Category Archives: Newspapers

Researching Yohogania County, Virginia

01 Sunday Feb 2026

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Last week I did not finish resolving the hints from the Cawood family that were identified as “new” by Ancestry. The last one was for my 8th great grandmother Anne Terrett. She married Stephen Cawood and then John Wynne. An article entitled “Berry Family of Charles County” postulates that after John’s death, Anne married James Berry in St Mary’s County, Maryland in 1686. It will be interesting to research the Cawoods as the published family genealogies surrounding this branch go back into the 17th Century Tidewater Region. I am excited to start this chapter at some point in the future.

As I review the many newspaper articles recounting historical information about Yohogania County, there is mention in the early days of the county that the sheriff was ordered to erect a “Ducking Stool” in the Monongahela River. So, what is a Ducking Stool? According to Google, it is a medieval punishment device, mostly used to publicly humiliate disorderly women for offenses like scolding, gossiping, or behaving like a shrew. It consisted of a chair affixed to the end of a long beam suspended over water. The offender would be strapped to the chair and repeatedly dunked into the water. In some instances, the dunkings were severe and resulted in death by drowning.

Most of the newspaper references to Yohogania in Allegheny County during the first half of the twentieth century were in reference to the Yohogania Chapter of the Daughters of American Colonists. The articles referencing the short history of the lost county usually mentioned the boundary struggles between Virginia and Pennsylvania, the commissioning of instruments of punishment such as the ducking stool or stocks, or identifying which counties now occupy the region. Little specific information is provided about individuals who may have resided in Yohogania County.

Articles written in Fayette County publications tend to focus on the roles Colonel William Crawford and Zachariah Connell played in the county’s history. One particular article1 goes into gross detail regarding the gruesome death of Colonel Crawford at the hands of British forces and their allies the Indians at Sandusky in 1782.

Little to no reference was made to my Cox family in the articles about Yohogania’s history. I attribute the lack of information to the fact that the family did not stay in the area. Yes, Colonel Isaac played a role in the county government and was a ranking member of the militia, however, their departure to Kentucky placed them in the honorable mention category at best. Having perused the papers on Newspapers.com from Allegheny, Fayette and Washington County, I will resume my search in Crumrine’s works.

Examination of all mentions of Cox in the History of Washington County, Pennsylvania show individuals with the surname Cox were in the area as early as 1756. These early individuals likely were not related to the family I am currently researching. Their presence, however, is a clear indication that I should proceed with caution.

On page 129, mention of an Isaac Cox is associated with a discussion about Colonel Crawford’s Sandusky Campaign. Since this event occurred in 1782, the Isaac Cox mentioned is likely not to be my 6th great grandfather or his son, as they had removed to Kentucky two years prior. This could be a son of either Friend or Gabriel Cox, brothers of Isaac Sr.

In 1770 (page 146), a Gabriel Cox acquired property on Peters Creek. The assessment roll for 1772 for Springhill Township, Bedford County included Gabriel Cox as well. This Gabriel is likely to be Isaac Sr’s brother.

In 1777 (page 186) at the Council of War at Catfish Camp, Gabriel Cox’s residence was named a proper place for magazines and 2.5 tons of lead and ammunition were to be delivered to that location. Also in 1777, the justices of the peace were tasked with obtaining the Oath of Allegiance from all males over the age of 16. The list of men who took the oath in Ohio County, Virginia2 in 1777 included Gabriel Cox, David Cox, Israel Cox, and Peter Cox. This was likely Isaac Sr’s brother Gabriel and his three sons. I have not yet found a similar listing for Yohogania County.

In late 1775 (page 205), Gabriel Cox, et al, were tasked with making a preliminary report for a road from Fort Dunmore to Henry Heath’s farm. This is likely Gabriel Cox, son of Isaac Sr. He was also involved with development of other roads within the county. Gabriel also inventoried various estates in probate. (page 210)

A George Cox served on a road commission in Augusta County in 1776 prior to the formation of Yohogania County (page 211). This is likely Isaac Sr.’s son. George’s residence was identified as Ohio County, Virginia in some of the land deeds in Nelson County, Kentucky, after his father’s death.

In 1777, Isaac Cox was part of the commission to build a courthouse and jail. (page 215).

In 1778, John Cox’s property was mentioned as a point of reference for a road commission. (page 217) His property was located near Peters Creek. He is believed to be another son of Isaac Sr as his residence was listed as Washington County, PA in the 1790 land deed.

In October 1779, Isaac Cox applied for a passport to relocate to Kentucky County, essentially tendering his resignation as a justice of the peace for Yohogania County. It was also testified by Colonel Crawford that Isaac was a junior officer in the Virginia military in 1764.

