Genealogical and Family History
of the
STATE OF MAINE

Compiled under the editorial supervision of George Thomas Little, A. M., Litt. D.

LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
New York
1909.

[Please see Index page for full citation.]

[Transcribed by Coralynn Brown]

[Many families included in these genealogical records had their beginnings in Massachusetts.]

COX Early writers mention various English settlers named Cox, Cock or Coxe, as the name is indifferently spelled in New England between 1639, the date at which Moses Cox is found at Hampton, and the end of that century. Some of the lines of descent are easily and clearly traced, while others, on account of defectivce records, cannot be traced with certainty to an ancestor known to be an immigrant. Whether Elisha Cox of this article was an immigrant or a native of parentage not now discoverable cannot now be known. (I) Elisha Cox was of Weston, Mass., and as the record states, "under 21 years of age" and "servant of Ebenezer Hobbs of Weston," in April, 1741. The fact that he was married in 1741, taken with the other facts, indicates that he attained his majority about that time; hence was born about 1721. An Elisha Cox, born in Dorchester, enlisted in 1760, and was at that time thirty-eight years of age, therefore, he was born in 1722. Elisha Cox was an ensign in Colonel Gardiner's regiment, and Thirty-seventh, in Nov. 1776. He died, probably of smallpox, June 25, 1776, at Isle au Noix, on the expedition against Canada. Colonel William Bond, commander of the Twenty-fifth regiment, wrote, under date Crown Point, July 11, 1776, "Ensign Cox, a good officer, died June 25." Elisha Cox, of Weston, married, about 1741, Anna, daughter of Jonathan and Sarah Warren. Elisha and Anna owned the covenant Jan. 31, 1742. They probably had six children: Anna, Esther, Sybil, Elisha, Artemas and Eli. (II) Eli Cox, says the Cox genealogy by John H. Cox, is shown by the family records to be the son of Elisha Cox and brother of Artemas, and they came from Connecticut. Their residence there, however, may have been temporary. Tradition varies as to the date and place of his birth, from "Springfield, about 1740," to some place in "Connecticut, Aug. 15, 1754." He married (first) Almira Demanford of Connecticut. Children: Elisha and Rowena. These children, after the death of their mother, are said to have "returned with the Demanfords to Connecticut." He married (second) Mehitable Flagg, in Weston, Feb. 23, 1785. She was born July 31, 1752, died Oct. 25, 1825. He moved from Weston to Middle Bay, near Brunswick, Maine, about 1786. "He was a potter by trade, and lived in Topsham Village in 1802, and probably died there Feb. 4, 1818. On March 31, 1789, Eli Cox and Mehitable Cox, his wife, Artemas Cox and Sally Cox, his wife, and two others, all of Harpswell county of Cumberland, Massachusetts, 'yeomen,' sell to Nathaniel Bemis a tract of land in Weston, May 10, 1787. Eli Cox and Artemas Cox and their wives sell land in Weston, being an 'undivided part of the estate of David Flagg,' of which estate the said Mehitable Cox and Sarah Cox are heirs." Children: Elisha, Rowena, Lydia, Marcia, Isaac and James Warren. (III) James Warren, youngest child of Eli and Mehitable (Flagg) Cox, was born Feb. 2, 1793, in Topsham, died May 12, 1859. He was a farmer by occupation, and officially for years a justice of the peace. Like his brother Isaac, says the family genealogist, "He magnified his office to extend the Cox line. The two families consisted of twenty-seven persons." He married, Feb. 3, 1811, Mary Estes, of Brunswich. Children: Almira, Demanford, Elisha Tuttle, Lydia Estes, Harriet Abington, Sarah Jane, Augustus Franklin, Mary Ann, Caroline Day, James Henry, Ellen Maria and Frances Maria. (IV) Augustus Franklin, sixth child and second son of James W. and Mary (Estes) Cox, was born in Brunswick, Maine, Jan. 8, 1824, died at Portland, Maine, April 10, 1891. In 1842, at the age of eighteen, he comenced to manufacture shoes in Brunswick, Maine, and carried on a business there until 1867, when he moved to Portland, Maine, and purchased the interest of Mr. Lamb in the firm of Tyler, Lamb & Company, and subsequently the firm name was changed to Tyler & Cox. In 1876 Henry P. Cox, second son of Augustus F. Cox, was admitted an equal partner with his father, and the firm name was changed to A. F. Cox & Son, and under that name it was incorporated. This relationship continued up to the death of Augustus F. Cox. During the fifteen years that father and son were associated in business, their trade increased in volume and importance year by year, and finally became recognized as one of the leading industries of that thriving city. Augustus F. Cox was a self-made man in the truest sense of the word. He began his business career at the early age of eighteen, without capital or influential friends, and with only a common school education, but by perseverance, diligence and painstaking effort laid the foundation of an extensive and lucative business. He was a man of keen foresight, thoughtful and methodical, his word being considered as good as his bond, and having the courage of his convictions, and these characteristics were prominent factors in the success he achieved. He married (first) May 12, 1846, Tryphena, daughter of James and Hannah (Sampson) Jones, of China. She was born Dec. 4, 1819, died Aug. 16, 1867. He married (second) Sept. 21, 1868, Jane S. Goddard. Children of 1st wife: Charles Henry, Henry Packard, Rosella