Tag Archives: Morgan County

Unraveling Elzy Cox’s 1875 Death: A Genealogy Mystery

22 Sunday Mar 2026

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When I finished yesterday, I discovered an Elzy Cox who died in Morgan County, Ohio in 1875. At first I thought this was the son of Israel Cox and Ruth Richardson…but it didn’t quite fit. That Elzy was married to Rachel and was alive and well in 1880. In fact, he died in 1888 in Brooke County, WV. So who was Elzy Cox who died in 1875? In his will, he left everything to his stepson James Fouts and three nephews who were the sons of his brother Israel. It took me a minute, but then I realized Elzy was the brother to Israel Jr and son to Israel Sr! Hints started pouring in for Elzy. I was able to identify his wife and his daughter who both predeceased him. I also found what I believe to be Israel Sr in the 1830 census residing with Elzy in Morgan County. I have not yet found a will for either Israel.

In my search for information about the older Elzy Cox in Morgan County, I came across a couple of Ancestry Trees that tied him to potential sisters–Mary and Sarah. Unfortunately the trees these women were found in did not have any direct evidence that they were indeed daughters of Israel Cox and Elizabeth Newkirk. In fact, the various trees did not agree on who their parents were.

Sarah was married to Josiah Dunlap. Josiah and Sarah could be found in Muskingum County, Ohio by 1820. Josiah claimed 160+ acres of land in Muskingum County nearly adjacent to the parcel patented to Israel Cox in 1831. Sarah and Josiah had several children, one of which was Israel Dunlap. In Israel Dunlap’s will written in 1885 and proven in 18901, he mentions the Cox farm which corresponds to the patent obtained by Israel Cox in 1831. He purchased this tract of land from Ruth Richardson Cox and her children in the 1850s. While this does not prove that Sarah’s parents were Israel Cox and Elizabeth Newkirk, it is an indication that the two families were likely familiar with each other.

It would seem that Israel Dunlap was put out with his family and cut them from his will, according to The Zanesville Signal, July 25, 1890, page 3. The statement in the paper wasn’t 100% true, however. It would seem that some of his nieces and nephews benefitted from his estate. Nothing further was found in the newspaper regarding the contesting of the will. However, a Full Text Search for Israel Dunlap returned over 500 documents, a good number of them regarding a set of parcels that was not included in Israel’s will.

It’s so easy to fall down rabbit holes like that of Israel Dunlap. Building out that descendant branch a bit might prove to be useful at some point in the future, especially if I get a rare DNA match from that line. Now it is time to return my focus to the children of Gabriel Cox and his wife Eleanor for the time being.

The husbands of Margaret and Mary Ann were not named in Gabriel’s will which was written June 6, 1778. Yohogania County Court Minutes on August 24, 1778, granted administration of the estate of John McCoy to his widow Margaret McCoy. Is this Gabriel’s daughter?

In the Court Orders book for Ohio County, Virginia, there is reference to a William and Mary Ann Spencer regarding a land deed in 1783.2 Could this be Gabriel’s daughter Mary Ann?

A deed recorded in Ohio County, Virginia in 1790 bears the name of Peter Cox and his wife Hannah.3 Is this possibly when Peter moved to Ohio?

No additional details could be found for David as well.

I seriously doubt that I will find the answers to these questions online at this time. Adams’ article on the Coxes mentions that all of Gabriel’s children moved to Ohio and everyone except Israel were killed by Indians. Exactly where and when was not discussed since the focus of the article was not on Gabriel’s line. These questions will definitely be among the focus of my next trip to Salt Lake City.

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 5029 errors in the tree–512 possible duplicates, 4069 with no documents, 448 other errors.

