During the Great English Migration (1620-1640), thousands of English settlers, primarily Puritans, migrated to New York, Massachusetts, and Barbados (West Indies.) They came in family groups (rather than as isolated individuals) and were motivated chiefly by a quest for freedom to practice their Puritan religion. They opposed religious practices in the Church of England that at any point came close to Roman Catholic ritual. It is during this period our ancestor James Cock migrated to New York. It is unknown whether he and his family were actually Puritans, but once here he changed the spelling of his surnane from Cock to simply Cox.