Wednesday, November 6, 2019

The 14 Children of James William Cox and Mary Elizabeth Mitchell - Child 8


#8
Cinderella Cox
1875-1967

      Cinderella Cox, born September 2, 1875, was the fifth daughter of James William and Mary Elizabeth (Mitchell) Cox.  At age twenty-one she married Hannibal Thomas Crowder, age twenty-five, on Christmas Day, December 25, 1896.  He was the son of Marion Francis Crowder and Amelia Hobdy.  She was called “Aunt C” or “Aunt Cindy” by all her nieces and nephews. 

      Cinderella died at age ninety-two, three days after Christmas, on December 28, 1967, and was buried beside her husband, December 31, in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Ohio County.  Her husband, “Tom,” born February 24, 1871, died twelve years earlier, June 5, 1955.

      They had two sons and one daughter.

1)      Wavy, born and died December 19, 1897
2)      Orville, born November 5, 1898; died September 26, 1901
3)      Loretta, born February 18, 1901 at Baizetown, a few miles from Select.  She married Alfred Royal Westerfield at Cromwell on February 16, 1921.  Loretta died on New Year’s Day, January 1, 1985, at the Professional Care Nursing Home in Ohio County.

      In April 1910 when the census was taken that spring, Cinderella and Tom were living at Ohio County, and living with them was one of Cinderella’s younger brothers, Ira Clinton, age 28, who had just returned home from the Army in 1909, after an absence serving in Cuba for three years.  He was single and listed as “general labourer, working out.”  Probably, he was helping his brother-in-law, Tom with his farm crops.

~.~

H. T. Crowder, 84
Dies at Rosine

“Hannibal Thomas Crowder, 84, died at 3:30 a.m.
            Sunday, June 5, at his home in Rosine, following an
            illness of two years.

            He was born February 24, 1871 at Baizetown, the
            son of Marion Frances and Amelia Hobdy Crowder.
            He was a member of the Renfrow Church of Christ,
            the Rosine Masonic Lodge and Eastern Star.

            Survivors include his wife, Mrs. Cinderella Cox
            Crowder, of Rosine; a daughter, Mrs. Loretta Westerfield,
            also of Rosine; three grandsons and five great-grand
            daughters.

            The funeral was held at 2 p.m., Tuesday, June 7, at
            Rosine Baptist church, with Lloyd B. Spivey, Church of
            Christ minister, of Beaver Dam, officiating.  Burial was
            in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.

            Burial arrangements were in charge of the Casebier
            Funeral Home in Beaver Dam.”

~.~

Cinderella (Cox) Crowder
12-28-1967 newspaper

            Mrs. Cinderella Cox Crowder, 92, Rosine’s oldest
            Citizen, died at 5:40 p.m. Thursday in the Ohio County
            Hospital.

            She was born at Select, Kentucky, September 2, 1875,
            one of 14 children.  She was a lifetime resident of Ohio
            County and a member of the Renfrow Church of Christ.
            Mrs. Crowder was a 50-year member and first Worthy
            Matron of Rosine Chapter 542, Order of Eastern Star.

            In early years, she taught school at various places in the
            County, retiring from this profession in 1906.  She and her
            husband, Tom, who preceded her in death in 1955, operated
            a boarding house in Rosine for some time.

            Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Loretta Westerfield; three
            grandsons; six great-grandchildren; five great-great grand-
            children; a brother, J. N. Cox of Troup, Texas.

            Services were held at 1 p.m. Saturday in the William L.
            Danks Funeral Home with burial in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.

            The William L. Danks Funeral home in Beaver Dam was
            in charge of arrangements.”

~.~

      Another clipping read:  “Rosine citizens sympathize with the family of Mrs. Cinderella Crowder.  Mrs. Crowder, “Aunt Cindrella” as she was known to all her many friends and neighbors here, was Rosine’s oldest citizen, being past her 92nd birthday.  She was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star and was the first matron of this society when it was first chartered.  Aunt Cindy will be missed by many, many who still remain here behind.”

