Cox Characters
Conclusions to Confusions
Part 2: Chapter 1
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Michael Cox Sr. Life, Times, Children and "The Black Box" Papers |
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Among the numerous maybes concerning this individual we all descend from, is an English origin. After all, Cock/Cox is a very common family name, found all over England. But most all our documents indicate that Michael Sr. "came from Hamburg Germany" to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
However, there is a slight possibility that Michael Cox, Sr. was the son of a certain Michael Cock, born 1699, who came to America in 1732. This man’s name appeared on a ship passengers list as "sick." So he might have been returned to England and then came again to America at a later date.
An English baptismal record, dated 1736, in Gloucestershire indicates the baptism of a young "Michael Cox" (note the spelling), father Michael, mother Mary. But, let it be noted for future research that ships records also report the arrival of a certain Johannes Michael Cock/Koch to Pennsylvania in 1751. This record I favor.
According to our records then, Michael Cox, Sr. came from Hamburg, Germany to the Susquehanna Valley, in eastern Pennsylvania, where he served seven years as an indentured servant, probably to pay for his passage. He tried, unsuccessfully, three times to escape.
By the time he moved his family across the mountains in 1769, he and his wife Elizabeth had six children. Our second ancestor, Peter, then a toddler, rode in a "wallet" (a sort of knapsack) tied to a horse, with a sister in the other end.
Michael had been to this area previously while in the militia and on hunting expeditions. He "tomahawked" an area for himself that turned out to be three hundred fifteen and one quarter acres in what was then called the Spring Hill Township of Bedford County of southwestern Pennsylvania.
Other people found this pristine virgin area attractive, with plentiful water, game, and no one of authority to boss them around, and they came trickling in. Soon the area was populated.
In 1772, three other men named Cox, or Cocks, were in the same general area. Just before the American Revolution began in earnest, a man named Isaac Cox came with his brothers Gabriel, Friend and Joseph and their families, journeying from Hampshire County, Virginia (now West Virginia) with Governor John Cannon. Cannon proclaimed this area to be Virginia Lands (see Map 4: "The District of West Augusta", to go to maps page *click here*), that is, from the mountains west, from the Ohio River south, including the part that is now West Virginia’s panhandle. These Cox folks were probably not related to ours, as no records have been found that would indicate that they were related to Michael Cock Senior.
Isaac Cox and John Cannon were able to set up courts and control events for a few years. They wrote many "Virginia" land warrants for the new settlers, but did not give one to Michael Cocks for his "Fruit Hill" farm that we can find.
Michael never moved again, living on his farm until he died, on January 24, 1815. He was preceded in death by his wife Elizabeth in early 1810. I believe they are both buried on "Fruit Hill."
Michael Senior, and/or Michael Junior, was a constable in Fayette County. Michael Junior had the papers, we know, because these papers are still in his old black metal box. Either one of the Michaels, or both, acted as a bank of sorts for their neighbors holding their grain and paying their debts. Junior could have learned this occupation from his father, as he had the same set up for a while in Ohio County.
Michael Junior moved to Ohio County, Virginia, now West Virginia. John and Emily Cox live on this land bought by Michael Junior in 1803.
Joseph received his portion of land and soon after died of injuries received in the War of 1812.
Martin moved on to Coshocton County, Ohio. Peter moved to Wayne County, Ohio. Jacob and his family moved to Darke County, Ohio.
When Michael Senior died, he requested that 100 acres with the farm house be divided and sold. A copy of this sale indicates that Rev. William Johnston bought the place. He was Pastor of the Dunlap’s Creek Presbyterian Church. A search of this church’s cemetery records does not reveal any Cox names. I believe that our Cox ancestors belonged to the German Reformed church, even though I haven’t found any of their names in the incomplete records of the local German Reformed churches.
During this forty-six year period of time, "Fruit Hill" was in both Virginia and Pennsylvania. It was held in Bedford County Pennsylvania; Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania; Monongalia County of the District of West Augusta, Virginia; Washington County, Pennsylvania; and finally in Luzerne Township of Fayette County, Pennsylvania. But our Michael Sr. remained a staunch Virginian throughout this time.
