Tag Archives: Cox

Cox Family Land Records and Historical Insights

23 Sunday Aug 2026

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DNA Updates

  • No new DNA Records with a common ancestor identified this week.

Coxes of Cox Creek Footnotes

22. Deed book, Ohio County, West Virginia, I, pp. 56, 57, 241. This took a bit of work to find, but is located on FamilySearch. In fact, page 241 is the same information that is in footnote 19 which was discussed a couple weeks ago. Mrs. Adams also named George’s brother Gabriel, however, a land survey in this book could not be found. Also, she mentions a total of 2664 acres, however, only 1566 acres are accounted for within these pages.

  • Friend Cox had 2 tracts totaling 708 acres stretching north along the Ohio River and east along Buffalo Creek.
  • George Cox acquired 400 acres north of Friend’s holdings.
  • Israel Cox held 258 acres along Buffalo Creek.
  • Peter Cox held a 200 acre tract along Buffalo Creek. Peter’s land lay to the east of Israel’s, sharing a boundary.

23. Lyman Chalkley, ed., Abstracts from the Records of Augusta County, Virginia (1912), II, p. 100. This book is part of a three volume set that is available on HathiTrust.org. It is actually titled Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia (1745-1800). The referenced abstract refers to a dispute between Alexander Wells and the heirs of John Decker. George Cox married John’s daughter Susannah. This document provides pertinent timeline information regarding the migration of the Cox family. George Cox claims that he had erected a cabin on the land in 1772. Isaac Cox moved from the area in question to near Steubenville, Ohio in 1775. The abstract does not provide detail regarding where the land was.

A second case mentioned on page 106 involved a parcel of land near Steubenville that William McMahan had owned from 1775 to 1778. William married Isaac Cox’s daughter Ann. George Cox is mentioned as a despondent.

Deed Books, Hampshire County, West Virginia. The deeds for Hampshire County were discussed previously regarding footnote 14.

24. Deed Book, Brooke County, West Virginia, I, p. 45. This document is available on FamilySearch. In 1787, John Cox, as the heir at law of his father Friend Cox, sold 227 acres of land to Van Swearingen that Friend had intended on gifting to his son Benjamin. Referring back to footnote 19, two tracts of land totaling 708 acres were surveyed for Friend. This 227 acres was the northern part of the 400 acre tract. The remaining land was divided between Jonathan and Joseph. Jonathan and Joseph’s shares were sold to Charles Praither in 1788 who founded Wellsburg, WV in 1791.

25. Boyd Crumrine, ed., Annals of the Carnegie Museum (1903), “Minute Book of the Virginia Court held at Ft. Dunmore (Pittsburgh) for the District of West Augusta, 1775-1776” (reprint), Pamphlet XXI, p. 566. This part of the footnote refers to the renaming of Catfish Camp in the meeting proceedings. The reference can be found on Hathitrust.org.

supra, p. 18. This part of the footnote refers back to footnote 18.1

26. Crumrine, op. cit. “Minute Book of the Virginia Court Held for Yohogania County, 1776-1780“ (reprint), Pamphlets IV, p. 97; VII, pp. 211, 220, 234, 254, 277; Pamphlet XXI, pp. 528, 566. CoPilot was being helpful today and summarized the civic activities of various Cox family members while they resided in Yohogania County.

27. Ibid. Pamphlet VII, pp. 258, 397, 408, 411. This footnote references the Cox family members who participated in the militia during the Revolutionary War era in Yohogania County.

Error Resolution

Per Ancestry’s Tree CheckerThis WeekLast Week
Total Errors50375032
Potential Duplicates517517
No Documentation40984093
Other Errors422422
  • .AA, a distant cousin from the 1840s is suspected to be a duplicate and has no references. The duplicates are named Allison and Alice. They both were born in 1847. Alice lived a long life; Allison appears to have died as an infant. I’m guessing they were twins. I cannot find anything in my paper files regarding this family. Without any positive evidence of there being two girls, I feel compelled to remove Allison until some evidence of her existence surfaces. I will make a notation on Alice’s record that there possibly could have been a twin sibling named Allison.
  • MSB, a distant cousin from the early 1800s needs a reference. Several references presented themselves.
  • EK, a 2nd great grandaunt, needs a reference. Unfortunately, it seems that she lived her entire life in Germany and I do not have access to the international references at this time.

