Category Archives: DNA Matches

Researching the Descendants of Emma Taylor: A Genealogy Journey

05 Sunday Jul 2026

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DNA Updates

  • This week my first DNA match is a distant cousin connecting through Joseph Cardinal, my 5th great-grandfather. She was pretty easy to track and connect. Ancestry was indicating that she was related through my dad’s side, though. Maybe there is a connection through a different branch with this cousin. Something to watch for, although none of the names rang a bell.
  • The second DNA match is another distant cousin connecting through Valentine Mattox, a 4th great-grandfather on my dad’s side of the family. Interestingly enough, it appears this cousin might also connect through my Puckett line. Normally I would set this one aside to flesh out later, but since there appears to be a double connection, I’m anxious to work it now. Filling in the Puckett line was straight forward, however, making the connections to Valentine Mattox will take some effort and I will save that for another day.

Unusual Place Name – Bucklucksy

In researching the Rennels family, they resided in Bucklucksy, Oklahoma for a period of time. I was curious how the name came to be. Since Google is my friend on most days, I asked and then I had CoPilot condense it down into a single paragraph.

Bucklucksy—originally named from the Choctaw phrase Bok Luksi, meaning “Creek with turtles”—was the first settlement at the crossroads of the California and Texas roads where J.J. McAlester opened a general store in 1869. The discovery of nearby coal and McAlester’s success in attracting the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad in 1872 transformed the area, prompting the railroad and post office to adopt his name. Though Bucklucksy later became known simply as McAlester, parts of the old townsite now rest beneath Lake Eufaula, leaving only its story to surface.

Continuing Research on Benjamin Cox descendants: Emma Taylor Thomas

I am continuing my research on William Taylor’s descendants. This week’s research starts with a search for Emma Taylor Thomas’s daughters. Emma died in 1910 and is buried in Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Her obituary places the family near Needmore and there apparently was a measles outbreak at the time of her death.1 Information on her husband Joseph Thomas was hit or miss early in the search. A 1919 army transport manifest for their son George mentioned that Joseph was in Gore, Sequoyah County, Oklahoma. This is also the location where George was married later that year. George and his bride were enumerated in Wharton County, Texas in 1920. Laura and Zelora seemed to have vaporized during this time. Joe resurfaced in 1930 living with George and his family and they had returned to Oklahoma.

Emma and Joseph’s daughter Hazel was a little easier to track…she married and ended up with the rest of the family in California. Her obituary listed two sisters as living, however, they were not Laura and Zelora. Researching Edith and Anna, I found them and their father in Wharton County, Texas…next door to George. As it turns out, Anna married George’s brother-in-law in 1922 who was a widower with two children. They raised a sizeable family (Linthicum) which I likely will not finish assembling this week.

Eventually Joseph appeared in the 1910 census…in Delaware County, not Ottawa County. Afton, where Emma reportedly died, is near the county line so they very well could have been residing in Delaware County all along. Laura and Zelora are not named. Laura was fourteen so maybe, and that’s a big maybe, she had married by 1910. Zelora would have been about ten, so likely she had died. No mention of either girl was found in the family obituaries.

In a last ditched effort to find Laura and Zelora, I checked Mount Hope Cemetery on Find a Grave. I didn’t find them, but I did find an infant daughter of Joseph and Emma’s named Lenna. She was born on January 5, 1910 and lived about six weeks. There is also an unnamed infant son with no photo of the stone. The notes state he is a son of Joseph, but it is not clear where that information came from. From the information provided, these two could have been preemie twins.

Emma’s sister Millie Taylor reportedly had the measles in the summer of 1909 in Afton.2 Millie was working for a Mrs. Mason after she recovered from her illness.3 Another researcher had provided a death date for Millie so I followed up in the newspapers and confirmed it was the same person. She remained in the general area, married, and raised a substantial family. I will need to follow up with more research on her family (The Canadas).

