Monday, October 20, 2014

John Cox and Eliza Roberts

https://familysearch.org/patron/v2/TH-300-40624-172-20/thumb200.jpg?ctx=ArtCtxPublic     https://familysearch.org/patron/v2/TH-303-40624-340-91/thumb200.jpg?ctx=ArtCtxPublic baptized 1 Jun 1838
baptized 1 Jun 1839

Fae Hepworth Winsor, 10/10/13 (email to Scott)
John and Eliza Cox.  Just wondering on the baptism date of 1839.  I found where Daniel Browett baptized John.  But Daniel was baptized by Wilford Woodruff in 1840.  Daniel was a minister in the United Brethren and John was friends with Daniel and Robert Harris.  1st question: Was John baptized into the United Brethren in 1839? Of course I don't have that source. Church records have 1839. And since that is the temple work date does it really matter?  According to Robert Harris' journal they came to America together.  2nd question:  The pension records for Eliza to get John's pension said they were married in 1836 by a parson in the Church of England.  Could this be where it was interpreted as him being a parson?  John's and Eliza's marriage license both have an X for the signing of their name.  Could John read even tho he couldn't write? Also in the pension records she said she had 12 children.  I have birth records for Elizabeth chr in Apperley, Gloucestershire, England on 14 May 1837 where John was a laborer and Ann chr on 10 Nov 1839. She was born 13 Oct 1839 in Apperley where John was still a laborer. Deerhurst, England film # 099128 and #425393. I think these films might be on the internet now. My mom said she remembered the people talking in Springdale about the baby that was buried at sea coming to America. How much more do you want? I have been thinking about this family for a long time and I have a lot of questions. Feel free to disagree I really want to hash this over.

They came to America in 1841 on the ship Echo. They were registered as John, 35, Elizabeth, 33 and Ann, This could also be wrong. Daniel came on the same ship.

More Notes and Commentary by Fae Hepworth Winsor, 10/28/13

On an old family group sheet John is listed as the next child and on FSFT also, born in abt 1840 in Nauvoo.  I have wondered about him a bit but since he died on the same day as John Sr. I have ruled him out in this spot.

The next child is Ann E. or Ann Eliza.  From Cindis list and on the old family group sheet she is a twin to Mary Ann born on 14 February 1842. Died young.  Mary Ann married Richard Mills in May of 1866.  And died in child birth on 1 November 1878.  The baby died on the 15th of the same month.
They were born in Nauvoo.

Then Anna Mariah or Ann Mariah born 28 April 1844 in Nauvoo and died at Winters Quarter 28 August 1847.  Winter Quarters cemetery grave #211.

Now the fun begins.  Sarah born in 1848 in Nauvoo?  They weren't in Nauvoo in 1848 so I have her born in 1846 in Pottawatomie Co. Iowa.  Census 1850 for Pottawatomie. She was 4 years old.

John goes with the Mormon Battalion in 1846 and is gone for the better part of 2 years arriving back in Salt Lake in October 1848 after having spent part of the past year in California at Sutter's Fort.  Don't know when he went back for Eliza.  Nor when they came west.  But I think when Brigham Young ordered the saints left in Kanesville to come west in 1852.

I have the ward record for John & Eliza in South Weber Ward # 27921 pg 5 line #'s 34,35,36 that says Jane born 14 November 1846 at Winter Quarters Nebraska.  So much for the theory of Sarah being born in 1846.  I also have from the same record Eliza Jane born 14 November 1850 but no place given. Pg 8 line 48.  I am thinking Jane and Eliza Jane may be the same person.  Eliza Jane married Richard Mills in1865 and a baby was born and died in 1866.  Also Eliza Jane passed away at child birth and he married her sister Mary Ann.

There is quite a space between these last children and the next being Margaret Ellen and Martha Marinda born 29 March 1855 in Grantsville and Tooele respectively. Margaret put on her Temple Index Bureau that she was born in Grantsville.   I have not found any record of them being in Grantsville or Tooele. Or even in Weber, Utah.  Nothing in the ward records of even the family.  Margaret is buried in Elba, Idaho and Martha in Vernal, Utah.  I have pictures of headstone for them.

Comfort Ann is next being born on 14 July 1857 in Weber, Utah.  She married Levi Cyrus Kendall and they are both buried in Vernal.

Jennett Adelia born on 19 April 1860 in Weber, Utah.  Married Thomas Davis and is buried in Colorado.

John born in 1865.  He is on the 1870 census for Oxford, Cache, Utah as being 5 years old.  He is not on the 1880 census. Oxford was in Utah at this time it is now in Idaho.

John is buried in Oxford, Idaho.  His tombstone has on it “Grandfather John Cox” nothing else. I found in Vernal, Utah the cemetery record for Eliza and copied it in 2006. It doesn't have a death or burial date on it.  But from the pension records I think she died in 1890.  But the cemetery record said she died in Oxford, Idaho which seems unlikely because of the distance in those years and buried in Utah. But in going back to find the record again this cemetery wasn't used until 1896.  Explain that to me.