Goals and progress
Beginning of Week: 28,000 people
End of Week: 28,002 people
Change = +2 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.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/rg/di/r17-114copiedsurveybooks/Books%20C1-C234/Book%20C025/Book%20C-025%20pg%20292.pdf ↩︎

Dunmore’s War: Documenting the Cox Family Legacy

16 Sunday Aug 2026

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DNA Updates

  • DH, a 4th cousin 1x removed descends from Isaac Catt. This was easy enough to fill in and add to the tree.
  • EV, a 3rd cousin 2x removed descends from Calvin Mattox. This cousin was also relatively easy to add to the tree.
  • T4 is a descendant of Reuben Staton. Since I haven’t really built that branch out much yet, I’ll tag it and leave it for later. A quick look and I’m not sure the suggested path is correct.

Coxes of Cox Creek Footnotes

20. Draper MSS, typed copy of 16S280-286 in the Filson Club. This reference was previously discussed on July 26th.

21. Reuben G Thwaites, ed, Documentary History of Dunmore’s War, 1774 (1905), pp 15, 16, 220, 233, 256, 258, 425. This book can be found on Internet Archive.

  • page 15 references Draper MSS, 2SS, book 5, pp 33-35. The passage, as recounted by Michael Cresap Jr, mentions Joseph Tomlinson and Nathaniel Tomlinson, as well as George Cox, son of Isaac Cox. The incident described occurred April 30, 1774 at Baker’s Tavern which was situated near Yellow Creek and the Ohio River. A group of Mingo Indians related to Chief Logan were ambushed by a larger group of white vigilantes and massacred. George Cox apparently left the scene prior to the massacre, however, Nathaniel Tomlinson did participate. The Tomlinsons are of interest; George Cox’s mother (Isaac’s wife and my 6th great grandmother) was Susannah Tomlinson.
  • page 16 references Draper MSS 2S, book 3, p. 34. This account of the incident provided by George Edington mentions that George Cox was part of Daniel Greathouse’s party, but does not go into detail regarding Cox’s role in the incident.
  • page 220 is a correspondence from Major Arthur Campbell to Colonel William Preston, describing an incident with the Indians which occurred on September 29, 1774. Major Campbell expressed concern about the low number of men willing to band together to protect the citizenry. Among those who were not responsive to the call of arms was a man named Cox. The book index attributes this reference to a Captain John Cox. (Draper, 3QQ109.)
  • page 233 is a follow up letter from Campbell to Preston dated October 6, 1774. Reference is made to a Lt. Cox, however again, it is not clear which Cox it identifies. The book index identifies this Cox as Gabriel. (Draper 3QQ116)
  • page 256 This page is undated correspondence from Colonel William Fleming to his brother-in-law William Bowyer recounting his injuries incurred at the Point Pleasant Battle. No specific mention of a Cox individual was made.
  • Page 258. Correspondence from Captain William Ingles to Colonel William Preston recounting the Point Pleasant Battle. Again, no specific mention of a Cox family member. (Draper 3QQ121)
  • Page 425. Mention of Lt Gabriel Cox, likely son of Isaac, as part of Dunmore’s Division in the April 1904 issue of West Virginia Historical Magazine.
    • Volume 4, number 2, published in April 1904, available digitally on FamilySearch. Page 159 – An excerpt of a deposition of Benjamin Tomlinson is recounted. The deposition was collected on April 17, 1797. Benjamin was asked who was in attendance at the treaty signing at the conclusion of Dunmore’s War. Lt. Gabriel Cox who now resided in Kentucky was named. This would be consistent with Isaac and Susannah’s son Gabriel. This article references A Biographical Sketch of the Life of the Late Captain Michael Cresap by John J Jacob, originally published in 1826 and reprinted in 1866, available on Internet Archive.

