My Genealogy Hound

Thomas Jefferson Cox, ex-sheriff of Osage County, Mo., and a farmer of Crawford Township, living eleven miles southeast of Linn, was born in Osage County in 1841, and is a son of William and Betsy (Rogers) Cox. William Cox was born in Virginia in 1802, and when a young man removed to Osage County with his mother and four brothers, locating in Jefferson Township. William Cox was married four times, and Betsy Rogers was his third wife; she was born in Virginia, and died in 1847. William Cox died in 1858, leaving seven living children, viz.: Thomas J., Susan (wife of Thomas Walker), Melinda (wife of C. Owsley), La Fayette, Christopher and Catherine. Thomas J. was reared and grew to manhood on a farm. He lived with his parents until the death of his father, when the following year he worked on a farm for $96, and the two subsequent years worked by the month. In 1860 he married Miss Eliza Anderson, who was born in Tennessee in 1843, and was a daughter of Pleasant M. Anderson. Mrs. Cox died in 1873, leaving two children: Wesley and James. In 1874 Mr. Cox married Elizabeth Cooper, a native of Gasconade County, Mo., whose father was Burton Cooper. This union has been blessed with two children: Thomas and Charles. September 30, 1862, Mr. Cox enlisted in Company I, Tenth Missouri Cavalry, and served three years, receiving his discharge at Nashville, Tenn.; he participated in twenty-seven engagements, among the most important being Champion’s Hill, Iuka, Jackson, Columbus and Tupelo. He served six months as sergeant of his company before his discharge. After the war he located in Crawford Township, Osage County, and engaged in farming, removing to his present farm in 1871. He owns 210 acres of well-improved land, fifty acres of which are bottom land of the Gasconade River. He is one of the most enterprising farmers of Crawford Township, and has been very successful. He was elected sheriff of Osage County in 1884, and was re-elected in 1886, serving with much credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the community. Mr. and Mrs. Cox are members of the Missionary Baptist Church.