EIGHTH GENERATION

200. John COX was born on 25 Jul 1739 in , Lancaster, PA. He died on 24 Dec 1818 in , Ashe, NC. Served as Captain in Revolutionary War. See Notes, attached to son
James Cox.

See also Notes on parents, John Cox and Mary Rankin.

John, his brothers Lt. David and Joshua Jr., then living in Franklin Co. PA, served in the French and Indian Wars under Preston. Rewarded with land grants, several members of the family moved to SW VA. See "Bicentennial Heritage" for details.

John, b. 1739, mentioned by name in his father’s will 1747; captured by
Indians Feb. 1756; escaped and returned home in Aug.; statement before provincial Council, Sept.6, 1756; migrated to Valley of Va. 1756; in Indian Wars of frontiers of Augusta 1757-1763; m. Margaret Davis, dau. of James Davis, and settled in what is now Grayson Co., Va., 1766; was a Captain in the Revolution; moved to what is now Ashe Co., NC., where he d. Dec. 24, 1818, (See Summers’ Annals of SW Va.,the Montgomery Co., Va. records
1777-1787, and the monument which marks the grave of John Cox, Ashe Co., NC)

I. D. Rupp: "History of Cumberland & Franklin Cos, Penn.", p. 98. I find
authority as to the location of the Cox family in Penn. He speaks of the "widow Cox" her 2 sons Richard and John and son-in-law John Craig, of their escape from the Indians; and also of John Cox’s statement of the matter to the Provincial Council, on Sept. 6, 1756.

Morton’s History of Rockbridge Co., Va. has some information of the Indian
raids of 1759 and 1763. Montgomery Co. Court Orders take account of the services of those participating. Sommers Annals of SW Va. contain pertinent items.

In reference to the military services of the 3 brothers -- Joshua John, and
David, 1759-63, note should be taken of the fact that no other Cox family is found in the records pertaining to this area and time. Both the Land Office records, and Chalkley’s Abstracts of Augusta are full and complete. Hence, having abundant record proof of the identity of John and David Cox, as sons of John Cox, will 1747, must we not also concede Joshua’s place in the same family?

THE WILL OF JOHN COX:The last will and testament of Joshua Cocks, of Rathmullan Township, in Lanchester Co. and provance of Pennsylvania is as follows: IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN. I being at present under some indispossion of Body but in perfect use of my Reason and knowing it is appointed for all men to die I do make, this my last will and testament first then I leave my soul to God who gave it and my body to be buried where my friends think fitt and as for my worldie goods I do dispose of them in the mannore and form following: After paying my just debts and funeral charges first then I bequeth and leave to my loving wife the bed whereon we have ly on and her saddle, her cloths and a young mare of three years old of a gray colour and
the third of all my other goods. The other two thirds of my estate and goods I leave and bequeth to my children to be equackly devided among them and if it be so ordered in Providance that any of whom dy then that ons share shall be equally devided among the rest. I do appoint that soon after my death that all my goods and estate be prised and the account taken and kept if my wife shall think fitt to mary again that before she Mary that what I have left to my children be secured for them There is a gun now in my house which was given to my son John in ‘way of gift which I acknowledge doth
properly belong to him. There is also a young black mare of three years old given by Mr. Cochran to my daughter Mary that doth properly belong to her. I do appoint my beloved wife and my son Richard to be my Executors to perform this my last will and testament I do appoint my neighbore John Holiday and my brother-in-law William Rankin to over see and assist my wife as to this my last Will. JOHN COX (L.S.)
This 22 of April 1747. Signed and sealed in the presence of Robert Jordan and Andrew Donlap.
MEMORANDUM, before the signing and sealing I do order and appoint that while my wife Remains a widow that she and the children be maintained off of the whole and as they come to the age of 16 that thou they be put to trade by the advice of their mother and the overseer above named and whom any of the children is bound out to a trad that thou what portion falls to wit shall be put to the best advantage of its own proper use. ANDREW DONLAP and ROBERT JORDAN, Witnesses.
(See the clerk’s explanatory letter concerning the original error in indexing the will of John Cox under the name of Joshua Cocks).
John Cox nominates his wife and his son Richard as executors, thus indication that his son was of age to serve in that capacity. However, by the terms of his will he stipulates that as each child becomes 16 years of age that child’s portion shall be set apart for it.
John Cox d., as indicated above, in 1747. The time and place of his widow’s death is not known; in 1756 she is mentioned in the records of the Provincial (Penn) Council, as recorded by I. D. Rupp, "History of Cumberland and Franklin Co.’s."

