MATHEWS - Evan T. MATHEWS came to Harrison County in June, 1855, with his parents, who settled in the old town of Calhoun, when our subject was about thirteen years old. The father bought an interest in a sawmill and devoted his time and attention to that, on section 24, where he lived until his wife's death, in 1878, and then lived with his son, our subject, until his death in 1879. Evan T. was born October 4, 1842, and was the third child of a family of seven, and remained at home intil 1873, when he maried Laura E. NELSON, a native of Council Bluffs, born February, 1850. After their marriage they settled in Taylor Township, on a forty-acres farm, which they improved and lived upon until 1876, and then sold and moved to his parents place.

Mr. and Mrs. MATHEWS are the parents of two interesting children -- Laura M. and Willie Dean, both at home. Politically our subject affiliates with the Republican party, and stands well in the community in which he lives, being an honest and industrious citizen of the county.
Source: 1891 History of Harrison County Iowa.
Mathews Family Researcher: Dennis Michael O'Neill.
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MATHEWS - George A. MATHEWS, of the firm Mathews and Kling, agricultural implement dealers at Woodbine, was born at Walworth County, Wisconsin, April 26, 1843, the son of George and Fannie (JONES) MATHEWS, who died in Walworth County, Wisconsin in January 1843. George A. remained on the old homestead acquiring his education at the common district schools of the Badger State, and when seventeen years of age, went to Stoughton, Dane County, of that State, where he worked for two years for others, and then went into business with L. M. KELLOGG, now of Missouri Valley; they engaged in the manufacture of brooms, in which they continued for about three years, when KELLOGG sold his interest in the concern to H. B. KLING, our subject's present partner, with whom he continued until their coming to Woodbine in 1877.

Mr. MATHEWS was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. KLING, a native of Wisconsin, born November 19, 1843, their wedding occuring April 16, 1867. Four children have blessed their home -- Earl, Clifford, Grace and Lynn. Earl died October 2, 1870; Clifford works in the Post Office at Woodbine.

In addition to the extensive agricultural implement and lumber business carried on by the firm of Mathews & Kling, they also operate a steam grain elevator (having a capacity of twelve thousand bushels) which they bought September 9, 1886.
Source: 1891 History of Harrison County Iowa.
Mathews Family Researcher: Dennis Michael O'Neill.
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COX - Andrew R. COX, of St. John's Township, came to the county in 1854, and a sketch of his life will doubtless be read with interest in this connection. He is a native of the Buckeye State, being born in Ohio, June 22, 1827. His parents were Abraham and Lydia (REEL) COX, the former a native of Tennessee and the latter of Ohio. They had a family of ten children�Martha A.; Isaac W., a resident of this county; Hannah, Mrs. CROWDER, of Indiana; Jacob, a resident of this county; Andrew, of this county; Mary, Mrs. REEL, of Indiana; Henry B., of this county; Sarah M., Mrs.GILKERSON; Nancy and Elizabeth, who died in infancy.

The family moved to Indiana in 1827, locating in Putnam County, where the father was engaged at farming. Our subject's early life was passed on the farm in that county; obtaining a common school education at a time when the public school system was not what it is to day. The first attempt he made at business life was when he entered a grist mill, where he remained four years, during which time he learned much concerning the art of an "honest miller." We next find him tilling the soil, which vocation he has followed ever since. In 1845 he went to Illinois, and bought the old home farm in Putnam County, which he tilled until the spring of 1852, when he came to Iowa, locating in Rockford Township, Pottawattamie County, where he lived upon his brother's farm, and was one of the organizers of Rockford Township. He bought a claim on Honey Creek consisting of two hundred and forty acres of deeded land, upon which he lived two years, and then came to this county, locating on section 13, of St. John's Township, where he now has a landed estate of between four and five hundred acres. A quarter section of this land is under cultivation, while the balance is in pasture and timberland. He erected a rude log cabin, a half mile from his present residence, in which the family lived for two years. Mr. COX also helped organize St. John's Township, and the first two elections were held at his house.

