Category Archives: DNA Matches

Researching the Cox Family: Insights & Discoveries

01 Sunday Mar 2026

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I started the week with a DNA match with a common ancestor down my Lankford line. It was easy enough to complete since I already had most of their line completed due to another previous match. I’m actually excited to move on to the Winkler and Lankford lines to research. Unfortunately, I probably won’t be able to add very many generations to those lines. I have not been able to get much further back on George Winkler, my third great grandfather. He seems to have appeared in the Edwardsport area out of thin air. Conflicting information about where he was born does not help the situation either. I will likely need to do a wide area canvas of Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana for any Winklers between 1840 and 1860. That I’m not looking forward to.

I will be able to document at least one generation of the Lankford family and most of it has been built out to this point. Again, I’ll likely need to do a wide area search across three states to find Benjamin Lankford’s roots.

And not to get too far ahead of myself, but the current plan is to finish the Cox family, stopping at Isaac Sr. I will likely include the limited information I have on Gabriel and Friend, his assumed brothers. Unless I can find something to substantiate they really were brothers, Isaac will be the last chapter in this section and I want it finished up by the end of 2026. Next will be the Winklers which likely will only be one chapter long. With the extensive three state search planned, I hope I can wrap that up by end of year 2027. I’ll begin research on the McCulloughs in 2028. That line could take a while to complete as I have three or four generations to research, including a possible Revolutionary War Patriot.

Back to my Cox family. I’m going to talk my way through the references listed in Evelyn Adams’ Coxes of Cox Creek KY

  1. Pages 63 and 250 of The Cox Family in America postulate that Isaac Cox, Gabriel Cox, and Friend Cox were brothers and possibly were born in Switzerland. One of the reasons given that Isaac and Friend might have been brothers, or at the very least is the frequent use of the uncommon name Friend, and other names, in both families. I haven’t built out all of Isaac’s grandchildren at this point. I will need to revisit this claim once I do. Friend does occur in later generations of Gabriel’s family. Relatively close proximity of their residences along the Monongahela River and similarities in family lore regarding where the family originated (Germany and Switzerland). I will need to look into the border region between those two countries.
  2. Volume II of the Hampshire County (WV) Deed Book contains several transactions involving Gabriel Cox and his wife Eleanor, identifying him as a yeoman (farmer).
  3. The Ohio County (WV) will book includes Gabriel’s Last Will and Testament which names six children.
  4. Cox Family provided some of the descendants of Gabriel on page 63.
  5. Cox Family provided some of the descendants of Friend on page 250.
  6. The Official Roster of Soldiers of the American Revolution Buried in Ohio provides a brief bio of Friend’s son Benjamin. Many of the details are questionable at best. The information seems to have comingled details for this man and his younger cousin also named Benjamin.

Working on the descendants of Gabriel (item 4 above), some researchers have identified Eleanor’s last name to be Peterson. There are marriage records in Philadelphia for a Gabriel Cox marrying an Eleanor Peterson in 1735. It’s entirely possible, although, older written histories didn’t mention the family migrating through Philadelphia at any time.

Geography Note: Brooke County, Virginia was formed from Ohio County. It is adjacent to Jefferson County, Ohio.

Gabriel’s son Israel and his wife Elizabeth were both alive at least until 1800 based on a land deed record recorded in Brooke County, Virginia. There was a suit filed against an Israel Cox Sr in 1805 in Jefferson County, Ohio. An Israel Cox was listed in an 1810 probate inventory for Jacob Durrant in Jefferson County.

Unable to find the 1810 US Census for Ohio, I decided to browse the 1820 Census for Jefferson County. The Israel listed below could be Gabriel’s son. There is both a male and female over 45 years old which would be consistent with Israel and Elizabeth. The younger individuals could be a widowed son and his children.

