From the Blue Ridges to the Sandhills: The History of 4 North Carolina Families

Elizabeth Cox Hutchins, Centenarian

parents of Elizabeth Cox:
Richard Cockes (1678-1734), son of John Cox (1640-1696) & Mary Elam (1645-)
Mary Trent (1682-1735), daughter of Henry Trent, Jr.
(1650-1701) & Elizabeth Sherman (1657-1732)¹

The Long Life of a Friend

Elizabeth Cox Hutchins was born in 1713 in Henrico County, Virginia. She was the great-granddaughter of William Cox, who is said to have come to the Jamestown colony on the ship Godspeed in 1610, at only eleven years of age. Jamestown was the first permanent English colony in America and had only been established in 1607. In spite of the hardships there, William prospered and eventually married to a woman named Elizabeth. Their son John was born in 1640 and was married to Mary Elam, born in 1645.

John and Mary Cox had a son named Richard in 1678, who was the father of Elizabeth Cox. Her mother was Mary Trent, born in 1682, daughter of Henry Trent, Jr. and Elizabeth Sherman.²

Elizabeth Cox married Strangeman Hutchins in 1731, at about age eighteen. If their marriage was typical, they declared their intentions to a monthly meeting and were investigated by a committee of members to determine their suitability. In Elizabeth's time, Friends were disowned for marrying outside the church membership. Disownment could mean being cut off from family and friends, as well as any inheritance.

Over the next twenty-five years, Elizabeth gave birth to at least eleven children whose names are given in the chart above. Miscarriages and still-births were common in that period and were rarely recorded. She survived her husband by twenty-four years and was reported by one of her grandsons to have lived to the age of 103. She died in Surry County.³

Footnotes:

1. "Ancestors of Elizabeth Hutchins," 19 Jan 2003 (accessed March 5, 2006). Cites The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 52, pages 214-216; and "Ancestors of Strangeman Hutchins," January 19, 2003, http://gen.kaasa.org/subwebs/smith/391.htm (accessed April 1, 2007); and John W. Pritchett, "Virginians.Com," (2001) http://www.virginians.com/redirect.htm?topics&3326 (accessed March 5, 2006).

2. "Ancestors of Elizabeth Cox," January 19, 2003, http://gen.kaasa.org/subwebs/smith/393.htm (accessed April 1, 2007).

3. Mrs. Gussie W. and Edward C. Crider, editors, Four Generations of the Family of Strangeman Hutchins and his Wife Elizabeth as Known January 10, 1935: An Old Virginia Family along the James River by Marriage Joined to Other Immigrant Families of the Colony (Kokomo, Ind., 1935)

From the Blue Ridges to the Sandhills: The History of 4 NC Families/Elizabeth Cox Hutchins, Centenarian
© 2001 by Glenda Alexander, updated April 2007        Standard copyright restrictions apply.