"The namesake, probably a great uncle, served with Francis Marion, 'the Swamp Fox,' in the Revolutionary War. My grandmother told me that's why my father was named Francis Marion Cox. This Thomas Isaac Cox came from Pennsylvania to the Carolinas and served under Gen. Marion. Later he left South Carolina and went to Ohio. He never returned. He left a son and a married daughter near Sumter."
Corp. Thomas Cox was serving in the First South Carolina Regiment February 1, 1780, according to "American Revolutionary Roster, Ft. Sullivan, South Carolina, 1778-1780" by Georgia Muldrow Gilmer.]
Thomas Isaac Cox was married in 1795, probably in Virginia, to Rachel Carr, daughter of Thomas Carr and Miriam Jones Carr. She was born April 3, 1771 in Maryland, according to family reports. Thomas Carr, son of Benjamin Carr of Gunpowder Monthly Meeting, Maryland and Orange County, North Carolina, was born about 1736. He was married July 15, 1756 to Miriam Jones who was born about 1738.
She was the daughter of Richard Jones and Miriam Coppock Jones. Richard Jones was the son of David Jones and Elizabeth Jones. Miriam Coppock Jones was the daughter of Aaron Coppock and Marian Short Coppock, according to the research of Willie Mae "Billie" Smith Price. Aaron Coppock was the son of Bartholomew Coppock and Margaret Scarborough Coppock. Miriam Short was the daughter of Adam Short and Miriam Ingraham Short.
It is suggested by Willie Mae "Billie" Price that Rachel Carr was a descendant of Gov. Caleb Carr who came to Jamestown, Virginia in 1635 and lived to be 111 years old. His son Nicholas Carr, born about 1650, was married to Rebecca Nicholson. Nicholas Carr wrote his will January 9, 1710 and named Thomas Carr and Benjamin Carr as minors.
Al Carr, Carr family researcher of Amarillo, Texas, reports that many branches of the Carr family in America are descended from Mary, Queen of Scots.
Children born to Nicholas Carr and Rebecca Nicholson Carr include:
Nicholas Carr born about 1691
Margaret Carr born about 1693
Jane Carr born about 1695
Mary Carr born about 1697
Thomas Carr born about 1700
Benjamin Carr born about 1703
It is believed that Thomas Isaac Cox and Rachel Carr Cox removed to Tennessee about 1798 and lived there at least until 1800 when a son Nathan Cox was born. "Thomas Cox" appeared in the 1800 tax list of Knox County Kentucky. In the latter part of 1803 they moved to Green River, Hardin County, Kentucky, probably influenced to relocate by the Carr and Johnston families. They removed in 1809 to Ross County, Ohio, settling on a tributary of the Scioto River 24 miles east of Chillicothe, Ohio, according to "Journal of Jehu Cox." The hamlet of Cox, Ohio in Ross County was named for the family's early residence there.
In 1818 Thomas Isaac Cox moved his family to Monroe County, Indiana, settling near Bloomington. "Thomas Cox" appeared on the grand jury list June 2, 1818 in adjoining Jackson County. In 1820 he moved to a farm 12 miles west of Bloomington located on Salt Creek, a tributary of the Wabash River. He died at Salt Creek, Indiana in 1845. Family tradition states that Rachel Carr Cox died there October 5, 1857, but a "Rachel Cox, age 82," appeared living with Nathan Cox, son of Thomas Isaac Cox in the 1850 census of Greene County, Missouri.
Children born to Thomas Isaac Cox and Rachel Carr Cox include:
Benjamin E. Cox born July 23, 1796
Solomon Cox born May 4, 1798
Nathan Cox born in November
1800
Jehu Cox born September
5, 1803
==O==
In 1985 John Thomas Cox supplied a summation of the contents of
four journals kept by members of the Cox family. He stated that on
April 15, 1924 that his uncle, also named John Thomas Cox, a Texas Ranger
and great-grandson of Thomas Isaac Cox, dictated to his daughter Mary Ellen
Cox Campbell a story explaining the motivation that caused four generations
of Cox men to become involved with Texas. The motivation, wild mustangs,
which brought them back again and again for 90 years, resulted finally
in several members of the family settling permanently in Central Texas.
With the assistance of Joe Burton Cox, a cousin, Mrs. Campbell transcribed her notes into a handwritten manuscript which she entitled "How the Cox Men Became Interested in Texas." A copy of the manuscript was made several years later by John Thomas Cox, nephew and namesake of John Thomas Cox. Some of this material was incorporated into "Brazos West, 1836-1936," a manuscript produced in the History Department, Texas Technological College in 1935 in connection with the state's centennial observation by John Thomas Cox, Joe Webb, Dallas G. Waters and S. G. Anthony under the supervision of Dr. Seth Shepard McKay, Dr. C. D. Eaves and Dr. Gus L. Ford. After the death of Mary Ellen Cox Campbell in 1957 the manuscript was apparently destroyed.
John Thomas Cox supplied from memory some vignettes about several Cox individuals that the manuscript revealed:
"Thomas Isaac Cox, according to his journal, was born April 15, 1733 in the valley of Brandywine Creek in southeast Pennsylvania. He records that his father and mother were married a decade earlier at Camden, New Jersey where his father was on leave from the British Navy. He records that this was his father's first shore leave since enlisting eight months earlier at Philadelphia.
Thomas Isaac Cox [whose exact relationship to the early Cox settlers in Texas is obscure] was the first member of the family to come to Texas. His father, name unknown, is believed to have been a native of the Warrington, Pennsylvania area. While serving in the British Navy he fell in love with a Dutch girl by the name of Heineken who was employed in her father's tavern and deserted the navy to marry her. They fled to the Pennsylvania frontier and lived there a few years before he was apprehended by the British, summarily tried and hung in Camden, New Jersey. He left a widow, five sons and a daughter.
Young Thomas Isaac Cox swore vengeance on his father's executioners and vowed to 'kill 10 British for every finger and toe of his father.'
He left his home in Bethel at an early age and hired out at Pittsburgh as a bargeman on the Ohio River. It is assumed that his barge trips carried him farther and farther, ultimately to the Mississippi and down to New Orleans about 1762. Apparently he was attracted to the Creole life and remained there in the French city of some 5,000 carefree people.
There he became friends with Oliver Pollock, Irish emigrant, who was fast becoming a wealthy merchant, trading in furs, grain and other commodities flowing down the Mississippi into New Orleans. He traded with the Americans on one hand and with the French in Louisiana and the Spanish in Texas on the other. Pollock later became the millionaire mayor of New Orleans who sacrificed most of his fortune to help finance the American Revolution. He was very active in supplying Gen. George Rogers Clark in the West.