The following references to Cox family members were not included in Mrs. Adams’ citation:

  • Page 19 – George Cox is mentioned by the interviewee. His actions were not described, just merely that George was a large man. Large by 1774 standards likely meant over six feet tall and 200 pounds or more.
  • Page 229 – John Cox is mentioned in a missive from Campbell to Preston. This is likely Captain John Cox since it states he was leading a company of 24 men. It is not clear if this John was related to my Cox family or belongs to another. (Draper, 3QQ114)
  • Page 421 – Mentions that George Cox participated in the conflict under Lord Dunmore’s Division, however, no details were provided. (Draper 6ZZ79)

List of Revolutionary Soldiers in Virginia, Virginia State Library, Richmond (1912). I’m not sure how this reference relates to the Dunmore War since that conflict technically was not part of the Revolution. At any rate, the following Cox names are included in the list on page 115. References to the actual list on which these men appeared are provided and would likely need to be checked to confirm the correct man has been identified.

  • Benjamin Cox
  • David Cox
  • Lt. Gabriel Cox
  • George Cox
  • Isaac Cox
  • James Cox
  • John Cox
  • Joseph Cox

Error Resolution

Per Ancestry’s Tree CheckerThis WeekLast Week
Total Errors50325059
Potential Duplicates517512
No Documentation40934103
Other Errors422444
  • JR, A 6th cousin DNA match. While I don’t like using Public Records Index for references, I will do it from time to time if nothing else presents itself.
  • Daniel Maquinet, a 7th great-grandfather. Not a lot is available on this ancestor.
  • DD, a 5th cousin needing records. Found a Public Records Index identifying him.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,966 people
End of Week: 28,000 people
Change = +34 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

Cox Creek History and Family Footnotes Explained

09 Sunday Aug 2026

Posted by in artificial intelligence, DNA Matches, Genealogy, maps

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DNA Updates

  • SH, descended through Richard Puckett. I don’t have any of her line built out so I will set this one aside until I am working on the Pucketts.
  • RW, also descended through Richard Puckett. I don’t have any of their line built out so I will set this one aside as well.
  • AT, descended through Benjamin Cox and Sarah Piety. I do have her line proven through her grandmother so I will finish this one up.

Coxes of Cox Creek Footnotes

15. Historic Romney 1762-1937, published by the Town Council of Romney, West Virginia, pp. 30-31. This book was found on FamilySearch. The referenced passage provides background on the first school in the area which was referenced in the mid-1700s by George Washington. Because the children of Isaac, Gabriel and Friend appear to have been educated, it is possible they attended this subscription school known as the Romney Academy.

16. Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1766-1769, pp. 87-88. This book can be found at Hathitrust. On March 20, 1767, the House recognized twelve men who served under Colonel Bouquet in an expedition against the Shawnee and Delaware Indians and granted them 40 pounds each. Isaac Cox, presumably the son of the older Isaac, was among this group.

17. Reuben G Thwaites, ed., Early Western Travels 1748-1846, “Journal of George Croghan, 1765” (1904), I, pp. 126-129. Volume I, which this footnote references, can be found on the Project Gutenberg Website, gutenberg.org. The referenced pages describe Croghan’s journey from May 15-19, 1765 down the Ohio River as he made his way ultimately to the Mississippi River. Landmarks have been marked on the map below, indicating his daily progress during this segment of the trip. Croghan’s descriptions of the landscape lend to the attractiveness of the area for farming and settlement. Land deeds for various Cox family members reference Buffalo Creek near present day Wellsburg, West Virginia.