~.~

Loretta and I corresponded for many years and my parents, husband, and little daughter Amy visited with her and her son Dwight in 1975.  She had prepared a huge meal, topped off with fresh apple pie, and brought out many scrapbooks and photo albums for us to see.  We were so happy to at last meet one another.  Dwight and I corresponded occasionally by email and once I talked to him by phone. (I was shocked today on September 21, 2008 to learn from Jim Cox in Louisville that Dwight, 63, passed away several months ago. Terry Acton furnished me with his obituary).

Their old home had burned that year (1975), but with help from the neighbors, they were able to save almost everything.  Loretta and Dwight built a new and modern, smaller brick home at Rosine on the site of their former home.  Sometime later their barn burned down. (At one time, when the post office was established in January 1872, the little community was known as “Pigeon’s Roost,” but in June 1873, the name was changed to Rosine.) 

Everyone in the family always said that Cinderella and Tom’s home was the meeting place for the entire family when the ones gone from Kentucky came home to visit.  Cinderella was the glue that held the family together, and after their death, family members continued to make it the meeting place and Loretta became the gracious hostess.  Consequently, she kept current with much of the family history.

Loretta and I first began our letter-writing in 1972 and continued it for almost ten years, until her eyes grew dim.  It was Loretta who helped me collect a great deal of the individual family history information on current Cox descendants – the fourteen children of James and Mary E. (Mitchell) Cox that has gone into the family chapters here. 

Letters are becoming a lost art, but I have saved family letters for many years, and have two very large notebooks filled with family letters, mostly from my children and parents, in date order, that are now chronicles or diaries of their lives.  They are messages filled with their thoughts, actions, decisions, dreams, announcements - the list is endless - about what was going on in their lives.  Someday, I will give each of them a notebook filled with our letters, because I also kept copies of my letters to them.  Family letters are among my most treasured collections.

Below is either the first or second letter I ever received from Loretta, and it began a very pleasurable letter-writing campaign back and forth between us for the next ten years or so. For ease in re-reading and study, I once retyped all of Loretta’s letters to me, and kept many copies of the letters I wrote her in return. One day, I will give her notebook of letters to one of her granddaughters. 

Her letters that traveled from Kentucky to Texas were always a pleasure to receive and a welcome surprise when I opened my mail box and found my mailman had left me a letter from my cousin.  I especially enjoyed her letters, which grew to be a special connection and bond between us.  This one was written more than thirty-six years ago:

November 6, 1972
           Dear Janice:

     Really don’t know how to apologize for my delay in answering your good letter.  Alfred, my husband, isn’t able to do anything and I have to do everything that is done.  Therefore, I never get all done.  Always behind with my work.

     Sure did enjoy your letter, read it over many times.  We were all amazed at the records, you must have spent many hours in compiling them.  I read them over most every day.  Many names I never heard before.  At the same time, we find many names handed down through the generations, so interesting.  I hope to add our generation to it in time.  Our family is so scattered, it may not be easy.

Our family is so scattered, I do believe Roy had to write to 36 different states when settling Aunt Eva’s estate.  Do hope you get the history written in time for me to read it.

It doesn’t seem possible that Aunt Eva is 83.  So glad she and Uncle Newton are enjoying their latter days.  Hope they will live past 95 and enjoy their senior years.

It was sweet of you to send Leonard a copy.  He would like to come back here to retire but his wife prefers the golden west.  Leonard’s family here have all passed on except one brother, Gordon, and possibly a half-sister.

The cousin I mentioned in Bowling Green was Stella Daniel ______?, Aunt “Rillar” (Corilla) Daniel, Robert H. Daniel’s wife.  Yes, Noka (Mrs. P. M. Barlow) is Joe Mitchell’s daughter and she has a brother Joe.  Her father is the son of Joseph G. Mitchell; if I read correctly, his spouse was Henrietta A. Hurt.  Noka’s mother was a sister to Uncle Orlando’s 2nd wife, Belle Allen, the mother of his children.  Noka’s mother’s name was Rachel Allen; she and Aunt Belle are half-sisters to Uncle Ira’s wife, Anna Martha Coy.  In mother’s Bible, I found a list of her brothers and sisters with the date of their birth and death.  If you need them, let me know.

