McCOY, AZALE

The burials of Geer Cemetery have many interesting stories to tell, but possibly few more curious than that of Azale McCoy, who was interred in Geer and has a headstone in Beechwood Cemetery despite seemingly never having lived in Durham. Azale Hyacinth Muse was born 19 June 1893 to Lee and Eliza Muse in St. Louis, Missouri, where Lee worked as a waiter.¹“1900 United States Federal Census,” St. Louis, MI, Ward 14, Enumeration District 0219, NARA microfilm publication T623, Roll 895, Page 11, National Archives, Washington DC, accessed 25 Jun 2023, www.ancestry.com. Lee and Eliza were both from Tennessee, marrying in 1885 in Davidson County in the Nashville area.²“Tennessee, County Marriages, 1790-1950,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZ7R-B66 : 10 March 2021), Lee Muse and Eliza Brown, 28 Apr 1885; citing Davidson, Tennessee, United States, Marriage, p. 255, Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville and county clerk offices from various counties; FHL microfilm 200,297. The couple had five children, the first two (John H. and Regina) in Tennessee, and the last two (Azale and Robert) in Missouri, and the fifth unknown.³1900 US Federal Census, St. Louis. On 7 May 1921, a marriage license was recorded in St. Louis for Azale and Eugene Morehead McCoy of Chicago, Illinois, the marriage performed in Saint Paul AME Church.⁴Azale McCoy Marriage License: “Missouri, County Marriage, Naturalization, and Court Records, 1800-1991,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-998M-1SST?cc=2060668&wc=Z9SX-6TL%3A352329601%2C1583594901 : 26 December 2021), St. Charles > Marriage licenses 1921 no 247013-250732 > image 176 of 331; Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City.

Eugene was born in 1896 in Durham NC, the son of Miles and Fannie McCoy.⁵Eugene McCoy Death Certificate: “Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1871-1998,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2M8-F93L : 18 March 2018), Eugene M McCoy, 15 Jun 1946; citing Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States, source reference, record number, Cook County Courthouse, Chicago; FHL microfilm. He had two sisters, Irene and Sarah, and a brother Cecil.⁶1900 United States Federal Census, St. Louis, MI, Ward 14, Enumeration District 0219,”United States Census, 1900,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MSYZ-JRW : Thu Aug 03 07:48:10 UTC 2023), Entry for Miles Mc Coy and Fannie E Mc Coy, 1900. The family lived on Fayetteville Street, with Miles working as a well-known cook and Fannie as a seamstress.⁷Cook: “Miles McCoy, Negro, Passes in City at 78,” The Durham Sun (Durham, NC), 26 Sep 1941, p 11, accessed 12 Aug 2023, Newspapers.com.

Seamstress: 1900 US Federal Census, St. Louis. A monument in Beechwood Cemetery in Durham indicates that Fannie died in 1907, but because Beechwood had not yet opened at that time, she may have been first buried in Geer Cemetery.⁸Frances Ella McCoy monument: Find A Grave (http://www.findagrave.com), accessed 16 Jul 2023, memorial page 155456774, Frances Ella McCoy (2 Sep 1850–11 Oct 1902), created by DLHamm, citing Beechwood Cemetery, Durham, Durham, NC, USA. We could not verify this however, in part because recording of death certificates in North Carolina did not begin until 1909.

Eugene worked in Durham into his teenage years, but by 1917 when he registered for the World War I draft he was living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin working as a footman at the Majestic Theater, which was part of the Orpheum Vaudeville Circuit.⁹Eugene McCoy draft card: United States, Selective Service System, “World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” Washington, DC, National Archives and Records Administration, NARA microfilm M1509. Eugene served as a Sergeant in the 372nd Infantry, spending time in France. We find record of him on the unit roster sailing home in February of 1919, after his unit served roughly a year on the front lines.¹⁰The National Archives at College Park, College Park, Maryland, “Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985;” Record Group Number 92; Roll or Box Number 146, citing “Lists of Incoming Passengers, 1917–1938,” NAID 6234465, and “Lists of Outgoing Passengers, 1917-1938,” NAID 6234477.

We could not locate either Azale or Eugene in the 1920 Census and it is not known how they met, but it appears they moved to Chicago after their marriage, where Eugene joined the Chicago Police Department in 1921.¹¹“Local Negro Appointed Chicago Police Officer,” The Durham Sun (Durham, NC), 13 Sep 1937, page 13. Sadly, Azale died a few short years after their marriage at the age of only 31 from kidney failure associated with an operation she had previously to remove uterine fibroids (non-cancerous growths.¹²Azale McCoy Death Certificate: “Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947,” database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N3CN-R9Q : 25 April 2022), Azale Muse McCoy, 1925. While it doesn’t appear she had ever lived there, her death certificate and a Durham newspaper clipping tell us that she was buried in Durham.¹³“Body Brought from Chicago,” The Herald Sun (Durham, NC), 15 Mar 1925, page 19. The 1937 WPA Cemetery Census for Geer Cemetery lists a headstone present at that time for Azale M. McCoy (1893–1925) confirming her burial location.¹⁴“North Carolina, U.S., Historical Records Survey, Cemetery Inscription Card Index, 1700-2018” [database on-line], Lehi, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2020.