In 1781 amid the turmoil of fixing the boundary between Virginia and Pennsylvania, it was alleged that Lt. Col Gabriel Cox and his men were terrorizing citizens who had previously been loyal to Pennsylvania as opposed to Virginia. In January 1782, Gabriel was brought up on four sets of charges–two for assault and two for assault and battery. Juries of his peers acquitted him of the two incidents of assault and the assault and battery charges ended with noli [sic] prosequi.3 When pressed, the court clerk provided an explanation to Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania. In a nutshell, certain male residents of the county had been “drafted” to serve under Colonel George Rogers Clark and they were evading the draft. Gabriel was tasked with rounding up these draft dodgers. His tactics were considered somewhat excessive, but warranted. It also didn’t hurt his cause that the majority of his jurors may have been former Virginians and sympathetic to his plight. (page 239)

That is going to do it for this week. I want to do another pass thru FamilySearch for Washington County before I move on to Frederick County and Hampshire County, Virginia. I’ll do that at the library on Saturday. I also want to go thru the rest of the hardcopy books they have on Washington County. I also need to create a few reminders for a future trip to the library in Salt Lake City. It’s been a month since I synced Family Tree Maker with my Ancestry tree, so I am doing that as I finish up this week’s notes.

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 4919 errors in the tree–380 possible duplicates, 4093 with no documents, 446 other errors.

  • The first error to resolve was the husband of a distant cousin. I had to trace back to the 1950 census for her before I could identify his first name and find a source for him.
  • The second is the father in law of a distant cousin. Considering the limitations I have imposed for my tree, this record was deleted.
  • Lastly, a 3rd great grandaunt down my Cawood line! What are they odds? I found several sources to update her record.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,075 people
End of Week: 27,081 people
Change = +6 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. “The Hero-Martyr of the Youghiogheny,” The Daily Courier, (Connellsville, PA), Friday, June 25, 1976, page B-6, newspapers.com ↩︎
  2. “The Echoer”, volume 1, number 9 (April 1968), page 5, FamilySearch.org. ↩︎
  3. nolle prosequi – a formal entry on the record by a prosecutor which voluntarily ends a criminal case before a verdict. ↩︎

Researching Early Yohogania County Families for Ancestral Clarity

25 Sunday Jan 2026

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As I was working on my errors this week, one of them was Penelope Cawood, a 6th great grandaunt. The source I found for her was a family history on the Cawoods. She was the aunt of my 5th great grandfather, Moses. Moses lived from 1725 to 1809 but I hadn’t done much research on this bloodline to date. In the biography of Moses, it mentioned that he served on the grand jury in Washington County, Virginia in 1782. This perked me up — to the best of my knowledge he is not a proven DAR Patriot and serving on a grand jury is considered patriotic service. I will definitely need to explore this line and see if I can adequately document back to Moses.

What I am starting to discover is that several of my family lines all lived in the same area at approximately the same time. The DeMosses were in Frederick County, Virginia, as were the Coxes and now the Cawoods. To date I have not found them in each others business, so they may or may not have been friendly with each other. From Frederick County, they all went in somewhat different directions.

I decided to first check the WikiTree to see what it contained for the older Isaac Cox to serve as hints. I wanted to scream! It is a total trainwreck! It would appear that information for no less than THREE Isaac Coxes were included on his record. I did not have the mental bandwidth to try and fix it. This record punctuates how much I hate community trees.

An speaking of community trees, I received my weekly notification for ancestor records I am monitoring on FamilySearch. To my 4th great grandparents Joseph Reeve and Sarah Ireland who were born in the United States and lived their until their deaths in Indiana, a woman attached an unknown John Reeve as a child and attached references from England! Oh, first names match so it must be a match! Seriously? I messaged her and asked that they be removed. I’ll give her a week then do it myself. Do not cross me and my ancestors!

Prior to migrating to Kentucky, the Cox family settled a few years in Yohogania County, Virginia. Yohogania County is sometimes referred to as a “lost county” because it no longer exists. It was formed in 1776 from Augusta County, Virginia. The northern boundary of the county consisted partially of the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers, while the Monongahela River bisected the area. Yohogania County ceased to exist after 1780 when the area was ceded to Pennsylvania and became parts of current day Washington, Fayette, Beaver, Westmoreland, and Allegheny Counties.

As I try to sort where my 6th great grandfather Isaac was living, as well as his children and siblings, it will be useful to track down the Oath of Allegiance that was mandated by the General Assembly of Virginia in May 1777. If my grandfather and my uncle were residing in two different counties, they would be on two different lists.

A quick newspaper search for Isaac Cox in Washington County, Pennsylvania returned some 500 results, many from the first half of the twentieth century. It would seem there still might be some distant Cox cousins who remained in that area. One historical article in particular caught my eye and made me reconsider my search parameters since I am only interested in information regarding Isaac and family during the time Yohogania County was in existence. This significantly reduced the articles returned to five. Removing the Cox restriction on the search expanded the available documents to 50. While these articles do not mention my Cox family, they do provide some general information on who the movers and shakers were at the time. For example, a Mrs. S Kussart had a regular column in the Monongahela publication The Daily Herald during the 1930s. One of the pioneers she shared was a Paul Froman. I do recall seeing some dealings between Colonel Isaac and a Froman, possible kinfolk of Paul, in the Kentucky records.

Also of note is a regular column entitled “Early Western Pennsylvania” which regularly discussed historical figures from Yohogania County. It was written by Richard T Wiley and published in same newspaper.

Because parts of Yohogania County eventually became part of Allegheny, Westmoreland, Beaver and Fayette Counties, surveys of newspapers in those areas should also be made.

