Tag Archives: Indiana

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

2025 Week 45

09 Sunday Nov 2025

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If you recall back in Week 34, I had an overview of the many Benjamin Coxes there were in this family. I’m now deep-diving into Benjamin #2 from that list.

I’ve exhausted what I can easily find on Ancestry for Benjamin. In searching on FamilySearch from home, the vast majority of documents pertain to deed transactions in Shelby County, KY on the inherited property from his father. There are restrictions on Knox County, IN documents in FamilySearch; I will need to put that on my to do list for next Saturday when I am at the library. I really want to find something indicating that he died in 1887. He did file for a father’s pension in 1885 for his son Virgil who died in the Civil War.

Not much is known about Ben’s first wife, Elizabeth Shepherd. She died about 1845. Together they had four children.

Ben’s second wife, Lucinda, was the widow of Leonard Williams and together they had four daughters. Ben and Lucy did not have any children together. An obituary for Lucy stated she was 87 at the time of her death in 1898.

Ben and Lizzie’s oldest child, Sarah, married Amos Farmer and they had two children. By 1870, the children were living with Ben and Lucy, so it is not clear what happened to Sarah and Amos. Their son Virgil was born in late 1861. Amos served in the Civil War, however, he was reported as a deserter in October 1862. I will need to check the guardianship and probate records at the library to see if any further details might surface.

Sarah and Amos’s son Virgil was the center of a supposed scandal in July 1895, according to the local newspapers.1 Supposedly Virgil disappeared, leaving his wife and children to fend for themselves, and a pile of debt to deal with. His wife Carrie apparently filed desertion charges against him. The rumor was that he took off with his ex-wife. It was never disclosed where he went or what he did. The rumor was discounted in that the ex-wife was happily at home in Linton with her current husband. Virgil did return, he resigned from his position as deputy sheriff, and apparently he and Carrie sorted things out as they were listed in the same household in 1900.

Ben and Lizzie’s oldest son, Albert, is quite the conundrum. He appears in the 1850 census with the blended family, but he is not present in 1860. Granted he would be about 23 and possibly on his own. Some researchers have attributed him to an Albert Cox who married Caroline Sprinkle in 1867 in Warrick County. Albert who resided in Warrick County is more likely to be the son of William Cox and Rachel Underwood who migrated to Pike County, Indiana from North Carolina. This assignment would be more logical since Pike County borders Warrick County.

Without any proof linking Knox County Albert to Warrick County Albert, I will refrain from assuming they are the same person.

Third child Virgil joined the 51st Indiana Infantry Regiment in 1861. He became ill in Missouri and died of disease after only serving a few months. He is buried in the national cemetery in St Louis. His father Ben filed for a survivor’s pension in 1885.

The youngest of Ben and Lizzie’s children was John Shepherd Cox. He too served in the 51st Indiana Infantry Regiment. After returning from the war, he married Caroline House and they raised at least four children. The family resided in Labette County, Kansas, for several years before returning to Knox County. At some point prior to 1900 it would seem that John and Caroline divorced. Nothing was reported in the papers, but maybe something will turn up in the court records. An account of the 50th wedding anniversary celebration for Caroline’s parents in 1894 gives the impression that they were still married at that time.2 It is also possible that they merely separated and did not obtain a formal divorce.

Tree Ratings are back! I have 3 from this week to resolve. I have 4950 errors in the tree–374 possible duplicates, 4119 with no documents, 457 other errors.

  • A distant cousin with no documentation. Found him in the 1950 census and put a first name to his father.
  • A father-in-law of a great granduncle with a logic error associated to him. Since his is not a blood relative or married to one, I have removed him and his wife.
  • The last is the spouse of a distant cousin with no sources.

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.
343 years ago – marriage of Anna Shepard (9th ggm) and Daniel Quincy (9th ggf)
236 years ago – death of Margaret Moore Short (7th ggm)
227 years ago – death of Benjamin Bonnell (7th ggf)
205 years ago – marriage of Phillip Catt (7th ggf) and his second wife Sally Kimmons
202 years ago – birth of Oliver McCullough (3rd ggf)
192 years ago – birth of Henry V Gravel (3rd ggf)
131 years ago – death of John W Fielden (3rd ggf)
109 years ago – marriage of Magdelena Kaiser (ggm) and Emmett Keller (ggf)
107 years ago – death of Arely Fielden (2nd ggf)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 26,965 people
End of Week: 26,997 people
Change = +32 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Follow up on several items for the family of Benjamin Cox and Elizabeth Shepherd.
  • Research the family of Finetta Cox and Eldridge Arnold.
  • Review the information in The Other Polks to see if there is anything I don’t already have
  • Continue data mining on Ben Cox and Sarah Piety
  • 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. The Western Sun, 5 Jul 1895, page 1, newspapers.com. ↩︎
  2. The Western Sun, 23 Mar 1894, page 4, newspapers.com ↩︎

