There is a book “Some Descendants of John Cox Patience Piggott in The Old Northwest Territory by J. Bernard Benson.


Will of John Cox

Randolph County, Indiana 7;i11&& Inventory Record Book A, nage SS:
I John Cox of the State of Indiana Randolph County, think best in case of mortality to leave this es my last will and testament

First, I give and bequeath unto my wife e l l the household furniture Except one featherbed and sufficient maintainance off my land during her life.

Secondly, I give and bequeath unto my two sons Isaiah and Simon the Southwest Quarter of Section fourteen in Township twenty of Range fourteen lyin East of the second principal meredien line the quarter is to be divided by a North and South line or as the course may be to run paralel with the original line in two Equal carts Isaiah is to have the west half and Simon the East half and the said Isaiah and Simon is to give unto my wife a Sufficient meintainance during her life (Each an equal Share) and if in any case the maintainance should fail she (that is my wife) may fall on the land so as to obtain her maintainance be it in whose hands it may and the said Simon is to pay unto my two other sons Namely Benjamin and Joshua ten dollars each and unto Isaiah I give all my farming untentiels.

I having lent seventy dollars to my Son in law Absolum Gray.

Thirdly I give and bequeath unto my Daughter Hannah twenty dollars of the seventy she is to receive of Absolum Gray.

Fourthly, I give end bequeath unto my son John's heirs other twanty dollars of the above seventy to be equally divided amongst them.

Fifthly, I make no demand of the remaining thirty dollars but give and bequeath it unto my Daughter Margery.

Sixthly, I give end bequeath unto my grandaughter Nancy Mooney a heifer and a feather bed.

Seventhly I give and bequenth unto my wife the Blaze mare one cow and all the seep it is my will and desire that the remaining part of my live Stock be equally divided amongst my children Namely Benjamin, Joshua, Isaiah, Simon, Margery, and Hannah, and likewise I give and bequeath unto Isaiah and Simon my waggon each an Equal part.

Lastly, I do appoint my two sons Namely Benjamin and Isaiah my sole Executors In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seal this twenty first day of the first Month one thousand Eight hundred and twenty six

John Cox

Signed Sealed published and declared
by the Named John Cox to be his last will and
testament in the presence o f us who have hereunto
Subscribed our Names as Witnesses in the presence
of the testator

Joseph Moffitt Thomas Ward

Recorded: October 1st 1827

On ancestry from jfbrumble.

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Book Title: Reminiscences Of Adams, Jay And Randolph Counties
CHAPTER XVIII.
The following sketch was give me by Simon Cox himself. He intended writing a full history, but sickness and other things prevented. Simon Cox was my step-father.

J. M. PAXSON.
SIMON COX.

I was born in North Carolina, Randolph County, the 15th day of second month, (February), 1798. My father and mothers names were John and Patience. I had fourbrothers, Benjamin, John," Joshua and Isah; five sisters, Margery, Patience, Ruth, Martha and Hannah. I was about two years old when we moved to Ohio. Recollect once on the road they set: me in the hind end of the waggon, and in driving through a mud hole I fell out in the mud. Father settled in Ross County, on Salt Creek, near a town called Richmond. Father bought sixty acres; only had to go two miles to mill. We used to go twelve to fifteen miles from home hunting; often fire hunted, which took two hunters; one to carry a pine knot
torch and one to do the shooting; whenever I saw a deer's eyes shinning I would hand the light back for the others to hold so I could see along the gun barrel. Aimed to shoot about one foot below the eyes and generally fetched them down. One night I hit one in the end of the nose. There was one buck that was too sharp for us; could never get him to stand long enough to shot; got so close one night I could see him, but he got behind something before I could get a shot. Three or four of us used to go together in purchasing our powder and get it by the keg.

