Tag Archives: Genealogy

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

Posted by in DNA Matches, Genealogy, Newspapers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,050 people
End of Week: 27,071 people
Change = +21 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Continue research on Isaac Cox, “The Immigrant” and his wife Susannah Tomlinson.
  • Review Coxes of Cox Creek
  • Run newspaper search, especially for articles recounting local history
  • Review the Cox package of information from Sweden
  • Review Minutes of Yohogania Co, VA
  • Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky
  1. “Interesting History of Transylvania College,” The News-Democrat, Carrollton, Kentucky, March 1, 1934, page 7, newspapers.com. ↩︎

Researching Isaac Cox: A Genealogy Journey

04 Sunday Jan 2026

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It’s a new year for research and I have a new family unit to research. I am moving back one generation on my Cox line to Isaac Cox and Susannah Tomlinson. This research segment should prove to be a little challenging. Granted, there are several publications dating back over a hundred years detailing the history of Isaac and Susannah, however, I want to be thorough and verify and supplement that material with historical documents that might be available.

Isaac and Susannah lived in the eighteenth century. They, and their progeny, were pioneers in their own right. They pushed the boundaries of civilization into the western frontier. They were instrumental in developing the infrastructure and government in these newly settled areas. They also suffered tragic loss as a result of the risks they took. I am humbled to carry their DNA.

Last week I lamented the errors that currently exist on the public trees that confuse all the various Isaac Coxes that were peppered across the Colonies. This week I am starting the task of compiling documents specifically for my 6th great-grandfather Isaac Cox. Along the way I will likely also collect documents for his son who was commonly referred to as Colonel Isaac Cox. At times it could be difficult to determine which of the two men documents refer to. Knowing that both men died in Kentucky while it was still part of Virginia, I will start my search there and work my way backward in time.

One thing I have learned about genealogy is it is more than just history. It involves geography! One of the first documents I have found in the Full Text Search on FamilySearch is a Tax Records ledger for Jefferson County for 1799. It identifies parcels of land that were originally granted to Isaac Cox. Which Isaac Cox is unknown, however, the water course and county where the parcels were in 1799 are included. The ledger states the parcels are along the Green River and Rolling Fork and are in Hardin County. The Rolling Fork makes up the natural boundary between Hardin County and Nelson County. Hardin County was formed from Nelson County in 1792. This demonstrates the potential vastness of the Cox landholdings in early Kentucky.

Jefferson County Court minutes from 1784 names Isaac Cox as a “gentleman justice”. Gentleman Justices typically were not lawyers, but were respected large landowners in the community who presided over county courts, managing local affairs, petty disputes, and administering oaths. Think county commissioners on steroids. Because the elder Isaac Cox is believed to have died in 1783, this Isaac Cox was most likely his son.

A series of land transactions were made by the younger Isaac Cox and his wife Mary in Nelson County in 1787. Some county court minutes were found listing him as a justice in early 1788, as well. His will was written on September 6, 1786. It was presented in court on April 8, 1788.1 Some sources estimate his death to be March 31st which coincides with the attack on the Bland Ballard family.2 Isaac was present in County Court on March 12th. His death was sometime between March 12th and April 8th.

A good number of land deed transactions were recorded referencing “Isaac Cox, dec’d” after 1788. It proved to be a bit challenging to sort the documents, and the associated heirs, out, especially since the will for the elder Isaac doesn’t appear to be available and many of the beneficiaries overlap. One key detail found (or missing, as the case may be) is that the younger Isaac did not include his mother Susannah in his will. This is the determining factor I used to sort out which transactions belong to each estate.

In reviewing land deeds, there was one document that gave me pause. A power of attorney was drawn up for John Cox, George Cox, and Anne Cox Machan [McMahon], wife of William Machan [McMahon] on August 10, 1789. The concerning part was that in the body of the document, William’s wife is referred to as “Nancy”.3 In various written family histories, Isaac and Susannah have a daughter named Nancy and a daughter named Anne.4 Little is known about Nancy. One source says she married a Nathan Chalfant.5 More research needs to be completed to sort this detail out as no specific source was provided. Was this Nancy really a child of Isaac and Susannah or did she belong to some other couple? Was Anne’s name really “Nancy Anne” or “Anne Nancy”?