Since today was a library day for me, I took the time to look through an actual book. One book that they had on the shelf was Virginia Court Records in Southwestern Pennsylvania by Boyd Crumrine. This is the consolidated edition that contains records from the District of West Augusta, Ohio and Yohogania Counties from 1775 to 1780. The index made this task a breeze. In two hours I summarized the publicly documented activities of possibly twelve men and one woman with the Cox surname. Some were brothers of Colonel Isaac and others were likely his cousins. I’m happy to have some sort of activities to include with their biographies when the time comes to write them.

History of Washington County, Pennsylvania with Biological Sketches, edited by Crumrine contains a significant portion of the court records from the previously mentioned tome, however, additional information has been incorporated to provide a more detailed historical narrative than the simple minutes transcription can provide. I will be continuing my data mining this week.

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 4917 errors in the tree–378 possible duplicates, 4093 with no documents, 446 other errors.

  • First up is a very distant cousin without any source records. I found a record with a birth date so that one is cleared.
  • Next is a 6th great grandaunt with no sources. Ancestry has a new collection titled “US, Family History Books” which has come up several times in my hints recently. There appears to be one for Cawood which I plan to make good use of when I get to that surname.
  • Finally, I have a “Jo” without a maiden name and no sources. She married into the family. A clue in her father-in-law’s obituary led me to her husband’s obituary and a plethora of hints, mostly school yearbook photos.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,071 people
End of Week: 27,075 people
Change = +4 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
  • Review History of Washington County, Pennsylvania.
  • Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky

Researching Isaac Cox: Insights from Newspapers and DNA Matches

18 Sunday Jan 2026

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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 52

28 Sunday Dec 2025

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Wow! The last week of the year. I’m actually proud of myself that I kept up with the blog. I only missed three weeks out of the 52, so I’m just a little impressed.

I am finishing up the bio writing for Benjamin and Sarah Piety Cox’s children this week. Having this blog has helped me with organizing facts and sources. While I didn’t do the greatest job of documenting everything on the blog, I left myself enough breadcrumbs to make it worthwhile. For instance, the Find A Grave memorial for Finetta Cox Arnold stated her death was announced in the Liberty (MO) Tribune. Thing is, I don’t ever recall finding it. I had a death notice for one of her daughters in 1882, but not Finetta. So, back to the newspaper archive. After a little searching I found what I was looking for. YAY!

Liberty Tribune, Liberty, Missouri, November 15, 1872, page 2.

Having finished writing up the biographies of Benjamin and Sarah’s family, I am now moving on to Benjamin’s parents–Isaac Cox and Susannah Tomlinson. This will prove to be challenging for several reasons. The first being that there were several Isaac Coxes who lived in the Colonies during this time, and there are researchers out there who have haphazardly intermixed details of the various men. Even within this family unit, Isaac “the Immigrant” is regularly confused with his son Colonel Isaac. My first task is to sort out the various Isaac’s while gathering documentation for my two Isaacs. On FamilySearch alone, a full text search of documents from the 1700s returned a list of almost 3000 documents. While I don’t anticipate needing to read all 3000 documents, I believe I can cull enough information from these documents to sort these gentlemen out. Hopefully other Isaac Cox researchers will find this useful as well.

Will the real Isaac Cox please stand up?

Talbot County, Maryland – There are two Isaac Coxes (father and son) who resided in Talbot County, Maryland. The elder Isaac wrote his Last Will and Testament in 1786. His wife was named Mary and he had a married daughter Elizabeth Jenkinson and sons named Isaac and Joseph. His son Isaac was named his executor and it appears the will was entered into probate May 25th, 1788. It was mentioned in the court minutes that this Isaac Cox was a Quaker.1

New York City – This Isaac Cox is previously from Philadelphia, but relocated to New York. He was a merchant with a wife named Catherine. Isaac and Catherine were purchasing a house in New York in 1785.2

Philadelphia/Bucks County, Pennsylvania – Mention of another father and son pair of Isaac Coxes surfaced in Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 1779. The older Isaac who is deceased, was a merchant in Philadelphia. The son’s occupation was not mentioned.3 The elder Isaac seems to have had dealings in Lancaster County and Berks County as well.

Charleston, South Carolina – Mention of an Isaac Cox from Philadelphia was made in a land transaction in Charleston, South Carolina in 1765. This very well could be the same Isaac who was mentioned as deceased in 1779.4

Culpepper County, Virginia – An Isaac Cox and his wife Lydia involved in a land transaction in New Jersey in 1792.5

Kent County, Delaware – An Isaac Cox and his wife Sarah from Philadelphia are named in a deed in Kent County, Delaware in 1796. Isaac, whose occupation is Hatter, is named as a the son of a Susannah Hunn Cox in the indenture.6 An earlier deed from 1772 names Susannah with her husband Isaac in this same county. Also mentioned is a Powell Cox who might be related.7

Nashville, Davidson County, North Carolina (now Tennessee) – An Isaac Cox from Philadelphia are party to a land transaction in 1792.8 It is highly possible that this Isaac Cox is one and the same with a previously mentioned merchant from Philadelphia.

