The John Coy Mess

The managers/administrators of the Coy relatives on the Geni site need to clean up a lot of misinformation.

The "birth date" of John L. Coy, of CT>MD>KY is not a birth date. It is a baptismal date. The book, "Philip Welch of Ipswich, Massachusetts, 1654: And His Descendants", states on page 52 that Matthew Coy and Sarah Welch had at least seven children, one of which is John Coy, BAPTISED on March 15, 1730.

"Connecticut, U.S. Church Record Abstracts, 1630-1929" lists a John Coy, son of Matthew Coy, baptized on March 30, 1715. It also lists John Coy, son of Jonathan Coy, baptized on July 18, 1725. Thus, you have two cousins named John Coy with two different baptismal dates. There should be profiles of each John Coy on Geni, not a catch-all profile. It creates nothing but confusion.

The designation "John L. Coy" should be dumped in favor of John Coy. To this point, I can find no source that gives a middle initial for any John Coy. The closest I found was an 1817 will of John Coy Jr. who signed it with his mark, a squiggle that resembled an "L".

The "of CT>MD>KY" should probably be dumped as well. John Coy, son of Matthew, most likely never left Rhode Island after his marriage to Sarah Woodbury. Sarah died in Rhode Island. John probably did too. It's debatable whether John Coy, son of Jonathan, ever moved from Connecticut to Maryland and then to Kentucky. I think we are talking about a third John Coy who lived in Maryland and then moved to Kentucky along with his family, including sons Christopher, William, and Daniel.

I'd be interested in hearing people's thoughts on the above.

Just to follow up...Sarah Woodbury Coy died on August 26, 1812, in Providence, Rhode Island, at age 88, three weeks shy of her 89th birthday.