James William Cox (abt. 1620)

Born about 1620 in England

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Biography

We do not have any documentation as to who Robert Cox's parents were. Many genealogies list James Cox, born 1627, and Ann Ravell, born 1633, as his parents. Others say they were William and Agnes (many also give these as Robert's grandparents).

Cox family tradition says that three brothers came from the North part of England in the latter part of the 17th century, about 1660 or 1670. They landed in Massachusetts. Two of them remained in that state, the other went South. They were James, William and Robert Cox, sons of James Cox.

Tradition also says that James was a fisherman in New England long before the Pilgrims arrived.

One possible relative, even ancestor, was a William Cox of Pemaquid.

From The Cox Family in America, by Henry Miller Cox, 1912, pages 13 - 15

William Cox, of Pemaquid and his New England Descendants. Bristol vied with London, as a trade center, during the early-colonial period. Her merchant vessels plied continually, between England and the ports of Holland, and were extensively engaged in the carrying trade with the American colonies. In Bristol also, as in the region adjacent to that port, the Cox family was numerous. The name begins to appear upon the probate records as early as 1572, at which time the will of Richard Cox is recorded. In 1628, letters of marque were granted to Captain William Cox, master of the ship Rosemary, of Bristol, a vessel of 100 tons ; and a few years later, in 1630, to Captain William Cox, the same man apparently, for a 30 ton ketch. The same year, and only a little less than a month later, we find William Cox, (another William this time, it would seem), applying for a pursership, through the good offices of his uncle, Thomas Nichols. Perhaps this was the same man who, as William Cox, gunner, made application the next year, to the Lord admiralty for his pay on the ship Maria. Thomas, Robert, Richard, William, Charles, Abraham, Ezerhialis, and Anthony, are some of the family names which appear in the Bristol records of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, that of Thomas, leading all the rest, in point of frequency, with William a close second. These men, for the most part, were either merchants, mariners, or fishermen. They belonged to a race of hardy adventurers. Many of them found their way to various quarters of the New World, and of this stock, the Cox family of New England was chiefly composed. In 1625, a deed was executed at Pemaquid, ]\Iaine, which has been described as "the first deed of conveyance of American soil." Whether it was or not, the date is early enough to bring us close to the beginning of things in America, and from a family viewpoint it is of interest to know that William Cox of Pemaquid was a witness to that old conveyance. In less than five years after the Pilgrims had landed at Plymouth rock, English settlements began to be established on the coast of Maine, and William Cox was one of the first to arrive in that quarter. He was the pioneer, if not the progenitor of the Cox family in New England. Various circumstances seem to point to Bristol, England, as the place from which he came. Not only was the name, Cox, common in that vicinity, but the name William Cox, as we have seen, was of frequent recurrence in the old Bristol records. Of even greater significance is the fact that the men who settled in the neighborhood of Pemaquid brought the name of Bristol with them and gave it to one of the first towns they founded. The occupations of the people also, in and around old Bristol were similar to those of the men who brought that name with them to New England. As a rule, the settlers of Massachusetts, of which the colony in Maine was originally a component part, were not large land owners; they followed the sea and found abundant scope for their enterprise either in the business of fishing, or in marketing, through their coasting trade, the extensive product of that industry. William Cox, of Pemaquid, it is true, acquired some 1,300 acres of land in the neighborhood of his home at Cox's Cove, but it is doubtful whether, at that time, any considerable part of it was under cultivation. In 1660, two merchants of Bristol, in England, Robert Aldworth and Gyles Elbrige, became interested in Pemaquid property, and the name of William Cox appears as a witness in the deed which conveyed a certain tract of land to them on the 8th of August of that year. This is still another link in the chain of evidence that connects him with Bristol as the most probable place of his former residence. It is also the last public record in which he is mentioned, or at least, in which the name is known positively to refer to the original William Cox, of Pemaquid. That he was married once at least, is certain, for the name of his wife, Mary, appears upon record. That he was married a second time seems probable, although the fact cannot be proven. It is altogether likely that William Cox of Sagadahoc and Salem, was his son, and that John Cox, who is spoken of as the brother-in-law of William-, was, more properly speaking, a half brother, and the son of the first William, by a second marriage. In 1674, under an order of the General Court of Massachusetts, a Court was held at Pemaquid, at which time eight members of the Cox family of that place, took "the oath of fidelity," as it was called, thereby avowing their allegiance to the Crown. Thomas Cox was, at the same time, sworn in as Constable, an ofihce of somewhat greater consequence in former years than now. Of these eight men, four bore the name of Thomas. The others were, John, Shadrick, Richard and William. They were evidently, children and grandchildren of William Cox, the emigrant ancestor, and founder of the family in New England. Life at Pemaquid, in those early days, was anything but a summer's dream. The peace of the settlement was frequently disturbed by Indian invasions. One of these outbreaks occurred about 1677, when the family were compelled to flee for their lives, to the older settlements in the vicinity of Boston. Some removed to Dorchester, others to Salem and to Beverly. When the Indian excitement had subsided a number returned to claim their possessions at the mouth of the Kennebec River where some of the descendants of the original settlers are still to be found. The greater number, however, remained in Massachusetts, and from these old families a numerous race has sprung, now widely scattered throughout New England and the middle states, and not unknown in the nearer and remoter West.

Sources

• See sources under biographical notes.