Daily progress (May 15 to 19, 1765) of Croghan’s journey down the Ohio from Fort Pitt (aka Fort Duquesne). Aerial perspective mapped using Google Earth with Lake Erie situated approximately 100 miles due north of Little Beaver Creek. Approximate distance covered in these four days was 165 miles.

18. Land Draughts in the Surveyor General’s Office, Pennsylvania Archives, Harrisburg, Appendix, 3rd series, p. 41. Unfortunately, it is not clear if this exact document is available on the internet. I did, however, locate what I believe to be other documents which describe the land claimed and patented by Gabriel Cox (son of Isaac) near the Monongahela River in 1769 in what is now Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.1 2 There are actually two separate plots of land–Coxburg and Cox’s Addition. A historical marker has been placed near the site.3

19. Land Patent Book, Brooke County, West Virginia, I, p. 1. A transcribed copy of land deeds recorded in Ohio County, Virginia, that are actually located in present day Brooke County can be found on FamilySearch. Tucked in the front of this book is a transcription of the surveyor’s description of lands for George Cox (son of Isaac) and Friend Cox in what is now Wellsburg. The original surveyor’s description, with drawings, was found in the Surveyor’s Books for Ohio County, Virginia which is available on FamilySearch.4 Considering I have a love of maps, I asked CoPilot to plot these out for me on a current day map of the area. He (yes, my CoPilot is an obtuse man) was unable to fulfill my request. I then manually roughed in the parcels using Google My Maps and the descriptions from the surveyor book. These two men basically owned all of the land that is now Wellsburg, WV. Holy cow! They later sold this land to Charles Prather who named the town after his son-in-law Alexander Wells.

Land parcels belonging to George Cox (northern parcel) and Friend Cox (yellow and purple).

Error Resolution

Per Ancestry’s Tree CheckerThis WeekLast Week
Total Errors50595067
Potential Duplicates512512
No Documentation41034100
Other Errors444455
  • The first individual to fix was “??”–no name, no documentation, and no relationships. Safe to say, this one should be deleted.
  • HS, a fifth cousin who needed some documentation. I was able to supply some for him and his siblings. An interesting newspaper article regarding an arrest came up as a hint with his name in an area where the family was known to live during that time, but I’m not positive it was him because the age was off by nearly a decade.
  • KF, a fourth cousin who also needed some documentation. I was able to supply a few documents for him.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,952 people
End of Week: 27,966 people
Change = +14 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.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/rg/di/r17-522warranteetwpmaps/r017-Map2502-Allegheny-JeffersonWeb.pdf ↩︎
  2. https://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/rg/di/r17-114copiedsurveybooks/Books%20C1-C234/Book%20C025/Book%20C-025%20pg%20292.pdf ↩︎
  3. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=78747 ↩︎
  4. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS46-MVQR?view=fullText&keywords=Cox&lang=en ↩︎

Cox Family Research: Documenting Histories & Errors

02 Sunday Aug 2026

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DNA Updates

  • BC, through James Mattox and Elizabeth Moyer. This one wasn’t too hard to complete. I already had down to his grandmother documented. We connect through his dad and I wasn’t able to completely identify his mother.
  • SA, through Richard Puckett. I haven’t built out the Puckett tree so I will simply mark this one to do later.
  • LK, through Mathias Keller. This one was easy. Her father was already in my tree so it was only a matter of connecting her.

Coxes of Cox Creek Footnotes

12. Archer B Julbert, Historic Highways of America, “Braddock’s Road” (1903), IV, pp. 87-89. This book is available on Hathitrust.org. In the passage for May 7th, 1755, it mentions that they camped at Mr. Cox’s (probably Friend Cox) which was located along the Potomac River. It also states they crossed another waterway multiple times between Mr. Enoch’s place and Mr. Cox’s place. This was likely the Little Cacapon River. The distance between the two men’s strongholds was about 12 miles of poorly developed road. Mr. Enoch is quite possibly the father of Sarah and Mary Enoch who married Isaac’s sons Gabriel and Isaac Jr, respectively.