Hinkley, Emma Frances, Albert Carroll, Frank Willis, James William and Edward Weston. (V) Henry Packard, second son of Augustus F. and Tryphena Jones Cox, was born in Brunswick, Oct. 5, 1849. Though he received a common school and academic education, he had no idle moments. He was taught all the farm knowledge that his father could impart, and at the same time the shoe-factory had a fascination for him, and he was there at every available opportunity. In 1867, when he was eighteen years old, the factory was removed to Portland, where the wholesale store was added. His business training was in the store. Here he began at the bottom, and his close application to business gave him a thorough knowledge of it. He was admitted as equal partner with his father on his twenty-sixth birthday, in 1875, and continued in that relation up to the death of A. F. Cox in 1891. He then succeeded to the management of the business with his brothers, Edward W. and Frank W. Cox. A short time later the concern was incorporated, and H. P. Cox became president and E. W. Cox treasurer. Frank W. Cox took charge of the factory. When Henry P. Cox became his father's partner he also took the management of the business, and the firm took the name of A. F. Cox & Son, and under this name it was incorporated. From 1868 to 1893, a period of twenty-five years, Mr. Cox gave the business his constant and undivided attention, without a vacation or ideleness of a single wekk. Such devotion to business left no time for other duties. In later years, however, he gave considerable time to other matters, leaving his brothers to manage the shoe business. He gradually became interested in many other business enterprises, and was added to the boards of directors of many of them. He was never a dummy director in any of the companies with which he was connected. He was one of the men who insisted upon taking a part in the business, and to being fully informed as to all of its details. It was this gradual assumption of the cares of so many institutions that gradually broke the strong man down and made him an early victim to his devotion to duty. Mr. Cox was instrumental in organizing the Mercantile Trust Company, one of the strong financial institutions of the city, and was its president. He was president of the Oxford Paper Company, whose giant mills are one of the business features of Rumford Falls. He was president of the Casco Loan and Building Association, director of the Portland National Bank from its incorporation until his death; a director in the Union Safe Deposit Company, a director in the Casco Bay Steamboat Company, a director and owner in the National Bank at Rumford Falls, financially interested in many of the enterprises at Rumford Falls and in many Portland corporations. He was prominent in the movement to build the Jefferson Theater. Acting with his customary zeal, the money was raised to build this threater without the necessity of borrowing. Without compensation he collected the money and paid each contractor. He was at one time heavily interested in the Joliet Electric railroad in Illinois, and in a large rubber business in Philadelphia, which was subsequently taken to Portland. His last extensive business undertaking, which was in itself almost enough work for one man, was his appointment as special administrator of the celebrated Chandler estate, which he was handling at the time of his death in so efficient a manner that it was generally believed that the estate would show a handsome increase when the time for final settlement should come. He was a member of the board of trustees of the Maine State School for the Deaf and Dumb, from the time it became a state institution; was a member of the advisory board of the Mary Brown Home, and of the Friendless Boys Home. he was a member of the Cumberland and Portland clubs, of Bramhall League, also member of Home Market Club, of Boston, Mass. His interest in fraternal organizations was as true and enduring as it was in financial matters. He was a member of Pine Tree Lodge, No. 11, Knights of Pythias, and filled many offices in the Pythias Order, chief of which was that of grand vice-chancellor of the Grand Lodge of the state of Maine. In Free Masonry he was also an enthusiastic and devoted member, and attained the thirty-second degree in the Scottish rites. He was a member of Neguemkeag Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Greenleaf Royal Arch Chapter, Portland Council, Royal and Select Masters, St. Alban Commandery, Knights Templar; and Maine Consistory, Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret. It was in Odd Fellowship, however, that he found his chief pleasure in fraternity and attained highest honors. He became an Odd Fellow April 28, 1871, by initiation into Ligonia Lodge, No. 5, of Portland. He remained in this lodge until 1877, when he withdrew to become a charter member of Unity Lodge, No. 3. For many years he was chairman of the board of trustees, looking after the financial interests of the body. This lodge is the second richest lodge in New England, and the large fund acquired by it was due to the judicial investments of the board of trustees. He became a member of the Grand Lodge of Maine, Aug. 12, 1872, and was appointed on the committee of finance. In the grand body he was recognized at once for his sterling business qualifications. In 1875 he was nominated for grand warden, but declined the honor. At the session held in 1877 he was appointed grand conductor. A man of Mr. Cox's character could not