It would seem probably that shortly thereafter she and her children came to the Valley of Va., where 3 of her sons, John, David and Joshua, were soldiers in the Indian Wars on the frontiers of Va., 1756-1763. By 1765 two of her sons, John and David, had become settled in what is now Grayson Co., Va. and her daughter, Mary and her husband John Craig had settled in what is now Wythe Co., Va. John Craig’s will proved 1805, his widow Mary surviving. And in 1769 Joshua and Richard were settled across the border in N. C., then Rowan, later Surry and later Stokes Co.

It is interesting to note that this migration of the Cox family was occasioned by Indian depredations on the Penn. frontiers, following Braddock’s defeat in 1755. Indeed, two of John Cox’s sons, Richard and John were taken captives by the Indians in the spring of 1756, with their brother-in-law John Craig, and escaped and returned to the family in August of that year. And to anticipate a more detailed statement of our Swift ancestry, it is interesting to observe that similar uprisings on the part of the Indians in Western Md., fo1lowing Braddock’s defeat, were also
the occasion for a Swift family migration southward, in 1755. Thus it appears that but for Braddock’s defeat, the whole tribe that we have now become, would have been born, lived and died as "damyankees". Hence there remains some glory, at least for us, in that ignominious defeat.

Vol. 214 of the Penn. Archives contains numerous items which afford clues for
further research in the Penn. history of the family. As an example, Richard and Joshua Cox were joint patentees of 100 ac., Aug. 13, 1751, in Cumberland Co. This was formerly Lancaster Co., and since Franklin was formed still later, this 100 ac. patent may have been in the community of the original home of John Cox. And Richard appears in the record of Joshua’s marriage in 1769.

The children of John and Mary Rankin Cox:(1) Richard, b. about 1726; and executor of his father’s will in 17147; patentee (with his bro. Joshua) 100 Ac., Cumberland Co., Pa., Aug. 13, 1751; captured by the Indians in Feb. of 1756, escaped in Aug. By his wife Jane he had issue: Joshua, Tally, Polly (Mary), Catherine, Agnes, Cinthia and Elizabeth. Richard Cox d. in 1810.

(2)Joshua, b. about 1730; patentee of land as above, 1751; soldier in the
Indian Wars, 1757-1763. In 1769 he m. Mary Neal, dau. of Thomas Neal of Liberty Hall, Rowan Co., N. C. Joshua d. in 1821 and Mary Neal Cox d. in 1837. They had: Jesse, Mary, Joshua and Catherine. This Catherine Cox m. 1789 Isham Cox whose immigrant ancestor was John Cox of Henrico Co., Va., and unrelated to Catherine.

(3)Mary, b. about 1726; m. John Craig, of Pa., probably before 1756; migrated to the Valley of Va. with other members of the family, 1757; settled in what is now Wythe Co., Va.; died after 1805. Mary Cox Craig was the grandmother of Robert Craig, Congressman, a SW Va. district, about 1840 for whom Craig Co. was named.

(4)David Cox and his descendants traced in subsequent pages.

(3)Mary, b. about 1726; m. John Craig, of Pa., probably before 1756; migrated to the Valley of Va. with other members of the family, 1757; settled in what is now Wythe Co., Va.; died after 1805. Mary Cox Craig was the grandmother of Robert Craig, Congressman, a SW Va. district, about 1840 for whom Craig Co. was named.

(4)David Cox and his descendants traced in subsequent pages.

DAVID COX, son of John and Mary Rankin Cox, was b. about 1737, near McDowell,s Mill, then Lancaster Co., now Franklin Co., Pa.
Following the Indian raids on that part of the frontier in the spring of 1756, in which 2 of his brothers and a brother-in-law were taken, David Cox and other members of his family came to the Valley of Va. And the fact that he and 2 of his brothers are credited with military service under Preston, the family migration to Va. must be fixed as in the fall of 1756. The records speak of this particular campaign of Preston as in 1755-1756. But the Pa. records of the Provincial Council, Sept. 6, 1756, record the statement of John Cox, concerning his capture and escape from the Indians. Hence it would appear that the family set out immediately thereafter for Va., where numerous families from that part of Pa. had already settled. Among those families that had already settled in Augusta Co., Va., were the Pattersons and McCowans, also spelled McGown, and other variations.

