Howard-Carroll County IN Archives Biographies.....Cox, Sheridan 1833 - 1900
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Author: Jackson Morrow

PROF. SHERIDAN COX.

    Of high professional and academic attainments and possessing organizing
force and executive ability of a superior order the late Sheridan Cox, of
Kokomo, for twenty years the efficient superintendent of the city's educational
system, achieved honorable distinction in one of the most responsible and
exacting callings and at the time of his lamented death occupied a conspicuous
and influential place among the leading educators of the Middle West. As an
organizer he had few equals as his work in various places abundantly indicate,
as an executive he possessed rare judgment and foresight, together with the
ability and tact which enabled him to take advantage of circumstances and mould
them to suit his purposes, and as an instructor he had the faculty of imparting
to others precisely and specifically what he knew so as to obtain the best
possible results. Distinctively one of the most successful educators of his day
and generation in Indiana, and a gentleman of commanding talents and sterling
worth whom to know was to esteem and honor, he left the impress' of his
individuality deeply impressed upon his various fields of labor, the schools
which organized and raised to a high state of efficiency through his efforts
constituting a monument to his ability and painstaking endeavor.

    Prof. Cox was a native of Harrison county, Ohio, where his birth occurred on
the 20th day of December, 1833. His early life amid the stimulating influences
of rural scenes was conducive to a well rounded physical development and on his
father's farm, where he spent his childhood and youth, he not only learned
habits of industry but matured plans for the future with the object in view of
becoming something more than a mere passive agent in a world which called for
men of strong will and well defined purposes to direct and control its affairs.
Possessing a keen and naturally inquisitive mind and a liking almost akin to
passion for books and study he made rapid progress in the country schools which
he first attended, the discipline thus received being afterwards supplemented by
a course in the McNeely Normal School at Hopedale, where he prosecuted his
studies for the purpose of fitting himself for the still higher training of the
university. In due time he entered the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware,
Ohio, where he applied himself closely and earned an honorable record as an able
and industrious student, standing among the first of his class when he was
graduated in the year 1862 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Prior to and
during his university course he devoted considerable time to teaching and
immediately after receiving his degree he accepted a professorship in Marshall
College, Marshall, Illinois, which he held one year, resigning the position at
the expiration of that time to take charge of the public schools at Winchester,
Indiana.

   Professor Cox's advancement as an educator was rapid, and it was not long
until his services were in demand in other and larger fields than the one at
Winchester, where he earned such a creditable record as a superintendent and
instructor. Learning of his success as an organizer and manager the school board
at Logansport, Indiana, tendered him the superintendency of the schools of the
city, which position he accepted and in which he accomplished a work of great
and far-reaching importance, such as had never before been attempted in the
place and as signally successful perhaps as any of his subsequent efforts. He
found the schools of the city in a disorganized condition with no executive
head, each teacher being independent and privileged to make his own course of
study. In due time he effected a radical and important change, evolving order
from chaos by reorganizing the entire educational system and establishing it
upon a permanent basis and securing only such teachers as were professionally
qualified to conduct the work assigned them. The happy results of his efforts
were soon apparent in the enlarged enrollment of pupils, the adoption of a
systematic course of study and the introduction of new and improved methods
together with a full complement of apparatus for scientific and other work in
the higher grades. Mrs. Cox was elected principal of the high school and as such
proved the right person in the right place, being eminently fitted by
professional and academic training for the duties and responsibilities of the
position and so demonstrated her ability as a teacher that within a
comparatively brief time the apartment was crowded to its utmost capacity with
eager and ambitious students, not a few of whom were young men and women from
the rural districts, anxious to avail themselves of this opportunity for
acquiring an education. From the time that Mrs. Cox became principal of the high
school it took on new life and during the seven years she held the position the
growth was steady and substantial and its popularity much more than local as was
indicated by the large number of students that came from other parts, many of
whom, as already stated, in the first blush of young manhood and womanhood.
Never was the attendance of non-resident pupils so great as during her
incumbency and it is a matter of frequent comment that after her resignation
there was a decided dimunition in this class of learners. Among those who
formerly profited by the able instruction of Mrs. Cox and who hold her name in
grateful remembrance are many of the representative men and women of Logansport
and Cass county, some filling honorable positions in law, medicine, business and
other vocations and all attributing to her any success in life they may have
obtained.

    In the year 1873 Professor Cox and his estimable wife severed their
connections with the schools of Logansport to accept similar positions in Kokomo
where, during the ensuing twenty years, they labored earnestly and effectively,
bringing the educational system of that city to a high degree of efficiency and
making-it one of the best in the state. As a superintendent Professor Cox had no
superiors. An excellent disciplinarian, the schools under his management were
always orderly and in the highest degree systematic and between his teachers and
himself a mutual confidence ever obtained while his relations with pupils were
such as to gain their good will and profound regard. Personally he was the most
affable and companionable of men, possessing to a marked degree the qualities
that win and retain strong friendships and his high standing as a citizen with
the best interests of his fellow men at heart gave him influence such as few in
the community exercised. In appearance he was above the average height and
compactly built, a commanding figure in any crowd or assemblage and of calm
dignified demeanor, moving among his fellows as one born to leadership.
Notwithstanding the dignity of his presence, he had a pleasing and attractive
personality, was easily approachable and though modest and unostentatious in his
relations with the world, made every other consideration subordinate to duty
regardless of consequences and lived in harmony with his highest ideals of
manhood and citizenship.

