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Rachel Carr was the daughter of Thomas and Miriam (Jones) Carr. She was born on the 4th of March 1771 in Maryland, and died between 1833 and 1840, probably in the last place she is recorded as living, Harrison Township, Jackson County, Ohio.
[1][2] The birth and death dates of the 4th of March 1771 and October 5th 1857 are taken from Elizabeth Buffa's, "Cox Family Outline" who acknowledges having taken them from Stout's "Ancestors and Descendants of Jehu Cox". The birth date is entirely within reason, but the death date seems improbable as the last documentary evidence we can find of Rachel is an 1833 taxpayers list from Harrison Township, Jackson County Ohio. She is 62 years old in 1833 and she is not found in the 1840 or 1850 census.
On the 8th of November 1794 she married Thomas Isaac Cox, son of Solomon Cox Jr. and Julyatha Carr Cox. [3]
This is a very unusual set of documents because both Thomas Cox and Rachel Carr were Quakers and Quakers did not obtain civil licenses for their marriages, or go before so-called "hireling" priests to be married.
[4]Maryann's Carr's permission for Thomas Cox to marry her daughter Rachel, [Original Document in column to the right]: 8 November 1794. signed letter from Rachel's mother Mariam Carr.
Grayson County, Virginia, document reads:
"This is to authorize you to issue a license for the marriage of my daughter, Rachel Carr, with Thomas Cox and shall indemnify you in so doing. (signed) Maryan (her mark) Carr and Phillip Gaines the Clerk of Ferguson.
Descendant Darlisa Black has transcribed the Bond Thomas posted, a tough job, because the handwriting is terrible and the paper is very dark! Thanks Darlisa!
TRANSCRIPTION: [as best as I was able, difficult writing]
No all men by these present that we Thomas car and P Gaines are [?kin, or si__?] a firmly bound unto his Excellency Henry Lee Esqr. or his successors in office the ?penal? Sum of two hundred Dollars current money to the which [? juryman] will & hereby to be made to his Excellency Henry Lee Esqr or his successors we bind ourselves our [s—] Executer & Demonstrators jointly & severally family of these present, seal will on seal & Dated the 8th day of November 1794.
The condition of the above obligation is such that when the above bound Thomas Cox has this day obtained a {decision/] for his marriage with Rachel Carr Daughter of Maryan Carr Now if there be no Lawful Cause to obstruct this marriage then this obligation to be void otherwise & remain in full [? For, free?] 8 [?Winter.] Signed and sealed in the presence of us
[Justice Gains?] Thomas Carr [his mark] Augustin Webber Samuel Byod ? [his mark] Thomas Carr [his mark] D [or P] “ Ga[ain?]
[5]
Name: Rachel Carr
Gender: Female
Marriage Date: 08 Nov 1794
Marriage Place: Grayson County, Virginia
Spouse: Thomas Cox
Beginning at the end of the 18th Century there was a steady stream of Quakers out of the Carolinas into Tennessee, Kentucky and when it was opened, the great Northwest or Ohio Territory. Quakers had become more and more sensitive to the plight of the slave, and the greatest single cause of this emigration was the institution of human slavery in the South. Friends saw slave society as corrupt and corrupting, and they feared its corrosive influence on their way of life, and especially upon their children.
Knox County Kentucky tax lists from 1800 to 1812 show that Thomas, and Thomas' father Solomon Cox, were taxpayers there. Thomas' sister Naomi Cox, married Thomas Mahan II in Knox County on September 8, 1800. A second Solomon Cox (Solomon Jr.), John and Jess, also appeared in the tax lists of Knox County from 1800 through 1804. Solomon Cox and Christopher Cox, believed to be Solomon's sons, appeared as tax delinquents in Knox County in 1805. (Perhaps because they had already left Knox Co. for Ohio?)
[6]
Name: Thomas Cox
Residence Date: 1800
County: Knox
State: Kentucky
[7]While Jehu says the family moved the 265 miles from Knox County Kentucky to Salt Creek, Vinton County, Ohio when he was six years old, i.e. in 1809, Census records show the entire family still in Kentucky in 1810. They probably moved within a year of the 1810 Census, but the census gives us a good look at them in 1810. In his book Jehu says Thomas and Rachel's new home was 24 miles east of Chillicothe. The map shows a town named Cox on the banks of Salt Creek.
