WILCOX, Jacob, of Green Co KY

Jacob Wilcox was born about 1778, possibly in North Carolina, and probably a son of James and Mary Wilcox.[1] He died before 4 May 1847 in Green Co KY.[2]

            On 23 Jul 1799, in Green Co KY, [3] he married Nancy Hall, daughter of Thomas and Ann (Wheeler) Hall.

            A continuing issue with the Wilcox ancestry is the relationship of this family to others named Wilcoxson. Are they related or not?

First, there was another Green Co KY marriage of interest: WILCOCKSON, George (WILCOX) to HALL, Rachel, consent her father, Thomas, 4 Apr 1808.[4] Was George Wilcockson at all related to Jacob? They married sisters. Why did the county write both names?

#2. Lucy Birdie (Atwell) Pedigo (1887-1985), great-great-great-granddaughter of Jacob and Ann (Hall) Wilcox, had a brother-in-law named Greenwood Wilcoxson (1880-after 1966[5]). They used to say they had relatives in common; he was a descendant of John and Sarah Cassandra (Boone) Willcockson. They also both had Forbis ancestors.

#3. Jacob’s father James Wilcox had four or 5 supposed brothers who were all in Shelby Co KY in 1810. These men were John, George, Isaac, David and a widow named Ruth who had a son named Joseph. All used the spelling “Wilcox.” One member of this family was called Lewis Wilcoxen in 1830 and Lewis Wilcox in 1840.[6]

#4. There was another family in this part of Kentucky named Wilcoxson. George and William Wilcoxson were in Green Co KY in 1810. This family was connected with Jacob Wilcox through the marriages with the Hall sisters, but also several generations of Wilcoxson men married Forbis girls, and the Forbis family in turn had legal difficulties with our Wilcoxes.[7]

#5. The Wilcoxsons were in Sangamon Co IL when our Wilcoxes moved there in the 1820s. John Hodges Wilcoxson was the lieutenant of the military company in which Jacob Wilcox’s son-in-law, Joseph Martin, served during the Black Hawk War.

#6. The Wilcoxson family was connected at an early date with the Boone family. The connections were made in Rowan Co NC, but earlier, in 1739 in Chester Co PA, Elizabeth Willcockson was granted the administration of the estate of her late husband, George Willcockson Sr; after she died Philip Yarnall was called “Elizabeth Wilcox, widow relict of George Wilcox., her late husband, who died intestate leaving several children to servive them. Particularly Mary Wilcox aged about 5 years, who need support, petitioned the court for Mary Wilcox to be bond out to John YARNALL until age 18.”[8] This George and Elizabeth (Powell) Wilcoxson had sons John, who married a sister of Daniel Boone, and George who appears to have lived with the Boone family.[9]

#7. Jacob and Nancy’s daughter Nancy had two daughters whose death certificates are posted at Kentucky Death Records, 1852-1953, at Ancestry.com. One says her mother was Nancy Wilcox,[10] and the other says Nancy Wilcoxson.[11]

 Jacob and Nancy (Hall) Wilcox were married in 1799 in Green Co KY and both died there in the 1840s. While most of their family moved to Sangamon Co IL in the 1820s, some returning later, they did stay in Green Co KY continuously. Jacob Wilcox was listed in an 1813 tax list, but is not in the 1810 census unless he was listed as Jacob “Williamson” in Green Co KY: 11110/10200. 1820 Greensburg, Green Co KY: 231110/300… 1830 Green Co KY, Jacob Wilcose: 0011101/1130001. 1840 Southern Division, Green Co KY, Jacob Willcox: 00001001/00000001. Jacob’s father, James Wilcox, died in Sangamon (now Menard) Co IL 15 Nov 1829; a month before, on 10 Oct 1829, James Wilcox conveyed to Jacob Wilcox for “a valuable consideration” 290 acres on head waters of Grassy Creek, a branch of Little Barren River.[12]