There were at least five deeds drawn up on the elder Isaac’s estate between 1789 and 1799. The first, dated May 29, 1789, did not include John, George, or Anne. This is likely because they were not local to Nelson County. At the time this deed was recorded, the above referenced power of attorney was put into place for subsequent transactions. This first deed included the following heirs at law: Susannah (the widow), and their children David, Gabriel, Jonathan, Mary, Benjamin, and Isaac’s widow Mary. The remaining four deeds did not include the younger Isaac’s widow. Also, there is no mention of Nancy or her heirs in any of the five deed transactions. These deeds account for nine of the children born to the older Isaac and Susannah.

It is not clear why Mary Enoch Cox May was not included on all of the land deed transactions for her father-in-law’s estate. She was named in a transaction dated June 19, 1801, with John and David Cox. She was later named in another transaction in January 1805, to one of the Cox grandsons. It could be that she granted a POA to her second husband William May who also was the Cox family attorney. Alternately, it could be due to the fact that she did remarry and she was no longer eligible as an heir.

An interesting manuscript about the early days of Nelson County, even before it was known as Nelson County, was penned by Nora Lee McGee and can be found on FamilySearch.6 Ms. McGee compiled an extensive collection of quotes and summaries from depositions related to land boundary disputes that were filed in the late 1790s. These lands were those original grants obtained from Virginia in 1780. The depositions provide evidence of who was in Jefferson/Nelson/Shelby Counties during those very early years.

I finally took a look at Cox Family in America by Henry M. Cox. It was published in 1912. Many of the authorities consulted for this compilation were family histories written by other individuals. None of the information is directly attached to its source which makes it difficult to confirm where the information originated from. The information pertaining to my Cox line is fragmented at best. That said, I don’t believe I can use it as a credible source going forward.

As an aside, I went down a rabbit hole this week as well. I thought I would get a head start on the next surname I will be tackling, even though it will likely be a year before I can start it. Winkler. As I have lamented in the past, in 1880 there was a young woman named Harriet Murray listed as a half-sister in George Winkler’s household. Her mother’s name was Sophia. George’s mother’s name was Sophia, so naturally that is how I connected them. Harriet disappeared after the 1880 census and I have tried to sort through Sophia’s back story. I ended up with a few DNA matches to Sophia. These are likely due to the trees the matches are attached to. They document that Harriet’s mother’s name was Sophia Abel. For now I have disconnected Harriet from my tree and will see if those common ancestor matches remove themselves.

In trying to sort this out, I enlisted the help of ChatGPT just to keep me sane. Granted, I only recently signed up for a free account, so I have no search history saved to me as a user. As it was spewing out findings and supporting information, it kept referencing this blog…the one *I* write. After two queries of getting my own musings back, I finally clued the app in on that very fact. It was very apologetic and assured me it would use the information that I have provided here when considering responses, not just rehash what I have already come up with.

Something occurred to me as I was re-reading the last feedback I received from Chat (I really need to give him a name). George’s marriage record was not accompanied by a parental permission for him. That said, I checked into marriage laws for 1861 in Indiana. Parental permission was not required if the groom was at least 21 years of age. This would support George’s birth in 1840 not 1843. Also, the marriage record lists his last name as “Winkle”. Not sure if that is a concern or not. However, I did manually review all of the 1860 Census for Knox County and there were no Winklers (or Winkles) residing in the county at that time. I have a few more ideas to check on before I essentially give up on finding George’s parents. It’s looking like the Winkler section in my manuscript won’t take long to put together.

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 4929 errors in the tree–376 possible duplicates, 4097 with no documents, 456 other errors.