Guilford County, North Carolina – An Isaac and a William Cox of Guilford County, sold land to a John Cox in 1771.9

New Providence, Bahamas – The Last Will and Testament of a Jacob Cox names several family members including a sister Elizabeth Marshall and a brother Isaac Cox who resides in Philadelphia. Jacob’s will was written in 1764 and names several of Isaac’s children including Martha, Altha, John, Isaac, and Mary.10

I’ll stop there, but may add to the list as I come across other Isaacs. Some of these may very well be connected to my tree. There are others with the surname of Cox who have married into my tree at various points that are not directly descended from Isaac Cox who settled in Nelson County, Kentucky. Also, I will need to use a broader set of search criteria considering where my Cox family is known to have resided through the years. Hampshire County, Virginia later became part of West Virginia. I will want to pull those documents as well as ones that might be in Virginia. I will want to examine documents from Maryland, based on previous writings about the family, but I will want to be careful of the timeline so as to not confuse my Coxes with others in the area.

What I also find fascinating is that my Cox family and my presumed DeMoss family were in the same area of Virginia at approximately the same time. Both purportedly had interactions with George Washington in his early days as a surveyor. I have to wonder if I will stumble across any documents naming both families together. Only time and research will tell.

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 4926 errors in the tree–376 possible duplicates, 4094 with no documents, 456 other errors.

  • Distant cousin needs sources. I was able to add sources to him and his siblings.
  • The wife of a distant cousin needs a last name and sources. I was able to update a few other family members, but not the cousin or the wife.
  • Another distant cousin from long ago who needs sources. I was able to supple a couple and add a few family members.

This week in the past…
I’d like to take an opportunity to celebrate the anniversaries of births, marriages, and deaths of my bloodlines from the week ahead.
361 years ago – marriage of Susanna Whitehead (10th ggm) and Nathaniel Bunnell Sr (10th ggf)
272 years ago – birth of James Shields (6th ggf)
245 years ago – birth of Thomas Butler (5th ggf)
233 years ago – death of Joanna Miller (8th ggm)
189 years ago – marriage of Mary Caywood (3rd ggm) and her 1st husband Ambrose Azbell
116 years ago – death of George Winkler (3rd ggf)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,011 people
End of Week: 27,019 people
Change = +8 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Begin 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 Cox Family in America
  • 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. Maryland, Orphan’s Court, Talbot County, will book 4, pages 52-53, film 14454, image 542, FamilySearch.org ↩︎
  2. New York Land Records, 1630-1975, volume 42, pages 426-427, film 888346, image 244, FamilySearch.org. ↩︎
  3. Deeds, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, volume 19, pages 34-35, film 172881, image 37, FamilySearch.org. ↩︎
  4. South Carolina, Land Records, Charleston, 1764-1765, volume 3D, page 717, film 23526, image 469, FamilySearch.org. ↩︎
  5. Deeds, Gloucester County, New Jersey, volume C, pages 471-472, film 846546, image 652, FamilySearch.org. ↩︎
  6. Deed Records of Kent County, Delaware, volume F2, page 154, film 6461, image 468, FamilySearch.org. ↩︎
  7. Deed Records of Kent County, Delaware, volume V1, page 43, film 6457, image 50, FamilySearch.org. ↩︎
  8. Land Records, Davidson County, Tennessee, volume C, pages 255-256, film 332658 image 471, FamilySearch.org ↩︎
  9. Deeds, Guilford County, North Carolina, volume 1, page 99, film 19045, image 106, FamilySearch.org. ↩︎
  10. Bahamas, Wills, 1756-1766, page 175-180, film 223469, images 347-350, FamilySearch.org. ↩︎

2025 Week 46

16 Sunday Nov 2025

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There is a light at the end of the tunnel as I am researching the youngest child of Ben and Sarah Piety Cox–Finetta. I’ve already done a little research on her and her family back in Week 23 when I was researching older sister Sarah (aka Sally). Finetta married Elbridge Arnold and they moved to the Kansas City, Missouri area. Their home, Woodneath, is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Information on the children of Finetta and Elbridge was at times hard to come by. Sarah, Mollie and Mariana all married. Benjamin disappeared after the 1850 census. Nettie was living with Mollie’s family and is listed as having lung disease in the 1880 census. Susan appears in the 1870 census, but has not been found in the 1880 census.

A land deed record dated 1874, after the death of their mother, names Sarah and husband, Susan, Nettie and Mollie. A Susan Arnold is listed as a creditor in multiple probate reports well into the 1880s. Without knowing how many Arnold families were in the Clay County area, it is difficult to know if this is the same Susan Arnold or possibly a cousin. Since Elbridge’s father died in Clay County, Missouri, it is possible that one or more siblings also relocated.

Can’t find the newspaper you want on the subscription sites? Google it! Some states, like Missouri, have digital collections that are available for free. I found the following information on that site.

A mention in the Liberty Tribune published January 13, 1882, stated that J(ohn) P(eter) Stowers buried a child on January 10th and his wife (Mariana Arnold) was buried the previous week.