To acquaint the reader with our subject's domestic life, it may be said he was married June5, 1849, in Putnam County, Ind., to Miss Barbara J. DEAL, the daughter of John and Sarah (BARNETT) DEAL, natives of Kentucky and Tennessee respectively and of German descent.

This marriage union was blessed by the advent of seven children�George T., born June8, 1851; Peter R., July 21, 1853; Sarah (MRS. HARSIGN), January 1, 1855; Lydia (MRS. MOATS), January 12, 1857, now living in Nebraska; Nancy (MRS. MOATS_, January 27, 1858, now living in Nebraska; Mary (MRS. WILLIAM JONES), a resident of this county, November 30, 1860; Ella (MRS. FOX). February 25, 1868, now living in this county.

Upon coming to this county, our subject was one of the first settlers in the Boyer Valley, and his was the only house between St. John's and where Logan now stands. His nearest trading point was Council Bluffs, and their principal diet was corn bread and catfish. Mr. and Mrs. COX came to Iowa overland, the trip consuming just thirty days time. It was in the month of April, when the streams were swollen beyond their banks and had to be ford in the absence of bridges. The Wabash, Illinois and Mississippi Rivers were crossed by boat, while the prairie lands were all but impassable.

Source: 1891 Harrison County Iowa History, pp. 808-809.
Cox Family Researcher: N/A.
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A note from a MOATS researcher ...
As I read the family history of Andrew and Barbara Deal Cox, I find that the married name of Lydia Cox is misspelled. It should be Moats not Mouts. She was the wife of Marvin Moats, son of Peter and Caroline Slilgebouer, and Nancy was the wife of Almon Warner Moats, another son of Peter and Caroline. Almon (aka) Warner was my husbands Grandfather. Was Nancy the given name or was it Nanny? The reason I ask is because on her tombstone it is listed as Nanny and my late father-in-law a son of Warner and Nanny always said it was Nanny.
COX - Isaac W. COX, brother of Andrew (see above). Isaac is a farmer on section 34, Allen Township, and has been a resident of the county since the autumn of 1862. He was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, in November, 1817. He was married in May, 1844 to Mary Ann DEAL, the daughter of John and Sarah DEAL, natives respectively of Tennessee and Indiana. They are the parents of eight or nine children: Sarah (deceased), Rachel, John, (deceased), James, Solomon J. (see below), Hannah, Abraham and Mary.
More information is available on this bio.
Source: 1891 History of Harrison County Iowa.
Cox Family Researcher: N/A.
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COX - Solomon J. COX, a farmer of section 14, Allen Township, is a native of Harrison County, and was born in Calhoun Township. He lived in that township until he was fifteen years of age when his parents removed to Magnolia Township, where he remained with them until he was twenty-six years of age. He then rented land for one year and bought the place he now occupies, consisting of one hundred and twenty acres of wild land, for which he paid $10 per acre. He now has two hundred and forty acres of land; one hundred and thirty of which is under the plow, with the balance in pasture and meadowland. His improvements consist in part of a frame house 20x24 feet, on and a half stories high, two regular wells, a barn 24x40 feet, a granary 11x22 feet, an orchard of one hundred and fifty trees, with a grove of eight acres.

Our subject is a son of Isaac E. and Mary A. COX, natives of Ohio who had a family of eight children�Sarah (deceased), Rachel, John, (deceased), James, Solomon J., Hannah, Abraham and Mary.

Mr. COX was married November 14. 1881. To Jane CHATBURN, daughter of Richard and Mary CHATBURN, natives of England, who had a family of ten children�John, Jonas, Ellen, Margaret, Thomas, Jane, Mary E. (deceased), Elizabeth, (deceased), and two who died in infancy.