The children of Jacob and Nancy (Hall) Wilcox may have been the following, order of birth unknown:

1. Diana Spicer WILCOX. Born ca 1800 in Green Co KY. Diana Spicer died in Green Co KY, after 1870. On 28 May 1818 when Diana Spicer was 18, she married Joseph MARTIN, son of John OFriel MARTIN & Sarah McNABB, in Green Co KY. Born in 1799 in VA. Joseph died in Green Co KY, after 1870. They had the following children:

                        i.            John O (~1819-1893)

                        ii.            Thomas Jefferson (1821-<1870)

                        iii.            Sarah (1825-)

                        iv.            Emily (1825-after 1880)

                        v.            William (1830-)

                        vi.            Ellen Jane (1833-1855)

                        vii.            Henry (1835-1855)

                        viii.            Elizabeth (1840-1855)

2. Mary Ann WILCOX. Born on 29 Jan 1802 in Green Co KY. Mary Ann married George CURRY. Born on 5 Jun 1801 in VA . George died on 5 Sep 1876.  They had the following children:

                        i.            Mary Jane (1823-1890)

                        ii.            William A (1828-1904)

                        iii.            Lucretia (ca1833-)

                        iv.            Elizabeth (1835-1918)

                        v.            Sarah (ca1838-)

                        vi.            Caroline (ca1842-)

                        vii.            Susan (ca1844-)

3. Henry WILCOX. On 10 Jul 1826 Henry married Sally WARD in Green Co KY.

4. Ashley WILCOX. Ashley died in Mercer Co MO. On 14 Nov 1831 Ashley married Louisa H SLINKER in Green Co KY. They had one known child:

                        i.            Dortha Ann (1847-) 

5. James WILCOX. Born ca 1807 in KY. James died in KY, IL or MO, ca 1861. On 26 Dec 1833, he married Margaret HALL in Barren Co KY. Born ca 1813 in KY. Margaret died probably in Macon Co MO, ca 1863. They had the following children:

                        i.            Dorothy Ann (1833-1904)

                        ii.            Thomas W (ca1836-)

                        iii.            J A (ca1841-)

                        iv.            Nancy Sophia (1843-)

                        v.            Lucy Ellen (1844-)

                        vi.            Henry Clay (ca1847-)

                        vii.            Mary S (ca1850-)

                        viii.            William (ca1853-)

                        ix.            Jenny Lind (1856-)

                        x.            Josephine (1857-)

6. Joshua WILCOX. Joshua died ca 1830. He married Patsy Watt (Ancestry.com has Martha Jones) 19 Jan 1830, Green Co KY, Marriage Bk B at genweb site.

7. Jacob WILCOX. He married Eliza Merlin.

8. Lovina WILCOX. She married Jesse Hays.

9. Nancy WILCOX. Born in 1812 in Green Co KY. Nancy died after 1870. On 9 Oct 1837 when Nancy was 25, she married Josiah JEFFRIES in Green Co KY. Born in 1813 in Green Co KY. Josiah died in Green Co KY, on 21 Sep 1860. They had the following children:

                        i.            Malvina (1839-)

                        ii.            Lucretia (1841-)

                        iii.            Mary Ellen (1842-1914)

                        iv.            Nancy A D (1844-1916)

 10. Pleasant H WILCOX. Born ca 1816 in Greasy Creek, Green Co KY. He died in Green Co KY, on 5 May 1872. Before 1838 Pleasant first married Adaline SULLIVAN. Born ca 1816, Adaline died in Green Co KY. They had the following children:

                        i.            Sophia A (ca1838-)

                        ii.            Nancy J (ca1840-)

                        iii.            Samuel (ca1848-)

On 7 Apr 1863 when Pleasant H was 47, he second married Elizabeth CURRY in Green Co KY. Born on 30 Apr 1831 in Green Co KY. Elizabeth died in Exie, Green Co KY, on 31 May 1907; she was not in Pleasant’s household in the 1880 census.

