Cox Characters
Conclusions to Confusions
Part 2: Chapter 8
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Probate
Papers of Michael Cox Sr. |
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Administered by Michael Cox, Junior, the original papers are in an "old black metal box" at the home of John and Emily Cox of West Liberty, West Virginia. Their original texts with their very original spelling of the period have been preserved, without any corrections. All "errors" (if we can call them such, for spelling was not as fixed or as codified as today), have been faithfully reproduced.
These notes and letters reveal the very real problem in those days of getting good, valid money. Money circulated in a chaotic fashion in early America. Banks in each colony, then state, issued their own currency. Inflation and economic crises had sure impacts on frontier life. The closure of a bank in Boston or Philadelphia, meant the invalidation of its bills. Not surprising that people on the frontier preferred hard cash, gold and silver coins no matter what their provenance.
While the longer letters are often quite interesting, they are rarely touching.
The shorter notes are invariably concerned with money: getting their "legicy" or "lakecy" (or some other spelling variant of this term used to mean their inheritance). Given that many women of the time could not read or write, it is surprising to see that Anna Fry apparently signed for herself.
Most have dates, spanning the period of 1818 to 1826; we have arranged them chronologically following the undated notes. Not everyone agreed on the spelling of the name Michael; Michall and Mical both occur.
As deciphering the spelling is no easy task, these few notes should be of help.
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amts is a frequent abbreviation for amount(s) deceased can be found written as dec., dec'd, deceist, decet, or deseasat Exr is the abbreviation for executor legacy meaning inheritance, appears as legasce, legecy, legicy, lakecy paid winds up looking like ceayd, by, beayd and bayd received can be found spelled recevet, re'ed, rec'd, recived, receipt specie usually spelled spacy, meaning coins, hard cash, not paper bills |
First come the undated notes: receipts and requests for payment on the settlement of Michael Cox, Sr.'s will. Therefore, they all date after 1815, and probably before 1823. These notes raise certain questions.
What debt did the Homans owe Samuel Randolph? Rosanna married Eber Homan, but she died before the year 1814, leaving him and their four young boys: Michael, Eber, Peter and Amos (according to the will of Michael Sr.). One of these notes is signed with the intriguing expression "William and Michal Homan, agents for Eber and Peter Homan." What was the relationship between these Homans?
| Received of Michael Cox an executor of the
estate of Michael Cox deceased the sum of ten dollars and eight cents
it being in full of my legacy left by my father Jacob Cox |
| Sir Michal Cox please to pay Henry Hull the
sum of ten Dollars and eight cents in Spacy princible and so doing
you will oblige your friend Martin Cox |
| Received of Michael Cox and executor of the
estate of Michael Cox deceist one hundred and thirty dollars and eight
cents it being in full my legisy Samuel Cox Margaret X Fry |
| Recevet of Michall Cox an excutor of Michael
Cox decet the sum of ten dollars and eight cents it being my lakecy
so left by my father in full eve X deem |
| Sir please to pay
to Samuel Randolph the money that is coming to me from grandfathers
estate & this shall be your receipt Eber & Peter Homan William & Mical Homan agents for Eber & Peter Homan |
The dated notes and letters
| Knox County Ohio May 12th 1818 Sir two of the bank notes that I received of you Dont prove to be good the five on Cincinata and the ten on unbanna I send them back to you take them and give Mr. Jacob Leffler good money I am Sir yours Andrew [L or F, illegible] |
| Uniontown Sept 8th 1819, Rec'd of Michael
Cox an executor of the estate of Michael Cox, deceased One dollar
for advertizeing property by me [illegible signature] |
| Recevet ______ the 21 1819
of Michael Cox an executor of the estate of Michael Cox deseasat the
sum of one hundred and twenty dollars of my wife's legasce it be in
full by me - Jacob Deem |
| Recevet september 8 1819 of Michael Cox an
executor of the estate of Michael Cox Deascet the sum of thirty three
dollars and thirty three cents by me elizabeth X langly |
| Feby 22 1820 Rec'd on the written order 28.57
principle and 2.96 interest Thirty one dollars and fifty three cents
of Michal Cox Ex'r of Michal Cox, dec. David Cox |
The above David Cox was not mentioned in the will. Who was he? Could he have possibly been the son of Michael Jr. by a first wife?
| October the 28th 1821 Sir Michael Cox please
to pay the bearer Ander Fry the sum of twenty eight and [4
illegible words] amts principle
and interest which is my legicy and this shall be your receipt Anna Fry |
| November the 2nd 1821 Received of Michael
Cox and executor of Michael Cox deceist ten dollars and eight cents
it being in full of my legecy Henry Hull |
| State of Ohio Stark County. Febuary 13 1822 To Mical Cox executor of the estate of Mical Cox deceased [4 illegible lines] Received of Mical Cox executor of the estate of Mical Cox decd the sum of four dollars left to me in the last will and testament of Mical Cox deceased Recived by me this 20th day of Febuary 1822 for Amos Homan by Mical Homan
Amos X Homan |
The following two items were on the same piece of paper with the same date. This Jacob is probably the son of Peter. As this is a website, you must use your imagination to see them in different handwriting styles.