Soon Thomas Isaac Cox was serving in the Spanish Army in Texas as Tomas de la Cocques. In the army he became acquainted with Bernardo de Galvez who, fortunately for the American Revolution, later became the governor of Louisiana. Bernardo de Galvez was born July 23, 1746 into a noble family in Macharaviaya, Malaga, Spain, according to "Bernardo de Galvez" by Nancy Reynolds Tiner. At age 19 he arrived in Mexico, which was then called new Spain. He impressed the Spanish Viceroy, and in 1769 he was made commandant of Nueva Vizcaya which include the area of present-day Texas.
The primary duty of the new commandant was to protect the area from the raiding Apache Indians. It is possible that Thomas Isaac Cox was a member of Galvez' first expedition. He led about 140 men in pursuit of the Apaches as far west as the Pecos River where the Indians determined to make a stand. Galvez led the charge across the Pecos, and his troops successfully routed the Indians, killing and capturing a large number. In another campaign against the Apaches Galvez led his men into hand-to-hand combat. In the melee Galvez found himself surrounded by five Indians and although gravely wounded, fought them off. His troops rescued him, and Galvez was ordered to return home to Spain to recuperate.
Upon his recovery in 1776 the Spanish throne commissioned him governor of Louisiana and dispatched him to New Orleans where he became an efficient administrator and a capable military man where every move he made was singularly successful.
He gave aid to the American colonies during the American Revolution and kept a supply of aid moving up the Mississippi River to the American troops. In addition munitions and other supplies gathered by Oliver Pollock went to George Rogers Clark in the northwest from New Orleans.
Spain declared war on England in 1779, and Galvez took the initiative. In quick succession he captured Ft. Bute at Manchac, Louisiana; Ft. Baton Rouge upstream and Ft. Panmure at Natchez. The Viceroy rewarded him by making him a brigadier. He captured Mobile Bay March 13, 1780, and a year later took Pensacola, going up against the fort with only his flagship, the "Galveztown" while the other men-of-war stood off shore and waited. For this feat King Carlos III made Galvez a count and promoted him to lieutenant general. The king also added "Galveztown" and "Yo Solo" [I alone] to the Galvez coat-of-arms. Following the capture of the Bahamas the Galvez star continued to ascend; he was appointed Viceroy of New Spain in 1784 and was given sweeping authority over all Spanish North America, at the age of 38. He died November 30, 1786, victim of a yellow fever epidemic.
At the beginning of hostilities between Spain and England the first order that Bernardo de Galvez gave was to organize a Texas cattle drive. He ordered the alcalde of San Antonio to have Texas longhorns and Texas mustangs driven to New Orleans to support his campaign. Texas supplied some 10,000 longhorns and perhaps 500 horses. Thus Galvez initiated an institution in Texas that would last for another century--cattle drives and wild horse trapping.
Part of the work of the Spanish army in Texas was to assist the church in establishing missions in an attempt to convert the Indians to Catholicism. Father Alonzo Geraldode, a Jesuit priest who founded the Apache mission in Coahuilla in 1754, persuaded a cousin, Don Pedro de Terreros, to aid him in founding another at the confluence of Delucia Creek and Arroyo Cavallo [seven miles east of present-day Lampasas, Texas] in 1756. Don Pedro, an adventurer, enlisted the aid of his brother, 'a barefoot Jesuit' in the effort. Under the command of Capt. Basterra a company dispatched to provide escort to the expedition, traversed present-day Williamson, Burnet and Lampasas counties to the site. The presidio was a failure. Under constant attack by the Indians they had come to Christianize, the fortress was abandoned and the Terreros brothers moved to establish a presidio at San Saba.
.........
Later one of the duties of the company of Thomas Isaac Cox was to
capture horses for the Spanish in the same area. Cox observed wild
horses by the hundreds on the hills of the area surrounding the abandoned
Terreros mission. This indelible sight was to bring him and members
of his family back to Central Texas on horse-hunting expeditions over the
next 90 years--and was responsible for the Cox family to be living there
several generations later.
Following his discharge from the Spanish army he obtained a permit from the authorities to capture wild horses in Texas. His grant provided 'the right to capture horses, carry on trade and to occupy lands surrounding the watercourses of Lampasas River, Delucia Creek [later called Lucy Creek by the Americans] and Esquivel Creek [later called Schoolhouse Creek.] He set up a base camp at the abandoned Terreros presidio and began to capture wild horses. The horses he captured there were driven down the immigrant trail, which ran from New Orleans to Santa Fe, and sold to Pollock and other merchants.
In 1775 the Spanish at New Orleans sent a ship to Philadelphia ostensibly for a 'load of flour' but secretly to determine the colonists' intentions about throwing off the British yoke. When news of the impending American Revolution reached New Orleans, Thomas Isaac Cox eagerly returned to Pennsylvania for an opportunity to carry out his vendetta against the British. In 1779 Cox was a Revolutionary captain in Philadelphia. Arguing that his cavalrymen had an advantage over British footsoldiers he proposed a Texas horse-hunting venture to Gen. Charles Lee, Washington's second in command. Lee concurred, and Cox, discharged from the army, was on his way back to Texas, cautioned to secure permission for the venture from the Spanish authorities in New Orleans.
Cox arrived in New Orleans in June 1780 for an interview with Gov. Galvez who welcomed his old friend and gave him authorization 'to hunt, capture and remove horses west of the Brazos and south of the Red River,' at a fee of 25c per head. The fee remained at the original figure for members of the Cox family in 1822. In 1834 the fee was set at 50c per head.
Cox returned to the besieged colonies and set about to organize his expedition. Perhaps because of the manpower shortage, perhaps because of the dangers such a mission entailed Thomas Isaac Cox was unable to enlist volunteers to his purpose. Finally he was able to persuade five young nephews to accompany him upon his promise to make them 'rich men.' [It is believed that the five were from the Montgomery County, Virginia area.]
On September 16, 1780 the six men and 18 horses began the trek to Texas. They were delayed by fall rains, high water, poor grazing, Indians and other problems. In present-day Oklahoma they encountered unfriendly Kiowas. They were attacked December 19, 1780, and were forced to flee in a running battle north of the Red River, finally hiding in a ravine. In the flight they lost their 'notching stick' and had to devise another calendar.
Shortly after crossing the Red River they spent two days in a 'blue norther' facing sleet and snow. Their journal recorded that two days later they arrived at the Brazos River, eastern extremity of their 'horse preserve.'
The party arrived at its destination, Terreros presidio, and marvelled that wild horses, wild cattle and buffalo covered every hill in sight. They undertook the rebuilding of the walls of the abandoned fortress and 22 days after their arrival finished the outer perimeter. On the 46th day they completed a 'horse trap' and holding pens. The 'horse trap' was a narrow box canyon with high vertical walls which allowed the horses to move in only one direction--into the presidio corral.
