Picture by Toby Hall

Includes Frederick Walter Cox, Mary Elizabeth Cox Whiting, and their siblings

F W Cox house for sale

As of November, 2010, the owners of the F W Cox big stone house would like to sell it, preferably to the family. The price has been reduced.

"One of the fears I have is that many of our young pople simply don't know the price that has been paid by those of our forefathers who established this great work here upon the earth."
--Elder M. Russell Ballard

A major purpose of this site is to provide a way for the rising generation to connect to their ancestors.

{Note the new EMail address}

Welcome to the Jonathan Upham Cox site. (When I set it up, my vision was on O S Cox, but that has expanded since.) You will find his ancestors, descendants, siblings, and also some of the families that intermarried with and lived close to our Coxes. Here are histories of Walter, Orville, Mary Whiting, and also their sibings. I have histories of some of their children, and am adding more as I receive them. I am also getting pictures put up, and can use many more.

I note that I am the 5th generation from Jonathan Upham Cox, and he seems very distant from me. But I am also the 5th generation from my youngest descendants, and they will consider me very distant also. In order to find a path of connection between those many generations, it helps to have a continuous line of relatives bridging that gap. If those members of the younger generation can find their name on the site, perhaps by googling their name, and a stepwise connection through their parents and on to their pioneer ancestors, the histories available here will have more meaning. Many of our cousins will print the stories and use them for Family Home Evening. There is also much material for talks on pioneering and Church History.

There is justified concern over identity theft, but note that the Government site on preserving your identity from theives does not mention birth date, or other genealogical data, such as is found here. Click on the Interesting Things tab to find the link.

40 years ago I published the Cox Family Bulletin, which most of the family of my generation have seen, but the newer generation has not had that information available. In order to make that history and genealogy available to the family, we have established this web site, as a better way to get this information out than mailing massive amounts of paper copies.

This is YOUR site, if you are related to these families. If you have stories or histories of your ancestors that are not included here, please send them to us (Email works well), and we will include them in this site. Pictures of our ancestors can be scanned and included here. Corrections to the genealogy are desired. I would like to include all descendants of Orville and his siblings in this database. Note that my name is in the data base, along with my descendants.

Help wanted

The cost of the web site is not very much, and I can do the hosting, but I am interested in continuity. Five different areas need attention.

  1. For continuity we need a committee from all branches of the family. Cousins interested in preserving pictures, stories, and the correct genealogy are requested to volunteer.
  2. Putting the information on the web is challenging and interesting. I have learned much this past year. Cousins with experience in programming or web design would be a welcome addition, but if you are interested in learning new technology, feel free to volunteer.
  3. Financing the web site is easier if the load is spread. Some of us live very close to our income, and even a few dollars is hard to come up with. Those who are able, please help.
  4. Spreading the word is important. In order for correct genealogy to avoid duplication of temple ordinances, the extended family needs to know about this site. Also, currently I do not have pictures of Orville's other wives. I am not intentionally slighting them, and as soon as I get their pictures I will add them. To get those pictures I need cousins who will take the names we have of living relatives, and search on the internet (or next door) to find them and let them know of this site.
  5. I had a lot of histories, and a few pictures, from publishing before, but many of you have more things and stories to share. Please let the extended family enjoy the keepsakes you have.

Temple work

Our family has been very interested in providing the temple work for our ancestors, as can be understood from some of the stories included here. The later generations are also interested, as can be found by looking over the Pedigree Resource File which the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has published. But a search of the IGI shows many duplicates submitted. I have collected the temple work done for Orville S Cox, and it shows many duplicate ordinances, most since 1995. A number of our cousins gathered their ancestors back to Orville and one of his 3 wives, but they neglected to gather (or include) his birth date and place, so the computer (or someone else) guessed at his birth date and place from his younger wives information. When the family names were submitted for temple work, the wrong birth information made it impossible for the computer to know that his work had already been done – in fact he was baptized, endowed and sealed to all his spouses while living so no proxy work was necessary.

Some of Orville’s children married more than once, and little is known of some of those wives. Their names have also been submitted multiple times with scanty information on them. I have collected good information on some of them, and you can see the duplication in the notes for Orville and some of his children’s spouses. It is my hope that accurate information on our ancestors will greatly reduce duplication of these sacred temple ordinances.

When temple work was first started, it was perceived an honor to be sealed to church leaders and other worthy men. Sometimes whole families were sealed in this way. In checking on the temple work for Orville I found that he was sealed to 4 women late in his life, and one more after he had died. He also was sealed to another father. You might want to look at his wives on the database and find out more about them.

This site is under construction, so stay tuned.