Tag Archives: Ohio County

Cox Family Land Records and Historical Insights

23 Sunday Aug 2026

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DNA Updates

  • No new DNA Records with a common ancestor identified this week.

Coxes of Cox Creek Footnotes

22. Deed book, Ohio County, West Virginia, I, pp. 56, 57, 241. This took a bit of work to find, but is located on FamilySearch. In fact, page 241 is the same information that is in footnote 19 which was discussed a couple weeks ago. Mrs. Adams also named George’s brother Gabriel, however, a land survey in this book could not be found. Also, she mentions a total of 2664 acres, however, only 1566 acres are accounted for within these pages.

  • Friend Cox had 2 tracts totaling 708 acres stretching north along the Ohio River and east along Buffalo Creek.
  • George Cox acquired 400 acres north of Friend’s holdings.
  • Israel Cox held 258 acres along Buffalo Creek.
  • Peter Cox held a 200 acre tract along Buffalo Creek. Peter’s land lay to the east of Israel’s, sharing a boundary.

23. Lyman Chalkley, ed., Abstracts from the Records of Augusta County, Virginia (1912), II, p. 100. This book is part of a three volume set that is available on HathiTrust.org. It is actually titled Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia (1745-1800). The referenced abstract refers to a dispute between Alexander Wells and the heirs of John Decker. George Cox married John’s daughter Susannah. This document provides pertinent timeline information regarding the migration of the Cox family. George Cox claims that he had erected a cabin on the land in 1772. Isaac Cox moved from the area in question to near Steubenville, Ohio in 1775. The abstract does not provide detail regarding where the land was.

A second case mentioned on page 106 involved a parcel of land near Steubenville that William McMahan had owned from 1775 to 1778. William married Isaac Cox’s daughter Ann. George Cox is mentioned as a despondent.

Deed Books, Hampshire County, West Virginia. The deeds for Hampshire County were discussed previously regarding footnote 14.

24. Deed Book, Brooke County, West Virginia, I, p. 45. This document is available on FamilySearch. In 1787, John Cox, as the heir at law of his father Friend Cox, sold 227 acres of land to Van Swearingen that Friend had intended on gifting to his son Benjamin. Referring back to footnote 19, two tracts of land totaling 708 acres were surveyed for Friend. This 227 acres was the northern part of the 400 acre tract. The remaining land was divided between Jonathan and Joseph. Jonathan and Joseph’s shares were sold to Charles Praither in 1788 who founded Wellsburg, WV in 1791.

25. Boyd Crumrine, ed., Annals of the Carnegie Museum (1903), “Minute Book of the Virginia Court held at Ft. Dunmore (Pittsburgh) for the District of West Augusta, 1775-1776” (reprint), Pamphlet XXI, p. 566. This part of the footnote refers to the renaming of Catfish Camp in the meeting proceedings. The reference can be found on Hathitrust.org.

supra, p. 18. This part of the footnote refers back to footnote 18.1

26. Crumrine, op. cit. “Minute Book of the Virginia Court Held for Yohogania County, 1776-1780“ (reprint), Pamphlets IV, p. 97; VII, pp. 211, 220, 234, 254, 277; Pamphlet XXI, pp. 528, 566. CoPilot was being helpful today and summarized the civic activities of various Cox family members while they resided in Yohogania County.

27. Ibid. Pamphlet VII, pp. 258, 397, 408, 411. This footnote references the Cox family members who participated in the militia during the Revolutionary War era in Yohogania County.

Error Resolution

Per Ancestry’s Tree CheckerThis WeekLast Week
Total Errors50375032
Potential Duplicates517517
No Documentation40984093
Other Errors422422
  • .AA, a distant cousin from the 1840s is suspected to be a duplicate and has no references. The duplicates are named Allison and Alice. They both were born in 1847. Alice lived a long life; Allison appears to have died as an infant. I’m guessing they were twins. I cannot find anything in my paper files regarding this family. Without any positive evidence of there being two girls, I feel compelled to remove Allison until some evidence of her existence surfaces. I will make a notation on Alice’s record that there possibly could have been a twin sibling named Allison.
  • MSB, a distant cousin from the early 1800s needs a reference. Several references presented themselves.
  • EK, a 2nd great grandaunt, needs a reference. Unfortunately, it seems that she lived her entire life in Germany and I do not have access to the international references at this time.