[8]
1810 Census Knox, Kentucky
Enumeration Date 6 Aug 1810
Residence: Knox, Kentucky, USA
Thomas Cox
FWM - Under 10 - 2
FWM - 26 thru 44 - 1
FWF - Under 10 - 4
FWF - 10 thru 15 - 2
FWF - 26 thru 44 - 1
We know birth dates and names for the following children:
Benjamin b 23 JUL 1796
Solomon May 4, 1798
Nathan November 1800
Jehu 5 SEP 1803
From the 1810 Census we can tell that Samuel and Thomas were born 1801-1810.
Samuel b 1801-1810
Thomas b 1801 - 1810
This leaves us with:
FWF - Under 10 - four daughters b 1801-1810 -
FWF - 10 thru 15 - two daughters b 1795 - 1800 - Sally and Rachel
FWF - 26 thru 44 - 1 - This is Rachel Sr
In the 1810 census there are six female children in Thomas and Rachel's household. A name has been proposed for one; Sarah, without a date of birth, or further identifying features, however, on the 1st of August 1811 a Miss Sally Cox married Mr. Robert Kennedy in Ross County, Ohio. This might not seem especially significant except two other Cox siblings married in Ross County, Rachel, who married Hazel Barbee on the 1st of May 1812 and Benjamin who married Hazel's sister Casiah Barbee. One wonders if perhaps the family had moved to Ross County Ohio between 1810 and 1811? This would almost certainly mean that Sally i.e. Sarah was one of the two 10-15 year-old daughters seen in Thomas and Rachel's 1810 household in Knox Co. KY.
Next door or close by, Stephen, David, Christopher, James, Amos, his father Solomon, William, Nathan, John Cox Sr. and Jr. After 10 pages I quit scrolling as it was evident Thomas was surrounded by family members.
Thomas and Rachel were living in Monroe County Indiana in 1818, but there is no Thomas Cox in the 1820 Monroe County Census, and no Thomas in the 1820 (Salt Creek) Vinton County, Ohio Census. Going farther afield and looking for him among his family members, by 1820 several of his brothers and other family members have moved to Harrison Township, Jackson County Ohio Census, and there we find them.
[9]
Name: Thomas Cox
Enumeration Date 7 Aug 1820
Home in 1820: Harrison, Jackson, Ohio, USA
FWM - Under 10 - 1 - ?
FWM - 26 thru 44 - 1 - Thomas
FWF - Under 10 - 3 - ???
FWF - 26 thru 44 - 1 - Rachel
In the 1830 census we find the following record of Rachel, with almost certainly one of her younger sons and either his (young) wife or one of her daughters in her household, with her sons Thomas and Abraham in adjacent households, and six related Dixon households around her, Rachel appears to be a widow, but living surrounded by family.
[10]
Home in 1830: Harrison, Jackson, Ohio
Name: Rachael Cox
FWM - 30 thru 39 - 1
FWF - 15 thru 19 - 1
FWF - 70 thru 79 - 1
Though I haven't yet found a record of Thomas' death it appears that he had died by 1830, because he is not in the 1830 census. By 1832, one suspects when probate has finished, Rachel is listed in the Harrison Township, Jackson County Tax Lists as a property owner, on her own.
[11]
Tax List: 1833
Harrison Township, Jackson, Ohio
Name: Rachel Cox
[12]The record his 1845 death seems to be based on, (in modern trees anyway) is that of a Thomas Cox who left a short will probated on the 16th on November 1845 in Boone County, Indiana in which Thomas refers to his wife as Mary, when clearly Rachel Carr Cox outlived Thomas, and there is no evidence that they ever lived in Boone County Indiana. This Thomas is clearly not Thomas Cox, son of Solomon Cox and Naomi Hussey Cox, but a different man.
We don't know where either Thomas or Rachel are buried. The Quakers believed that a tombstone was ostentatious and their preference for a grave marker, if the grave was marked at all, was a simple fieldstone. This custom makes it very difficult to locate graves when no cemetery record is available.
from KZipperer 13 July 2016. FamilySearch.org: Couldn't find a death record for Rachel Cox in Ohio. Noted that her husband died (unsourced) in Indiana. Looked for FindaGrave "Cox" in Ohio (died before 1860) and also in Indiana. Looked for marriage records (Family Search) in NC, KY, TN, Ohio. Looked for a 1850 census record (Ohio) with Rachel Cox but only found a Rachel Cox born 1790 with presumed husband Thomas born 1780.
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