Robert Lafayette Cox

Robert Lafayette Cox

Robert Lafayette Cox was born July 10, 1828 in Warren

County, Kentucky, the son of Burwell Cox and Rebecca Mobley.

About 1829, the family moved to Washington County, Arkansas

and settled in Cane Hill. Robert became a member of the Cane

Hill congregation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church on

December 22, 1839.

Robert Lafayette and Elizabeth Ann (Coulter) Cox

About 1857, Robert went to Bell County, Texas, where he

built a house on Elm Creek, near Troy. He returned to Cane Hill

and married Elizabeth Ann Coulter, daughter of James Coulter,

Jr. and Mary W. Moore, on January 5, 1858. The newlyweds

then moved to their new home on Elm Creek, where all of their

ten children were born.

The Cox children were Sallie Belle, born April 5, 1859;

Robert Victor, born October 4, 1860; Stonewall J., born September

20, 1862; John C., born February 21, 1865; Mary Thomas,

born August 23, 1867; Alvia, born January 10, 1869; Nancy Jo,

born November 23, 1871; Lenora Pauline, born October 24,

1872; Annie R., born March 21, 1874; and Eugene C., born

December 20, 1876. Sallie married William Tabor and died in

1902. John married Rena Lewallen. Mary married William

Andrew Crawford on February 18, 1885 and died June 27, 1938.

Alvia married Charles Thompson. Nancy married John Jone

Pauline married James Sharp and died in July 1950. Eugene died

December 27, 1947.

During the Civil War, Robert Cox enlisted in Company I,

17th Regiment, Texas Infantry on April 11, 1862 at Belton, Bell

County. After the war, he affiliated with Leon Masonic Lodge

# 193 on February 3, 1866 in Pendleton. He demitted in 1873

and affiliated with Oenaville Lodge # 363, then with Troy Lodge

#640. He was a member of Troy Lodge until his death on

February 23, 1911, in Troy. He was given a Masonic funeral as

well as a church funeral, and was buried in the Lewallen

Cemetery four miles east of Troy. As a Masonic widow, Elizabeth

was given a Widow's Certificate by Troy Lodge.

Elizabeth Ann Cox was buried ne~t to her husband at her

death in 1918. She was also called Amy, probably because her

maternal grandmother was Amy Patrick. Elizabeth was ten

months old when her father, James Coulter Jr. died. On July 14,

1842, Elizabeth's mother, Mary Moore Coulter petitioned the

court in Washington County, Arkansas to appoint a guardian for

Elizabeth and her brother John. The court announced that James

Moore, Mary's brother, would assume guardianship of the two

children. When she turned 16, Elizabeth went out on her own in

Washington County until her marriage to Robert Cox in 1858.

By: Nancy Maxwell