     No, I don’t know of any one doing research.  I am personally acquainted with our County Librarian (Mrs. Riley); the first time I am in Hartford will inquire of her for someone.

     Do hope you get to Kentucky on your vacation. Two or three weeks ago would have been perfect; our woodlands are so beautiful in mid-Oct.  Rough River Dam, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky Lake, Lincoln Memorial – also Jefferson Davis Monument are nearby.  Right now, many people are visiting “Shaker Town” near Lexington.  Come on to see us and the Horse Farms and many other things of beauty as “My Old Kentucky Home.”

Not the least of all for me is my own family I would like for you to meet.  Tell Uncle Newton his “fishing pal” is now wearing 17 shirt and 44 waist pants.  It actually frightens me.  Not what he eats, but an inactive thyroid, I fear.

If I find any thing new on our family tree, will send it on to you.  We all enjoyed your letter so much.  I know well how sweet little Amy is.  My last son arrived when I was 44.  He has been and is so much pleasure to us.  Not married, comes home often.  
                                                                                                                        Love you.   Loretta

     Sure do Thank you sincerely for the facts and data you sent me on our family.

~.~

Loretta often wrote little tid-bits of history in her letters to me, along with the family history, and in one letter written March 18, 1975, she said:

“Must tell you now I enjoyed the package and history of our Cox family.  It was really interesting.  McLean County now is very small and adjoins our own Ohio County.  But at the time they (the Coxes) came into KY, McLean County was a large part of this end of the State.  Am hunting for my old Kentucky histories to find a map that shows just how much.  The names of the many creeks are so familiar.  Can readily see your great desire to connect those first ones that came into Kentucky more and more with our family.  There are several by the name of COX in this county, but claim no kin with us.  The more I learn about our family, the more I feel we are related.”

“Grandpa Cox belonged to the Christian Church, but many of the children, girls especially, went to Baptist after marriage.”

      A few weeks later, on May 30, 1975, Loretta provided me with some more interesting family information:

            “Finally found the word Pincheco, Ohio County, in your papers.  It was
just a wide place in road between Cromwell and Beaver Dam.  Do believe Gilbert was born there.  It seems they had a post office there and  believe Grandpa Cox was post master.  You ask Aunt Eva, I believe she will remember.  Grandpa lived there when Aunt Bertha died.  Also, Aunt Mae first met Uncle Clayton Hocker there.  Prosha’s parents.  Now, there isn’t anything left to remind us of Pincheco, am not sure this spelling is correct; regardless of the spelling, the pronunciation is (Pinch’-eko), a building they used for both church and school was nearby.  The school was called Cooper, the church I believe was Baptist; not sure of it, it could have been Methodist.  If you find that I have used Pincheco, probably misspelled it, it will be one and the same.  Have never heard of one anywhere else.

“Am sending what I have collected to you.  Will continue as I can.  Am sorry I didn’t get the obituaries copied.  My old typewriter is about as dilapidated as I am, but it has had it; took Dwight and me both through College, and Melody finished High School with it.  With love, Loretta.”

      Just like Loretta, I often spent cold winter days re-reading her letters and analyzing what she wrote to see if I had overlooked something.  Eventually, I typed all of them up, and put them into a notebook for easy reference.  Loretta wrote very interesting letters and I learned so much from her.  She was a wonderful person.  I could identify with her, because I am also a member of the Order of the Eastern Star at Troup and have been for nearly twenty-seven years.  My grandfather was a Mason, affiliated with the Masonic lodge at Troup.

      Loretta was a very good-natured person and she had a great, optimistic outlook; she was never a quitter in trying to collect and compile all the records she could for me.  In another letter she said:

“Don’t hesitate to ask me over and over for the ones you need.  I have always been very active, taught until I was 70 years old.  But was doing fine until I had to put Alfred in the hospital in June 1974, knowing I would never be able to bring him home alive; and then the home I had remodeled for our old age burned in September and he passed away in October.  I still managed to control until we moved back in June.  So many things needed to be done.  Got to where I couldn’t drive my car.  Just sold it.  My recall is so poor, it is almost embarrassing.  In fact, it is maddening.  Don’t suppose this is any worse than other old people experience…so I try not to complain.”

