Coleman Cox was a hoarder. And that now works to our benefit. For whatever reason, he stashed scraps of paper into a little box and handed it all down to his son, Caswell. The scraps included bills, receipts, promissory notes, tidbits of information, letters, and names of people. That information, now 200 years old, helps us know and tell his story. If only he had told us more!
We know that Coleman was born on January 16, 1793, some say in Jonesboro, Tennessee. More likely it was on the family farm a few miles outside of Jonesboro. Samuel Cox, Coleman’s father, bought the land just a few years earlier from his own father, Jacob Cox. It was near what is now Fall Branch, Tennessee, bordering Interstate 81, at the headwaters of Lick Creek and Horse Creek. Of course, he lived in North Carolina or the State of Franklin, depending on who you asked, on the day he was born. Tennessee was not formed for another three years.
Samuel had married Catherine Bruce, a young woman from Halifax County, Virginia, in 1790, and their first son, John, was born in 1791. Coleman came second, taking on the surname of his paternal grandmother, Mary Coleman.
A lot was going on in those first few years of life. The United States was in its infancy, white settlers had only been in the region for a little better than a decade. Relationships with Native Americans were unsettled. Slavery was real and divisive across the country. The new United States Constitution was an experiment with less than a decade of evidence to prove its worth. Nothing about the future appeared to be guaranteed.
Samuel and Catherine (Caty) continued having children with their eighth and final child being born in 1803 and taking Samuel’s name. Then tragedy struck, Caty died in 1806. She was only 36 years old, and she left Samuel with 8 children under the age of 16 to raise. Coleman was 13, a new teenager.
Samuel must have known he was not prepared to raise the children on his own, and within two years he married Margaret Crippen, who was soon pregnant with Samuel’s ninth child. But there was little time for the family to recover and build a new relationship. Within months, Samuel got into a fight with Margaret’s brother. He received injuries so significant that within a few months he died.
Coleman and his siblings were left to live with a step-mother they hardly knew and whose brother had killed their father. Obviously, that wouldn’t do. They were shipped out to live with various guardians. Coleman and his younger sister, Rachel, were assigned to George Perry just at the time Coleman was turning 16.
We know nothing of Coleman’s life for the next few years, but on December 1, 1812, Coleman joined the East Tennessee Volunteers Militia, serving under Captain William Walker, and commanded by Col. John Williams, during the War of 1812. In a pension application, Coleman stated that he was in the “war with the Seminole Indians in Florida during the war with Great Britain declared by the United States on the 18th day of June, 1812, that he volunteered at Unionville, Tennessee, in or about the twentieth day of November 1812, for the sum of three months and upward and was honorably discharged by Joseph Pinckney (perhaps Thomas Pinckney) in Florida on the 28th day of February, 1813…” The volunteers comprised a group of a little more than 200 men who were said to have destroyed several Semionle villages, burning some 300 homes, and taking livestock and horses. They mustered out together in late February, and returned home.
Coleman was now 20 years old, and, according to additional War of 1812 pension information, stood about 6 feet tall, had fair complexion, and had blue eyes. He was living as a farmer, though in later life he worked as a carpenter. For the next 5 years we don’t hear from him.
Then, in 1818, he took a job working for the estate of Herbert C. Cocke, in Halifax County, Virginia, and under the guidance of William Bailey. We can wish that he had kept a few more notes from that moment in his life.
Why did he go to Halifax County, Virginia? Was Herbert C. Cocke part of the family? Did he have other family there? After all, he had spent his entire life in northeastern Tennessee, many miles from Halifax County, Virginia. One wouldn’t usually just show up in that neighborhood looking for a job.
Over the years, we have been able to uncover some clues and hints. Coleman had two elements of his extended family in Halifax County, Virginia. His mother’s family was still there. In fact, his grandfather, John Bruce, died in October, 1816. It was about this time that Coleman moved to Virginia. In August, 1816, he signed a promissory note to John Chesney, and that was likely in the Grainger County, Tennessee, area. In the spring of 1817, Coleman had set up an account in Halifax County, Virginia, with Clark Bailey, and by the fall, he was working on the estate of Herbert C. Cocke, under the guidance of William Bailey. In 1818, Larkin Seamore, Coleman’s uncle by way of marriage to Sally Bruce, sister of Coleman’s mother, asked that Coleman and William Webb be named as his power of attorney in regard to the estate of John Bruce, Sr. Larkin also stated that Coleman was living in Halifax County, Virginia at that time (July 4, 1818.) It is possible that Coleman went to Virginia due to the death of his grandfather, or to live in the area where his maternal grandparents lived. However, he was not included as a beneficiary in the will
The second family line was the Colemans, from whom his paternal grandmother came. The evidence is less direct, but compelling. Herbert C. Cocke’s father died when Herbert was young. His mother, Lucy, then married William Thompson, Jr., whose mother was Rachel Coleman, sister of Coleman’s grandmother, Mary Coleman. That suggests Coleman went to work on the estate of a step-cousin. When Coleman bought land in 1821, it was from Isham Britton, who had bought it from Nathaniel Cocke. Nathaniel was married to Rebecca Thompson. While there is no specific evidence of the relationship, the close proximity of these families suggests Rebecca might have been a sister of William Thompson, Jr., and the daughter of Rachel Coleman. The land Coleman bought was bordered by John R. Cocke and Lucy Thompson. To make the connections a little more interesting, the land Coleman bought had first been owned by Richard Cocke, and when he died, his sons, Nathaniel and John did not yet live in the area so they had neighbors sign the documents. They were John Coleman, John Bruce, William Thompson, William Terry, and Howard Cain. The Coleman and Bruce families were already intertwined. (Howard Cain married Elizabeth Moorefield, sister of John Moorefield who married Winnifred Bruce, the daughter of John Bruce. William Terry appears to have been married to Susannah Thompson, sister of Rebecca Thompson who married Natnaniel Cocke, and William Thompson who was the second husband of Lucy Herbert Cocke.)