Catching up on my library research and access to the restricted files on FamilySearch, I started with Benjamin F Cox, son of Jonathan P and Rachel Cox, who was born in 1819. Using Full Text Search, I immediately found the History of Mariah Creek Church which mentioned Benjamin F. It provided his year of death and the name of his wife, Patsy Shepherd. I have to wonder, though, if the author of the church history was confusing this Benjamin (b. 1819) with his uncle (b. 1804). The elder Benjamin married an Elizabeth Shepherd in 1834. 1834 would have been too early for the younger Benjamin to marry–he would have been 15 years old. Of course, Patsy was usually associated with Patricia or Martha as a nickname.

Interestingly enough, I was also looking for Benjamin F Cox, brother to Jonathan Piety Cox. Benjamin was assigned as guardian for his grandchildren Virgil and Elizabeth Farmer in 1868 after the death of their father Amos. He terminated the guardianship in 1874 when the money ran out, however, the children continued to live with him and his wife Lucinda until the children reached adulthood. Nothing after 1861 was found for Sarah Cox Farmer, Benjamin’s daughter and the children’s mother.

I had hoped to find documentation of Benjamin’s death in 1887, however, I was not able to locate anything. The latest recorded deed which mentioned Benjamin and wife Lucinda was recorded in 1886. After that, there was a deed recorded in 1893 that names Lucy Cox, unmarried, Carrie and Virgil Farmer, John and Caroline Cox, and Lizzie Berry, unmarried. This would be consistent with the living heirs of Benjamin. This would also give credence to the fact that Albert was no longer living and had no known descendants in 1893.

With that, I believe I have concluded the research portion of the family of Benjamin and Sarah Piety Cox. I can now move to editing and writing. This is actually my favorite part of my project as the people start to come to life. My first task will be to merge duplicate event records and standardize place names. Then I will generate the rough draft and start filling in the blanks and citing references. With the long Thanksgiving weekend right around the corner, I should be able to complete this step fairly quickly…at least that is my hope.

Tree Ratings are back! I have 3 errors from this week to resolve. I have 4947 errors in the tree–374 possible duplicates, 4115 with no documents, 458 other errors.

  • The spouse of a distant cousin has no sources attached. However, he has several hints which have cleared this error.
  • A distant cousin Jean was eleven at the time a child attached to him was born. Based on the information in the 1860 census, the children in question are probably his brother’s children who were living with Jean and his wife.
  • The last error for this week is another spouse of a distant cousin. As it turns out the cousin also was lacking sources. Cleaned up both at the same time.

This week in the past…
I’d like to take an opportunity to celebrate the anniversaries of births, marriages, and deaths of my bloodlines from the week ahead.
353 years ago – marriage of Jeanne Lemarche-Beaudry (8th ggm) and Jacques Duguay (8th ggf)
325 yeas ago – death of Jean Lemarche-Beaudry Duguay (8th ggm)
262 years ago – death of Nathaniel Bonnell (7th ggf)
250 years ago – birth of Mary Overlin (6th ggm)
238 years ago – marriage of James Shields (6th ggf) and his 2nd wife Nancy Brown
198 years ago – marriage of Letitia Casey (4th ggm) and William Fielden (4th ggf)
196 years ago – death of John Keirsey (6th ggf)
155 years ago – birth of Anna Gravel (2nd ggm)
110 years ago – marriage of Ethel Thompson (ggm) and August Cardinal (ggf)
101 years ago – death of Emma Nagele Keller (2nd ggm)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 26,997 people
End of Week: 27,009 people
Change = +12 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Write the biographies of the family of Benjamin and Sarah Piety Cox.
  • Review the information in The Other Polks to see if there is anything I don’t already have.
  • 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

2025 Week 43

26 Sunday Oct 2025

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This week I have started on the family of John Calhoun Cox and his wife Eliza Garrett. They are documented to have had eleven children. After Ben and Sarah died, John and Eliza lived in their farmhouse in Shelby County. In their later years, they lived with one or more of their children in both Franklin County and Jefferson County.

Research for Eliza was pretty straight forward. John, however, is proving to be a little more difficult. Some researchers have assigned a death date of 1869 for John, however, he was still alive in the 1870 census. The 1869 death was for a John Cox who resided in Butler County, so I’m not convinced this is the correct information for Eliza’s husband. Other sources have provided a death date in 1878. This would be consistent with Eliza stating she was a widow in 1880, however, I cannot find any documentation supporting this date either. As for now, it will remain a mystery.

JC and Eliza’s first son, Dr. Henry Clay Cox, married Mary Jane Newland in 1859. Mary Jane died in 1926. Her obituary stated that she lived with her husband until his death in Shelby County and in Crestwood (Oldham County). It later states that she resided with her son Ben and/or his wife for the past thirty-seven years. Could that mean that Henry died around 1889? Also, his mother Eliza passed in 1891. He was not listed as a surviving child of hers at that time. This would be consistent with a ca. 1889 death. I have not found any mention of his demise in the papers and there is nothing on Find-a-Grave. For now, I’ll stick with a death of about 1889.

Daughters Martha and Elizabeth were fairly straight forward to research, but Mary was a little more complicated. She was actually Martha’s twin sister, and the algorithm kept insisting that she was actually Martha. Since Kester’s book named Mary’s husband as Samuel C. Long, I was able to research her through him. Similarly, Ancestry wanted to confuse brothers Willis and Wallace, although they were not twins.