  • Isaac Cox with the following enumeration in Steubenville Township: 2 males under 10, 1 male 26-44, 1 male over 45, 5 females under 10, and 1 female 16-25.
  • Josiah Cox with the following enumeration in Knox Township: 2 males under 10, 1 male 10-15, 1 male 16-25, 1 male 26-44, 1 female under 10, 1 female 26-44, 1 female over 45.
  • Israel Cox with the following enumeration in Steubenville Township: 1 male 10-15, 1 male 16-25, 1 male 26-44, 1 male over 45, 1 female 10-15, 1 female over 45.
  • Garret Cox with the following enumeration in Wayne Township: 4 males under 10, 1 male 10-15, 1 male 26-44, 2 females under 10, 1 female 26-44.
  • Mary Cox with the following enumeration in Wayne Township: 2 females under 10, 1 female 26-44, 1female over 45.
  • Benjamin Cox with the following enumeration in Wayne Township: 1 male 16-25, 2 females under 10, 1 female 26-44.
  • John Cox with the following enumeration in Wayne Township: 1 male under 10, 2 males 10-15, 1 male over 45, 1 female under 10, 1 female 10-15, 1 female over 45.

Also, an Israel Cox purchased a tract of land from Cornelius Sammons in 1823.1 No wife was listed for Israel…did Elizabeth die between 1820 and 1823? An Israel Cox married a Margaret Fellows on September 29, 1825 in Wells Township.2 The marriage ledger described the groom as a “young man”.3 In 1830, Israel and Margaret sold the land that was purchased in 1823.4 As details start to emerge, this may not be the Israel I am researching. It could be a younger relative or a completely different Cox line entirely.

While Cox Family does not account for all of Gabriel’s children named in his will, it does state that all of them except Israel were killed by Indians. It does not mention if any of them had descendants or what their fate might have been. Peter, Margaret and Mary were married at the time of Gabriel’s death, but I have not yet found anything additional.

Working on the descendants of Friend (item 5 above), not much has been identified. His son John remained in Washington County. His son Benjamin moved westward to Highland County, Ohio. I need to spend more time building out this part of the tree in the next week.

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 4898 errors in the tree–382 possible duplicates, 4069 with no documents, 447 other errors.

  • The mother-in-law of a distant cousin. As stated before, I am pruning extended family.
  • A third cousin needed a source. Once again the California Birth Index comes to the rescue.
  • The last “error” was a repeat that was previously resolved.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,135 people
End of Week: 27,188 people
Change = +53 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
  1. Deeds, Jefferson County, Ohio, 1818-1824, volume H, pp. 380-381, Image Group 004021842, images 487-488, FamilySearch. ↩︎
  2. Marriage Certificates, Jefferson County, Ohio, 1824-1831, volume 3, p. 33, Image Group 007485906, image 75, FamilySearch. ↩︎
  3. Marriage Record, Jefferson County, Ohio, 1824-1831, volume 3, Image Group 004701465, image 145, FamilySearch. ↩︎
  4. Deeds, Jefferson County, Ohio, 1828-1831, volume M, p. 620, Image Group 004021942, image 663, FamilySearch. ↩︎

Researching Isaac Cox: Insights from Newspapers and DNA Matches

18 Sunday Jan 2026

Posted by in DNA Matches, Genealogy, Newspapers

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Yes, I skipped a week. Life has been crazy the past couple weeks and we were traveling. Let me catch you up on some odds and ends, and then maybe I’ll get some research done.

As I logged into Ancestry this week, apparently there were some new records associated with part of the DeMoss family I claim. I was able to update a couple dates and places and discovered a couple more children that I did not previously have. As a result, I updated my manuscript with the new information.

I had a couple new DNA matches with identified common ancestors this week. One of them was fairly close on my mom’s side of the family and I was able to add him to the tree with little issue.

Recently I received an email from FamilySearch touting newspaper searches. They have partnered with Storied to access their newspaper archives. Keep in mind that you will need a subscription to Storied to actually access any articles you might find.

