Ohio County, West Virginia Biography of J. Frank COX ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , March 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 97 J. FRANK COX throughout his active career of thirty years has given his skill and energies to one industry, the Wheeling Mold & Foundry Company, of which he is now shop super- intendent. Mr. Cox was born in New Martinsville in Wetzel County, West Virginia, February 13, 1876, son of James M. and Mollie (Ruddick) Cox. He is a descendant of three notable old families in the West Virginia Northern Panhandle. The Cox family had early settlement in Brooke County, and he is also connected with the Woods family of Ohio County and the Cresap family of Marshall County, his paternal grandmother being Jane Cresap Cox, who was also a great- aunt of Mrs. Hannah O. Cresap Cox. Reminiscent of the Woods family influence in this district is Wood Street in Wheeling and also the former suburban town now incor- porated portions of Wheeling known as Woodsdale, Wood- lawn and Edgewood. J. Frank Cox married a member of the Cresap family, a name that recalls the earliest recorded history in the Upper Ohio Valley. Thomas Cresap was a representative of the Ohio Company in building its first forts and storehouses on the western slope of the Alleghenies. Michael Cresap, a son of Thomas, was one of the group of pioneers who were associated with Fort Fincastle, predecessor of Fort Henry at Wheeling. Members of both the Cresap and Cox families were present at the signing of the treaty with the Indians on Piqua Plains near the old town of Chilli- cothe, Ohio. James Franklin Cox's mother had lived in Keokuk, Lee County, Iowa, and her son's education was begun in the pub- lic schools of Keokuk. He also attended school in Marshall County, West Virginia, and spent one year, 1890-91 at Linsley Institute at Wheeling. Soon after leaving school Mr. Cox began his apprenticeship as a machinist with the Wheeling Mold & Foundry Company. He was one of the first employes of the company and is now the oldest in years of service of any employe or official of the industry. For a number of years he was a draftsman with the company and now has the responsibilities of machine shop superin- tendent. Mr. Cox is also a director of the Fulton Bank & Trust Company in Wheeling. In politics he is non-partisan. He is a member of the Masonic Club of Wheeling and is affiliated with Wheeling Lodge No. 5, F. and A. M., and West Virginia Consistory No. 1 of the Scottish Rite at Wheeling. He also belongs to Wheeling Lodge No. 114, Knights of Pythias. Mr. Cox is a member of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church. October 22, 1902, at Cresap's Bottom in Marshall County, he mar- ried Hannah O. Cresap, daughter of Quincy and Elizabeth Cresap, of Cresap's Bottom and Moundsville. Her ancestor, Michael Cresap, above noted, surveyed some of the first lands along the bottoms of the Ohio River, and some of these lands are still in the hands of the Cresap and Washington heirs. Mr. and Mrs. Cox have an interesting family of seven children: E. Jane Cox, a student in West Virginia University at Morgantown, Jessie R., James F., Mary F., Robert C., Charles Q. and Michael Cresap Cox.