I'm enjoying a nice quiet Fourth of July. I had a hamburger, salad, and a piece of fresh strawberry cake for lunch at the in-laws, and I've spent the afternoon kicked back in a recliner catching up on the diverse lives of my lj friends while Kathy, in another recliner, alternates between napping and reading a mystery book,
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley.
Kathy will visit two FOJ parties this evening, one, friends and other, relatives. I begged off. I don't care for fireworks. I'll post to my lj, and maybe later I'll watch a Netflix movie.
I have this 'brick wall,' as it's called among those of us who study genealogy. I've spent way too much time trying to break through the wall, have given up several times, but I returned from the Memorial Weekend family reunion with the energy to try one more time. The 'brick wall' is Joseph Cox, and his earliest known record is the 1850 US Census for Joshua Township, Fulton County, IL. His age is listed as 14, and he is in the household of Henry S. Marvel. The census record lists his birth state as IN, his father's as VA, and his mother's as OH. I've not be able to connect him to any Cox family in the area. I can connect Henry S Marvel to two other Marvel families: William Sr. and William, Jr. The census information for their combined children indicate the family came from OH after 1844 and before 1849. They may have brought Joseph Cox with them . . . or they may have picked him up along the way. At that time, children: orphans, abandoned or unwanted children were frequently 'bound out,' 'indentured,' or apprenticed until their 21st birthday. The fact that Joseph didn't marry until he was 22 suggests this, although that wasn't unusual for the period. A family tradition suggests Joseph was left behind when his two older brother followed the 1849 gold rush to CA. No luck in my search there. Henry S. Marvel's wife, Rachael, aged 21, was born in OH. Maybe she was Joseph's sister. I'll re-visit that possibility tonight.
