Henry County, Virginia

Formed from Pittsylvania County in 1777.

This is a county where William Cox lived during the late 1700's.

The Carolina Road was a major thoroughfare for migration beginning in the 1740's for Scots-Irish and Swiss-German settlers from Pennsylvania and Virginia.^[1]

History

Formed from Pittsylvania County in 1777.

Records connect William and Jemimah Cox to the Smith River in this region. In 1779 they sold land along the Smith River to one Carr Bailey. A William Cox owning land along this river is also noted in 1784.

The #Cox Family Grave links four Coxes, one a Captain Charles Cox, to the Smith River in Henry County Virginia.

Pittsylvania County

Formed from Halifax County in 1767.

Halifax County

Formed from Lunenburg County in 1752.

Wikipedia
Official Website
oldhalifax.com (Not sure what makes it "old". Looks more like an "unofficial halifax" website.)

Lunenburg County

Formed from Brunswick County in 1746.

Wikipedia

Brunswick County

Formed from Prince George County in 1720. (Before our interest begins.)

Wikipedia

Smith River and Philpott Lake

The Smith River is shown on the Map of Virginia published in 1770, but not named as such. It appears as the Irvine River on this map, and was named thus, around 1728, after Alexander Irwin an early surveyor of the area. (The Mayo River a little further west was named after William Mayo, another early surveyor of the area.)^[2]^[3] It can be found below 37 and at about 30-3.

Evidence suggests that the name, Smith River, is derived from two early settlers and hunters, Daniel and Gideon Smith, with the earliest known record of this name dating back to 1743.^[4] Both names were used to refer to the Smith River for some time.

The path of the Smith River is currently broken by Philpott Lake, which is a reservoir created with the construction of the Philpott Dam between 1948 and 1952. Review of various maps shows what appears to be significant inconsistencies in the path of the Smith River. (Compare the 1859 map on page 10, figure 2 of the Architectural Survey of Henry County, Virginia, 2009, the 1911 Roadmap of Henry County, Virginia, and Google Maps.) Some investigation should be pursued to identify verify that the path of the river has changed significantly over the course of the last 200 years.

Philpott Dam, planning map, full
Philpott Dam, planning map, Goblintown Creek junction
Philpott Dam, planning map, Goblintown Creek junction 2
Philpott Dam, planning map, Goblintown Creek junction 3
Philpott Dam, planning map, below Goblintown Creek junction
Philpott Dam, planning map, dam site and somewhat above
Philpott Dam, planning map 2, below Goblintown Creek junction to dam site.
Philpott Dam, planning map 3, Goblintown Creek junction.
Virginia, Goose Point Park, Beech Point, Sign.jpg
Virginia, Goose Point Park, Beech Point, Dock, West.jpg
Virginia, Goose Point Park, Beech Point, Dock, South 1.jpg
Virginia, Goose Point Park, Beech Point, Dock, South 2.jpg
Virginia, Goose Point Park, Beech Point, Dock, South 3.jpg
Virginia, Goose Point Park, Beech Point, Dock, South 4.jpg
Virginia, Goose Point Park, Beech Point, Dock, South 5.jpg
Virginia, Goose Point Park, Beech Point, Dock, South South East 1.jpg
Virginia, Goose Point Park, Beech Point, Dock, South South East 2.jpg
Virginia, Goose Point Park, Beech Point, Dock, South South East 3.jpg
Virginia, Goose Point Park, Beech Point, Dock, South East.jpg

See:

Smith River (Virginia) - Wikipedia
Philpott Lake - Wikipedia
Philpott Dam - Wikipedia
Philpott Lake - U.S. Army Corp of Engineers: Wilmington District

