Who did Jacob Cox marry? Historical records offer a couple of hints, in disagreement with each other, but no last names. We are left to put the puzzle together using pieces of logic and DNA. The best answer we have to date follows:
Jacob was married to a person named Anna in 1763, according to land transactions in Halifax County, Virginia. However, it appears he was married to Mary in 1769, according to a land transaction in Cumberland County, Virginia. Either we have two men with different wives, or the same man who was married twice. We believe the latter.
In fact, we believe that Anna and Mary were sisters, daughters of Thomas Coleman and Elizabeth Brown (Last name not proven). How do we draw such a conclusion? It is a combination of DNA matching and compelling paper trail.
First, the DNA. Several descendants of Jacob Cox share overlapping DNA on their fourth chromosome. Most come from a younger son of Jacob, while another comes from an older son. If Jacob had two wives, the DNA either has to come from Jacob, or his wives have to be related to each other. There are others who share this same overlapping DNA, but they have not uncovered any connection to the Cox family. Two known matches, however, trace their ancestry back to the same extended Coleman family. While this could normally be considered a match, the distance back to the match is so many generations that we are hesitant to declare that it is proven beyond doubt.
That invites us to wonder whether the potential DNA match is backed up by historical evidence. Was Jacob in the same area as the Coleman family at the right time to meet and marry a member of the family? Are there wills or land transactions putting the families together? Do naming conventions suggest the possibility of a connection?
Jacob was born in New Jersey, probably in the late 1720’s. We know that he had land surveyed in what was becoming Halifax County, Virginia, by at least 1755. The Coleman family was in Gloucester County, Virginia throughout the early 1700’s. However, Rachel Coleman, daughter of Thomas Coleman and Elizabeth Brown, married William Thompson in Lunenburg County, Virginia in 1749. Halifax County, Virginia, was created out of Lunenburg County in 1752. Much of the rest of the history of this Coleman family takes place in Halifax County, so we clearly have opportunity and timing for Jacob to meet the family, and to become interested in Ann Coleman, who was about his age.
Naming conventions are a particularly strong suggestion of a connection in these families. Jacob has children in a birth order of Dorcas, Rebecca, Phillip, and Thomas, among others who come later. Phillip and Dorcas are the names of Jacob’s paternal grandparents. Thomas and Rebecca are the names of Ann’s paternal grandparents. One of Jacob’s children, Samuel, names a son Coleman. Samuel also names a daughter Sarah Ryland Cox. As it turns out, Ann and Mary Coleman have a sister named Sarah who marries Josiah Ryland, making her Sarah Ryland. Sarah would be Samuel’s aunt, if we have the connection correct.
Ann and Mary Coleman had a second cousin named Elizabeth Coleman. She married Shadrack Tribble. Shadrace is a witness on two land purchases by Jacob in 1758 and 1759.
Let’s turn to more information about the Coleman family into which we believe Jacob married.
The following narrative includes information recorded in family trees, as well as some information found in land and court records of various counties. The birthdates and family members have not been verified independently, and should be taken with caution. Some birthdates were recorded in the Abingdon Parish Register for that time period; however, after an abstract of the register was recorded, the original was destroyed by fire (1916). It is now impossible to verify whether dates were correctly transcribed in the abstract. It is reported that there was a family Bible at one time that was at odds with the register on one of the birthdates.
Family of Thomas Coleman and Elizabeth Brown(?)
Thomas Coleman was born February 7, 1688, in Abingdon Parish, Gloucester County, Virginia. He was the son of Thomas Coleman and Rebecca Claiborne, and he married Elizabeth Brown, born May 10, 1695, on January 3, 1712, in Gloucester County.
They had 11 known children between the years 1713 and 1738. All of the children are said to have been born in Gloucester County, Virginia, but it may not have been long after 1738 that the family moved to what would become Halifax County, Virginia. The children included:
- Robert Coleman was born before December 6, 1713, and married Elizabeth LNU on December 30, 1745. They had four children born between the year of 1746 and 1751, Robert, William, Elizabeth, and Whiley.
- Joseph Coleman was born February 16, 1716, and married Grace Cluverious on November 6, 1739. They had five children born prior to 1757, all in Gloucester County, but their son, Cluverius, bought land from Thomas Brown in Lunenburg County, in 1761. The children’s names were Cluverius, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Thomas, and Sarah.