I am currently doing a broad search on Isaac Cox in Kentucky on Newspapers.com. I am not limiting my search to any time frame because I want to see if there are any articles that mention Isaac that were published throughout the years. While most of them so far repeat the same information, I did find one article from 19341 regarding Transylvania College (now University) in Lexington. The College had been provided documentation proving that Col. Isaac Cox, my 5th great grandfather’s brother, was killed by Indians in 1788. The article stated the documents would be retained as part of the school’s history. I have emailed the school’s library to see if they still have those documents and if I can get a picture or scan of said documents. Wish me luck!

The Nelson County, Kentucky, newspapers appeared to be very invested in their county’s beginnings, especially during the 1920s and 1930s. Most of the articles that came up in those newspapers were focused on that era. The story seemed to imply that Col. Isaac arrived in Kentucky in 1775-1776 and stayed. Probably the best sourced of the written family histories by Adams puts forth a version where Col Isaac came to Kentucky, returned back to the east and then permanently relocated the family in 1780. My guess is that reality is somewhere in the middle of those two scenarios and he was “commuting” back and forth, making sure his family’s claims would not get poached over that five year period.

What I didn’t find was more information on the day to day at Cox’s Station that would provide insight into members of the family. Usually the articles mentioned that Cox’s Station was built by Col Isaac and they move on to some other topic like the Ballard Massacre or the Burnt Station. Both topics involve collateral families to the Coxes, however, the Burnt Station hits me a little closer to home as it impacted the Polk family, another of my bloodlines.

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 4927 errors in the tree–376 possible duplicates, 4096 with no documents, 455 other errors.

  • My first error this week was the result of a typo. The father’s death date was listed as 1834 instead of 1934. Makes a huge difference!
  • A cousin of my grandfather needed some sources added to his record. I updated his many siblings while I was at it.
  • Another distant cousin with no sources attached. I found a newspaper reference that unfortunately did not paint him in a positive light. I was able to clean up his siblings as well.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,050 people
End of Week: 27,071 people
Change = +21 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
  • Review Minutes of Yohogania Co, VA
  • Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky
  1. “Interesting History of Transylvania College,” The News-Democrat, Carrollton, Kentucky, March 1, 1934, page 7, newspapers.com. ↩︎

2025 Week 19

11 Sunday May 2025

Posted by in DNA Matches, Genealogy

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So my main focus this week is to review the remaining five DNA matches I have for Benjamin Cox and Sarah Piety.

  • The first two are siblings. Their tree does not lead back to Benjamin and Sarah. Their Cox line stops at a John Cox in the early 1800s in Tennessee. Ancestry’s IA attempted to make a connection to Ben and Sarah through a Benjamin Cox born in Tennessee in 1786. These might connect a couple generations further back. I’ll revisit them in the next generation.
  • The third DNA match also is projected through the same Benjamin Cox who is not a son of Ben and Sarah.
  • The fourth DNA match was actually fruitful. I was able to get her added, but that family was messy–multiple marriages, and an unfortunate murder-suicide mixed in.
  • The last DNA match for the Cox line at present was connected to Benjamin’s brother Jonathan Piety Cox, however. The family was residing in Warrick Co, IN, not Knox County. I need to be on the look out for a Jonathan who married a Nancy Huston. I’ll revisit this one again later as well.

To recap, I have 9 Cox DNA matches that need extensive research to add to my tree. Hopefully I’ll be able to place them while working a future generation. For now, I need to get busy on Ben and Sarah.

This week Ancestry gave me three new errors to resolve. I have 5276 errors in the tree–372 possible duplicates, 4298 with no documents, 606 other errors.

  • The first error was for someone entered as James. He had no last name and was only connected to two other people in the tree who were not connected to the tree in any way. I removed all three.
  • Helen is my second error for the week. She has sources but is not connected to the tree. I’ll remove her too.
  • The last error for this week is a 6th cousin who doesn’t have any sources attached. She is a granddaughter of a DNA match. She has lots of hints, so I’ll get her cleaned up as well as her siblings and parents.