11. Eleanor WILCOX. Born in 1816 in Green Co KY. Eleanor died in Green Co KY, on 22 Mar 1859.  Before 1832 Eleanor married John Burton BAGBY, son of John BAGBY & Esther GIBSON. Born on 23 Oct 1805 in VA, John Burton died before 1880. They had the following children:

                        i.            Martha Ann (1833-1901)

                        ii.            Thomas C (ca1835-)

                        iii.            William Jefferson (1837-1912)

                        iv.            Elizabeth E (ca1839-)

                        v.            John W (ca1841-)

                        vi.            Mary J (ca1845-)

                        vii.            Lucy E (ca1848-)

                        viii.            Susie (1854-1891)

© 2009, Kathy Alvis Patterson

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[1] In 1998 Donald J Martin wrote at Genforum: “Wish ancestry of JACOB WILCOX, b. ca. 1778, m. Nancy HALL 23 July 1799 Green Co KY; d. Sep 1840 [sic] Green Co KY. He resided on the waters of Greasy Creek, Green Co. He may have been a son of a JAMES WILCOX. His children: (1) Nancy, m. Josiah Jefferies; (2) Ashley, d. Mercer Co MO; (3) Lovina, m. Jesse Hays; (4) Diana S, m. Joseph Martin; (5), James; (6) Jacob, Jr., m. Eliza Merlin; (7) Eleanor, m. John Bagby; (8) Pleasant H., m. Adeline Sullivan; (9) Mary, b. 29 Jan 1802 m. George Curry; (10) Henry, m. Sally Ward.

[2] Green Co KY Abstracts of Deed Books 5 & 6, 1806-1814, compiled by Barbara Wright.

1:189. 4 May 1847, the heirs of Jacob Wilcox sold land after his death, patented to James Wilcox.

[3] Green Co KY Marriage Book A, 1793-1836, “Wilcox, Jacob to Hall, Nancy, consent her father, Thomas, no marriage date, bond, 23 July 1799,” http://kykinfolk.com/green/marriage_bk_a.htm.

[4] Ibid.

[5] The year I met him, back when I first started genealogy as a hobby.

[6] Lewis Wilcoxson was 52 when his death was recorded in Shelby Co KY, 11 May 1861. He died of diphtheria, and his parents were named as Dan’l and Nancy Wilcoxson. Ancestry.com, Kentucky Death Records, 1852-1953, http://content.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid= 1222&path=Shelby.1861.2&fn=Lewis&ln=Wilcoxson&st=d&pid=918284&rc=&zp=75. Eight death records in Shelby County through 1937 used five spellings: Wilcox, Wilcoxen, Wilcoxson, Wilcoxin and Wilcoxon.

[7] Wright, op cit, 1:184ff. 1826 lawsuit, the heirs of Robert Forbis v. Jacob Wilcox and Joseph Martin.

[8] Genforum, posted by David C. Cope, 15 Feb 2002.

[9] Dorothy Ford Wulfeck, M.A., compiler and publisher, Wilcoxson and Allied Families (Willcockson, Wilcoxen, Wilcox), privately printed by Commercial Service, Waterbury, CT, 1958. “George Willcockson appears to have been a member of the household of Squire Boone about 1742 when Daniel Boone and a friend played a youthful trick on him, as related in the following passage from Draper Mss 2 B 29-35: ‘George Wilcoxen, a young man entirely unacquainted with the practical use of a gun, expressed a desire to go out a deerhunting. For this purpose, he borrowed Squire Boone’s long musket, and requested Mr. Boone to load it for him over night, that he might lay it away for early morning use. During the evening, Miller and young Boone learning this sporting design, quietly took away the musket from its position, drew the ball, & put in load enough for half a dozen ordinary charges, and carefully replaced it. On the morrow at peep of day, Young Wilcoxenshouldered his gun and started out to try his luck, ruminating, as he entered the forest, the various gunning instructions with which his friends had favored him. Deer were plenty in the neighborhood; and after he had started, Miller and Boone began to have their misgivings lest the overloaded musket should burst, and kill or seriously injure Wilcoxen.

