I’m continuing my research on the family of Jesse Cox and Mary Wagle in Madison County, Kentucky. I researched their eldest son John last week. This week as I begin my work, I am resolving all the hints provided for the descendants of John and his wife Mary Parks. Suffice it to say, this family went forth and multiplied. For later reference when I go back through my DNA shared matches for the Cox line, I am going to list the surnames and locations.
Louisa Cox + David Taylor
Taylor
Kentucky: Madison, Estill, Trimble, Henry Counties
New Mexico: Quay County
Texas: Eastland, Rusk, Galveston, Pecos County
Indiana: Marion County
Florida: Duval County
Whitlock
Indiana: Marion, Tippecanoe Counties
Colorado: Arapahoe County
Merritt
Kentucky: Estill County
Northcutt
Kentucky: Estill County
Ohio: Montgomery County
Hood
Ohio: Hamilton County
Williams
Texas: Lubbock County
Richard Taylor, the oldest of David and Louisa’s four children, had a lot of children. I will need to continue this exercise next week. I hope this exercise yields the result I want.
Error resolution. The last available update: I have 5018 errors in the tree–513 possible duplicates, 4058 with no documents, 447 other errors.
First up is a father in law of a distant cousin. He and his wife were pruned from the tree.
Next, a distant cousin with no references. In researching his sister, I found a family genealogy that listed this cousin.
Finally, the husband of a distant cousin whose first name is unknown and he has no references. Neither fact has been cleared.
Goals and progress… Beginning of Week: 27,403 people End of Week: 27,519 people Change = +116 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
I started this week’s research with a DNA match! A 5th cousin through Gabriel and Nancy Cox. He was actually already in my tree and I just needed to connect his data. Yay! While I was at it, since he was part of my Cox branch, I checked his shared matches with me and was able to identify another distant cousin from the same line. Now if I could just find a match from the Friend Cox –> Benjamin Cox line, I’d be ecstatic!
I’m still at odds regarding the Benjamin Cox who served in the Revolutionary War in North Carolina being the son of Friend Cox. As I have demonstrated within the family itself, Benjamin was a fairly common name during this time period. In many of the older writings, the various Benjamins have been confused within the family.
I also have to question his wife Rachel’s maiden name. Some researchers have provided Reed as her family name. There is a marriage record from 1807 in Norfolk, Virginia between a Benjamin Cox and a Rachel Reed. That same Rachel is listed as a head of household in Norfolk, Virginia in 1820, implying that she was a widow at that time. This marriage does not fit with other information available about the family.
Their son Jesse’s death record in Kentucky1 states he was born in 1779 in South Carolina. The 1850 Census2 claims he was born in North Carolina and the 1860 Census3 claims South Carolina. Regardless, based on this information, Benjamin and Rachel would have been married prior to 1779. Jesse married Mary Waugh or Wagle in 1803 in Madison County, Kentucky.4 By 1810 they had three young sons.5 In 1830 Jesse and his wife Mary had five sons and three daughters in their household.6
Mary Wagle was the daughter of John and Jemima Todd Wagle. In 1947, Louis Ansel Duermyer compiled The John Wagle Genealogy which is available on Ancestry. I am currently in the process of verifying and supplementing the information contained within that document. It could take a few weeks to get all of the information into my database. My hope, slim as it might be, is that one of Mary and Jesse’s descendants is a DNA match for me, confirming that the Dayton, Ohio Benjamin is one of my Coxes. Today I started working on Greenberry Cox, their second son.
Error resolution. The last available update: I have 5019 errors in the tree–515 possible duplicates, 4057 with no documents, 447 other errors.
First error requires a source be added.
A 5th cousin requires a source be added. She was named in her grandfather’s obituary in 2011.
The 2nd wife of a distant cousin needs sources. I have narrowed down when they married but cannot locate a record of the marriage.
Goals and progress… Beginning of Week: 27,334 people End of Week: 27,403 people Change = +69 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
This week I am researching Benjamin Cox, the son of Friend Cox. The Benjamin Cox who resided and died in Montgomery County, Ohio is believed to be this individual. A Revolutionary War Pension (S. file exists for the Benjamin Cox who resided in Montgomery County, Ohio. The affidavit collected on September 11, 1832 states that Benjamin is eighty years old. This would give his birth in 1752. Some sources provide his birth as early as 1742 or 1746. Photos of what is believed to be the original headstone are posted on FindAGrave.com. A nearby stone for his wife Rachel is intact, but barely legible. A more contemporary headstone now marks his grave.
Benjamin’s affidavit states he was originally from Pennsylvania, but was in North Carolina when he joined the military in the Spring of 1778 under a Captain Richard Graham and a Colonel Richard Grimes. He served a period of nine months.
The affidavit also mentions that Benjamin has a brother named David who lives in a nearby county.
The 1840 Census lists Benjamin as a pensioner at age 94. This isn’t too far off from the pension affidavit.
A land deed record from 1787 where John Cox sold land on behalf of Benjamin Cox from their father’s estate. Friend died intestate and his intentions to give this parcel of land to Benjamin was not documented. Benjamin was not present in Ohio County, Virginia to participate in the sale, so William McMahan served as power of attorney for him. Benjamin’s location is not mentioned in this document.1
A Simple Text Search on FamilySearch resulted in the following useful documents regarding Benjamin Cox who resided in Dayton, Ohio:
Benjamin’s date of death was attested to in Montgomery County Court–December 27, 1841 in Dayton. He left no widow. Children are identified as: John, William, and Lewis of Montgomery County. Jesse, Charles, and Benjamin of Ashton County, Kentucky. There is no mention of daughters living at the time of this court (May 6, 1842).2
1865 Montgomery County probate records give Benjamin’s middle initial as “M”. This is likely Benjamin Jr. Lewis Neff was the administrator. There were five heirs identified: Mary Ann Breene, Nancy Hyre, Charles Franklin Cox, John S Cox, Lila G Cox. Charles, John and Lila are minors. Their guardian is Lewis Cox.3
A Simple Text Search for Friend Cox in Ohio County, Virginia in the 1700s, found the following documents:
Court Orders from November 1783. Friend Cox was named foreman of a grand jury. Jonathan and Benjamin Cox were sworn in as members of that grand jury.4
Court Orders from November 1784. Jonathan and Benjamin Cox sworn in as members of a grand jury, along with Peter Cox.5
A quitclaim deed in 1788 between John Cox and a Jane Cox, wife of Joseph Cox. John was named brother and heir of Joseph.