13. J C Fitzpatrick, ed., The Diaries of George Washington (1925), I, pp 405, 406, 449. This book is available on Hathitrust.org. The referenced pages describe the route Washington traveled in October and November 1770 which included not one but two of the Cox Forts. On October 8, 1770, the first Cox Fort mentioned was situated at the mouth of the Cacapon River (page 405)–the same location that Washington surveyed some 20 years previously. On October 10th, reference is made to a previous fort the Coxes had erected. This fort was located near Patterson Creek (page 406). The return trip in late November came past Cox’s Fort at the Cacapon (page 409).

14. Deed Book, Hampshire County, West Virginia, II through VI. This footnote references a series of land transactions made by various members of the Cox family during the period of 1757-1778. Mrs. Adams mentioned that Volume I was not available when she performed her research. Apparently it has been found at some point as FamilySearch has it digitized, along with the other volumes. At any rate, no mention of the Cox family was found in Volume I. The only mention of the Cox family in Volumes V and VI (1778-1785) were in reference to previous ownership of the parcel; they were not party to the transaction at hand.

Because of the number of documents found, I asked CoPilot to compile the information into a table for easy reference. I’m also attempting to have CoPilot map each parcel, however, that is more complicated. Based on the information in the table, the family gradually left the area. Gabriel appears to be the first to sell and leave in 1767. Friend followed in 1772 and Isaac and his sons brought up the rear between 1775 and 1779 which is consistent with Mrs. Adams’ summation.

Error Resolution

The last available update via Ancestry ProTools: I have 5067 errors in the tree–512 possible duplicates, 4100 with no documents, 455 other errors. My Ancestry error resolutions this week included:

  • BD, distant cousin needs sources. Unfortunately, no hints are populating for this living person. He was listed in his grandmother’s and his father’s obituary so those will have to do.
  • CS, another distant cousin needs sources. Since he is about the same age as my children, he was a little difficult to find. Thank goodness for small town newspapers that cover a ton of local events. He was named with his age as being a participant in a local parade. In my search, I was also able to find articles naming his two brothers as well.
  • JA, wife of a distant cousin needs sources. This one was easily sourced. She appears to be a cousin to my 2nd great-grandfather’s half-siblings.1

GED Miner Update

It’s been just over a month since I ran my tree through GED Miner. My tree score went up just a tad. I decided to work on tree errors and clean that up a bit.

  • There were four instances of a parent born after the child. Those were resolved by deleting the errant individuals.
  • There were nineteen age issues. Most of these were due to a transcription error when the documents were transcribed. A couple were connected to the wrong parents. A few were inlaws meant for pruning.
  • There are 312 people who are not attached to the tree. I’ll clean those out as I come across them. I found quite a few with the surname Taylor that were pruned.
  • There are 852 instances of duplicate birth or death events. I am going to tidy about 10 of these every day.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,998 people
End of Week: 27,952 people
Change = -46 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. Bennett, G.T., The Asbill Family History, 1955, pages 99, 173, Ancestry.com. ↩︎

Research Progress on Isaac Cox Descendants

26 Sunday Jul 2026

Posted by in artificial intelligence, DNA Matches, Genealogy, maps

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DNA Updates

  • AH, through Michael Kaiser and Mary Anne Claussmann. I already have half her line documented. It was fairly easy to trace the rest of her line. It’s good to see the next generation become interested in their roots.
  • MC, through Reuben Staton. This one will take some effort to fill in so I will set it aside until I am working on the McCullough and Staton lines.

Research on Benjamin Cox of Montgomery County, Ohio descendants

I’ve thought long and hard about this research pathway and the amount of time it is taking. Since this is a collateral family to my direct line, I’m going to shelve it for now. I need to concentrate on the children of Isaac Cox and finish up that chapter of my manuscript. I will continue to check for shared matches of my DNA match descended from Friend Cox, however, when I write up the section on Friend, I will need to address his son Benjamin and whether this Benjamin was him.

