William L. Cox (1800 - 1870)

Born 4 May 1800 in Grayson, Virginia, United States

Descendants

Died 25 Jan 1870 at age 69 in Daviess County, Missouri, USA

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Biography

William was born in 1800. He is the son of Frederick Cox and Hannah Cobb.

Children: William L. James H. Levi C. Edward T. Armina (Thomas) John Jackson Tolitha J. (Grove) Frederick D. Benjamin Franklin Martin O. Infant (lived one day)

The Levi Cox Family of Daviess County. Narrator: Mrs. Nitha Cox Lay, Hamilton

Mrs. William Lay is the daughter of Sam Cox and Lucy Railsback, farmers northeast of Hamilton in Daviess County. Sam Cox was five years old when his father and mother, Levi Cox and Sophia his wife, came to Daviess County in a covered wagon with their young family. Sophia (1218-1848) died soon after their arrival. Levi died 1869 aged about 65 years.

Levi's brother William (1801-1870) settled near by with his wife Lucy. It was in the vicinity of Lick Fork Church. Another brother settled near Gower in Buchanan County. William and his wife were the grandparents of Miss Sarah Cox who is well known in Hamilton as a charity worker. Levi had several children, one of whom, Sallie, married George Vokes who came into Caldwell County in 1870. Mrs. Julia Vokes Wilson of Hamilton is a daughter and her daughter is Bertha Swindler.

At the death of Levi's wife Sophia in 1848, the Cox relatives in Caldwell County, (the Soloman, and J. E. Coxes) came up into Daviess County to the funeral and tried to adopt one or more of Levi's motherless children. One of the daughters of Levi did not marry and she preserved this family tradition to Sam's family. It seems to establish the fact that the J. D. Cox family are kin to the Levi Cox family of Daviess County. The J. D. Cox people are bankers at Kingston in Caldwell County.

Mrs. Lay's father Sam, married into the Railsback family that lived in the Tuggle neighborhood in Daviess County just north of the county line near Nettleton. Consequently the Sam Coxes lived in that district.

Nitha Cox, her mother Lucy Railsback, her mother-in-law Mrs. Lay all went to school at times in the old log Tuggle school which also served as a church on Sundays. Mrs. Cox had as a teacher John N. Morton, the son of a Daviess County farmer Noa Morton, his middle name. In In 1865 after the war, he and his brother Cap Morton set up a tin and hardware shop in Hamilton.

Some years ago while moving, he found his old school book used in the Tuggle school in the 60s and showed to Mrs. Cox, with her good attendance record. Mrs. Lay's teachers at Tuggle were Miss Morrow and George Tuggle, then her parents moved to another district.

The Cox family who settled in Daviess County are mostly buried in Lick Fork Cemetery, at least 20 of that name are there. Mrs. Lay's parents (Sam and wife) light in Highland Cemetery at Hamilton while her maternal Grandparents, David and Martha Railsback are in the Tuggle Cemetery.

The Lays have two daughters, Mrs. Owen Kinne, and Mrs. Jesse Shull, both living, as do their parents, on farms. Interview, 1934.

Information from 1850 Census, Missouri, and from the following descendants (Margaret Cox Swithes of Nettleton, Missouri, William Neven Cox of Knoxville, Missouri and Mary Jane Cox Rohde) have the following contradictory information: probable birthplace Knox County, KY. Birth date 4 May 1801. probable death place Nettleton, Calwell, Missouri.

Sources

• http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/COX/2002-06/1023553341

1934 Interview with Nitha Cox Lay.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18196600/william-l-cox