CONCLUSION: From the documentation I have been able to find, I am not convinced that the Benjamin Cox who served during the Revolutionary War in North Carolina and died in Montgomery County, Ohio in 1840 is the son of Friend Cox. I’ll need to keep searching to truly prove this connection.
Error resolution. The last available update: I have 5025 errors in the tree–515 possible duplicates, 4062 with no documents, 448 other errors.
Husband of a distant cousin needs resources. No hints immediately populated for him, but his wife had several including a reference to their marriage which they shared.
A distant cousin with no references attached. Marriage and divorce records for Wisconsin were located.
A floater who was removed.
Goals and progress… Beginning of Week: 27,321 people End of Week: 27,334 people Change = +13 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
This week I want to do something a little different–DNA match investigation. I’m looking at the matches descending from Benjamin Cox and Sarah Piety. I want to tag the shared matches to see if I can pull any additional matches into my tree.
ELIZABETH COX MILLER: Ben and Sarah’s daughter Elizabeth married widower Samuel Miller for her second husband. Unfortunately, the algorithm is attaching two of his daughters from the first marriage to Elizabeth. The first one, AA, is through his daughter Louisiana. She has two shared matches that are in my tree already. Interestingly, one is connected through my Lowe line. The other is through Elizabeth Cox.
There are two matches descended from Margaret Miller. The first, ME, has a shared match that is descended through Mary Gott. Mary Gott was the mother of Nancy Squires Cox. The other, MA, did not have any shared matches currently in the tree.
SUSANNAH COX BALLARD: Susannah Cox Ballard has one match (DF) the algorithm has descended through her son Bland Ballard, however, it would seem it has attached her to the wrong Bland Ballard. This match does not have a shared matches in my tree.
JOSEPH COX: Four of my matches in my tree are descended through Joseph’s daughter Mary Elizabeth. From what I can tell, Mary Elizabeth’s daughter Isabelle was born out of wedlock and her father, to the best of my knowledge, is unidentified. Mary Elizabeth’s brother Henry played a significant role in Isabelle’s life and is misattributed as her father.
JONATHAN PIETY COX: ThruLines has assigned two different Mary Jane Coxes to Jonathan. Based on preliminary findings in FamilySearch, the second Mary Jane might be the daughter of Jonathan Cox who was the son of David Cox who married Margaret Bruce. I will need to investigate this further.
NANCY COX: ThruLines has attributed a Nancy Cox Nelson as a daughter of Ben and Sarah, however, I have no record of them having a daughter with that name. Also, the documents other researchers have attached to her all have her residing in Maryland and never in Kentucky.
SARAH COX: The Sarah Cox ThruLines has assigned as a daughter of Ben and Sarah was born in Tennessee. Ben and Sarah’s daughter never married and has no known children.
BENJAMIN F COX: The algorithm has a match (LD) descended through BF’s son Albert. There is conflicting information from other researchers about the parentage of Albert. Based on his location, it is doubtful BF’s son Albert is the ancestor to LD.
After tagging all the shared matches with those I have added to my tree, I then filtered by each of the eight lines.
Finetta Cox only has seven shared matches and none of them overlapped with any of her siblings’ groups.
Isaac Cox has nineteen shared matches. Five of those have already been matched to my tree and all five shared matches with at least one descendant of Isaac’s siblings, most frequently Joseph. There were two who are not in my tree and there is not enough information available to add them.
Elizabeth Cox has thirty-four shared matches. Two of Elizabeth’s matches are shared matches with descendants of Joseph. Not enough information is available to match the others to my tree.
Susannah Cox has one hundred two shared matches. Forty-four of those matched were shared matches with descendants of Jonathan, John Calhoun, and Austin.
I was able to correct a misassigned match and have three generations of the same family tagged in my tree. They actually descend from Isaac and Susannah Tomlinson Cox through their daughter Mary Cox. Mary married John Lemen and had a son named Gabriel. Gabriel married Mary Gott Squires Caplinger’s daughter Mary Caplinger which may have given the DNA a bit of a boost. Mary Caplinger is the half-sister of my 4th great grandmother Nancy Squires Cox.
I was also able to assign the mother of a match in my tree.
Austin Cox has one hundred thirty-four shared matches. The vast majority shared matches with at least one of Austin’s siblings, if not two or three.
Joseph Cox had one hundred fifty-nine shared matches. There were a good number of these shared matches that were not common with the other siblings.
A huge boon was discovered sifting through these shared matches. A seventh cousin one time removed was discovered! She is descended from FRIEND COX!!! This gives me some proof that the Friend Cox and Isaac Cox lines are related.
There are a couple shared matches that potentially connect back to the Polk line. This would make sense since Sarah Piety’s mother was a Polk. Their lineage didn’t quite match up with what I have entered so I will need to readdress that later when I am researching the Polks.
Jonathan Piety Cox has two hundred twenty shared matches. What was interesting is that several of them are identified as primarily being a match on my mom’s side of the family, not my dad’s. This could make sense, however, since Jonathan migrated to Knox County with Gabriel. Jonathan’s descendants could have intermarried with ancestors on my mother’s side. This would theoretically boost the DNA count since there were multiple sources in common with my own.
Having made a DNA match with a descendant of Friend Cox, I have filtered by those twenty-nine shared matches.
Match MD appears to be descended from a Charles Cox. Friend’s son Benjamin had a son named Charles. To better confirm this match, I will need to build out the tree from Benjamin. That was on my to do list anyway.