  • A 3rd cousin, who interestingly is connected on both my maternal and paternal sides, needed sources added.
  • A dangler. Appears she is the sister-in-law of my grandmother’s brother. Since I am not keeping extended family in that regard, she will be deleted.
  • A 6th cousin with no sources attached. She was named in her father’s obituary so that will have to do.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,019 people
End of Week: 27,050 people
Change = +31 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. Kentucky County Court, Nelson County Probate Records, volume A, pages 43-45, film 9612, images 28-29, FamilySearch.org ↩︎
  2. Evelyn C Adams, “The Coxes of Cox’s Creek, Kentucky”, Genealogies of Kentucky Families, Genealogical Publishing Co, Inc (Baltimore), 1981, page 464. ↩︎
  3. Nelson County Deeds, 1784-1795, pages 146-147, film 9618, images 576-577, FamilySearch.org ↩︎
  4. Adams, page 465. ↩︎
  5. Henry Miller Cox, The Cox Family in America, The Unionist-Gazette Association (New Jersey), 1912, page 253. ↩︎
  6. Nora Lee McGee, Early Records of Nelson County 1775-1800, film 467410, FamilySearch.org. ↩︎

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 51

21 Sunday Dec 2025

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As I continue writing the short biographies for my 5th great grandfather’s children, it has occurred to me, more than once, that my families recycle names…a lot. It makes it difficult at times to sort out which documents belong to which person. Not only that, but as I index my manuscript, I may end up with a single name indexing multiple persons. So, what are my options to separate out these many individuals with the same monikers?

Middle names help, if they exist. However, not everyone had a middle name or if they had an initial, it isn’t always known what that initial represents. For example, my dad’s name was Samuel Thomas DeMoss, as was his father. My 2nd great grandfather has only ever been documented as Samuel T. DeMoss. I can distinguish these three as Jr., Sr, and Samuel T.

In some instances, though, middle names aren’t that helpful because both individuals have the same middle name as well. I have two Sarah Piety Coxes in my tree, so far. One was the daughter of Ben and Sarah Cox and lived from 1785 to 1860. The other was a granddaughter of the couple and lived from 1826 to 1888. I could just number them in the text–Sarah Piety (1) and Sarah Piety (2), however, that doesn’t help much when referencing the book index. I have opted in the index to list them as Sarah Piety (1785-1860) and Sarah Piety (1826-1888). This will actually allow the end user to find the individual they are looking for much more quickly.

I didn’t get as much done this week as I had hoped. A lot of holiday festivities required my attention, however, I am hopeful with a couple days off this coming week, AND two scheduled shifts at the genealogical library, will help me get back on track just before the year ends. I was able to write the bio for Austin Piety Cox and his wife Rebecca Phillips. I still need to do the indexing, but that should not take very long to update.

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 4918 errors in the tree–374 possible duplicates, 4088 with no documents, 456 other errors.

  • Distant cousin needs a source. He was named in his grandmother’s obituary, but little can be found. His parents are likely still alive so there really isn’t much to go on.
  • Another distant cousin needing a source. Again, not a lot of information out there except obituaries of the parents.
  • The last error to be resolved was the second husband of a distant cousin. I was able to add a name for him as well.

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.
269 years ago – birth of Catherine Bowen (6th ggm)
225 years ago – birth of Ellinor Johnson (4th ggm)
199 years ago – death of James Butler (6th ggf)
125 years ago – death of Calvin Mattox (2nd ggf)
114 years ago – marriage of Blanche Cox DeMoss (ggm) and her 2nd husband Coen Robertson
107 years ago – birth of Francis Keller Sr (gf)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,006 people
End of Week: 27,011 people
Change = +5 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Finish writing 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 50

14 Sunday Dec 2025

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Last weekend was a travel weekend which didn’t leave much time for genealogy. Of course, a whirlwind trip cross-country to spend less than 48 hours with my sisters during cold and flu season can take a toll and I ended up with a massive head cold as a result. I’m on the mend and ready to finish up Ben and Sarah’s family narrative.

But first, Ancestry has compiled a few year-end statistics for me.

  • Apparently 131,000 new hints were added to my tree
  • 26,850 of those hints came from new collections that were added to the site this year
  • I viewed 8703 records
  • I added 2138 people to my tree
  • My tree helped 1661 other researchers
  • My DNA matches increased by 2510 people

I did accomplish a bit of writing this weekend. I sorted out Joseph Cox who was the focus back in Week 32. He was the one who had previously been identified as a bachelor at the time of his death, but appears to have actually had six children! I also merged duplicate files for him on FamilySearch.

