disdain using his name. If this McRea/McRhea was Martha's father, then the McCoy family story is pretty accurate. No other victim of Dawson's Massacre is a good candidate for Martha's father. Robert Cummings was almost certainly her uncle.
John and Martha McCoy had ten children. We do not know when or where Martha died. John was living with his daughter, Martha Emmaline Davis, in 1921. On July 25 he committed suicide. He was apparently in poor health. He was buried at the Thompsonville cemetery in Gonzales County, Texas.