The 14 Children of James William Cox and Mary Elizabeth Mitchell - Child 1

The 14 Children

of

  

James William Cox

1838 – 1931

and

Mary Elizabeth Mitchell

1844 – 1903

Of Ohio County, Kentucky

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#1

Joseph Thomas Cox

1861-1940

          Joseph Thomas Cox, the first child of James William and Mary Elizabeth Cox, was born September 8, 1861.  They named their first son for his grandfathers – Joseph Martin Mitchell and Thomas Jefferson Cox.  On July 9, 1890, Joseph Thomas married Emily Jane Crume, the daughter of Charles and Sarah (Wilson) Crume.  He was twenty-eight and Emily was almost sixteen and a half. They first lived at Dundee and later at Rosine.  Tom Cox, as he was called by family and friends, and Emily had been married a little over two years before their children began to arrive.  Over the next twenty years, they had six children:

1)  Erie Jessamine, their first daughter, was born at Dundee on November 28, 1892.  She married Earl Smith October 18, 1911 at Rockport, Indiana.  Erie died when she was about thirty-two while living at Simmons on September 6, 1924.  She was buried at McCord Cemetery, near Rosine in Ohio County.

 2)  Essie E., the first son, was born April 26, 1895 at Dundee.  He married Ethel Baize at Rockport, Indiana. Essie died an untimely death on November 27, 1915 at age twenty, and was buried two days later at Salem Cemetery, near Horse Branch.

3)      Lula Mae was born at Dundee on May 8, 1897.  When she was eighteen, she married Claude Leach, May 15, 1915.  Lula Mae also died young at age twenty-two, the day after her mother died.  By that date, Lula and Claude had left Kentucky and were living in Whittier, California.  Claude brought her home and she was buried at McCord Cemetery near Rosine.

4)      Arnett Talmadge Cox was born October 19, 1900 at Rosine.  When he was twenty he married Vonnie Duvall, daughter of Warren and Ollie (Boyd) Duvall of Horse Branch.  Arnett was only forty-two when he died May 23, 1943, while living at Beaver Dam.  He was buried in Sunnyside Cemetery at Beaver Dam.

5)      Sarah E. Cox was born at Rosine on June 4, 1906 and was about nine months old when she died on March 18, 1907.  She was buried at the Salem Cemetery at Rosine.

6)      William “Willie” Wintersmith Cox was born at Rosine, October 19, 1911. He married Garnet Ethel Duvall on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1932, the daughter of Ira Floyd and Ora Mae (Boyd) Duvall.  Willie was living at Horse Branch in 1940 when his father died, and by 1943 he had moved to Crown Point, Indiana and was living there when his brother Arnett died. 

      According to a letter written to me by Loretta Westerfield on October 27, 1975, Willie and his family were living in Agnos, Arkansas, Fulton County.  Loretta wrote:

“Then, last Saturday a.m., Willie Cox from Agnos, Arkansas came by

            for a few minutes.  His wife was with her sister in Fordsville.  So glad

            they both came, so we could keep in touch.  Willie told me I looked

            just like my mother; of course, that pleased me, also reminded me I

            had some “big shoes to fill.” 

William Wintersmith’s first wife, Garnet died in 1979 and he later married her sister, Donna Iris, date and place unknown at this writing in 2008.

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In 1917 Joseph Thomas Cox was ordained as a minister and was a long-time member of the Rosine Baptist Church, and preached at several different churches over the years and probably held revivals as well.

Emily J. Cox was forty-six when she died on December 17, 1920.  Two children were still living at home when their mother died just before Christmas.  Arnett was twenty and Willie was nine. 

One day after Emily died, Tom and Emily’s daughter, Lula Mae, age twenty-three, who had married Claude Leach, died far away from home in Whittier, California on December 18, 1920.   What a sad occasion - two funerals had to be planned.  Mother and daughter were buried in the McCord Cemetery at Rosine. 

About two years after Emily’s death in 1920, Tom Cox was married a second time. On February 4, 1922, when he was sixty-one, J. T. Cox married Martha J. “Mattie” Engleby, the widow of Robert J. Engleby of Ohio County.  J.T. Cox and Mattie were married about eighteen years.