The last thing I want to do in this exercise is check those matches that supposedly have Ben and Sarah as a common ancestor to see if any of they share any of my potential Cox matches. The ones that do not exhibit any shared DNA with my possible Cox matches will be relegated to my unknown match list for review at a later date.
LD has several to my Briscoe line. There is one shared Cox match, but nothing to make me believe this person is related through the Cox family.
AA shares DNA was a match on my Lowe Line.
MH has no shared Cox matches.
PH has no shared Cox matches.
KP has several who share matches with Joseph Cox. I am inclined to think that she is related further back on the Polk line.
MC has a few shared Cox matches.
CT & ET has one shared Cox match. They are managed by the same person.
JLF has no shared Cox matches.
KAH has one shared Cox match…Friend Cox.
DF only has one shared Cox match…Elizabeth.
MT only has one shared Cox match…Joseph.
Overall, I think this was a worthwhile exercise. I was able to make a few matches with my tree. More importantly, I was able to link Isaac Cox’s family to Friend Cox’s family through my DNA match. I am more convinced now that I should include information about Friend and Gabriel’s family in my manuscript.
Error resolution. The last available update: I have 5018 errors in the tree–511 possible duplicates, 4059 with no documents, 448 other errors.
The first error to correct this week is the father-in-law of a distant cousin. Normally I delete these, however, his wife is a Cox. I haven’t figured out if she is part of the Cox family I am currently researching or a different one. He was missing references so I found a couple census records for him.
The second is a distant cousin needing references…the 1950 census got that ball rolling.
The last error to fix is actually two errors. This 3rd cousin had a possible duplicate and no references. He is not a duplicate; his mother’s obituary clearly states she had two sons named John. The first died as an infant. It took a ChatGPT search to find his obituary.
Goals and progress… Beginning of Week: 27,279 people End of Week: 27,321 people Change = +42 persons Tasks for coming week:
Continue research on Isaac Cox, “The Immigrant” and his wife Susannah Tomlinson.
Review Coxes of Cox Creek
Run newspaper search, especially for articles recounting local history
Review the Cox package of information from Sweden
Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky
Researching Friend Cox this week. Adams’ “The Coxes of Cox Creek, Kentucky” mentions that Friend had four sons–John, Jonathan, Joseph, and Benjamin. We’ll start our research with John.
The following records were found in a volume titled “Ohio County Records Referring to Brooke County Property”. Brooke County was formed from Ohio County in 1797. These records would have been recorded prior to that date.1
Survey Book #1, Page 241 – Land survey for George Cox in 1785. George is a son of Isaac Cox. It is mentioned that the land was settled in 1774 and a certificate was obtained in 1780.
Survey Book #1, Page 241 – Land survey for Friend Cox in 1785. Land was settled in 1771 and certificate was issued in 1783. Land is next to George Cox’s land. While the fact they were neighbors is not definitive proof that they are related to each other, it makes the possibility more probable.
Book #1, page 50 – Bill of sale between David Cox and George Glaze recorded in 1783. Gabriel Cox was also named. David and Gabriel are likely to be Isaac’s sons.
Book #1, page 111 – A land record indenture between John and Mary Cox and Van Swearingen made in 1787 mentions that John Cox is heir at law to Friend Cox. Friend Cox died intestate but had intended to give all or a portion of the property to Benjamin Cox. Also mentioned was William McMahan who holds the power of attorney for Benjamin. William McMahan was the husband of Ann Cox, daughter of Isaac. This would be another clue connecting Isaac and Friend’s family.
Book #1, page 119 – Land transfer from John Cox, heir at law of Friend Cox, to Jonathan, Joseph and Benjamin Cox. This track of land was at the mouth of the Buffalo Creek. It is mentioned that Joseph lived near Friend. This deed transfer was witnessed by George and Gabriel Cox, sons of Isaac.
Book #1, page 149 – A land transfer made in 1788 where John, Jonathan and Joseph sold property to Charles Praether, the founder of Wellsburg.
Book #2, page 60 – An indenture made in 1790 between Peter and Hannah Cox and Benjamin Wells. This tract was along Buffalo Creek. Peter was the son of Gabriel.
Book #2, page 372 – An indenture made in 1793 between Israel Cox and Benjamin Wells in the Buffalo Creek area. Israel was the son of Gabriel.
The proximity of landholdings by members of the three Cox families supports that possibility that these families were related. I’ve always been skeptical of this assumption made and accepted by others. These documents help to ease my cynicism on the topic.
A Simple Text Search on FamilySearch produced 226 possible documents with mention of “John Cox”. If I had performed the search at an affiliate library, I’m sure there would have been more. A good number of them merely referenced property owned by John Cox when describing a tract of land. There were also many that identified a John Cox purchasing an item from a probate inventory. The following is a list of those that stood out to me, providing a timeline of sorts and relationships.