Sarah “Sallie” Cox was slim on the documentation. While the family lived in Franklin County, she apparently married a man by the name of Edward Hancock in 1868. Oddly enough, she was listed with her parents in the 1870 census sans Edward. Sallie died in 1874 but she did have a will. She names her brother Benjamin guardian of her minor son Oliver Hancock.
Oliver was living with his uncle and grandmother in 1880, but he disappears into the ether beyond that. When Oliver was born is also in question. The 1880 census claims he is twelve, but he was not listed in the 1870 census. Was he left out on purpose? Was his age inflated in 1880? This is another question that likely won’t be answered.
It’s unclear if Sallie and Edward separated, divorced or if he actually died. Her death record states she was a widow. Some researchers claim that Edward remained in Franklin County and lived to a ripe old age, but didn’t appear to marry again.

I wasn’t quite able to finish up JC and Eliza’s children this week. There were just so many! I have four left to tidy up then I can move on to JC’s brother Benjamin. Yes, another of the Benjamin Coxes.

Tree Ratings are back! I have 3 from this week to resolve. I have 4948 errors in the tree–372 possible duplicates, 4116 with no documents, 460 other errors.

  • The first error was a potential duplicate. The algorithm postulated that sisters Martha and Mary were the same person. This was debunked by the fact that both girls were listed on the 1860 Census.
  • A distant cousin who needed a citation. Finding documentation for him was difficult, but I did find an obituary for his older brother.
  • Finally, another suspected duplicate. This time, it truly was a duplicate. I confirmed it with several other documents and merged the two records.

This week in the past…
I’d like to take an opportunity to celebrate the anniversaries of births, marriages, and deaths of my bloodlines from the week ahead.
97 years ago – marriage of Mathias Keller (2nd ggf) and his 2nd wife Mary Bouvy Bowman
81 years ago – marriage of Dorothy Cardinal (gm) and Francis W Keller (gf)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 26,923 people
End of Week: 26,947 people
Change = +24 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Finish family of John Calhoun Cox and Eliza Garrett; return to Knox County and start reviewing the family of Benjamin Cox and Elizabeth Shepherd.
  • Review the information in The Other Polks to see if there is anything I don’t already have
  • Continue 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

2025 Week 42

19 Sunday Oct 2025

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Finally, we’ve moved on to another of Ben and Sarah Cox’s children…Austin. Austin was child number eight, born in 1799. He spent his adult years in Frankfort, Kentucky, marrying Rebecca Phillips in 1831. In addition to farming, Austin was known to have served as a land surveyor and as a clerk. He was briefly appointed to the role of Secretary of State of Kentucky from February to August 1836 by Governor James Morehead. Austin and Rebecca reportedly had ten children, most of which were daughters.

Nothing unusual cropped up in researching their oldest daughter Elizabeth. Sarah, however, raised a question or two. Kester’s The Other Polks listed Sarah’s date of death as July 25, 1850. Sarah was enumerated in the 1850 US Census. The date Austin’s household was recorded was on September 10, 1850. This would seem to be a discrepancy in the data. Unfortunately, Franklin County, KY, didn’t start recording deaths until 1852. However, careful examination of the instructions for the census state the name of every person whose usual place of abode on the 1st day of June 1850. Furthermore, Sarah’s death was published in The Frankfort Commonwealth on August 6, 1850, supporting the fact that she died on July 25th.

An interesting fact about Austin P. Cox was revealed in the obituary of his daughter Laura Cox Kearns published in the Kentucky Post in 1906. There is an irregular boundary between Kentucky and Tennessee in Simpson County commonly referred to as the “Triangular Jog”. Apparently when the boundary was originally surveyed in 1780, the surveyors could not keep a straight bearing due to several factors present at the time. Several attempts were made to correct the issue and finally it was resolved in 1859 by Austin Cox and Benjamin Peeples. A historical marker identifies the site along US Hwy 31-W at the Tennessee-Kentucky State Line. You can read more about this dispute on the Kentucky Historical Society‘s website.

I was able to complete my research on Austin and Rebecca’s children this week. Interesting facts included:

  • a set of girl twins born in 1835 (Mary and Laura),
  • a couple daughters did not live past their teens (Sarah and Charlotte), and
  • a couple daughters never married (Mary and Rebecca).

One son, Wallace, was listed in Kester’s book but I could not corroborate with any documentation. He died as an infant in 1844.

I will now move forward to child number nine of Ben and Sarah–John Calhoun Cox. John married Eliza Garrett and they had eleven children. A descendant of at least one of those children is a DNA match for me. In the meantime, I’ll do a little clean up of danglers and placenames.

Tree Ratings are back! I have 3 from this week to resolve. I have 5017 errors in the tree–376 possible duplicates, 4142 with no documents, 499 other errors.

  • Up first is a second cousin whose family I think I worked on last week. He needed some citations, as did a couple of his brothers, so I fixed them up.
  • The next was a father-in-law of a distant great uncle. Since I am not keeping in-laws in my database, I have deleted him and his wife.
  • Finally, I have Francoise Bonneau who was born in 1786. She is a distant cousin with no citations. I was able to find one church record–thank you to the Catholic priests of Old Cathedral. There might be more information available in the Canadian records when I am ready to dive into that.

