Trapping, Hunting and Fishing
Sometimes after the evening chores
were done, the livestock fed, and holes chopped through ice in the springs and
branches so the animals could get water, the Cox boys and perhaps their cousins
would head for the woods. They took
their bait, axes, hatchets, hunting knives, game bags, and dogs and set out to
carefully set their traps and rabbit snares. Traps were placed at the animal hole entrances
or at feeding places. While their fathers
engaged in setting traps on their farms for bigger game like deer, wolves, and
bears, sons were encouraged to trap smaller animals to keep them from
destroying crops and stocks. Deer and turkey were watched and shot to keep them
from eating the growing corn and grain. Squirrels could riddle a corn crop in a
short time.
No doubt the boys had exciting
adventures, trapping possums, weasels, coons, woodchucks, muskrats, squirrel,
and rabbits. It was customary to set
their traps before nightfall and hike back to them at daybreak to see what they
had caught, before going on to school. Sometimes,
a skunk was an unwelcome catch! But they
were a big nuisance, too, and often wreaked havoc in the hen house. Hides and
pelts of rabbits, mink, fox and other animals were sold for money or bartered
for other goods.
Old records reflect the payment by
the court for wolf hides and the newspaper often had ads such as,
“Coon
Hides. Coon Hides. George Williams wants
them all, and pays
the best money.”
So then the boys got busy setting
their traps, dreaming of what they would spend their money for.
Hunting was largely a matter of
necessity to put fresh meat on the table.
Just as their fathers had done, men and boys also liked the challenge of
hunting, and every farmer had favorite hunting dogs. Most were good shots and
brought home deer, squirrels, wild turkeys, rabbits, and birds.
Nearby rivers and creeks provided all
the catfish, blue gill and black bass the men and boys could catch and their
families enjoyed having fish fries with big platters of fried fish, served up
with heaping bowls of fish gravy, and plates of golden fried potatoes.
~.~
Finally, when the snow and sleet
were about all gone, the roads got really muddy, but by then, spring was just
around the corner, and usually in March, everybody got busy planting potatoes
and breaking corn ground. Young and old
looked forward to pleasant weather and to the new farming year ahead.
So there were good times and hard
times for the Cox family - but at the end of the year, looking back, it must
have been a satisfying experience - planting the crops, tending the animals,
and bringing in the harvest to keep the homestead going.
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James Cox, the Young Man
James Cox was born with a crippled
foot – the left foot was smaller than the right, so he learned to walk wearing
two different sized shoes. Though it had
a crippling effect, the disorder didn’t keep him from doing almost everything
other children could do. When he was
grown, however, it did prevent him from serving in the Civil War.
In 1859, when James William Cox
turned twenty-one, he became old enough to vote in the 1860 election for the
United States Presidency. Several
candidates were running for the office:
Abraham Lincoln from Illinois ,
Republican Party; John Cabell Breckinridge from Kentucky ,
Southern Democratic Party; John Bell from Tennessee ,
Constitutional Union Party; and Stephen Arnold Douglas from Illinois (Northern) Democratic Party. The little-known politician from Illinois , Abe Lincoln,
who ran on a platform that promised to halt the expansion of slavery, resulted
in a land-slide victory for the Republicans with a popular vote of 1,865,908
and electoral vote of 180, followed by Breckinridge of Kentucky with a popular
vote of 848,019 and electoral vote of 72.
Lincoln ’s
first election in 1860 set the stage for the American Civil War.
We don’t know for sure how James
William Cox voted, or if he voted,
but it is believed his family was inclined to be Republican, and he probably
voted for Abraham Lincoln. We know his
brother, Leonard Cox, who fought on the Union side in the Civil War, cast his
first vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1864, because it is recorded in his Ohio County
When we were doing an oral family
history interview in 1969, my grandfather told me:
“My father voted in the elections every
year, but he was not a party
man. You know, he voted for the man he thought
would make the
best candidate; therefore, he was an
independent. He was ninety-three
years old when he died.”
It was on his father’s farm that
Jim learned his blacksmith skills, which later became one of several
occupations he held during his lifetime.
He also taught school at a number of places in the county. At some point in his life, he was appointed
postmaster at one of the communities where he lived. More research may reveal the community name
where he served as postmaster. Most
likely it was at Pincheco, a few miles southeast of Hartford .
~.~
Schools and Education
By
1860 at age twenty-two, Jim Cox was operating his own blacksmith shop in
Fordsville, up in the northeastern part of Ohio County
Thus as a young man he
was able to obtain a position as a school teacher and it was under his teaching
that many young people throughout Ohio
County
Teaching and learning in that day
consisted mainly of literacy, penmanship, arithmetic, and “good manners.” To become a teacher in that period, a person
simply had to know how to read, write, and figure arithmetic. That was where the term “Three Rs” came from - reading,
‘riting, and ‘rithmetic. Probably, the self-sufficient and
hard-working settlers also wanted their children to learn to read so they could
study the Bible.
