I just joined a Gedmatch ancestor group called North America East Coast Settlers 1600's-1700's. There is a matching Facebook group called Early Settlers Ancestry Gedmatch Group. The objective is to meet cousins with whom you share ancestors who were in North America in the colonial period through the 1700's. Members must have their DNA results on Gedmatch and should be able to share a public ancestral tree.
I have been thinking about my early North American ancestors a lot, particularly since I have also been trying to save my 6 and 7 cm matches on Ancestry. For many Ancestry members, including me, it is these very matches at 6 and 7 cm's that reveal a common ancestor in this colonial group. I have already met a couple of cousins--within the Gedmatch group and with shared small cm matches at Ancestry--with whom I hope to compare trees and share information.
While looking at potential matches in the Early Settlers group and coding my 6 and 7 cm matches on Ancestry, I have discovered that I have not done a very good job with these early ancestors in my Ancestry tree. When I was first working on my tree, I think I had confidence in my sources back to 1800 (particularly since I lean heavily on the information I find in the U.S. census), but not so much before that. Because of that, I tended to just stop when data became hard to find or I didn't know how to verify that a person in a record was really my ancestor.
Most of the work on my tree was done years ago, when I sometimes borrowed names from other people's trees because I assumed they had done the research. I always tried to find at least one source that verified the information in other people's trees, particularly the connection to my ancestor, but that means I often just listed my ancestor, minus his or her siblings, as a child of his/her parents. DNA has made that problematic. Now I need to know the siblings of my ancestor so I can trace his descendants down to the one that I share DNA with. Ancestry's Thru-Lines can help me with that, but there are so many mistakes in Thru-Lines that it will really help if I have the source to verify the match.
So--family by family, I am going to try to verify/correct/expand the names and sources in my tree, and while I'm doing that, I'm going to post what I find out--family by family. Today's post is about the Cocke family of 1700's Virginia, the ancestors of my Day family of 1800's Kentucky.
John Cock
We begin with John Cock, the first of this family with a definitive connection to my tree, which doesn't necessarily mean he is the first of this family in America. Most trees give John's birth date as 1724. Some trees list his birth place and the birthplace of his wife, Mary Elizabeth Goad, as North Farnham Parish, Richmond, Virginia. There is an Elizabeth Goad, born 12 July 1726 in North Farnham Parish to John and Katherine Goad, but again, no proof that this is the Mary Elizabeth that married John Cock. No records in North Farnham Parish exist for anyone named Cock or Cocke. The two "Cox" births are not John.
In the database "U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900" on Ancestry, the marriage date of John Cocke (birthplace NY, birth date 1724) to Mary Elizabeth Goad (birthplace VA, birth date 1726) is given as 1845. This database "was extracted from a variety of sources including family group sheets and electronic databases. Originally, the information was derived from an array of materials including pedigree charts, family history articles [and] queries," so who knows how reliable it is.
A note by researcher Tim Prater on Rootsweb, saved to John's record on Ancestry by cbacon64, states that "Elizabeth's older sister was Johannah Goad Sevier, wife of Valentine Sevier and mother of John Sevier, who was one of the legitimate heroes of King's Mountain and the First Governor of the State of Tennessee." If true, this helps confirm a statement of August 1747 in Lyman Chalkley's Chronicles of the Scotch Irish Settlement in Virginia, page 296. It states that Johannis Cox [John Cock] "lives on Smith's Creek, near Lohe's Plantation. Ask Val. Sevior. He is his brother-in-law." Without the reference to his brother-in-law, it might be easy to overlook this Augusta County court record involving "Johannis Cox." The court proceedings, in which Capt. Thomas Cresap was suing Cox for a debt, are also interesting, considering John Cock's later land holdings and, by assumption, his wealth. A further notation reads, "Not found in my Bailiwick; he is run away, by me, John Edwards." Looking at other suits brought by Cresap, it appears he was some sort of pawnbroker, lending money with personal possessions of the debtor given as collateral. John Edwards must have been a bailiff or sheriff; the job description of these officials in colonial times would be an interesting research project for another day.
According to the book, Carroll 1765-1815, the Settlements: A History of the First Fifty Years of Carroll County, Virginia, published in 1985: "John Cock purchased 200 acres of land on Frying Pan Creek in Pittsylvania County in 1771, which was the year before he moved to Burks Fork in what is now Carroll Co. He did not sell his Pittsylvania farm until 1776." A note by a Cock researcher on Ancestry states that John Cock sold 200 acres on Frying Pan Creek to Patrick Morison on August 4, 1776, according to Pittsylvania Co. Deed Book 4, page 266. Witnesses were Thomas Goad and John Goad, which helps to confirm that John Cock's wife was indeed a Goad.