2025 Week 41

12 Sunday Oct 2025

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Time to wrap up the family of Jonathan and Rachel Cox. Their youngest daughter was Harriet. She married Thomas Hollingsworth. Thomas served in the Civil War and drew a pension until his death in 1882. Harriet made a widow’s claim at that time, but I didn’t have any better proof for her date of death. Her widow’s pension is not yet available at Fold 3. Only 22% of those have been digitized to date.

A search of the newspapers found an article in 1885 reporting on the annual Old Settlers gathering in the Knox County area. It was published in early August and Harriet was listed on the report from the Necrology Committee. In the following months, there were multiple legal notices in the papers regarding her estate. It would seem that one of her brothers served as administrator. After checking probate records, I was able to determine that she died on July 16, 1885 in Knox County, Indiana.

Of course, not all of Harriet’s children have been so easy to research. The children seemed to go in various directions. Millard married and moved to Wichita. Edward (aka Ellis) headed west and settled in Seattle. After Thomas died, Harriet returned to Knox County, taking Dora with her. John migrated north to Iowa, finally settling in Nebraska after several moves. Benjamin and Mary were elusive. Mary was mentioned in Millard’s obituary as still being alive, but nothing could be found for either sibling.

And with that, we return to Kentucky to research Austin Piety Cox, Ben and Sarah’s eighth child. With his wife Rebecca Phillips, they had ten children, seven of which were daughters. I’ll start Austin’s family next week.

I love maps! They help to tell the story, especially with migration. I found a new (to me) site that has me all giddy about creating maps. It’s called Ultimaps. I am forever wanting to illustrate where certain counties are in relation to others. This site has a blank county map of Kentucky and I can colorize it however I want! I’ve started by shading in the counties where my DeMosses are and where my Cox families are. I do have other lines that came thru Kentucky which I will add later.

Tree Ratings are back! I have 3 from this week to resolve. I have 5049 errors in the tree–374 possible duplicates, 4176 with no documents, 499 other errors.

  • First this week, is the husband of a distant cousin who I don’t have any references for and I don’t know his first name. Luckily, I found a wedding announcement for them right off the bat!
  • Another spouse of a distant cousin needs some references. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how she became connected to this cousin, because I can find no reference to her in any of his information. She’s been deleted.
  • Finally, a distant cousin without references. Of course, she would have six sisters who were all married and had a ton of kids…all without references. This exercise should make a dent in my errors for next week.

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.
209 years ago – death of George Catt (6th ggf)
194 years ago – marriage of Tamer Pool (4th ggm) and John Butler (4th ggf)
182 years ago – death of Hannah Puckett (5th ggm)
178 years ago – marriage of Francis Roderick (4th ggf) and his 2nd wife Eliza Pea
167 years ago – death of Gesina Brake Sievers (4th ggm)
165 years ago – marriage of Sarah Roderick (3rd ggm) and Robert Thompson (3rd ggf)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,078 people
End of Week: 27,106 people
Change = +28 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Focus on family of Austin P Cox and Rebecca Phillips
  • Review the information in The Other Polks to see if there is anything I don’t already have
  • Continue data mining on Ben Cox and Sarah Piety
  • 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 37

13 Saturday Sep 2025

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This week I’m starting on the family of Harvey Innes Cox. I’ll get it started, but likely won’t finish it. His parents were Jonathan P Cox and Rachel Tigert Cox. He married Mary Nicholson in Knox County. They had nine kids that I know of. After he served in the Civil War, they picked up stakes and moved to Labette County, Kansas around 1868. This is where they remained until death.

Where exactly is Labette County? It is in the southeastern corner of Kansas, not too far west of Joplin, Missouri. Harvey’s family was mostly located in the Parsons area, in the northern part of the county, but over the years they could be found in the southern towns of Edna and Bartlett.

I have concerns about some of the information out there for Harvey’s descendants and families. His daughter Eliza appears in the 1860 census as a one year old, however, there is no trace of her after that. Some trees, and print books, list an actual date of birth and death, however no sources have yet to be found with this information. I would only hope there is a family bible out there somewhere that contains that information.