Miscellaneous Records

Henry County Personal Property Tax List 1787 - List "A", page 663

Land Records

Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants, Northern Neck Grants and Surveys, Patents No.30 1750-1752, pages 413
Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants, Northern Neck Grants and Surveys, Patents No.30 1750-1752, pages 414
Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants, Northern Neck Grants and Surveys, Patents No.31 1751-1756 (VOL.1 & VOL.2), pages 634, 635
Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants, Northern Neck Grants and Surveys, Patents No.31 1751-1756 (VOL.1 & VOL.2), pages 636, 637
Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants, Northern Neck Grants and Surveys, Patents No.39 1770-1771, pages 222, 223
Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants, Northern Neck Grants and Surveys, Patents No.40 1771-1772, pages 688, 689
Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants, Northern Neck Grants and Surveys, Patents No.40 1771-1772, pages 690, 691
Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants, Northern Neck Grants and Surveys, Patents E 1775-1776,1780-1781 (VOL.1 & VOL.2), page 650
Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants, Northern Neck Grants and Surveys, Patents E 1775-1776,1780-1781 (VOL.1 & VOL.2), page 651
Abstract of Henry County, Virginia Deed Book III and IV, page 34
Abstract of Henry County, Virginia Deed Book III and IV, page 53, bottom
Abstract of Henry County, Virginia Deed Book III and IV, page 121, bottom
Abstract of Henry County, Virginia Deed Book III and IV, page 129, middle
Abstract of Henry County, Virginia Deed Book III and IV, page 135, bottom

See:

Henry County, Virginia - Zillow
GIS Maps - Henry County, Virginia

Abstract of Henry County, Virginia vol. 1

Found in the Family History Library in Salt Lake, City

US/Canada Books 975.5692 R28a

This transaction, along with a few others, connect William Cox with Smith River in Henry County, where another Cox family was located.

p. 51

Deed pgs 283, 284
28 October 1779
WILLIAM COX and JEMIMAH COX his wife of the county of Henry to CARR BAILEY of the same for the sum of fifty pounds sells land, etc as may more fully appear in the pattent granted DAVID HALEY in the year 1755 10th September. This land on the south side of Smith River and contains 40 acres.

WILLIAM COX
JEMIMAH COX

Supplemental Information

From http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=bh342&id=I06371
- David Haley is reported to have sold his 40 acre parcel on the south side of the Smith river to John Turner on 20 Jan 1757. Presumably this is the same John Turner who's daughter, Jemima Turner married William Cox, which would explain how William Cox, with Jemima, is found to be selling the land to Carr Bailey in 1779.
John Turner's will (he died about 1764) records that he left a piece of land on the south side of the Smith River to his daughter Jemima, William Cox's wife. The will places the plot where the Goblintown Creek empties into the Smith River, which is an area now largely underwater.
Records can be sought through the Library of Virginia
- The patent granted DAVID HALEY in the year 1755 10th September, appears to be available in the Library of Virginia, though, their website gave an error when I tried to download the record.
Based on other land grant records, David Haley would have owned a plot of land near where the Town Creek meets the Smith River.

Families

Chadwell

David Chadwell married Jemima Turner's sister, Elizabeth Turner.

Cloud

Greenberry Cloud married Barthena Cox/Callums, daughter of William Cox. Barthena is an odd entry in the Cox family, because William and Jemima would have been quite old when she was born, and she was born so much later than any of her other known siblings.

The Clouds are noted to have been Quakers from Chester, Pennsylvania.^[5]

See: Clement, Maude Carter, The History of Pittsylvania County, Santa Maria, California: Janaway Publishing, Inc. pp. 30, 38-40, 42. ISBN 9780974195797

Cox

William Cox is the oldest direct line paternal ancestor of Sean Marvin Cox.

Waldens and Coxes are noted to have worked together as longhunters in Virginia in the early 1700's. These Coxes are noted to have immigrated from Ireland to Pennsylvania, and then down to Virginia, making it seem very possible that these Coxes were Quaker immigrants. Based on the genetic evidence that William Cox was connected with Waldens, it seems likely that this is the heritage of William Cox.^[6]

Turner

Jemima Turner married William Cox. She is a direct line ancestor, and therefore this family is of primary interest.

See: Clement, Maude Carter, The History of Pittsylvania County, Santa Maria, California: Janaway Publishing, Inc. p. 10. ISBN 9780974195797

Walden/Wallen

Genetic evidence shows that Evan Walden, his father, or one of his nominal sons, is a child of William Cox, his father, or one of his sons. (We expect that Evan Walden is William Cox's son.)