The arroyo trap was baited with grain and salt, and after a few licks of salt the thirsty animals proceeded downstream to water, and captivity. The first night a stallion led 40 mares and colts into the trap.
The next few days were devoted to 'green breaking' the horses and getting them gentle enough to lead. Once this was accomplished another batch of horses was led into the trap and the process repeated.
On the 96th day the party broke camp and prepared to return to Pennsylvania with 330 horses and 68 colts. The horses were tied together with horsehair ropes and were led out in single file. Each man could lead 100 horses in this manner.
Eighty-one days later they arrived in Philadelphia with 316 horses and 48 colts. General Lee was delighted with the Texas mustangs and purchased 304 for the army at $33 a head. Thomas Isaac Cox paid each nephew $1,000 which in Revolutionary times did indeed make each one a 'rich man' and kept the remainder for himself.
General Lee was insistent that the party return to Texas immediately on a second expedition. The nephews were eager to enhance their wealth. Another venture was quickly underway. Two men were added to the second expedition. Nate Brown, cousin to the wife of Thomas Isaac Cox, was enlisted as a supplyman. Cull [Cullen?, Culver?, McCullough?, Kyle?] Owens, the husband of Cox's only sister, Martha Cox Owens, was engaged as a loader. Additional grain and salt to bait the horsetrap were added to the supplies. Owens received the nickname of "Kiowa" when the group reached Oklahoma.
Thomas Isaac Cox had determined to cultivate the friendship of the Indian tribes through whose domain the party had to pass and thus correct one of the mistakes made on the first expedition. The horse-hunters camped with the Kiowas for a prolonged time, and Owens carried the friendship plan to the extreme--he fell in love with an Kiowa maiden. When time came for the party to move out, Cull "Kiowa" Owens declared that he would continue the trip and assist with the horse trapping, but would remain with the Kiowas when the Indian camp was reached on their return leg. Cox could not dissuade his brother-in-law from his purpose of becoming a squaw man.
The expedition continued routinely and uneventful and completed its return to Pennsylvania with 366 horses and 109 colts. The horses, which sold to the army for $35, grossed the party $13,000 and made the 'rich men' even richer. Thomas Isaac Cox had the painful duty of explaining to his sister Martha Cox Owens why her husband did not return with the party. She was greatly distressed over his errant decision.
Cull "Kiowa" Owens remained in Oklahoma for two years before he made a visit back to Pennsylvania. For the next 50-60 years he commuted between his white family and his Indian family, and the Coxes were so chagrinned with his behavior that they would have nothing do with them.
Owens became an expert horseman, deadly rifleman and could track like an Indian. He fathered many daughters and at least seven sons by his Kiowa wife [wives?]. His Indian daughters, known for their beauty, married successful men on the frontier. Six of his seven Indian sons became successful ranchers in southwest Texas in the vicinity of Rock Springs and Leakey, Texas. A seventh son tried the business, found it not to his liking, and returned to live with his mother's people among the Kiowas.
Cull "Kiowa" Owens, at least 80 years old, once visited in the home of Pleasant C. Cox and Martha Jane Cox on Lucy Creek about 1868. It was obvious to all when he dismounted from his horse that he had not bathed in months. Martha Jane remarked that he 'stunk like an old grizzly bear.' [John Thomas Cox advised that 'a banker in Rocksprings by the name of Taylor was a grandson of 'Kiowa' Owens, citing research of J. Lloyd Reed of Southwest Texas State University of San Marcos. Helen T. Cox Fred of Rocksprings wrote May 12, 1987, "Tommie Taylor worked in our bank for over 30 years, having retired about five or six years ago. He is now in a retirement home in San Antonio."]
When Martha Cox Owens died she was buried in an old cemetery in western Pennsylvania, and her children eventually went to Texas.
Thomas Isaac Cox then returned to western Pennsylvania to raise a militia company for the Revolution with the assistance of his eldest son, Solomon Cox. His son, an ardent Quaker, had shown no interest in joining in the conflict until this time, however he proved to be a fine soldier, great disciplinarian and natural leader.
The militia company, well drilled and disciplined, marched to Pittsburgh
and waited for orders. When news arrived that Cornwallis had surrendered
at Yorktown, [October 19, 1781] the company was disbanded and returned
to civilian pursuits."
Apparently at this point in the narrative of John Thomas Cox some
of the activities of Thomas Isaac Cox were attributed to "his nephew" [or
great-nephew] Thomas Isaac Cox. It is also apparent that the activities
of his son Solomon Cox were "blended" with those of Solomon Cox, son of
Thomas Isaac Cox.
In 1793 Thomas Isaac Cox organized another horse-hunting expedition to Texas. Two nephews in his original party had married and declined to go along, but other nephews, including 16-year-old James Bybee, and his brother William Bybee clamored for the opportunity. Also included was Thomas Isaac Cox, nephew and namesake. For experience he took along cousin Nate Brown and Cull "Kiowa" Owens.
Nate Brown, who was included in an earlier expedition, was often called 'Nate Cox' since he was so closely related to the family. When he witnessed the will of Thomas Isaac Cox he signed as 'Nate Cox.' [Stephen F. Austin on May 13, 1829 sent a map of Texas to "Nat Cox of New Orleans."] He subsequently made dozens of trips to Texas and once in the early 1800s spent a winter at Terreros presidio. He returned with a number of broken mares and a stallion he had ridden from Pennsylvania to Texas.
Success of this expedition was clouded by tragedy in Texas. Twenty-seven men composed the party, and when they arrived at the Terreros presidio they found Indian signs throughout the area and anticipated trouble. Despite their precautions some of the party were caught away from the presidio and were pinned down by an attack by the Comanches who besieged them until dark. James Bybee received an arrow in the chest which penetrated so deep that the shaft had to be broken off so that the arrowhead could be pulled out through his back. He cried for water through the night and died at dawn on July 4, 1793, his 17th birthday. Cox, himself, received a wound in the leg and Nate Owens a flesh wound in his left side.
When the party was able to return to the presidio the next morning the dispirited group was ready to quit the place. Bybee was buried there under a liveoak tree which was slashed with three diagonals to mark the site. A limestone slab was laid on the grave to further identify it.
After additional hardships the party returned to Pennsylvania to find that there was no market for Texas mustangs there. The horses were parcelled off at whatever price they would bring. And Thomas Isaac Cox had the painful duty to advise James Bybee's grief-stricken parents that their eldest son lay in a lonesome grave in far-off Texas, perhaps the first English-speaking person buried there.