At one point in time, Joseph T. Cox ran for Tax Assessor, according to a notice in the newspaper. Most of his life, Tom Cox farmed for a living.  He resided near McHenry with his son Arnett and his family when he died from a stroke at age seventy-eight, July 18, 1940.  He was buried the next day in McCord Cemetery, near Rosine in Ohio County. (According to his death certificate, the informant was his son, Arnett Cox.  The attending physician was Dr. Oscar Allen).  Mattie was still living at his death and reportedly died October 6, 1942 in Herrin, Williamson County, Illinois.

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The Ohio County News, Hartford, Ohio Co., KY

Friday, July 25, 1940

DEATH COMES JULY 18 TO REV. J. T. COX

Cerebral Hemorrhage is Fatal to

McHenry Churchman; Buried at McCord

                                    Joseph Thomas Cox, 78 years old, died at 11 p.m.

                        July 18, at the home of his son, Arnette, in the old McHenry

                        Mines community.  The immediate cause of his death was a

                        cerebral hemorrhage, but he had been in ill health for about

                        three years.

                                   

Son of James W. and Mary Mitchell Cox, deceased

                        was born in the community, September 8, 1861.  On September

                        11, 1890 he was united in marriage to Miss Emily Crume, who

                        died December 17, 1920.  On February 4, 1922, he was married

                        to Mrs. Mattie J. Engleby, who survives.

                                    Deceased was a member of the Rosine Baptist Church,

                        having been converted early in life.  On October ___, 1917 he

                        was ordained as a minister and lived an active, conservative

                        Christian life.

                                    Survivors besides his widow and the son at whose home

                        he died, include another son, William, of Horse Branch, two

                        step-sons, Robert Englesby of Moriey, Colorado, three step-

                        daughters, Mesdames Charles Cargal, Klee Pierce and John Jeffery,

                        all of Harrisburg; three sisters, Mesdames Mary Christian, Horse

                        Branch; Cinderella Crowder, Rosine, and Eva Willett, Owensboro;

                        three brothers, Orlando and Ira of Equality, and Newton of Troup,

                        Texas, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

                                    Funeral services were conducted by Rev. Emmett Faught

                        of Olaton at the graveside in McCord cemetery at 3 p.m. Friday.

                        Active pallbearers were Clay Wilson, Tom Anderson, L. L. Embry,

                        Sp_____, Byron Taylor Brown and Edward Nelson; honorary,

                        James Christian, Roy Stewart, Tom Payton, Alva Arnold, and

                        Tom Daniel.

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ARNETT COX

DIES MAY 23

                                    Arnett Cox died at his home in Beaver Dam, May 29, of

                        stomach trouble.  He was born October 18, 1900 the son of the late

                        Mr. and Mrs. J. T. Cox, being 42 years of age at time of death.  

                        June 22, 1921 he was married to Miss Vonnie Duvall and to this

                        union, two children were born.  At the age of 19 he professed faith

                        in Christ and joined the Baptist Church and at the time of death was

                        a member of the Beaver Dam Baptist Church.

                                    Survivors are his wife, two daughters, Virginia Cox, Whiting,

                        Ind. and Elwanda Cox, Beaver Dam; one brother, William Cox,

                        Crown Point, Indiana.

                                    Funeral services were conducted May 31, at 10:30 a.m. at

                        the Beaver Dam Baptist Church by Rev. Carrell Hubbard assisted by

                        Rev. Arnett Williams.  Interment was at the Sunnyside cemetery

                        Beaver Dam.

                                    Pallbearers were Everett Langford, Vess Embry, Alva Wade,

                        Elmer Embry, Nat Hudson, and Edd Coleman.

             (Arnett is a son of Joseph Thomas Cox)

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MRS. EARL SMITH

          Mrs. Erie Jessemine (Cox) Smith, 32, wife of Mr. Earl Smith, died at her home at Simmons Sunday morning September 6, at 7 o’clock of stomach trouble, after being seriously ill but two weeks, although she had not been in good health during the past year or more.

She was a member of the Sugar Grove Christian Church, a splendid wife, mother and neighbor.  Funeral services were conducted by the Rev. Garland Embry at the McCord burying grounds, near Horse Branch where interment took place Monday afternoon at 2:00 o’clock.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by two little daughters, Thelma, aged 10 and Mildred, aged 5; her father, Mr. J. Thomas Cox of McHenry, and two brothers, Messrs. Arnett, of Simmons, and William Cox of Rosine.

                                  

(Daughter of Joseph Thomas Cox).

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Submitted by Janice Cox Brown, Coppell, Texas