Waldens and Coxes are noted to have worked together as longhunters in Virginia in the early 1700's.^[7]

See: Clement, Maude Carter, The History of Pittsylvania County, Santa Maria, California: Janaway Publishing, Inc. p. 43. ISBN 9780974195797
See: Emory L. Hamilton, "Frontier Forts: The Seven Original Forts", Publication No 4, Historical Society of Southwest Virginia, 1968
- Pages 19 and 20 contain two reports of the murder of one Mrs. Walling (corruption of Wallen)

Resources

A map of Virginia dating from around 1757.
Map of Virginia published in 1770. Henry County was formed in the area of the south-eastern half of what is here labeled the Irvin River, but which came to be called the Smith River.
1911 Roadmap of Henry County, Virginia.
R. P. Stephen Davis, Jr., Jane Eastman, Thomas O. Maher, and Richard P. Gravely, Jr., "ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT THE PHILPOTT SITE, HENRY COUNTY, VIRGINIA", Research Laboratories of Archaeology: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1998
Architectural Survey of Henry County, Virginia, 2009

Map - Google Maps
Henry County, Virginia - Topozone
Henry County, Virginia - Wikipedia
MyHenryCounty.com
Bassett Historical Center
Ancestry.com. A history of Henry County, Virginia : with biographical sketches of its most prominent citizens and genealogical histories of half a hundred of its oldest families. [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.
Original data: Hill, Judith Parks America.. A history of Henry County, Virginia : with biographical sketches of its most prominent citizens and genealogical histories of half a hundred of its oldest families. unknown: unknown, 1925.]
- "EVERY NAME INDEX TO A HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY, VIRGINIA"

References

↑ Carolina Road - Wilderness Road
↑ "Smith River" - USGS: Geographic Names Information System
↑ Clement, Maude Carter (2004) [1929]. "Chapter II: Natural Conditions". The History of Pittsylvania County Virginia. Santa Maria, California: Janaway Publishing, Inc. p. 26. ISBN 9780974195797. "The next two rivers were named Irwin and Mayo in honor of the two surveyors, Alexander Irwin and William Mayo."
↑ Clement, Maude Carter (2004) [1929]. "Chapter II: Natural Conditions". The History of Pittsylvania County Virginia. Santa Maria, California: Janaway Publishing, Inc. pp. 39-40. ISBN 9780974195797. "In 1740 Gideon and Daniel Smith made several entries for land along with the Clouds. Gideon Smith, Sr., died about 1755, when the church wardens bound his two orphan daughters, Peninah and Keziah, to Daniel Smith. It was probably for these two early settlers and hunters, Daniel and Gideon Smith, that Smith Mountain in the northern part of the county, and Smith River were named. Smith River had first been called Irwin River by Colonel Byrd's surveying party. But as early as 1743 we find its name being changed, for in that year William Buttram was granted 400 acres 'on the north side of Smith River beginning at the lower end of an Indian field,' also 400 acres on the south side, 'including the Bent'-(Page 8, Surveyor's Book')"
↑ Clement, Maude Carter, The History of Pittsylvania County, Santa Maria, California: Janaway Publishing, Inc. pp. 39. ISBN 9780974195797
↑ "On The Trail of - Colonel CHARLES COCKE"
↑ "On The Trail of - Colonel CHARLES COCKE"

[1] Carolina Road - Wilderness Road

[2] "Smith River" - USGS: Geographic Names Information System

[3] Clement, Maude Carter (2004) [1929]. "Chapter II: Natural Conditions". The History of Pittsylvania County Virginia. Santa Maria, California: Janaway Publishing, Inc. p. 26. ISBN 9780974195797. "The next two rivers were named Irwin and Mayo in honor of the two surveyors, Alexander Irwin and William Mayo."

[4] Clement, Maude Carter (2004) [1929]. "Chapter II: Natural Conditions". The History of Pittsylvania County Virginia. Santa Maria, California: Janaway Publishing, Inc. pp. 39-40. ISBN 9780974195797. "In 1740 Gideon and Daniel Smith made several entries for land along with the Clouds. Gideon Smith, Sr., died about 1755, when the church wardens bound his two orphan daughters, Peninah and Keziah, to Daniel Smith. It was probably for these two early settlers and hunters, Daniel and Gideon Smith, that Smith Mountain in the northern part of the county, and Smith River were named. Smith River had first been called Irwin River by Colonel Byrd's surveying party. But as early as 1743 we find its name being changed, for in that year William Buttram was granted 400 acres 'on the north side of Smith River beginning at the lower end of an Indian field,' also 400 acres on the south side, 'including the Bent'-(Page 8, Surveyor's Book')"

[5] Clement, Maude Carter, The History of Pittsylvania County, Santa Maria, California: Janaway Publishing, Inc. pp. 39. ISBN 9780974195797

[6] "On The Trail of - Colonel CHARLES COCKE"

[7] "On The Trail of - Colonel CHARLES COCKE"

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