1788, Washington County, PA – A pair of indentures between James Chambers and John Cox.2
1788, Washington County, PA – An indenture between John and Mary Cox and the Baptist Church on Peter’s Creek. It was drafted in 1788 and recorded in 1815.3
1809, Washington County, PA – An estate file for John Cox who died in 1807. Abraham Cox, administrator and father of John, died prior to August 18, 1827. Henry Cox was an executor of of Abraham’s estate. Henry was the only heir to John and he still had an assigned guardian in 1827. Elizabeth Cox is John’s widow. 4
1813 & 1817, Washington County, PA – A pair of property transfers to Enoch Cox, son of John Cox, from his siblings James Cox (wife Peggy) of Washington Co, PA; Benjamin Cox (wife Elizabeth) of Breckinridge Co, KY; Rachel Cox McMahon (husband Richard); Susanna Welsh (husband Joseph); Catherine Fentress (husband Pleasant) of Hardin Co, KY. James died between the execution of the two transfers.5
1833, Washington County, PA – A pair of indentures between John Cox and Joseph Chester. Enoch and Rachel Wright are mentioned in both.6
1835, Washington County, PA – An indenture between Levi and Rachel Finley and John Cox and Joseph Chester.7
1835, Washington County, PA – an indenture between John Cox and Joseph Chester and their wives and Samuel French. Since John and Joseph were selling the land, their wives had to waive dower rights. John’s wife was named as Eliza Jane.8
1836, Washington County, PA – An indenture between Richard Dewhurst and John Cox.9
1834 & 1837, Washington County, PA – An indenture between John and Susannah Cox and Samuel Barr. It appears that the tract was left to Susannah by her late father, James Lauler in 1818.10
1839, Washington County, PA – An indenture between Joseph Graham and John Cox. Recorded in 1843.11
1841, Washington County, PA – An indenture between John & Eliza Jane Cox and Enoch and Mary Cox.12
1845, Washington County, PA – The Last Will and Testament of Zachariah Cox. Widow is Amelia. Children: Rebecca Cox, Benjamin Cox, Thomas Cox, John Cox, Zachariah Cox, Lucy Huston (husband John), Alethea Powers (husband John), Susannah Cox, Amelia Notel (husband Matthias), Robert. Zachariah did not think highly of John Huston.13
1850, Washington County, PA – A series of quitclaims issued to John Cox. Those transferring ownership included Zachariah Cox (wife Mariah), Susannah Cox Miles (husband Elijah), and Thomas F Cox (wife Mary), all who inherited property from presumably their father Zachariah. Recorded in 1852.14
1850, Washington County, PA – A quit claim from John and Margaret Cox to Andrew and Samuel Herron. This John is a son of Zachariah Cox.15
These documents answer some questions I had and raise others. While I had a list of John and Mary (Collins) Cox’s children from the Adams’ article and some dates from The Cox Family in America, the property transfers in 1813 and 1817 shown above in red provided me with so much more information about several of his children. I still do not have an exact date of death for John or a copy of his will. Since he was listed in the 1810 census, I have estimated it to be between 1810 and 1813. John’s wife Mary was not mentioned in the property transfers; had she predeceased him? Also, several of their children are not mentioned–Nancy, Isaac, and Friend. Were they also deceased? Were they left out of the will? Or, did they choose to keep their portion of the estate? I will want to investigate each of John and Mary’s children a little more in the next week before I move on to John’s brother Benjamin.
While John (son of Friend) did not name any of his children after him, there were several men named John in the next generation that bear mentioning. It is not clear if these men are somehow related to my Cox family or if they are part of a separate line. Only time and research may tell. There were potentially three additional John Coxes identified in Washington County, PA, during the period 1830 to 1850. John (son of Zachariah) had a wife named Margaret; a John who married Susanna Lauler; and a John married to an Eliza Jane. Building out the tree a bit more might help to sort these individuals out.
The properties mentioned above in Ohio/Brooke County were located where Buffalo Creek meets the Ohio River. I was curious as to where that was. As I was scanning the topo map of West Virginia, I came across Tomlinson Run and the state park by the same name. Since Isaac’s wife Susannah was a Tomlinson, I wanted to know more. The tributary and the park are named for the Tomlinson family who were pioneers of the area. While I cannot be sure it is my Tomlinsons, there is a possibility. Maybe I can convince the husband to check it out when we do our retirement RVing in a few years.
I did find Buffalo Creek on the map. It empties into the Ohio River just south of Wellsburg.
Error resolution. The last available update: I have 5023 errors in the tree–512 possible duplicates, 4062 with no documents, 449 other errors.
Father-in-law of a distant cousin. I’m pruning the tree so he will be deleted.
A floater. He will be deleted.
The last error is for a second husband of the wife of a distant cousin. He needed citations and a first name. I finally found him on FamilySearch in the Indiana marriage records. The information on the marriage record produced a multitude of Ancestry hints to resolve the error.
Goals and progress… Beginning of Week: 27,236 people End of Week: 27,279 people Change = +43 persons Tasks for coming week:
Continue research on Isaac Cox, “The Immigrant” and his wife Susannah Tomlinson.
Review Coxes of Cox Creek
Run newspaper search, especially for articles recounting local history
Review the Cox package of information from Sweden
Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky
Survey Land Records, 1777-1801, Ohio and Brooke County, VA, IGN 007901647, FamilySearch. ↩︎
Deeds, 1786-1789, Washington County, PA, volume 4, page 243, IGN 008036003, image 135, FamilySearch. ↩︎
Deeds, 1815-1817, Washington County, PA, volume 25, page 462, IGN 008036011, image 246, FamilySearch. ↩︎
Probate Estate Case Files, 1792-1813, Washington County, PA, File C, packet 32, IGN 005552438, images 2328-2353, FamilySearch. ↩︎
Deeds, 1818-1820, Washington County, PA, volume 28, pages 293-295, IGN 008084637, images 165-166, FamilySearch. ↩︎
Deeds, 1834-1836, Washington County, PA, volume 42, page 14, IGN 008084642, image 14, FamilySearch. ↩︎
Deeds, 1834-1836, Washington County, PA, volume 42, page 428, IGN 008084642, image 237, FamilySearch. ↩︎
Deeds, 1834-1836, Washington County, PA, volume 42, page 428-429, IGN 008084642, image 237, FamilySearch. ↩︎
Deeds, 1834-1836, Washington County, PA, volume 45, page 397, IGN 008036100, image 515, FamilySearch. ↩︎
Deeds, 1834-1836, Washington County, PA, volume 42, page 28, IGN 008084642, image 21; Deeds, 1837-1839, Washington County, PA, volume 47, page 460, IGN 008084643, image 514, FamilySearch. ↩︎
Deeds, 1842-1844, Washington County, PA, volume 52, page136, IGN 008084646, image 79, FamilySearch. ↩︎
Deeds, 1839-1840, Washington County, PA, volume 50, page 301, IGN 008030736, image 170, Family Search. ↩︎
Wills, 1841-1848, Washington County, PA, volume 6, page 378, IGN 005537971, image 206, FamilySearch. ↩︎
Deeds, 1851-1853, Washington County, PA, volume 61, pages 108-109, IGN 008084673, images 431-432, FamilySearch. ↩︎
Deeds, 1850-1851, Washington County, PA, volume 58, page 496, IGN 008036113, image 285, FamilySearch. ↩︎
When I finished yesterday, I discovered an Elzy Cox who died in Morgan County, Ohio in 1875. At first I thought this was the son of Israel Cox and Ruth Richardson…but it didn’t quite fit. That Elzy was married to Rachel and was alive and well in 1880. In fact, he died in 1888 in Brooke County, WV. So who was Elzy Cox who died in 1875? In his will, he left everything to his stepson James Fouts and three nephews who were the sons of his brother Israel. It took me a minute, but then I realized Elzy was the brother to Israel Jr and son to Israel Sr! Hints started pouring in for Elzy. I was able to identify his wife and his daughter who both predeceased him. I also found what I believe to be Israel Sr in the 1830 census residing with Elzy in Morgan County. I have not yet found a will for either Israel.