When the children were needed to
help work at home or on the farm, school was suspended and they were not taught
at all until the crops were in. School sessions usually lasted about three
months at a time. Teachers frequently
boarded with a community family.
People
in those days entertained one another with music, storytelling and other
recreation and much of it took place at the rural school house, a major center
of community life, as were rural churches.
In the “olden days,” pupils
received much more attention from their school teachers than is given today,
even with all the modern methods and equipment we have. Although times were hard in those days, there
was a closeness, as a rule, between teacher and pupils that we don’t have
today. They felt like a family and they
learned to work together and they helped each other learn. Sometimes parents sent under age children to
school with older brothers and sisters because they had to work in the field
that day. Otherwise, the older children
would have had to stay home to take care of the little ones.
The older kids helped teach the
younger kids if they needed help when the teacher was busy on the other side of
the room. In this day and time, all of
the teaching is left to the teacher.
Not to be forgotten is the fact
that some of the scholars might often be older and larger than the teacher in
charge. On picture days, smaller
siblings were sometimes brought to school so they could have their picture
made. Now and then old school pictures
are found showing non-school age children included with the group because their
parents wanted to have a picture of their smaller children.
When James William Cox taught
school in Ohio County
they had a tradition at the end of school whereby the teacher took all the boys
to the Green River to swim in a favorite
swimming hole and have a picnic. The
area had a high bank overlooking the river and a few of the older kids who were
brave enough enjoyed jumping or diving off the high embankment into the water.
One memorable summer, about the last
day of school, James Cox took a group of his boy students, ranging in age from
eight to fourteen or so, to the river to swim.
The boys had made it up in advance to gang up and throw or push their
teacher into the river. So when they got
near enough, they all crowded around him and began pushing him closer toward
the edge of the bank. Realizing they
would be strong enough to push him over, just as they got to the brink’s edge,
he spread his arms wide and hugged them all in to him.
When he went over the bank into the
water, he took all the boys with him, arms and legs flailing every which
way. And lots of laughter and whooping
and hollering. The news quickly spread
far and wide in the county because these boys told this story for years, even
to their grandchildren. They considered
it a big joke because their teacher turned the tables on them and they all got
wet together.
One of the duties and
responsibilities for Jim Cox was to fill out the absentee report and make out
academic reports on each student for the school trustees to go over. Teachers were the key to the success of the
schools. Parents were no different then
than they are today – all wanted a good education for their children.
~.~
It was
good that Jim’s mother lived long enough to see her son use the education he received
in the county where he lived. Susannah
Miranda (Leach) Cox died an untimely death at age fifty-two on June 7, 1859. It is unknown if she had been ill or just
what caused her death. Thomas Jefferson
laid his wife to rest in East
Providence Cemetery
Jim
was about twenty-one when his mother died.
His older sister, Elizabeth Mary, had been married for about eight years
and was about twenty-seven, and his younger brother, Leonard, was only sixteen,
and was probably still attending school.
~.~
Blacksmithing
In the
1860 Ohio County
~.~
My
grandfather told me his father became known as one of the best horseshoers in
the county. In that era horses were
essential for both work and transportation. Jim Cox performed a variety of services in his
community, but keeping horses’ hooves in good condition kept him busy. Good horseshoes, properly fitted and shod on
a regular basis, contributed to the working life of the horse.
Jim located
his blacksmith shop near the livery stable and at first he worked alone. Eventually, he employed an apprentice, George
Ezell, to assist with such tasks as pumping the bellows to stoke the fire. The bellows forced air to the fire to make it
burn hotter during the production of horseshoes and other farm tools. In return for his assistance, Jim taught the
younger man the art of being a blacksmith.
Most likely, George may have later bought his own tools and gone out
into a nearby community to practice his new skills.
It is
interesting to note that George W. Ezell became the brother-in-law of James Cox
when George married Ellen B. Mitchell, the sister of Mary Elizabeth (Mitchell)
Cox. Their marriage occurred on October
17, 1860, about three months after the marriage of James and Mary. It would be fun to know how and where the
Mitchell girls met James and George.
Perhaps it was at the blacksmith shop, though I’ve often wondered if
Mary Elizabeth was one of the pupils James taught in school.
With
basic tools such as a forge, hammer, anvil, tongs, and bellows, Jim may have
produced a variety of other iron and metal items for use in homes and around
the farm. Many blacksmiths produced such
things as iron pots and pans, fireplace utensils, hinges, brackets, and other
hardware. In addition they forged wagon
wheels, plows, and farm tools like chains, axes, saws, shovels and even cow
bells and traps for hunters. A full-time
blacksmith was an important man in the early communities.
~.~
In a 1969 oral history interview
with my grandfather, Jasper Newton Cox, he said this about his father, James
William Cox:
“My father had an education, and in
his younger days, he taught school.