Have some of the powder yet, and I am nearly 78. There was a big shelving rock we used to camp under when we went hunting; built our fire out from the rock and slept between the fire and the rock. Did not kill any bears while we lived in Ohio. Remember one time I shot three deers from one tree a s fast as I could load and shoot. None of them ran out of sight after being shot. In about 1818, Brother Benjamin moved to Randolph County, Ind., settling near where Winchester now stands. Isah, sister Margery and myself came along out in the fall. In the spring I and brother Isah cleared a field on a place father had been out and entered before we came. Planted the field in corn. After harvest I went home and
father and myself moved out. Father entered 160 acres at $1.25 per acre. I was married the next spring after father came out, in Wayne County, to Tamer Shugart. We settled on 80 acres of the land father entered; the east 80 acres it was. I was a little turned of 20 and Tamer a little over 18. We put up a log cabin 16x18, round logs (hewed them down after); put on a weight pole roof; had no chimney; built only the logs cut out for the fire place and two rounds of the back wall; laid no hearth, no floor, no door up, no windows cut out, and none of the cracks chunked or daubed; laid a few clapboards on the sleepers to lay our bed on; the tick was home-made, and the slats (though we did not use them) were home-made shaved-out of walnut. It snowed the first night after we moved in. The* first summer after we were married I stayed and farmed father-in-law's place and in the fall moved on the land I had got of father. All the stock I had when we were married was a heifer and spring colt. My ax and gun was the rest of my property. Had it not been for my gun we would have starved. Remember one day a neighbor, James Coats, was at our house a squirrel jumped up on a tree and Coats picked up his gun, rested it on the jam of the fire place, shot the squirrel from where he was setting. Wild turkeys were so fat sometimes that when shot from the trees they would burst open when falling to the ground. The winter I moved in my cabin I hauled my corn up from Wayne County in the snow. The first time went after a load there was no road. We took the section line two miles east of where Winchester now stands (was no town there then) one hand traced the line and the rest cleared the road. It was a pretty crooked one, too; only got about seven miles the first day. When we got to the five mile section1 there was a forked beech stood there. Brother Benjamin cut W on it for White River, and 5 for miles. About two miles south of that we camped; had Benjamin's waggon, the one he moved in, which had a cover on; snowed a pretty smart. Snow that night with what we had, made the snow pretty deep. The next day we had two more miles of road to clear before we struck any other road. We had cleared nine miles of road and drove the first team over it. I stopped at New Corydon; the rest went to White Water after corn to feed their horses. Brother Joshua and I got a team at New Corydon, took a load of corn I had raised, got a late start, so we had to camp out that night and found where a hollow tree had blown up; the top part of the log ran over, forming a roof. We built a fire in front and slept back in the hollow, keeping pretty warm; got home the next day a little after noon. I had a big stew pot I used to take in the fore end of the sled when I went after corn; kept fire in it to warm by. The first winter only got our house chunked and plastered to the joist, the chimney above the jam; cleared four acres of ground and fenced it that winter, on which I raised, the following summer, enough corn to do us the following winter. In clearing we took every advantage of the timber we could. Game of all kind was plenty.

Here my history ends as taken from his own lips, twenty years ago, but wish to add a few lines from memory. Himself and wife were a hard working, saving couple; they rocked their first born in a sugar trough, and shared life's toils together. To theme were born three children, neither of whom are now living. They were two boys and one girl, she dying young. The oldest, George Cox, so well known near Winchester, passed away a few years ago, leaving several children and grand children. The other, Elish Cox, has been dead for over twenty years, leaving but one child, now living. For seven years I lived with the subject of this sketch, he having married my mother, Abigail Paxson, of Jay County, as his last wife. He was married three times. Simon Cox was a member of the Orthodox society of Friends, and for several years of the last years of his life set ahead of the meeting regularly. When physically able he attended meeting at Jerecho, his home, meeting twice a week. The kind, quiet old man that I called father Cox holds a place in my memory never to be forgotten it seems, yet I can almost feel the pressure of his arm about my neck as I bid him good-bye when he was too far gone to speak. His last wife died five years before him on November 8th, 1881. He quietly passed away aged 83 years, 8 months and 23 days; was laid to rest in the quiet country grave yard at Jericho. Though being a farmer, he worked at cabinet making and the undertaking business together with his youngest son, assisting in making their own coffins. His life was an example of honest and piety.

Additional Comments:
Extracted from:
Reminiscences of Adams, Jay and Randolph Counties
Compiled by Martha C. M. Lynch
Ft. Wayne, IN: Lipes, Nelson & Singmaster
Circa 1896

On Ancestry from Emery14.

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