It was a rough neck of the woods, and to survive you had to be a rugged individual. Michael Senior must have been a real character. According to Boyd Crumrine, in Fayette County History, our Michael Cox was a "conspicuous figure" who had earned his celebrity in fighting dangerous Indians and the British during the Revolutionary War, but who, apparently, lost his flair when it came to hog wrestling. He nearly got killed trying to chase a wild hog off a neighboring cliff (see full story, next page).
Like many other men of his time in Virginia and Pennsylvania, Michael Senior was a prosperous farmer in an era of economic growth. Having acquired a rather large tract of land it was easy for him to be able to give each of his sons a farm, as Crumrine reports.
Michael’s will informs us that his farm was large enough to divide up and to allow part of it to be sold off to meet debts and expenses (to go to his last will and testament *click here*). Crumrine also reports that one of Michael’s sons was a captain in the militia, who, despite the economic prosperity of his family and region, always paraded in bare feet.
Other glories of Michael Senior, include aiding a poor stranger found in the woods with a broken leg. Along with seven other men of the community, Michael volunteered to help carry the injured man in an "improvised hammock" all the way to the nearest physician in Hagerstown, Maryland, more than 120 miles away! According to James Veech, who tells of the hospitality of the early settlers of the Monongahela area: "There was then no carriage road across the mountains, nothing but a pack-horse path."
Not only did these men (literally) shoulder the burden carrying the man, they also paid for his medical care. Lastly, Crumrine reports that in September 1794, Michael was involved in laying a new road, some 6 and a quarter miles long from Kensey Virgin’s ferry towards Brownsville.
Michael not only fought Indians, he fiercely protested against Pennsylvanian domination of western Virginian lands Nevertheless, all officials were nothing but rascals who came to put pressure on the local inhabitants to pledge fidelity to the Commonwealth, whether it be of Virginia or Pennsylvania.
The sheriff was met with a group of veritable rioters armed with guns, tomahawks, pistols and clubs. Among the rebels protesting Pennsylvania’s claims was our Michael Cox.
Michael Senior was a real character. Below is the full story, taken from the Fayette County History, by Boyd Crumrine.
Early settlements were made along Cox Run, near Dunlap’s Creek. Among them a conspicuous figure was Michael Cox, who was famous as a great Indian-fighter and an ex-Revolutionary soldier.
The Coxes were at one time quite numerous in Luzerne, but now may be looked for in vain. A story about Michael Cox and a hog stands as a laughable episode in the old man’s experience. He had been so much troubled by the animal’s depredations that he arose one day in his might and swore he would jerk the hog to an unmentionable place, meaning to throw him over a high bluff into a depth known locally as "hell." Accordingly Cox caught the hog by the tail, and dragging him toward the precipice put his available strength into a last pull that was to land the porker in perdition. Unluckily, Cox pulled with such vigor that he fell on the tail, descended into the place where he had hoped to send the beast. It was a terrible fall and well-nigh killed Cox, who lying where he fell and groaning out his misery attracted a lad named John Covert to the scene, and the boy running for assistance Cox was got home and to bed. His injuries were serious indeed, but he recovered after a long confinement. John Covert, the boy above named, died in Luzerne in 1881 at the age of ninety-three.
Cox had a large family and to each of his sons gave a farm. One of these sons was a captain in the militia, and what was singular for a militia captain, invariably appeared upon parade in his bare feet. One day at parade he got a thorn into one of his feet, and halting to repair damages, yelled to his men, "Go ahead, boys and march to yon mullien stalk, while I pull this blasted thorn out of my foot."