There is also erroneous information regarding the family of Benjamin F Cox, Harvey’s son. Benjamin married Etta Pond when she was 19. Some sources claim her maiden name was Stark based on her headstone, but this is incorrect. Benjamin’s obituary claims Etta died before his second marriage, but that is also incorrect. Scouring the newspapers, Etta filed for divorce from Benjamin in February 1916 according to The Times-Journal. It was granted in May. A marriage license for Etta Cox, 51, to William Wright was located in the South Kansas Tribune in January 1918. This was followed by a legal notice in the Parsons Daily Sun on April 21, 1921, where Etta Wright sues a William Wright for divorce. Part of her suit is to return her name to Etta Cox. Prior to 1930 Etta seems to have remarried to Eugene Stark, which explains the Stark name on her headstone. Pulling information from two very different obituaries for Etta ties the two women together.

I actually made more progress than I thought I would on this family this week. Three of the sons–Henry, and the twins Jonathan and Simon–appear to have never married so there wasn’t much drama to try and unfold. Two of the daughters–Eliza and Irene–seem to have died as small children so there was little to be found about them. The 1900 census mentions that Mary Nicholson Cox had 12 children, however, I have not been able to account for two of them. There does seem to be a significant gap between Harriet (b. 1851) and Henry (b. 1855). Researchers on FamilySearch have indicated there was a baby born in January 1853, however, no source is provided. The gap between Benjamin and Irene is likely due to Harvey being away at war for three years, so I would not expect a child to be hidden there.

This week in the past…
I’d like to take an opportunity to celebrate the anniversaries of births, marriages, and deaths of my bloodlines the week ahead.
281 years ago – death of Louise Arrivee Cardinal (8th ggm)
258 years ago – birth of Lydia Smith (6th ggm)
242 years ago – death of Rev. William Smith (7th ggf)
228 years ago – marriage of Mary Gott (5th ggm) and John Squires (5th ggf)
193 years ago – birth of Benjamin Coppock (3rd ggf)
193 years ago – death of Richard Puckett (5th ggf)
179 years ago – death of George Boord (6th ggf)
148 years ago – marriage of Joseph E Cardinal (3rd ggf) and Elisabeth Carrie, his 2nd wife

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,020 people
End of Week: 27,029 people
Change = +9 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Continue focus on Jonathan P. Cox and family – Harvey Innes Cox
  • Review the information in The Other Polks to see if there is anything I don’t already have
  • Continue data mining on Ben Cox and Sarah Piety
  • 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 36

07 Sunday Sep 2025

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Sally Cox. She was the first daughter born to Jonathan Piety Cox and Rachel Lemen Tigert. There really isn’t much, if any information on her existence. Robertine Cox Dees, the great-granddaughter of Jonathan and Rachel, named Sally as their daughter born in 1822.1 It would seem that Sally possibly died as a small child. She cannot be accounted for in the 1830 Census. There is only one female between the ages of five and nine identified and that likely references her sister Mary who was born in 1824. Other researchers, including Ancestry’s hints, try to attribute this Sally to one who married David Huff in 1842 in Hancock County, Kentucky. While that Sally’s father’s name was also Jonathan, it must be remembered that Jonathan was a popular Cox family name. It is not very likely that after Jonathan and Rachel moved the family north to Knox County in 1823ish, that they would have married her off to someone in a county they were not native to some distance away.

That said, all I can and will say about Sally is that she was born circa 1822, probably in Shelby County, Kentucky.

Moving on, Mary J Cox certainly has a few more details to consider. I have a couple DNA matches through her as well. There also seems to be some confusion between this Mary and another Mary who resided in Warrick County, Indiana during the same time period. The DNA algorithms are trying to attribute Warrick County Mary as a daughter of JP. She likely is descended through another branch of my Cox line. I’m sure there will be more on that later.

Mary married her distant cousin Isaac Polk. They had nine children together before her death in 1859. Isaac married a second time, however, I will research those three daughters at a later date. Mary and Isaac’s son Benjamin Franklin Polk served as county treasurer for one term in the 1880s. The family mainly resided in northern Knox County as prominent farmers and livestock growers. Both Jeanette and Henrietta were married to Ellis Hill, although not at the same time. A common ailment leading to death in this family was Bright’s Disease, an old school term for a general group of kidney diseases.

