Tag Archives: Knox County

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

Posted by in Civil War, Genealogy

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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 37

13 Saturday Sep 2025

Posted by in Genealogy, maps, Newspapers

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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-?)