Category Archives: Revolutionary War

Uncovering the History of Gabriel Cox’s Family

08 Sunday Mar 2026

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This week I want to go back and fill in what I can, estimate even if possible, for Gabriel Cox’s family.

Previously published genealogies/biographies provide an estimated birth for Gabriel as 1718. His death in 1778 in Ohio County, Virginia is documented by the proving of his will. In land records, he is referred to as a yeoman.

yeoman – a man holding and cultivating a small landed estate

A land record from Hampshire County, Virginia recorded in 1767 names his wife Eleanor. Eleanor was also one of the executors of Gabriel’s estate in August 1778.

Gabriel’s will names his children as: David Cox, Israel Cox, Mary Ann Spencer, Margaret McCoy, Diana Cox, Peter Cox. Are they in order by age? Possibly. Mary Ann and Margaret are/were married. There is no mention of anyone being a minor. Peter received the lion’s share of the estate. Was he the oldest? Unknown. Was Israel the oldest? He was named a co-executor of the will. The estate inventory was recorded in February 1779.

The 1777 Virginia Oath of Allegiance was required of men over the age of sixteen. Gabriel and his three sons all are documented as taking the oath in Ohio County. Based on the date of the will, David, Peter and Israel were all at least 21 in 1778 and therefore born prior to 1757.

The Cox Family in America mentions that Israel married Elizabeth Newkirk. They had two sons and seven daughters. The youngest child was born about 1794. The oldest son was named Israel as well. Israel Jr’s headstone states he was 68 when he died in 1846. That would put his birth in 1777 or 1778 and his parents’ marriage around 1776. The family was in Ohio County at that time, so it is probable that the marriage took place there. Assuming Israel was of age when he married Elizabeth, that would set his date of birth back to 1755.

A deposition made by Israel, son of Gabriel, in 1830 mentions that Israel is 80 years old. This would put his date of birth at 1750. This also means he was still alive in 1830. The deposition was part of a land dispute involving the McGuire family in Brooke County, Virginia. The deposition was collected in Morgan County, Ohio.

A land tract book for Muskingum County, Ohio, recorded a purchase by Israel Cox from Brooke County, Virginia in February 1830. Cox Family did say that all of Gabriel’s children moved to Ohio.

An interesting document that surfaced was an 1825 complaint in Morgan County, Ohio regarding the election of the county sheriff. An Israel Cox was named as an ineligible voter who cast a ballot. The case was ultimately dismissed.1 I am not 100% sure this is one of my Israel Cox’s but it very well could be.

I still need to track down census records for Israel to corroborate where he was and when. I have an 1820 census for Steubenville, Jefferson County, Ohio, but I’m starting to doubt that this is my Israel. Something to explore in the coming week. I’m a visual person so I constructed the tree below in PowerPoint. I can add to it and update as I go along.

FamilySearch has introduced an alternative way to do Full Text Search called “Simple Search”. It can be found under the Experiments section for now. You can enter a simple prompt like “Search for Gabriel Cox who was born in 1718 and died in Ohio, County, Virginia in 1778” and it will find documents for you. You might need to narrow them down a little using the filters if it returns too many documents. I used it this week for my research on Gabriel’s family and found several documents that I did not find previously using the original Full Text Search. I definitely recommend trying it out!

In my search, I stumbled across a Cox family genealogy titled Cox Characters. The family described in that manuscript is not related to my Cox family, however, they were in the same general area of Pennsylvania at about the same time. My Isaac Coxes did manage a two page mention.

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 4893 errors in the tree–384 possible duplicates, 4062 with no documents, 447 other errors.