This week in the past…
I’d like to take an opportunity to celebrate the anniversaries of births, marriages, and deaths of my bloodlines from the week ahead.
210 years ago – marriage of Elizabeth Staton (4th ggm) and Jonathan McCullough (4th ggf)
200 years ago – marriage of Michael Keller Jr (4th ggf) and his first wife Barbara Klein
177 years ago – marriage of Mary Caywood (3rd ggm) and John S Cox (3rd ggf)
154 years ago – birth of John F Thompson (2nd ggf)
125 years ago – death of Isaac DeMoss (3rd ggf)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,106 people
End of Week: 26,923 people
Change = -183 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Focus on family of John Calhoun Cox and Eliza Garrett
  • Review the information in The Other Polks to see if there is anything I don’t already have
  • Continue 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

2025 Week 37

13 Saturday Sep 2025

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This week I’m starting on the family of Harvey Innes Cox. I’ll get it started, but likely won’t finish it. His parents were Jonathan P Cox and Rachel Tigert Cox. He married Mary Nicholson in Knox County. They had nine kids that I know of. After he served in the Civil War, they picked up stakes and moved to Labette County, Kansas around 1868. This is where they remained until death.

Where exactly is Labette County? It is in the southeastern corner of Kansas, not too far west of Joplin, Missouri. Harvey’s family was mostly located in the Parsons area, in the northern part of the county, but over the years they could be found in the southern towns of Edna and Bartlett.

I have concerns about some of the information out there for Harvey’s descendants and families. His daughter Eliza appears in the 1860 census as a one year old, however, there is no trace of her after that. Some trees, and print books, list an actual date of birth and death, however no sources have yet to be found with this information. I would only hope there is a family bible out there somewhere that contains that information.

There is also erroneous information regarding the family of Benjamin F Cox, Harvey’s son. Benjamin married Etta Pond when she was 19. Some sources claim her maiden name was Stark based on her headstone, but this is incorrect. Benjamin’s obituary claims Etta died before his second marriage, but that is also incorrect. Scouring the newspapers, Etta filed for divorce from Benjamin in February 1916 according to The Times-Journal. It was granted in May. A marriage license for Etta Cox, 51, to William Wright was located in the South Kansas Tribune in January 1918. This was followed by a legal notice in the Parsons Daily Sun on April 21, 1921, where Etta Wright sues a William Wright for divorce. Part of her suit is to return her name to Etta Cox. Prior to 1930 Etta seems to have remarried to Eugene Stark, which explains the Stark name on her headstone. Pulling information from two very different obituaries for Etta ties the two women together.

I actually made more progress than I thought I would on this family this week. Three of the sons–Henry, and the twins Jonathan and Simon–appear to have never married so there wasn’t much drama to try and unfold. Two of the daughters–Eliza and Irene–seem to have died as small children so there was little to be found about them. The 1900 census mentions that Mary Nicholson Cox had 12 children, however, I have not been able to account for two of them. There does seem to be a significant gap between Harriet (b. 1851) and Henry (b. 1855). Researchers on FamilySearch have indicated there was a baby born in January 1853, however, no source is provided. The gap between Benjamin and Irene is likely due to Harvey being away at war for three years, so I would not expect a child to be hidden there.

This week in the past…
I’d like to take an opportunity to celebrate the anniversaries of births, marriages, and deaths of my bloodlines the week ahead.
281 years ago – death of Louise Arrivee Cardinal (8th ggm)
258 years ago – birth of Lydia Smith (6th ggm)
242 years ago – death of Rev. William Smith (7th ggf)
228 years ago – marriage of Mary Gott (5th ggm) and John Squires (5th ggf)
193 years ago – birth of Benjamin Coppock (3rd ggf)
193 years ago – death of Richard Puckett (5th ggf)
179 years ago – death of George Boord (6th ggf)
148 years ago – marriage of Joseph E Cardinal (3rd ggf) and Elisabeth Carrie, his 2nd wife

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,020 people
End of Week: 27,029 people
Change = +9 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Continue focus on Jonathan P. Cox and family – Harvey Innes Cox
  • Review the information in The Other Polks to see if there is anything I don’t already have
  • Continue 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

2025 Week 9

02 Sunday Mar 2025

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I was pleasantly surprised this week when I discovered one of my first cousins had submitted an Ancestry DNA kit and she appeared as a match! Easy enough to assign her to the tree. I decided to sort all of my common ancestor matches by branch. I may choose every now and again to briefly work on one of those lines just to change things up. There were actually a couple of matches that were easily added to the tree since those lines were built out pretty well. I am still bit frustrated with the algorithm Ancestry uses to predetermine matches. It has at least a dozen matches that are attributed to my 4th great grandmother Elizabeth Lowe DeMoss that should be attached to her sister Catherine Elizabeth Lowe Ishmael. Also, why did they remove “5th cousin” on the relationship dropdown? I am forced to call these individuals a generic “distant relationship” and add notes.

