Meade County Photos
Page 20

Cox barn in Meade Co. KY
cox barn
Copyright, Janet Cox 1985

I took this picture when I visited Brandenburg, KY in 1985. My father immediately identified this barn as the one that stood on the Cox Farm that he visited in the late 1920's and early 1930's on visits he made from Oklahoma City to Brandenburg to visit his grandparents, James Golden Cox and Carrie (Willcoxen) Cox. According to the family history, John Douglas Luckett Cox was killed by lightening, along with a female slave, in 1847. John Douglas was b. 6 Nov 1795 in Fraquier Co., VA and married to Lucy B. Seaton in Kentucky.

I stayed up late and read through the Early Times in Meade County Kentucky, by George L. Ridenour that was posted as "new" on the Ancestry.com website.  Two of the early settlers of Meade Co mentioned by Mr. Ridenour were Thomas and Julia Phillips.  Their daughter, Sarah Phillips, married James Seaton Cox on December 6, 1842.  I inherited an extensive pedigree from an "Ashcraft" descendent that traces the Cox's back to Fauquier Co., Va., and across the ocean to England to among others, a man by the name of Robert Philpott of the Isle of Kent, whose father was the keeper of Hyde Park in London around the 1600's.   There is also a verified connection to Col. George Eskridge and Francis Kenner through Lucy B. Seaton, who married John Douglas Luckett Cox.  They left Va. before 1800 and settled in Brandenburg in Meade Co., KY.  According to the 'Eskridge family reunion' information that I recently received, Col. Eskridge was a large landholder in Virginia.  He was the guardian of a young Margaret Ball, the mother of President George Washington.  Margaret named her first child, George, in honor of Col. George Eskridge.   From the book, I also found that Squire Boone was the first minister in Meade Co., Kentucky and the first sermons delivered in Meade Co., were on the banks of Cox Creek.  My father told me that Cox Creek was named after my ancestors who settled in Meade Co., Kentucky, before 1800.   Betsy James married James Seaton from King George Co., Va.  They moved to Breckinridge Co., Ky.  I found an entry in the book about Frank and Jesse James shooting their way out of Brandenburg.  Betsy was the sister of the father of Frank and Jesse.   I also am related to Daniel Boone, whose sister, Sarah, married John Wilcoxen.  Carrie's father Pike Wilcoxen is descended from that line.   These were the children of James Seaton Cox (b.Feb 14, 1820, d. Dec 6, 1889): Anna (Annie) Cox m. George Washington Smith John Cox unm. (deaf & dumb) Julia Cox m. Elisha Ashcraft Smith Mary Ellen Cox m. James Blancet Smith Laura Hugh Cox m. Will Brashear (lived only few months after her marriage) Sallie Cox m. James Hendrick James Golden Cox m. Carrie Wilcoxen Elizabeth Morgan Cox m. George Roland Watlington Katie Cox m. Will Young.  

Three Cox sisters married three Smith brothers. John Douglas Luckett Cox and a slave woman killed by lightning-standing in door of tobacco barn while stripping tobacco (1847, Meade County, Ky.)

Father of John Douglas Luckett Cox eloped with a widow Green in an ox cart.  She weighed several hundred pounds. 

NOTE:  Information about the children of James Seaton Cox and the other notes were compiled by Nellie Blanche Boucher, a descendent of Mary Ellen Cox and James Blancet Smith in 1988.  Nellie lived in Tulsa, OK and provided the information to Carrie Cornelia (Cox) Timberlake, the granddaughter of James G. Cox and Carrie (Wilcoxen) Cox of Meade Co., KY. 

When I get time (never enough of it), I will mail you a copy of the handwritten family tree compiled by Nellie Blanche Boucher.

Janet Cox, OKC, OK
great granddaughter of James G. and Carrie J. (Wilcoxen) Cox
Meade Co., Brandenburg, KY.

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Cox's Creek Today

Note from Tom Hembrey, CC, KYGW
This location reference is based on informational resources.  Today, Coxs Creek is a small community in Nelson County KY.  Meade County was formed in 1824 from Breckinridge and Hardin Counties.  Nelson County was formed in 1785 from Jefferson County, which was formed from Kentucky County, VA in 1780. Squire Boone, father of the KY famed Daniel and Squire, Jr. died in 1765, Rowan County, NC.  Squire, Jr. died in 1815 while living in Harrison County, IN.  It is safe to assume the first sermons in Meade County were presented by Squire, Jr. as he would have known the region to be Nelson County, KY prior to 1800.