long remain unrecognized in a body like the Grand Lodge of Maine. At the session held Aug. 13, 1878, he was elected grand warden, and was advanced through the different grades until Aug. 10, 1880, when he was elected grand master. At that time he was less than thirty-one years of age, but was regarded by the brotherhood as remarkably well equipped for the responsible position. He had made the order a study, was well versed in its jurisprudence and ritual, a sensible speaker, and all felt that the interests of the order were in capable hands. His administration was eminently businesslike and successful, and new lodges were organized in various parts of the state. Mr. Cox was the first to institute lodges of the order in the large and flourishing county of Aroostook. On this subject he said: "Being very anxious to have a lodge in Aroostoook county, I commissioned Grand Conductor Owen W. Bridges to go the Houlton and Fort Fairfield and see what could be done toward starting a lodge in each of those places. Brother Bridges worked hard and succeeded admirably, and I may say it is due mainly to his efforts that the oder is established there. The most important event of the year, which entailed upon the grand master much care and additional labor, was the adoption of a revised ritual, the most radical of all the ritualistic revisions since the beginning of the order. The degrees were reduced from five to three, while the business of the lodge which was formerly transacted in the initiatory was changed to the third degree. This change, followed by the introduction of the dramatic work, was most radical, but was given most universal satisfaction. Grand Master Cox, after the new rituals were issued, thoroughly informed himself in all the charges, becoming proficient in the same. He then decided that the work could be communicated to the several lodges as cheaply and more satisfactorily through special deputies than by calling an extra session of the grand lodge. Consequently he appointed eight special deputies, and after thoroughly instructing them in the new work, sent them over the state where lodges existed. Another important piece of legislation enacted in that year was the adoption of a penal code for the correct procedure in the trial of penal cases. For many years Mr. Cox had been chairman of the committee of appeals, a position where his knowledge of the jurisprudence of the order and his sense of fair dealing eminently fitted him for the resposible position. In 1881 he was elected grand representative to the sovereign grand loge for the term of two years, during which he attended the sessions of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Baltimore, Maryland. In 1882 he was a member of the committee of appeals, the most important committee of the grand body. At the session of the Sovereign Grand Lodge held in 1883, he was appointed grand guardian pro tem, the regular official, Joshua Davis, of Portland, being absent. Mr. Cox became interested in Patriarchal Odd Fellowship, Feb. 8, 1872, when he joined Eastern Star Encampment, No. 2, of Portland. In 1873 he was elected scribe of the encampment, which office he held several years. Jan. 1, 1876, he was elected chief patriarch, and was admitted to the grand encampment of Maine, Aug. 9, of the same year. In 1885 he was elected grand representative to the sovereign grand lodge for a term of two years - making four year in the congress of the order - serving at the sessions at Baltimore and Boston. At the 1885 session he was appointed chairman of the committee on the degree of Rebekah. The changes suggested in this degree were so many and so varied that Mr. Cox recommended a revision of the Rebekah ritual, and that a committee of three be appointed to report at the next session. The grandsire appointed Mr. Cox chairman of this revising committee, and associated with him Messrs. Porter, of Indiana, and Braley, of Massachusetts. In 1886 the committee reported a revised ritual, which report was adopted. Mr. Cox was also a member of Ivy Rebekah Lodge, No. 5, of Portland. In 1885, when the Patriarch Militant army was organzied, John C. Underwood, afterward grandsire, was made lieutenant-general. He appointed Mr. Cox special aide-de-camp on his staff, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Mr. Cox was an enthusiastic Republican, and though frequently urged to accept nominatons for mayor and other high offices, he refused, saying that he preferred to work in the ranks. His only public office was as member of the common council. He was a frequent delegate to conventions. This he recognized as a duty, and he could always be relied upon to be present on such occasions if his name was placed on the list. He attended State Street Church for the greater part of the time during his residence in Portland, although his early Quaker training stood by him to the last. Henry Packard Cox married, at Vassalboro, Dec. 11, 1872, Almira C. Hussey, of Vassalboro, daughter of James (2) and Rebecca J. (Prescott) Hussey, who survives him. She resides in a beautiful house built by him on the Western Prominade which is one of the sightliest and fines homes to be found in Portland. About two years before his decease Mr. Cox's health began to fail under the incessant strain of cares, and for a time was in very poor condition. From that time he was engaged in business only to the extent of managing his property in a general way. On Nov. 11, 1906, he fell dead of heart disease, while standing at the telephone and conversing