  • Husband of a stepdaughter of a cousin. He is fairly extended so I’ll remove him.
  • A father in law of a distant cousin. Again, he’s not part of the family line, so I’ll remove him as well.
  • A distant cousin who needs a source.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,215 people
End of Week: 27,236 people
Change = +21 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Continue research on Isaac Cox, “The Immigrant” and his wife Susannah Tomlinson.
  • Review Coxes of Cox Creek
  • Run newspaper search, especially for articles recounting local history
  • Review the Cox package of information from Sweden
  • Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky
  1. Ohio, US, Wills and Probate Records, 1786-1998, Muskingum County, Will Records, volume 7 1888-1890, page 461, Ancestry. ↩︎
  2. Ohio, VA, Court Orders, 1773-1786, IGN 7616779, image 75. ↩︎
  3. Survey Land Records, 1777-1801, Ohio and Brooke County, Virginia, IGN 7901647, image 84. ↩︎

Researching Israel Cox: Land Records & Family History

15 Sunday Mar 2026

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Working on Israel Cox (1750-c1830) this week. I’m fairly confident that the Israel Cox who provided the deposition in November 1830 in Morgan County, OH was originally from Ohio/Brooke County, VA. I also believe the land entry records for Muskingum County, OH belong to this Israel. Muskingum County borders Morgan County. I’d like to find the actual deed transaction record to try and determine where exactly in Muskingum County these parcels are.

A Full Text Search on FamilySearch returned the following documents from the 1820s in Ohio:

  • An Israel Cox held the position of Township Treasurer in Wells Township, Jefferson County in 1834, 1835, 1845-1853. Not likely the Israel Cox I’m looking for.
  • An Israel Cox purchased land in Jefferson County from Cornelious Sammons in 1823.
  • An Israel Cox was the defendant against the State of Ohio in Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas in 1820. Found guilty of burglary and sentenced three years.
  • An Israel Cox was named as an ineligible voter in a voter fraud complaint in Morgan County in 1825. The complaint stated he was not a resident of Morgan County.
  • An Israel Cox married Margaret Fellows in Jefferson County in 1825.
  • An Israel Cox purchased earthenware from an estate sale in 1822 in Columbiana County.
  • An Israel Cox Jr was the defendant for a breach of marriage contract in Jefferson County in 1821.

There are more documents for Israel Cox in Ohio, however, they are limited access documents. I will need to return to the library to access them.

In the History of Muskingum County, Ohio by JF Everhart and AA Graham, published in 1882, there are numerous mentions of brothers Horatio, Samuel, and Ezekiel Cox. Were they Israel’s sons? grandsons? No relation? This book can be found on archive.org, Hathitrust and FamilySearch.

In the History of Morgan County, Ohio by Charles Robertson, published in 1886, there is little mention of any Coxes.

In the Muskingum County Land Deed Records, there were a few that caught my eye.

  • Elzy, Jonathan & Friend Cox to Israel Dunlap, 6 Oct 1852. Volume 23, page 15.
  • Ruth Cox to Israel Dunlap, 6 Oct 1852, Volume 23, page 16.
  • Joseph Cox to Israel Dunlap, 14 Nov 1855, Volume 29, page 545.
  • Israel, Sarah & Peter Cox to Israel Dunlap, 24 Apr 1857, Volume 32, page 306.

These transfers represent the land that was purchased in February 1831 on patent #2574. These are the grandchildren of Israel Sr, children of Israel Jr. Was this land that Israel Sr left to his son or did Israel Jr buy this land originally? It would seem from the language in the agreement, that Israel Jr did not reside in Muskingum County. Israel Jr’s will has not yet been located in Brooke County, VA.

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 4904 errors in the tree–388 possible duplicates, 4068 with no documents, 448 other errors.