In The Settlements Alderman lists the following sons of John and Elizabeth: "Andrew Cock of Burks Fork, John Cock of Crooked Creek, James Cock of Crooked Creek, and Valentine Cock of Snake Creek." Other children named by researchers and given a maybe by Alderman are: Mary, wife of Thomas Dickens; Susanna, wife of Henry Webb; and Reuben, who married Rhoda Phillips. Elder Isaac Webb who committed the genealogy of the Cockes to writing in his family Bible is responsible for much of what Cocke family descendants know about the family. He stated that his grandmother was Susanna Cocke, who married Henry Webb.
From The Settlements: "In 1782 he [John Cock] was an established figure on Burks Fork, that year he entered claims to 400 acres on Burks Fork and 150 acres on Big Reed. His claim before the land commissioners in 1782 stated that he settled on Burks Fork in 1772... On June 1, 1787, John and Elizabeth deeded his Burks Fork farm to Andrew Cock (Montgomery Deed Book #A-450) and about that time he sold his big tract to Robert Goad... In 1797 there were three surveys in John's name recorded in the Grayson survey book; the grants were later issued to Andrew who seems to have acquired all of John's land."
It might be important to note here that Burks Fork was originally in Fincastle Co., then in Montgomery, then in Grayson, and then in the eastern part of Carroll Co., as new counties were formed and county boundaries changed.
John disappears from the records about 1800, when he would have been in his 70's. The assumption is that John and Elizabeth lived their last years with Andrew on Burks Fork.
Andrew Cock
While no records of Andrew Cock's birth exist, some assumptions can be made. He was probably the oldest of John and Elizabeth's children, born in the 1740's in Pittsylvania. Again, Elder Isaac Webb is the source for much of what is known about Andrew Cock. He was married twice; the name of his first wife is unknown. My ancestor, Rhoda, was the oldest of this marriage (more about her later); the second was Elizabeth, known as Bettie, who married a man named Swinney, according to Isaac Webb.
John's second marriage was to Penelope Ward Clifton, daughter of James and Nancy (Brown) Ward. She was a widow with two living children (two had died in infancy) that Andrew raised: Nancy, who married William Bobbitt, Jr., and Sarah, who married Thomas Jennings. The children of Andrew and Penelope were: James (married Elizabeth "Betty" Richardson), John (Jane Phillips), Penelope (Francis Durrett), Catherine (Andrew Webb), Phariba (Catherine's twin, according to Isaac Webb, who married Andrew Branson), Susanna (Silas Williams), Tobitha (Thomas Quesenberry), Hannah (John Webb), and Mary (Charles Martin). John and Hannah Webb were Isaac Webb's parents.
Many land records exist for Andrew Cock and help define much of his life: the tracts near and later acquired from his father; the acres he acquired himself; and those he bequeathed to his children.
In Carroll 1765-1815, the Settlements Alderman notes that his facts come from land records in various counties and from Early Adventurers on the Western Waters: The New River of Virginia in Pioneer Days 1745-1800 by Mary B. Kegley and Frederick Bittle Kegley. Written in 1980, Adventurers was a set of books intended to name the early inhabitants of southwestern Virginia using land records, such as surveys and deeds, and court records, such as wills and lawsuits.
Here are some of Andrew's land transactions from Alderman's book:
- "Andrew came to Burks Fork in 1772 with his father. From the entries and claims made before the Land Commissioners in 1782, it is clear that Andrew settled first on Burks Fork near the mouth of Brannons Branch, for that was the tract which he had partially surveyed in 1774 for 102 acres"
- "Later the settlement was expanded and Andrew entered a claim for it before the Land Commissioners for 300 acres. It was surveyed for 292 acres in 1782. Andrew claimed before the Land Commissioners that he settled on the tract in 1772 which is the same year his father settled his Burks Fork tract and that James Cock settled his Crooked Creek tract"
- "Andrew acquired several tracts of land in the early days of Montgomery County. Robert Bowman had a settlement downstream on Burks Fork on Puncheon Camp Branch, and Andrew bought his claim of 150 acres"
- "He inherited a tract of 340 acres from his brother Valentine Cock on Snake Creek and also claimed it"
- "It was perhaps about 1780 that Andrew moved from the Brannons Branch tract to another tract near his father. He may have done so following the death of his first wife."
- "It was in 1787 that John Cock deeded to Andrew his 250 acres on Burks Fork, it apparently being John's home site and certainly being John's first land here. It and adjacent properties became Andrew's home. The entire property was on both sides of Burks Fork, but parts of it reached to Big Reed Island where Andrew Cock's canoe landing was a landmark on that stream"
- "He gave most of his children a farm. Beginning in 1803, he gave the Puncheon Camp tract to Joseph and Rhoda Day"
- "He gave the old Brannons Branch tract to his son James and he gave his son John a large part of the homesite on Burks Fork which included some of the tract settled in 1772 by the first John"
- "He gave Andrew Webb 117 acres on Snake Creek and gave Francis Durrett 65 acres on Big Reed. All these transactions were in 1809."
