The 14 Children of James William Cox and Mary Elizabeth Mitchell - Child 3 and 4

#3 - Delana Jane Cox

1866-1925

Delana Jane Cox, born October 2, 1866, was the second daughter and third child of James William and Mary Elizabeth (Mitchell) Cox.  She married John Wesley Duvall, son of Captain Benjamin Duval and Caroline English, on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1885.  She was nineteen and he was twenty-four.  Delana and John Wesley had five children:

1)      Owen Duvall, born Oct. 1886; died 1908, age 22.

2)      Ola Duvall, born Oct. 1889, married Esley G. Allen; she died after 1928.

3)      Luther Duvall, born Aug. 1892; md. Sally Norman; he died in 1973, age 80.

4)      Leona Duvall, born July 1895; md. Wavy Liles; she died after 1925.

5)      Eura Lee Duvall, born 1898; died 1898, age 4 months.

      In the 1900 census, John and Delana were living at Cromwell, Ohio County, and said they had been married fourteen years, and that Delaney had borne five children, one of whom had died. John W. was shown as thirty-eight, and his wife was shown as thirty-three.  Owen, the oldest son was listed as thirteen, followed by Ola, ten; Luther, seven; and Leona, four. John’s occupation was listed as a farmer.

Ten years later in the 1910 census, the family had moved to Rosine and only two children are shown still at home:  Luther age seventeen, and his sister Leona, age fourteen.  Also, living in the home was their two-year old granddaughter, Gussie, the daughter of Esley and Ola Allen.

At one time in the early years of their marriage, my grandparents lived very near his sister, Delaney and her husband, John Duvall, and they often walked to church together.  Grandmother told me, “Well, they were having a protractor meeting – that’s what they called it back there, and they had it every night, night and day, for a week – maybe two weeks. (What we call now a revival.)  And Newton would always say, “Well we’re going to church.”  And we would walk.  I guess that was two or three miles.  But we would go by his sister’s, Delaney, and they would be ready and we would all go.  That was when Gilbert was a baby.  And that was when Newton was on the farm and he would work so hard, all day long.  But before night, there was a protractor meeting going on at Baizetown.  And we carried Gilbert all the way.  (He was just a baby, which would have been about 1911). We’d come in and get ready to go to church, and Delaney and John would go with us.”

It was Aunt Delaney who was there to help my grandmother when my dad’s sister, Eula Mae, was born, and it was Delaney who came and stayed with her when my dad got kicked in the head by a horse and nearly died.  She held my dad down on grandmother’s big trunk while the doctor sewed up the gash in his head.  This happened when Eula Mae was just a baby, a few months old.  Aunt Delaney stayed to nurse him until he was out of danger, while my grandmother took care of Eula Mae, a small child about one year old.  My daughter now has this trunk in her home in Colorado.

“Delaney,” as my grandfather called his sister, died at age fifty-eight, March 18, 1925 in East St. Louis and is buried at Fairview, Baizetown, Ohio County.

Her death certificate was signed by Mrs. Ola Allen, 1023 Market (no town listed, but probably East St. Louis, Illinois).  Place of burial or removal was given as Rosine, Kentucky, and cause of death was given as Pellagra, which condition she had for four years.  Delana and John Wesley had five children, of whom only three lived to adulthood.

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      Loretta Westerfield gave me an obituary for Aunt Delaney’s husband, John W. Duvall, who was living at Select when he died on Christmas Eve in 1921.  She told me she thought she had more information that she planned to send later.

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1921

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J. W. Duvall Dead

                        “Mr. J. W. Duvall, aged 60 years, 10 months, died at his home

                        in McHenry, at 9 o’clock a.m., Saturday, December 24, of

                        heart trouble, after an apparent illness of only a few minutes.

                        Brief services were held at home after which his remains were

                        conveyed to Fairview Cemetery, where another short service

                        took place on Monday.

                        Mr. Duvall was known to the most of his friends and

                        acquaintances as “Buck” and was highly esteemed by all

                        with whom he was acquainted.

                        He is survived by his widow, who was formerly a Miss Cox

                        and one son and two daughters, Luther Duvall of McHenry,

                        and Mrs. E. G. Allen and Mrs. A. W. Liles of East St. Louis,

                        Ill.

                        Mr. and Mrs. E. G. Allen and Mrs. A. W. Liles of East St.

                        Louis, Ill. were summoned to McHenry Sunday on account

                        of the death of J. W. Duvall.  Mr. Liles has returned to his home,

                        while Mrs. Liles will remain a month or longer.  Mr. and Mrs.

                        Allen will return Sunday”.

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      Loretta mentioned that the Fairview Cemetery is near Baizetown.  The date of the Newspaper edition was not given, but according to the family group chart that Loretta filled out for me, he died on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1921.  His death certificate also lists the names of his parents.  His mother, Caroline English, was born in Ohio County, and her husband, “Captain” Benjamin Duvall was born in Kentucky, but no county was listed on the death certificate of J. W. Duvall.

      After her husband’s death, Delaney moved to Illinois to be near two of her daughters, and was living with her oldest daughter, Ola Allen, when she passed away in 1928.

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 4 - John William Cox

1868-1906

      John William Cox was born May 15, 1868, the second son and fourth child of James William and Mary Elizabeth (Mitchell) Cox.  He grew up on his father’s farm and in his early years helped him in his blacksmith shop.  At one time, according to a newspaper mention in The Centertown News, John and a friend of his formed a partnership and opened a blacksmith shop in Centertown. How long they operated it together is not known. 

      At age twenty, he married Ada Victoria Wilson on Christmas Day, December 25, 1888, at Mt. Pleasant, Ohio County.  Ada is the daughter of John Calvin Wilson, born Cromwell in 1842 and Martha Ann Liles, born 1837, both born in Ohio County. 

      John and Martha Ann (Liles) Wilson married in Ohio County on January 31, 1866.  In the 1900 census, they reported that they had been married thirty-four years, and had borne ten children, six of whom were still living in that year.  John Calvin Wilson is reported to have died on February 7, 1910, and Martha Ann on December 1, 1906.  No obituaries for them were found in the Hartford newspapers.  

      In the 1900 census, John Cox, 32, and Ada, 27, were living in Whitesville Town, Daviess County, Kentucky, where John was working for the railroad.  They had been married eleven years and had four children:  Edith, age 10; Esker J. age 8; Earnest W., age 5, and Talmadge J. Cox, age 2.

      John William and Ada Victoria (Wilson) Cox had seven children:

1)      Edith Cox, born 1889;

2)      Esker J. Cox, born 1893;

3)      Ernest E. Cox, born 1895;

4)      Talmadge Gordon Cox, born 1897;  Sep 1987

5)      Dora Cox, born 1901;

6)      Leonard Lynch Cox, born 1902; died April 6, 1991.

7)      John William Cox, Jr., born Mar 26, 1906; died Jan 4, 1971

      John William Cox died young at age thirty-eight, February 18, 1906 at Falls-of-Rough, fifteen miles northwest of Leitchfield, the county seat of Grayson County, Kentucky.  He is buried there in the Lone Star Cemetery. Descendants still get together each summer for a family reunion.  

      Sometime between 1906 and 1910, Ada was married a second time to Robert Awbrey and had two more children, Pauline, born about 1908 and Wilson born about 1914.  By the time of the 1920 census, Ada, age forty-eight, was divorced and had taken back her married name.  She was living in Rockvail, Breckenridge County, with three children:  John Cox, age thirteen; Pauline Awbrey, age eleven, and Wilson Awbrey, age six. The occupation for Ada and her son John was listed as “general farming.” 

      Ada Victoria (Wilson) Cox was sixty-one when she died in Jefferson County, Kentucky on May 2, 1935.  She was buried in Macedonia Cemetery, Breckenridge County.

      My cousin, Doris Goodwin, of Jonesboro, Indiana gave me several obituaries of the John Cox family.  The first obituary is for one of his sons, John William Cox (Jr.) and another one for her father, Gordon Talmadge, along with one for her mother, Stella (Burnette) Cox. 

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Kentucky Deaths

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“John W. Cox (Jr.)

                        Fordsville. – John William Cox, 63, died Sunday in Wishram,

            Washington.

                        A member of the Elks Club and a Shriner, he is survived by

            his widow, Mrs. Dorothy Cox of Wishram; two daughters, Sarah and

            Juanita, both of San Francisco, Calif.; one son, Johnny of Ft. Lewis,

            Washington., seven grandchildren; two brothers, Leonard of Long

            Beach, Calif. and Gordon of Fordsville.

                        Graveside services will be held at 2 p.m. at the Macedonia

            Cemetery, conducted by the Rev. Freeman Powell.  Friends may call

at the Phillips Funeral Home after 7 p.m. today.   (No date or name

of newspaper was given ).”

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      Doris Goodwin furnished another obituary of John William Cox, Jr. and one for her father – Talmadge Gordon Cox.  The second obituary for John W. Cox, Jr. contains more information:

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Obituary

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                        John W. Cox, a railway conductor for SP&S Railroad Company,

died at his home in Wishram January 4, 1970.  He was born at

Falls of Rough, KY March 22, 1906.  He served with the Fifth

Tank Co., U.S. Army from 1924 to 1926.

                        He was a member of Oriental Lodge No. 74 AM&FM Spokane

Chapter No. 163 OES, Scottish Rite Bodies and El Katif Shrine

all of Spokane, and a member of the Elks Lodge of White Salmon.

                        He is survived by his widow, Dorothy, a son, Pvt. John Cox III of

U. S. Army and two daughters, Mrs. J. S. (Sarah) Vigallon of

Newark, CA and Mrs. R. H. (Wonnetoh) Sperling of Vandenberg

AFB, CA; one stepson, Michael Fedora of Portland, OR, and a 

stepdaughter, Sandra Evans of Wishram.  Two brothers, Gordon

Cox of Fordsville, KY and Leonard Cox of Long Beach, CA, and

one sister, Pauline Erhart of Crestwood, KY, as well as seven 

grandchildren and two step-grandchildren, who survive.

Funeral services were held Wednesday at the Wishram Community 

Church with the Rev. Robert Leisy officiating.  Interment will be at 

Fordsville, KY.

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The obituary of Talmadge Gordon Cox, father of Doris (Cox) Goodwin has the date of Sept. 15, 1987 at the bottom of the newspaper clipping:

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Talmadge G. Cox

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                           Talmadge Gordon Cox, 89, 4621 S. Race St., Marion, died

                        at 12:50 p.m., Tuesday, in his home.

                           Mr. Cox, born in Breckenridge, Ky., was an Army veteran

                        of World War I.  He was a self-employed timber man and a

                        member of the American Legion, Owensboro, Ky., and

                        Masonic Lodge, Fordsville, Ky.

                           He is survived by his wife, Inez, Owensboro, KY; two sons,

                        Willard, Fordsville, Ky. and Stanley, Gas City; two daughters,

                        Mrs. Willard (Jean) Slater and Mrs. Doris Bratcher, both of

                        Marion, In.; a brother, Leonard, Long Beach, Calif.; 26 grand-

                        children; and 28 great-grandchildren.

                           Services will be at 2 p.m., Friday, in the Harl Funeral Home,

                        Fordsville, Ky., with burial in the Macedonia Cemetery,

                        Vanzant, Ky.

                           The Jay-Swift & Storey Funeral Home, 400 E. Main St., Gas

                        City, is in charge of local arrangements.                                           

                                                                                        Sept. 15, 1987

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      Doris also sent me this obituary clipping recently on March 6, 2009 for her mother, who died August 7, 1969, in Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky.

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Mrs. Gordon Cox

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“Fordsville. - Services for Mrs. Stella Cox, 69, who

died Thursday, will be held at 2 p.m. today at Macedonia

Baptist Church, conducted by the Rev. Paul Whitler, Jr. 

Burial will be in the church cemetery.   Friends may call at

the Phillips Funeral Home."

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      Before his death, April 6, 1991, I corresponded for several years with Leonard Lynch Cox, the son of John and Ada Cox.  Leonard and his wife Mary lived in Long Beach, California.  He visited my grandparents at their home several summers and made at least one visit to our farm.  I remember that he was so impressed with the size of the Brahman bull we called Homer, and always asked about him in his letters to me. 

      My husband and I along with our little daughter Amy Elizabeth visited Leonard and Mary one summer at Long Beach.  Leonard proudly showed us the lemon and orange trees that he grew in his back yard. He and I happily kept up with each other through our correspondence.  I liked him a lot!  He and Mary had lived in Los Angeles County for six years, according to his death certificate.  Mary contacted me when he died, and I asked her to send me a copy of his obituary, which she did.  I presume the Press-Telegram is the local newspaper from Long-Beach.  He died from a heart attack.

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      An excerpt from one of Leonard’s letters to me, written from their home at 4232 Walnut Avenue, Long Beach, California on March 23, 1977:

            “Hello everybody down there:

            I am happy to be writing to you, because I almost missed ever knowing you.

            I am out here in the patio being serenaded by my mocking birds.  They are

            delightful, and I am trying to be quiet so they won’t fly away.

            Now that spring is here again, I’ll bet you all are busy after all that cold

            weather.  And I was thinking about all the folks back east while I was so

            comfortable out here.  We went to San Francisco for Thanksgiving, and

            found it real cold up there, and was glad to get back to our warm south.

            And then we spent Christmas here in Hollywood with Mary’s folks.  And I

didn’t go to Kentucky last year, but may go this summer, don’t know yet.

I believe you told me they have a motel in Troup now.  I asked that because

if we ever come through there again, we would want to stop there and clean

up, and then spend a couple of days with you all. 

“Conrad, do you still have that big bull?  I have often thought of the way

you handled that big rascal.  I believe he was smarter than most, he sure

seemed to know who was boss around there.  It was all so interesting, if I

had been feeling well, and all that driving really did me in.  I would like

very much to do some traveling during the next few years, back east, that is,

I would like to look up my relatives and other people I used to know; what

else can I do?

Jerri,(my nickname) how is your Grandma Cox getting along?  And I’ll bet

 your dad is doing a lot of fishing and hunting since he retired; how I envy him.

I quail-hunted for years and years  in the deserts until conditions changed, and 

now it’s too much trouble.

We thought Amy was a cute and very smart little girl; how is she doing in

school now?  That goes for Jennifer, too.  You are very lucky.

Well, I have to take Mary to get her hair fixed – she is very intelligent and

Can do almost anything, but she can’t drive a car, just afraid, I think.  Anyhow,

I’m glad now that she can’t.  Whoops, my paper is too short, I see.  So long,

I miss your delightful and inspiring letters.

                                                                       

                                                     Leonard”

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Press- Telegram

Tuesday, April 9, 1991

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Obituaries

Cox,  Leonard L.  Former owner of A-1

                                        Welding and Repair.  Survived by his

                                        wife of 62-1/2 years, Mary Barnett Cox;

                                        sister, Pauline Earhardt; several nieces

                                        and nephews.  Private family services

                                        were held.   Hunter Mortuary.

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      For the past ten years or so, Doris (Cox) Goodwin of Indiana, the daughter of Talmadge Gordon Cox, and I have talked to each other by phone several times a year and she has passed along good information on the John Cox family to expand this chapter in the final draft of the Cox family story, including the Cox Family Reunion article in Rosine, Kentucky, on Wednesday, August 14, 1940.

      In every family there always seems to be one person chosen and called on to be the “keeper” and finder of the family ancestors.  It must be in our genes.  Doris is the person who fulfills this undertaking in the John William Cox (Sr.) family. Just like me, and just like Cinderella Cox and her daughter, Loretta Westerfield. 

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Submitted by Janice Cox Brown, Coppell, Texas