  • My first error to fix was a distant cousin on my mom’s side of the family who needed a source. While I was updating hers, I also updated several of her family members.
  • The second error was also a distant cousin needing a source, however, this one was on my dad’s side. After some investigation, it was determined that he was not a blood relative, but a stepson of a cousin. I have removed him.
  • The last error was another distant cousin. The error finder proposed that she was a duplicate entry, which was not the case. Multiple documents indicated that there were indeed two separate women who were sisters.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,209 people
End of Week: 27,215 people
Change = +6 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Continue research on Isaac Cox, “The Immigrant” and his wife Susannah Tomlinson.
  • Review Coxes of Cox Creek
  • Run newspaper search, especially for articles recounting local history
  • Review the Cox package of information from Sweden
  • Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky

Uncovering the History of Gabriel Cox’s Family

08 Sunday Mar 2026

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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
  1. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C911-3HYG-S?view=fullText&keywords=Israel%20Cox%2COhio&lang=en&groupId= ↩︎

2025 Week 10

09 Sunday Mar 2025

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While researching Wanda Delaney (4th cousin 1x removed) I’ve come across a bit of a conundrum. A marriage record for her and Marion Sherman says they were married in 1950. Three days later, they are listed in the 1950 census with three children ages two to seven. Wanda died in 1967 and Marion remarried. His obituary clearly states that Wanda was his first wife. Her find-a-grave memorial states they were married in 1943 but no location is listed and a marriage record does not readily come up. I also cannot find the birth record for the oldest child where said child indicated she was born on her marriage record. Was Wanda and Marion married before the kids were born, had a falling out and got remarried in 1950? I have no idea. I guess I could expend a lot of energy on this one and try to find out. Or, I could move on and see if anything pops up at a later date. I’m leaning toward the latter since this is a distant collateral family. My musings have been documented on my tree so if anyone wants to pursue that search, I give you my blessing.

While a significant fraction of Martha and Jerome McCain’s family migrated from Pike County, Indiana to Cass County, Indiana to settle and raise their families, the family of Della McCain and Charles DeWeese landed in Martinsville, Indiana. Martinsville holds some personal interest since I have a sibling who lives there. I wonder if she has had interactions with any of these distant cousins of ours. We may never know.

I am about half done with Della’s family and should have that wrapped up this week. YAY. That will leave me with one more McCain sibling and my plan is to complete that family as well. Then I can start on the next child of Rebecca Cassidy and Isaac Arnold. Hmm? Someone posted on one of my Facebook groups the oath Benedict Arnold signed to the colonies before he sold us out. I wonder if this family is descended from him? I will not be falling head first down that rabbit hole.

Nothing remarkable to say about my DNA matches this week. Maybe someone will shake out of the tree next week.

This week Ancestry gave me three new errors to resolve. I have 5271 errors in the tree–390 possible duplicates, 4273 with no documents, 608 other errors.

  • The first one was the mother-in-law of a distant cousin. I no longer add the parents of someone who marries into my tree unless there are multiple siblings that do so. I have decided to remove her and her husband as they aren’t really a member of family. While I was at it, I reviewed the hints provided for their son.
  • The second was for a distant cousin who had no records attached. Reviewed some hints, cleaned up the record for his wife and added a child.
  • The third one was for the husband of a distant cousin who had no records. Unfortunately, the only record I have for his wife is from the Tanguay Collection which I cannot view using my US only subscription. I have tagged both of them as Canadian and will revisit when there is a free Canadian records weekend. Did I mention they were from the 1700s?

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.

344 years ago – birth of Louis DeMoss (7th ggf)
330 years ago – birth of Elizabeth Norton (8th ggm)
262 years ago – death of Elizabeth Bennett (7th ggm)
247 years ago – birth of Sarah Kerr (5th ggm)
226 years ago – birth of Nancy Squires (4th ggm)
222 years ago – birth of Henry Thompson (4th ggf)
201 years ago – death of Michael Keller (5th ggf)
192 years ago – birth of Isaac DeMoss (3rd ggf)
173 years ago – death of Therese Lefebre (6th ggm)
167 years ago – death of William Fielden (4th ggf)
143 years ago – death of Francoise Courtright (4th ggm)
80 years ago – death of Samuel Isaac DeMoss (ggf)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,485 people
End of Week: 27,549 people
Change = +64 people – goal MET!!
Goal for coming week: Add 50 new people and continue researching the Isaac and Rebecca Arnold descendants, specifically the Martha and Jerome McCain family this week.