       ‘About sunrise they heard a loud report, like a small cannon, some distance off, and, soon after, much to their relief, discovered Wilcoxen approaching. Instantly running forward and meeting him, and seeing his face all covered with blood, they exclaimed, ‘Wilcoxen, how came so much blood on you!’ He laconically related his misfortune by saying ‘the darned gun’ had kicked him over – a result probably as much attributable to his awkward manner of holding the gun as the overcharge of powder. Entering the house with his nose and face badly bruised and a deep gash in his forehead, old Squire Boone wanted anxiously to know what the matter was? When informed, he stoutly protested against the fault being chargeable to the load; that he knew it was a very light load, and could, without the least apprehension of danger, have rested the breech of the gun against his nose, and discharged it.

        ‘Miller and young Boone, following Wilcoxen into the house, and finding his injuries were not of a serious character, enquired if he had shot at a deer, and with what success? Yes, he had a pretty fair shot at short distance; described the glade in which he had fired; but, from the mingled effects of pain and fear, could not tell what had become of the deer; he thought, however, it was pretty deer shot. Miller and Boone went to the spot indicated, and there found the deer dead. This George Wilcoxen was a relative of John Wilcoxen, who, about this period, married Boone’s eldest sister Sarah; and soon getting over this mishap, learned to do his own loading, and thus dispensed with the roguish help of his mischievous young friends.’

       George Willcockson married Elizabeth_______. According to tradition among the descendants of their son, George, as evidenced in earliest letters from Mary McKinley (Craddock) Doneghy to Mrs. McCubbins (Mss filed in Public Library, Salisbury, NC) and to Pennsylvania Historical Society (Mss files) she was Elizabeth HALL.

       Further convincing evidence of this identification is found in the possession of descendants of George through his son, John. The Bible of Moses Hall (1782-1862), father-in-law of Gibson Taylor Wilcox, has been handed down through descendants and is now in the possession of George Preston Wilcox of Flagler Beach, FL. The family lineage appearing in it was signed by Gibson T. Wilcox and states that his grandfather, George Wilcox married Elizabeth Hall. Since the Bible belonged to Moses Hall, probably a relative of Elizabeth Hall, and since Gibson T. Wilcox himself married Isabel HALL, dau. of Moses, it would seem that his is acceptable proof that she was Elizabeth HALL. Neither the date nor place of the marriage has been found.

       Tombstones in Eaton’s Cemetery, formerly in Rowan Co NC have these inscriptions:

“George Wilcoxson, d. Sept., 1785, aged 55 years.

“Elizabeth Wilcoxson, d. Dec. 15, 1782, aged 43 years.”

       Court records found by the author in Rowan Co NC give all that is known of the activities of George Wilcoxson. It is possible that one or more of these entries relate to George3 Willcockson, b. ca 1743, son of John.

        1768/9 A law suit filed by Samuel Hall against George Willcocks, weaver, with John Willcocks as security.

        2 Feb 1773, A George Wilcoxson, executor of the estate of William Morgan returned inventory.

        On the same date, George Wilcoxson recorded the mark of his stock: ” a swallow fork in the left ear and a hole in the right.”

        8 Feb 1775. Ordered by the Court that George Wilcoxson, guardian of John Morgan bring the said John Morgan before this Court and on his desistance, to apply to some magistrate for a warrant or other sufficient authority.

        4 May 1775, George Willcockson, member of the petit jury.

        State Grant 237. (1778-84 records) to George Wilcockson.

        State Grant No. 513 (1778-84 records) to George Wilcockson.

        Old tax lists of 1772, 1778 and 1782 show a George Wilcoxson.

