Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1915
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 558
JAMES P. COX

It seems strange today that Iowa land which is worth from one hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars an acre was ever sold at a dollar and twenty-five cents an acre, yet many of the substantial farms of Harrison county, Iowa, were entered by the fathers and grandfathers of the present owners and cost no more than the pre-emption price. What the cost of this land lacked in money, however, it has made up in the privations and hardships which the pioneers encountered in clearing the land for cultivation. James P. COX, an enterprising farmer of Harrison county, is a descendant of pioneer farmers of Harrison county.

James P. COX was born on May 30, 1845, in Putnam county, Indiana, the son of Jacob and Sarah (FOX) COX. They were natives of Ohio and Indiana, respectively, and were farmers of German descent. Jacob COX was married twice and had five children by his first wife, James P. being the second child of this marriage. There were seven children by the second union.

In 1852 the family came west. They had two wagons to which they drove horses. There were seven wagons in the train that drove through and it took six weeks to make the trip. The towns were few and far between and the greater part of the population was made up of Indians. There were two tribes of Indians in this section at that time, the Omaha and the Sioux. The first winter the COXes were here the Indians did a great deal of fighting. Mr. COX's father bought two hundred and eighty acres of land under the preemption law, giving one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre for it. He later bought eighty acres more, making three hundred and sixty acres.

James P. COX lived at home until he was married. He received his education in a log school house with benches of logs hewed flat on one side and legs stuck in it.

Mr. COX was married on October 25, 1869, to Barbara BURNETT, who was born on July 9, 1845, in Putnam county, Indiana, the daughter of Solomon and Eliza (LISTER) BURNETT, the former of whom was born in Indiana and the latter in North Carolina. The BURNETTs came to Harrison county about the same time the Cox family did. Both families had settled in the Boyer valley near where Loveland is now situated.

To James P. and Barbara (BURNETT) COX were born nine children, seven of whom lived to maturity, George, Ned, Thomas, Pearl, Sadie, Alec, Bertha. George married Anna DENTEN and lives at Carroll, Iowa. They have five children, Mildred, Freida, Dudley, Lella and Isabel. Ned married Mary SLOTMAN and lives on a farm just west of J. P. They have three children, Kenneth E., Ada and Lois. Thomas married Bertha HARDY and died March 11, 1911, leaving her with two children, Dorothy and Arthur. Pearl married William ALTER and had two sons, Harold and Howard. She died September 8, 1909. Sadie married William DEAL and had one child, Jenove. She died December 29, 1904. Alec married Ivy STEELE. Bertha is still at home.

Mr. COX engages in general farming and stock raising. He feeds about one carload of hogs every year. At one time he was an enthusiastic ball player. Mr. COX owns one hundred and four acres in section 14 and ninety acres in section 11 of St. Johns township, the farm being situated within twenty rods of the Lincoln highway.

Mr. COX is a Republican but he has never been especially active in political affairs and has held only minor offices. He is an adherent of the Universalist church and his wife is a member of the Christian church. Mr. and Mrs. COX are highly esteemed in the neighborhood where they live, a standing which they most eminently deserve. Mr. COX has gained an enviable reputation for honesty and square dealings in the community where he lives.

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