    Professor Cox was a student all his life, from his first experiments in
living until its toilsome close. He accepted labor as the motive duty and
destiny of man and never was he known timidly to shrink from its mandate or
injunction. Labor to him was a joy and pleasure and his ambition to excel in the
noble field of endeavor to which his talents were devoted became the predominate
incentive of his life. That he rose to a high and honorable position among the
distinguished educators of Indiana and won a reputation second to none of his
contemporaries was due to his inborn determination to succeed and in the
broadest and best sense of the term he was the architect of his own fortune, and
eminently worthy to wear the proud American title of "a self-made man".

    After serving the people of Kokomo very acceptably for a period of twenty
years and identifying his name for all time with the educational interests of
the city he resigned the superintendency and established the Maplewood Classical
School, which in conjunction with his wife, he conducted until his death and
which has become a popular educational institution, patronized and greatly
prized by the best families of the city besides attracting students from other
places. In his church relations the professor was a Methodist and for many years
occupied a position of commanding influence in religious circles, having been an
influential worker in the Grace church of Kokomo and widely and favorably known
in his denomination throughout the state. He also stood high in Masonry, in
which he took a number of the advanced degrees, including that of Sir Knight and
Chaplain of the Grand Lodge and was ever active in disseminating the principles
of the order among his fellow men, his own life affording a conspicuous example
of their value when applied to human affairs.

    Professor Cox was an upright, manly man of noble aims, high ideals and
generous impulses whose life was fraught with good to his kind and whose long
and useful career presented a series of continued successes such as few
educators achieve. There were no whirl-eddies or cascades in the current of his
years, it had rather a quiet, steady, earnest and placid flow. He chose the
noiseless ways and paths of the world rather than the din and clamor of the
maddening crowd that induce unrest, but when it became necessary to enter the
public arena he did so fearlessly and left upon the minds of his contemporaries
the impress of duty ably and faithfuly [sic] performed. As already indicated, he
aimed to be thorough and exhaustive in all he undertook, assuming- nothing and
taking nothing for granted, any subject under his consideration received his
undivided attention and discriminating thought. This accounts very largely for
his success as a teacher and superintendent, and for the honorable standing
which he attained in social and religious life and in the world of affairs. If
there was one mastering, dominant instinct or impulses of his nature, it was to
do right for he early chose the good as his law and always aimed and labored to
diffuse it. His temperament was even, calm but positive, and like his morality
it never abated He cared little about the probabilities—the end was the truth
and from this he would not fluctuate nor with less than logical or rational
motives make excursions from it. He was withal a man of warm heart and tender
sensibilities and few unkind words ever escaped his lips. His friendships were
ardent and unflattering, his integrity and candor above reproach and his large
and genial nature stole into the minds and hearts of all who knew him in such a
way as to gain and permanently retain their confidence and esteem. After an
illness of one week's duration, on May 2d, of the year 1900, Sheridan Cox,
student, teacher, professor, superintendent and prominent educator, also an
influential co-laborer with good men and women in worthy, noble Christian
enterprises, closed his eyes in that sleep which ends this transient mortal life.

    Bessie Goodbarne, wife of Professor Sheridan Cox and, like him, educator of
distinction and many years' experience, was born at New Philadelphia and
received her early mental discipline in the schools of her native town,
subsequently pursuing the higher branches of study under the direction of some
of the most noted instructors of the state. Among those from whose teaching she
profited were Professor Joseph Welty; Rev. A. M. Bicknell, of the Lutheran
church: Rev. A. F. Oerter, of the Moravian church; and her own husband, all men
of distinguished talents in educational circles and widely and favorably known
in their respective spheres of endeavor. In due time she became a teacher and
soon made an enviable record as such before and after her marriage, her success
as principal of the Logansport and Kokomo high schools, as already indicated,
gaining for her a prominent place among the leading educators of a state long
noted for the high order of its teaching talent. Her work in the high school of
the former city was especially successful and it is doubtful if the high school
there has ever had a more efficient principal, certainly never a more popular
one and the same with equal propriety may be said of her long and useful and
distinguished career in Kokomo.

     Since the death of her husband Mrs. Cox has devoted her attention to the
Maplewood Classical School which, under her efficient and judicious management,
has become one of the most successful and popular institutions of the kind in
northern Indiana, its aim being not only to prepare students for college but to
give them a thorough training in the ordinary branches as well as to the end
that they may be well fitted for the duties and responsibilities of life.
Students from this school are admitted to all eastern colleges as well as to the
colleges, high institutions of learning in all parts of the country without
examination, the course of study including in addition to the common and high
school branches, the six books of Virgil and the seven orations of Cicero, the
higher mathematics, physics, biology and other advanced studies for the
completion of which degree are conferred at the annual graduating exercise, the
granting of these degrees being authorized by the state. Aside from her school
interests and reputation in educational circles, Mrs. Cox is identified with the
social, intellectual and religious advancement of the city in which she resides,
being active in church work, a leader in the literary life and moving in the
best society of the community. She is a lady of beautiful character, affable in
her relations with others, a close and critical student of many subjects, not
the least being the world's best literature, of which her knowledge is both wide
and profound, and the high esteem in which she is held bears evidence to her
many admirable qualities of mind and heart.

    Professor and Mrs. Cox never had any children of their own, but some years
ago they opened their home and hearts to two boys, whom they reared to maturity
and to whom they gave all the care and advantages they would have shown to
children of their own flesh and blood. One of these lads grew to useful manhood
and is now a well known physician and surgeon, practicing his profession in
Kokomo.


Additional Comments:
From:

HISTORY OF HOWARD COUNTY INDIANA
BY
JACKSON MORROW, B. A.
ILLUSTRATED
VOL. II
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

(circa 1909)

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