June 15, 1784. Isaac McCoy, foremost white advocate of Native American rights was born in Fayette County, PA. While still young, Isaac was inspired to become a missionary to Native Americans and determined on that work. McCoy, his son John, his daughter Delilah and her missionary husband Johnston Lykins, worked together as missionaries to the Shawnee and Lenape (Delaware), following them to what is now Kansas City, Missouri, on the border of Indian Territory and near their reservations. The younger McCoy established a trading post at Westport, Missouri. In 1840, McCoy wrote one of the earliest, most personally informed reports on the Midwestern Native American tribes, The History of Baptist Indian Missions. In 1842 he returned East to Louisville, Kentucky, where he directed the Baptist American Indian Mission Association. He wrote additional works on Indians and the missions. He died there in 1846 and was buried in Western Cemetery. ABHS has many books by and about Isaac McCoy as well as 10 folders of his missionary correspondence. His personal papers are also held by ABHS.