Revisiting a question from a couple weeks ago regarding Benjamin Cox, son of Jonathan and Rachel…nothing concrete was found regarding the parents of the Benjamin Cox in Montgomery County. No land records in Montgomery County were found indicating where Benjamin might have resided at the time of purchase. The Find a Grave memorial does include an obituary which states that Benjamin arrived in Montgomery Co in 1853, and he is attached to a William and Ida Cox from the Lexington, KY area. The 1880 census states his parents were born in England which is inline with information available on William and Ida.

A will for Jonathan Piety Cox was not found, so whether or not Benjamin was still alive in 1874 when JP died cannot be determined. However, I think it can be surmised that JP’s son did not move to Montgomery County and marry Mary Srader.

A lot of progress was made this week, including the pruning of several unattached branches in the tree. Next week I will continue with the descendants of Harvey Innes Cox.

This week in the past…
I’d like to take an opportunity to celebrate the anniversaries of births, marriages, and deaths of my bloodlines the week ahead.
362 years ago – birth of Anna Shepard (9th ggm)
202 years ago – death of Jane Wilson (5th ggm)
130 years ago – birth of Ethel Thompson (ggm)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,336 people
End of Week: 27,020 people
Change = -316 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Continue focus on Jonathan P. Cox and family – Harvey Innes Cox
  • Review the information in The Other Polks to see if there is anything I don’t already have
  • Continue data mining on Ben Cox and Sarah Piety
  • 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. “Indiana Genealogy, Answers #638” The Indianapolis Star, 2 Jun 1929, page 74, newspapers.com. ↩︎

2025 Week 35

31 Sunday Aug 2025

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This week I am focusing my research on John Lemen Cox, son of Jonathan Piety Cox and Rachel Lemen Tigert. He was born in Shelby County, Kentucky, but lived out the rest of his life in Knox County, Indiana. He died in November 1900.

Among the many documents available for John is the 1880 plat map. I have always been fascinated with maps and comparing how things change over time. Having grown up in Knox County, I’m always curious as to where an ancestor’s land was located compared to today’s landmarks. I will say up front that my photoshopping skills are incredibly basic. I have taken the plat map for Washington Township and overlaid it on the map from Google, using the Price Cemetery and the town of Bruceville to line things up.

I was initially curious about the railroad that runs through Bruceville and snakes across the bottom of the image. That was the Indianapolis and Vincennes Railroad which has since been dismantled. What I did wonder was if it ran along the same path as State Road 67. Some sources mention that SR 67 was laid in the railroad bed in some places. That doesn’t seem to be the case in Washington Township, but may be so further north.

I was then curious as to where John L Cox’s farm was. Newspaper accounts state he lived on this farm for 65 years! He had several sections of land which are in the red rectangle. There is a small dot near the middle top of the rectangle indicating where the residence was. Closer examination reveals that SR 67 cuts through the middle of John’s land, and his property appears to be a stone’s throw from the Knox County Fairgrounds! How very cool is that?

The review of John’s family was fairly straight forward as I already had a lot of documents collected for them. John was married twice. He had three sons with his first wife, including a set of twins. After her death, he married Naomi Steen and together they had six children who lived to adulthood. Among his children was John Crittenden Cox, elected sheriff in Knox County from 1899 to 1900.

Most of John’s nine children never married. Of those that did, there were only four grandchildren produced. Interestingly, Caroline and James, both who never married, made each other the primary beneficiaries of their estates. Caroline died first in March 1936, leaving almost everything to James. James died later that year in September. Both of them made provisions that if the other predeceased them, their respective estates moved to one of their named nieces.

Caution was necessary when researching James. There was another James Cox who was of similar age who also lived in Knox County. He was born in 1858 and died in 1935. This alternate James had been married and had several children. Some sources confuse the two men.

This week Ancestry gave me three new errors to resolve. I have 5170 errors in the tree–376 possible duplicates, 4235 with no documents, 559 other errors.

  • BUMMER! The tree score is gone. I don’t know if that is a temporary change or not. They are having a sale on the ProTools until Tuesday. I’ll pass for now

This week in the past…
I’d like to take an opportunity to celebrate the anniversaries of births, marriages, and deaths of my bloodlines the week ahead.
289 years ago – death of Nathaniel Bunnell Jr (9th ggf)
245 years ago – birth of Catherine Catt (5th ggm)
225 years ago – birth of Rebecca Wilks (4th ggm)
183 years ago – marriage of Rebecca WIlliams (4th ggm) and William Briscoe (4th ggf)
181 years ago – death of Phillip Catt (7th ggf)
177 years ago – death of Joshua Frost (4th ggf)
45 years ago – death of Magdelena Kaiser Keller (ggm)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,307 people
End of Week: 27,336 people
Change = +29 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Continue focus on Jonathan P. Cox and family – Sally Cox
  • Review the information in The Other Polks to see if there is anything I don’t already have
  • Continue data mining on Ben Cox and Sarah Piety
  • 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
  • September 6th – FS Full Text Search at library of Benjamin F Cox (1819-?)

