How the McKoys Came to California

Hubbard Wilson McKoy and Betsey Ann Newhall are listed in the index of early California pioneers -- those who moved to California prior to 1850. Descendants are eligible for membership in the Native Daughters of the Golden West and the Society of California Pioneers.

I ran across the following account in "White Family Quarterly," a genealogical magazine. It is not sourced. And I am not making up the name of the journal.

BETSEY Newhall 8 (50), b. in Kerby, Vt., Sept. 29, 1822; m.
July 25, 1841, Hubbard Wilson McKoy, b. in Lunenburg, Vt.,
Feb. 24, 1819. They lived for a time in Kirby, then moved to
Wisconsin, settling in Oconomowoc, Wis., where they remained
until April 4th, 1850, when Mr. McKoy, with five of his towns-
men, started with four horses and a wagon, on each side of which
was the name of their destination, "California".

They drove to Galena, went down the Mississippi river to Hannibal, Mo.,
then across the state to Council Bluffs. There fitted out for the
long trip over rivers, plains, mountains and deserts, arriving in
"Hangtown" (now Placerville), Cal., Aug. 4th. 1850, with two
horses, having left the wagon on the Humbolt Desert in Nevada.
The men reaching there in safety, having no trouble from Indians,
or wild animals, but we will leave the present and coming gene-
rations to imagine the hardships they had endured, and were still
to endure, being as they were among the very earliest arrivals in
that new, unbroken country.

Two years later, May 11, 1852, Mrs. McKoy, with her son ten years old
and a daughter less than four, left Milwaukee, Wis., going from there to Chicago,
where she took a steamer to St. Joseph, Mich., from there by the
Michigan Central Railroad to Detroit, Mich., thence by steamer
to Dunkirk, N. Y., taking train there for New York City, leaving
New York on the "America," May 1 5th, and arriving at Aspin-
wall (now Colon), on the 23d, where they took boats up the river
Chagres to Cruces, the natives as propellers, with poles pushing
the two boats, tied up one night at Cruces, then took mules for
Panama, her son riding one, and she on another carrying her lit-
tle girl.

Leaving Cruces at ten in the morning and reaching
Panama at nine in the evening, they left Panama on the evening
of May 29th on the steamer "Winfield Scott," stopping at Aca-
pulco, Mexico, for one day, reached San Francisco, Cal., on June
15th, she then went to Sacramento, where her husband met her
and they went on to their home in Georgetown, El Dorado County,
where they lived, or near there, for sixteen years. Mr. McKoy
was engaged in hotel and lumber business until late in life, then
a dealer in merchandise.

Having lived in Eldorado county until 1868, they moved to
Santa Cruz county, where he died in Felton, Aug. 22, 1895.
Mrs. McKoy is living with her children in San Jose, Cal. Children:

Gaudencio Hubbard McKoy

Lillian Betsey McKoy

Sierra Nevada McKoy

Annie Lettice McKoy (your gr-gr-grandmother)

Norma Cecilia McKoy

Annie McCoy Ball's Obit

Last weekend we took a field trip to the Boulder Creek Library where we spent the day scrolling through microfilm looking at old issues of the "Mountain Echo," a newspaper published for the San Lorenzo Valley (Felton, Boulder Creek, Ben Lomond, etc.) around the turn of the century (about 1895 - 1915).

After wrestling with ancient microfilm technology (and reading through 167 ads for remedies for piles and catarrh), we came away with a ream of info on family members from the Felton area. The best find was a good obituary for your great-great grandmother (Annie McCoy Ball) who died suddenly at the age of 45. Here's the transcription:

DEATH OF MRS. ANNIE L BALL

Mrs Annie Letitia Ball, wife of Supervisor Joseph Ball, died suddenly and unexpectedly at the family apartments in the Hotel Ben Lomond last Sunday night at 10:30 o'clock. Mrs Ball had been subject to attacks of heart trouble during the past year and it was one of these that caused her sudden taking off as stated above, the immediate cause of death being diagnosed as paralysis of the heart.

Mrs Ball had been about her duties as usual the day before her death and seemed to be as well as usual and in good spirits. There was nothing to indicate her being called so suddenly. Like a thunderbolt from a clear sky the shaft of the destroyer came and in a few minutes after it struck the wife and mother had passed from the earth.

The funeral took place Tuesday afternoon and was largely attended. The home services were held at the Hotel Ben Lomond at one o'clock. Rev Wm Hicks, of the Presbyterian church of this place, officiating. The remains were then taken by the afternoon train to Santa Cruz, accompanied by many other friends and a long procession of carriages
wended its way to the Odd Fellow's cemetery, where the impressive burial services were conducted by Isabella Rebekah Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Santa Cruz, of which Mrs Ball was a member in good standing. Court adjourned and all of the county officials attended. Many beautiful floral pieces testified to the sympathy and good will of friends and the esteem in which deceased (sic) was held. Interment was in the family plot in the Odd Fellow's cemetery.

Mrs Annie L. Ball was a sister of Mrs L N Hayes, Mrs T B Hubbard and Mrs G C West, all of San Jose, and was the second daughter of Mr and Mrs H. W. McKoy, old residents of Felton, where her life from girlhood, until recently, has been passed. She was united in marriage to Mr Jos. Ball in the early seventies. Three children blessed the union, one deceased, and the two daughters, Lucy and Bessie, now grown to womanhood, and left to mourn the loss of a faithful, devoted mother. Mrs. Ball was a native of El Dorado county, this state, and was aged 45 years at the time of her death. Her bereaved family have the sincere sympathy of a wide circle of friends in their great and unexpected affliction.

DATE: 16 MAR 1901

Also found an obituary for your great-great grandfather, John Glass. He had no funeral ceremony other than the I.O.O.F. rites:

The funeral of John Glass took place in Santa Cruz last Sunday at 11 AM from Odd Fellow's Hall and the interment was in the Odd Fellow's cemetery. There was no ceremony other than the burial service of the order, which was used both in the hall and at the grave. The pall bearers were: A M Fraser, Dan Hartman, G P Lane and Thos Maddock of Boulder Creek; Jas. H Curtis of Felton and Prof W T Forsyth of Santa Cruz.

Date: 28 JUN 1902