In my search for information about the older Elzy Cox in Morgan County, I came across a couple of Ancestry Trees that tied him to potential sisters–Mary and Sarah. Unfortunately the trees these women were found in did not have any direct evidence that they were indeed daughters of Israel Cox and Elizabeth Newkirk. In fact, the various trees did not agree on who their parents were.
Sarah was married to Josiah Dunlap. Josiah and Sarah could be found in Muskingum County, Ohio by 1820. Josiah claimed 160+ acres of land in Muskingum County nearly adjacent to the parcel patented to Israel Cox in 1831. Sarah and Josiah had several children, one of which was Israel Dunlap. In Israel Dunlap’s will written in 1885 and proven in 18901, he mentions the Cox farm which corresponds to the patent obtained by Israel Cox in 1831. He purchased this tract of land from Ruth Richardson Cox and her children in the 1850s. While this does not prove that Sarah’s parents were Israel Cox and Elizabeth Newkirk, it is an indication that the two families were likely familiar with each other.
It would seem that Israel Dunlap was put out with his family and cut them from his will, according to The Zanesville Signal, July 25, 1890, page 3. The statement in the paper wasn’t 100% true, however. It would seem that some of his nieces and nephews benefitted from his estate. Nothing further was found in the newspaper regarding the contesting of the will. However, a Full Text Search for Israel Dunlap returned over 500 documents, a good number of them regarding a set of parcels that was not included in Israel’s will.
It’s so easy to fall down rabbit holes like that of Israel Dunlap. Building out that descendant branch a bit might prove to be useful at some point in the future, especially if I get a rare DNA match from that line. Now it is time to return my focus to the children of Gabriel Cox and his wife Eleanor for the time being.
The husbands of Margaret and Mary Ann were not named in Gabriel’s will which was written June 6, 1778. Yohogania County Court Minutes on August 24, 1778, granted administration of the estate of John McCoy to his widow Margaret McCoy. Is this Gabriel’s daughter?
In the Court Orders book for Ohio County, Virginia, there is reference to a William and Mary Ann Spencer regarding a land deed in 1783.2 Could this be Gabriel’s daughter Mary Ann?
A deed recorded in Ohio County, Virginia in 1790 bears the name of Peter Cox and his wife Hannah.3 Is this possibly when Peter moved to Ohio?
No additional details could be found for David as well.
I seriously doubt that I will find the answers to these questions online at this time. Adams’ article on the Coxes mentions that all of Gabriel’s children moved to Ohio and everyone except Israel were killed by Indians. Exactly where and when was not discussed since the focus of the article was not on Gabriel’s line. These questions will definitely be among the focus of my next trip to Salt Lake City.
Error resolution. The last available update: I have 5029 errors in the tree–512 possible duplicates, 4069 with no documents, 448 other errors.
Husband of a stepdaughter of a cousin. He is fairly extended so I’ll remove him.
A father in law of a distant cousin. Again, he’s not part of the family line, so I’ll remove him as well.
A distant cousin who needs a source.
Goals and progress… Beginning of Week: 27,215 people End of Week: 27,236 people Change = +21 persons Tasks for coming week:
Continue research on Isaac Cox, “The Immigrant” and his wife Susannah Tomlinson.
Review Coxes of Cox Creek
Run newspaper search, especially for articles recounting local history
Review the Cox package of information from Sweden
Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky
Ohio, US, Wills and Probate Records, 1786-1998, Muskingum County, Will Records, volume 7 1888-1890, page 461, Ancestry. ↩︎
Ohio, VA, Court Orders, 1773-1786, IGN 7616779, image 75. ↩︎
Survey Land Records, 1777-1801, Ohio and Brooke County, Virginia, IGN 7901647, image 84. ↩︎
Working on Israel Cox (1750-c1830) this week. I’m fairly confident that the Israel Cox who provided the deposition in November 1830 in Morgan County, OH was originally from Ohio/Brooke County, VA. I also believe the land entry records for Muskingum County, OH belong to this Israel. Muskingum County borders Morgan County. I’d like to find the actual deed transaction record to try and determine where exactly in Muskingum County these parcels are.
A Full Text Search on FamilySearch returned the following documents from the 1820s in Ohio:
An Israel Cox held the position of Township Treasurer in Wells Township, Jefferson County in 1834, 1835, 1845-1853. Not likely the Israel Cox I’m looking for.
An Israel Cox purchased land in Jefferson County from Cornelious Sammons in 1823.
An Israel Cox was the defendant against the State of Ohio in Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas in 1820. Found guilty of burglary and sentenced three years.
An Israel Cox was named as an ineligible voter in a voter fraud complaint in Morgan County in 1825. The complaint stated he was not a resident of Morgan County.
An Israel Cox married Margaret Fellows in Jefferson County in 1825.
An Israel Cox purchased earthenware from an estate sale in 1822 in Columbiana County.
An Israel Cox Jr was the defendant for a breach of marriage contract in Jefferson County in 1821.