with his brother, Edward W. Cox. Mr. Cox was one of Portland's foremost business men. He was interested at the time of his death in many of the financial institutions of the city and in the development of Rumford Falls. In the business world of the city and state he ranked as one of the most enterprising, upright and far-seeing financiers. His sudden demise was to a large number the loss of a personal friend, for Mr. Cox forgot none of his friends as he grew prosperous, but was the same to them at all times and all places. For a man of such multidudinous cares and responsibilities he had a wondeful faculty of remembering persons, are rarely confused one man with another. He was a man of whom it can be said that in his death Portland lost one of its very best citizens. He stood four square to all the world, his word was as good as his bond, and that was as good as gold. He was a very charitable man, although few knew it save those through whom the benefactions came. He was a modest, quiet, unassuming man, and his constant injunction while aiding some worthy object was, "Don't let this become generally known." He carried a mass of business details in his mind at all times, yet he was never harassed, never abrupt or out of patience, but met every one in precisely the same way and dealt with all with a consideration that left nothing to be desired. (V) Frank Willis, fourth son of Augustus Franklin and Tryphena (Jones) Cox, was born in Durham, Maine, Dec. 9, 1858. He married Josephine Parker, daughter of Artaxerxes C. and Frances Jane (Stackpole) Hoyt. Artaxerxes C. HOYT was born in Grafton, N. H. in 1819, and died in Gardner, Maine, April 30, 1907. His wife, Frances Jane Stackpole, died in Gardner, Maine, in 1879. Children: 1. Anna Frances, born Jan. 17, 1852, married Martin Horne, and their only child, Estel Frances, b. Sept. 6, 1872, m. Martin Cuskley Dec. 12, 1905. 2. James Weston, born Jan. 7, 1855, married Belle, daughter of James and Martha (Gould) Southard, of Richmond, Maine, and they had no children. 3. Josephine Parker, who married Frank Willis, son of Augustus and Tryphena (Jones) Cox, had one child, Neal Willis, b. Jan. 19, 1886, grad. at Bowdoin College, A.B., 1908. Frank Willis Cox was given a good school training in the public school and academy at Brunswick and Portland; he was brought up on his father's farm, and as he grew older learned the business of manufacturing and selling shoes in his father's boot and shoe manufactory and wholesale store in Portland, Maine, and on reaching his majority in 1879 he became a partner. In 1891, on the death of his father, the three brothers, Henry Packard, Frank Willis and Edward Weston, succeeded to the management of the business; the name of the business firm after Henry Packard Cox became a partner in 1875 was A. F. Cox & Son, and this name was not changed when the other two sons were admitted to the firm. Under the corporate name of A. F. Cox & Son, the duties of the three directors and stockholders were in this wise: Henry Packard Cox, president; Edward Weston Cox, treasurer; and Frank Willis Cox, business manager, having charge of the manufacturing department. After the death of his brother, Henry Packard, who was stricken with heart disease while standing at the telephone in his residence and talking with his brother, Edward Weston, in the business office in Portland, Frank Willis became president. Outside of his business duties he found little time for the directorship of other corporations, and he generally declined all such trusts. Socially, his home was his club, and aside from membership in the Portland Athletic Club, of which he was a member for the purpose of development of brawn and muscle not to be acquired outside the gymnasium, his only affiliations were with the Congregational church, of which he is an attendant. He is a member of the Pine Tree Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Unity Lodge, No. 3, of Portland, Maine. (V) Edward Weston, eighth and youngest child of Augustus F. and Tryphena (Jones) Cox, was born in Brunswick, Maine Sept. 6, 1865. He was educated in the public schools of Portland, and at the age of eighteen entered the employ of A. F. Cox & Son to learn the business. After the death of the father the sons incorporated the business under the same name, A. F. Cox & Son, and Henry P. Cox became president, Edward W. Cox, treasurer, and Frank W. Cox, secretary. Henry P. Cox died Nov., 1906, at which time Frank W. Cox was made president, and Edward W. Cox treasurer, clerk and general manager of the wholesale end of the business. The enterprise has been well managed, and the house manufactures large quantities of goods and does an extensive jobbing business. Edward W. Cox is a very active and enterprising man, and is connected with various institutions as follows: Vice-president and director in the Portland National Bank, and director in the Casco National Bank, Mercantile Trust Company, United States Trust Company, all of Portland, and the Rumford National Bank of Rumford Falls. He is a member of the Universalist church, and votes the Republican ticket. He is a member of the following Masonic organizations: Portland Lodge, Greenleaf Royal Arch Chapter, Portland Council, Royal and Select Masters, St. Alban Commandery, Knights Templar. Edward W. Cox married, Nov. 14, 1888, at Portland, Lena Maud Prince, born July 28, 1869, daughter of Willian N. and Annie C. Prince, of Portland. Children: Margaret Prince, born Dec. 3, 1893. Eleanor Weston, born Feb. 3, 1902.