How/Can you make copy/paste an initial text threaded boxes multiple times?

So I have a series of numbers that all drop into their own text boxes from an excel spreadsheet source. I have created the first text box and then I have been option dragging to create a 2nd box over the next item/resize that box and continue on to 3rd, 4th etc. All boxes are different sizes based on the product they are above. Approximately 40-50 items/text boxes per page. Once I am finished I go back and then click to flow text from one box to the other. Is there a process to kill 2 birds with one stone where I make the first box threaded and then somehow tell Indesign that I want all copied boxes from that original one to be threaded in order 1 after the other in sequence? I would have imagined that just threading the first box and then holding down the option key while dragging to make a new copied text box from it would have done the trick, but it doesn't work.