  • Jesse Cox + Mary Waugh > John Cox + Mary Parks > Louisa Cox + David Taylor > William F Taylor + Mary Lucy Pearson
    • Taylor
      • Oklahoma: Ottawa
    • Rennels
      • Oklahoma: Pittsburg
      • California: Stanislaus, Butte
      • Oregon: Marion
    • Rogers
      • Oklahoma: Pittsburg
      • California: Stanislaus
    • Peeples
      • California: Butte, San Francisco
      • South Dakota
    • Mayer
      • California: San Francisco
    • Linthicum
      • Iowa: Polk
    • Mitchell
      • Missouri: Cole
    • Canada
      • Oklahoma: Ottawa
Map courtesy of Mapsius.com

Error Resolution

The last available update via Ancestry ProTools: I have 5074 errors in the tree–510 possible duplicates, 4108 with no documents, 456 other errors. My Ancestry error resolutions this week included:

  • A dangler not connected to anyone. She will be pruned.
  • A husband of a wife of a cousin. He will be pruned.
  • Husband of a distant cousin needs records. This took some effort. I did not have a first name for him and I did not have his mother-in-law’s name either. It took some process of elimination before I could identify and document this individual.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,684 people
End of Week: 27,910 people
Change = +226 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. https://www.newspapers.com/image/606543616/?match=2&clipping_id=200814310 ↩︎
  2. https://www.newspapers.com/image/606541946/?match=1&terms=Millie%20Taylor ↩︎
  3. https://www.newspapers.com/image/606542838/?match=1&terms=Millie%20Taylor ↩︎

Roderick Family History: Exploring Kansas Research

28 Sunday Jun 2026

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DNA Updates

  • A DNA match on my mother’s side (Catt line) that I was able to add fairly easily. This branch is fairly easy to document at this time. She is a 3rd cousin 2x removed.
  • A second DNA match was revealed this week on my mom’s side. He descends from both the Catt line and Thompson line which explains why there are a few more centimorgans than normal for a 5th cousin. This one took a little effort since he is about the same age as my daughter and his tree isn’t very well built out. Most individuals are still living, but a great-grandfather on his mother’s side had an obituary available. It also helped that I went to school with his mother’s sister and I just happened to have purchased my high school’s alumni directory back in 2000. Quite the puzzle if you must know.

Rodericks in Kansas

One of my errors to fix this week was for Catera Roderick (see below). She could be found at age 4 months in the 1870 Census in the household of John Roderick in Kansas. John was born in 1790 so the idea that she was John’s daughter might seem far-fetched, although not an impossibility. John married a much younger woman, Almira Julian in 1865. A newspaper article about assistance for the poor briefly mentioned John, his wife, and four children.1 He died later that year.2

Hints for Almira or Catera do not readily populate. The Roderick Genealogy written by David Paul Roderick in 1999 listed an incorrect date of birth for Almira and made the assumption that Catera was John’s grandchild, not the daughter of Almira and John.

From the 1870 census, it would seem that Catera has a brother William who is two years her senior. The Roderick Genealogy mentions that William married a Viola Parrett. I was able to find their marriage record in Jefferson County, Kansas which would mean John’s family remained in the Valley Falls area until at least 1890. The 1880 Census for Almira, William or Catera is not populating in the hints so a manual search of the 1880 census is warranted.

A survey of the 1880 census for Deleware, Jefferson, Osawkie, Norton, and Rock Creek Townships in Jefferson County did not turn up any Rodericks. It’s possible that

  • Almira remarried between 1875 and 1880 and the children were enumerated under the new husband’s surname.
  • Almira died and the children were orphans.
  • The family relocated to another part of the county or another county for a period of time.
  • They were missed in the 1880 enumeration.

Continuing Research on Benjamin Cox descendants from Montgomery County, Ohio

I am continuing my research on William Taylor’s descendants. This week’s research starts with Emma Taylor. Emma died in 1910 before the census was taken and her family “disappeared” in Oklahoma. Emma’s headstone is in Afton, OK. Their son George was a military transport back from Europe in 1919. His father’s address was listed as Gore, OK. I’ll concentrate my search there to find Emma’s daughters.

