Ware-Greene-Glynn County GaArchives Biographies.....Cox, John Madison 1868 - living in 1913
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 22, 2004, 2:00 pm

Author: William Harden
p. 912-913

   JOHN MADISON COX. A man of energy and brains, honest, efficient and
progressive, John Madison Cox has been a dominant factor in the development and
promotion of the mercantile prosperity of Waycross, as one of its leading
merchants having the distinction of being the second to establish a wholesale
grocery business in this section of Ware county. A son of James Madison Cox, he
was born on February 27, 1868, in Woodville, Greene county, Georgia. His
great-grandfather, Captain Stemridge Cox, a Virginian, born of Scotch-Irish
ancestors, served as an officer in the Revolutionary war, having command of a
company.

   The grandfather of Mr. Cox, who was J. S. Cox, a life-long resident of
Virginia, was not old enough to bear arms during the Revolution, but he entered
the employ of the government, being engaged in the manufacture of guns in a
government factory.

   James Madison Cox was born and brought up in Mecklenburg county, Virginia. As
a young man, seized by the Wanderlust, he migrated to Georgia, locating in
Greene county, where he engaged in farming, and also in mercantile pursuits,
opening a store at Woodsville. Although past military age at the breaking out of
the war between the states, he enlisted during the second year of the struggle,
went with his command to Virginia, where he took an active part in many battles
of note. Returning to Woodville, at the close of the war, he resumed his
occupation of farming and store-keeping, continuing both until well advanced in
years, when he gave up all connection with business and thenceforward lived
retired until his death, which came at the venerable age of ninety-two years. He
married Sarah Ann Newson, who was born on a farm at Union Point, Greene county,
Georgia, where her parents spent their last years. Four sons and three daughters
were born of their marriage.

   Obtaining his elementary knowledge in the common schools of Woodville, John
Madison Cox completed his early studies at the Penfield high school, in Greene
county. Industrious and self-reliant, he determined to become self-supporting,
and with that object in view went to Brunswick, Glynn county, where he secured a
position as traveling salesman for a wholesale house with which he was
subsequently connected for eight years. Coming from there to Waycross, Mr. Cox
was engaged in the brokerage business until 1901, when, realizing that this city
was fast becoming a distribution point for a very large section of both Georgia
and Florida, he established himself in business as a wholesale grocer, and the
large trade which he now commands in that line shows conclusively that he made
no mistake in the enterprise.

As a man and a citizen Mr. Cox possesses the highest regard of all who know him.
An active worker in the Democratic ranks, he exerts much influence in local
affairs, and for two years served ably and acceptably as mayor of Waycross.
Fraternally he is a member of Way-cross Lodge, No. 369, Benevolent Protective
Order of Elks, and of the Knights of Pythias. He was for two years president of
the Waycross board of trade.

   Mr. Cox married on December 29, 1897, Miss Willella Lockhart, who was born in
Opelika, Alabama, a daughter of Jesse Hamilton Lock-hart. Her paternal
grandfather, Richard Puryear Lockhart, was born in Virginia of colonial and
revolutionary stock. Migrating to Alabama while a young man, he settled in
Chambers county, becoming owner of a large plantation, which he managed
successfully until his death. He married Sarah Hamilton Harris, a daughter of
Judge Edmund Harris, a prominent lawyer of Lagrange, Georgia, and a
granddaughter of Absolom Harris, whose father, Lieut. Benjamin Harris, was an
officer in the Revolutionary war. The Harris family came from Greensville
county, Virginia, to Georgia, settling in Hancock county, seven miles from
Sparta. Judge Harris married Mary Rollins, who was a graduate of a Baptist
college in Lagrange, and a woman of much culture and refinement.

   The only child of his parents, Jesse Hamilton Lockhart, the father of Mrs.
Cox, was educated in Lagrange, Georgia, and during his active career was
identified with the railway service of the state, for a number of years serving
as superintendent of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. He is now living
retired from active business. . He married Ella Hurt, who was born in Hurtsboro,
Alabama, and was educated in Georgia, having been graduated from the Wesleyan
University, at Macon. She died at the early age of thirty-two years, her death
occurring in Birmingham, Alabama, and her body being laid to rest in the
cemetery at Auburn, Alabama. Her father, William Chappel Hurt, was born in
Alabama, a son of Henry Hurt, who spent his entire life in Hurtsboro, where his
ancestors settled on coming from Virginia to the South. William Chappel Hurt was
a prominent and wealthy planter of Auburn, Alabama, and an active worker in the
Methodist church, being especially interested in Sunday school work. He married
Jane McTyeire, a sister of Holland Nimmons McTyeire, who was for many years the
senior bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and from the time of the
establishment of Vanderbilt University at Nashville, Tennessee, was one of its
board of trustees, and lived on the university campus. Three children were born
of the union of Jesse Hamilton and Ella (Hurt) Lockhart, namely: Willella, now
Mrs. Cox; Jessie, the wife of G. W. Smith, of Brewton, Alabama; and Edith, the
wife of Cecil Valentine Staton, of Waycross, Georgia. Mr. and Mrs. Cox are the
parents of five children, as follows: John M., Jr.; Virginia Hurt, who died at
the age of two years; Sarah McTyeire; William, and Elizabeth.

   The wife and mother, who is one of the refined and cultured women of
Waycross, received her education in the schools of Birmingham, and finished at
Dr. Price's Female College at Nashville, Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Cox maintain a
very pleasant home in which they entertain their friends with true southern
hospitality, extending to them a most gracious and cordial welcome.



Additional Comments:
From:

A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
BY
WILLIAM HARDEN

VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1913

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