2025 Week 34

24 Sunday Aug 2025

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Let’s talk Benjamins–Benjamin Coxes, that is. I have ten of them. Let’s sort them out.

  • Benjamin Cox #1 (1757-1829) – This Benjamin is the granddaddy of them all, literally. He’s married to Sarah Piety.
  • Benjamin F Cox #2 (1804-1887) – This Benjamin Cox is the son of Benjamin #1. He was married first to Elizabeth Shepherd, then to Lucinda Williams. He spent his adult years in Knox County, Indiana.
  • Benjamin Cox #3 (1771-?) – This Benjamin is the son of John Cox, older brother of Benjamin #1. He was born in Maryland. He would be a cousin to #2.
  • Benjamin Cox #4 (1841-?) – This Benjamin is a grandson of Benjamin #1, through his son John Calhoun Cox.
  • Benjamin F Cox #5 (1819-?) – This Benjamin Cox is another grandson of Benjamin #1, this one through Jonathan Piety Cox. He is the focus of this week’s research.
  • Benjamin F Cox #6 (1820-1845) – This Benjamin Cox is yet a third grandson of Benjamin #1, a son of Gabriel Cox.
  • Benjamin Ballard Cox #7 (1869-?) – This Benjamin Cox is the great-grandson of Benjamin #1. He is descended through Isaac Cox and William Benjamin Cox.
  • Benjamin Franklin Cox #8 (1852-1905) – This Benjamin Cox is another great-grandson of Benjamin #1, descended through Gabriel and his son Thomas P Cox. He married Minnie Martin and lived in the Knox County, Indiana area.
  • Benjamin Franklin Cox #9 (1862-?) – This Benjamin Cox is also a great-grandson of Benjamin #1, descended from Jonathan Piety Cox and Harvey Innes Cox.
  • Benjamin Cox #10 (?-?) – This Benjamin Cox is the son of Friend Cox. This would make him a cousin of Benjamin #1.

That’s quite a collection of Benjamins. Unfortunately, I’m having a bit of difficulty with Benjamin #5. He appears to have left home by 1850–he was thirty years old–and was not listed near the family in the census. Someone on FamilySearch mistook him for someone fifteen years his junior so that relationship needed to be severed in the tree. Kester reports in his family history of the Polks that #5 married Patsy Shepherd. I can’t seem to find a marriage record for them and without an actual citation documenting this fact, I’m not sure where exactly to start looking. Benjamin #2 did marry an Elizabeth Shepherd in 1834, but #5 would have been too young to be party to that union.

Ancestry is trying to convince me that #5 moved to Montgomery County in central Indiana, married Mary Srader and raised his family there. While not completely out of the question, I haven’t found any evidence indicating that this is #5. To the best of my knowledge, I do not have any DNA matches connecting this line to my own. Of course, this would be pushing the limits of autosomal DNA matches.

Before I commit to #5 having married Mary Srader, I want to try and find something to substantiate the familial tie. I should try to locate a will for Jonathan Piety Cox in Knox County in 1874. Since court records for this county are restricted on FamilySearch, I will need to explore this more during my next visit to the library in a few weeks. Montgomery County newspapers around 1880 aren’t readily available online, so I am unable to find a death notice.

Also of concern is the spelling of Benjamin with an “e” on the end. This is not consistent with the spelling of Benjamin in my Cox family. This may be of no concern or it could be a significant detail. The 1880 Census states that B.F. Cox’s parents were born in England. #5’s parents were born in Kentucky. The more I look at this, the more I am convinced that the Montgomery County man is not the one I’m searching for. I will table research for Benjamin until September 6th. If I cannot find anything, I will add this to my to-do list for my next trip to Salt Lake City.

For now I’ll move on to the next child of JP and Rachel…John Lemen Cox.

This week Ancestry gave me three new errors to resolve. I have 5170 errors in the tree–376 possible duplicates, 4235 with no documents, 559 other errors.

