• General Notes

  Thomas Cox was "a man of ability,education and prominence." He settled on Long Island, New York at the head of Newtown Creek in 1665. Then he moved to Monmouth New Jersey and in 1667 lived in Middletown. In 1668 he helped make laws for Middletown, and was a founder of the Baptist Church in Middletown.
  
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  Thomas Cox, was born, probably, in England. He died in Middletown, NJ, 1681; a resident of Newtown, Long Island, in 1665, as appears from his marriage license, issued in that year, by the Colonial Governor, Richard Nicolls, of New York. The following is a transcript made from the original document in the State Library at Albany, in 1908:
  
  "Whereas I have received information of a mutual intent and agreement between Thomas Cox of Marshpath Kills in ye Lymmits of New Towne, and Elizabeth Blashford to enter into the state of matrimony, and that there lyeth no lawful obstacle or obligation on either part to hinder the performance thereof, I do hereby grant unto them Lycences so to do—and do also require one of ye Jus tices of ye peace of ye North Ryding of Yorkshire upon Long Island or ye Minister of some Parish therein to Joyne the said Thomas Cox and Elizabeth Blashford in Marryage, and to pronounce them man and wife and so to record them according to the law made in that behalf, for doing whereof this shall be sufficient warrant. Given under my hand and Seal at James Hart in New York this 22nd day of April, 1665. Rich. Nicolls."
  
  No mention of his name occurs in the early records of Newtown,  nor is anything positively known as to the time or place of his birth, or the date of his arrival in the colony. From the Public Record Office in London, however, we learn that in 1650, one Thomas Cox, with two others, was licensed to pass to Virginia. There is also in possession of one of the descendants of Thomas Cox, of Newtown, an old plate, somewhat elaborately decorated, and bearing date of 1661, which has been handed down from generation to generation, and which is said to have been brought by one of the family, from Virginia. Beyond that, no clue to his antecedents has been discovered. Shortly after his marriage, he joined the colony which, during the summer and autumn of 1665, settled at Middletown and Shrewsbury, New Jersey.
  
  The majority of those who took up land in Monmouth County, under the Nicolls patents and who organized these towns, were from Long Island and New England, the latter coming chiefly from Rhode Island. The settlers at Shrewsbury were, for the most part, Quakers ; at Middletown, the Baptists predominated. There is nothing to indicate that Thomas Cox was actively identified with either body, although his family and his descendants, for several generations, were of the Baptist faith, as many of them are to this day. Between the Baptists and the Quakers of that period, there appears to have been an entirely friendly feeling. Intermarriages were not unusual among them, and a community of interests, social, religious and political, had drawn them somewhat closely together.
  
  His love for Elizabeth Blashford may perhaps have made him tolerant of her faith, if he did not accept it as his own. But whatever his religious predilections, he was, evidently, a just man. The lands which he acquired were guaranteed to him by the Ni- colls patent, but he recognized the prior right of the Indians to the property and paid them, in full, for the portions which were allotted to him.
  
  His activity in local affairs dates from the beginning of the year 1667, when he was chosen one of the overseers of the fence. To what extent the lands of the early settlers were inclosed, does not appear, but it is evident from the frequent record of ear marks, that cattle were allowed to range at large, on lands that were owned in common.
  
  The following entry was made in the book of the Town Clerk, January 4, 1668:
  
  ''Tho. Cocks his marke is the top of the right eare cntt off and a swallow taile and a hole in the left eare." From overseering the fences, he advanced another step in his public career, when in the following year, he was appointed "rate maker" of the town. Later, he was chosen to assist the constable, and still later, he became a town deputy. That he had a mind of his own may be inferred from the fact that, while serving in that capacity, he dissented from certain laws ordered at the town meeting.
  
  "The habit of dissent appears to have been a family characteristic, inherited perhaps, from ancestors who had been trained in the school of Cromwell and who had caught the spirit of independence which he inspired in his followers. The next public office to which he was chosen was that of town overseer, which may have differed somewhat from that of town deputy, although the distinction is not quite clear. By this time, or a little later, he had made his mark in the world. He may have made it before, but it is certain that he made it on the 8th of November, 1673, for it appears on a document bearing that His mark date, and is thus recorded: Tho. Cockes. signum talis"
  
  It would have been more gratifying to family pride if this suggestion of illiteracy had not been discovered. But the schoolmaster was not largely in evidence in his day, and comparatively few of the early pioneers had opportunity for acquiring even the rudiment? of an ordinary education. In spite of this handicap, many of them through sheer force of character, industry, and native ability, were able not only to accumulate wealth, but to exercise large influence in the social and political life of the communities in which thev lived, and Thomas Cox appears to have been of that number. Within a few years after his settlement at Middletown, he had become an extensive land owner and a recognized man of affairs in Monmouth ( ounty. In 1676, he was chosen a deputy, to meet the Governor and his Council at Woodbridge, a circumstance which seems to indicate that he was a man of some consequence and a representative citizen.
  
  The occasion of his errand to Woodbridge is not a matter of record, but in the light of contemporary history, it is fair to assume that he appeared in support of the popular, as opposed to the proprietary interests.
  
  He died in August, 1681, leaving a widow and six children, two of whom are described as being "very small." The necessity of caring for these small children, to say nothing of the others, the eldest of whom was only thirteen years old at the time, may have inclined the widow to entertain the proposition of a second marriage, shortly after her husband's death.
  
  At all events, the days of her mourning were not unduly protracted. The administrator of the Cox estate appears to have lost no time in pressing his suit. Whatever considerations he may have urged, the following extract from the town records tells its own story of the speedy culmination of an exceptionally brief courtship.
  
  "Tho. Ingham and ye wid. Elizabeth Cox were married by Cap. John bowne Justis of the peace in Middle Town, Sep. ye 9:1681."
  
  This second marriage was terminated by the death of Ingham, in 1690-1. The children, by this time, had grown larger, and as there appears to have been no urgent need of a further matrimonial alliance, the presumption is that Elizabeth Ingham died a widow.
  
  children: i. Thomas, ii. John, iii. James, iv. Joseph, and two others, probably daughters.
  
  http://xpda.com/family/etc/The_Cox_Family_in_America.pdf

Details of Thomas' family with Elizabeth Blashford