Thomas Isaac Cox took time off to allow his leg injury to heal. He traveled to Virginia for a visit with Gen. Charles Lee, Patrick Henry and Oliver Pollock. Pollock had become a special agent for Virginia and the Continental Congress in New Orleans during the Revolutionary War and at great personal expense had arranged for the shipment of ammunition and supplies to the colonial army up the Mississippi.
Thomas Isaac Cox then visited in South Carolina where his wife's people lived. He returned to Pennsylvania by way of North Carolina where he visited his relatives. In Pennsylvania he visited cousin John Cox who lived along Brandywine Creek. Everywhere he visited he told of the wild horses in Texas that covered every hill in sight and inflamed the imagination of the Cox sons in every family with the possibility of sudden riches.
Solomon Cox was married after the Revolutionary War and moved to Ohio. Later he moved to Indiana, to Illinois and finally to Missouri where he established a home and a farm in the Ozarks near Springfield. He visited two of his sons in Lampasas County, Texas in 1858 and planned to return, but the Civil War interfered. Solomon Cox had five sons--four remained in Texas [only four presently accounted for.] Thomas Cox, his youngest son, lawyer, returned to Arkansas to practice law and died there in 1871 at age 41. He had a distinguished career in law and in social and agricultural reforms. Once he was a national deputy for Patrons of Husbandry [The Grange] in Texas, Arkansas and Missouri.
Thomas Cox spent some time reading law in the office of Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois. In less than six months he realized that Mr. Lincoln was being manipulated by the young captains of industry who surrounded him. They were successfully creating a new homespun, rough, raw image of a man--a man totally ignorant, uneducated, uncouth and unrefined, yet a man so honest, so dedicated, so unselfish, so imbued with a sense of justice for all that he would bring to the world a new America. Thomas Cox was promised much if he would remain in Springfield and help further the demagoguery. He severed his ties and rode back to another Springfield--Missouri--a very disillusioned young man who wrote his relatives, 'It appears to me, veiled behind the cause of slavery, a war is being relentlessly pursued by those persons who can most benefit by the promotion of Mr. Lincoln and eventually a war among the states.'
He felt compelled to reveal what he saw was the true ambition of the men who surrounded Mr. Lincoln. He went to Jefferson City to further his study of law and the constitution of the United States as well as the constitution of the various states.
Thomas Cox was a close personal friend of Gen. Sterling Price [originator of The Grange]. He was a Confederate officer and participated in the Battle of Shiloh. Once he was captured and held in a Union prison. Insufferable conditions and harsh treatment prompted him to write a letter of protest to officials in Washington. Despite his Quaker background, because of the cruel inhumanity he endured in prison he came out a changed man and showed no interest in the church after that time.
Thomas Isaac Cox arranged with the Spaniards to supply horses to
the Lewis & Clark expedition in 1803. The Spaniards, through
the efforts of Oliver Pollock largely supplied and financed the expedition.
Cox, his brothers and his sons, Ben Cox and Solomon Cox, made additional
expeditions to Texas in the decade following. Another young man was killed,
dragged to death by a wild horse, and was buried beside James Bybee.
In 1806 Solomon Cox and his brother Ben Cox organized another
expedition to go to Texas for horses. Among the adventurers was Baptiste
Brown who built 'the old Brown place' [first permanent residence at Terreros
presidio]. Also included was Hugh Glass who was later shot in Missouri
by Benton who blamed the death on a bear. Stanley Vestal wrote of the life
of Hugh Glass, frontiersman and mountainman, who left Indiana in 1812;
also Leroy R. Hofer who wrote 'Mountain Men and the Fur Trade.' In 'Pirate,
Pawnee and Mountain Man' it was described how Hugh Glass was mauled by
a bear and was left with two men who were instructed to bury him when he
died. After they deserted him he crawled to the Missouri River and
was rescued by Sioux Indians. Other accounts are included in "Hugh Glass
Tells His Story" and "Historical Essays on Montana" by J. W. Smurr.
Ellander Hix and 'Banta Will,' three-fourths Indian, accompanied the Coxes. When Hix died in 1877 he was buried at the presidio. His dates were 'born July 13, 1835, died March 8, 1877.' The Hix family accompanied the Cox family to Texas.
In 1820 Solomon Cox who had made two previous trips to Texas with
his father and uncles, contracted with Gen. William Henry Ashley of St.
Louis to deliver 500 horses to Arkansas City, Kansas for use in his fur-trading
expedition receiving an advance of $1,000 in gold to finance the party.
He had enjoyed horse trapping, but had not chosen it as a
profession. He had studied law and had taught in private schools
and academies.
He had gone to St. Louis after seeing an advertisement in the 'Missouri Gazette Public Advertiser" addressed to 'Ambitious Young Men who desire to seek their fortune in a journey for Adventure and Profit to the headwaters of the Missouri River.' He called upon Ashley who recognized his capabilities and immediately offered him a job in the organizing and planning of the expedition. He soon saw that Ashley was a very selfish man who had little interest in the safety and welfare of his men and quit the job.
At that point he made the contract with the general for the horses. He returned to advise his wife of his plans and secured five men including Nate Brown and Cull "Kiowa" Owens, his uncle, to help him capture and transport the horses to Arkansas City. On September 17, 1822 he bade farewell to his wife who was heavy with child and rode away with his companions through southern Indiana and Kentucky on the long journey to Texas.
In 1834 Ben Cox headed another expedition to the Terreros presidio. Included in the party was his 14-year-old nephew, Pleasant C. Cox. They spent a year there and found the area over-run with Americans who were fretting for a fight with Mexico. The Cox men had always dealt fairly with the Mexicans and, wanting no part of a fight with them, left for Santa Fe up the Immigrant Trail which crossed near the Terreros presidio. Later they went to Taos, New Mexico and Ft. Bent living as hunters, trappers and mountainmen. Pleasant C. Cox returned to Texas in 1837 in the company of his great uncle Cull "Kiowa" Owens.
Later he traveled to New Orleans and took a steamboat up the Mississippi to his old homeland in Illinois and Indiana. After a short visit he went up the Missouri River to the land of the mountainmen, working as a keelboat hand, oxwagon driver, railsplitter, cobbler, hunter and trapper. He worked his way up the Arkansas River, detoured for a time in Santa Fe and Taos, and then went up the Arkansas River to its headwaters. In 1842 he came back down the river to intercept the trail used by the Texas horse-hunters, turned left and traveled to Missouri where his family had moved.
When he returned to his family's home after 10 years of travel he found his sister planning to be married and talking excitedly about a move to Texas. He was married to Martha Jane Bybee [a cousin], niece of James Bybee who was slain by Indians in Texas in 1793. Her family had abandoned the Quaker religion in favor of the Church of Christ, but Pleasant C. Cox remained a staunch Quaker all his life. He frequently admonished his children with Quaker precepts. When his son [John Thomas Cox] was leaving home to join Company D of the Texas Rangers his father presented him with a newly-made pair of boots and a hat and advised him, 'crease not the crown of thy hat nor roll its brim' and 'carry not all thy funds in one purse.'