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John Cox was born 8 Aug 1810, in Deerhurst, Gloucester, England, the second of nine children born to William Cox (1777-20 Mar 1828) and Elizabeth Turner (1780-28 Feb 1848).  Eliza Roberts was born Jun 1816, in Deerhurst, Gloucester, England, the 16th of 18 children born to Samuel Roberts (3 Sep 1775-27 Feb 1859) and Mary Margrate (7 Apr 1774-3 Dec 1840).  Eliza’s older brother, Levi Roberts (10 May 1810-22 Jan 1894), six years older than Eliza, also joined the Church.  A brother, Robert Roberts (26 Feb 1815, the same day Levi was christened), one year older than Eliza, was apparently baptized in 1840.  I have no indication that others in the family joined the Church, but their proxy work appears to have been done. 

John and Eliza were married 1 Mar 1836, in Deerhurst, Gloucester, England, when he was 25 and she was 19.  At the time of their marriage, John was serving as a parson in the Church of England.  Two years later, 1 Jun 1838, she, at least, was baptized, at the age of 22.  He apparently was baptized 1 Jun 1839 in England (not in the LG Temple as indicated on my PAF), at the age of 28.  Since June 1 is the date of their two baptisms, one year apart (according to my PAF), I suppose there is a possibility, they were actually baptized at the same time.  This needs to be verified. 

My PAF has conflicting information on the births of their children.  They apparently had 20 children, the oldest, Elizabeth, born 4 May 1837, which would have been before their baptism, but the record says she was born in Nauvoo.  Ann, born 10 Nov 1838, and John born about 1839, shown being born in Deerhurst, England, may have died young, as perhaps was the case with at least another four children. 

At any rate, they migrated to America and by February, 1842, were residing in Nauvoo.  He was ordained in 1845.  In 1846, they fled Nauvoo for the west.  He served in the Mormon Battalion as a Private in Company E, enlisting 16 July 1846, at Council Bluffs, IA, at the age of 35.  Eliza’s older brother, Levi Roberts, also enlisted in the Mormon Battalion.  

They marched to For Leavenworth, where John designated four dollars to be sent to his family in Council Bluffs (Journal History, 21 August 1846).  John and Levi proceeded with the Battalion until they were discharged 16 July 1847, at Ciudad de los Angeles. 

John remained in California after his discharge.  On 1 May 1848 he donated twenty dollars toward the purchase of two brass cannons from John A. Sutter for the Church (Journal History, 1 May 1848).  Eliza claimed that he delayed his return to his family.  She swore she was “disabled by reason of hysteric fits” caused by an unfounded rumor of her husband’s death (Pension File).  When John did return for Eliza, he was appointed a captain of ten in Titus Billings’ company in 1848 (Journal History, 8 June 1848).

After Eliza and John arrived in Utah, they settled in Weber County, where on 24 July 1854, he gave the benediction at an evening meeting (Deseret News, 3 August 1854).  They remained in Weber until 1867.  During his years there, he served as a high priest, a counselor, and a teacher (Esshom, Pioneers). 

He subsequently moved and became a farmer and teacher in Oxford, Cache County, Utah.  Altogether, they had twenty children, the first being Elizabeth Cox, whom my PAF says was born 4 May 1837, in Nauvoo, IL, which is obviously incorrect.  Records need to be cleared up. 

My great-great grandmother, and the wife of Squire Hepworth, was their 14th child, Margaret Ellen Cox, born 29 Mar 1855, either in Granstville, Tooele, UT, or Weber, Weber, UT. 

I have a photocopy photo of John Cox as listed in Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah—1847.  He was an early settler at Oxford, Idaho.  He died 1 Apr 1878 at Oxford, at the age of 67.  A USMB marker has been placed on his gravesite in Oxford, Bingham County, Idaho. 

John and Eliza were endowed and sealed to each other 20 Dec 1867, when he as 57 and she was 51.  He lived another 10 years and died in Oxford, ID, 1 Apr 1878, at the age of 67.  She lived those 10 years, plus another 12 years as a widow, dying in Oxford, ID, in 1890, at the age of 74.  She was sealed to her parents by proxy 21 Aug 1969 in Salt Lake Temple.  He was sealed to his parents by proxy 7 Nov 1969. 

Children of John and Eliza
1.      Elizabeth Cox, 1837-1878, KWJ8-D92
2.      John Cox, 1840-1878, LZ4L-KL8
3.      Ann Cox, 1839-1878, KFY6-R2L
4.      Mary Ann Cox, 1842-1878, LZ2W-YFP
5.      Anna Mariah Cox, 1844-1847, KWVQ-9WV
6.      sarah Cox, 1846-Deceased, KWVQ-RM4
7.      Eliza Jane Cox, 1850-1866, LZN6-5XR
8.      Margaret Ellen Cox. 1855-1907, KWNV-RD2
9.      Martha Marinda Cox, 1855-1941, KWJZ-5Y7
10.  Jeanette Cox, 1861-1903, K2MS-PZV
11.  John Cox, 1865-Deceased, L8BF-S9F
12.  Comfort Ann Cox.., 1857-1910, KWV9-G7B
Margarent Ellen Cox meets and marries Squire Hepworth

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What I have of their story is shared within the context of the Hepworth Family to follow.


An important part of being a researcher is networking, finding and connecting with other researchers and sources of the information we seek.  Let’s find living descendants of these other children who can shed light on their ancestors’ lives down to the present.

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