Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Descendants of Samuel COX

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Descendants of Samuel COX

Generation No. 1

1. Samuel¹ COX was born December 19, 1774, and died October 07, 1860. He married Eleanor THOMAS June 11, 1794. She was born November 08, 1777, and died August 24, 1838 ¹.

Notes for Samuel COX:
THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION WAS TAKEN FROM A BOOKLET PUT TOGETHER BY SPENCER MARTIN ALLEN, AUGUST, 1979.

Samuel Cox (1774-1860) is believed to have been born in or near Baltimore of English immigrant parents. He may (and there is no confirmation) have been the son of a Lieutenant Edward Cox who married a Sarah Meredith in Baltimore in 1772. They had nine children, among them was a Samuel. Sarah was the daughter of a Colonel Samuel Meredith and Jane Henry Meredith. Jane was a patriot Patrick Henry's sister.

Samuel Cox is believed to have been a charter member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore. His nephew, Melville B. Cox, is reputed to have been the first M.E. missionary to Liberia, Africa.

Eleanor Thomas (1777-1839) was said to be the daughter of a sea captain who was lost at sea. She married Samuel Cox in 1794.

There is a discrepancy in the records of Eleanor's family name. Although most sources, including the Cox family Bible, give the name as Thomas, the family record kept by Susan Catherine Smith called her Eleanor Fowler. Probably this was an error by Susan, although it may have been Eleanor's mother's family name. The discrepancy is mentioned here because one of Eleanor's grandchildren was named John Fowler Allen.

It is not known why the Cox family moved to Virginia or when. The first solid date we have is 1820 when daughter Margaret married Robert Allen in Washington County VA. Apparently four of the surviving children of Samuel and Eleanor (five of the ten died as children) were married in Washington County. The fifth child, Mary Ann, eloped with Uriah DENTON to Tennessee in 1827 since Virginia law would not permit under-age marriages. Since Mary Ann was 23 at the time, Uriah must have been the minor.

In addition to the DENTON and Allen unions, Cox girls married a Woods and a Godsey. In the 1828 migration to Tennessee all of the Coxes, including Samuel and Eleanor and all the girls spouses made the journey, with the exception of Sarah Cox Godsey and her husband Drewery Godsey. At least, the latter are not mentioned in accounts of that trip, although Godseys appear later in Tennessee.

Samuel and Eleanor's older son Abraham had married a Celia Collins and is believed to have proceeded the other families to Tennessee. Sam and Eleanor's younger children, Nancy and Jehu also made the journey, although both died shortly after arriving in Tennessee--Nancy in December of 1828 at the age of 17; and Jehu less that a month later, age 15. Meigs County sources say there was a typhoid epidemic in the area shortly after the Virginia families' arrival, which may account for the deaths of the Cox children.

THE VIRGINIA TO TENNESSEE MOVEMENT (1828)***********************************************************

In the spring of 1828, the Cox, Allen, Denton and Woods families moved to Meigs (then Rhea) County, TN. There is no detail on the reasons for the migration nor on the trip itself. Probably, as in most changes of residence, the reasons were economic.

It is generally believed the families came down the Holston and Tennessee Rivers to Stewart's landing, just north of Decatur. It is also assumed they all came together in one party, but there is no confirmation. An earlier history compilation says Robert Allen left Virginia in 1844 by flatboat and landed at Hunter Bluff, west of Decatur TN. This evidently in error, as it is mentioned elsewhere in this record that Robert was a Rhea County resident in 1828 when he sold property he owned back in Virginia, and is so noted in a court indenture.

The assumption is that the Virginia party travelled in one group by flatboat, either on a hired craft or navigation their own. There is the possibility that steamboats may have been in operation on the Tennessee River south of Knoxville during that period and the party travelled as commercial passengers, but that premise is doubtful.

Considering the number of individuals in the migration, and assuming they brought at least a minimum of household goods, tools and farm implements and possible livestock, the cargo would have been considerable.

Samuel Cox, then 54, was the patriarch of the group since most other male members were his sons-in-law and his 14-year old son Jehu. The adults, in addition to Samuel and Eleanor, were : John and Elizabeth Cox Woods; Uriah and Mary Ann Cox DENTON; and Robert and Margaret Cox Allen. There is no indication that another daughter Sarah and her spouse Drewery L. Godsey accompanied the party, although a Godsey family appears later in Tennessee. Son Abraham and his wife Celia Collins Cox had preceded the group into Tennessee and may have been influential in determining Rhea County as the families' future home.

Among the children in the group were Nancy Cox who died in Tennessee that same year at the age of 17 ; and 15-year old Jehu who died a month later, both possible victims of typhoid fever. Seven-year old William Owen, five-year old Jane Carson, three-year old Eleanor Elizabeth and infant RJDW, all children of Robert and Margaret Allen were included in the journey. Considering Elizabeth Cox Woods age at the time, 28, she probably had at least three children in the migration--Celia, Julia and Nan. Other adults may have been Jane Allen Patterson and Nancy Allen Davis (Robert allen's sisters) and their spouses and children, but thre is no record. Nor is there any information of the mysterious William and Sarah Allen, presumed brother and sister of Robert, were include in the trip. And there is no indication that Peter and Jane Carson Allen, Roberts' mother and father, made the journey. One of the migrants, Mary Ann Cox DENTON was pregnant at the time as her son Jerro Patton was born later that year in Tennessee.

So, totalling up the probable number in the migrating party, we have a count of 20--12 adults and eight children. The logistics of this journey by whatever means must have been formidable.

According to the current tradition in Meigs County, after putting in at Stewart's landing, the party later proceeded downstream a few miles to Goodfield Creek and fanned out from these headwaters to establish their farms and homes, and for Robert Allen to set up his grist mill on the Creek. Records of the purchases of land and original deeds, as well as other vital statistics, were lost during a fire in the Meigs County Courthouse in the early 1900's.

A century and a half later, much of the farmland bought by the Virginia emigre families is now owned by the Roberts, Scott and Lewis families, descendants respectively of Jehu Wilson Allen and Nancy Findley Allen Scott. Few if any identifiable Allens, Dentons or Woods remain in the vicinity, although several Cox's still live there.

Many of the Virginia group and their descendants are buried in the well-maintained Goodfield Cemetery near Decatur. Others are buried in the nearby Cottonport Cemetery.

More About Samuel COX:
Burial: Unknown, Goodfield Cemetery, Goodfield, Meigs Co., TN¹
Military service: War of 1812

More About Eleanor THOMAS:
Burial: Unknown, Goodfield Cemetery, Goodfield, Meigs Co., TN¹

Children of Samuel COX and Eleanor THOMAS are:

	2	i.	Hopkins² COX, born Abt. 1796; died Abt. 1798.
+	3	ii.	Abraham COX, born July 19, 1798; died April 1868.
+	4	iii.	Elizabeth COX, born June 05, 1800; died WFT Est. 1818-1894.
+	5	iv.	Margaret COX, born October 12, 1802 in Baltimore, MD; died September 18, 1870 in Meigs County, TN.
+	6	v.	Mary Ann COX, born July 15, 1804 in Virginia; died January 18, 1881 in Decatur, TN.
+	7	vi.	Sarah COX, born January 12, 1808; died WFT Est. 1851-1903.
	8	vii.	Nancy COX, born Abt. 1811; died Abt. 1828.
	9	viii.	Jehu COX, born 1813; died 1829.
	10	ix.	John COX, born Abt. 1816; died Abt. 1818.
	11	x.	Samuel COX, born Abt. 1818; died Abt. 1819.

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