I should be able to finish up Jonathan Piety Cox’s bio before the day is over. He was my focus during Week 33. Since he had not yet reached his majority when he married in 1817, he needed his father’s permission to obtain the marriage license. I think it is so cool that an image of the permission note is available and carries the handwriting and signature of my 5th great-grandfather.

Permission for Jonathan Piety Cox to obtain a marriage license signed by his father Benjamin Cox.

I’ve been playing around with Google’s NotebookLM. I really like the concept of the Infographic. Too bad the free version only gives you three per day. Need to be selective in what you create! I have noticed that when I do a document dump, it tends to make up names and dates, making the graphic worthless. I decided to upload the narrative I wrote for a single family unit–in this case, Gabriel and Nancy (Squires) Cox–to see what it might do. So. Much. Better! It didn’t mention John S Cox having served and died in the Civil War, but that was because his story was told in a previous chapter, focusing on him. I’ll have to decide what to include about the linking child on future runs. At any rate, I thought I’d share the output of my experiment on Gabriel and Nancy. Once I get the process perfected, I think including these in my manuscript will break up the monotony of lots of text.

Since I missed a week, I have 6 error hints to resolve. The last available update: I have 4926 errors in the tree–376 possible duplicates, 4094 with no documents, 456 other errors.

  • Distant cousin needed a source.
  • Husband of a distant cousin needed a first name and a source. I have not been able to identify this individual.
  • Husband of a distant cousin. I used a marriage announcement for the cousin’s brother (also a cousin), to ballpark marriage dates for the siblings and their spouses.
  • Father-in-law for a distant great-granduncle has no sources attached. Since I am pruning extended family from the tree, I deleted him and his wife.
  • Father-in-law for a distant cousin has no sources attached. Again, since I am pruning the tree, he and his wife were also deleted.
  • Distant cousin has no sources attached. I found a few sources for him and cleaned up his family while I was at it.

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 last week and the week ahead.
325 years ago – birth of Anna Schmidt (7th ggm)
304 years ago – birth of Elizabeth Quincy (7th ggm)
298 years ago – birth of Rachel Van Winkle (7th ggm)
264 years ago – marriage of Rachel Maquinet (6th ggm) and John J Pea (6th ggf)
243 years ago – birth of Joseph Cardinal (5th ggf)
235 years ago – birth of Jonathan McCullough (4th ggf)
227 years ago – marriage of Barbara Mattox (5th ggm) and Samuel Wilks (5th ggf)
213 years ago – death of Rachel Van Winkle (7th ggm)
193 years ago – birth of Eli T Butler (3rd ggf)
190 years ago – death of Rebecca Jones (5th ggm)
187 years ago – birth of Joseph Ellis Cardinal (3rd ggf)
170 years ago – marriage of Louisa Reeve (3rd ggm) and Isaac DeMoss (3rd ggf)
165 years ago – death of Margaret Gray (5th ggm)
164 years ago – marriage of George Winkler (3rd ggf) and his second wife Katie Bean
162 years ago – death of Nancy Squires Cox (3rd ggm)
140 years ago – death of Letitia Casey (4th ggm)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,008 people
End of Week: 27,006 people
Change = -2 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Finish writing 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 48

30 Sunday Nov 2025

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With a long holiday ahead of me, I’m digging into who Benjamin Cox was as a person. This requires me to incorporate the history of the places where he lived and how he might have contributed.

First order of business was to map out where Benjamin resided throughout his life. He was born in Hampshire County, Virginia about 1757. Since this is pre-Revolutionary War Era, the Colonies were expanding and counties were being organized. To keep up with the rapidly changing boundaries of these government units, I found a really cool website that includes interactive maps of the states: Maps of US. I whole-heartedly recommend you check it out if you are exploring how boundaries changed over time.

My second task was to reread Evelyn C. Adams’ “The Coxes of Cox’s Creek, Kentucky”. Mrs. Adams provided footnotes for her article on the Cox family which led to some additional references I had not considered. She mentioned that Benjamin and his brothers often served in various capacities in the community when they were residing in Yohogania County. As luck would have it, the Minute Book of the Virginia Court held for Yohogania County, 1776-1780 is available digitally on FamilySearch.org. I am sure I will reference it often, especially while researching the next generation of Coxes.