Mr. and Mrs. COX are the parents of six children�Richard, born November 1, 1882; Millie, January 5, 1884; Isaac, (deceased), September 9, 1885; Alice and Albert, (twins), born April 11, 1888; Robert, December 12, 1890. Politically, Mr. Cox is a Republican.
Source: 1891 History of Harrison County Iowa, pp. 537-538.
Cox Family Researcher: N/A.
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COX - Henry B. COX, whose beautiful farm home, is situated just on the Eastern borders of the city of Missouri Valley, came to Harrison County in 1854, hence may well be styled a pioneer. He was born in Putnam Count, Ind., August 17, 1826. He is the son of Abraham and Lydia (REEL) COX. His father was born in Tennessee, and his mother in Virginia. They were married in Montgomery County, Ohio, and both passed from the scene of this life at their home in Indiana. The mother died September 24, 1842, and the father survived until December 16, 1849. They reared a family of nine children, of whom our subject was the seventh; all are living but two and four are living in Harrison County, Iowa, while three reside in Indiana. They trace their ancestry back to Germany, both grandfathers speaking the German language, but were American born.

Our subject's father followed farming, and Henry B. received his early education in the Hoosier State in a subscription school, and he, like his forefathers, has chosen to be a teller of the soil, always having followed agricultural pursuits. In 1851 our subject might have been seen peering from out a prairie schooner, wending his way toward Pottawattamie County, Iowa, where he remained three years and then removed to Harrison county, settling upon the farm he now resides upon in St. John's Township. Politically, Mr. Cox is a stanch supporter of the Republican party, and has been selected to numerous local offices since his residence in the county, including Justice of he Peace and member of the Board of Supervisors, having been re-elected to both positions, and was President of the Harrison County Agricultural Society for a number of years.

Our subject was united in marriage, March 30, 1851, to Caroline REEL, and one week after their marriage ceremony had been performed, these two young people possessing strong arms and loving hears started West beneath the folds of a covered wagon. The years may come and go, and this pioneer may add to his landed possession but happier and more hopeful years will never come to him than those of his early married life, when in the vigor of his young manhood, he traced his way ver unabridged and angry streams, through unsettled States and counties, and like the Star of Empire, headed toward the setting sun. Not that all was one paradise, where thornless roses were ever in bloom, for there were seasons of distress. The memorable winter of 1856-57 with its mountain-like snow drifts, scarcity of food and general suffering, together with the dark days of the Civil War, and the subsequent plague years of flood and grasshoppers which devastated parts of the Missouri Slope, all required the hardihood and courage that none but a genuine pioneer could well endure.

Mr. and Mrs. COX were the parents of five children: John L., married and living at home, is a graduate of West Point, and served in the Regular army one year; Annete is married to Edward ATHEY, and now lives in Jackson Township; Mary, wife of John a. GEORGE, a resident of Missouri Valley; William Riley and Henry Hudson are at home.

Mrs. Caroline (REED) COX was the daughter of Andrew and Nancy (MURPHY) REEL, natives of Ohio, who died in Putnam County, Ind. For thirty-six years this noble woman, our subject's wife, walked by his side as his faithful companion, and reared a family, the members of which are an ornament to society, and do honor to her name. Finally the summons came, and all that was mortal of Mrs. COX was deposited in Rosehill Cemetery, at Missouri Valley. The date of her death was October 14, 1887.

October 24, 1888, our subject married the widow of William REEL, whose husband died in Clay County, Ind. Her maiden name was Maggie FORNEY, the daughter of Joshua and Julia Ann (RHODES) FORNEY. She is a native of Putnam County, Ind.

Mr. COX has always been a hard working and industrious man, and fortunately possesses a faculty for accumulating property, as is evinced by his present landed estate, which comprises fourteen hundred acres of Harrison County's productive soil. Six hundred acres of this is now under a high state of cultivation, while the balance is in timber and pastureland. His homestead, near the bustling little city of Missouri Valley, possesses many charming attractions, including the well kept grounds and well ordered surroundings, showing him to be a man of method and taste. Indeed it is looked upon by the passer b y, as among the most valuable homes in the valley.