I made some decent progress on the Arnold-Cassidy family. This week the focus was on their daughter Martha who married Jerome McCain. I’m about half finished researching their family. One of their grandsons, Maurice Delaney, served in World War II. He was in the US Navy, stationed in the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific. He sadly lost his life while trying to help another sailor who was caught in an undertow while swimming, as reported in The Pharos-Tribune on October 10, 1947. His remains were shipped home in 1947.

I looked a bit more into the tree score. I have a feeling mine will be stuck at 9.4 for a long time. Apparently I have 5232 possible errors, with 4235 of those being people with no documentation. Resolving three a week will be like paying down the national debt.

  • The first one was another floater which I decided to delete.
  • The second was for a distant cousin who had an approximate birth date but no documentation. That was easily fixed
  • The third one was a descendant of my DeMoss line, but for some reason I had not fully reviewed all the hints. I went back and completed my review of him and ended up adding several more distant cousins in the process.

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.
318 years ago – Birth of Elizabeth Bennett (7th ggm)
227 years ago – Death of Eleanor Robinson (6th ggm)
224 years ago – Death of Joseph Coppock (5th ggf)
222 years ago – Birth of Joshua Frost (4th ggf)
207 years ago – Death of Reuben Staton (5th ggf)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,340 people
End of Week: 27,485 people
Change = +145 people – goal MET!!
Goal for coming week: Add 50 new people and continue researching the Isaac and Rebecca Arnold descendants, specifically the Martha and Jerome McCain family this week.

2025 Week 8

23 Sunday Feb 2025

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Mary Frances Arnold has been found! I did not locate her in the Pike County Newspaper, but I did find her in her sister Bertha’s obituary before locating her own obituary in the April 30, 1938 edition of the Princeton Daily Clarion (shown here). Mary Frances married Marcellus Chew and they had two children. Other researchers trees with Mary Frances in them make my head hurt. One such tree has documents with three different sets of parents. How does that even make sense?

The Chews are providing me with plenty of material this week. A second interesting puzzle was found in the 1940 census for Clarence and Audi Fowler Chew. Clarence was the son of Mary and Marcellus. In 1940, Clarence and Audi were in their early 50s. There was, presumably, a 7 month old girl named Carolyn Sue listed as their daughter. While not completely impossible, the probability of Carolyn Sue being the biological daughter of this couple is not very high. Checking the birth records for Pike County in late 1939, a birth certificate for Carolyn Sue Roberts born in Jefferson Township in September was found. Checking FindAGrave, Carolyn’s birth parents Floyd and Jewel lived long lives and Carolyn’s memorial was attached to theirs. Still not convinced Carolyn was a Chew, I flipped a couple pages back and found Floyd and Jewel at the bottom of Sheet 10A. Clarence and Audi were at the bottom of Sheet 10B. Carolyn was listed at the top of 11A. I then compared the household numbers…BINGO! The pages were recorded out of order! What a mess!

Tip of the Week: Leverage those FAN Clubs!

This week’s take away…check those FAN Clubs! You would be amazed how many questions can be answered by checking out those Friends/Family, Associates and Neighbors.

Sadly, I have discovered several individuals who died at a relatively young age for various reasons. One was an apparent suicide, one an overdose, and two were casualties of war. Sgt James Herschel Arnold (1916-1945) served in the US Army 152nd Infantry during World War II. His younger cousin, Pfc. Charles Ajay Arnold (1924-1945), was a member of the 132nd Infantry and fatally wounded assisting a wounded teammate to safety during battle. Both men lost their lives in the Philippines. We will be forever grateful for the sacrifice they made for our country.

I added two new DNA matches on my mother’s side of the family tree. One was fairly easy to add as his daughters are already tagged as matches in my tree. The other only required a small number of updates to add.

With the new updates Ancestry has added to their site, they now give trees a score. Mine is 9.4. They then give you hints to bring that score up. I was given three tasks to do.

  • One was for a floater which I decided to delete.
  • The second was for a distant cousin who did not have any dates associated with her. I found her marriage record which listed her approximate birth year to clear that one.
  • The last one had a census record dated before her assumed date of birth. Considering she was born around 1870, there was no official record of her birth. The birth year on her death certificate likely was a guess and her age was actually underestimated. I made an executive decision that she was born in 1869 not 1872.

We’ll see what my new score is tomorrow.

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.
217 years ago – Birth of Gesina Brake Sievers (4th ggm)
217 years ago – Birth of Eva Korz Keller (4 ggm)
196 years ago – Marriage of Isaac Lowe (5th ggf) and his second wife Sarah Beckner
186 years ago – Marriage of Suzanne Board (4th ggm) and Isaac Catt (4th ggf)
185 years ago – Birth of Amanda Newcomb Butler (3rd ggm)
161 years ago – Death of Sarah Ireland Reeve (4th ggm)
152 years ago – Death of Zeresh Puckett Coppock (3rd ggm)
115 years ago – Death of Joseph E. Cardinal (3rd ggf)
113 years ago – Death of Michael Kaiser (2nd ggf)
107 years ago – Birth of Samuel T. DeMoss Sr (gf)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,220 people
End of Week: 27,340 people
Change = +120 people – goal MET!!
Goal for coming week: Add 50 new people and continue researching the Isaac and Rebecca Arnold descendants. Barring any rabbit holes, it could take into early or mid April to complete.