- Rebecca Coleman was born before March 5, 1719, and married John Hall on August 3, 1745.
- Elizabeth Coleman was born April 3, 1721, and married William Robbins on December 1, 1737. They had children named Vincent, James, Michael, Jonathan, Ann, and William.
- Thomas Coleman was born July 5, 1722.
- Sarah Coleman was born February 2, 1726, and married Joseph or Josiah Ryland. Their children, Elizabeth, Mary, Thomas, and Sarah were born by 1761, all in Gloucester County, Virginia. In 1795, Samuel Cox and Catherine Bruce named a daughter, Sarah Ryland Cox. She was their first daughter. Though unproven, there is one who believes that Sarah had a twin sister named Ann Coleman, who married Jacob Cox, father of Samuel. Joseph Ryland is said to have been born in Brunswick County, Virginia, leaving open the possibility that the children were not born in Gloucester County.
- Ann Coleman was born February 2, in 1726 or 1728. Her birthdate is the same day as Sarah, and it is possible that they were twins. We believe that this is the person who first married Jacob Cox, and was named as relinquishing her right of dower in three land transactions on June 16, 1763. The transactions were selling 119 acres on Green Creek of the Mayo River to James Roberts, 100 acres to Leonard Vandergriff on the north side of the South Mayo River, and 89 acres to Fulker Fulkerson on both sides of the Stinking River, near Allen’s Creek and Whitehorn Creek. The third piece of land had been purchased a year earlier from Robert Wooding.
- Mary Coleman was born August 5, 1729. She has been associated with various possible husbands. Some say she was married to a Roger Stone, others say John Cox, others don’t hazard a guess. One person, at least, believes she was married to Jacob Cox, as his second wife, prior to 1769, and probably prior to 1767. Those suggesting John Cox have done so hoping to prove that John P. Cox was their son, providing a reason for John P. Cox’s son, Coleman to be so named. Y-DNA and genealogical evidence suggests that it is more likely that John P. Cox was the brother of Phineas Cox, and that both were children of Samuel Cox.
- Rachel Coleman was born May 24, 1731, and married William Thompson June 12, 1749, in Lunenburg County, Virginia. This is the first evidence of the family having moved from Gloucester County. Their children included Mary, Susanna, Rebecca, Lewranny Ann, Martha, Ann, and William. Ann married Nathaniel Terry, Jr. In 1784, William Thompson sold two pieces of land to John Coleman in Halifax County, with William Thompson, Sr., as a witness, along with J Williams, Jr., William Terry and Nathaniel Terry. It is not clear whether William Thompson, Jr. would have been old enough to be the seller of the land, so William Thompson, Sr. acting as witness is confusing. William Thompson and William Terry received power of attorney from Nathaniel Cocke in 1785.
- Dianna Coleman was born February 5, 1734, and married John Williams (see witness above). Their child Sarah Coleman Williams was born in Halifax County, in 1758.
- Susanna Coleman was born January 16, 1736, and married Armistead Watlington in 1756. Their children, Paul, James, Thomas, Elizabeth, Fanny, and Mary were born between 1757 and 1767. In a Will written in 1803, Armistead said that his daughter, Polly (Mary) had married a William Thompson, and secondly married William Terry (See witnesses in transaction on #8 Rachel Coleman). The William Thompson to whom Polly was married does not appear to be in the immediate family of the William Thompson to whom Rachel was married.
- John Coleman was born October 15, 1738, and married Mary Embry in 1757. John purchased land on Difficult Creek in Halifax County in 1768, and this land is very near to the land purchased by Coleman Cox in about 1821. He bought land on Piney Branch, a branch of Difficult Creek, in 1784, from William Thompson. In fact, he made many purchases on Difficult Creek, developing a large estate called Woodlawn.
Armistead Watlington, husband of Susanna, John Williams, husband of Dianna, and William Thompson, husband of Rachel, were all asked to divide the estate of John Forshee, by his widow Sarah Ann Forshee, in 1774. While this connects the three men, it remains unclear as to why they were chosen for the task. The logical explanation would be that Sarah Ann was from the Coleman family, but that does not appear to be the case. Perhaps they were simply neighbors.