It is not the object of this volume to laud and exalt one man's characteristics, achievements and possessions above another's, yet in this case the writer cannot refrain from paying a passing tribute toward the life work of this, one of Harrison County's earliest pioneers, for in it there is a lesson to be learned by the readers, though it be in the coming generations, when the leaves of this volume shall have turned yellow with age; it is this: that the secret of this man's more than average successful life, is found in the fact of his having started out early in life with a determination to accomplish something by following the line of legitimate labor. Again he came from a long line of sturdy ancestors, his grandfather having served in the Revolutionary War, and his father in the War of 1812, and they doubtless transmitted many of the sterling qualities to our subject, for it will be remembered that genuine pioneers are born, not made.

The cause of nine failures out of ten in the world, occurs in vacillating and flying from one object to another, in the place of choosing a life-work, locating the field upon which life's battle is to be fought, and then "fighting it out on that line," as GRANT did his campaigns
Source: 1891 History of Harrison County Iowa, pp. 436-437-438.
Cox Family Researcher: N/A.
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COX - John L. COX, son of H. B. and Caroline (REEL) COX, was born in Pottawattamie county, Iowa, September 12, 1853, and came to Harrison County with his parent s when less than two years old, and has been a resident of the county ever since. He left the paternal roof in the spring of 1874, having attended the schools of this county where he received a good education, and at that time entered the Military Academy at West Point, where he remained four years, graduation June 16, 1878, after which he returned to his home, remained a short time, and was commissioned as Second Lieutenant, in the Twentieth United States Infantry, and went to Ft. BROWN, Tex., and served one year, returning home.

September 7, 1879, he was united in marriage to Evelyn HARRIS, the daughter of W. T. and Margaret (MURPHY) HARRIS. She was born in Harrison County, March 1, 1859, and was the third child of a family of four, who grew to their majority. Soon after their marriage, our subject and his wife moved to their present place, into an old house. His present farm consists of two hundred and seventy acres, ninety of which are under the plow, twenty acres in timber and the balance in pasture and meadowland. Since moving to the place, Mr. COX has provided the premises with a modern style farmhouse, the upright of which is 16x32 feet and two stories high.

Their home has been blessed by the advent of four children, born as follows; Guy H., July 29, 1880; Gertrude, December 7, 1882; Grace M., April 12, 1885, and Benjamin, September 19, 1890.

Of our subject's wife's people, it may be said, that they came to Harrison County at an early day and about 1866 returned to Clay County, Ind., where her mother died June 2, 1888, aged sixty-six years, while the father still survives, and is seventy-two years of age at this writing.
Source: 1891 History of Harrison County Iowa, pp. 443-444.
Cox Family Researcher: N/A.
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COX - Jacob COX, a resident of section 12, St. John's Township, came to Harrison County in the fall of 1854, and may well be called a pioneer of the van-guard. He located on the site of his present home, where he took a claim of one hundred and sixty acres, on which he erected a log cabin 14x16 feet, provided with a board floor, but covered with "shakes" for roofing. He lived in this cabin a few years and then erected a frame house, which burned in January, 1862. He built another the same month, the same being a part of his present residence, the new part being erected in 1883, and consists of an upright one story and a half high, together with a commodious wing. Our subject's present farm comprises three hundred and sixty acres in one square body.

Mr. COX was born in Montgomery County August 26, 1820, and is the son of Abraham and Lydia (REED) COX. The father was a native of Tennessee and the mother of Virginia. When he was five years of age his parents moved from Ohio to Indiana and located in Putnam County where his father followed farming, his trade however being that of a hatter. The father died in Indiana in about 1848, and the mother in 1838, and when seventeen years of age our subject commenced the labors of life for himself. He worked out by the year, receiving $100 for his services; continuing at this sort of labor for about three years, and followed laboring by the day and month for four years, rented land for three years when purchased an eighty-acre timber tract in Clay County, Ind., and resided there for five years, and cleared twenty-five acres from out of the big forest, then he sold and fitted out a two-horse wagon and started for Pottawattamie County, Iowa, arriving October 2, 1852, having been six weeks on the road. He remained in Potawattamie County long enough to raise one crop then moved to Harrison County.