This week in the past…
I’d like to take an opportunity to celebrate the anniversaries of births, marriages, and deaths of my bloodlines which will occur during the week ahead.
301 years ago – death of Jacques Cardinal (8th ggf)
222 years ago – birth of Nicholaus Sievers (4th ggf)
186 years ago – birth of Louisa Reeve (3rd ggm)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,833 people
End of Week: 27,868 people
Change = +35 person
Tasks for coming week:

  • Start data mining on Ben Cox and Sarah Piety
  • Confirm the data from Polk Family and Kinsmen has been added for this family and page numbers are noted for easier citation adding
  • Review Coxes of Cox Creek
  • Review History of Mariah Creek Christian Church
  • Review bio of James Ballard, husband of Susannah Cox

2025 Week 17

27 Sunday Apr 2025

Posted by in DNA Matches, Genealogy

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It’s been a productive week for me in the world of genealogy. First and foremost, I finished writing the chapter on the family of Gabriel Cox and Nancy Squires. I documented the last two daughters and put together what I hope is a coherent and cohesive argument for John S Cox to be Gabe and Nancy’s son. I do need to look up a few Indiana marriage records to complete citations at the library next weekend. I’ll let it meld and marinate for a while, then revisit it for possible revisions. I will continue to search for documents periodically on this family to hopefully add more about their lives.

Moving on! The next family unit to research is Gabriel’s parents Benjamin Cox and Sarah Piety. My first task is to attempt to resolve the DNA matches I have tagged for this couple. There were a dozen or so when I pulled up the list. So far I have been successful in connecting two of them.

  • P.H. – The algorithm tries to connect this individual through a Nancy Cox to Ben and Sarah. I am not aware of them having a daughter named Nancy, let alone one that was born in Maryland. Nancy may be a descendant of Isaac Cox (Ben’s father) or one of his brothers.
  • L.D. – The algorithm has misidentified the Albert Cox in this match’s line to a grandson of Ben and Sarah. The Albert Cox belonging to L.D. resided in Pike County, Indiana, whereas my Albert Cox did not. The Albert in question may descend down a different line from Ben or from one of his brothers.
  • M.H. – When I originally tagged this one, the algorithm suggested that Ben and Sarah were the common ancestors. That assertion has been removed. I will leave it tagged for Ben and Sarah for now, but this one could be a hard one to sort out. The match’s mother was involved in a bit of dramatic scandal as a baby so parentage is questionable.
  • K.P. – This is another match that was originally attributed to Ben and Sarah but no longer are. I’ll definitely monitor the situation.
  • M.C. – This match also was previously tied to Ben and Sarah. I did note that she was descended from a step-granddaughter of Ben and Sarah when I first tried to resolve the match. We don’t have any shared matches which is concerning for me.

I still have five matches to work through this week before I start reviewing the data I already have on Ben and start collecting as much detail as I can on my 5th great grandfather.

This week Ancestry gave me three new errors to resolve. I have 5275 errors in the tree–376 possible duplicates, 4294 with no documents, 607 other errors.

  • A 5th cousin 1x removed needed some documentation. She’s a cousin down my Ireland line which I haven’t worked on in a long time.
  • A 5th cousin also needed to be documented. For whatever reason, I listed her last name as her mother’s maiden name in error. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any documents for her.
  • The spouse of a 3rd cousin 2x removed was undocumented. He had several references to update his record with.

This week in the past…
I’d like to take an opportunity to celebrate the anniversaries of births, marriages, and deaths of my bloodlines which will occur during the week ahead.
316 years ago – marriage of Jacques Duguay (8th ggf) to his second wife Anne Baillargeon
145 years ago – death of Robert C. Thompson (3rd ggf)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,769 people
End of Week: 27,829 people
Change = +60 person
Tasks for coming week:

  • Document retrieval at FamilySearch Affiliate Library
  • Resolve remaining Ben Cox DNA matches
  • Start data mining on Ben Cox