John L Cox was the first of at least five children born to Jonathan Piety Cox and Rachel Lemen Tigert. He was born on May 4, 1820 in Knox County, Indiana. There are some variations on his middle name with some sources listing it as Lemen, a family name from his mother’s side, and others referring to him as Lemuel. His siblings included Mary J, Harvey Innes, Alexander and Harriet. Mary was the mother of Henrietta Polk and Alexander was the father of Rachel Cox Rafferty, both women who were recently the subject of biographies on this blog.
John lived his entire life in Knox County, in the area between Bruceville and Bicknell. He actually amassed a respectable-sized farm which in 1880 totaled more than 300 acres. John was married twice. His first marriage began on October 3, 1849 to Mary Robinson. She gave him three sons, John Crittenden and twins Harmon and Jonathan. She died at the age of 23 in 1852.
A couple years passed and John married Naomi Steen on September 21, 1854. Together, John and Naomi added at least six children to their family, all reaching adulthood and all but one living into their late sixties or beyond. The children in order of birth: Enoch S, James L, Richard T, Logan, Naomi and Caroline.
All of the family was well-known and respected in the community. Logan, after serving in the military, went to medical school. Unfortunately, just week’s shy of graduating, he was stricken with a debilitating ailment which slowly killed him for over a year. He died in 1894 at the age of 32. John C, the oldest of the nine siblings, was elected County Sheriff in 1898. Harmon, one of the twins, died at the age of 46. He was a business man in Daviess County.
After fifty-six years of marriage at the age of 80, John Lemuel Cox passed away at the family home from jaundice. He is buried in the Asbury Chapel Cemetery located in Ragsdale, Indiana, as are many of his family.
John L Cox is my 1st cousin 5x removed on my dad’s side.
REFERENCES
- United States Census, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900
- Indiana Death Certifcates
- Indiana Marriage Index
- United States Indexed County Land Ownership Maps, 1880
- The Indianapolis Journal, November 14, 1900 via Newspapers.com
- The Vincennes Commercial, July 2, 1898 & August 14, 1894
Digging Up My Roots 