Our subject married Sarah FOX, in June, 1842, she was a native of Indiana and died in June, 1853, leaving a family of five children�William H., born January 16, 1843; he was a soldier in the Civil War and died of disease there contracted, September 7, 1863; James P., born May 30, 1845, lives in St. John's Township; Nancy, born November 11, 1847, married William SMITH and lives in Allen Township; Catherine, born January 25, 1851, wife of Mr. OWEN, living in Woodbine, and Caroline died aged one year.

For his second wife he married Hannah FRAZIER, November 28, 1865. She was a native of Putnam County, Ind., born August 28, 1838, and was the daughter of John and Elizabeth FRAZIER; she was the sixth child of a family of seven sons and seven daughters, eight of whom grew to manhood and womanhood.

Our subject and his second wife are the parents of ten children, seven of whom still survive�Minerva C., born August 9, 1857, is the wife of John A. BROWN; John Isaac, born January 1, 1859, married and lives in St. John's Township; Sarah Elizabeth, born March 15, 1861, married I. E. HOUGHTON, and lives in Portsmouth, Shelby County; Alexander R., born April 4, 1863, is a conductor on the Sioux City & Omaha Railway; Harvey H., born March 20, 1865, married and lives on the same premises with his father; Charles, born July 20, 1867, married and lives in Allen Township; Oscar, born October 30, 1869, died November 19, 1869; Ara A., born November 6, 1871, and died September 25, 1876; William Fonrose, born February 28, 1876, still at home.

Mrs. Hannah (FRAZIER) COX came to Harrison Count with her parents in May, 1855. Her father was of Scotch and her mother of English descent. The former died May 21, 1868, and the latter September 12, 1867.

Source: 1891 Harrison County Iowa History, pp. 805-806.
Cox Family Researcher: N/A.
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COX - James Perry COX, son of Jacob COX (above) and Sarah FOX, lives on section 11 of St. John's Township. James was born in Putnam County, Indiana, May 3, 1845. He was united in marriage October 25, 1869 to Barbara BARNETT, a native of Putnam County, Indiana, who was born July 9, 1845. They are the parents of nine children -- Dexter, George, Charles, Edgar, Thomas, Pearl, Sarah, Alex., and Bertha.
More information is available on this bio.
Source: 1891 History of Harrison County Iowa.
Cox Family Researcher: N/A.
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COX - Morgan B. COX, editor and proprietor of the Woodbine Courier came to Harrison County, August 1888, and established the Missouri Valley Eye, which he edited until January 1, 1890, when he sold to R. J. MILLER, and came to Woodbine, as an employee of the Courier, for J. D. De Tar, who a month later, leased the paper to E. H. WILLS. Mr. COX bought the plant November 1, 1890.

Mr. COX was born in Shelby County, Iowa, November 29, 1866, and remained at home until fifteen years of age, when he left school and went to Oakland, Pottawattamie County, to learn the printer's trade with his brother, who was running the Oakland Acorn. He remained there until July, 1885, at which time he established the Lewis Independent at Lewis, Cass County, Iowa. He conducted the journal, until July, 1887, at which time he sold the paper, returned to Harlan, and with his brother, A. T. COX, established the Industrial American, with which paper he was connected until he went to Missouri Valley in July, 1888.

Mr. COX was united in marriage December 25, 1888 to Miss Minnie M. PARKS. They are the parents of two children -- Edward L., born Oct 18, 1889, and Fred P., Feb 18, 1891.

Our subject's father was James M. COX, born in Jamestown, Indiana, in 1821, and his mother was Mary P. (TROTTER) COX, who was born in Jamestown, Indiana, in 1824. Mr. and Mrs. COX were the parents of nine children of whom our subject was the youngest. Politically, Mr. COX is an independent.
Source: 1891 History of Harrison County Iowa.
Cox Family Researcher: N/A.
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