So, it seems likely that Coleman went to Halifax County, Virginia, in 1816, due to family connections that included both the Coleman and Bruce families. It was time for him to settle down.
First Coleman got acquainted with and married Roxanna Foster, the daughter of Josiah Foster, Jr. and Elizabeth Webb. The Foster family lived in Charlotte county next-door. Perhaps Coleman met Roxanna through William Webb, his cousin. We haven’t specific evidence of a connection, but William was probably the son of John Webb, b. 1760, and Charity Foster who were married in 1783. Elizabeth Webb was born around 1780 and married Josiah Foster, Jr., and they were Roxanna’s parents. These families lived in the same general vicinity.
Whatever the case, Coleman and Roxanna were married in Charlotte County, Virginia, on October 28, 1819, by Rev. Henderson Lee. The pastor was said to be a Republican Methodist (Methodist doctrine and Presbyterian form of government). Roxanna’s father had died a couple of years earlier and Benjamin Foster provided surety for her. She was about 16 years old, about 10 years younger than Coleman. When they were married, Coleman had no living parents and Roxanna had only her mother. The Foster family was full of large families who tended to name children by the same name. With that said, thanks to autosomal DNA evidence we are confident in saying Roxanna was the daughter of Josiah Foster, Jr., and Elizabeth Webb, and she was the granddaughter of Josiah Foster, Sr. and Virginia Elizabeth Johnson (The DNA connection). It seems most likely that Josiah, Sr.’s parents were George Foster and Mary Singleton, but that is not proven. We do know that George had a son named Josiah and that they lived in Charlotte County, not a long distance from where Coleman would soon buy property.
In April of 1819, a few months before his marriage, Coleman began boarding with William Roberts. (Coleman Cox papers, page 53) We don’t know which William Roberts. There was a William Roberts, married to Sally Ragland. He was the son of John Roberts and Jane Forqurean. His brother, Francis, had a daughter named Susannah who was the wife of John Bruce, Jr., Coleman’s uncle. However, it is thought that William died in 1813, so this may be a son named William.
At about this time, Coleman had a number of transactions with John D. Richardson. John Davis Richardson was assigned as the guardian of Roxanna after her father died. He was also the administrator for the estates of Josiah Foster, Sr., Josiah Foster, Jr., and Elizabeth Webb Foster. Interestingly, Richardson was married to Elizabeth Spencer, a descendant of the Buckner family into which Coleman’s Aunt Nancy Cox had married. (Information provided by Idris Cox)
During this time, Coleman had many joint transactions with William Webb, and some with Benjamin W. Foster. In several cases, they were seeking to employ slaves for a period of time. This also suggests that Coleman had finished his work on the Herbert C. Cocke estate and was branching out on his own. We don’t know whether his chosen work was now carpentry as it would become later in life.
While we don’t know for sure where Coleman lived from the time of his marriage until his purchase of land in 1821, we do know that he and Roxanna were invited to the home of Nathan Penick on August 20, 1820. We know of no connection between these families. It may have simply been a neighborhood gathering, but Coleman kept the invitation and handed it on to his descendants (See Coleman Cox Papers, Page 77) However, it may have been a celebration of the upcoming birth of Coleman and Roxanna’s first child. Cicely Rice Cox was born in October of 1820. The 1820 census shows the Penicks living next door to Jesse Munday, husband of Rebekah Bruce. The Mundays would be Coleman’s aunt and uncle, and the census was for Meadsville, Halifax County, Virginia.
On August 30, 1821, Coleman and Roxanna bought land in Halifax County, Virginia, as mentioned previously. It was 120 acres lying on the waters of Difficult Creek and bounding the lands of John R. Cocke, Lucy H. Thompson, Mary Love, and Frederick Steagall. Isham Britton sold them the land for $580. We have already mentioned the various connections of those with bordering land and that the land would have been very near to land from the Herbert C. Cocke estate on which Coleman worked. It was not, however, part of that estate.