He settled in Missouri as a cobbler and leatherworker, using buckskin, buffaloskin, pigskin, cowhide and horsehide. In 1846, after Texas became a state, Pleasant C. Cox made a return visit to the Terreros presidio on Lucy Creek and decided to move there.
When they declared intention to move to Texas Martha Jane promised her grandfather she would find the Bybee grave and tend it. They arrived in the latter part of 1851, and when Indian raids subsided in the area they moved to homestead the site of the presidio. Accompanying them in the 16-wagon train was a brother, James Christopher Cox and his family who settled adjoining them. Amy Cox Smart, his sister and her family also went along. Also included in the group were the families of Amos Bradley, Phillip Smith, Bill Bybee and Marlow Hix, veteran of the War of 1812 and a friend of Hugh Glass.
Martha Jane found the grave of her father's oldest brother, James Bybee, under the postoak tree marked with three diagonal slashes. She planted flowers and cared for it throughout her life. When she died in 1912 she requested burial there in the plot which had grown to include 22 Cox family graves and graves of 15 other individuals some 300 paces east of the confluence of Burleson's Branch and Big Lucy Creek."
John Thomas Cox, the Texas Ranger once remarked, 'Those graves are occupied by men who died in several different countries--Bybee died in New Spain; Trey Dodd died in Mexico; James Cox was buried in the Republic of Texas May 6, 1842, and my mother was buried in the United States.'
Charlie Boyd, 'Shanghai' Pierce's trail driver and 'Stumpy' Watson who rode for Burk Burnet shot it out in a gunfight in 1874. Both were mortally injured and taken to the home of Martha Jane Cox whose nursed them for 12 days. Charlie Boyd died at sunrise on the morning of December 22. When she told 'Stumpy' that Charlie had died he replied, 'Good, now I can die in peace' and expired himself."
Benjamin E. [F.?] Cox, son of Thomas Isaac Cox and Rachel Carr Cox, was born July 23, 1796, according to his tombstone inscription, probably in Tennessee. His family moved to Knox County, Kentucky about 1800, to Hardin County, Kentucky in 1803 and on to Ross County, Ohio in 1809. In 1818 his family moved again to Monroe County, Indiana, settling near Bloomington. He was married about 1820 to Keziah Barber, according to the research of Mary Alnora "Nora" Cox Drennan. [A Benjamin Cox was married to Elizabeth Curtis July 26, 1830, according to Jackson County, Indiana marriage records.]. It is believed that Keziah Barber Cox died about 1835.
Benjamin E. Cox brought his nephew Pleasant C. Cox to Terreros presidio in Texas in 1834 on a horse-hunting expedition. John Thomas Cox stated that "on June 11, 1834 Ben E. Cox was elected master of the Society of Friends of Husbandry in Texas which was organized at the old Terreros Presidio." During the year they spent in Texas hot-headed Americans itching for a fight with Mexico began to flock to the Lampasas area. Having no interest in the impending conflict they left up the Immigrant Trail which crossed the property and went to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Benjamin E. Cox was remarried to Elizabeth Sutton, a widow, October 4, 1837 in Batesville, Arkansas by George Gill, Baptist minister, according to Independence County Marriage Book A, page 49. Damsey Sutton, her former husband, had been killed and scalped by Indians. Two sons were born to them, James Sutton in 1833 and William Sutton in 1835.
John Thomas Cox wrote January 25, 1987:
"Old 'Cap' Anderson who moved from the Bexar County area about 1855 to Lampasas County told 'Pleas' Cox of the supplies delivered by Benjamin E. Cox to the defenders of the Alamo just prior to its fall to the Mexicans. The last delivery consisted of about 600 pounds of shelled corn, 300 pounds of wheat, 500 pounds of jerked beef and 24 good horses. Many of these supplies were never paid for. The refusal of Sam Houston to pay for these supplies to the Alamo prolonged the ill feelings that had existed for several years between Solomon Cox and his sons and Sam Houston and his crowd. In 1830 Solomon Cox and Sam Houston had a famous debate over what Solomon perceived to be the true intentions of Houston and his Tennessee bunch toward Texas. The debate took place at Isaac Stuart's tavern on the Red River. Sol Cox, a small, well-educated man, stood face to face with Houston, a 6'6" giant of a man whose bellowing voice delivered his opinions punctuated with curses and vulgarity. Cox stated his remarks in a calm voice, and at the end of his argument he was loudly applauded by the men in the tavern, according to Isaac Stuart. Benjamin E. Cox did not take part in the feud with Sam Houston, but did openly differ with Stephen F. Austin whom he accused of dealing unfairly with small settlers located outside of the Austin Colony."
Benjamin E. Cox was a taxpayer in Izard County, Arkansas in 1839. On December 21, 1839 "Benjamin F. Cox," received Third Class Land Grant No. 511 for 320 acres, according to Nacogdoches County Board of Land Commissioners records.
"Benjamin Cox came to the Peters Colony before July 1, 1845, as a family man, but left before receiving a land certificate," according to "Peters Colony in Texas" by Seymour V. Conner.
They were enumerated as Household 121-121 September 5, 1850 in the federal census of Travis County, Texas. The family was rendered as:
"Cox, Benj. 59, laborer
Elizabeth 50, wife
Hanah 18, born in Indiana
Delila 16, born in Indiana
Tempa 10, born in Arkansas
Cyntha 8, born in Arkansas"
"History of Bell County" records that "Lt. Benjamin Cox, who had military experience," was the leader of the settlers in providing armed protection against the Indians. It records that Lt. Ben Cox, Xenophon Boone Saunders and John Potter were in pursuit of Indian horse thieves in 1853. These three men were joined by Solomon Benjamin Cox March 29, 1859 to organize the "Independent Blues," a volunteer militia company to protect the settlers from marauding Indians.
Lt. Benjamin E. Cox took a squad of 40 Bell County men armed to assist settlers in Comanche County, Texas to defend themselves against Indian raiders in 1860, according to "History of Bell County." Included in his train were five oxwagon loads of flour from Childers Mill to feed the settlers during the siege.
The birthplace of Benjamin E. Cox was listed as "Ohio" in his 1860 census enumeration.
Emma Normand, Bell County Cox historian wrote of him in 1960:
"It would help in identifying Lt. Ben if I could find some sons, in Arkansas, Indiana or Texas. The two daughters born in Indiana, as given in the 1850 Travis County census, are probably not his oldest children. He would have been about 42 when Hannah, the older of those two daughters was born; it stands to reason that there were older children born in Indiana.
