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~ Deuteronomy 33:17 |
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~ Deuteronomy 33:17 |
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As written by his brother Edwin C. Cox and collected by Clarence Olsen, oldest grandson of Samuel Cox.
His mother was born at Pilton, Somerset, February 3rd, 1803 and died the latter part of April 1852. She was a school governess. She was a partial invalid for many years and for the last two years had to be carried about. His oldest sister Elizabeth became a school governess after her mother retired.
In those days it was the custom that the aristocracy, gave the school children a feast during the Christmas holidays and once during the summer. Each child took a plate, cup, knife, fork, and spoon wrapped in a clean hankerchief and met on spacious lawns or on the village green and marched to the school house where they ate from long tables piled with roast beef, mutton plum pudding, cake, etc., and all sang grace ... "Be present at our table Lord, Be here and everywhere adored, Thy creatures bless and grant that we Thy bounty Lord we all may see. " After the feast they had games, balloons, fireworks, etc.
As a boy Samuel Cox spent some time with his elder brother Matthew in London who was a bell-ringer for Big Ben. Boys wages at that time were sixpence per week. He went to south Wales in 1855 at the age of eighteen to work in the coal mines. The shafts were only about 24'' to 30" high. While there he was involved in an accident in which he was badly crushed and was carried out of the mine as dead. However, he revived but his nose was broken and his face badly cut. Thereafter he wore a full beard to hide the scars. After he got well he went to work as a striker at a blacksmiths shop swinging a heavy sledge hammer and he became very proficient at it and it gave him the necessary exercise that made him very strong. He sent for his brother Edwin who came and worked with him at 10/Od per week. He met Edwin at the station and they walked nine miles over the mountains carrying his trunk between them and taking turns carrying his bag. They worked at Rhymney for some time, then Edwin left and went to Ebbwvale where he got work striking at 14/Od per week. He then sent: for his brother Samuel to join him, and when he got there the only place he could find to board was with a Latter-day Saint family.
After trying everywhere to find a more suitable place and being unable to find one, he said "I don't care what he is and went to board with them in the village of Victoria. The man's name was; George Gaisford. He was reading the Book of Mormon aloud to the family and of course Samuel had to listen to it. He became interested and invited Edwin to come and visit on Sunday and they were both impressed Mr. Gaisford invited them to go with him to a meeting in the Chapel on the Tump. They had to admit that the sermon was reasonable and fair minded but were still quite prejudiced. However, not long afterwards he was baptized and in a short while Edwin followed him into the waters of Baptism. They both had new suits to celebrate the occasion.
One evening they went out with an Elder to hold a street meeting. They stood under a high stone wall and began to sing and pray. They were singing the hymn "Oh! Babylon etc" when someone emptied a pail of garbage all over them from the wall and the crowd gathered handfuls of dirt and threw it on them so they had to leave in a hurry. They thought that was pretty rough treatment but were ready to go back a few days later when they held another meeting.
While tracting one man came to the door with a red hot poker and threatened to shove it down their throats if they didn't clear out. One evening while out with an Elder Watkins a mob led by a minister began pelting them with pieces of sod and clods of dirt. One large piece landed on top of Elder Watkin's head, knocking his high hat down over his ears. It looked so funny that they had a good laugh even while running for their lives.
At one time while trying to hold a meeting in the rain a gentleman loaned them an umbrella and opened his windows so that he could hear what they had to say. But at the first mention of Joseph Smith, he ran out, grabbed the umbrella and slammed the doors and windows shut.
They held meetings about twice a week and were abused and insulted nearly every time. One evening they went to the Cardiff Road, climbed up on the pump platform about four feet high and began to preach. A large crowd gathered and began to shout and jeer at them. One man a doctor had a walking stick in his hand and tried to hook it around their feet and pull them off the platform. He caught Edwin who jerked the stick out of his hand and threw it away. The crowd got so rough they had to jump off the platform and fight their way out. Grandfather was struck on the cheek by a rock and received quite a cut. Their hats and clothes were torn and ruined. Someone threw a rope around Edwin's neck and they were going to hang him to a lamp post, but Grandfather fought his way to him and hit one of the fellows so hard under the jaw, that he was lifted entirely off his feet and as he fell he spread his arms and took seven other men down with him. Then Edwin got the rope off and doubled it in a short length and together they fought their way clear and got away. This was the last meeting held there that summer. Later they got work in the old Gentry Pit Mines and the seam was 18" to 20" high. This was in the winter of 1858. His brother Henry came out to visit them while there and after some time joined the church and was baptized by Edwin in the early part of 1856.
Leaving Wales he went to London where he got work as a wheelwright and while in these shops he learned carpentering and painting. About 1870 he married Sarah Gane who joined the church about that time. On June 12th, 1871 my mother Sarah Marchant Cox was born and six weeks later they sailed for America. They lived briefly in Ogden Utah where Samuel worked as a builder. He afterwards moved to St. George where he assisted in building the Temple and some of his handiwork is still to be seen. He was called to settle the San Juan country and was with the group who went through the Hole in the Rock. After some years through floods and other difficulties they became discouraged and moved to Price where he built a home and lived until May 1898 when he moved to Canada. He settled first at Aetna, moving to Beazer in 1905. Grandmother Cox died January 16th, 1915 at Beazer, and nearly two years later in the fall of 1916 he married Martha Ruda, a Swedish emigrant: and he continued living at Beazer until he died May 17th, 1926. During the last years of his life he spent much of his time making violins and teaching the Religion classes in the Beazer School. He always was an active church worker particularly in music and drama and wherever he went some of his handiwork was left to remember him by. http://www.olsenfamily.us/olsenfami/SamuelSarahCox/coxolsenhistory.html
The Western Daily Press of Saturday 10 January, 1998, carried a short illustrated article about tunnels at Cranmore near Shepton Mallet, just ten miles from Frome.
Apparently a cow grazing near the croquet lawn of an 18th century grade 1 listed building, Southill House, fell through the turf into a forgotten passage way. The tunnel was 200 yards long and four feet high, leading back to the cellars of the house, but sealed by a stone at each end. Two seven feet high vaulted tunnels leading from the cellars were already known, so it was beginning to look as though stories of a labyrinth of tunnels might be true. The stories are that tunnels run from the house to Doutling, a hamlet, a mile and a half away.
Edwin Charles Cox, a Victorian servant at the house, wrote about life there and described how workmen digging in the grounds uncovered a vault big enough to drive a hay waggon along. Legend had it that the ghost of a previous owner had been banished by twelve exorcists to live in vaults beneath the house and no one would venture in. Mr Cox was persuaded to explore it with the offer of a half a crown reward. It only contained old furniture and bottles. http://www.askwhy.co.uk/awfrome/sheptontunnels.html