FRANK COX
Frank Cox, road master on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad, was born on the 22d day of April, 1831, in Lower Canada, where he received a common school education. In 1849 he emigrated to Racine county, Wisconsin. In the fall of 1850, he returned to Canada, and remained till 1854, when he removed to West Springfield, Massachusetts, and worked in a cotton factory until the fall of 1861, when he went to the new town of Lucknow, in Canada West, and worked in a saw-mill until February, 1864, then returning to Massachusetts and working in the factory until June. He then commenced work on the Boston and Albany railroad, and in the same fall went to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to take charge of the repairs on a section of road. In July, 1868, he went West to Des Moines, this State, where he was employed on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad as assistant road master, helping to build the road from Dexter to Council Bluffs, laying the track into what is now the city of Atlantic in December, 1868, and into Council Bluffs in April, 1869. In 1872 he was appointed to his present position. He has under his immediate charge from 200 to 250 men. Mr. Cox has been identified with the road since its construction, and his division is between Stuart and Council Bluffs, including also five branches, having in all 185 miles of road under his supervision. He was married, in Holyoke, Massachusetts, to Fannie F. Gardner, who died in this county on the 12th day of April, 1870. By this union there were four children, two of whom are still living--Frank L. and Charles A. He was again married, to Sarah A. Norris, a native of Pennsylvania, by whom he has had two children--Roye N. and Fannie L. Mr. Cox is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Knights of Pythias. He is a staunch Republican in politics.
Contributed by Lisa Varnes-Rex from "History of Cass County, Iowa. Together With Sketches of its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens." Springfield, Ill.: Continental Historical Company, 1884, pg. 876-877.