There are more documents for Israel Cox in Ohio, however, they are limited access documents. I will need to return to the library to access them.
In the History of Muskingum County, Ohio by JF Everhart and AA Graham, published in 1882, there are numerous mentions of brothers Horatio, Samuel, and Ezekiel Cox. Were they Israel’s sons? grandsons? No relation? This book can be found on archive.org, Hathitrust and FamilySearch.
In the History of Morgan County, Ohio by Charles Robertson, published in 1886, there is little mention of any Coxes.
In the Muskingum County Land Deed Records, there were a few that caught my eye.
Elzy, Jonathan & Friend Cox to Israel Dunlap, 6 Oct 1852. Volume 23, page 15.
Ruth Cox to Israel Dunlap, 6 Oct 1852, Volume 23, page 16.
Joseph Cox to Israel Dunlap, 14 Nov 1855, Volume 29, page 545.
Israel, Sarah & Peter Cox to Israel Dunlap, 24 Apr 1857, Volume 32, page 306.
These transfers represent the land that was purchased in February 1831 on patent #2574. These are the grandchildren of Israel Sr, children of Israel Jr. Was this land that Israel Sr left to his son or did Israel Jr buy this land originally? It would seem from the language in the agreement, that Israel Jr did not reside in Muskingum County. Israel Jr’s will has not yet been located in Brooke County, VA.
Error resolution. The last available update: I have 4904 errors in the tree–388 possible duplicates, 4068 with no documents, 448 other errors.
My first error to fix was a distant cousin on my mom’s side of the family who needed a source. While I was updating hers, I also updated several of her family members.
The second error was also a distant cousin needing a source, however, this one was on my dad’s side. After some investigation, it was determined that he was not a blood relative, but a stepson of a cousin. I have removed him.
The last error was another distant cousin. The error finder proposed that she was a duplicate entry, which was not the case. Multiple documents indicated that there were indeed two separate women who were sisters.
Goals and progress… Beginning of Week: 27,209 people End of Week: 27,215 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
Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky
This week I want to go back and fill in what I can, estimate even if possible, for Gabriel Cox’s family.
Previously published genealogies/biographies provide an estimated birth for Gabriel as 1718. His death in 1778 in Ohio County, Virginia is documented by the proving of his will. In land records, he is referred to as a yeoman.
yeoman – a man holding and cultivating a small landed estate
A land record from Hampshire County, Virginia recorded in 1767 names his wife Eleanor. Eleanor was also one of the executors of Gabriel’s estate in August 1778.
Gabriel’s will names his children as: David Cox, Israel Cox, Mary Ann Spencer, Margaret McCoy, Diana Cox, Peter Cox. Are they in order by age? Possibly. Mary Ann and Margaret are/were married. There is no mention of anyone being a minor. Peter received the lion’s share of the estate. Was he the oldest? Unknown. Was Israel the oldest? He was named a co-executor of the will. The estate inventory was recorded in February 1779.
The 1777 Virginia Oath of Allegiance was required of men over the age of sixteen. Gabriel and his three sons all are documented as taking the oath in Ohio County. Based on the date of the will, David, Peter and Israel were all at least 21 in 1778 and therefore born prior to 1757.
The Cox Family in America mentions that Israel married Elizabeth Newkirk. They had two sons and seven daughters. The youngest child was born about 1794. The oldest son was named Israel as well. Israel Jr’s headstone states he was 68 when he died in 1846. That would put his birth in 1777 or 1778 and his parents’ marriage around 1776. The family was in Ohio County at that time, so it is probable that the marriage took place there. Assuming Israel was of age when he married Elizabeth, that would set his date of birth back to 1755.
A deposition made by Israel, son of Gabriel, in 1830 mentions that Israel is 80 years old. This would put his date of birth at 1750. This also means he was still alive in 1830. The deposition was part of a land dispute involving the McGuire family in Brooke County, Virginia. The deposition was collected in Morgan County, Ohio.
A land tract book for Muskingum County, Ohio, recorded a purchase by Israel Cox from Brooke County, Virginia in February 1830. Cox Family did say that all of Gabriel’s children moved to Ohio.
An interesting document that surfaced was an 1825 complaint in Morgan County, Ohio regarding the election of the county sheriff. An Israel Cox was named as an ineligible voter who cast a ballot. The case was ultimately dismissed.1 I am not 100% sure this is one of my Israel Cox’s but it very well could be.
I still need to track down census records for Israel to corroborate where he was and when. I have an 1820 census for Steubenville, Jefferson County, Ohio, but I’m starting to doubt that this is my Israel. Something to explore in the coming week. I’m a visual person so I constructed the tree below in PowerPoint. I can add to it and update as I go along.
FamilySearch has introduced an alternative way to do Full Text Search called “Simple Search”. It can be found under the Experiments section for now. You can enter a simple prompt like “Search for Gabriel Cox who was born in 1718 and died in Ohio, County, Virginia in 1778” and it will find documents for you. You might need to narrow them down a little using the filters if it returns too many documents. I used it this week for my research on Gabriel’s family and found several documents that I did not find previously using the original Full Text Search. I definitely recommend trying it out!
In my search, I stumbled across a Cox family genealogy titled Cox Characters. The family described in that manuscript is not related to my Cox family, however, they were in the same general area of Pennsylvania at about the same time. My Isaac Coxes did manage a two page mention.
Error resolution. The last available update: I have 4893 errors in the tree–384 possible duplicates, 4062 with no documents, 447 other errors.
The mother-in-law of a distant cousin. As stated before, I am pruning extended family.
The husband of a distant cousin needs a source and a first name. I managed to find his death certificate and fill in some blanks for his wife as well. As it turns out, his wife is a step-daughter of a cousin. I’ll delete them as well.
Finally a distant cousin who needs a source. I managed to locate a public record with a partial birthdate. Better than nothing.
Goals and progress… Beginning of Week: 27,188 people End of Week: 27,209 people Change = +21 persons Tasks for coming week:
Continue research on Isaac Cox, “The Immigrant” and his wife Susannah Tomlinson.
