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History and Progress of the County of Marion, West Virginia
by George A. Dunnington, Publisher 1880

Pen Sketches of Prominent Citizens
JOHN W. McCOY, ESQ.

The above named gentleman is a member of the Marion
county bar, and is a lawyer of considerable reputation
throughout the state. He was born near Middlebourne,
Tyler county, Virginia (now West Virginia ), on the
14th of September, 1826; worked on his father's farm
until he arrived at the age of twenty-one, going to
school in the winters; was principally educated at the
Clarksburg Academy; was admitted to the bar in 1854,
and commenced the practice of law at Middlebourne. He
lived there until the spring of 1865, when he removed
to Fairmont, Marion county, and has since resided
there. In 1858, Mr. McCoy was elected prosecuting
attorney of Tyler county, and was re-elected in 1860.
In 1870, he was elected to the office of prosecuting
attorney of Marion county, and at the expiration of his
term was re-elected. In 1879, a bill organizing the
county courts of Marshall, Wetzel and Marion into a
circuit with a judge, was brought before the
Legislature, and by that body put to the vote of the
profile of the three counties. Mr. McCoy was almost
unanimously nominated for the judgeship of the new
court. At the polls he received an overwhelming vote
for the office, but the bill--known as the. "County
Court Bill"--was defeated, thus leaving Mr. McCoy a
judge without a circuit. The large vote he received
upon this occasion served to show his exceeding
popularity among the people. Mr. McCoy is considered
one of the best read lawyers in the State, and, as a
counsel, has but few equals.