Goals and progress
Beginning of Week: 28,000 people
End of Week: 28,002 people
Change = +2 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.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/rg/di/r17-114copiedsurveybooks/Books%20C1-C234/Book%20C025/Book%20C-025%20pg%20292.pdf ↩︎

Tracing the Ancestry of Benjamin Cox in Montgomery County

12 Sunday Apr 2026

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This week I am researching Benjamin Cox, the son of Friend Cox. The Benjamin Cox who resided and died in Montgomery County, Ohio is believed to be this individual. A Revolutionary War Pension (S. file exists for the Benjamin Cox who resided in Montgomery County, Ohio. The affidavit collected on September 11, 1832 states that Benjamin is eighty years old. This would give his birth in 1752. Some sources provide his birth as early as 1742 or 1746. Photos of what is believed to be the original headstone are posted on FindAGrave.com. A nearby stone for his wife Rachel is intact, but barely legible. A more contemporary headstone now marks his grave.

Benjamin’s affidavit states he was originally from Pennsylvania, but was in North Carolina when he joined the military in the Spring of 1778 under a Captain Richard Graham and a Colonel Richard Grimes. He served a period of nine months.

The affidavit also mentions that Benjamin has a brother named David who lives in a nearby county.

The 1840 Census lists Benjamin as a pensioner at age 94. This isn’t too far off from the pension affidavit.

A land deed record from 1787 where John Cox sold land on behalf of Benjamin Cox from their father’s estate. Friend died intestate and his intentions to give this parcel of land to Benjamin was not documented. Benjamin was not present in Ohio County, Virginia to participate in the sale, so William McMahan served as power of attorney for him. Benjamin’s location is not mentioned in this document.1

A Simple Text Search on FamilySearch resulted in the following useful documents regarding Benjamin Cox who resided in Dayton, Ohio:

  • Benjamin’s date of death was attested to in Montgomery County Court–December 27, 1841 in Dayton. He left no widow. Children are identified as: John, William, and Lewis of Montgomery County. Jesse, Charles, and Benjamin of Ashton County, Kentucky. There is no mention of daughters living at the time of this court (May 6, 1842).2
  • 1865 Montgomery County probate records give Benjamin’s middle initial as “M”. This is likely Benjamin Jr. Lewis Neff was the administrator. There were five heirs identified: Mary Ann Breene, Nancy Hyre, Charles Franklin Cox, John S Cox, Lila G Cox. Charles, John and Lila are minors. Their guardian is Lewis Cox.3

A Simple Text Search for Friend Cox in Ohio County, Virginia in the 1700s, found the following documents:

  • Court Orders from November 1783. Friend Cox was named foreman of a grand jury. Jonathan and Benjamin Cox were sworn in as members of that grand jury.4
  • Court Orders from November 1784. Jonathan and Benjamin Cox sworn in as members of a grand jury, along with Peter Cox.5
  • A quitclaim deed in 1788 between John Cox and a Jane Cox, wife of Joseph Cox. John was named brother and heir of Joseph.

CONCLUSION: From the documentation I have been able to find, I am not convinced that the Benjamin Cox who served during the Revolutionary War in North Carolina and died in Montgomery County, Ohio in 1840 is the son of Friend Cox. I’ll need to keep searching to truly prove this connection.

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 5025 errors in the tree–515 possible duplicates, 4062 with no documents, 448 other errors.