  • The mother-in-law of a distant cousin. As stated before, I am pruning extended family.
  • The husband of a distant cousin needs a source and a first name. I managed to find his death certificate and fill in some blanks for his wife as well. As it turns out, his wife is a step-daughter of a cousin. I’ll delete them as well.
  • Finally a distant cousin who needs a source. I managed to locate a public record with a partial birthdate. Better than nothing.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,188 people
End of Week: 27,209 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
  • Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky
  1. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C911-3HYG-S?view=fullText&keywords=Israel%20Cox%2COhio&lang=en&groupId= ↩︎

Uncovering Family History: Discoveries in Virginia and Beyond

22 Sunday Feb 2026

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A couple interesting developments happened this week. About a month ago, I found a newspaper article from 1934 stating documentation about Colonel Isaac Cox had been donated to Transylvania University since he had been an early trustee of the institution. I wrote to them to see if they had said documents. I received a response back from their Archivist and Special Collections Librarian this week. She thanked me for the newspaper article, but stated the documents are no longer in possession of the university. She was kind enough to suggest some other repositories which may have received the documents at a later date. After thinking on it, they could have also made their way to the Filson Club since Rogers Clark Thruston was such a big deal there. She did provide me with a link to a book available online that listed Isaac as a trustee up until 1788 when he was listed as “resigned”. It was surprising, because the date of his resignation was just after the date his estate was entered into probate. At any rate, I have additional places to visit when I make a research trip to Kentucky, at some yet undetermined date.

The second cool thing that happened this week was discovering a YouTube video made by a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution titled “The Legend of Jean Marie Cardinal“. Cardinal is my grandmother’s maiden name so I was excited to check it out. It is well done and I highly recommend it. I won’t give away any spoilers, but as it turns out Jean Marie is my eighth cousin 2 times removed.

As I planned last week, I am working through Evelyn Adams’ “Coxes of Cox Creek” and her cited references. The focus of the narrative is Isaac’s family since they solely were the ones who migrated to Kentucky and established Cox’s Station. There is some information on Gabriel and Friend Cox who are postulated to be brothers of the older Isaac, sometimes labeled as “Isaac the Immigrant”. There are documents putting the three men in the same locations which would lend to that theory. Individual family units did not relocate by themselves during that era. They moved in larger groups, if for nothing else safety reasons. Also, there seems to be some commonality with names of children.

I felt it was important for historical accuracy to identify the state at the time the events took place, not the current day state. West Virginia did not separate from Virginia until 1863.

For Gabriel Cox (c1718-1778), I have located the following documents:

  • Recorded land survey report dated January 30, 1762 in Hampshire County, Virginia.
  • A series of land transfer deeds from June 9, 1767 in Hampshire County, Virginia, identifying Eleanor as Gabriel’s wife.
  • A list of men who took and subscribed to the Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity to the Commonwealth of Virginia on October 6, 1777, in Ohio County, Virginia, included Gabriel Cox and his three sons–David Cox, Israel Cox, and Peter Cox.
  • His Last Will and Testament dated June 6, 1778 from Ohio County, Virginia.
  • The Administrator’s Document dated August 3, 1778 in Ohio County, Virginia. This names Eleanor, the widow, and Israel, his son. This document also narrows down when Gabriel died.
  • The estate inventory dated February 24, 1779, in Ohio County, Virginia.

I also had some scheduled library time this week and focused first on the Hampshire County, (West) Virginia records available.

  • A rather useful book I had at my disposal is Early Records: Hampshire County, Virginia, a compilation by Clara McCormack Sage ad Laura Sage Jones that was originally published in 1939. It was reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Company in 1969 and later again in 1976. It is basically an index of early records. There were several land transfers involving Cox family members as well as several entries where a Cox individual served as a witness. The original has been digitized and is on the FamilySearch website. It is restricted from downloading.

Moving on to Frederick County, Virginia books, I found some limited information in the following book:

  • Frederick County, Virginia: Settlement and Some First Families of Back Creek Valley 1730-1830, by Wilmer L Kerns. There was mention of Friend Cox in George Washington’s papers from 1756. Unfortunately, the papers of our first president are not available digitally. There is a copy of the volume I need at the Arizona State University Library. If I am feeling adventurous, I might take a trip across town to check it out.

Interestingly, I also checked for possible DeMosses in both counties while I was at it. Several entries suggested that DeMosses lived in the same general area that the Coxes did.

There are many books on Virginia in general that I still need to check. I can leave that for a future library day. I will continue checking Ms. Adams’ citations to better understand the conclusions she has drawn. I think I am finished for this week.

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 4903 errors in the tree–382 possible duplicates, 4074 with no documents, 447 other errors.

