Week #6 of 52 Ancestors: Samuel Cox of Beaminster, Dorset, England

I'm working in Salt Lake City at the Family History Library for ten days. In recent years, the way we research has changed considerably, and it will continue to change. Today when I search the library catalog I'm just as likely to find the records I seek on the FamilySearch website as in the microfilm. It speeds up my research tremendously to have it online, but also makes me think I shouldn't do what I'm doing because I could do it later at home. However, I must strike while the iron is hot!

Beaminster Church Tower from the Northwest,
Hine, History of Beaminster

Though the Kimmitts take great pride in their Irish blood, they have married into several English lines, and the Cox family is one of them. I wrote about Robert Fitzgerald Meredith in my previous post. Robert was not the eldest son and therefore did not inherit property because of the law of primogeniture.

As a young vicar he got a posting in Dorsetshire and there met his wife, Mary Russell Cox, thus introducing the English Cox line into the family. Mary was baptized in Beaminster on 22 September 1826, the daughter of our subject, Samuel Cox, and his wife Virtue/Vertue Russell. (1)

By bouncing between the Dorset parish record extracts on FindMyPast.com, and images on Ancestry.com, and FamilySearch.org I'm able to add quite a few names to the old tree, with pretty solid evidence to back it all.

Samuel Cox was born on 9 September 1790 in Beaminster and baptized on 16 December of the same year, the son of Samuel Cox and Ann, image below. (2)

We know Samuel's mother Ann's surname was Symes from their Beaminster marriage record: "1790, Samuel Cox Jun.r and Ann Symes both of this Parish were married in this Church by Banns this 23rd Day of March by Hugh Pugh Curate." I wonder if the local kids mocked poor Hugh Pugh for his name? You may have noticed that Baby Samuel was born only five and a half months after his parents' marriage. They may have been brought up for punishment, or at least a good scolding.

It's a very nice record because it has witness signatures. The last one is young John Cox Russell, aged 6 years, making his mark. Isn't that cute? I've never seen a minor listed like that. I can just see him all dressed up and excited to be playing a part in the wedding. (3) I  do not yet know how, if at all, he is related to the groom, but find in the parish registers that he is the son of John and Mary Cox–which John Cox will have to be determined at a later date. (4)

The History of Beaminster has an entire sketch on the Beaminster Manor House, "home of the old Beaminster family of Cox for many generations... The name is [first] mentioned in a transcript of the parish Register for the year 1585 when Robert, a son of Robert Cox, was baptized." (5) The author, Richard Hine, refers frequently to the work of historian John Banger Russell, a meticulous historian and collector who just happened to be Vertue Russell's father. The book is very carefully researched and assembled and refers frequently to original records--a gold mine for Beaminster researchers! I'm thinking he probably also assembled a good deal of genealogical information as well, tee hee.

The banns of marriage were announced for Samuel Cox the younger and Vertue Russell three times in Beaminster before they married on 9 September 1816, Samuel's 26th birthday. (6)

Hine describes renovations Samuel made to the manor house around 1822: "In the drawing room he placed a handsomely carved white marble mantelpiece of Italian workmanship, the sculpture of which vividly depicts scenes connected with the siege of Troy. This apartment was further enriched by a painted canvas ceiling representing the "Feast of the Gods" by Andrew Casali, an Italian artist born at Civita Vecchia, in 1720." (7)

Fireplace at Beaminster Manor House (8)

It's not often we get to see how our ancestors' homes were decorated. I wonder if young Mary frolicked around this fireplace and was motivated to studied her history lessons because of the scenes of the Trojan War carved into it.