  • Jesse Cox + Mary Waugh > John Cox + Mary Parks > Louisa Cox + David Taylor > William F Taylor + Mary Lucy Pearson
    • Taylor
    • Thomas
      • Kentucky: Estill
      • Oklahoma: Sequoyah, Wagoner
      • Arizona: Maricopa
      • California: Stanislaus
      • Texas: Wharton
    • Starkey
      • California: Stansilaus

Error Resolution

The last available update via Ancestry ProTools: I have 5023 errors in the tree–502 possible duplicates, 4066 with no documents, 455 other errors.

My Ancestry error resolutions this week included:

  • A stepson of a distant cousin is identified as a potential duplicate. This record falls under the criteria I have for pruning.
  • A mother in law of a distant cousin has no records. Another candidate for pruning.
  • a distant cousin who has two errors–no records and born more than 75 years after her father. Catera/Kittura/Katurah Roderick is listed in the 1870 Census with John P Roderick who was born ca 1790. John’s wife was of childbearing age so there is no reason why Catera could not be John’s daughter. Unfortunately, this type of error cannot be cleared or ignored.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,534 people
End of Week: 27,684 people
Change = +150 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. The Valley Falls New Era, February 13, 1875, page 2. ↩︎
  2. The Valley Falls New Era, August 7, 1875, page 3. ↩︎

Discovering Ancestors: Overcoming Genealogy Challenges

31 Sunday May 2026

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It was a busy week but I was able to get a little research done despite everything.

Most interesting was a DNA match. The match came up marked with a common ancestor, however, there was no tree attached. The surname was not what I would call common so I searched my tree for that and found a handful of distant cousins, complete with a previous DNA match who did have a tree linked to their account. After some trial and error, I was able to determine who the new match was and get him connected to the tree!

Continuing on with the descendants of Jesse Cox and Mary Wagle. I am picking up where I left off with descendants of Zachariah Cox and Nancy Wright. I am continuing on with Nettie Taylor and her husband John T. Wilson.

Thelma was a tiny bit difficult to start researching. Ancestry was not providing any hints to work off. She was mentioned in obituaries, but as Mrs. Husband’s Name, as was the norm during a good deal of the twentieth century. Since she was the second eldest, I had not eliminated very many of the names yet. Luckily she was named in her sister Leah’s obituary as Mrs. Thelma Montfort; she was either divorced or widowed at this point in time. Now I am able to circle back to her and fill in those blanks.

Finishing up Zachariah’s children, Mattie, the youngest, was a little difficult to complete. The Ancestry hints populated records for her sister Nettie. So frustrating. She was named in the obituaries for her siblings Alice (1947) and Nettie (1957). She was not listed in John’s obituary in 1959. That narrows the window down considerably. Voila! Mattie Taylor died in 1958.

I was not able to find a date of death for Zachariah, but maybe I can get a clue from his younger siblings. Next up is William Taylor.

  • Louisa Cox + David Taylor > Zachariah Taylor + Nancy Catherine Wright
    • Taylor
    • Wilson
      • Kentucky: Madison, Fayette
    • Montfort
      • Kentucky: Fayette, Jefferson
      • Louisiana: Caddo
    • Drake
      • Kentucky: Fayette
  • Louisa Cox + David Taylor > William F Taylor + Mary Lucy Pearson
    • Taylor
      • Kentucky: Estill, Madison
      • Oklahoma: Delaware

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 5041 errors in the tree–529 possible duplicates, 4061 with no documents, 451 other errors.

  • Up first is a distant cousin from 200+ years ago. Lots of records found for her and her family.
  • A distant cousin from my generation needs some records. A public record reference will have to do for now.
  • And another distant cousin needs a record. She was featured in a newspaper advertisement at age 5, giving me an approximate date of birth. Score!