The only indication I have that he had at least one son is the fact that a little granddaughter lived with him in 1870 and with his wife after his death, in the home of one of her Sutton sons in 1880. In the 1880 census for Bell County the little girl is given as 18 and identified by the Sutton son as 'niece.' In both the 1870 and 1880 census reports her name is given as 'Cynthia Cox.' This is also the name of the youngest girl in 1850 who in the 1860 census was shown as having 'married within the year' and lived near her parents.
The granddaughter Cynthia Cox was recorded in the 1880 census as 'born in Arkansas, father born in Arkansas and mother born in Texas.' There is an interval between the two older girls and the two younger girls that could accommodate a son old enough to be the father of the little granddaughter. She was of the right age to be a war orphan.
Mrs. Sutton had other children besides the two teen age boys. Anderson Sutton was already married and had a family at that time. He is in every Bell County census from 1860 through 1880. He lived on into the 1890s. His wife's name was Rhoda, and they had in all 15 children. He was apparently the eldest son, being 22 years younger than his mother. But the next son in Bell County was 9 years younger than Anderson, so there must have been other children between them who did not come to Bell County. And then there were 7 years between him and the 17-year-old James. There must have been several children, perhaps already married, who remained in Arkansas. And it would seem that a daughter, Mary Ann Sutton, who would have been 14 in 1850, was not with her mother in 1850. She appears as a young woman of 24 living near her mother in Bell County in 1860. She was married to George Harper Brown and had a baby girl. I surmise that she was living with some older brother or sister in 1850. This Mary Ann was left a widow with two little girls, and sometime after the Civil War married James Henry Cox whose first wife and several of their children died around 1864-65. This James Henry Cox was the oldest son of Solomon Benjamin Cox."
A Benjamin Cox died May 6, 1870, according to a tombstone erected in Driftwood Quaker Cemetery, Jackson County, Indiana. Perhaps Benjamin E. Cox had returned to Indiana or died there during a visit.
Children born to Benjamin E. Cox and Keziah Barber Cox include:
Hannah Cox born in 1831
Delila Cox born in 1834
Children born to Benjamin E. Cox and Elizabeth Sutton Cox include:
Tempa Cox born in 1840
Cynthia Cox born in 1841
Hannah Cox, daughter of Benjamin E. Cox and Keziah Barber Cox, was born in Indiana in 1833. She appeared as an 18-year-old in the 1850 census enumeration of her father's household.
Delila Cox, daughter of Benjamin E. Cox and Keziah Barber Cox, was born in Indiana in 1834. She appeared as a 16-year-old in the 1850 census of her father's household.
Tempa Cox, daughter of Benjamin E. Cox and Elizabeth Sutton Cox, was born in Arkansas in 1840. She appeared as a ten-year-old in the 1850 census living in her father's household.
Cynthia Cox, daughter of Benjamin E. Cox and Elizabeth Sutton Cox, was born in Arkansas in 1841. She appeared as a nine-year-old in the 1850 census enumeration of her father's household. In the 1860 census she was reported as having "married within the year" and lived near her parents.
Solomon Cox, son of Thomas Isaac Cox and Rachel Carr Cox, was born May 4, 1798, probably in Tennessee. In the census of 1880 his son, James Christopher Cox, reported that his father was born in Ohio. In 1800 his family moved to Knox County, Kentucky, to Hardin County, Kentucky in 1803 and in 1809 to Ross County, Ohio, settling near Chillicothe. In 1818 his parents moved to Indiana, settling near Bloomington in Jackson County.
A Solomon Cox was appointed April 7, 1817 to the first grand jury convened in Jackson County after its organization, according to Jackson County Order Book 1, page 2.
Solomon Cox was married June 20, 1819 to Elizabeth Johnston, according to Jackson County, Indiana Marriage Book A-B, page 17. The license was obtained June 20, 1819, and the ceremony was performed by James McTaggert, J.P. Sallie Johnston, believed to be a sister, was married at the same time, perhaps in a double ceremony, to Simon Francum. Traditionally Elizabeth Johnston Cox came from a family of great longevity. Her father lived to be 103, her grandfather Skaggs to 112, and another grandparent to 106.
It is suggested by John Thomas Cox, a descendant that Elizabeth Johnston was related to Sarah Bush Johnston, step-mother of President Abraham Lincoln. Thomas Lincoln, his father, returned to Kentucky on a visit after the death of his first wife in 1818 in Indiana "of milk sickness." He was remarried there December 2, 1819 to Sarah Bush Johnston, "a widow with three children, ages 12, 8 and 5."
Lending credence to the suggestion is the report that Thomas Cox, a son of Elizabeth Johnston Cox "read law in the office of Lincoln & Herndon in Springfield, Illinois." Lincoln and William H. Herndon formed the law partnership in 1845, and it continued under that name despite the fact that Lincoln spent most of his time in public office after that time. [Sangamon County records and the 1850 federal census might reveal something of the presence of Thomas Cox in Springfield.]
The 1855 city rectory of Springfield, a town of 1,500 people, revealed that Abraham Lincoln, "attorney" lived at "the corner of 8th & Jackson." William H. Herndon who was the mayor at that time, lived at the "second North of Jefferson." Elliott B. Herndon was shown as an "attorney, corner 5th & Washington." He was also shown as a "student" living with Charles A. Keyes. Mrs. M. Herndon lived at the "corner, 5th & Canedy."
Seventy-nine Johnston families were enumerated in the 1820 census of Indiana. All of them were concentrated in the southern section of the state, most scattered along the Kentucky border with just the Ohio River separating them from Kentucky, believed to be their earlier home. Eight Johnston families appeared in the 1820 census of Orange County, Indiana located south of Jackson County.
Two individuals by the name of Solomon Cox appeared as heads of households in the 1820 census of Jackson County. He had studied law and taught in private schools and academies, according to his grandson John Thomas Cox.
Solomon Cox was attracted to St. Louis, Missouri early in 1822, responding to an advertisement in the "Missouri Gazette and Public Advertiser." He applied to Gen. William Henry Ashley, hero of the War of 1812, and was hired to assist in planning a fur-trapping expedition on the headwaters of the Missouri River.
Gen. Ashley was born in Chesterfield County, Virginia in 1782, according to "The West of William H. Ashley" by Dale L. Morgan. He came to St. Genevieve, Missouri at the age of 20. In the War of 1812 he became a Lt. Colonel in the Missouri Territorial militia. In 1820 he was elected Lt. Governor of Missouri, and in 1821 was made a Brigadier General. Shortly afterward he formed a partnership with Andrew Henry to engage in the Rocky Mountain fur trade. On February 13, 1822 Ashley ran his famous advertisement for 100 enterprising young men to ascend the Missouri River to its source and be employed from one to three years. The first expedition of the Missouri Fur Company to the mouth of the Yellowstone River was begun in April 1822. Ashley died March 26, 1838 and was buried in an Indian mound overlooking the Missouri River, according to the DAR who erected a marker on the site in 1939. He left a $50,000 estate, but no children from his three marriages.