Getting back on track…

First order of business is to get back on track researching Isaac Cox’s children. As part of this task, back at the beginning of March I was revisiting the source citations from Evelyn Adams’ Coxes of Cox Creek KY. Citation #6 is where I fell down the rabbit hole that is Benjamin Cox, supposed son of Friend Cox.

7. Land Survey Book, Brooke County, West Virginia, I, pp. 45, 47, 53. This is a set of three land deeds that were executed by John Cox, son of Friend Cox, after Friend’s death in 1785. At the time of Friend’s death, the land was situated in Ohio County, Virginia, which is now in Brooke County, West Virginia. Friend died intestate. As the eldest son, the property fell to John and he distributed it to his named brothers–Jonathan, Joseph, and Benjamin. An attorney represented Jonathan, Joseph and Benjamin and no locations were mentioned for any of the men.

8. Draper MSS, typed copy of 16S280-286, in the Filson Club. This note references typed copies of the Draper Manuscripts that were viewed at the Filson Club in Louisville, Kentucky. According to Google, the originals are at the Wisconsin Historical Society and the FamilySearch Library has a digitized copy. Unfortunately, there are access restrictions on these documents and they can only be accessed at the library in Salt Lake City. The Wisconsin Historical Society will do lookups and email a digital image for a fee. I’m considering requesting the lookup because I am curious as to what it contains.The footnote pertains to information about George Cox, son of Isaac.

9. J M Toner, ed, Journal of My Journey Over the Mountains (1747-1748), by George Washington (1892), p. 111. This is George Washington’s journal which he wrote as a young surveyor in the Northern Neck of Virginia at the age of sixteen. It is available on Googlebooks and at Internet Archive. This record from 1750 places Friend Cox in Frederick County, Virginia. Curious as to where this parcel was located, I enlisted the help of CoPilot to plot this out. It took several attempts to get the application to make a somewhat accurate drawing which helps me visualize the location once and for all.

10. Land Records of Northern Neck of Virginia, Book M, p. 200. I have to question the citation as it does not appear to have the correct page number. These records can be found on FamilySearch.1 The volume has a self-included index which indicates that Gabriel Cox was mentioned on page 241. Also a John Cox was mentioned on page 324. In 1764, Gabriel Cox entered into a land rental agreement with Lord Fairfax regarding 162 acres of land in Hampshire County, Virginia.

A similar agreement was made between John Cox of Hampshire County and Lord Fairfax in 1765 for 30 acres of land adjacent to that of Friend Cox illustrated in the map above. It might be reasoned that because John was granted a much smaller plot of land that he was significantly younger than Gabriel or Friend. This John could have been a son of any of the three elder Cox men. Isaac’s son John was born ca 1744 which would have made him 21 at the time of this transaction. Friend’s son John reportedly was born in 1747 which would mean he had not yet reached his majority in 1765. There is no evidence to date that Gabriel had a son named John.

I did briefly look through the original indices during the desired time period for family members. There were a couple Cox entries well ahead of when this group arrived and there were others who used the spelling Cocks. The given names associated with these records did not seem to fit with the known information on this family so I am not pursuing them further.

11. Land Records of Northern Neck of Virginia, Book K, p. 376. This document issued to Friend Cox of Hampshire County by Lord Fairfax references the land assigned to Friend Cox that was surveyed in 1750 by George Washington.

I will pick up with note 12 next week.

