CARRIE COX CASSIL 1865-1945

COX, CASSIL, LINCOLN, MCINTOSH, LYNCH, HILL, GOSS, WITTEN, STAPP

Posted By: Charles E. Hales (email)
Date: 3/18/2004 at 16:21:17

Mrs. Carrie Cassil
Dies Here After
Long
Illness

Mrs. Carrie Cox Cassil was born in Van Buren County Iowa, October 13, 1865, the youngest of the nine children of Randolph and Sarah Ann Cox. The father, Randolph Cox, had lived in Illinois and was proud that with a surveying party “he had carried the chains behind Lincoln.” Later he and his young wife, Sarah Ann McIntosh, moved into southern Iowa making from the raw land a prosperous farm and every child was taught that he must go to school, he must get educated and that he must support the church.
When the youngest daughter was reaching young lady hood the Iowa farm was sold and the family traveled South to Missouri and Mr. Cox bought land that at the time was adjacent to Mountain Grove, the tract lying across the railway from what is now the State Poultry Station. The house into which the family moved was destroyed by fire but the barn and the stone “milk house” still stands and are among the oldest buildings in Mountain Grove.
Miss Carrie Cox and her sister, Miss Alice, attended The Academy the forerunner of the Mountain Grove High School, and graduated in the days when Prof. Wm. H. Lynch was at once its inspiration and taskmaster. At that time Mountain Grove was known as a good school town. It was natural that Miss Cox should find herself teaching in the nearby rural schools. Walnut Grove was perhaps the first. She and sister were also active in the social life of the town which centered for them in the M. E. church, commonly known as the North Methodist. It was there that she met the young photographer who had just opened a “picture gallery,” Mr. J. Max Cassil and their marriage was a social event in the community. Their home was in Mountain Grove and it is here that their sons were born, attended school, and grew to manhood.
Following Mr. Cassil’s death in 1921, Mrs. Cassil again entered the teaching profession. She was at home in the schoolroom and was never happier than when she was teaching little children to read. Year after year found her in the schoolroom. She continued her own studies by attending the summer terms of Springfield State Teachers College. Once she missed by a small margin being elected County Superintendent of Schools. Among her best friends are those who say, “Mrs. Cassil was my first teacher” or “Mrs. Cassil was my best teacher.”
Death came to her January 4, 1945, and gently released her from the partial paralysis which she had suffered the past few years.
One son, Rodney Cassil, preceded her in death. Surviving her are four sons: Lawrence A. Cassil of Kansas City, Ivan Cassil of Des Moines, Willis Cassil of Hoxie, Ark.: and Victor of the home. There are three grandchildren: Jim Ed Cassil of little Rock, Ark., Mrs. Phyllis June Hill, whose husband Lt. J. W. B. Hill is in the Naval Air Force and Miss Betty Anne Cassil of Hoxie. One sister, Mrs. Florence Goss, is living and resides in Clinton, Ill.
Funeral services were held from the Trinity Methodist church Saturday afternoon with Dr. Livingston Whitten officiating. Burial was in the Hillcrest cemetery under the arrangements of the Stapp Funeral Home.

Source of this obituary is: Lori Boyd of Colorado. Newspaper and place of death is uncertain. This obituary is posted in a continuing effort by Mrs. Boyd and the author to locate Hales and Cox descendants. Among other things we are trying to identify persons in a large photo taken at the Thomas Hales residence in Keosauqua.
( See query posted 3/15/2004 on this VBC website entitled 1900 HALES-COX GATHERING PHOTO AT KEOSAUQUA)