jwc_notes

Several comments will help in understanding the research that appears in these pages.

--describes use of census data, but need for critical cross checks and realistic interpretation.

I remember hearing several interesting "legends" about the Cox family during my childhood. These included the supposed distant relationship to Indian princess Pocohantas; the reputed relationship to the famous English painter George Stubbs; and baseball player Willie Mayes having been a young student of school teacher Vivian Cox.

The opportunity arose during my research on the Stubbs family to examine the first two stories. Concerning Pocohantas, there is the remote possibility that a connection could exist through the marriage of Lurenia Stubbs (1851 - after 1870) to William Julius McRae (1842 - after 1870), or through the marriage of Thoroughgood P. Stubbs (1836 - >1880) to Sally Ann McRae (1846 - >1880). Certain branches of the McRae family do connect to the descendants of Pocohantas; however, this relationship would be indirect, and is only a theoretical possibility linked through the McRae genealogy. Lurenia and Thoroughgood Stubbs were siblings of my great-grandmother Martha F. Stubbs. Likewise, the supposed link to landscape and horse painter George Stubbs appears to be without any merit; the relationship exists only in name. There is no evidence that Willie Mayes was ever a student of Vivian Cox; it is essentially impossible, since schools were racially segregated during the period when Mayes was of school age.

On the other hand, no especially infamous people emerged during these studies, either. The oldest Cox, Pate, Manuel and Main families produced people whose lives mirrored much of what typically concerned 18th America, namely agriculture. This continued throughout the 19th century, with an occasional merchant, cooper, wheelwright or blacksmith added to the parade of those whose lives involved agriculture. Judging from census records, some of these 19th century families owned considerable land, and perhaps lived comfortable or even well-to-do lives; however, most appear to have been much more modest, and worked in agriculture as did most Americans of their time.

Poignantly, the Civil War took many of the men who were born in the 1820s through 1840s from their homes, in several cases they died in battle, in prison or in hospitals. Others returned, lived their lives and had their gravestones marked "Confederate Soldier".

The 18th and 19th century immediacy of death is difficult to comprehend by today's standards. Early deaths affected many of the families in this study, and a casual reading shows that most experienced the early loss of either a child, a parent or a sibling. Few effective medical therapies were available even through the early 20th century; the travails of physical suffering must also have been particularly acute.