Error Resolution

The last available update via Ancestry ProTools: I have 5077 errors in the tree–514 possible duplicates, 4108 with no documents, 455 other errors. My Ancestry error resolutions this week included:

  • A presumably living 6th cousin without sources. Using information in his father’s obituary, I was able to track down a marriage record for him and a brother who was also lacking sources.
  • A distant cousin married two women with similar names. Ancestry is questioning whether they are a duplicate pair. Based on information gathered for both women, they are indeed two separate individuals. His divorce from his first wife was rather publicized. Since it came on the heels of their infant son’s death, her behavior leading up to the divorce may have been a result of grieving her child.
  • A 5th cousin who needed sources which were easily obtained.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,984 people
End of Week: 27,998 people
Change = +14 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. FamilySearch, IGN 008358045. ↩︎

Roderick Family History: Exploring Kansas Research

28 Sunday Jun 2026

Posted by in Genealogy, DNA Matches

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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. ↩︎

Using GEDMiner for Genealogy Errors

21 Sunday Jun 2026

Posted by in CORRECTIONS, Genealogy, UPDATES

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Follow-up on Pierre Vachet marriage record

Indiana Deaths and Burials, 1750-1993, Parish Registers, J-Z, Film # 004013147, image 512, FamilySearch.

The St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church (Old Cathedral) register clearly lists two men with the name Pierre Vachet with the identities of their parents. The marriage to Felicite Lacoste is attached to that of the younger Pierre. Issue resolved. Also of note, is two Felicite Lacoste dit Languedoc born in the same year to different parents. The Old Cathedral records will be instrumental when it comes time to research my early Knox County ancestors on my mother’s side.

Indiana Deaths and Burials, 1750-1993, Parish Registers, J-Z, Film # 004013147, image 57, FamilySearch.

Continuing Research on Benjamin Cox descendants from Montgomery County, Ohio

I am continuing my research on William Taylor’s descendants. As I finish this week’s research, I finally wrap up Amanda’s children and can move on to another family next week. William and Mary’s son Owen died as a small child so I will continue with their daughter Millie Taylor.

  • Jesse Cox + Mary Waugh > John Cox + Mary Parks > Louisa Cox + David Taylor > William F Taylor + Mary Lucy Pearson
    • Taylor
    • Babb
      • Kentucky: Madison, Estill
    • Brunner
      • Ohio: Butler, Preble
    • Woosley
      • Kentucky: Estill, Clark
    • Madden
      • Kentucky: Madison

Error Resolution

A hot topic right now is the tool GEDMiner.com. I tried this out this week and it is massive and it is FREE. I dropped my GEDCOM file in and it quickly analyzed my 28,000 people. A rather lengthy but useful video presentation by GeneaVlogger giving an overview of how to use it can be found on YouTube: GEDMiner tutorial.

The last available update via Ancestry ProTools: I have 5047 errors in the tree–527 possible duplicates, 4069 with no documents, 451 other errors.

According to GEDMiner, I have 45 possible duplicates. That’s quite a difference from Ancestry’s count. Some of them were legitimate duplicates. A lot of them could be attributed to how I enter women when I don’t know their maiden names. Many of them are mothers-in-law of distant cousins. I have been making a point of pruning them from the tree. I’m going to focus on “duplicates” this week. Next week I’ll start on unlinked individuals. That list is a bit longer.

My Ancestry error resolutions this week included:

  • a husband of a distant cousin needing a source record. A marriage record was available to fill this void.
  • a 5th great grandfather needing a source record. Unfortunately, I will not be able to fulfill this request since German records are restricted in the Ancestry. I will add a German tag to his record for future reference.
  • a distant cousin needing a source record. Luckily she was born pre-1950 and I was able to add that as a reference.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 28,003 people
End of Week: 27,534 people
Change = -469 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 William Taylor’s Descendants

14 Sunday Jun 2026

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I was able to add a couple DNA matches to the tree this week. I already had a parent of the match in my tree and merely updated that generation and added the most current. One was for my McCullough line which I hope to start delving into late next year. The other was a cousin on my mother’s side of the family.

I am continuing my research on William Taylor’s descendants. His daughter Amanda had quite a few children so this could take some time to complete.