| Recieved of Mical Cox executor of the estate
Mical Cox deceased the sum of four dollars left to me in the last
will and testament of Mical deceased Recieved by me this 20th day
of Febuary 1822 Mical Homan 20th day of Febuary 1822 Received of Mical Cox executor of the estate of Mical Cox Deceased the sum of ten dollars and eight cents left for the use of Peter Cox by me Jacob Cox |
| April 17th 1823 Mr. Michael Cox Please to
pay the Bearer the Balance Due to me of My Fathers Estate your Complance
will oblige yours Elizabeth Langley |
| To Michael Cox December the 1st 1823 Recevet of Michael Cox the sum of Ten Dollars for the use of Elizabeth Langly it being the balance of her legacy in full Received by me Martin Cox |
Below is a letter from Benjamin and Rachel Homan, mailed from either Warren County or Clinton County in southwestern Ohio. The letter contains some interesting data on life in what was then the frontier. [For better legibility in this website, we have introduced a few paragraph breaks which were not in the original letter.]
| October 23 1825 Dear brothers and sisters I take the opportunity to inform you that we are all well at presant and hoping that theys lines may find you all in the same state of health four days ago I was at fathers and _______ they was all well at that time father had a sever spel of sicnigs in august last but is now well hearty and all the rest of our friends Alexander Moor is dead & Anna Merrit also & Abraham has broke up house keping Aunt Ruth and the rest of her family was well the last acount I had from them Aaron Homan lives on blu river in the new purchase Henery Bottn and Phebe expect to move on white river this fall 100 miles from father father received your letter about four weeks after you wrote to him and was glad to heare from you all again and we hope that you will write to us againe as soon as possible it has been very sickly in some places this summer in this country and is yet but not so much as it has been Wheat is 37 ½ a bushel corn from 10 to 15 cents pork 3 dollars Eber & Peter expect if nothing happens to come up this winter to see you and as Miceal wrote to the boys to send him an order to get that money from Macail cox Peter says that he may get his part of it and make youse of it if you need it Eber & myself we live 21 miles from fathers on the waters of todsfork Clinin county virnin township I wish to be excused for the shortness of my letter I ad no more at present to my brothers and sisters all this from Benjamin & Rachael Homan Direct your letter to Lebannon post office Warren county Charm ____le |
| Oct 23, 1825 Sir pleas to pay the money coming to me to Micael Homan if you please and this shall be your receipt fore the same Peter Homan |
| Nov 11th 1825 Re'ed of Michael Cox and Exr of Michael Cox Decd--twenty eight dollars and fifty seven cents and Joseph Fry |
| Dover Wayne County Ohio Sugar Creek Township December 30th 1825 Dear Uncle & Aunt I write to you that we are all well at present and Peter Cox & his family is well also hoping these lines may find you all well I recived a letter from my father and my brother and Eber and Peter sent orders to my brother Mical and myself to get their money that is in your hands coming to them from grandfathers estate you can let the bearer hereof Samuel Randolph have the money for us and we receipt for them as their Agents to receive it I also send the orders they wrote to you in this letter Sir please to pay Samuel Randolph the money that is coming to me from grandfathers estate to me Eber Homan. William Homan agent for Eber Homan |
| January the 16th 1826 Received of Michael Cox an executor of the estate of Michael Cox deceased the sum of eight dollars for the use of William and Michael Homan agent buy order of Peter and Eber Homan Received by me Samuel Randolph |
| September the 11th 1826 Mr. Michael Cox Sir please to let the barer Joseph Fry have twenty eight dollars and fifty cents (which is my legacy coming from my grandfather) and you will oblige your friend Margaret Fry |
The receipt below has many scratched out places.
| Sept 18th 1826 Received of Michael Cox Exr of the last will and testament of Michael Cox, decd, thirteen dollars and eight cents, interest due in full the legacy of Margaret Fry Joseph Fry |
The spelling and amounts will be left up to the reader. The figures do not appear as dollars and cents, and are most likely in pounds, shillings and pence. Both pounds and dollars circulated during this period of American history. An educated guess on the signification behind what look like ceayd, by, beayd and bayd would be paid.
an acount of money receivt of the estat of my father Recevet of jacob Cox 1 63 45 Recevet of william cunningham 1 50 0 Recevet of sam craft 1 70 0 Recevet of william johnson 12 0 Recevet of jacob cox 0 50 0 Recevet of martin cox 0 94 0 Recevet of peter cox 0 50 0 Recevet of hinnery hull 0 86 50 Recevet of peter fry 0 3 74 Recevet of johnson [illegible] Total [illegible] Beayd to georg dearth 1 74 0 by mr johnson 0 53 0 by joseph cox estate 0 67 83 by van-maxey 0 also beayd to ______ [illegible] 0 23 57 beayd to theath 0 90 0 beayd to theath 0 10 0 beayd to theath [illegible] bayd to hennery hull 1 20 00 bayd to elizebeth fry 0 28 57 beayd to jacob deem 120 00 beayd to barbery fry prinabel 28 57 and interest 2 96 beay to estate of J _______ [illegible] 10 00 beayd to Jacob Cox 10 00 payd to margaret fry 130 18 |
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