  • Husband of a distant cousin needs resources. No hints immediately populated for him, but his wife had several including a reference to their marriage which they shared.
  • A distant cousin with no references attached. Marriage and divorce records for Wisconsin were located.
  • A floater who was removed.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,321 people
End of Week: 27,334 people
Change = +13 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-CS4T-69QY?view=fullText&lang=en&groupId= ↩︎
  2. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSTZ-BS6S-L?view=fullText&keywords=Benjamin%20Cox%2CDayton%2Cdied&lang=en&groupId= ↩︎
  3. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9392-F4SV-T8?view=fullText&keywords=Benjamin%20Cox%2CBenjamin%2CCox%2CDayton&lang=en&groupId= ↩︎
  4. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9VT-Q9BT?view=fullText&keywords=Cox%2COhio%20County&lang=en&groupId= ↩︎
  5. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9VT-QSSD?view=fullText&keywords=Cox%2COhio%20County&lang=en&groupId= ↩︎

Uncovering the History of Gabriel Cox’s Family

08 Sunday Mar 2026

Posted by in Genealogy, Revolutionary War

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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= ↩︎

Researching the Cox Family: Insights & Discoveries

01 Sunday Mar 2026

Posted by in DNA Matches, Genealogy

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I started the week with a DNA match with a common ancestor down my Lankford line. It was easy enough to complete since I already had most of their line completed due to another previous match. I’m actually excited to move on to the Winkler and Lankford lines to research. Unfortunately, I probably won’t be able to add very many generations to those lines. I have not been able to get much further back on George Winkler, my third great grandfather. He seems to have appeared in the Edwardsport area out of thin air. Conflicting information about where he was born does not help the situation either. I will likely need to do a wide area canvas of Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana for any Winklers between 1840 and 1860. That I’m not looking forward to.

I will be able to document at least one generation of the Lankford family and most of it has been built out to this point. Again, I’ll likely need to do a wide area search across three states to find Benjamin Lankford’s roots.

And not to get too far ahead of myself, but the current plan is to finish the Cox family, stopping at Isaac Sr. I will likely include the limited information I have on Gabriel and Friend, his assumed brothers. Unless I can find something to substantiate they really were brothers, Isaac will be the last chapter in this section and I want it finished up by the end of 2026. Next will be the Winklers which likely will only be one chapter long. With the extensive three state search planned, I hope I can wrap that up by end of year 2027. I’ll begin research on the McCulloughs in 2028. That line could take a while to complete as I have three or four generations to research, including a possible Revolutionary War Patriot.

Back to my Cox family. I’m going to talk my way through the references listed in Evelyn Adams’ Coxes of Cox Creek KY

  1. Pages 63 and 250 of The Cox Family in America postulate that Isaac Cox, Gabriel Cox, and Friend Cox were brothers and possibly were born in Switzerland. One of the reasons given that Isaac and Friend might have been brothers, or at the very least is the frequent use of the uncommon name Friend, and other names, in both families. I haven’t built out all of Isaac’s grandchildren at this point. I will need to revisit this claim once I do. Friend does occur in later generations of Gabriel’s family. Relatively close proximity of their residences along the Monongahela River and similarities in family lore regarding where the family originated (Germany and Switzerland). I will need to look into the border region between those two countries.
  2. Volume II of the Hampshire County (WV) Deed Book contains several transactions involving Gabriel Cox and his wife Eleanor, identifying him as a yeoman (farmer).
  3. The Ohio County (WV) will book includes Gabriel’s Last Will and Testament which names six children.
  4. Cox Family provided some of the descendants of Gabriel on page 63.
  5. Cox Family provided some of the descendants of Friend on page 250.
  6. The Official Roster of Soldiers of the American Revolution Buried in Ohio provides a brief bio of Friend’s son Benjamin. Many of the details are questionable at best. The information seems to have comingled details for this man and his younger cousin also named Benjamin.

Working on the descendants of Gabriel (item 4 above), some researchers have identified Eleanor’s last name to be Peterson. There are marriage records in Philadelphia for a Gabriel Cox marrying an Eleanor Peterson in 1735. It’s entirely possible, although, older written histories didn’t mention the family migrating through Philadelphia at any time.

Geography Note: Brooke County, Virginia was formed from Ohio County. It is adjacent to Jefferson County, Ohio.