  • A grand daughter of Harvey Innes Cox with no sources. I haven’t gotten to this family yet, but I have now updated them.
  • A 7th cousin with no sources attached. Could not locate one that was definitively him.
  • A 5th cousin with no sources attached. He was named in his grandmother’s obituary.

This week in the past…
I’d like to take an opportunity to celebrate the anniversaries of births, marriages, and deaths of my bloodlines the week ahead.
302 years ago – birth of Nicolas Cardinal (6th ggf)
263 years ago – death of Jean Creely (8th ggf)
261 years ago – birth of Jacob Pea Jr (6th ggf)
245 years ago – death of Francis Moore (8th ggf)
229 years ago – birth of Michael Keller Jr (4th ggf)
199 years ago – death of Jerome Creely (6th ggf)
192 years ago – death of Johannes Korz (5th ggf)
168 years ago – marriage of Mary Sievers (3rd ggm) and Henry Gravel (3rd ggf)
159 years ago – marriage of Mary Briscoe (3rd ggm) and Richard O. Bennett (3rd ggf)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,557 people
End of Week: 27,307 people
Change = -250 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Continue focus on Jonathan P. Cox and family – John Lemen Cox
  • Review the information in The Other Polks to see if there is anything I don’t already have
  • Continue data mining on Ben Cox and Sarah Piety
  • 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
  • September 6th – FS Full Text Search at library of Benjamin F Cox (1819-?)

2025 Week 33

17 Sunday Aug 2025

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This week I’ve been doing a little of this and a little of that. I took some time one evening to delete some floaters. When I finished, I think it said I deleted well over 100 people! Another night, I cleaned up a few place names. Housekeeping in my tree is an enormous task that will take years to fix.

Aside from those activities, I have started researching Jonathan Piety Cox and his family with Rachel Tigert. Marriage license documents for this couple indicate that Rachel was over twenty-one, however, Jonathan was not and there is written permission from his father for him to wed.

I was unable to find much of anything on Tigerts in the Shelby County area at that time. Broadening my search to all of Kentucky, I did find a will for John Tigert in Warren County, Kentucky in 1820. A Jonathan Cox served as witness to the document. What are the chances that Gabriel’s brother Jonathan (husband to Rachel) is the same man? There is a bit of distance between Shelby County and Warren County, but I don’t think this is too far of a reach. While Mr. Tigert’s will did not specifically name his daughters, he did state he had five of them. The image below appears to be the actual document and not the transcribed copy in the clerk’s book.

A little further digging, and I found an alternate spelling of “Tygart”. John and Isabel were possibly married in Washington County, Virginia in 1800. This would not be consistent with Rachel being their daughter and of the age of 21 in 1817 at the time of her marriage. I guess she could have lied to the clerk. Other documents I found with the spelling Tygart did identify John’s five daughters by name, one of which was Rachel. Unfortunately, her married name was Simpson, not Cox, and the deed stated she resided in Warren County. What I did notice in the Washington County marriage records was the marriage of John’s brother James in 1796. Is James possibly Rachel’s father? At any rate, this has been a bit of a rabbit hole for me. If there are any Tigert/Tygart researchers out there and have an answer or just a theory, I’d love it if you would share.

I did manage to work through the family of Jonathan and Rachel’s first born, James. James married Christiana Polk in Knox County. They were slightly distant cousins. He left her a widow with four young children around 1849 or so. She remarried a couple times. What I am finding is that a portion of Jonathan and Rachel’s descendants migrated away from Indiana and landed in southeast Kansas, not far from Joplin, Missouri. At any rate, I will be working on their second son next week, Benjamin F Cox.

This week Ancestry gave me three new errors to resolve. I have 5217 errors in the tree–380 possible duplicates, 4237 with no documents, 600 other errors.

  • The first error is a doozy. There is a child assigned to this individual who was born well after his death. After reviewing a few hints, it was determined that the errant child belonged to the wife’s second husband. The family was built out a bit and the error was corrected.
  • The second error presented is for the granddaughter of one of my cousins. The little girl is five. I don’t have any sources for her. The most obvious citation would be a newspaper announcement, however, the newspapers where they live are not available on Newspapers.com. This one will need to sit until she gets older.
  • The last error for this week is no records on the wife of a 6th cousin. Although not part of the error, I’d also like to find her maiden name. I have way too many women in my database with the last name “?”. Found several facts with documents to clear the error and update her last name.