After a short time Solomon Cox became disillusioned with Gen. Ashley, regarding him to be a selfish man without genuine interest in the trappers. He quit the job, but did contract with Ashley to supply Texas mustangs to the expedition. He agreed to supply 500 "green broke" horses to Arkansas City, Kansas and received an advance of $2,000 in gold. He returned to his home in Indiana and arranged with five men to accompany him in an expedition to Presidio Terreros in Texas to capture the horses. The party, which included a brother, Benjamin E. Cox; a cousin, Nate Brown and an uncle, Cull "Kiowa" Owens, departed for Texas September 17, 1822, according to John Thomas Cox.
More Americans were showing an interest in Texas by this time. Stephen F. Austin planted his colony on the Brazos River in 1821, and Lorenzo de Zavalla was busy in Texas and New Orleans preparing for his colony on the Louisiana border. Benjamin E. Cox caught the "Texas fever" which was to bring him back again and again until he became a permanent settler there.
It is believed that Solomon Cox made fewer trips to Texas and was enumerated as the head of a household in the 1830 census of Jackson County. However other Cox men contracted with James Poindexter, involved in the removal of the Choctaw Nation from Mississippi, to deliver 300 Texas horses to be used in the Choctaw removal, according to John Thomas Cox who reported that the horses were "delivered to Chickasaw Bluffs." [Memphis.]
Solomon Cox died April 10, 1835. John Thomas Cox suggests that he was a member of the Indiana State Legislature and was "shot from his horse" while returning home at night from a meeting "at which he was very outspoken." He reports that Martha Jane Bybee Cox, a daughter-in-law related that his widow and children "lived in mortal fear of being killed themselves."
Elizabeth Johnston Cox removed shortly afterward to Missouri, perhaps to join other members of her family there, however she was not found in the 1850 census of Wright County. A Thomas C. Johnston was enumerated there in the 1850 census of Wright County, Missouri, Household 64-64:
"Johnston, Thomas C. 24, born in Kentucky, farmer,
illiterate
Elizabeth 27, born in Tennessee,
illiterate
James 9/12,
born in Missouri
Easly, Nancy 20, born in Kentucky
Burchat, Wineford 22, born in Tennessee,
female, illiterate
Miller 3, born
in Arkansas"
Adjoining Household 65-65 was composed of:
"Elliott, Manerva 35, born [unknown], illiterate
Palmer, Nancy 14, born in Arkansas
Mary L. 7, born in Arkansas"
Household 66-66 was headed by Brice Miller Smart and Amy Cox Smart, daughter of Elizabeth Johnston Cox . They had also appeared there in 1838 the year of the birth of their first child.
Household 67-67 was headed by:
"Davis, Levi 28, born in Indiana, farmer
Rebecca 24, born in Indiana
Phoeby 7, born in Missouri
John 5, born in Missouri
Jacob 3, born in Missouri
Joseph 3/12, born in Missouri"
Nearby were enumerated the households of John White Smart, No. 247-247; Pleasant C. Cox, son of Elizabeth Johnston Cox, No. 248-248 and Jonathan Henderson Smart, No. 248-248.
In 1851 Elizabeth Johnston Cox joined her children in a move to Bell County, Texas. B. E. Johnston, unidentified, who was born April 21, 1827, was an early settler in that area, arriving in Williamson County in 1854. One of the earliest surveys in Williamson County was made for Harrison Johnston.
It is reported that Elizabeth Johnston Cox lived with her son, James Christopher Cox in Lampasas County, Texas after the death of his wife to assist with the children. An "Elizabeth Cox, age 50, born in Kentucky" appeared in the 1860 census of Lampasas County, living in the household of her son James Christopher Cox. [If her age were reported correctly she would have been only nine years old when she married in 1819--it is believed that her age should have been reported as "60" in the census.]
Following his remarriage about 1861 Elizabeth Johnston Cox went to live "with a niece, also named Elizabeth," according to Mary Alnora "Nora" Cox Drennan. Margarette Hulda Cox, a granddaughter, reported that her grandmother also lived for a time with her son Pleasant C. Cox.
Elizabeth Johnston Cox was remarried September 24, 1864 to John Bybee, father-in-law to her son, Pleasant C. Cox, by John White Smart, her daughter's father-in-law and minister of the First Christian Church where they attended, according to Williamson County, Texas Marriage Book 2, page 156. The marriage license had been obtained September 21, 1864. John Bybee had appeared contemporaneously with her in Missouri at age 55, Ozark County, 1850 census and probably was a member of the wagontrain which arrived in central Texas in 1851.
Catherine Bybee, "wife of John Bybee died on or about March 1, 1864 leaving seven heirs," according to Williamson County Deed Book 16, page 260. The heirs were listed as William J. Bybee and his wife Phoebe J. Bybee, Buford S. Bybee, N. Smart, Brice Miller Smart, Jr, D. E. Huffman and his wife, Elizabeth of Williamson County, Seebird Morgan and Amanda C. Morgan of Hamilton County, Texas and Pleasant C. Cox and his wife Martha Jane Cox of Lampasas County.
They were enumerated in the 1870 census of Williamson County as Household 257-257:
"Bybee, John 69, born in Kentucky, farm laborer,
$800 real estate, $500
personal
property
Elizabeth 69, born in Kentucky, keeping house
illiterate."
Elizabeth Johnston Cox Bybee died about 1873 and was buried in the Cox family cemetery at the Terreros Presidio, according to John Thomas Cox. Apparently her father who lived to be 103 years old, survived her. It is suggested that her was born about 1770 and died about 1873. It is believed that he was married to a daughter of "Grandpa Skaggs, members of Penn's Colony who lived to be 112." Accordingly, "Grandpa Skaggs" would have been born about 1740 and would have died about 1852.
Mormon church records reveal that "Elizabeth Johnson Cox was endowed by Elizabeth Ann Stout Cox, wife of Isaiah Cox, 31 May 1877." Elizabeth Ann Stout Cox is recorded as her "niece-in-law" in St. George Temple Endowment Records, Stake No. 4794 Book B, page 24. This ceremony was performed after the death of the beneficiary.
On September 30, 1873 John Bybee sold his land to his son William J. Bybee, according Williamson County Deed Book 14, page 638. William J. Bybee was married September 23, 1857 to Phoebe J. Joel, according to Williamson County Marriage Book 1, page 188.