But by the year 1765, David Cox, his brother, John, his sister Mary Craig, wife of John Craig, and two of his McGowan brothers-in-aw, had all moved down to the southern limits of Va. There is documentary proof that David and his brothers, John and Joshua, enlisted immediately for military service upon their arrival in the Colony of Va. in the fall of 1756. This is proven by an order of the court of Montgomery Co., April 5, 1780. This order certified David Cox and others to the Register of the Land Office, for military service under Preston, on the frontiers of Augusta, in his 1755-1756 campaign.
This court order is also quoted in Summer’s Annals of Southwest Va., page 738.

But from the Penn. records previously referred to, it is evident that the Cox
brothers, David, John and Joshua, arrived in the Colony of Va. in time for Only the concluding engagements of Preston’s campaign for that period. However, it is interesting to note that no time was lost in enlisting for the defense of their new borders. Such contact with the Indians was not new to them.

. . . In the following Year, 1765, David Cox and his brother John, together with George and Malcolm McCowan, 2 of his brothers-in-1aw, all migrated to the New River section of the Valley of Va. on the NC line.

In a Proclamation of the King, 1763, soldiers who had served in the French and Indian Wars, on the frontiers of Va. were declared eligible for land grants. And among those so listed is David Cox, together with his brothers John and Joshua and his brother-in-law, Malcolm MeCowan. This Proclamation is recorded in the Montgomery Co. Court Orders, and is quoted in Summer’s Annals, p. 1415-1417.

On Sep. 30, 1777, the oath of allegiance was administered to and subscribed by the members of Capt. John Cox’s Company. In this document the 1st name is that of Capt. John Cox: the 2nd name is that of David Cox, indicating that he was still lt. in that company. This paper is also in the files of the Montgomery Co. Court and a copy of it is in the State Library, Archives Dept., Richmond, Va.


He was married to Margaret DAVIS.

201. Margaret DAVIS^{(3) (4)} was born on 21 May 1736 in , Wilkes, NC. She died on 19 Dec 1806 in , Ashe, NC. She died on 19 Dec 1806 in Scottville, Ashe, NC. She was buried in Cox Cem., Scottville, Ashe, NC. She has Ancestral File number RNN1-0C. Children were:

100 i. James COX.
ii. Catherine COX^{(3) (4)} was born on 18 May 1768. She was born on 18 May 1768 in , Of Ashe Co, North Carolina. She died on 3 Feb 1847 in , Ashe, NC. She has Ancestral File number CRB3-SJ.
iii. Polly COX^{(3) (4)} was born on 10 Aug 1771. She was born on 10 Aug 1771 in , Of Ashe Co, North Carolina. She died on 22 Jan 1847 in , Ashe, NC. She has Ancestral File number RNN1-MM.
iv. Joshua COX^{(3) (4)} was born on 30 Mar 1773. He was born on 30 Mar 1773 in , Of Ashe Co, North Carolina. He died on 1 Jan 1860 in , Ashe, NC. He was buried in Near Scottville, Ashe, North Carolina. He has Ancestral File number RN1N-D3.
v. Annie COX^{(3) (4)} was born in 1775 in , Of Grayson Co, Virginia. She was born about 1775. She died on 1 Dec 1848 in , Ashe, NC. She has Ancestral File number RNLX-G9.
vi. Jane COX^{(3) (4)} was born on 10 Jul 1777 in , NC. She was born on 10 Jul 1777 in , Ashe, NC. She died on 26 Mar 1860. She died on 26 Mar 1860 in , Ashe, NC. She has Ancestral File number RN3K-25.
vii. Sarah (Sally) COX was born about 1780.
viii. Cynthia COX^{(3) (4)} was born in 1782 in Prob, Ashe, North Carolina. She was born on 17 Apr 1782 in Prob, , Ashe, North Carolina. She died in 1864 in Prob, Alleghany, North Carolina. She died on 24 Jul 1864 in Prob, , Alleghany, North Carolina. She was baptised on 15 Aug 1959. She was born <1793> in <, Montgomery, Va>. She was buried in , Alleghany, NC. She has Ancestral File number LFRC-KB. She has Ancestral File number 1QSS-Z5C.