Our Family History
The Genealogy of the Thompson Family
Minister John Willis Burton Cox
1825 - 1899 (73 years)
John Willis Burton Cox
John Willis Burton Cox
Information taken from "Our Ancestors" by Dora Cox Mostert and "Rambling Through the Life and Times" by Wyona Ivan Cox.
JOHN WILLIS BURTON COX 1825 - 1899 John Willis Burton Cox was born in Tennessee, December 19, 1825. He was the son of Willison Cox and Susannah Laughlin Cox, who were married January 15, 1807. Willison Cox was born November 24, 1784 and died July 24, 1865. Susannah Laughlin was born January 10, 1787 and died July 29, 1862. They are buried in the Laughlin cemetery. When Willison's large family, 4 boys and 4 girls, were grown they scattered out over the states. Willison, his wife and at least two sons came to Missouri and settled in Mercer County, Missouri, center county along the Iowa Line. It is told that Burt Cox, at 11 years, helped drive the cattle. They settled in Carrol County, Mo. When he was 16 years old he started for Mercer County, Missouri ahead of the others. The first night he camped out the wolves smelled the meat he was frying and came so close he could hear their teeth clicking together. He could see their eyes glaring in the firelight. He was so frightened he was afraid to go to sleep and stayed up all night gathering bark and twigs and keeping a roaring fire. This trip was in 1841. After this he must have gone back to his folks in Carrol County, Missouri. At least his future bride was born there. Uncle Hugh Cox, who passed away many years before John Willis (on April 3, 1879, to be exact) was the second of the two Willison Cox's children that I know settled in Mercer County, Missouri. John Willis Burton Cox went from Tennessee to Jackson County and later came on to Mercer County. October 23, 1856 he married Mary Jane Rockhold. She was born May 26, 1838, daughter of Loyd Rockhold and Jane Connor who were married in the Fall of 1827. (They were married 8 March 1827 in Clay County, Missouri.) Jane Connor was the sixth of eleven children, seven boys and four girls. Burt, as John Willis Burton Cox was called, was 6 feet tall and very strong. In his younger days he was somewhat wild, tough always kind and considerate, especially to people who were downtrodden, forlorn or needed help. Soon after they were married Grandfather and Aunt Mary Jane, as people affectionately called my grandmother, took a boy by the name of Sam B. Baker, son of Sarah C. Cox Baker, to raise. He was a few years older than my Uncle Jarrett Cox, who was born July 27, 1857. From that time on they generally had one or more boys besides their own children to feed and clothe. These are the children of J.W. Burton Cox and Mary Jane Rockhold Cox: Jarrett Madison Cox Born 27 July 1857 Died 31 July 1937 Nancy Ann (Nank) Cox Born 5 Jan 1859 Died 3 Feb. 1937 Elwysey Eleanor Cox Born 21 Nov. 1860 Died 30 Aug 1913 Loyd Porter Cox Born 3 Sept. 1862 Died 17 Oct 1932 Jasper Alexander Cox Born 17 Oct 1864 Died 28 Jan. 1919 Elizabeth Jane Cox Born 20 April 1866 Died 20 Nov. 1898 Mary Viola Mae Dora Cox Born 18 March 1869 Died 16 July 1934 Thomas Willis Cox Born 12 March 1872 Tipton Burton Cox Born 30 Oct. 1876 Died a tiny child Jarrett never married. Nank married William S. Thompson 31 August 1882. Eleanor (Ellen) never married. Loyd married Nancy (Nanny) Litton, daughter of Alexander and Tavy Litton, 10 March 1905. Alexander (Alex) married Eliza Augusta Duncan, 14 Aug 1890. Elizabeth (Betsey) married William Brown, 8 Sept. 1886. Dora married Joseph Preston Hampton, 3 February 1896. Tom married Chrome Hampton, 4 March 1904. Among others that Grandmother and Grandfather Cox took to raise were Tom Qualls and Tobe Molen. Qualls became a very rich man as riches were reckoned in his day, $75,000 or more. Tobe Molen moved to Oklahoma about 1900. He worked on a farm for awhile then went to the oil wells or fields to work. He studied the oil business, learned how to find and map oil fields. He worked in both the United States and Canada. The last we heard of Tobe he was on an oil exploring trip in western Canada. Burt Cox worked at many trades. He was a good woodsman; handy with an axe, saw and other wood working tools. He was a brick maker and he and his boys made thousands of bricks which were used for buildings round about. He was also a carpenter, bricklayer and cabinet maker. However, that did not use up all of his time. When he was 35 years old, he became very much interested in religion. He wanted to do more in God's work. He studied the "Good Book" diligently. He and Mary Jane had joined the Baptist Church about 1871. Burt became an ordained minister of the Baptist faith about 1873. He was a practicing Minister until his death. He was a minister of the "Hard-Shelled" Baptist Church. Since his Congregation were farmer folk who had rather small incomes, his material returns for his labors were small indeed. Rich, however, were the rewards of good will and friendship he reaped. He ministered to the sick. If any man needed help to pay his rent or his interest in order to keep his home or if a poor man with only two horses lost a horse, Burt Cox went out to take up a collection to remedy the situation. You may bet your bottom dollar Burt Cox's contribution headed the list and was as large as he expected any other man to give. Burt traveled all around the area on horseback to hold meetings and to minister to people. He was a big man and a hard working man. As I said, he worked at many trades. These trades he taught his sons: timber work, farming, bricklaying and brick making. They became proficient in most of these trades. John Willis Burton Cox died 24 April 1899 in Mercer Co., Missouri and is buried in the old Laughlin Cemetery. -------------------- Information taken from "Our Ancestors" by Dora Cox Mostert and "Rambling Through the Life and Times" by Wyona Ivan Cox.
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