      In another letter written August 2, 1975, she mentioned the fact that we were planning to visit Ohio County, and said:

            “Dear Jerri:  The aunts are calling to know when you are coming. 
Gladly told them, “It won’t be long now.”

Prosha was here when I received your letter; we both lamented that
you couldn’t have met here.  Her son, Jim and wife, Mary, brought
her.   Jim was on vacation; they went on to Mammoth Cave, Opera
Land and other places not so familiar to me.  Mary kept looking for
a “Hill-Billy”; gave us all a big bang when everyone she met was a
“Hill-Billy.” 

~.~

      My dad, Gilbert Cox, had not been back “home” to Ohio County since he was ten years old so my husband Conrad and little daughter, Amy Elizabeth, and I took them back to see everybody.  We had a wonderful, wonderful visit seeing and meeting all of my grandmother’s brothers and sisters who ranged in age from seventy-eight to ninety-five, as well as Cox cousin descendants.  My dad had so much fun reuniting with his cousins.

      The following  month in September, my dad came back home, bought a new station wagon and took his mother, Eva Caroline (Smith) Cox and his three sisters, Eula Mae Smith, Retha Green and Darrell Appl back for a more extended visit.  It made my grandmother so happy; she said it was the first time she had ever had all of her children “back home” at the same time.  They talked about this trip for many months.

On October 27, 1975, Loretta wrote to me about it:

            “Sure did enjoy the short visit of Aunt Eva and children; so nice they
            all got to come together.  They were only here a few minutes, but we
            sure did a good job of visiting that few minutes.  Dwight really liked
            talking to Conrad.  Speaks of him often.  Wished for you Saturday.
            My two oldest granddaughters, Ima and Nina, came with their three
            little ones.  Amy would have enjoyed playing with them.  They were
            in Louisville with their Mother who is taking treatments for cancer.
            Just ran down here to see me in the p.m.  Had been over a year since
            they had seen me.  Linda, the youngest, was with their mother. 
            Catherine, R. C.’s wife, had an operation about four weeks ago and
            it was malignant.  That is the cause of the treatments.

            Orville Cox from Paragould, Ark. had dinner with me Saturday a
week ago.  His wife was with her Mother in Beaver Dam.  We really
            had a good day lining up the Cox’s.  He is Uncle Netter’s youngest son.
            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.”

      On a cold winter day, she wrote me on January 20, 1977: 

            “Dear Jerri:  So cold and “snowy” I can’t get out, so to pass the time away
            I have been rereading your former letters.  In one, you ask the name of the
            cemetery near Luther Rogers’s farm.  It is “Fairview” on Hwy. 505 East.
            Highway 505 connects U. S. Highway 62 at top of Rosine Hill, with U.S.
            241, just out of Cromwell.  Many of our relatives are buried at Fairview.
            It is beautiful and well kept.  It slopes toward the road 505, with so many
            flowers.  Due to the slope they show up beautifully.

            “There are so many Coxes in Ohio County, can’t keep from believing we
            are all related.  One settlement of them near Dundee; another settlement
            of them below Cool Springs near Green River.  Have never been fortunate
            enough to meet one of them.  The Cox name is familiar all over Kentucky.
            In reading the Courier Journal, Louisville, we find the name frequently.
            Maybe eventually we will find some connection.”

      Loretta and Alfred Westerfield had three sons, Rupert Crowder, Orville Alroy, and Dwight Leahy.  A little daughter, Ruth Electa, died the same day she was born, May 14, 1936.
 
      In the 1930 census, Loretta and Alfred were living in Gary, Indiana, where Alfred’s occupation was listed as “pipe inspector in a steel plant.”  Two children shown were Rupert and Orville.  Ray Pierce, age 20, was listed as a “boarder” in their home.