Coleman and Roxanna lived in Halifax County, Virginia, through the summer of 1823. We have our first listing of a mailing address for them on October 12, 1823 (Coleman Cox Papers, Page 99) The mail was to go to Germanton, North Carolina, though that would only be the closest court house to them. The letter was from Coleman’s younger brother, Samuel, who had an ongoing legal dispute with Dennis Condra. Samuel was reporting to Coleman that he was being asked to respond to a law suit in the Circuit Court, Rutledge, North Carolina.
Coleman was being called as a citizen of Virginia, though Samuel knows that he has moved to North Carolina. Samuel wants Coleman to respond, but also to “…your trade with Presley Buckner, for you were underage, and you know how to answer as the Condras and Buckners has cheated the estate of our father out of a vast deal. In your answer, I wish you to say what he gave you for your land and whether you received any part after you was of age.” (Coleman Cox Papers, Pages 99-101)
Coleman had written a letter to Presley Buckner asking for his share of the estate on August 26, 1819 (Coleman Cox Papers, Page 58) Samuel seems to have been the one most disturbed by what happened to the estate, and we don’t have any responses Coleman made to Samuel in this matter.
So, it seems that Coleman, Roxanna, and Cicely moved to North Carolina between July and October, 1823. Within the next year, Coleman’s younger brother, Samuel, also appears to be living in Stokes County, North Carolina, and in 1824, Samuel sells Coleman land in Knox County, Tennessee, adjoining land of Coleman’s sister. Perhaps Samuel got part of his inheritance and sold it to Samuel? Coleman pays $15 for 10 acres on the south side of Bull Run, which is near Maynardville, Tennessee. John Cox is a witness to the transaction. James Damewood, husband of a daughter of Larkin Seymore, is another. It would seem that Coleman may have visited the family in Tennessee to complete this transaction.
We don’t know why Coleman and Roxanna moved to North Carolina or why they left a few years later. There are tantalizing hints, but they don’t provide clarity.
For example, in 1823, about the time Coleman and Roxanna move to North Carolina, a person named Thomas Cox dies in Stokes County, North Carolina. His will shows him to have a son named William Cox. Hickman Isbell and Richard Isbell are witnesses to his will. The Isbells had a brother, Jason, who married Jane Cox, the daughter of Phineas Cox and Sarah Nunnelly. Jane was a second cousin of Coleman, who lived in Warren County, Kentucky. Other members of the Phineas Cox family also married into the Isbell family. With that said, evidence appears to suggest that Thomas is connected to a Cox family from Orange County, Virginia, that is a different Cox line. We don’t find a specific connection to them in the Coleman Cox papers even though they would have been neighbors in the same county.
Coleman received a letter from Edwin Hickman regarding land Coleman wanted to rent. He references a sister Sally and a Mistress Hankins, but there is no Hankins in the 1820 or 1830 census in Stokes County. Edwin Hickman is probably the same person who appears to have fought in the Revolutionary War with Phillip Cox, Coleman’s uncle. The Hickman family is inter-married in multiple ways with the Isbell family mentioned above. They are also inter-married with the Ketchum family that has transactions with Coleman based on the Coleman Cox Papers. Coleman clearly has ongoing relationships with families that are intimately connected to Thomas Cox, but, again, it appears to be about business rather than family.
In 1824, William Cox promises to pay John Beasley an amount of money (Coleman Cox Papers, Page 112), and Coleman Cox, Samuel Cox, and David Hudson sign as witnesses. Just above that note, David Hudson appears to be making some sort of claim to money that Coleman and Roxanna received from Roxanna’s inheritance from her father, Josiah Foster, back in Virginia. David, as it turns out, was married to Roxanna Foster’s sister, Matilda.
Most important to this point is the question of where William and Samuel Cox come from. It appears that Samuel is Coleman’s younger brother who had written an earlier letter. However, we are not aware of other people in the immediate family named William Cox.
Coleman also had relationships with Jesse and Joshua Cox. Again, we have not been able to uncover a family connection with either Coleman or the Thomas Cox family. Coleman and Jesse appear to make joint purchases. In one case, Coleman notes that a list is an “account of things I had of Jesse Cox.” The one instance of Joshua Cox regards a delivery to his house that will be intended for Ephraim Ketchum, who is part of the Hickman/Isbell/Ketchum family group. The 1820 census for Stokes County lists three people named Joshua Cox, a Jesse Cox, and a John Cox on the same page. Several pages away, we find a William Cox next to a Joseph Cox, and in between we find a Frances Cox and a Mildred Cox ( the 1820 census of the county was somewhat alphabetical but appears to have been alphabetical by section of the county). Online family trees tend to suggest that Jesse and Joshua were from a Cox family out of Pennsylvania, suggesting that these were coincidental contacts.
The Coleman Cox Papers have more discoveries to be made. We have reviewed only about the first 120 pages or so. There are family letters and events yet to be reported in this biography. We need to remember that Coleman helped build the county courthouse in Rutherford, North Carolina, and that he tried his hand at building washing machines in 1838. We will see that he made his way back to northeastern Tennessee, not far from where he started life, in the mid 1830’s. There are more characters and conflict to be known. However, we want to get this much posted while we work on the rest.
Steve Cox, with significant contributions by Idris Cox
April 17, 2020