As an evidence of the kindly and self denying humanity that characterized some of Luzerne’s early settlers stands the story of the man who coming into the township from Hagerstown to find employment, accidentally broke his leg only a little while after he came in. He was poor and unable to pay for such service as his case required, but eight of the inhabitants of old Luzerne improvised a hammock, laid the wounded man thereon, and shouldering the burden marched through the woods and over hills until they reached Hagerstown, and there delivered their charge into the hands of a surgeon, whom they bade attend him at their expense. Five of these men were Thomas Davidson, John Conwell, Michael Cox, Eli Virgin, and William Roberts.
In September, 1794, Jehu Conwell, Charles Porter Junior, Robert Baird, Michael Cox, Thomas Gregg, and William Oliphant laid a road thirty-three feet wide from Kensey Virgin’s ferry towards Brownsville, a distance of six miles and seventy-eight perches, intersecting a road leading to Brownsville.
And here is another excerpt, where Veech reports the hospitality of the early settlers of the Monongahela Area.
A remarkable instance of kindness to strangers occurred in what is now Luzerne Township, on Cox’s Run, at a very early day. A stranger, from the vicinity of Hagerstown, by the name of Applegate, had somehow got his leg badly broken in the woods, and in that condition was found by an old settler, who at once had him borne to his cabin, where every aid and comfort within reach was provided. But it being late in the fall, and the stranger knowing that the remedy for his misfortune was time and patience, was anxious to be again among his family and friends. There was then no carriage road across the mountains, nothing but a pack-horse path. To convey him home, eight of the neighbors agreed to carry him on a sort of hammock, swung on two poles like a bier. This they did, all the way to Hagerstown! Four of the men were Michael Cock, William Conwell, Thomas Davidson and Rezin Virgin. Tradition has failed to preserve the names of the other four "good Samaritans."
From Helen Vogt’s book, Westward of Ye Laurel Hills 1750-1850 we would like to underscore the importance of the "if" in her account of the sheriff confronted by the gang of rebels that included our Michael Sr.: "if he [the sheriff] could have escaped with his life." That if is extremely important. (We have italicized this and certain other words in the text below.)
The "bottom" through which Dunlap Creek flows was once part of Bridgeport which was absorbed by South Brownsville in 1908 and incorporated into Brownsville in 1933. Above this flat land is the knoll on which are built Nemacoliin Castle and the old Jeffries home (now Crawford) which certainly answers to "Point Look Out."
The Martin plantation is where the first settlers were wont to meet for purposes of defying first the king, and then the Pennsylvania authorities, who for various reasons tried to keep them from making settlements. The Calendar of Virginia State Papers shows that 220 of the people "westward of Laurel Hill" presented a petition July 15, 1772, to the court asking that the sheriff serve no more processes as they were not in Pennsylvania. Always in the forefront when there was a conflict, the comment was made that "Colonel Cresap seemed to be the prime mover in this matter." Arthur St. Clair had been down in the Redstone area where the rioters took their stand on the Martin plantation, and wrote to a friend:
The sheriff knew several of them, particularly Abraham TeeGarden and William TeeGarden the Younger who was the ringleaders (sic) of this gang of villains, also John Dearth, Andrew Gudgell and Michael Cock.
They were all armed with guns, tomahawks, pistols, and clubs and the Sheriff is of the opinion that only for a pocket pistol which he produced, he would certainly have met with ill usage, if he could have escaped with his life. The "villains" and "rioters" of record became leading settlers and as an amusing aftermath of the years of conflict, Andrew Gudgell called his tract in Luzerne Township, "Peacable."
Michael and Elizabeth Cox
and Their Ten Children
Michael Cocks (Michael Cox, Sr.)
Both Michael and Elizabeth were probably buried on what later became
the C. H. Swan Farm, covering part of the "Fruit Hill"
homestead.
Michael Cox, Jr. Jacob Cox Peter Cox Rosanna Cox Eve Ann Cox Elizabeth Cox Margaret Cox Martin Cox Christine Cox Joseph Cox
born before 1740, possibly in Hamburg, Germany
died: 24 Jan 1815 in Fayette County, Pennsylvania
married: Elizabeth (Desloch ?)
birth date and place unknown
died 20 July 1810 in Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Ten Children
born: 27 Aug 1759, birth place unknown, died 11 Jan 1832, Ohio County,
Virginia (now West Virginia)
married: Jeruthea Brooks (possibly the second wife; his first wife
may have been a certain Rachel Morehead, this remains to be proven,
however).