Review Coxes of Cox Creek
Run newspaper search, especially for articles recounting local history
Review the Cox package of information from Sweden
Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky
I started the week with a DNA match with a common ancestor down my Lankford line. It was easy enough to complete since I already had most of their line completed due to another previous match. I’m actually excited to move on to the Winkler and Lankford lines to research. Unfortunately, I probably won’t be able to add very many generations to those lines. I have not been able to get much further back on George Winkler, my third great grandfather. He seems to have appeared in the Edwardsport area out of thin air. Conflicting information about where he was born does not help the situation either. I will likely need to do a wide area canvas of Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana for any Winklers between 1840 and 1860. That I’m not looking forward to.
I will be able to document at least one generation of the Lankford family and most of it has been built out to this point. Again, I’ll likely need to do a wide area search across three states to find Benjamin Lankford’s roots.
And not to get too far ahead of myself, but the current plan is to finish the Cox family, stopping at Isaac Sr. I will likely include the limited information I have on Gabriel and Friend, his assumed brothers. Unless I can find something to substantiate they really were brothers, Isaac will be the last chapter in this section and I want it finished up by the end of 2026. Next will be the Winklers which likely will only be one chapter long. With the extensive three state search planned, I hope I can wrap that up by end of year 2027. I’ll begin research on the McCulloughs in 2028. That line could take a while to complete as I have three or four generations to research, including a possible Revolutionary War Patriot.
Back to my Cox family. I’m going to talk my way through the references listed in Evelyn Adams’ Coxes of Cox Creek KY
Pages 63 and 250 of The Cox Family in America postulate that Isaac Cox, Gabriel Cox, and Friend Cox were brothers and possibly were born in Switzerland. One of the reasons given that Isaac and Friend might have been brothers, or at the very least is the frequent use of the uncommon name Friend, and other names, in both families. I haven’t built out all of Isaac’s grandchildren at this point. I will need to revisit this claim once I do. Friend does occur in later generations of Gabriel’s family. Relatively close proximity of their residences along the Monongahela River and similarities in family lore regarding where the family originated (Germany and Switzerland). I will need to look into the border region between those two countries.
Volume II of the Hampshire County (WV) Deed Book contains several transactions involving Gabriel Cox and his wife Eleanor, identifying him as a yeoman (farmer).
The Ohio County (WV) will book includes Gabriel’s Last Will and Testament which names six children.
Cox Family provided some of the descendants of Gabriel on page 63.
Cox Family provided some of the descendants of Friend on page 250.
The Official Roster of Soldiers of the American Revolution Buried in Ohio provides a brief bio of Friend’s son Benjamin. Many of the details are questionable at best. The information seems to have comingled details for this man and his younger cousin also named Benjamin.
Working on the descendants of Gabriel (item 4 above), some researchers have identified Eleanor’s last name to be Peterson. There are marriage records in Philadelphia for a Gabriel Cox marrying an Eleanor Peterson in 1735. It’s entirely possible, although, older written histories didn’t mention the family migrating through Philadelphia at any time.
Geography Note: Brooke County, Virginia was formed from Ohio County. It is adjacent to Jefferson County, Ohio.
Gabriel’s son Israel and his wife Elizabeth were both alive at least until 1800 based on a land deed record recorded in Brooke County, Virginia. There was a suit filed against an Israel Cox Sr in 1805 in Jefferson County, Ohio. An Israel Cox was listed in an 1810 probate inventory for Jacob Durrant in Jefferson County.
Unable to find the 1810 US Census for Ohio, I decided to browse the 1820 Census for Jefferson County. The Israel listed below could be Gabriel’s son. There is both a male and female over 45 years old which would be consistent with Israel and Elizabeth. The younger individuals could be a widowed son and his children.
Isaac Cox with the following enumeration in Steubenville Township: 2 males under 10, 1 male 26-44, 1 male over 45, 5 females under 10, and 1 female 16-25.
Josiah Cox with the following enumeration in Knox Township: 2 males under 10, 1 male 10-15, 1 male 16-25, 1 male 26-44, 1 female under 10, 1 female 26-44, 1 female over 45.
Israel Cox with the following enumeration in Steubenville Township: 1 male 10-15, 1 male 16-25, 1 male 26-44, 1 male over 45, 1 female 10-15, 1 female over 45.
Garret Cox with the following enumeration in Wayne Township: 4 males under 10, 1 male 10-15, 1 male 26-44, 2 females under 10, 1 female 26-44.
Mary Cox with the following enumeration in Wayne Township: 2 females under 10, 1 female 26-44, 1female over 45.
Benjamin Cox with the following enumeration in Wayne Township: 1 male 16-25, 2 females under 10, 1 female 26-44.
John Cox with the following enumeration in Wayne Township: 1 male under 10, 2 males 10-15, 1 male over 45, 1 female under 10, 1 female 10-15, 1 female over 45.
Also, an Israel Cox purchased a tract of land from Cornelius Sammons in 1823.1 No wife was listed for Israel…did Elizabeth die between 1820 and 1823? An Israel Cox married a Margaret Fellows on September 29, 1825 in Wells Township.2 The marriage ledger described the groom as a “young man”.3 In 1830, Israel and Margaret sold the land that was purchased in 1823.4 As details start to emerge, this may not be the Israel I am researching. It could be a younger relative or a completely different Cox line entirely.
While Cox Family does not account for all of Gabriel’s children named in his will, it does state that all of them except Israel were killed by Indians. It does not mention if any of them had descendants or what their fate might have been. Peter, Margaret and Mary were married at the time of Gabriel’s death, but I have not yet found anything additional.
Working on the descendants of Friend (item 5 above), not much has been identified. His son John remained in Washington County. His son Benjamin moved westward to Highland County, Ohio. I need to spend more time building out this part of the tree in the next week.
Error resolution. The last available update: I have 4898 errors in the tree–382 possible duplicates, 4069 with no documents, 447 other errors.