  • Jesse Cox + Mary Waugh > John Cox + Mary Parks > Louisa Cox + David Taylor > William F Taylor + Mary Lucy Pearson
    • Taylor
    • Babb
      • Kentucky: Estill, Madison
      • Ohio: Butler
    • Lee
      • Ohio: Butler
    • Kirby
      • Kentucky: Estill
    • Farthing
      • Kentucky: Estill, Clark
    • Benton
      • Kentucky: Estill
    • Richardson
      • Kentucky: Estill, Madison
    • Brunner
      • Ohio: Butler

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 5052 errors in the tree–527 possible duplicates, 4074 with no documents, 451 other errors.

  • .The wife of a distant cousin from the 19th century on my mother’s side needed a source. A marriage record was available. NOTE: I thought that would resolve the error. WRONG! It would seem that I now have a duplicate issue to work through. The distant cousin was Pierre Vachet. I have two men with that name in my tree. One is a nephew of the other. The hint in Ancestry was from an index and did not include information on the groom’s parents. A marriage index on FamilySearch does include the parents’ names. These records were compiled from records kept by St Francis Xavier Catholic Church. An image of the actual record may be available, however, I am not currently at an Affiliate Library. I’ll look for it when I am there next week. The correct Pierre Vachet is the nephew born in 1815. I can remove the duplicate record from the uncle.
  • A mother-in-law of a distant cousin needed a source. She will be pruned from the tree along with her husband.
  • The wife of a distant cousin from the 20th century needs a maiden name and a source. I found a source for her birth date which will have to do.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,919 people
End of Week: 28,003 people
Change = + 84 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

Ancestry Research: Tracing Benjamin Cox’s Lineage

07 Sunday Jun 2026

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No significant or interesting DNA matches cropped up this week. I had a few which identified a common ancestor, but nothing that I am working on currently.

Before I get too far down the rabbit hole that is Benjamin Cox, I should define the question and the research approach that I am taking.

THE QUESTION:

Is Benjamin Cox (1746-1841), who was a Revolutionary War veteran residing in Montgomery County, Ohio at the time of his death, the son of Friend Cox and Nancy Schurck?

DOCUMENTED INFORMATION:

Friend Cox did have a son named Benjamin who was listed in his probate records along with three other sons–John, Joseph, and Jonathan. The probate records and associated land records did not provide any additional information identifying Benjamin such as where he was residing when the documents were drawn up.

I have a DNA match (CB) who is a documented descendant of Friend Cox through his son John.

Benjamin Cox from Montgomery County had a large family and a large number of descendants who potentially could share DNA with both myself and CB.

APPROACH:

Attempt to find a shared DNA match between myself and CB that can be documented to Benjamin Cox from Montgomery County. Build out the descendant tree of Benjamin, taking note of surnames and locations of those descendants. Because the common ancestor is beyond the limitations of Ancestry’s ThruLines, the search for common individuals in the shared matches must be performed manually. I am starting with the descendants of Benjamin’s son Jesse because there is a Kentucky death record that connects the two men as father and son and Jesse’s descendant pool is extensive.

LIMITATIONS:

Not everyone connects a tree to their DNA file. About half of our shared matches do not have associated trees.

I started William Taylor last week, but did not get too far. Next up is William Taylor.

  • Jesse Cox + Mary Waugh > John Cox + Mary Parks > Louisa Cox + David Taylor > William F Taylor + Mary Lucy Pearson
    • Taylor
    • Babb
      • Kentucky: Estill
      • Ohio: Butler
      • Illinois: DuPage

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 5040 errors in the tree–527 possible duplicates, 4062 with no documents, 451 other errors.

  • A 5th cousin with no records. Found a marriage record for him.
  • A husband of a distant cousin with no records. I don’t have a first name for him either. Found the missing information in the cousin’s obituary. I need to remember that children, especially daughters, listed in their mother’s obituary aren’t necessarily the children of the named husband.
  • A distant cousin without records. A marriage record was found and her husband’s first name was completed as well.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,866 people
End of Week: 27,919 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

Discovering Ancestors: Overcoming Genealogy Challenges

31 Sunday May 2026

Posted by in DNA Matches, Genealogy

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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