John Bybee was married for the third time to Piety Joiner , October 9, 1873, according to Williamson County Marriage Book 4, page 47. Some time before 1880 he joined Buford S. Bybee, his son, in a move to Erath County, Texas. Buford S. Bybee was married September 17, 1856 to Mary Cook, according to Williamson County Marriage Book 1, page 156.
He was enumerated there June 4, 1880 in the federal census, Enumeration District 150, page 7, Precinct 2 as the head of a household composed of:
Bybee, John 79, farmer, born in Kentucky, father
born in Virginia, mother born
in
Virginia
Piety 38, wife, born in Alabama, father born
in Georgia, mother born in
Georgia
John L. 5, son, born in Texas, father
born in
Kentucky, mother born in Alabama"
John Bybee died there February 26, 1886 and was buried in the Bybee family burial plot located one and one-half miles southwest of Dublin, Texas. His son John L. Bybee died January 8, 1900 and was buried beside his father.
Three graves, enclosed in a rock fence, compose the family burial plot. The monuments read:
"John, the h...and of Piety Bybee, January 17, 1801-November 26, 1886; John L. Bybee, son of John Piety Bybee, August 21, 1874-February 9, 1890 and C. O. Cunningham, August 12, 1840-February 9, 1890"
Children born to John Bybee and Catherine Bybee include:
Buford S. Bybee born in 1825
Martha Jane Bybee born November 9, 1827
N. Bybee (daughter) born about 1830
Amanda C. Bybee born about 1833
William J. Bybee born in 1836
Mary Ann Bybee born about 1838
Elizabeth Bybee born about 1841
Children born to John Bybee and Piety Joiner Bybee include:
John L. Bybee born August 21, 1874
Buford S. Bybee, son of John Bybee and Catherine Bybee, was born in Missouri about 1830. He accompanied his parents in a move to Williamson County in 1851. He served two days on petit jury duty at $1.50 per day, according to Williamson County court records dated March 27, 1858.
He was enumerated in the 1860 census of Williamson County, Household No. 430-443:
"Bybee, Bluford 35, born in Kentucky, farmer,
$120 personal property,
$500
real estate
Mary 29, born in Arkansas
John 12, born in Missouri
William 10, born in Missouri
Elizabeth 8, born in Texas
Sarima 6, born in Texas
John W. B. 8, born in Texas
Thomas 3, born in Texas
Mary 2, born in Texas
Martha 6/12, born in
Texas"
Buford S. Bybee was enumerated in the 1870 census of Williamson County as the head of Household 223-223, in an adjacent location to his father:
"Bybee, Buford 46, born in Kentucky, farmer,
$1,500
real estate, $800 personal
property
Mary 39, born in Arkansas
Tom 12, born in Texas
Mary 10, born in Texas
Catherin 8, born in Texas
Buford 7, born in Texas
Angelina 3, born in Texas
Ellis 1, born in Texas"
He was remarried about 1878 to Mrs. Sarah A. Rule. On June 4, 1880 he appeared as the head of a household in the federal census of Erath County, Enumeration District 150, page 8, located near his father. The family was rendered as:
"Bybee, B. S. 59, born in KY, father born in KY,
mother born in KY, farmer
Sarah A. 55, born in OH, father born in PA,
mother born in VA, wife
Mary F. 20, born in TX, father born in KY,
mother born in AR, daughter
Nancy 15, born in TX, father born in KY,
mother born in AR, daughter
Angeline 14, born in TX, father born in KY,
mother born in AR, daughter
Rule, Peter 15, born in TX, father born
in Eng-
land, mother born in
Ohio, step-
son
Bybee, Ellis 11, born in TX, father born in KY,
mother born in AR, son
Fannie 8, born in TX, father born
in KY,
mother born in AR, daughter
Emma 6, born in TX, father
born in KY,
mother born in AR"
Buford S. Bybee "of Erath County" gave a transfer of judgement along with "B. M. Smart, guardian of the estate of William Smallwood" July 8, 1880 for $295.96, according to Williamson County Deed Book 25, page 40. Buford S. Bybee died February 23, 1904 at the age of "78 years, 7 months 12 days," according to his tombstone in Old Dublin Memorial Park Cemetery, Dublin, Texas. Buried beside him was his son, "Tom Bybee, born September 6, 1857-died October 22, 1910."
William J. Bybee, son of John Bybee and Catherine Bybee, was born in 1835 in KY.
He was enumerated as the head of a Household 221-221 in the 1870 census of Williamson County. The family, living near the other Bybee families, was listed as:
"Bybee, William 34, born in Kentucky, stockraiser,
$400 real estate, $1,000
personal
property
Pheby 32, born in Texas, wife
Catherin 9, born in Texas
Amanda 7, born in Texas
John 5, born in Texas
Polly 2, born in Texas"
He received a patent September 12, 1873 to 160 acres on O'possum Creek, eight miles east of Georgetown. On October 9, 1873 he and his wife deed the land to William J. Bybee, Jr, assumed to be their son, for $1,000, according to Williamson County Deed Book 14, page 649. On July 19, 1875 he deeded to Buford S. Bybee his one-seventh interest in the estate of his mother for $300, according to Williamson County Deed Book 16, page 318. He deeded 425 acres located 10 miles northeast of Georgetown July 8, 1876 to Caroline Homeyer, "wife of W. D. Homeyer of Washington County" for $1,487.50, according to Williamson County Deed Book 17, page 363.
The family reappeared in the 1880 census of Bandera County, Texas, Enumeration District 8, page 6, Household 18-18. The family was then reported as:
"Bybee, W. J. 45, born in KY, father born
in
KY mother born
in KY, farm-
hand, sick with
pneumonia 3
days last year
Phoebe J. 43, born in TX, father born in
IL,
mother born in
IL, wife
Amanda 17, born in TX, father born in
KY, mother born
in TX,
daughter
Mary A. 11, born in TX, father born in
KY, mother born
in TX,
daughter
Elizabeth 9, born in TX, father
born in
KY, mother
born in TX,
daughter
John W. 15, born in TX, father born in
KY, mother born
in TX, son
George W. 2, born in TX, father born
in
KY, mother born
in TX, son
James 5, born in TX,
father born in
KY, mother born in TX, son"
In 1882 William J. Bybee lived at Baby Head, Texas in Llano County. At that time he signed an affidavit to accompany the Mexican War pension application of James Christopher Cox. In the affidavit he stated that he had known the applicant since 1847 in Ozark County, Missouri.
Children born to Solomon Cox and Elizabeth Johnston Cox include:
Amy Cox born September 12, 1819 [sic]
Pleasant C. Cox born August 15, 1820
Jehu A. Cox born about December 1822
James Christopher Cox born March 1, 1824
Thomas Cox born in 1829