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,802 people
End of Week: 27,866 people
Change = + 64 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

Honoring Legacy: Memorial Day and Family History

24 Sunday May 2026

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It’s Memorial Day Weekend. Memorial Day began after the Civil War and was originally called Decoration Day as tradition in the spring to decorate the graves of the fallen with flowers, flags and wreaths. The holiday today honors all American military personnel who died while serving in the armed forces. That said, I wish to remember my 3rd great grandfather John S. Cox. John was a member of the Indiana 80th Infantry, Company C. He mustered in at the rank of Private on September 3, 1862 with his friends and neighbors from the Edwardsport, Indiana area. He died of influenza of the lungs on January 14, 1863 at the Regimental Hospital in New Haven, Kentucky. He left a widow and four children.

One new DNA match that I was able to incorporate into my tree this week. It was for a 2nd cousin 1x removed on my mom’s side. His parents were already in my tree; I just needed to update them a bit and add the DNA match.

Continuing on with the descendants of Jesse Cox and Mary Wagle. I am picking up where I left off with descendants of Zachariah Cox and Nancy Wright. I finished Homer’s descendants and have moved on to Zachariah’s daughter Nettie (fourth of five children) who had ten children. I’m about half way through them. So far they have been straight-forward to navigate.

  • Louisa Cox + David Taylor > Zachariah Taylor + Nancy Catherine Wright
    • Taylor
    • Plavsic
      • Ohio: Clermont, Hamilton
    • Brown/Broun
      • Ohio: Hamilton
    • Haile
      • Ohio: Hamilton
    • Wilson
      • Kentucky: Madison, Fayette, Estill
    • Dozier
      • Kentucky: Estill, Fayette
      • California: Los Angeles
    • Hardy
      • Indiana: Fayette
      • Kentucky: Fayette
      • Virginia: Henrico

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 5023 errors in the tree–529 possible duplicates, 4043 with no documents, 451 other errors.

  • A wife of a distant cousin with no references and no maiden name. After piecing together several documents, I was able to determine her last name and fulfill the need for a reference.
  • A husband of a distant cousin needs a reference. The daughter’s marriage certificate held his middle name which led to several hints.
  • A husband of a distant cousin has no first name or references. The marriage record supplied both. It would seem he lied on his marriage record about his age, because all subsequent records list him four years younger.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,707 people
End of Week: 27,802 people
Change = + 95 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

Unraveling John D Taylor’s Family Mysteries

17 Sunday May 2026

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Ancestry has a “Recommended” list of individuals on my landing page. My 3rd great grandfather Jean Michel Kaiser is listed with a flag for records from a new collection in France. Unfortunately this is a collection only available to World Explorer subscribers. I’ll have to revisit this record once I upgrade for international research.

I had one new DNA match with a common ancestor identified. He was through my McCullough line. Hopefully I’ll get to that line in the next year or so.

Continuing on with the descendants of Jesse Cox and Mary Wagle. I am picking up where I left off with Richard’s son Eugene.

  • Louisa Cox + David Taylor > Richard Lewis Taylor + Sarah Emma Isaacs
    • Taylor
      • Texas: Eastland, Gregg, Jackson, San Patricio, Harris, Victoria, Travis
      • New Mexico: Quay
  • Louisa Cox + David Taylor > Zachariah Taylor + Nancy Catherine Wright
    • Taylor
      • Kentucky: Estill, Oldham, Madison
      • Utah: Salt Lake, Utah
      • Ohio: Warren, Hamilton
    • Baker
      • Utah: Salt Lake, Utah
    • Deitrick
      • California
      • Alaska
    • Blythe
      • Ohio: Hamilton
    • Plavsic
      • Ohio: Hamilton

Researching Zachariah’s son John D Taylor and his family was an adventure. From what I can piece together, John was living with his parents in 1900 and he was listed as a widower. There was evidence of a possible marriage in 1894, but I’m not certain if it was this John due to the location. John then married Stella Stratton in 1901. What was confusing is that I found a John D Taylor with a Della, not a Stella, in the census records. Next I received hints for death certificates for two daughters, Imogene and Dixie, who were born in 1902 and 1904, respectively, stating their parents were John and Stella. Hints for Stella show her in Idaho and Utah as early as 1907. Stella remarried in 1907 in Idaho and her daughters are listed with her husband’s last name instead of Taylor. That made it harder to find them. The revolving door of husbands wasn’t very helpful either.