Jeuthea Brooks was born in 1773 in New Jersey and died on 20-28
Oct 1863, Ohio County, Virginia (now West Virginia). Both Michael and
Jeruthea were buried in the small Cemetery, on the Cox farm just outside
West Liberty, West Virginia.
born: circa 1760, died: 5 Oct. 1822, Darke County, Ohio
married: Eve Wise, Hardy County, Virginia; she died: 3 Sept. 1846,
Darke County, Ohio; both were buried in Hillar Cemetery.
born: circa 1765, died: 1841 Wayne County, Ohio
married: Magdalin (unknown surname, was perhaps born Jane Roberts
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
born: circa 1767; died: before 1814
married: Eber Homan, born 4 Sept 1764, Long Island NY. Eber
Homan reportedly remarried twice after Rosanna died, and had a total
of twenty-four children (eight by each wife). Rosanna may not have been
his first wife. Records on Eber Homan are confusing (possibly due to conflation
of Sr. and Jr.), but it is certain that he received a pension for his
service in the Revolutionary War (S-4405). For further details, click
*here for the Homan page*, or contact Mary
Ann Bowry or Jill Carter (see Appendix 4 for addresses.)
born: circa 1767, died: circa 1850
married: Jacob Deem (Diehm), born: 9 April 1764, Frederick Co.,
Maryland; died: circa 1864, Woods County, West Virginia.
born: circa 1769, died: ?
married: (first name unknown, possibly Jonathan) Langly
born: circa 1772, died: ?
married: (first name unknown, possibly Samuel or Peter) Fry
[Note: A certain "Colonel Fry" was killed when he struck a tree brank
while reiding a horse. He was buried on the site south of Uniontown.]
born: circa 1774, died: 15 April 1842, Sandusky Township, Crawford Co.
Ohio
married: Rebecca Hull, born: circa 1778, circa Washington Co. Pennsylvania,
died: circa 1858
born: 10 Jun 1776, died: 11 Jun 1858 De Kalb County, Indiana
married: Henry Hull, born: 19 Nov 1775, Pennsylvania, died: 20
Jan 1861, De Kalb County, Indiana
born: 1781, died: before 7 May 1816 (age 35)
Served in the War of 1812
married: Mary Margaret Doney (daughter of Isaac Doney) circa 1805
Grandchildren of
Michael Sr. & Elizabeth Cox
Children of Michael Cox, Jr. and Jeruthea Ann Brooks
(for more information see Part 3 The Fourteen Children
of Jeruthea & Michael Cox Jr.). This couple settled in Ohio County of
what is now West Virginia. They had fourteen children. Dates given are for
known birth and death years.
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Michael Cox(1786-1828) married Leah Culp Todd
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David Cox (?-?)
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Anne Cox (1791-1873) married John Hupp Jr.
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Joseph Cox (1794-1856) married Rose Ann Rogers
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Elizabeth Cox (1798-1884) married John Wesley Beck
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Samuel Cox (1800-1880) married1 Nancy Rodgers; married2 Rhoda Gray
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Isaac Cox (1803-1886) married Susan Brown
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William Cox (1805-1892) married Deliah Clemens
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Abraham Cox (1809-1889) married Elizabeth Ann Foster
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Mahalia Cox (?-?) married John Brown
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Thomas Cox (?-1867)
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John Cox (1813-1894) married Martha Cook
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Jane Cox (1819-1916) married Joseph Hedges
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George Cox (?-?)
Children of Jacob Cox and Eve Wise
(for more information see Part 3: Jacob & Eve Wise Cox).