        George Wilcockson owned lands in Bear Creek area of the Yadkin Valley section. One of the Bryan brothers was a Loyalist and gathered about 200 signatures of others who favored England in the conflicts arising in 1775-1777. Among the signers were George and his sons who were called into Court in 1777, for “being unfriendly to the State.” It is noted that one son, David, did not report. From the data given later, it is shown that David was already in that part of Virginia which was to become Kentucky.

        15 Feb 1782. George Willcockson was surety on administratrix bond of Isabella Adams, widow of Daniel.

        The earliest record of a will of a Willcockson is that of George, given here (From Will Book C. pp 104-105, Rowan Co NC): “In the Name of God, Amen, I George Willcockson of Roan County and province of North Carolina – being sick and weak in Body but of perfect Mind and Memory, Thanks be to God; calling into Mind the mortality of my Body, and knowing that it is appointed for all Men once to die, do make and ordain this my last Will and Testament. that is to say, first of all, I recommend my Soul to God that gave it, and my body to the Earth, to be buried in decent manner, at the Discretion of my Executors; and as touching such worldly Estate wherewith it has pleased God to bless me in this life, I give, demise, and dispose of the Same in the following Manner and Form: First, I give & bequeath to my Eight Children a tract of land, lying on Bear Creek Containing five hundred Acres be it more or less, and that to be Equally Divided amongst them at the Discretion of My Exrs.

        Also, I give to my well beloved Children above mentioned A tract of Land lying and being in Wilks County on Roaring River known by the name of the long bottom Containing three hundred Acres more or less – to be likewise Divided at the Discretion of my Executors-likewise I give the land and plantation whereon I now live to my well beloved Children above mentioned being too hundred and fifty acres to be Divided amongst them all at the Discretion of My Exrs.

        I also desire that all the rest of my Estate should be sold by Exrs if they see cause to do it and Equally divided amongst my Eight Children above mentioned Viz-

        Isabella Adams David Willcockson George Willcockson John Willcockson Elizabeth Willcockson Mary Willcockson Isaac Willcockson James Willcockson.

        I also desire that my Book Accounts should be collected By my Exrs & that money with what I have in hand & what is Due me by notes should be bestowed on my five youngest Children in Schooling & other Necessaries Only one half Joannas and that I give to my Beloved Brother John Willcockson Senr.

 I constitute and ordain my beloved son John Willcockson and David my beloved son the Executors of this my last will and Testament. In witness whereof I have here unto Set my hand & seal this twenty first Day of June one thousand seven hundred and Eightyfive. His Seal George Willcockson. Signed and Sealed and Delivered in presents of Lazs Whitehead, David Jones, Jr., John Bryan.  Will proved August 1786

        George died sooner than he expected and his son, John, b. 1766, was not old enough to act as executor. David was sole executor and these deeds prove one marriage and infer another which is mentioned in the Moses Hall Bible.

        Deed Bk 10, p. 506. Rowan Co NC 14 Sept., 1786, David Willcockson of Fayette Co VA lets Isabella Adams of Rowan Co NC have 250 acres next to Thomas Prather for 100 pounds. Witness: Jacob Johnson, Thomas Prather proved it Nov. term, 1786. This was part of a State Grant to George Wilcoxson for 500 acres.

        Deed Bk 14, p. 677, Rowan Co NC David Wilcoxon of Clark Co, KY on 26 Aug 1796, as executor of his father (George W. late of Rowan Co NC deceased) lets John Cook (who m. Mary, the dau. of George W. deceased) have 250 acres on Bear Creek (part of a tract granted by the State to George Wilcoxson). Author’s note: These parentheses were in the Deed Book exactly as given here.

[10] http://content.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=View&r=an&dbid=1222&iid=KYVR_7016183-2104&fn=Nancy+A&ln=Pruiett&st=d&ssrc=&pid=1406707.

[11] http://content.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=View&r=an&dbid=1222&iid=KYVR_7016167-1181&fn=Mary+E&ln=Carter&st=d&ssrc=&pid=1584480.

[12] Green Co KY Deed Book 13, p. 188.