Joseph R. Cox and Malinda Hadley Notes
Recently, I noticed that my Ancestry.com DNA ThruLines indicated that I have a 10 cM single segment Autosomal DNA match with a descendant of Rebecca Harmon Cox, the daughter of Joseph R. Cox and Malinda Hadley. Rebecca was listed in the Joseph R. Cox household on the 1850 Indiana US Census and in the Indiana Quaker Records. I add the name for wife of Joseph R. Cox here because Autosomal DNA can be inherited from either or both parents. The Autosomal DNA test results can include cousin matches from both parent’s ancestors. ThruLines is Ancestry.com’s DNA Analysis tool that combines their huge family tree database with their Autosomal DNA database to statistically predict ones ancestors. The tool is still in the early days of development and can often be misleading due to the above mentioned parental uncertainty and to the miscellaneous lineage errors that may be encountered in the Ancestry.com family tree database.
My DNA cousin match with a descendant of Rebecca Harmon Cox, the daughter of Joseph R. Cox and Malinda Hadley, is an incentive to look closer at the couple’s ancestry lines. While a 10 cM, single DNA segment is small enough to argue for a search through a huge pool of possible surnames and ancestors, 6 or 7 generations worth. I limit this study to searching the existing Cox historical records for the parents and grandparents of Joseph R. Cox and Malinda Hadley. I’m looking only for the possibility of a Cox heritage connection between Joseph R. Cox and me, not the proof of one.
The records show Rebecca Harmon Cox had Quaker Heritage and her parents were likely still with the church circa 1850 because the family is found listed in the Morgan County, Indiana West Union Monthly Meeting Quaker Records: Joseph R. Cox, born April 13, 1825, died August 11, 1852, and is buried at Fairfield, [Franklin County,] Indiana. He was identified as the son of Harmon and Martha Cox and as the husband of Malinda Hadley, born August 8, 1829. She was identified as the daughter of George and Deborah Hadley. Joseph’s and Malinda’s children were listed as Rebecca H., born April 25, 1850 and Harmon J., born December 11, 1851. Their son, also named Harmon, died August 25, 1852 and was also buried at Fairfield, [Franklin County,] Indiana. According to a Morgan County, Indiana record, Joseph [R.] Cox and Melinda Hadley were married November 14, 1844 by John H. Richards a Justice of the Peace.
The 1850 US Census for Guilford Township, Hendricks County, Indiana list Joseph [R.] Cox’s age as 25 and his wife Melinda’s age as 22. The children are named: Martha Ann, age 4, Mary Jane, age 2 and Rebecca H., age 3/12. All were listed as born in Indiana. [I note the children discrepancy between the 1850 Census and the Quaker Records. Martha Ann Cox may have been an orphaned cousin, or a daughter born outside the Quaker Religion or, less likely, at another Friends meeting place.]
An undated letter written by a descendant of Rebecca Harmon Cox indicates that after the death in 1852 of her first husband Joseph R. Cox, Malinda Hadley Cox remarried in 1853 to Ambrose Secrest, born 1821, IN. They are listed on the 1860 US Census for Baytown, Washngton County, Minnesota.
Malinda Jane [Hadley Cox] Secrest is listed as a child of George Hadley in his Findagrave memorial. The Alamance County, North Carolina, Cane Creek Monthly Meeting Quaker Records show George Hadley married Deborah Cox, the daughter of John William Cox and Lydia [Littler.] According to the Randolph County, Holly Springs Monthly Meeting Quaker Record, John William Cox was the son of Samuel Cox and Hannah Wierman. Samuel’s and Hannah’s Quaker Marriage Intention (Chester County, Pennsylvania Uwchlan Monthly Meeting Minutes) and Quaker Marriage Records (Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Sadsbury Monthly Meeting) list Samuel Cox as the son of John Cox. The ancestry of the John Cox with a son Samuel who married Hannah Wierman can be found listed in the Brandywine Cox Family Tree. My DNA test results indicate that I also descend from this John Cox, better known as John Cox, Jr.. John Cox, Jr. was my 5th great grandfather. Joseph R. Cox’s wife Malinda Jane [Hadley Cox] Secrest was my third cousin-thrice removed.
As I wrote earlier, the Morgan County, Indiana West Union Monthly Meeting Quaker Records indicate that Joseph R. Cox was the son of Harmon Cox and Martha Cox. As listed in the Indiana Marriage Index, Harman Cox married Martha Cox on November 14, 1818 in Wayne County, Indiana.
A book titled The Cox Family in America written by Rev. Henry Miller Cox and published in 1912 lists the family of Harmon Cox on page 268. Martha Cox was Harmon’s first wife. The passage lists two more wives for Harmon, sisters: Rebecca and Rachel Small and all of his children: Dinah [Diannah] Cox, Stephen Cox, Amy Cox, Joseph R. Cox., Ezrah H. Cox, Adon L. Cox, Sally V. Cox, and Harmon B. Cox. The book also identifies the father of Harmon Cox’s first wife Martha Cox as Joseph Cox and Martha Cox’s grandfather as Benjamin Cox.
Harmon Cax is listed on the 1820 US Census for Wayne County, Indiana: 1 male aged over 25 but not yet 45, 1 female aged under 10, and 1 female aged over 16 but not yet 26. Although not adjacent, but listed on the same page was Jeremiah Cox. According to Rev. Miller’s book, Harmon Cox walked from North Carolina to the Richmond, [Wayne County,] Indiana area with his cousin Jeremiah Cox.