This week in the past…
I’d like to take an opportunity to celebrate the anniversaries of births, marriages, and deaths of my bloodlines the week ahead.
236 years ago – death of Nicolas Joseph Cardinal (6th ggf)
202 years ago – death of Jacob Richardson Jr (6th ggf)
200 years ago – marriage of John Cawood (4th ggf) and his 2nd wife Rachel English
169 years ago – marriage of Sarah Lewis (3rd ggm) and John W Fielden (3rd ggf)
132 years ago – birth of August Cardinal (ggf)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,642 people
End of Week: 27,557 people
Change = -85 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Continue focus on Jonathan P. Cox and family – Benjamin Cox
  • Review the information in The Other Polks to see if there is anything I don’t already have
  • Continue data mining on Ben Cox and Sarah Piety
  • 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 31

03 Sunday Aug 2025

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I made it to the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City! We have a group of about 20 ladies here researching for the week.

Day 1: The first task I’m tackling is looking at restricted access books from their catalog. The first is “DeMoss Family History” by Jo Ann Robertson Hornby written in 1998. She did an awesome job of citing her sources and even providing some document images. One detail that I definitely need to explore is that my line might be descended from William DeMoss and not Louis DeMoss. He is postulated to be a brother to Louis and lived in the vicinity of Louis in Maryland. He also moved to Orange County, Virginia around the same time Louis did. He had two children, one of which was a son named Thomas. This will be worth researching further.

Also worth exploring further are the purported children of Louis DeMoss (1715-1749) and Margaret Ramsey. Their children were listed in “Ancestors of John G Fee, Matilda H Fee, and John G Hanson” by Richard Sears, however, it does not appear to be sourced. They would have been the correct age to have parented my William DeMoss (1773-1815). Children: Peter, John, James, Louis, William, Mary and Elizabeth. Hornby only assigns one child, a daughter Christian, to this couple.

Day 2: Today I’m hanging out on the 3rd floor where all the US and Canada books are. First up is a book of marriage bond abstracts for Fleming Co, KY compiled by Gareth Mark. It does provide some useful information with respect to the Thomas DeMosses in Fleming County. A marriage bond for Thomas DeMoss and Mary Snediger (sic) dated 1823 named Lewis DeMoss as the father of this Thomas DeMoss. A separate bond from 1824 named a Thomas DeMoss as the bondsman for Elizabeth DeMoss who married Michael Hedrick. It’s possible that this is a second Thomas who lived in the county at the same time and is a brother to Elizabeth. This could also be the Thomas who married Rebecca Morrow and that I have DNA matches through.

A number of DeMosses born in the 1770s and residing in the Fleming County area in the early 1800s lead me to believe they were probably siblings: James, William, Mary, and Lewis. The marriage bond records for Mary to Thomas Lock in 1795 Mason County, Kentucky, indicated that her mother’s name was also Mary. The fact that her mother gave her permission would suggest her father was deceased. Part of Mason County became Fleming County in 1798. I’ll need to keep looking for the connection between this generation and the next.

Day 3: I think I have exhausted all sources for the DeMosses at this point in time. When I get home, I will need to review what is already in my manuscript for this line and make any updates based on what I have found. I did do a little research on my George Winkler line which will be the next after the Coxes. I found the divorce proceedings for his marriage to Katie Bean which barely lasted a couple months. Now I am back working on Susannah Cox Ballard’s extensive family.

James and Susannah’s son Bland, named for his grandfather, was fairly straight forward to research. He served as a federal circuit court judge under President Abraham Lincoln. Their son Josephus died as an infant. I also located a transcription of a family bible for the Ballard family which confirms the dates of their vitals. With that, I am finished with Susannah!

Moving on to Isaac Cox, the fifth child of Benjamin and Sarah Piety Cox. Isaac resided in Clark County, Indiana. His sons were river boat pilots on the Ohio River.

Day 4: Last day at the library. Today I am hanging out on the 3rd floor again and going thru the surname books. I seem to have found some good stuff on my Bunnell/Bonnell line. There are three books that chronicle the earliest parts of this family for me. “The Bunnell/Bonnell Family in America” by WIlliam R Austin happens to be on Internet Archive so I can refer back to it often at home.

There is useful information regarding the service of Benjamin Bunnell in the Revolutionary War that might be found in “A Village at War, Chatham, NJ and the American Revolution” by Donald Wallace White. I’ll need to check that out. I might be able to get another Patriot or two out of it. Digging further I was able to find the service source and proof of residency for Benjamin Bunnell so I will be preparing that DAR supplemental application when I get home. I’ve only been wanting to submit that one since 2019!

