SH, descended through Richard Puckett. I don’t have any of her line built out so I will set this one aside until I am working on the Pucketts.
RW, also descended through Richard Puckett. I don’t have any of their line built out so I will set this one aside as well.
AT, descended through Benjamin Cox and Sarah Piety. I do have her line proven through her grandmother so I will finish this one up.
Coxes of Cox Creek Footnotes
15. Historic Romney 1762-1937, published by the Town Council of Romney, West Virginia, pp. 30-31. This book was found on FamilySearch. The referenced passage provides background on the first school in the area which was referenced in the mid-1700s by George Washington. Because the children of Isaac, Gabriel and Friend appear to have been educated, it is possible they attended this subscription school known as the Romney Academy.
16. Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1766-1769, pp. 87-88. This book can be found at Hathitrust. On March 20, 1767, the House recognized twelve men who served under Colonel Bouquet in an expedition against the Shawnee and Delaware Indians and granted them 40 pounds each. Isaac Cox, presumably the son of the older Isaac, was among this group.
17. Reuben G Thwaites, ed., Early Western Travels 1748-1846, “Journal of George Croghan, 1765” (1904), I, pp. 126-129. Volume I, which this footnote references, can be found on the Project Gutenberg Website, gutenberg.org. The referenced pages describe Croghan’s journey from May 15-19, 1765 down the Ohio River as he made his way ultimately to the Mississippi River. Landmarks have been marked on the map below, indicating his daily progress during this segment of the trip. Croghan’s descriptions of the landscape lend to the attractiveness of the area for farming and settlement. Land deeds for various Cox family members reference Buffalo Creek near present day Wellsburg, West Virginia.
Daily progress (May 15 to 19, 1765) of Croghan’s journey down the Ohio from Fort Pitt (aka Fort Duquesne). Aerial perspective mapped using Google Earth with Lake Erie situated approximately 100 miles due north of Little Beaver Creek. Approximate distance covered in these four days was 165 miles.
18. Land Draughts in the Surveyor General’s Office, Pennsylvania Archives, Harrisburg, Appendix, 3rd series, p. 41. Unfortunately, it is not clear if this exact document is available on the internet. I did, however, locate what I believe to be other documents which describe the land claimed and patented by Gabriel Cox (son of Isaac) near the Monongahela River in 1769 in what is now Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.12 There are actually two separate plots of land–Coxburg and Cox’s Addition. A historical marker has been placed near the site.3
19. Land Patent Book, Brooke County, West Virginia, I, p. 1. A transcribed copy of land deeds recorded in Ohio County, Virginia, that are actually located in present day Brooke County can be found on FamilySearch. Tucked in the front of this book is a transcription of the surveyor’s description of lands for George Cox (son of Isaac) and Friend Cox in what is now Wellsburg. The original surveyor’s description, with drawings, was found in the Surveyor’s Books for Ohio County, Virginia which is available on FamilySearch.4 Considering I have a love of maps, I asked CoPilot to plot these out for me on a current day map of the area. He (yes, my CoPilot is an obtuse man) was unable to fulfill my request. I then manually roughed in the parcels using Google My Maps and the descriptions from the surveyor book. These two men basically owned all of the land that is now Wellsburg, WV. Holy cow! They later sold this land to Charles Prather who named the town after his son-in-law Alexander Wells.
Land parcels belonging to George Cox (northern parcel) and Friend Cox (yellow and purple).
Error Resolution
Per Ancestry’s Tree Checker
This Week
Last Week
Total Errors
5059
5067
Potential Duplicates
512
512
No Documentation
4103
4100
Other Errors
444
455
The first individual to fix was “??”–no name, no documentation, and no relationships. Safe to say, this one should be deleted.
HS, a fifth cousin who needed some documentation. I was able to supply some for him and his siblings. An interesting newspaper article regarding an arrest came up as a hint with his name in an area where the family was known to live during that time, but I’m not positive it was him because the age was off by nearly a decade.
KF, a fourth cousin who also needed some documentation. I was able to supply a few documents for him.
Goals and progress… Beginning of Week: 27,952 people End of Week: 27,966 people Change = +14 persons Tasks for coming week:
Continue research on Isaac Cox, “The Immigrant” and his wife Susannah Tomlinson.