According to the Brandywine Cox Family Tree, my ancestor John Cox, Jr. had a son named Benjamin Cox, born 1723, Chester County, PA who married Martha Garretson. Benjamin’s and Martha’s son Joseph Cox, born 1759, Guilford, NC married Dinah Rich. This is confirmed by the Center, Guilford County, NC Quaker Records that list the December 6, 1781 marriage of Joseph Cox, son of Benjamin and Martha Cox of Cane Creek and Dinah Rich, daughter of John and Sarah Rich of Center, Guilford County, NC.
The 1820 US Census for Wayne County, Indiana lists the following Cox families
Wm Cox, Sr 200010 30000 5/57
Joseph Cox 320020 10000 6/57
Jeremiah Cox, Sr. 300010 30001 11/57
Peter Cox 110001 01000 19/57
Isaac Cox 200010 11001 22/57
William Cox 100010 00010 28/57
John Cox 000011 00001 30/57
Jeremiah Cax 420101 01100 47/57
Harman Cax 000010 10100 47/57
In 1820, Joseph Cox who was born in 1759 would have been listed on the US Census as aged over 45. He doesn’t appear to be listed on the US Census for Wayne County, Indiana. In 1816, the BLM Land Records patents list a Joseph Cox of North Carolina as the owner of Quarter Section 12, Township Sixteen, Range 13. The History of Wayne County, Indiana, Volume I, published in 1884 mentions a Joseph Cox several times commencing in 1817 with his appointment as a Grand Juror. There was a least one other Joseph Cox in the area who was from Virginia and who arrived before 1807 with his father John Cox.
Joseph Cox of Wayne County, IN signed a last will and testament on July 3, 1828 that listed his heirs as: William Cox, Joseph Cox, Benjamin Cox, Miriam [Cox] Moffett, Dinah [Cox] Hill, Martha [Cox] Cox, and Sarah [Cox] Brown. Not mentioned in the will but included in the book, The Cox Family in America, page 267 are sons: Moses, Nathan, and John. His wife is also not mentioned in the will; however the Quaker Wayne County, IN Quaker Records list the death dates and age at death for Joseph: August 18, 1828, 68 years-6 months-9 days, and his wife Dinah Cox: April 5, 1826, 66 years, 5 months-22 days.
Joseph bequeath land to his sons: “…bequeath to my son Joseph Cox, the West half of the North east quarter of Section three in Township fourteen of range eight and also twenty one acres of the east side of the east half of the north west quarter of Section three in Township fourteen of range eight…bequeath to my son Benjamin the balance of the east half of the northwest quarter of Section three in Township fourteen of Range eight…” According to the BLM 1826 land grant, the patents lists Joseph Cox of Wayne County, Indiana as the owner. The two tracts of land are south of Wayne County in present-day Rush County, Indiana which was created in 1822. The complete proof is not here, but for the purposes of this exploration study, I’m willing to argue that Joseph and Dinah Cox of Wayne County, IN were likely the parents of Harmon Cox’s wife Martha, that she was the grandaughter of Benjamin Cox and the great-granddaughter of John Cox, Jr. If that is true then I am her second cousin-four times removed.
[I should note without pursuing, that according to the Brandywine Cox Family Tree, the mother of Benjamin Cox’s wife Martha Garretson was Ann Cox, born 1794 in England.]
In addition to Joseph Cox, Benjamin Cox and Martha Garretson had another son named Jeremiah Cox who settled in Wayne County, Indiana. His life and that of his son Jeremiah Cox, Jr. are detailed in both of the books mentioned above: The History of Wayne County and The Cox Family in America. Jeremiah Cox, Jr. is likely the cousin who Harmon Cox traveled with while walking from North Carolina to Wayne County, Indiana.
The sons of Benjamin Cox and Martha Garretson had an older sister named Amy who married Thomas Cox. The Cox Family in America details the family of Amy Cox, born 1758 on page 274. Amy was married twice, first to Thomas Cox then to Levi Lane and died near Fairfield, Indiana. Her children were Stephen, Mary, William, Martha, Thomas, Amy, Harmon, Benjamin, Abel, and Ruth.
The family for Thomas and Amy Cox’s son Harmon Cox, born 1793 is detailed on page 268. of the book. Joseph R. Cox was the son of this Harmon Cox, born 1793 and Amy Cox, the daughter of Benjamin Cox and Martha Garretson. Through Joseph R. Cox’s mother Amy, I am his second cousin-four times removed.
Amy’s family can also be found on the Brandywine Cox Family Tree. Her husband, Thomas Charles Cox, born 1753, was the son of Harmon Cox, born 1723 in New Castle County, Delaware and his wife Jane John[s], born about 1728 in NC. According to the Brandywine Cox Family Tree, Harmon Cox, born 1723, was the son of William Cox, born 1692 in New Castle County, Delaware and Catherine Kinkey, born 1716 in Cecil County, Maryland. The parents of William Cox, born 1692 were William Cox, born 1657 in England and Naomi (Amy) Cantrell, born in 1660. I am aware that I have an undefined Cantrell heritage that may connect to Naomi (Amy) Cantrell’s line, but I’ve not yet found a paternal Cox line connection to Joseph R. Cox.
I’ll conclude this study that covers the heritage of Rebecca Harmon Cox, the daughter of Joseph R. Cox and Malinda Hadley by noting while my paternal Cox line connection to Joseph R. Cox paternal Cox line, if any, is likely 9 generations or more back, perhaps beyond the scope of Autosomal DNA results. However, the possibility of my paternal Cox line connection to Joseph R. Cox’s wife Malinda, to his mother Martha, and to his grandmother Amy is much closer and well within the range of the 10 centi-Morgan DNA segment.