Charles Henry COX

1879 - 1949  (70 years)

• Name	Charles Henry COX
  Nickname	Charlie
  Born	23 Mar 1879	Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England   [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
  Gender	Male
  History	OBITUARY: Bellingham Herald, 23 Sept 1949, pgs. 1 & 25. According to his WWII Draft Registration Card (SN-U1796), signed on 25 Apr 1942, he was indeed born on 23 Mar 1879, was 63 years old, had his left leg broken three times, was 5’ 4” and weighed 161 lbs. However, he states he was born in Nottingham, England, which contradicts the 1881 Census from England.
  Immigration	8 Sep 1890	Alaska; New York   [6]
  	Came over with his mother, departed from Liverpool.
  Occupation	Bus Driver, Salesman
  Religion	Protestant (Presbyterian)
  Died	23 Sep 1949	Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington
  Buried	26 Sep 1949	Greenacres Memorial Park, Ferndale, Whatcom, Washington
  Notes	Charles Henry Cox, my father, worked at the Leopold Hotel for many years. One morning he put one foot on the snowy bus step and the other foot slipped into the huge spoked wheel, breaking his leg above the knee. Can you imagine lying in a hospital bed for thirteen months trying to get the break to heal? In those days, they put a bucket of sand over the foot of the bed and attached it somehow to Dad's leg. That was supposed to heal a break? He broke the same leg twice more in the ensuing years and ended up on crutches for the remainder of his life. From his bed he took up selling magazines - Ladies Home Journal, The Country Gentleman, and The Saturday Evening Post. He did a great business, adding more magazines as needed. I must include here that Dad and nine other people were the first settlers in Bellingham, so he knew everyone. Today it is a city of 50-60,000 people. Everyone subscribed to his magazines because they felt so sorry for poor Charlie and his brood of Coxes. When Dad died 23 Sept 1949, he was doing a $30,000 a year business, mostly by telephone. He had customers as far away as Alaska and China. I came in on this story because every Saturday, I had to walk to town (about four miles) and collect money from deadbeats or those who just forgot to send their money. As a youngster, I learned to just stand before these deadbeats who supposedly didn't have any money, and eventually they would produce it. It was their family who went without dinner and not ours. Dad loved his tea, being an Englishman from Nottingham, England. When sugar was rationed during World War II, he would hog the sugar bowl and dump everyone's portion into it. He liked a little tea with a lot of sugar in it. Mother soon took care of that by putting a little sugar in his cup first. Dad would order meat every morning by telephone, because in those days we didn't have refrigerators. What a happy day that was when somebody invented and started producing them. When Dad called the butcher, he'd say, "Bring me $1.00 worth of steak and if I'm not home, just stick it through the keyhole." What a nut! Wonder what he would think of today's prices. He lived about seven years longer than Mother, and was pretty lost without her. He lived his last days and years with DeEtte, my oldest sister. When it comes to my father, I know too little about his side of the family. There weren't that many children for one thing and information is sparse concerning them. Here is what I do remember about my Aunts and Uncles on my father's side. 1) Aunt Florence and Uncle Harry Farley We called her Aunt Flossie and she was quite a woman - the head of this, that, and the other thing and was a great do-gooder. She and Harry had three boys, Dr. Otis Farley and the twins - one was a dentist and the other one drowned. Her husband owned the big feed store in Bellingham. (Glenn's father owned the big feed store in Durand, which he took over when his father, Russell, died.) Aunt Flossie was always trying to do something for Charley's kids. I'll never forget her bringing me over size "9" dresses all made alike and size "9" pairs of long ORANGE stockings, which matched the orange dress only. No matter, I still had to wear them. I appreciated Letty's and Rhoda's hand-me-downs to that. I was in High School. Mother was so grateful, and I was crushed - where had she gotten such a bunch of junk? I compensated by taking my one pair of silk stockings with me to school, quickly removed the orange beauties at the store en route, then put them back on when I came home. 2) Uncle Albert Cox - unmarried I can remember very little about him, except when he moved into a one-room apartment in the Richmond Hotel overlooking Main Street in Bellingham. It was our duty, as kids, to pay him a visit on Saturdays. I'll never forget when somebody converted him to Catholicism and gave him a Rosary. He tried to explain what it was and how it worked, we never did get the hang of it. He died before Dad on 18 Mar 1939. 3) Aunt Polly and Uncle Arthur I never did know Uncle Arthur. He was gone before I appeared on the scene. Her real name was Mary Ellen Robinson. She had a son named Theodore who dearly loved trains. One day, he got to wondering what would happen if he put his foot on the rail.(?) He did, and ended up with half his foot cut off and the rest of his life was spent crippling around. They lived three blocks up the alley from us, so we saw them often. She was born in Nottingham, England, in 1873. 4) Uncle Walter Cox This is just to name him. I know nothing about him. [7]
  Person ID	I68	Reid Family | David's side of the family, Lynn's side of the family
  Last Modified	28 Mar 2018

  
  

