The family of Cox seems to have had its origin in England in the
generations gone, but its Americanism is of two centuries in
duration. At Freeboard, New Jersey, lived General James Cox, one
of the early speakers of the New Jersey House of Representatives
and later a member of Congress. Tillers of the soil and
artisans, the closer forbears attained to no distinction in
public life. To Ohio the family came sometime in the early years
of the last century, and at Jacksonburg the paternal
grandfather, Gilbert Cox, established himself. On the ancestral
farm of 160 acres, his son, Gilbert, Jr., lived, and on it James
M. Cox first saw the light of day. His uncles and aunts, for his
father was one of a family of thirteen, were of the people who
migrated westward. The youngest of a family of seven children,
he learned the routine of tasks of a boy on the farm. In the
little one-room country school he attended, his teachers found
him an ordinary pupil but with a fondness for newspaper reading.
Cox's first public job was the humble position of janitor in the
United Brethren Church, and even now his favorite reminiscence
is the difficulty he had in making the old wood stove function
properly. The thrifty farmers in those days were accustomed to
commute part of their dues in cord wood for the church, and
often the quality they supplied was not of the best. The boy
became a member of the Church, a membership which is still
retained.
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