As if those obstacles weren’t enough, John had a son with a widowed woman. This son was given his mother’s late husband’s name. Quite messy to untangle, if nothing else. I believe I am done with John.

Moving on, I am making progress on Zachariah’s son Homer and will continue to do so into next week.

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 5020 errors in the tree–525 possible duplicates, 4044 with no documents, 451 other errors.

  • A father in law of a distant cousin. He and his wife were pruned from the tree.
  • A distant cousin who needed a source added. Added sources for most of his family members as well.
  • Another distant cousin who needed a source added.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,622 people
End of Week: 27,707 people
Change = + 85 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

Analyzing Cox Family DNA Matches and Shared Ancestors

05 Sunday Apr 2026

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This week I want to do something a little different–DNA match investigation. I’m looking at the matches descending from Benjamin Cox and Sarah Piety. I want to tag the shared matches to see if I can pull any additional matches into my tree.

ELIZABETH COX MILLER: Ben and Sarah’s daughter Elizabeth married widower Samuel Miller for her second husband. Unfortunately, the algorithm is attaching two of his daughters from the first marriage to Elizabeth. The first one, AA, is through his daughter Louisiana. She has two shared matches that are in my tree already. Interestingly, one is connected through my Lowe line. The other is through Elizabeth Cox.

There are two matches descended from Margaret Miller. The first, ME, has a shared match that is descended through Mary Gott. Mary Gott was the mother of Nancy Squires Cox. The other, MA, did not have any shared matches currently in the tree.

SUSANNAH COX BALLARD: Susannah Cox Ballard has one match (DF) the algorithm has descended through her son Bland Ballard, however, it would seem it has attached her to the wrong Bland Ballard. This match does not have a shared matches in my tree.

JOSEPH COX: Four of my matches in my tree are descended through Joseph’s daughter Mary Elizabeth. From what I can tell, Mary Elizabeth’s daughter Isabelle was born out of wedlock and her father, to the best of my knowledge, is unidentified. Mary Elizabeth’s brother Henry played a significant role in Isabelle’s life and is misattributed as her father.

JONATHAN PIETY COX: ThruLines has assigned two different Mary Jane Coxes to Jonathan. Based on preliminary findings in FamilySearch, the second Mary Jane might be the daughter of Jonathan Cox who was the son of David Cox who married Margaret Bruce. I will need to investigate this further.

NANCY COX: ThruLines has attributed a Nancy Cox Nelson as a daughter of Ben and Sarah, however, I have no record of them having a daughter with that name. Also, the documents other researchers have attached to her all have her residing in Maryland and never in Kentucky.

SARAH COX: The Sarah Cox ThruLines has assigned as a daughter of Ben and Sarah was born in Tennessee. Ben and Sarah’s daughter never married and has no known children.

BENJAMIN F COX: The algorithm has a match (LD) descended through BF’s son Albert. There is conflicting information from other researchers about the parentage of Albert. Based on his location, it is doubtful BF’s son Albert is the ancestor to LD.

After tagging all the shared matches with those I have added to my tree, I then filtered by each of the eight lines.