And then he was a farmer, a
blacksmith, and he had the post office.
When he left Rough River
brothers ran the farm and he had the
blacksmith shop. He studied and
learned to temper iron and was one
of the best horse shoers in the
country. At first he didn’t always have the money to
buy the iron he
needed
for his blacksmith shop, but his word was his bond, and he
would get the iron he needed and pay
for it when his customers paid
him.
The man he bought his iron from told him he could buy all the
iron he wanted and he would ship it
to him. And when my father got
it worked up and got his money, he
paid for the iron.”
I’m not certain if my grandfather
was speaking of a community called Rough
River Rough
River is a tributary of the Green
River, 136 miles long, in west-central Kentucky . It has also been known, historically, as
“Rough Creek” – rising in north-western Hardin
County , and flows generally
west-southwestwardly through or along the boundaries of Grayson, Breckenridge , Ohio and McLean Counties ,
past the town of Hartford . It joins the Green River at the town of Livermore , on the common boundary of McLean and Ohio Counties
At one period of time, a newspaper
column, called “Rough River Ripples,” appeared in The Ohio County News, begun in 1953, written by McDowell A. Fogle,
but that may have just been a selected name for his column. Later, Dorothy Gentry edited this column in
the Times-News.
Marriage
On the eve of the Civil War, James
William Cox married Mary Elizabeth Mitchell, on Saturday, August 4, 1860, just
as the harvest season was over. He was
twenty-two and she was sixteen. Because
she was under age, Mary Elizabeth’s father would have had to give his consent
in writing to the county clerk before a license could be obtained. While we
have no record, it was customary in that day, unless they eloped, for weddings
to be performed in the home of the bride.
Weddings were a special time for families with only close relatives and
perhaps a few friends present. The
ceremony may have been solemn, but was surely filled with personal commitment,
sincerity of feeling, with the promise and hope of a happy future. As far as is known, no photos were made of
the happy bride and groom in that early day.
Often called “Bettie,” Mary
Elizabeth was the daughter of Joseph Martin Mitchell and Susanna C. (Acton ). Her paternal grandparents were Robert and
Judith (Benson) Mitchell, of Ohio
County Ohio County
Mary was the oldest of the nine
children of her parents. Her brothers
and sisters, in order of birth, were Ellen Boatman Mitchell, who married George
W. Ezell; Anthony T., who died at four months; Sarah Ann “Sallie,” who married
William Neighbors; Corella Evelyn, who married Robert H. Daniel; Martha Benson
who married Calvin W. Daniel; Robert B., who died two weeks after birth; Joseph
G. Mitchell, who married Henrietta A. Hurt; and Allison Pierce Mitchell, who
married Viola V. Miles.
Mary Elizabeth (Mitchell) Cox
What money Jim Cox had saved from
profits in his blacksmith shop and school-teaching was used to help the newlyweds
set up housekeeping. Most likely they
started marriage while living in the Fordsville area since Jim’s blacksmith
shop was located there. As usually
happened, children began to come along very close together, and their first son,
Joseph Thomas, named after his two grandfathers, was born thirteen months
later.
On June 6, 1870 the census taker
visited household No. 77. Listed there
as living in the Cromwell precinct, Hartford Post Office, was James W. Cox, age
32, farmer, and his wife, Mary E., age 26, along with Joseph T., 8; Susannah, 6;
Delana, 4; John W., 2, and Mary E., age 6 months. William Bratcher was living with the family,
age 23, and was listed as a farm laborer.
He probably helped with plowing, feeding cattle, and other work around
the farm, until the little Cox boys grew big enough to help out and became
little farm helpers themselves. Later
the Cox boys ran their father’s farming operations, while he ran his blacksmith
shop.
Two years later on November 11,
1872, James Cox purchased a lot of land at Rosine, described as being near the
tunnel on the E.& P.R.R. on the south side, and nearly opposite the house
of his brother, L. T. Cox. He may have located a blacksmith shop there
for awhile. Or, he may have just been
dabbling in land - buying and selling - when he thought he could make a little
profit. In a December 1883 deed, James
and Mary E. Cox are shown selling two acres – a certain tract or parcel of
land, lying adjacent to the town of Rosine ,
containing about two acres. It may have
been the same land he had previously purchased eleven years earlier. His farm, however, was located near Cromwell.
Along with school teaching and
shoeing horses on the side, Jim Cox still had a good deal of farming to
do. Enough can’t be said for the large
crops of corn, grain, oats and wheat that had to be raised to feed all the
livestock around the Cox farm, as well as for the needs of the family. Each week’s work was a step onward.
NOTE: This article is Part IV of several. It was written by Janice Cox Brown, an expert genealogy researcher whose ancestry is from Ohio County. Janice now lives in Texas. We thank her for her work and her desire to share her family research.
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