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I’m going to start this week off with DNA. Ancestry sent me an email stating I had a match. It’s never done that before. It was 76 cM so I hoped it would be an easy match. I opened it up and she’s got an unlinked tree with only six people in it. Only one person actually had a name. So I looked at the shared matches. WOW! Lots of matches including my dad’s sister. Saw a match that was only identified as initials because it is managed by someone else. It matched the initials of the sole person in her tree. An obituary would be my best bet for finding a connection…and it was! This new match was a granddaughter of my existing match. YAY! She’s related on my Winkler line. However, there were some matches identified on my maternal side. Looking at the potential ancestors, she could also tie into my Pea line. This could be amplifying the DNA content slightly. I’ll worry about that at another time though.

As I transition between Yohogania County and Washington County to Hampshire County, a little boundary history is necessary to optimize my search for information on Isaac Cox Sr. Hampshire County was originally formed on paper in 1754 from Frederick County and Augusta County in Virginia. Due to hostilities in the area, organized settlement of the area was delayed a few years. In 1785, Hampshire County was split in two, forming Hardy County from the southern half. No further changes in county lines were noted after 1785. In 1863 Hampshire County, along with 49 other counties to form West Virginia. Mineral County was carved out in 1866 and Grant County was formed from Hardy County. Previous publications on this Cox family have mentioned the Cacapon River which runs north-south in the eastern part of Hampshire County. Records search will focus mainly on that area.

Source: mapofus.org

A search for Isaac Cox in newspapers came up empty for the desired time period. That is not surprising since the Hampshire County area was not widely populated or developed in the mid 1700s.

I would be remiss if I didn’t utilize the reference materials available to me at the local genealogical library. In their stacks was a copy of the two volume Biographical Record of Washington County, PA originally published in 1893. Contained within its pages was a biography of a Noah Cox (b. 1819). In the biography, it stated that Noah was the grandson of a Christopher Cox who emigrated from Germany and settled in the Greene County, PA area prior to 1762. Greene County was formed from Washington County in 1796. Based on this information, this particular family is likely to not be related to my Coxes, but the info is helpful as I sort individuals out. Christopher’s children are listed as: John, Jessie, Hiram, Aaron, Christopher, Moses, Jacob, Matilda, Mary and India.

Document findings

  • Early Landowners of Pennsylvania: Atlas of Township Warrantee Maps of Washington County, PA compiled by MacInnes & MacInnes. The plats are broken down by township with plenty of maps to illustrate. Gabriel Cox held two warrantees in present day Union Township (previously part of Peters Township) for parcels labeled “Coxburg” or “Coxbury” and “Cox’s Addition”. His brother John Cox held an adjacent parcel “Belmont”.
  • In a land transfer deed between Isaac Cox and John Decker on July 9, 1778, the parcel of land in question, Mingo Bottom, bordered the Ohio River. It was to the south of a parcel owned by Isaac’s sister Ann and her husband William McMahan. George Cox, Ann and Isaac’s brother, served as one of the witnesses. Since the Ohio River is not in Washington County, this land may have been partially in present day Ohio County, WV.
  • In a land transfer deed between Isaac Cox and Andrew Nye dated August 16, 1779, the parcel of land was adjacent to a tract owned by Isaac’s brother David. David and Gabriel witnessed the document.
  • In a land transfer deed between Isaac Cox and Garrett Vinnaman dated February 9, 1778, the parcel of land on Harrod’s Town Fork. Gabriel served as witness.
  • The brothers John, Isaac, Gabriel and David Cox were mentioned in a land transfer deed between Moses Holladay and Samuel Irwin for a parcel along Peters Creek in May 1779. Peters Creek is in the northeastern portion of Washington County. It would seem the Cox family holdings were somewhat extensive and spread across the county. This land was likely in present day Union Township mentioned previously above.
  • Deed transfer from Isaac & Mary Cox and Gabriel & Sarah Cox to Edward McGuire in Hampshire County, VA, December 8, 1772. Mary and Sarah were daughters of Enoch Enochs.

It has occurred to me that because Isaac and Gabriel were selling off land in Hampshire County in 1772 and they were presumably in Yohogania County at the time of its formation in late 1775. Purchases of the land noted above were possibly recorded in the District of West Augusta. There are some court minutes available which I have already looked through.

In the coming week, I will focus on Hampshire County and what I can find there for the family. I will also return to the previously published sources for potential resources to seek out.

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 4913 errors in the tree–382 possible duplicates, 4085 with no documents, 446 other errors.

  • The first error to fix is for the mother-in-law of a distant cousin. With the limitations I am imposing on my tree, she will be pruned along with her husband.
  • The second one might be difficult. This is the daughter of a second cousin so she is still fairly young. I was able to find her brother so I will have to take that as a consolation prize in this case.
  • The last error to fix this week was for a distant cousin with no records attached. I was able to add at least one source to several members of this family and get them off the list.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,081 people
End of Week: 27,088 people
Change = +7 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Continue research on Isaac Cox, “The Immigrant” and his wife Susannah Tomlinson.
  • Review Coxes of Cox Creek
  • Run newspaper search, especially for articles recounting local history
  • Review the Cox package of information from Sweden
  • Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky