The 14 Children of James William Cox and Mary Elizabeth Mitchell - Child 5 & 6

#5

Mary Ellen Cox

1869-1962

      Mary Ellen Cox, the third daughter of James William Cox and Mary Elizabeth (Mitchell) Cox, was born in the wintertime, December 6, 1869.  At age twenty-one, she was married September 11, 1890 to William Cornelius Stewart.   “Willie” Stewart was the son of John Franklin Stewart and Catherine R. Douglass.   They had five children: 

1)      James Adrian Stewart; born June 26, 1891; died

2)      Bertie Stewart, born April 5, 1894;

3)      Mabel Stewart, born Feb 25, 1895;

4)      Ola Myrtle Stewart, born May 1, 1897,

5)      Zelphia Brenis “Zeffie” born Mar 15, 1900.

      After W. C. Stewart’s death in 1914, Mary Ellen married Frank Crawford on October 30, 1915, and when he died, she married James Christian on October 31, 1933.   Mary Ellen was a widow when she died of a stroke at age ninety-two, on May 31, 1962, at her home on Route 3, Beaver Dam. She was buried June 2 in the Stewart Family Cemetery, near White Run, Kentucky.  Her daughter, Mrs. Myrtle Hocker, signed her death certificate. 

 Family members always recall and never fail to mention the “little jig” she performed at age seventy-one on the occasion of the Golden Wedding Anniversary and Cox reunion that Loretta Westerfield gave for her parents, H. T. and Cinderella (Cox) Crowder in 1946. My grandparents attended and many family photos were taken that day.

~.~

“MRS. MARY E. CHRISTIAN,

NONAGENARIAN, EXPIRES

                                    Mrs. Mary Ellen Cox Christian, 92, died at 4 p.m., Thursday

                        at the home of a daughter, Mrs. Myrtle Hocker, of Route 3, Beaver

                        Dam, following a lengthy illness.

                                    She was born December 6, 1869, in Ohio County, and was

                        a daughter of the late J. W. and Mary Elizabeth Mitchell Cox.  She

                        was a member of the Select Church of Christ and of the Rosine

                        Chapter No. 342 Order of the Eastern Star.

                                    Mrs. Christian was first married to Willie Stewart and later

                        to Jim Christian, both having preceded her in death.

                                    In addition to Mrs. Hocker, she is survived by another daughter,

                        Mrs. Brenis Davis, of Route 3, Beaver Dam; one son, James A. Stewart,

                        of Route 1, Cromwell; one sister, Mrs. Cinderella Crowder, of Rosine;

                        two brothers, O. C. Cox, of Murray, and J. N. Cox, of Troup, Texas;

14 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren, and four great-great grandchildren.

                                    Funeral services were held at 1 p.m., Saturday, June 2, at the

                        Rosine Baptist Church, with the Rev. Ernest Griffin, pastor, of the

                        Barnett’s Creek Baptist Church, officiating.  Burial was in the Stewart

                        Cemetery at White Run.

                                    Pallbearers were Noble Stewart, Stanley Allen, Roscoe Leisure,

                        Sandall Thomas Crowder, and Pen Beck.

Casebier Funeral Home, Beaver Dam, was in charge of arrangements”.

~.~

      Loretta Westerfield passed along an obituary for Aunt Mary’s youngest daughter, Brenis Zeffie Moseley:

~.~

“Mrs. Zeffie Moseley

                                    Beaver Dam – Mrs. Zeffie Stewart Moseley, 71, of Route 2,

                        died at 10 p.m., Wednesday, June 30, at her home following an

                        apparent heart attack. 

                                    Mrs. Moseley was born March 15, 1900, in Ohio County

                        and was a member of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Baizetown.

                                    Survivors include her husband, S. A. Moseley, McHenry

two daughters, Mrs. Willie Bratcher, Horse Branch, and Mrs.

James Howell, Highland, Indiana; one son, Orel E. Iler,

Owensboro; four grandchildren: give great-grandchildren; one

 sister, Mrs. Arol Hocker, Beaver Dam, and a brother, James A.

 Stewart, Cromwell; six stepsons and five stepdaughers.

                                    Funeral services were held at 2 p.m., Saturday, July 3,

 at the William L. Danks Funeral Home.  The Rev. Arnett Williams,

pastor of Concord Baptist Church officiated, and burial was in

            Sunnyside Cemetery.”

~.~

      Loretta wrote:  “This is Aunt Mary’s youngest daughter.  Uncle Newton will not recognize her by this name.  She used the name Brenis until she married her third husband.

      This week, December 5, 2008, I received a package with photos of Aunt Mary and her children from Pat Drake (Mrs. Robert Drake) of Cromwell, KY.