Back to my research on the Cox family. I have cleaned up Isaac Cox who resided in Jeffersonville, Indiana and am moving on to Joseph Cox, born ca 1790. According to most previously published family histories, he did not marry. However, I have several DNA matches that might say otherwise. Once I sort this out next week, I will elaborate.

This week Ancestry gave me three new errors to resolve. I have 5243 errors in the tree–378 possible duplicates, 4261 with no documents, 604 other errors.

  • John Watson is a floater. I have deleted him.
  • A stepson of husband of wife of distant cousin. He is outside of my lines so I deleted him too.
  • A 6th cousin 1x removed has no documentation. I found his marriage 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 the week ahead.
375 years ago – birth of Susanna Whitehead (10th ggm)
360 years ago – birth of Louise Arrivee (8th ggm)
346 years ago – birth of Abigail Fowle (8th ggm)
346 years ago – death of Simon Cardinal (9th ggf)
285 years ago – marriage of Elizabeth Quincy (7th ggm) and Rev William Smith (7th ggf)
216 years ago – Elihu Puckett (4th ggf)
69 years ago – marriage of August Cardinal (ggf) to his second wife Jessie Shackelford

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,609 people
End of Week: 27,630 people
Change = +21 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Focus on Joseph Cox who may have married Elizabeth Smith
  • Review the information in The Other Polks to see if there is anything I don’t already have
  • Continue data mining on Ben Cox and Sarah Piety
  • 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 25

22 Sunday Jun 2025

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This week I had a DNA match appear through John Squires and Mary Gott. I was a bit excited since I don’t have many DNA matches for this set of great-grandparents. The connecting relative was a Martha Mount. Oddly enough, there were two Martha Mounts who were about the same age and lived in neighboring counties. They married different men and, as it turned out, my Martha Mount was not the same Martha Mount belonging to my match. They very well could have been cousins to each other, but the other Martha was not my cousin since Alfred Mount married into my line. So I dug a bit further and looked at our common matches. It would seem this match shares DNA with cousins along my Fielden and Mattox lines. I’ll need to examine her relationship to me closer when I get to those lines.

This week’s research focus was on Benjamin C Ballard, second child and oldest son of James and Susanna Cox Ballard. He married in Shelby County, Kentucky in 1829 and started his family there. In the mid 1830s, they migrated to Greene County, Indiana and settled near Worthington. He had five children with his first wife who died in 1839 at the age of 30. He remarried and added two more children to his family before his death in 1844. He was fairly active in the community. There were numerous references to him in probate records of others, serving as administrator and even guardian in an instance or two. The family continued to maintain a prominent standing in the community after his death. Details regarding the family could be found in biographies of Catherine Stalcup Ballard and John J Ballard in Biographical Memoirs of Greene County, Indiana published in 1908. The book can be found on Google Books for free.

The next Ballard child is Perlina Ballard. Perlina married her first cousin Benjamin Simpson. It should be a quick review of my previous research. Hopefully I can also put some time in on child #4 Thomas next week as well.

This week Ancestry gave me three new errors to resolve. I have 5288 errors in the tree–376 possible duplicates, 4308 with no documents, 604 other errors.

  • Wife of a distant cousin was missing sources. I updated both her and her husband.
  • A 6th cousin with no sources which was updated.
  • Pryor Smallwood, a 6th great-granduncle with no sources attached. An extensive genealogy of the Smallwood Family in Maryland Genealogies provided the needed information on this uncle. This reference will be useful when I get to researching the Smallwood family.

This week in the past…
I’d like to take an opportunity to celebrate the anniversaries of births, marriages, and deaths of my bloodlines which will occur during the week ahead.
259 years ago – marriage of Mary Saunders (6th ggm) and John McCullough (6th ggf)
192 years ago – death of Stewart Cunningham (5th ggf)
100 years ago – birth of Dorothy Cardinal Keller – Happy Birthday Grandma!
76 years ago – death of Ethel Thompson Cardinal (ggm)
67 years ago – marriage of Edeine Fielden DeMoss (gm) and John Heath her 2nd husband
58 years ago – marriage of Phyllis Keller and Samuel DeMoss Jr (my parents!)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,990 people
End of Week: 28,039 people
Change = +49 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Focus on Susannah Cox + James Ballard
  • Review the information in The Other Polks to see if there is anything I don’t already have
  • Continue data mining on Ben Cox and Sarah Piety
  • 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
  • Review History of Mariah Creek Christian Church
  • Review bio of James Ballard, husband of Susannah Cox