John W. Cox

    For thirty-five years John W. Cox has prospered as a farmer and lived a resident of Section thirty in Fairmount township. He owns a delightful country home, and his prosperity is nearly altogether the result of his careful planning and industrious labors, continued through a long succession of years.

    John W. Cox belongs to an old Quaker family of that name, originally form North Carolina. In the generation including his own grandfather were some four or five of the name, who, after their marriage in North Carolina came north and found homes in Indiana, most of them in Grant county. His grandfather was Joshua Cox, and besides Joshua several grand-uncles and grand-aunts came to Indiana, named as follows: Mincher, Samuel, William and Julia. These different members of the Cox family became prominent in their respective communities, and all were of the Friends Church. Joshua Cox and his wife, Rachael Cox, came to Indiana in 1830 and spent the remainder of their lives in Morgan County, where they reared their children. These children are named as follows:

  1. Uriah, who married and moved out to Richland, Iowa, where he died, leaving children, Joshua, John, Hannah, Enoch, and Rachael.

  2. Edith and her husband also died in Iowa and left a family of children

  3. William Cox, father of John W.

  4. Nathan married Malinda Overman and had children, Sylvester, Seth, Isaiah and Rachael.

  5. J. Zimri Cox married, had a family of five children, and he and his wife died in the same year.

  6. Hannah, the widow of Amos Hiatt, lives at her home in Iowa and has a family of children.

    William Cox, father of John W., was born in North Carolina in 1824, and was six years of age when the family moved to Morgan County. When he was about twenty years of age he visited his uncle's family in Grant county, and while there met Miss Betsey Wilson, who was born in North Carolina in 1826, a daughter of John Wilson, who settled in Fairmount Township of Grant County in 1836. Miss Wilson was the acknowledged belle of the countryside, and among those attracted by her beauty and character was William Cox, who in the brief time of his visit laid successful siege to her heart and soon afterwards married her. They began life in a log cabin in Liberty Township, situated ten miles from any other settlement, and had a lonely time of it for several years. They prospered, and finally moved to another farm in Liberty Township, where William Cox became the owner of one hundred acres of first-class land, and in 1873 built the old family homestead, a fine brick-house, at that time considered one of the best in the county. William Cox died here January 25, 1901, and his beloved wife followed him a few months later on June 12. William Cox married outside of the Quaker Church in which he had been reared and was put of the church, because of his refusal to express sorrow for his act, and he and his wife afterwards became charter members of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, in which faith they both died.

    The children of William Cox and wife were: Nathan R., Abigail, John W., Mary, Eli J., Milton T., Zimri E., Eliza Ann, now deceased, Sarah Ellen, Elizabeth Clementine, William Valentine and Micajah T. and Emma, twins, the latter being deceased. All these children were married and had families, and all became substantial and self-supporting men and women. Every son has always been free from any bad habits and all married good wives, while the daughters found good husbands.

    John W. Cox, who was born in Liberty Township of Grant County, August 4, 1849, was reared in a good home, and well educated. For some years he taught school, and finally turned his attention to agriculture, and for many years has enjoyed a place of prosperity and esteem in his community. He owns a fine far, not extensive in acreage, but highly improved and cultivated in such a manner that it is more productive than many larger places. It comprises forty-four acres, and lies just outside the limits of Fairmount City. There is not a foot of the land which is not drained, and put to profitable production, and it is this elimination of waste that has been a large factor of Mr. Cox as a farmer. His larges and best crop for a number of years has been tomatoes, some years having had as many as seventeen acres in that crop, while his yearly average has been about twelve acres. By long experience he has learned how to grow and care for this large production, and gets big revenues form all he raises. In the midst of the fruit and shade trees which surround his grounds sets a fine white house, surrounded with new barns and a forty-five ton silo. This place has been his home since 1878, and in location and value it is one of the best in Fairmount Township.

    In Washington Township, of Grant county, in 1874, Mr. Cox married Miss Josephine Culberson, who was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, February 23, 1853. When she was a child her parents moved to Washington Township in Grant county. She is a daughter of Joseph and Margaret (Stiles) Culberson, both natives of Ohio, who located in Grant County before the war. Her father died on his farm a few years later, leaving a widow and five children. Mrs. Culberson did more than a mother's part by her children, remained at home on the farm, managed its operation and at the same time kept her little flock about her until they were grown and had started lives on their own account. .she then came to live with her daughter Mrs. Cox, and died in their home in 1910, when ninety-two years of age. She was a good mother, and her influences and devotion were such that hey will always be remembered by her children and descendants.

    The children of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Cox are mentioned as follows:

  1. Martin E., who was educated at Fairmount, was for some years a music dealer in that city and is now in the west.

  2. Burl W., went to Cuba during the Spanish-American war with the One Hundred and Sixtieth Indiana Regiment, serving until his honorable discharge. He is now in business at Alexandria, in Madison County. He married Gladys Edwards.

  3. Eli W., is an agent for the Singer Sewing Machine Company, lived in Fairmount, and by his marriage to Gertrude Riblin has two children, Paula and Emmett.

  4. Ollie W., is a farmer and also operates a hay press at Fairmount. He married Lora Clifford, and their one daughter is Bernice.

  5. Myrtle L. is the wife of George P. Atkinson, living with Mr. Cox on the home farm.

    Mr. and Mrs. Cox are members of the Back Creek Wesleyan Methodist Church. Formerly a Republican voter, Mr. Cox now gives his allegiance to the Prohibition cause.

Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914.

 

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