~.~

# 6

Gabriel Netter Cox

1871-1924

      Gabriel Netter Cox, the third son of James William and Mary Elizabeth (Mitchell) Cox, was born at Select, December 10, 1871 in Ohio County, Kentucky.  He was twenty-five when he married Leva Eunice Howard on Christmas Day, December 1897 in Baizetown, a few miles north of Select.   Family and friends called him “Netter.”  He and his wife had four children. 

1)   Infant twins, Zada

2)   and Zoda, born in Butler County, Kentucky. Zoda may have died at birth.

3)   Leslie Ray Cox, the first son, was born at Select, Ohio County, Kentucky

                  on October 15, 1906.  He married Berneice Price at Light, Greene County,

                  Arkansas on January 10, 1927.

4)      The last and youngest son, Orville Clinton, was born in Walcott, Greene     

      County, Arkansas on February 17, 1911.  He married Provie Daugherty on   

      September 3, 1927 at Baizetown, Ohio County, Kentucky. 

      Loretta Westerfield wrote me that Uncle Netter moved to Arkansas when Ray was small and the folks in Kentucky didn’t get to see them as often as some of the other family members.

      In the 1900 Federal Census, Gabriel, called “Netter” by family and friends, and his wife, Levy E., lived in Cromwell, Ohio County, Kentucky.  He was twenty-eight and she was eighteen, and they said they had been married two years.  They had one child, a baby five months old, whom they had named Zada.   By the time of the 1910 census, the family was living in Arkansas and Ray was three years old.

~.~

      One year later, there was a very sad occasion when little Zada died.  According to an article in the Hartford Republican, dated February 29, 1901, the following obituary appeared:

“-Smallhouse, Ky.  In Memory of Little Zada Cox, the baby of Mr.

and Mrs. G. N. Cox.  She departed this life January 21, 1901. God

in his wisdom saw fit to call her home and she is a bright and shining

angel in the land of glory.  She was thirteen months old.  She was a

bright-eyed babe and would sing in baby form; her sweet voice will

be missed by her parents. 

Her grandpa, Mr. J. W. Cox, never had the trial of giving up a darling

 baby, but Zada was the next to his own for he had been with her the

 past five months and she was a great pet with all the family.  We extend

our sympathy to her bereaved parents and a large number of relatives. D

~.~

      Ten years later, when the 1910 census was taken, Netter and Leva had moved to Greene County, Arkansas, and were reported living at Cache.  He was then thirty-eight and she was twenty-eight, and they had one little son, Ray Cox, age 3.  Netter listed his occupation there as “general farming.”

      When the WWI Draft Registration took place in 1917-1918, Gabriel Netter was past the age for registration, since he was already forty-seven.  The maximum age was forty-five for those who had to register in one of the three draft registrations held.  However, in the draft registration held in September 1918, his three younger brothers, Orlando Clay, Ira Clinton, and Jasper Newton were required to register.  Fortunately, the war ended before any of them were called up to serve.  Both Ira and Newton had previously joined the Army in the early 1900s, and their service record is written and outlined in their chapters in this book.

      When the census was taken in 1920, Gabriel Netter and Leva E. were listed as forty-eight and thirty-eight, living at Bryan, Greene County, Arkansas.  Their children were Ray and Orville, ages thirteen and nine.

      Four years later, Gabriel Netter Cox, a teacher and a Baptist, died an untimely death at age fifty-three at Beech Grove, Greene County, Arkansas on August 16, 1924, and is buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery there.  Greene County is located in Northeast Arkansas, about sixty-nine miles northwest of Memphis, Tennessee, and about seventeen miles from Paragould, the county seat of Greene County. 

      His widow, Leva Eunice Howard, was the daughter of Eli Howard and Martha Moore.  Leva was born May 29, 1881 in Butler County, Kentucky.  She outlived her husband by forty-eight years and died at Paragould, Greene County, Arkansas, August 14, 1972, and was buried beside her husband at Mt. Zion Cemetery.

      Recently this month of January 2009, I have discovered two new Cox cousins, the grandsons of Uncle Netter and Aunt Leva.  They are Ira Clinton Cox and his brother Robert Donald, who live in Jonesboro.  Of course, Ira was named for his father’s brother, Ira Clinton Cox, who died in Louisville, Kentucky.  James Cox, of Louisville, who I correspond with, is the son of the elder Ira Clinton Cox.  Ira Clinton Cox, II will be sending his family information to me soon and Robert and his wife, Ann, will be stopping by to see me on their way home from a vacation trip in South Texas about the last week in February.

Submitted by Janice Cox Brown, Coppell, Texas