Gabriel’s son Israel and his wife Elizabeth were both alive at least until 1800 based on a land deed record recorded in Brooke County, Virginia. There was a suit filed against an Israel Cox Sr in 1805 in Jefferson County, Ohio. An Israel Cox was listed in an 1810 probate inventory for Jacob Durrant in Jefferson County.

Unable to find the 1810 US Census for Ohio, I decided to browse the 1820 Census for Jefferson County. The Israel listed below could be Gabriel’s son. There is both a male and female over 45 years old which would be consistent with Israel and Elizabeth. The younger individuals could be a widowed son and his children.

  • Isaac Cox with the following enumeration in Steubenville Township: 2 males under 10, 1 male 26-44, 1 male over 45, 5 females under 10, and 1 female 16-25.
  • Josiah Cox with the following enumeration in Knox Township: 2 males under 10, 1 male 10-15, 1 male 16-25, 1 male 26-44, 1 female under 10, 1 female 26-44, 1 female over 45.
  • Israel Cox with the following enumeration in Steubenville Township: 1 male 10-15, 1 male 16-25, 1 male 26-44, 1 male over 45, 1 female 10-15, 1 female over 45.
  • Garret Cox with the following enumeration in Wayne Township: 4 males under 10, 1 male 10-15, 1 male 26-44, 2 females under 10, 1 female 26-44.
  • Mary Cox with the following enumeration in Wayne Township: 2 females under 10, 1 female 26-44, 1female over 45.
  • Benjamin Cox with the following enumeration in Wayne Township: 1 male 16-25, 2 females under 10, 1 female 26-44.
  • John Cox with the following enumeration in Wayne Township: 1 male under 10, 2 males 10-15, 1 male over 45, 1 female under 10, 1 female 10-15, 1 female over 45.

Also, an Israel Cox purchased a tract of land from Cornelius Sammons in 1823.1 No wife was listed for Israel…did Elizabeth die between 1820 and 1823? An Israel Cox married a Margaret Fellows on September 29, 1825 in Wells Township.2 The marriage ledger described the groom as a “young man”.3 In 1830, Israel and Margaret sold the land that was purchased in 1823.4 As details start to emerge, this may not be the Israel I am researching. It could be a younger relative or a completely different Cox line entirely.

While Cox Family does not account for all of Gabriel’s children named in his will, it does state that all of them except Israel were killed by Indians. It does not mention if any of them had descendants or what their fate might have been. Peter, Margaret and Mary were married at the time of Gabriel’s death, but I have not yet found anything additional.

Working on the descendants of Friend (item 5 above), not much has been identified. His son John remained in Washington County. His son Benjamin moved westward to Highland County, Ohio. I need to spend more time building out this part of the tree in the next week.

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 4898 errors in the tree–382 possible duplicates, 4069 with no documents, 447 other errors.

  • The mother-in-law of a distant cousin. As stated before, I am pruning extended family.
  • A third cousin needed a source. Once again the California Birth Index comes to the rescue.
  • The last “error” was a repeat that was previously resolved.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,135 people
End of Week: 27,188 people
Change = +53 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Continue research on Isaac Cox, “The Immigrant” and his wife Susannah Tomlinson.
  • Review Coxes of Cox Creek
  • Run newspaper search, especially for articles recounting local history
  • Review the Cox package of information from Sweden
  • Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky
  1. Deeds, Jefferson County, Ohio, 1818-1824, volume H, pp. 380-381, Image Group 004021842, images 487-488, FamilySearch. ↩︎
  2. Marriage Certificates, Jefferson County, Ohio, 1824-1831, volume 3, p. 33, Image Group 007485906, image 75, FamilySearch. ↩︎
  3. Marriage Record, Jefferson County, Ohio, 1824-1831, volume 3, Image Group 004701465, image 145, FamilySearch. ↩︎
  4. Deeds, Jefferson County, Ohio, 1828-1831, volume M, p. 620, Image Group 004021942, image 663, FamilySearch. ↩︎