Nine also relates that: "When Princess Victoria, in 1833, passed through Beaminster, Samuel Cox, then a Cornet in the Dorset Yeomanry Calvary, had the honor of commanding the escort of Her Royal Highness from this town to Lyme Regis. Samuel Cox, Deputy Lieutenant and a Justice of the Peace for Dorset, was for more than [a] quarter of a century Chairman of the Beaminster Union Board of Guardians. On his death in 1860 the family estates passed into the possession of his eldest son, Samuel Symes Cox." (9)

Samuel and Virtue had (at least) the following children, which I find in census and parish records, but have not yet thoroughly documented (10):
Samuel Symes, b. 4 September 1817
John Russell, b. ca 1820, twin
Charles, b. ca 1820, twin
Ellen, b. ca 1822
Henry, b. ca 1824
Ann M., b. ca 1826
Mary Russell, b. ca 1826 (line carrier)
Georgina, b. ca 1828

Samuel died in Beaminster on 22 October 1860. He is buried at Holy Trinity, Beaminster. (11)

We have a nice will extract here, naming Samuel's widow Vertue, brother Peter, and son Samuel Symes Cox. As stated above, Samuel's son Samuel Symes Cox inherited the property.

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Notes

1. “Dorset, England, Births and Baptisms” (online database), baptisms, p. 166, Mary Cox, n. 1828, 22 September 1826, Beaminster daughter of Samuel and Virtue Cox; Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 February 2015); citing Dorset History Centre; Dorset Parish Registers; Reference: PE/BE.

2. "Dorset, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812, " (online database), baptisms, no p. n., Samuel Cox, baptized 16 December 1790 (born 9 September 1790, Beaminster; Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 9 February 2015); citing Dorset History Centre; Dorset Parish Registers; Reference: PE/BE: RE2/3.

3. “Dorset, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812," marriages, Samuel Cox Junior and Ann Symes, 23 March 1790,  Beaminster; citing Dorset History Centre; Dorset Parish Registers; Reference: PE/BE: RE 4/2. 

4. "Dorset, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812," baptisms, John Cox, 24 December 1783, Beaminster;; citing Dorset History Centre; Dorset Parish Registers; Reference: PE/BE: RE2/2.

5. Richard Hine, The History of Beaminster (Taunton, England: Barnicott and Pearce, 1914), 350-353.

6. “Dorset, England, Marriages and Banns, 1813-1921” (online database) Banns, n. 45, Samuel Cox and Vertue Russell, 11, 18 and 25 August 1816, Beaminster; citing Dorset History Centre; Dorset Parish Registers; Reference: PE/BE: RE 4/2 - 4/6. And “Dorset, England, Marriages and Banns, 1813-1921,” marriage, Samuel Cox and Vertue Russell, 9 September 1816, Beaminster, p. 20; Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 February 2015); citing Dorset History Centre; Dorset Parish Registers; Reference: PE/BE: RE 4/2 - 4/6.

7. Hine, The History of Beaminster, 351.

8. "Plate 77: Beaminster, Manor House, Fireplace in Drawing Room," digital image of photograph; British History Online, (http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/dorset/vol1/plate-77 : accessed 10 February 2015); citing An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 1, West (London, 1952), p. 77.

9. Hine, The History of Beaminster, 352.

10.1841 England Census, Beaminster, Dorset, piece 280, bk. 1, folio 58, p. 26, household of Samuel Cox; Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 February 2015); citing Class: HO107; Piece: 280; Book: 1; Civil Parish: Beaminster; County: Dorset; Enumeration District: 3; Folio: 58; Page: 36; Line: 6; GSU roll: 241337. Also, 1851 England census, Beaminster, ED 1b, piece 1860, folio 389, p. 18, household n. 91, household of Samuel Cox; Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 February 2015); citing Class: HO107; Piece: 1860; Folio: 389; Page: 18; GSU roll: 221008. Also Dorset Parish Registers on Ancestry.

11. "England and Wales, FreeBMD Death Index, 1837-1915" (online database), Samuel Cox, Beaminster, Dorset, 22 October 1860, 5a:225; Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : 27 Mar 2011). Also, "England and Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1861-1941" (online database) Wills, 1861, p. 38, 7 May, Samuel Cox, died 22 October 1860; Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 February 2015); citing Principal Probate Registry, Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England. Also, "Dorset, England, Deaths and Burials, 1813-2010" (online database), Samuel Cox, 26 October 1860, Holy Trinity, Beaminster;   Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 February 2015); citing Dorst History Centre; Dorset Parish Registers; Reference: PE/BE.