Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1915
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 571
SOLOMON J. COX

The COX family located in Harrison county, Iowa, in 1849, being one of the very first families to locate in this new country. Mr. COX has lived sixty years in this county and has been a witness of practically the entire development of the county.

Solomon J COX, the son of Isaac and Mary (DEAL) COX, was born April 11, 1855, in Calhoun township, Harrison county, Iowa. His parents, who were both natives of Indiana, came to Harrison county in 1849, making the long overland trip in a big, covered wagon. There were two brothers and their families and several other families, who made up the party which made the long trip. Most of the wagons were drawn by oxen instead of horses, inasmuch as it was said that oxen would be better able to stand the long trip and more useful in plowing the tough prairie soil which they expected to find in the west. The COX family preempted land as soon as they came to this county and at once built a rude log cabin in which they made their first home. The nearest postoffice at that time was Kanesville, now Council Bluffs, although a few years afterwards the stage station and postoffice were established at Calhoun, in Calhoun township.

Solomon J. COX was one of eight children born to his parents and received only a very limited common-school education. He went to school in a little log house fourteen by twenty feet, which had long wooden benches for seats. The writing desk was a long board nailed up along the side of the room and here the boys practiced penmanship with their rude goosequill pens. The principal amusements of his boyhood days were country dances and husking bees. At that time everybody was a neighbor, even though they happened to live twenty miles away. The principal meat was venison and wild turkeys and there was never any scarcity of fresh meat. Mr. COX vividly recalls those early days and the incoming settlers who straggled in year after year and gradually filled up the county. About 1876 the family moved to Allen township, where the parents lived until their death.

Until he was married, Solomon Jacob COX worked at home, with the exception of about eight months, which he spent in the Black Hills of South Dakota and working on one of his neighbors' farms. After he was married he bought one hundred and twenty acres of land in sections 13 and 14 of Allen township, giving eleven dollars an acre for it. Eight acres of the land was fenced at the time. He built a four-room house, with two rooms down stairs, hauling the lumber from Little Sioux, and here he and his young wife began housekeeping, and as the years went by they became able to build a better home and increased their acreage. Mr. COX now has three hundred and twenty acres of land, part of which cost him ten dollars an acre and part thirty-two dollars and a half an acre. He has improved the place by the erection of good barns, granaries, cattle sheds and an extensive system of fencing and drainage until his farm now ranks among the best in the township. He has fifteen acres of wild hay on his farm, which is valuable for feed. Mr. COX annually feeds about one hundred and fifty head of hogs and a carload of cattle for the market. His hogs are full-blooded Chester Whites. He is also interested in Morgan horses, and has the only blooded Morgan stock in Harrison county.

Mr. COX was married November 17, 1878, to Jane CHADBURN, who was born in Lancashire, England, and is a daughter of Richard and Mary (DUXBURY) CHADBURN. Her parents came to the United States when she was about a year old. To Solomon and Jane (CHADBURN) COX were born thirteen children, ten of whom are living. None of the children are married. Mary and Alice are teaching school, both of the girls having been graduated from the Woodbine Normal School. Albert and Robert are farming in Allen township. Esta, Humphrey, Versal, Dewey, Theodore and Olda are all living at home with their parents.

Mr. COX is a stanch Republican and has been township trustee for the past twelve years. He also has held other minor official positions to the entire satisfaction of his fellow citizens. Mrs. COX is a member of the church of the Latter-day Saints. Mr. COX is one of the oldest settlers of Allen township, and one of the most prominent men of his community.

He is a very genial man and is highly esteemed by those who know him. He has a wide acquaintance throughout the county and is one of the oldest native-born citizens now living in Harrison county.

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