Cox Characters
Conclusions to Confusions

Part 1: Chapter 5

Inevitably, all research has weak areas. This work’s weakest point lies in the identification of the parents of William Newton Cox II (born 1882). Who were they? We have identified them as William Newton Cox and Ellen Adams. However, should any researcher be able to prove that this William Newton Cox was not the son of William Newton Cox (born about 1845), son of Jacob Cox (born 1801), son of Peter Cox (born 1765), son of Michael Cox Sr. (born about 1736), then the entirety of this genealogical research will keel over like a ship with a gaping hole in its hull.

Here is a rapid survey of the facts and doubts. My father, Kenny Ray Cox, knew his paternal grandfather very well. They lived in the same city. The whole family was close-knit and very loving. Curiously, however, a taboo was placed on one subject: Papa Cox’s childhood. The taboo held an aura of mystery associated with a vague excuse of amnesia, perhaps it was real amnesia caused by the trauma of the events.

Fact: historical archives for all frontier regions of colonial America and then the early United States are fraught with inaccuracies, and oftentimes missing completely. It is the genealogist’s stumbling block with each and every pioneer generation settling on the American western frontier.

Fact: William Newton Cox II died in 1966 in Oklahoma City. When and where was he born? The birthplace and date of William Newton Cox (#2) and his sister ‘Lizzie’ could not be properly ascertained until my father uncovered the birth certificates of his uncles, Claudie Cox and Will Cox (see Part 4), and his great-aunt Lizzie’s son, Edward Vaught (see Part 4). The documents revealed that William Newton Cox was born in 1882 in Blue, Oklahoma (then Indian Territory), and that his sister was born in Ohio, her full name being Celestial Elizabeth Cox. Finding her full name was a major achievement: "Celestial" is a far cry from just "Aunt Lizzie."

Tenuous fact: this woman was the daughter of William Newton and Ellen Cox of Wayne County, Ohio. The proof offered originates on birth records and the 1880 census records of that county. As she was my great-grandfather’s sister, he had to have been born of the same parents.

Fact: this William Newton Cox married Ellen Adams in Wayne County, Ohio on 5 August 1875. We have the record of their marriage.

Tenuous fact: a certain William Newton Cox served as a private in an Ohio regiment during the Civil War (1862-1865). This information appears on the Bonham, Texas Minor Civil Division’s Special Schedule of Surviving Soldiers. We presume this same man was our ancestor because he served in the same unit as his brother, Jacob Freeman Cox, in the Civil War.

Fact: William Newton Cox I, traveled from Ohio to Kansas to Texas to Indian Territory. We do not know when he brought his wife and children out west from Ohio. Nor do we know the nature of his business in these western lands. It is in Indian Territory that we lose all trace of him, after he and his wife Ellen were placed as wards of a certain Mrs. McDonnell. Why would a married couple be placed as wards of a widow? Where are the legal records concerning the guardianship of the couple’s minor children? Where and when did William and Ellen die? What caused their death? Where were they buried?

Tenuous fact: William Newton Cox (#2) was enrolled at the Red Oak School in Boggy Depot, Indian Territory in the 1895-1896 school year. The teacher’s numerous mistakes in the rolls and attendance records leaves one wondering about the person’s competence with paper and ink. In light of the gross errors the documents contain (and I have seen them), how much faith can we place in these school records?

Fact: A certain travelling salesman, named Mr. G. A. Maxwell, knew William Newton Cox (#2). We cannot be sure, but he might have known the entire family. Suffice it to say, he eventually became the young man’s father-in-law. He took him to Arkansas, where he introduced him to his young daughter. Frona was only 14 years old on her wedding day; William was 21.

The rest of the story, we know. Nevertheless, there is plenty of room for imaginative speculations.

How much did 14-year old Frona know about her fiancé’s mysterious background? Had her father forewarned her not to ask her beau any questions, just as my grandfather had warned my father when he was a youngster? Did she ever get up enough brazen gumption to inquire? Did William then dodge her questions? Did he ever reveal anything to his wife of 61 years?

Can any of us accept that he suffered from mental blackout? Unfortunately, we have to. And until further evidence is uncovered, we must also accept a complete blackout on his parents’ activities and demise.

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