There was mention that a Benjamin Cox served on a jury in May 1778. It is not clear if this was my Benjamin Cox or his older cousin. If it was my Benjamin, this would support a birth of 1757 or earlier, not 1765 as family lore would suggest.

Taking into account the boundary changes during this time period, a full text search of FamilySearch for Washington County, Pennsylvania, did not produce any documentation for Benjamin prior to 1780. Jefferson County, Virginia/Kentucky after 1776 was nearly as fruitless with one deed transfer. A search of Nelson County, however, was quite bountiful. One of the earliest documents was from a tithable tax list from 1787.

References identified in Kester’s The Other Polks included manuscripts and papers in the Rogers Clark Ballard Thruston collection, a descendant of Benjamin and Sarah. Unfortunately, those do not appear to be digitized at this time so a trip to Louisville to visit the Filson Club is now on the genealogy bucket list.

On some of the genealogy groups, I’ve been hearing about NotebookLM, a Google AI application. Since I am currently in a writing phase, I thought I’d try it out and see if it is something I want to maybe use. I’m not sure I want to go back and rewrite everything I have already put together, but maybe it can wordsmith things a bit better going forward.

I keep a folder for each set of grandparents on my computer. In it are copies of vital records, census records, draft cards, newspaper clippings, and tombstone photos. One thing I haven’t been including in these folders are excerpts from books. I keep the books elsewhere. To try out NotebookLM, I started a new notebook and uploaded all the documents from my grandparents’ folder. The app initially spit out a one paragraph summary of what I had uploaded, hitting some highlights. I then tried out some of the other features the application boasts in the Studio.

  • Flashcards – This tool created a series of flashcards with facts about my grandparents such as where was Edeine born, etc. Not necessarily a useful feature for genealogy, but possibly would be for other subject matter. This might be useful for a student studying for an exam.
  • Mind Map – This tool broke the main topic into a handful of subtopics and continued to drill down within each layer to more detail. This might be useful for organizing facts into categories for later presentation.
  • Audio Overview – This is a narrative with commentary breaking down the subject matter in the the source documents. In this case, my grandparents lives. It incorporated current events at the time and gave color to what might be otherwise a boring stack of documents. There is a limit of three of these that can be generated each day.
  • Reports – This tool can generate several kinds of reports depending on the angle you want to project. Do I want to focus on my grandfather or my grandmother? Do I want a summary or a blog post? Lots of options here.

I thought the audio overview was rather cool. It brought some perspective to events of my grandparents’ lives. The fact that they married young at the end of the Great Depression. Their first child died after only a few weeks. My grandfather escaped with his life from a coal mine explosion. A discussion as to why he might have needed to do coal mining in addition to farming. The financial impact of having a large family. My grandmother’s resiliency of being a young widow with a passel of children to support.

Initially I didn’t include birth certificates for all of their children. I still don’t have anything in the source stack for my aunt who is still living. The written reports are riddled with errors, but at least those can be manually fixed if I were to use those reports in any way. You are limited to 100 notebooks and each notebook is limited to 50 source documents that can be included. The test runs I did used about half that. I’m curious to try out the Infographic and the Slide Deck, but those features were not active today. I am likely to utilize this set of tools to enhance my biographical writings, but I will continue to do the writing myself.

3 Error hints to resolve. The last available update: I have 4926 errors in the tree–368 possible duplicates, 4102 with no documents, 456 other errors.

  • A distant cousin with no sources attached. Found her with her parents in the 1860 Census.
  • Another distant cousin with no sources attached. I probably won’t find anything for this individual since he likely just graduated from high school.
  • Last is a stepson of a distant cousin. I was able to find a birth record for him.

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.
264 years ago – birth of Therese Lefebre (6th ggm)
230 years ago – marriage of Martha Smith (5th ggm) and Reuben Staton (5th ggf)
182 years ago – marriage of Oliver McCullough (3rd ggf) and his first wife Eliza Grimsley
133 years ago – marriage George W Winkler (3rd ggf) and his second wife Katie Bean
88 years ago – death of Samuel T DeMoss (2nd ggf)
10 years ago – death of Dorothy Cardinal Keller (gm)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,007 people
End of Week: 27,008 people
Change = +1 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 47

23 Sunday Nov 2025

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Getting started on the writing phase always is a struggle for me. Ideally I should get all these details down as I find them, then do edits when I finish a family. Maybe I’ll take that approach when I work on the family of Isaac Cox and Susannah Tomlinson, Benjamin’s parents.