The mother-in-law of a distant cousin. As stated before, I am pruning extended family.
A third cousin needed a source. Once again the California Birth Index comes to the rescue.
The last “error” was a repeat that was previously resolved.
Goals and progress… Beginning of Week: 27,135 people End of Week: 27,188 people Change = +53 persons Tasks for coming week:
Continue research on Isaac Cox, “The Immigrant” and his wife Susannah Tomlinson.
Review Coxes of Cox Creek
Run newspaper search, especially for articles recounting local history
Review the Cox package of information from Sweden
Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky
Deeds, Jefferson County, Ohio, 1818-1824, volume H, pp. 380-381, Image Group 004021842, images 487-488, FamilySearch. ↩︎
Marriage Certificates, Jefferson County, Ohio, 1824-1831, volume 3, p. 33, Image Group 007485906, image 75, FamilySearch. ↩︎
Marriage Record, Jefferson County, Ohio, 1824-1831, volume 3, Image Group 004701465, image 145, FamilySearch. ↩︎
Deeds, Jefferson County, Ohio, 1828-1831, volume M, p. 620, Image Group 004021942, image 663, FamilySearch. ↩︎
A couple interesting developments happened this week. About a month ago, I found a newspaper article from 1934 stating documentation about Colonel Isaac Cox had been donated to Transylvania University since he had been an early trustee of the institution. I wrote to them to see if they had said documents. I received a response back from their Archivist and Special Collections Librarian this week. She thanked me for the newspaper article, but stated the documents are no longer in possession of the university. She was kind enough to suggest some other repositories which may have received the documents at a later date. After thinking on it, they could have also made their way to the Filson Club since Rogers Clark Thruston was such a big deal there. She did provide me with a link to a book available online that listed Isaac as a trustee up until 1788 when he was listed as “resigned”. It was surprising, because the date of his resignation was just after the date his estate was entered into probate. At any rate, I have additional places to visit when I make a research trip to Kentucky, at some yet undetermined date.
The second cool thing that happened this week was discovering a YouTube video made by a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution titled “The Legend of Jean Marie Cardinal“. Cardinal is my grandmother’s maiden name so I was excited to check it out. It is well done and I highly recommend it. I won’t give away any spoilers, but as it turns out Jean Marie is my eighth cousin 2 times removed.
As I planned last week, I am working through Evelyn Adams’ “Coxes of Cox Creek” and her cited references. The focus of the narrative is Isaac’s family since they solely were the ones who migrated to Kentucky and established Cox’s Station. There is some information on Gabriel and Friend Cox who are postulated to be brothers of the older Isaac, sometimes labeled as “Isaac the Immigrant”. There are documents putting the three men in the same locations which would lend to that theory. Individual family units did not relocate by themselves during that era. They moved in larger groups, if for nothing else safety reasons. Also, there seems to be some commonality with names of children.
I felt it was important for historical accuracy to identify the state at the time the events took place, not the current day state. West Virginia did not separate from Virginia until 1863.
For Gabriel Cox (c1718-1778), I have located the following documents:
Recorded land survey report dated January 30, 1762 in Hampshire County, Virginia.
A series of land transfer deeds from June 9, 1767 in Hampshire County, Virginia, identifying Eleanor as Gabriel’s wife.
A list of men who took and subscribed to the Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity to the Commonwealth of Virginia on October 6, 1777, in Ohio County, Virginia, included Gabriel Cox and his three sons–David Cox, Israel Cox, and Peter Cox.
His Last Will and Testament dated June 6, 1778 from Ohio County, Virginia.
The Administrator’s Document dated August 3, 1778 in Ohio County, Virginia. This names Eleanor, the widow, and Israel, his son. This document also narrows down when Gabriel died.
The estate inventory dated February 24, 1779, in Ohio County, Virginia.
I also had some scheduled library time this week and focused first on the Hampshire County, (West) Virginia records available.
A rather useful book I had at my disposal is Early Records: Hampshire County, Virginia, a compilation by Clara McCormack Sage ad Laura Sage Jones that was originally published in 1939. It was reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Company in 1969 and later again in 1976. It is basically an index of early records. There were several land transfers involving Cox family members as well as several entries where a Cox individual served as a witness. The original has been digitized and is on the FamilySearch website. It is restricted from downloading.
Moving on to Frederick County, Virginia books, I found some limited information in the following book:
Frederick County, Virginia: Settlement and Some First Families of Back Creek Valley 1730-1830, by Wilmer L Kerns. There was mention of Friend Cox in George Washington’s papers from 1756. Unfortunately, the papers of our first president are not available digitally. There is a copy of the volume I need at the Arizona State University Library. If I am feeling adventurous, I might take a trip across town to check it out.
Interestingly, I also checked for possible DeMosses in both counties while I was at it. Several entries suggested that DeMosses lived in the same general area that the Coxes did.
There are many books on Virginia in general that I still need to check. I can leave that for a future library day. I will continue checking Ms. Adams’ citations to better understand the conclusions she has drawn. I think I am finished for this week.
Error resolution. The last available update: I have 4903 errors in the tree–382 possible duplicates, 4074 with no documents, 447 other errors.
A distant cousin needing sources. Gotta love the California Birth Index! I was also able to find sources for a couple siblings as well.
A husband of a distant cousin needed a first name and a source. He was a second husband and luckily I found their marriage record.
The last error to clear up was a repeat that I had already resolved. She was a twin who died at age 10 in 1918. While the newspaper did not say, I have to wonder if it wasn’t from the Spanish flu. Kansas death certificates are not available online, so I likely will never know. I was able to narrow down when a sibling died using several of the family obituaries.
Goals and progress… Beginning of Week: 27,092 people End of Week: 27,135 people Change = +43 persons Tasks for coming week:
Continue research on Isaac Cox, “The Immigrant” and his wife Susannah Tomlinson.
Review Coxes of Cox Creek
Run newspaper search, especially for articles recounting local history
Review the Cox package of information from Sweden
Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky
Digging Up My Roots 