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Martin Cox (?-1855) Doritha Likens
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Jacob Cox (1787-1842) married Elizabeth Wise
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John Cox (1788-1868) married Eliza Gardner
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Barbara Cox (1791-1873) married George Singley
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Samuel Cox (1793-1819)
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Mary Cox (1795-1871) married Daniel Waggonner
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Eve Cox (1798-1866) married Hugh Martin
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Abraham Cox (1801-1873) married Hannah Waggonner
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Henry Cox (1803?-?) married Anna Long
Children of Peter and Magdalin Cox
(for more information see Part 4 : Peter and Magdalin Cox)
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female infant (?-?)
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Jacob Cox (1801-1885) married Jane Denman
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Catherine Cox (1802?-?) married John Stout
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Stewart Cox (after 1810-?) married Ann Garretson
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William Cox (after 1810-?) married Margaret Ann Beal
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Mary Ann Cox (after 1810-1853) married Thomas Lamb
Children of Rosanna Cox and Eber Homan. While Eber Homan reportedly had eight children by each of his three wives (Rosanna being his first wife), our book originally only reported the names of these four, according to the order in which they appear in Michael Cox Sr.'s will *click here*. (All four reportedly moved into Wayne County, Ohio.)
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Michael Homan
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Eber Homan
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Peter Homan
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Amos Homan
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Amos Homan (?-?)
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Thomas Homan (?-?), married Phoebe Osbourne.
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William Homan (1786-1834)
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Michael Homan (about 1787-after 1850), married Eve Bates.
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Hannah Homan (1790-1873)
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Ucal Homan (about 1795-?), married Martha Thorn.
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Peter Homan (1797-1860)
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Aaron Homan (about 1800-?), married Sebilinda Faucett.
Children of Eve Ann Cox and Jacob Deem, moved to Woods County, West Virginia
(for more information see Part 3: Eve Ann Cox & Jacob Deem)
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Jacob Deem, Jr. born 10 August 1790
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Peter Deem, born 1 July 1792
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Elizabeth Deem
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Hiram Deem, born 26 December 1796
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William Deem, born circa 1797
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Abraham Deem
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Catherine Deem, born 7 March 1801
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Juniper Deem, born 10 April 1805
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Washington Deem, born 20 July 1808
Children of Elizabeth Cox and (?) Langly (as per father’s will)
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Michael Langly
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Margaret Langly
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John Langly
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James Langly
Children of Margaret Cox and Samuel Fry (as per Martin’s will)
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Andrew Fry
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Elizabeth Fry
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Barbery Fry
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Joseph Fry
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Rosanna Fry
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Margaret Fry
Children of Martin Cox and Rebecca Hull (as per father’s will)
(for more information, see Martin Cox & Rebecca Hull)
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Elizabeth Cox, married (first name?) Cockren
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John Cox
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Martin Cox
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George Cox
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Rebecca Cox, married (first name?) Butler
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Useby Cox, married (first name?) Turtason
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Sally Cox, married (first name?) Turtason
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Levina Cox
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Maria Cox
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Katherine Cox
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Sirus (also spelled Cyrus; might have been a grandson)
Children of Christine Cox and Henry Hull
(for more information, see Part 3 : Christine Cox and Henry Hull
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John Hull, born: circa 1795
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Joseph Hull, born: 2 March 1798, Pennsylvania
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Hiram Hull, born: circa 1802
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Martin Hull, born: circa 1805, Pennsylvania
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Margaret Hull, born: circa 1809
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Alvira Hull, born: 20 April 1813, Ohio
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Henry Hull, born: 4 February 1815, Ohio
Children of Joseph Cox and Mary Margaret Doney
(for more information on Joseph and his descendants, see Part 1 : The Three Joseph Coxes)
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Elizabeth Cox born: Fayette County, Pennsylvania
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William Michael Cox born: Fayette County, Pennsylvania
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Samuel Joseph Cox born: Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Photograph 9b:
Joseph Cox's father-in-law, Isaac Doney's tombstone
in the Heidleburg Cemetery,
located two miles southwest of
Fruit Hill, Brownsville, Pennsylvania
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