  • Finetta Cox only has seven shared matches and none of them overlapped with any of her siblings’ groups.
  • Isaac Cox has nineteen shared matches. Five of those have already been matched to my tree and all five shared matches with at least one descendant of Isaac’s siblings, most frequently Joseph. There were two who are not in my tree and there is not enough information available to add them.
  • Elizabeth Cox has thirty-four shared matches. Two of Elizabeth’s matches are shared matches with descendants of Joseph. Not enough information is available to match the others to my tree.
  • Susannah Cox has one hundred two shared matches. Forty-four of those matched were shared matches with descendants of Jonathan, John Calhoun, and Austin.
    • I was able to correct a misassigned match and have three generations of the same family tagged in my tree. They actually descend from Isaac and Susannah Tomlinson Cox through their daughter Mary Cox. Mary married John Lemen and had a son named Gabriel. Gabriel married Mary Gott Squires Caplinger’s daughter Mary Caplinger which may have given the DNA a bit of a boost. Mary Caplinger is the half-sister of my 4th great grandmother Nancy Squires Cox.
    • I was also able to assign the mother of a match in my tree.
  • Austin Cox has one hundred thirty-four shared matches. The vast majority shared matches with at least one of Austin’s siblings, if not two or three.
  • Joseph Cox had one hundred fifty-nine shared matches. There were a good number of these shared matches that were not common with the other siblings.
    • A huge boon was discovered sifting through these shared matches. A seventh cousin one time removed was discovered! She is descended from FRIEND COX!!! This gives me some proof that the Friend Cox and Isaac Cox lines are related.
    • There are a couple shared matches that potentially connect back to the Polk line. This would make sense since Sarah Piety’s mother was a Polk. Their lineage didn’t quite match up with what I have entered so I will need to readdress that later when I am researching the Polks.
  • Jonathan Piety Cox has two hundred twenty shared matches. What was interesting is that several of them are identified as primarily being a match on my mom’s side of the family, not my dad’s. This could make sense, however, since Jonathan migrated to Knox County with Gabriel. Jonathan’s descendants could have intermarried with ancestors on my mother’s side. This would theoretically boost the DNA count since there were multiple sources in common with my own.

Having made a DNA match with a descendant of Friend Cox, I have filtered by those twenty-nine shared matches.

  • Match MD appears to be descended from a Charles Cox. Friend’s son Benjamin had a son named Charles. To better confirm this match, I will need to build out the tree from Benjamin. That was on my to do list anyway.

The last thing I want to do in this exercise is check those matches that supposedly have Ben and Sarah as a common ancestor to see if any of they share any of my potential Cox matches. The ones that do not exhibit any shared DNA with my possible Cox matches will be relegated to my unknown match list for review at a later date.

  • LD has several to my Briscoe line. There is one shared Cox match, but nothing to make me believe this person is related through the Cox family.
  • AA shares DNA was a match on my Lowe Line.
  • MH has no shared Cox matches.
  • PH has no shared Cox matches.
  • KP has several who share matches with Joseph Cox. I am inclined to think that she is related further back on the Polk line.
  • MC has a few shared Cox matches.
  • CT & ET has one shared Cox match. They are managed by the same person.
  • JLF has no shared Cox matches.
  • KAH has one shared Cox match…Friend Cox.
  • DF only has one shared Cox match…Elizabeth.
  • MT only has one shared Cox match…Joseph.

Overall, I think this was a worthwhile exercise. I was able to make a few matches with my tree. More importantly, I was able to link Isaac Cox’s family to Friend Cox’s family through my DNA match. I am more convinced now that I should include information about Friend and Gabriel’s family in my manuscript.

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 5018 errors in the tree–511 possible duplicates, 4059 with no documents, 448 other errors.

  • The first error to correct this week is the father-in-law of a distant cousin. Normally I delete these, however, his wife is a Cox. I haven’t figured out if she is part of the Cox family I am currently researching or a different one. He was missing references so I found a couple census records for him.
  • The second is a distant cousin needing references…the 1950 census got that ball rolling.
  • The last error to fix is actually two errors. This 3rd cousin had a possible duplicate and no references. He is not a duplicate; his mother’s obituary clearly states she had two sons named John. The first died as an infant. It took a ChatGPT search to find his obituary.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,279 people
End of Week: 27,321 people
Change = +42 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

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