After his wife’s death, Eugene remained in Chicago and married again in 1930 to Estelle Cofield.¹⁵Eugene McCoy Marriage Certificate: “Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871-1968”, database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q21V-N8YS : 23 January 2023), Eugene M McCoy and Estelle Cofield, 1930. It doesn’t appear that he had any children with either Azale or his second wife, and he continued working for the Chicago Police Department until his death from tuberculosis in 1946.¹⁶Eugene McCoy Death Certificate. He was buried not in Durham but in Burr Oak Cemetery, located in Alsip, Illinois (a suburb southwest of Chicago) which was one of the few early Chicago cemeteries focused on the needs of the African-American community.¹⁷Eugene McCoy Death Certificate.

Eugene’s father Miles lived in Durham into his seventies, passing away in 1941.¹⁸Miles McCoy Death Certificate: North Carolina State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, “North Carolina Death Certificates,” Microfilm S.123, Rolls 19-242, 280, 313-682, 1040-1297, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina. Miles was buried in Durham’s Beechwood Cemetery, which had opened in the late 1920’s due to overcrowding in Durham’s other Black cemeteries including Geer.¹⁹Miles McCoy Death Certificate. Headstones for both his wife Fannie and daughter-in-law Azale are in Beechwood, indicating that either their bodies were reinterred there, their headstones were moved (although the details on Azale’s Beechwood headstone do not match those detailed in the WPA census for her Geer headstone), or at the very least new headstones were erected in their memory.²⁰Azale McCoy monument: Find A Grave (http://www.findagrave.com), accessed 16 Jul 2023, memorial page 155456708, Azale Muse McCoy (19 Jun 1893–19 Mar 1925), created by DLHamm, citing Beechwood Cemetery, Durham, Durham, NC, USA.

Frances Ella McCoy monument.

Miles McCoy monument: Find A Grave (http://www.findagrave.com), accessed 16 Jul 2023, memorial page 155456963, Harvey Miles McCoy (18 Oct 1862–24 Sep 1941), created by DLHamm, citing Beechwood Cemetery, Durham, Durham, NC, USA. It is uncertain if Miles, Eugene, or any of Eugene’s siblings were responsible for any of these actions. More research with Beechwood Cemetery should be able to answer this question.

Azale’s story speaks to the challenges of African-Americans across the country in the early 1900’s to find respectable burial circumstances, often on short notice and while living in dispersed locations away from family — a result of migration in search of better economic opportunities. Without any children to carry on their story, we may never know the exact reason that Eugene chose to have his wife buried 800 miles away in Durham’s Geer Cemetery as opposed to near him in Chicago or with her family in St. Louis. Her older siblings had died in 1905 (John) and 1914 (Regina) respectively, her father in 1922 and her mother in 1923, all buried in St. Louis’s Greenwood Cemetery.²¹John Muse Death Certificate: “Missouri, U.S., Death Records, 1850–1931” [database on-line], Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2008, citing Missouri State Archives; Jefferson City, MO, USA, “Missouri Death Records” [Microfilm].

Regina Muse Death Certificate: “Missouri, U.S., Death Certificates, 1910–1969 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015., citing Missouri Secretary of State, “Missouri Death Certificates,” accessed 24 Aug 2014.

Eliza Muse Death Certificate: “Missouri, U.S., Death Certificates, 1910–1969 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015, citing Missouri Death Certificates, Missouri Secretary of State, accessed 24 August 2014.

Lee Harry Muse Death Certificate: “Missouri, U.S., Death Certificates, 1910–1969 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015, citing “Missouri Death Certificates, Missouri Secretary of State,” accessed 24 August 2014. Because Burr Oak did not open until 1927, it is possible that Eugene found none of the Chicago area cemeteries suitable for his wife, and if she died suddenly, burying her in Geer Cemetery, possibly alongside his mother Fannie, may have seemed like the most dignified option.²²Burr Oak Cemetery, Alsip, IL, accessed 20 Aug 2023, http://theburroakcemetery.com/. Whether he had any plans to eventually be laid to rest beside her or have her reinterred at a later date is unknown.

BORN: 19 June 1893.²³Azale McCoy Death Certificate.

DIED: 10 March 1925.²⁴Azale McCoy Death Certificate.

BIRTH PLACE: St. Louis MO.²⁵Azale McCoy Death Certificate.

DEATH PLACE: Chicago IL.²⁶Azale McCoy Death Certificate.

SPOUSE: Eugene McCoy.²⁷Azale McCoy Marriage License.

PARENTS: Lee and Eliza Muse.²⁸Azale McCoy Death Certificate.

CHILDREN: None.

OTHER FAMILY: Siblings John, Regina, Robert, and one other unknown.²⁹1900 US Federal Census, St. Louis MI.

FAMILY BURIED IN GEER CEMETERY: Possibly mother-in-law Fannie McCoy.

OCCUPATION: Housewife.³⁰Azale McCoy Death Certificate.

CHURCH: N/A.

AFFILIATIONS: N/A.

ADDRESS: 4527 Calumet Avenue, 3rd Ward, Chicago IL.³¹Azale McCoy Death Certificate.

MILITARY SERVICE: N/A.