Determining Jacob Cox’s ancestry and spouse(s) has required a combination of Y-DNA and autosomal DNA comparisons, as well as developing a paper trail. We will explain that below, but our short answer is that Jacob was the son of John Cox and Mary Taylor. John Cox was the son of Phillip Cox and Dorcas Hull. Mary Taylor’s parents are unproven, though a good guess in 2020 is that she descended from a family that had connections with the Hulls when they were in Massachusetts as early as the 1640’s. Jacob, we believe, was married to sisters named Anna and Mary Coleman. These sisters were the daughters of Thomas Coleman and Elizabeth Brown. The Coleman family had been in Virginia at an early time in the country’s history.
The bigger question is how we have come to these conclusions. Most significant, is the fact that descendants of Jacob are close Y-DNA matches with multiple people who chart their ancestry to Phillip Cox, b. abt 1678, who married Dorcas Hull in 1702, and lived in Somerset County, New Jersey. Details of those connections are in the DNA Tab of this website. This means that Jacob was descended from Phillip in New Jersey, but earlier knowledge about Jacob had only found him in Halifax County, Virginia, as an adult. What would be the connection to Phillip?
The Y-DNA research group was also aware that Jacob had a brother in Halifax County, Virginia, who had produced children named Phineas Cox and John P. Cox. The descendants of these two men also had that close Y-DNA connection. Research of those in Halifax County showed Jacob having a connection with a Samuel Cox while there. Samuel is not only a name Jacob then gave to one of his sons, but it was also passed down along the children of Jacob’s brother. Samuel appeared to be the most likely name for his brother.
That information came in handy in searching for a descendant of Phillip who might migrate to Halifax County. The research led to John Cox, son of Phillip. John left a Will in 1767 in which he named his children. Two of the oldest were named Jacob and Samuel. Neither son appeared to be available to act as executors of the Will, but both were apparently living since they were named as beneficiaries. The best assumption was that they were living elsewhere. In addition, both Jacob and Samuel Cox, in Halifax County, Virginia, bought land next to and on the same day as Fulker Fulkerson. Fulker’s family neighbored with Phillip Cox in Somerset County, New Jersey. So, while we don’t have proof that Jacob was a son of John, we do know he was a grandson of Phillip, and John is the most likely candidate to be his father.
Deed records suggest that Jacob may have had two wives. In 1759, a transcation indicates his wife was Anna. We have not proven this was for our Jacob Cox, but the the families related to the transaction make it seem likely even though it is in a different county. In 1769, he had a wife named Mary in a transaction that appears clearly related to our Jacob Cox.
Autosomal DNA matching on Chromosome 4 has matched perhaps a half dozen known descendants of Jacob Cox. Several of those descend from Samuel, the son of Jacob, but another descends from Phillip Cox, the oldest son of Jacob. More importantly, research has led to at least two other people who match in the same location on Chromosome 4 but do not have Cox ancestry. The only match found in each of those cases is with a Coleman family that had also migrated to Halifax County, Virginia, when Jacob was there. That family had multiple interactions with Jacob’s family. For example, Samuel, the son of Jacob, named a daughter, Sarah Ryland Cox. There was a Sarah Coleman who married a Josiah Ryland, making her Sarah Ryland. Sarah had sisters named Anna and Mary, all of them daughters of Thomas Coleman and Elizabeth Brown. Other connections with this family are detailed in a different section of this website. However, the DNA evidence adds credence to the likelihood that one or both of these Coleman sisters were married to Jacob. We would add that Samuel, son of Jacob, also named his second son Coleman.
For more details on these families, click on the tabs associated with this page.