  Father	William Albert COX,   b. 27 Feb 1842, Owersby, Lincolnshire, England ,   d. 29 Apr 1921, Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington  (Age 79 years)
  Mother	Anne Roulston JOHNSON,   b. 24 Sep 1843, Limber, Lincolnshire, England ,   d. 27 Sep 1917, Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington  (Age 74 years)
  Married	19 Jan 1868	Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England
  Documents		Cox, W&A (1881 Eng.)
  Family ID	F67	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Roxanna (Roxey) BIGNELL,   b. 4 Dec 1879, Porcupine, Pepin, Wisconsin ,   d. 3 Oct 1942, Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington  (Age 62 years)
  Married	30 Aug 1899	Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington   [8]
  	Rev. J. W. Miller
  Children	+ 1. Richard William Henry COX,   b. 2 Jun 1900, Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington ,   d. 19 Jun 1972, Quesnel, North Cariboo, British Columbia, Canada  (Age 72 years) + 2. Rhoda Janette COX,   b. 24 Mar 1912, Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington ,   d. 28 Jul 1997, Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington  (Age 85 years) + 3. Florence ‘DeEtte’ COX,   b. 4 Feb 1902, Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington ,   d. 7 Mar 1983, Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington  (Age 81 years) + 4. Charles Albert COX,   b. 25 Sep 1903, Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington ,   d. 14 Jul 1986, Seattle, King, Washington  (Age 82 years) + 5. Leonard Rudolph (Moses) COX,   b. 8 Mar 1905, Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington ,   d. 25 Apr 1968, Yakima Valley Regional Center, Yakima, Yakima, Washington  (Age 63 years) + 6. Walter ‘Lee’ COX,   b. 10 Jul 1906, Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington ,   d. 15 Dec 1991, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California  (Age 85 years)   7. Clifford Clayton COX,   b. 18 Jun 1908, Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington ,   d. 16 Dec 1931, Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington  (Age 23 years) + 8. Letitia (Letty) Maude COX,   b. 27 Apr 1910, Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington ,   d. 15 Dec 2002, Sedro-Woolley, Skagit, Washington  (Age 92 years)   9. Glen Edgar COX,   b. 29 Aug 1913, Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington ,   d. 12 Nov 2001, Catonsville, Baltimore, Maryland  (Age 88 years) + 10. Russell Gordon COX,   b. 21 Jun 1915, Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington ,   d. 12 Feb 1970, Seattle, King, Washington  (Age 54 years) + 11. Ruby Carol COX,   b. 9 Jun 1917, Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington ,   d. 18 Oct 1996, Hemet Valley Hospital, Hemet, Riverside, California  (Age 79 years)
  Photos		Cox, Charles H.-1879 & Family (~1914) Back Row: Florence DeEtte-1902, Charles Albert-1903, Richard William-1900 Middle Row: Leonard Rudolph-1905, Charles Henry-1879, Letitia Maude-1910 (sitting on table), Roxey Ann-1879 Front Row: Glen Edgar-1913 (on Charles’ lap), Clifford Clayton-1908, Walter Lee-1906, Rhoda Janette-1912 (on Roxey’s lap) Picture taken in early 1914.
  		Cox, Charles H.-1879 & Family (~1920) This Family of Thirteen Deserves Crown from Tulip Town Back Row: Florence DeEtte-1902, Charles Albert-1903, Leonard Rudolph-1905, Walter Lee-1906, Clifford Clayton-1908 Front Row: Rhoda Janette-1912, Charles Henry-1879, Glen Edgar-1913, Richard William-1900, Letitia Maude-1910, Roxey Ann-1879 Small Children seated in very front: Ruby Carol-1917, Russell Gordon-1915 Since the Bellingham Herald a few weeks ago made a survey of Bellingham’s “big families”, showing that Charles Cox, popular driver at the Hotel Leopold, is the father of the largest Bellingham family, the suggestion has been made that Mr. Cox and his family be presented to the readers of The Herald. It is with considerable satisfaction that The Herald is able to comply with the implied request, and herewith presents Mr. and Mrs. Cox and their eleven children, all of whom were born in Bellingham. It also offers the suggestion that they deserve to be crowned as the champion family of Tulip Town.
  Documents		Cox, Charles H. & Bignell, Roxana Marriage Record
  Family ID	F55	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 23 Mar 1879 - Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England Married - 30 Aug 1899 - Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington Died - 23 Sep 1949 - Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington Buried - 26 Sep 1949 - Greenacres Memorial Park, Ferndale, Whatcom, Washington  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Photos		Cox, Charles H
  		Cox, Charles H

  
  

  Documents

  Cox, W&A (1881 Eng.)

  
  

  Headstones

  Cox, Charles H.-1879 (HS)

  
  

  Ships

  S.S. Alaska The Alaska was a record breaking British passenger liner that won the Blue Riband for the Guion Line as the fastest liner on the Atlantic in 1882. She was a slightly larger and faster edition of Guion's Arizona and in 1883 became the first liner to make the crossing to New York in under a week. However, Alaska burned 250 tons of coal per day, as compared to Arizona's already high 135 tons. Built by John Elder & Company of Glasgow, she carried 350 first class passengers and 1,000 steerage. As in the case of Arizona, Stephen Guion also personally owned Alaska. Alaska completed 100 voyages when Guion suspended sailings in 1894. She proved difficult to sell and was finally chartered in 1897 by Cia. Transatlanticia Espanola as a troop transport. In 1899, Alaska was sold for scrap, but was resold to the Barrow shipyard where she was used as an accommodiation hulk until broken up in 1902.

  
  

• Sources

  [S237] United States Federal Census, New Whatcom, Whatcom, Washington; Enumeration District #244, Pg. 14B. [S238] United States Federal Census, Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington; Enumeration District #319, Pg. 6A. [S239] United States Federal Census, Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington; Enumeration District #209, Pg. 5B. [S240] United States Federal Census, Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington; Enumeration District #37-6, Pg. 11A. [S365] England Census, 1881, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England; District #14, Pg. 72. [S239] United States Federal Census. [S9] Recollections of Ruby Carol COX (REID). [S421] Washington, Marriage Records, Image #787.