Where did the Cogars' come from?

Our ancestor, Peter Cogar, stated in his Rev. War Pen. Application, that he was born on the the Hawksbill in Rockingham Co., Va. From the records and his son Jacob's Bible, we know that Eliza Koger, widow of John Nicholas Koger, was his mother. John Nicholas Koger had died sometime prior to the birth of Peter Coger/Cogar as records indicate that he was killed by Indians in 1743 near present day Elkton,Va.

Eliza was living with or near an old Scotsman named Godfrey Hambleton and his wife . In his will, Hambleton named Peter, and his son William, along with Peter's half-sister Catherine Koger/Coger.

Hambleton had previously given Peter's half-brother Jacob Koger land he owned in Botetourt Co., Va. This is the county where Peter and Jacob moved when they left Rockingham Co., Va.

Peter and Jacob later moved to adjacent Franklin Co., Va. There Jacob died in 1797.

In 1817, Peter and Mary (McElwain) Coger, along with their children, grandchildren, and a number of other people that included Mary's sister Catherine who had married Jeremiah Brooks, and their brother Tunis McElwain and their families, along with the Cools and Hoseys, came to the Elk River country, of what was then Nicholas Co., and now is Braxton and Webster counties, W. Va.

Their they moved to the mouth of Holly River. Upon moving there, they bought the land that Benjamin Carpenter and his wife had been killed on when Indians attacked their home.That land is now under water caused by the Sutton Dam project.

Maria Elizabeth Wilheut was from Germany . She arrived at Philadelphia on the Pennsylvania Merchant in 1731. Her family came trom the northern Kraichgau area of Germany.

The Cogar name has been spelled Coger and Cogar or Koger, from Peter down to the present. To the best of knowledge, none of Peter's line has ever spelled Cogar name with a K.

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