- "Later he divided the Valentine Cock inheritance among three of his sons-in-law: Thomas Quesenberry, John Webb, and John Dickerson in 1815, 1818, and 1820, respectively"
- "In all Andrew conveyed 1494 acres in present day Carroll and died owning 326 more"
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It reads, in part:
"John Tyler Esquire, Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia To all to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting: Know Ye That by virtue of a Land Office Treasury Warrant three thousand six hundred and ten issued the tenth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty, there is granted by the said Commonwealth, unto Andrew Cocke, A certain tract or Parcel of land, containing 70 acres by survey bearing date the twenty second of February one thousand eight hundred and six, lying and being in the county of Grayson, in the fork of Big reed-island river, and Big snake-creek..."
Of course, I was interested to know what Big Reed Island Creek looks like now.
Search Google Images for "Big Reed Island Creek," and you'll get dozens of pictures of happy kayakers and fishermen. I find it interesting that, even though the land doesn't appear to be utilized for farming nowadays, things haven't changed that much since the 1700's when "Andrew Cock's canoe landing was a landmark."
Just a couple more facts/traditions about Andrew from available records and family stories:
- He took the oath of allegiance to the revolutionary cause in 1777. According to Alderman, many of his neighbors had Tory sympathies, but Andrew did not. He served in the militia under Captain William Bobbitt.
- He was considered for sheriff of Grayson County in 1807 and 1809 and was eventually appointed Justice of the Peace and a member of the county court. He resigned his place on the court when he lost a lawsuit in 1811.
- Family tradition says he was a deacon of the Primitive Baptist Church. Because he could read and write, he was in demand as "community scribe." However, his spelling and grammar were "atrocious," as is evidenced by the minutes he kept for his church in the 1830's.
Joseph Day and Rhoda Cock
Rhoda, Andrew's oldest child/daughter by his first unnamed wife, married Joseph Day in 1796. The marriage bond for Joseph Day and "Roday Coks," signed by Joseph Day and Andrew Coks, was dated 10 August 1796. They had been living on Andrew's Puncheon Camp tract since their marriage when Andrew deeded it to them in 1803.
We are now past the designated date for "Early Settlers," so I won't go into much detail here about Joseph Day, but I do want to complete the Cocke family's profile with what we know about Rhoda Cock, my 5th great-grandmother.
According to Alderman, Joseph and Rhoda sold the Puncheon Camp tract in 1810 and "left the county for about ten years," whereabouts unknown. Returning in 1820, they took up residence on 70 acres at the confluence of Snake Creek and Big Reed Island Creek, another gift from Rhoda's father. They sold this property in 1825 to Rhoda's half sister, Mary, and her husband, John Dickerson, and bought 225 acres back in Burks Fork.
Rhoda and Joseph had ten children, listed in order in Joseph's will: (1) Robert, born before 1800 and "gone by 1820." No one knows what became of him. (2) Penelope, who is thought to have married Commodore Roberts (3) Thomas Day, who married Nancy McGrady in Grayson County on 9 December 1830 (my 4th great-grandparents) and moved to Kentucky (4) Mary, who married twice--to James Lykins and Richard Whitt (5) Theodota (Dotty), who married Matthew Huff on 1 February 1827. After living at Burks Fork for 30 years, they left on a wagon train to Texas. (6) "Andrew is said to have moved first to the Big Sandy River and then to Texas," according to Alderman. (7) Rebecca, who married Matthew Whitt (8) Joseph Jr. (Little Joe) who married first, Sophia Dunn, and then Martha Jane Cock. His father's second wife, Rebecca Dunn, was Sophia's sister. His son Walter married Martha's sister, Mary. In consequence, "Little Joe" Day was at different times the brother-in-law of his father and his son. Alderman calls this "some kind of genealogical record." (9) Rhoda, who married James Oney. They are also my 4th great-grandparents. (10) Hannah, who married Nathaniel Young on 1 August 1834.
Rhoda would not live to see her youngest child married. She died 16 August 1827. According to Alderman, she is buried "almost on the Carroll/Floyd line, a quarter mile east of the Mt. Hebron Church." Joseph would be buried there 30 years later.
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| Contributed by an Ancestry.com member |
Thomas and Nancy (McGrady) Day's son, Andrew Jackson Day, married his first cousin, Sarah Oney, daughter of James and Rhoda (Day) Oney. Andrew and Sarah (Oney) Day's son, James Thomas Day, married Nancy Emily Reed in Magoffin County, Kentucky, in 1876. They were the parents of my great-grandmother, Sarah Florida Day.
Other posts from this blog that continue the story of the Days and the Oneys are:
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