Review Coxes of Cox Creek
Run newspaper search, especially for articles recounting local history
Review the Cox package of information from Sweden
Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky
BC, through James Mattox and Elizabeth Moyer. This one wasn’t too hard to complete. I already had down to his grandmother documented. We connect through his dad and I wasn’t able to completely identify his mother.
SA, through Richard Puckett. I haven’t built out the Puckett tree so I will simply mark this one to do later.
LK, through Mathias Keller. This one was easy. Her father was already in my tree so it was only a matter of connecting her.
Coxes of Cox Creek Footnotes
12. Archer B Julbert, Historic Highways of America, “Braddock’s Road” (1903), IV, pp. 87-89. This book is available on Hathitrust.org. In the passage for May 7th, 1755, it mentions that they camped at Mr. Cox’s (probably Friend Cox) which was located along the Potomac River. It also states they crossed another waterway multiple times between Mr. Enoch’s place and Mr. Cox’s place. This was likely the Little Cacapon River. The distance between the two men’s strongholds was about 12 miles of poorly developed road. Mr. Enoch is quite possibly the father of Sarah and Mary Enoch who married Isaac’s sons Gabriel and Isaac Jr, respectively.
13. J C Fitzpatrick, ed., The Diaries of George Washington (1925), I, pp 405, 406, 449. This book is available on Hathitrust.org. The referenced pages describe the route Washington traveled in October and November 1770 which included not one but two of the Cox Forts. On October 8, 1770, the first Cox Fort mentioned was situated at the mouth of the Cacapon River (page 405)–the same location that Washington surveyed some 20 years previously. On October 10th, reference is made to a previous fort the Coxes had erected. This fort was located near Patterson Creek (page 406). The return trip in late November came past Cox’s Fort at the Cacapon (page 409).
14. Deed Book, Hampshire County, West Virginia, II through VI. This footnote references a series of land transactions made by various members of the Cox family during the period of 1757-1778. Mrs. Adams mentioned that Volume I was not available when she performed her research. Apparently it has been found at some point as FamilySearch has it digitized, along with the other volumes. At any rate, no mention of the Cox family was found in Volume I. The only mention of the Cox family in Volumes V and VI (1778-1785) were in reference to previous ownership of the parcel; they were not party to the transaction at hand.
Because of the number of documents found, I asked CoPilot to compile the information into a table for easy reference. I’m also attempting to have CoPilot map each parcel, however, that is more complicated. Based on the information in the table, the family gradually left the area. Gabriel appears to be the first to sell and leave in 1767. Friend followed in 1772 and Isaac and his sons brought up the rear between 1775 and 1779 which is consistent with Mrs. Adams’ summation.
Error Resolution
The last available update via Ancestry ProTools: I have 5067 errors in the tree–512 possible duplicates, 4100 with no documents, 455 other errors. My Ancestry error resolutions this week included:
BD, distant cousin needs sources. Unfortunately, no hints are populating for this living person. He was listed in his grandmother’s and his father’s obituary so those will have to do.
CS, another distant cousin needs sources. Since he is about the same age as my children, he was a little difficult to find. Thank goodness for small town newspapers that cover a ton of local events. He was named with his age as being a participant in a local parade. In my search, I was also able to find articles naming his two brothers as well.
JA, wife of a distant cousin needs sources. This one was easily sourced. She appears to be a cousin to my 2nd great-grandfather’s half-siblings.1
GED Miner Update
It’s been just over a month since I ran my tree through GED Miner. My tree score went up just a tad. I decided to work on tree errors and clean that up a bit.
There were four instances of a parent born after the child. Those were resolved by deleting the errant individuals.
There were nineteen age issues. Most of these were due to a transcription error when the documents were transcribed. A couple were connected to the wrong parents. A few were inlaws meant for pruning.
There are 312 people who are not attached to the tree. I’ll clean those out as I come across them. I found quite a few with the surname Taylor that were pruned.
There are 852 instances of duplicate birth or death events. I am going to tidy about 10 of these every day.
Goals and progress… Beginning of Week: 27,998 people End of Week: 27,952 people Change = -46 persons Tasks for coming week:
Continue research on Isaac Cox, “The Immigrant” and his wife Susannah Tomlinson.
Review Coxes of Cox Creek
Run newspaper search, especially for articles recounting local history
Review the Cox package of information from Sweden
Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky
Bennett, G.T., The Asbill Family History, 1955, pages 99, 173, Ancestry.com. ↩︎
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 