Tag Archives: Moyer

Cox Family Research: Documenting Histories & Errors

02 Sunday Aug 2026

Posted by in artificial intelligence, DNA Matches, Genealogy

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DNA Updates

  • 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
  1. Bennett, G.T., The Asbill Family History, 1955, pages 99, 173, Ancestry.com. ↩︎

Elizabeth Moyer Mattox Coppock

27 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by in Genealogy

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Today’s conundrum is Elizabeth Moyer, another of my 3rd great grandmothers.  Elizabeth was born circa 1822 in Indiana to unknown parents.  According to census data, her father was born in Canada and her mother in Ohio.  She married James Mattox in 1837 in Vigo County, IN and they were living in Riley Township at the time of the 1850 Census.  They had seven children who lived to maturity:  Pelina, Susan, Alzina, Napoleon, Marshall, Calvin (my 2nd great grandfather), and Alonzo.  By 1860, the family had moved to Clay County, IN.  James died at some point after 1860, possibly in the war, and Elizabeth became the head of the household for several years.  In 1873, she married Benjamin Coppock and was listed in his household in the 1880 census, along with her son Alonzo.  This is probably how Calvin and Rebecca got together.  What happened to Elizabeth after 1880 is questionable.  Benjamin married Mary Merrill Cutshaw in July 1882, so obviously something happened to her.  I have two theories:

  • Benjamin and Elizabeth divorced.  Nothing was mentioned in Benjamin’s biography in the History of Clay County about Elizabeth being wife #2.  There weren’t any children born as a result of the marriage, so maybe she was just glossed over as unimportant by the author.  Or, maybe the marriage ended poorly and it was left out on purpose.  It’s hard to say since death records before 1882 are difficult to find and divorce records are even more scarce.  If they did divorce, did she assume the name Mattox once again?  There is a death record in Indiana for an Elizabeth Mattox in 1896 that seems to fit, however, without more information I cannot be sure it is my Elizabeth.  A trip to the Clay County Library needs to be added to my trip home in the spring to find the actual death record and ferret out a newspaper article to confirm the identity of Elizabeth.
  • Elizabeth died between 1880 and 1882.  This is the more likely possibility, but again, I have nothing to document this at this time.

James Mattox

26 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by in Civil War, Genealogy

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James Mattox is another of my 3rd great grandfathers.  He is the father of Calvin Mattox.  James was born circa 1815 in Tennessee.  His parents are unknown, but there are a couple possibilities out there.  The first, and most likely in my mind, is Valentine Mattox and possibly a daughter of James Cundiff.  Most of the facts presented in Mattox Family: 1755 through 1987 by Shirley (Mattox) Churchill seem to fit.  The only discrepancy I have at the moment is James’s place of birth.  The timeline Ms. Churchill presents for Valentine would have James born in Kentucky, not Tennessee.  The second possible set of parents would be William Mattox and Nancy Harrington, however, the researchers proposing this don’t have a reference listed that confirms this theory.

Assuming Valentine was James’s father, they lived in Ohio County, KY for several years, before moving to Indiana.  It is thought that James was in Clinton County, IN in 1830 living with his half-brother Church.  He then married Elizabeth Moyer in Vigo County in 1837 where they lived until the 1850s. Based on census records, they had five children that reached maturity: Alzina, Napoleon, Marshall, Calvin, and Alonzo.  Calvin’s middle name is Church which further supports the idea of Valentine being James’s father. In 1860, the family appears in Lewis Township of Clay County, IN.  After that, James disappears and Elizabeth is the head of the household in the 1870 Census.

Many researchers have James’s death listed in 1862.  Again, there are no sources listed to confirm this piece of information.  Considering that his disappearance coincides with the Civil War era, it’s a possibility that he was a casualty of the war.  A check of several military databases gives a number of James Mattoxes, but nothing concrete.  One promising lead was a James N Mattox who served in the 99th Infantry, Company K.  He died at the regiment hospital at Camp Sherman, MS in 1863, but a notation in the US Burial Register, Military Posts, and National Cemeteries, 1862-1960, indicated that James was only 18 at the time of death, not 48.  Until I can find something solid, his death will be listed as 1860-1870.