  • A distant cousin needing sources. Gotta love the California Birth Index! I was also able to find sources for a couple siblings as well.
  • A husband of a distant cousin needed a first name and a source. He was a second husband and luckily I found their marriage record.
  • The last error to clear up was a repeat that I had already resolved. She was a twin who died at age 10 in 1918. While the newspaper did not say, I have to wonder if it wasn’t from the Spanish flu. Kansas death certificates are not available online, so I likely will never know. I was able to narrow down when a sibling died using several of the family obituaries.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,092 people
End of Week: 27,135 people
Change = +43 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

Navigating Historical Boundaries for Genealogy Research

08 Sunday Feb 2026

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

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

Source: mapofus.org

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

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

Document findings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nathaniel Bonnell III

04 Thursday Jun 2020

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Nathaniel Bonnell III was born on June 3, 1756 in Passaic County, New Jersey to Captain Nathaniel Bonnell II and Elizabeth Allen. The younger Nathaniel had seven siblings…Abigail, Caleb, Phebe, Jane, Jonathan, Jacob and Elizabeth. After his mother died in 1774, his father remarried and five more children were added to the family…William (who died in infancy), Nancy, Chloe, William II, and Enoch.

Nathaniel was a young man when the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired and like many of his family, he took up arms on behalf of the Colonies. serving under Captain Abraham Lyons in the Continental Army. After the War, Nathaniel married Martha Crane in 1783. Together they had eight children…Philemon, Huldah, Johnathan C., Mary, Jane, Elizabeth, Sarah and Maline.

The Bonnell family was one of the founding families of New Jersey and were instrumental in the development and growth of the area. Nathaniel was a part of that as owner of the sawmill in New Providence. He lived to the age of fifty-seven, perishing on April 15, 1814. He is buried in New Providence, New Jersey.

Nathaniel Bonnell III was my 1st cousin, 8x removed on my dad’s side.

REFERENCES

  • Family Records or Genealogies of the first settlers of the Passaic Valley, New Jersey, John Littell, 1852.
  • New Jersey Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index
  • New Jersey Wills and Probate Records
  • Find a Grave website
  • Headstone Applications for Military Veterans

Phillip Catt

25 Monday May 2020

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On May 25, 1750, Phillip Catt was born to Michael Katz and Anna Maria Mohr. He was born in the colony of Virginia, near present day Hardy County, West Virginia. Five siblings have been identified in the records to this day: Ludwig, George, Michael, Anna Maria and John. Documentation indicates around 1770 the family crossed the mountains and settled along the southern branch of the Potomac River in what is now Fayette County, Pennsylvania.

Migration of Phillip Catt

At the time the Revolutionary War broke out, the area where the Catts resided was under a jurisdictional dispute as to which colony it belonged to–Virginia or Pennsylvania. When news of Lexington and Concord reached this frontier area, the border dispute faded into the background and residents came together in the fight against the British. This area was referred to as “old Monongalia County, Virginia”. The four Catt brothers (George, Michael, John and Phillip) all served in the War in regiments from this area. Phillip, specifically, was in the Monongalia Militia. He served in several regiments under the direction of Captains John Whitesell, Kincaid, Wilson, Morgan and Jacob Tevebaugh, as well as Colonels Brodhead and Crawford on multiple campaigns.

About 1775, Phillip married Mary Magdalan ? and started a family, despite the War. Their first four children, Mary, Elizabeth, Phillip Jr, and Sebastian were born in Pennsylvania. In May 1785, they relocated westward and settled in Knox County, Indiana. Mary and Phillip added five more children to their family: John , Rebecca, Susannah, Daniel and Eutha Melinda.

Phillip’s wife Mary died between 1815 and 1820. He remarried to Sally Kimmons on November 14, 1820 and they continued to live in Johnson Township in Knox County until Phillip’s death on September 4, 1844.

Phillip Catt was my 7th great uncle on my mom’s side.

REFERENCES

  • United States Census: 1820, 1830, 1840
  • Find A Grave website
  • United States Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files
  • United States Revolutionary War Pensioners
  • Indiana Marriage Index
  • The Catt Family in America, Dr. W Cary Anderson, 1989.