      In filling out her own Family Group Chart (along with the many others she compiled for me), she indicated Alfred had served in the U. S. Navy, World War I.  His places of residence during his lifetime were listed as Fordsville, Hartford, Ohio, Indiana, California and Texas.  Loretta listed her own places of residence at Small House, Hartford, Rosine, Indiana and Wisconsin.
~.~

Obituary for Loretta Westerfield

                               Mrs. Loretta Westerfield, 83, of Rosine, died Tuesday,
                        January 1, 1985 at Professional Care Home, Hartford.
                        She was born in Ohio County, was a retired school
                        teacher, and was a member of the Renfrow Church of
                        Christ, Rosine Chapter No. 342, Order of Eastern Star.
                        Her husband, Albert Westerfield, died in 1973.

                               Survivors include three sons, Dwight Westerfield of
                        Hartford, Orville Westerfield, Louisville, and R. C.
                        Westerfield of Hazard; six grandchildren and 12 great
                        grandchildren.

                               Services were 1 p.m. Friday at William L. Danks
                        Funeral Home, Beaver Dam.  Burial was in Sunnyside
                        Cemetery, Beaver Dam.  Eastern Star services were
                        held at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Funeral Home.”

~.~

      Obituary for Dwight Westerfield, son of Loretta, from the “Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer (KY) March 1, 2008 – Deceased Name:  Dwight L. “Frog” Westerfield

      “ BEAVER DAM – Dwight L. “Frog” Westerfield, 62, of Beaver Dam passed 
away Friday, Feb. 29, 2008, at Owensboro Medical Health System.  He was born 
May 27, 1945, to the late Alfred R. and Loretta Crowder Westerfield in Rosine.  
He was a former Ohio County jailer, member of Hartford Christian Church, a 
member of the Ohio County Chamber of Commerce, a former member of the 
Ohio County Election Board, active in the Republican Party and past chairman 
of the Ohio County Republican Party, a member of “Together We Care,” an active member of the Beaver Dam Fire Department, Rosine Association (TRA), served as Beaver Dam city commissioner, taught in the Ohio County School System, a 
Kentucky Colonel, past chairman of Ohio County Jaycees, past president of 
Habitat for Humanity of Ohio County, Secretary of Monroe Foundation, and a graduate of Horse Branch High SchoolKentucky Wesleyan College and 
Leadership of Ohio County.

                             He was preceded in death by his brother, R. C. Westerfield.

     Survivors include his wife, Pauline Westerfield of Beaver Dam, two
step-sons, Joey Ritchie and Jimmy Ritchie, both of Hazard; three step-
grandchildren,  Matthew Ritchie, Wayland Ritchie and Christian 
Ritchie, all of Hazard; a brother, Orville Westerfield of Louisville; and 
several nieces and nephews.

     Funeral services are at 2 p.m. Sunday at William L. Danks Funeral
Home in Beaver Dam with the Rev. Michael Taylor officiating.  Burial
will be in Sunnyside Cemetery in Beaver Dam.  Visitation will be from
                        3 to 8 p.m. today and after 9 a.m. Sunday at the funeral home.”

~.~
  
      Obituary for Orville is from Louisville “The Courier-Journal” on August 29, 2009

ORVILLE A. WESTERFIELD

      Westerfield, Orville A., 83, passed away Friday at Park Terrace Health Campus.  

      He was raised in Ohio County, KY by his parents, Alfred and Loretta (Crowder
      Westerfield. He was a retired foreman for Corhart Refractories and was a World War
      II Navy veteran. He was a Christian by Faith.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 52 years, Maxine (Ford) Westerfield; his parents; and two brothers, R.C. and Dwight Westerfield.

Survivors include his children, Patricia R. Hosch (Gordon) and Melody D. Hammond; grandchildren, Shannon Spivey, Brian Hosch (Angela), Nicole Hirst (Chad), Craig Hammond (Casie) and Natalie Hammond; and four great-grandchildren.

Funeral service will be 1 p.m. Monday at Owen Funeral Home, 5317 Dixie Hwy, with burial in Beth Haven Cemetery. Visitation is 2-8 p.m. Sunday. Online condolences to owenfuneralhome.com
(obit sent to me by Billy Morris - on August 29, 2009).


Submitted by Janice Cox Brown, Coppell, Texas




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