I like to include a transcription of a document or two with each family if I find one I think is interesting or contains a lot of information that is relevant to the family. I added Benjamin’s Last Will and Testament this week. I may also add Sarah’s to illustrate that sometimes the widows have these documents too.

My focus right now is putting together the migratory details of Benjamin as a very young man. This information will also be useful in trying to determine the timeline for vital statistics for both Benjamin and Sarah, as actual documentation recording their births and their marriage have been elusive to date.

Polk Family and Kinsmen written by WH Polk in 1912 states Benjamin and Sarah were married ca. 1783. This data point appears to be based on their eldest child’s date of birth. The family genealogy also states that Ben was sixteen and Sarah fourteen when this event occurred.1 That would mean he was born ca. 1767 and she ca. 1769. There are concerns with these estimated dates as I mentioned back in Week 21 of this year.

One thing that was evident from the research is that the Cox family was rather prosperous and held a substantial amount of land. This includes Benjamin. According to the Certificate Book of the Virginia Land Commission, which was transcribed in the Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society in 1923, Isaac paid the state rate for 1000 acres of land in Kentucky on Benjamin’s behalf in 1779.2 Under the laws of Virginia at the time, an individual must be of the legal age of twenty-one to purchase land. It’s not clear if someone could purchase land on behalf of a minor and then relinquish it when the child reached their majority. I would think that was not allowed, but I do not positively know. Assuming the law was in play, then Benjamin would have had to be at least twenty one in 1779, making his year of birth no later than 1758.

The 1810 and 1820 US Census was not much help in pinpointing the dates of birth for Benjamin and Sarah. The oldest category for men and women was “over 45”. At a minimum, both of them would have been born prior to 1765 using this information. Sarah, having outlived her husband, was head of household in 1830 and she was listed as between 60 and 69. That would give her a birth year between 1761 and 1770. Since her parents were not married until 1763, a safe bet for her date of birth would be between 1765 and 1768.

All of this circumstantial evidence pretty much debunks the statement of lore that Benjamin was sixteen at his time of marriage. Sarah could have been fourteen, but maybe she was a year or two older than that. We will likely never know for certain.

Tree Ratings are back! I have 3 errors from this week to resolve. I have 4928 errors in the tree–366 possible duplicates, 4106 with no documents, 456 other errors.

  • The first is a mother in law of a distant cousin. Since I am pruning my tree a bit and not including the inlaws, she will be deleted.
  • Number two is a spouse of a distant cousin without documentation. Took a little digging to find something, but Arkansas Voter Registration records came through.
  • Lastly, a distant cousin needs some documentation. Unfortunately, it would seem that he is a tween since his parents were married in 2012. He was named in his grandmother’s obituary which was published online. Ancestry will not recognize a web link as a “record”.

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.
371 years ago – birth of Jacques Cardinal (8th ggf)
347 years ago – marriage of Mary Mason (9th ggm) and John Norton (9th ggf)
343 years ago – marriage of Louise Arrivee (8th ggm) and Jacques Cardinal (8th ggf)
302 years ago – birth of Benjamin Bonnell (7th ggf)
219 years ago – marriage of Francoise Crely (5th ggm) and Joseph Cardinal (5th ggf)
165 years ago – marriage of Sarah Catt (3rd ggm) and Joseph E. Cardinal (3rd ggf)
136 years ago – marriage of Anna Gravel ( 2nd ggm) and James S. Cardinal (2nd ggf)
107 years ago – birth of Lillian E. Fielden (gm)
72 years ago – death of Mathias Keller (2nd ggf)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,009 people
End of Week: 27,007 people
Change = -2 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

  1. Polk, WH, Polk Family and Kinsmen, The Bradley and Gilbert Co, Louisville, KY, 1912, page 366, Ancestry.com. ↩︎
  2. Certificate Book of the Virginia Land Commission 1779-80, Register, Kentucky State Historical Society, volume 21, number 63, pages 302-303, http://www.jstor.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