The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1920-07-29

And Is Now Candidate For FEesi-
dent.
Continued From Tuesday,
William Cox, the Governors six
} ty-eight- -year-old brother, who told
=, The World part of this story, was a
little bit uncertain as to the number
OF his aunts and uncles, but said be
, believed Gilbert Cox had thirteen
children. One of them. Gilbert, Jr.,
was married to Eliza Andrews, the
, daughter of nearby farmer, ano
went on farther West to Illinois,
where he acquired a farm and made
considerable money threshing wheat
for his nei5hbors.
He remained there until 1864
when Gilbert, ST., wrote that he was
getting too old to work the old home
stead, and asked his namesake te
. return to help him out. Gilbert
Jr. sold out in Illinois the farm
which he had taken up and paid for
in a few brief years. and returned
20 Jacksontown, where in the old
Cox homestead, James Middleton Cox
was born on March 81, 1870, the
youngest of seven children.
From his mother, says Mr.. Hop
Elin's, undoubtedly came 4 large de-
gree of the natice courage which he
has displayed since. William Cox
is quoted as to her characteristics:
she was a brave woman. She
had the reputation of not being
afraid to drive any horse there was
in the county. And once when a
team was running away, she slept
in front of the horses. grabbed their
brides and staped them after they
had crashed through Il fence. She
went down TO the river, where a
mole was cut through the ice in order
that she might enter the water and
be baptized"
Jimmy CoX's early boyhood was
just what might be expected of any
boy on an early Ohio farm. By the
time he had graduated from dresses
into short trousers he had his chores
assigned to him, and he kept on do
ing chores until he left the farm
when he was fifteen years old and
went to Middletown to get some fur
ther education.
Prior to that time he had learn
ed all that it was possible for him to
learn in the country school which
Gilbert Cox, Jr., supported, and
which has since been marged into
one of the modern community
schools which the activities of the
Governor have made possible for
Ohio.
Governor Cox does not boast of
| ;, .,IDi1 se
brother has it likewise, with the
statement that young Jimmy nev
had to read a lesson more than OK s
| to get it. and that when ds1n enstras Z
ed with by his teaeher with Yolz
won't have your lesson if you don
study more" he would reply:
"Oh. yes 1 will, Mr.. Archem."
In those days Jimmy had no as
pirations to be President, but when
taken down to Middletown by his
father, he would tell his family on
his return:
Il am going to be a Middletown
store-keeper one of these days.
BY this he meant that his high
est aspiration was to assume what
| looked to him to be the free and
| easy life in the village store, but he
never even made a start toward real
izing this ambition. At the age of
| fourteen, however, he had obtained
job as janitor at the schoolhouse,
which netted him a little spending
money. He added to this the work
of sexton of the Church of the Unit
ed Brethren, if which he became a
member and which his family attend
| ed.
| This involved getting out early On
| Sunday morning and starting the
| fires in the old-fashioned stoves. But
| at fire-starting he was no adept and
| he has been heard to remark several
| times in later years that the sermons
! of the minister were a good deal
| hotter than the blazes with which he
sought to keep the congregation
warm.
This lasted only year, for when
| fifteen-it doesn't quite appear
whether with or without his fathers
| consent-he went 70 Middletown and
was taught by his brother-in-law,
| John Baker, who was also the sole
editor and proprietor of the Middle
town Signal. Young Cox made fast
work Of his learning, and at the age
of sixteen went down to Hammond
| to be examined for a situation as
| teacher. He passed the examination
with flying colOrs.
| Because of his youth, however,
| getting a place was not easy. The
! three trustees of the district in
which he applied were Jacob Camp,
| Newt Long and Worth Snyder. The
young man went to Snyder's wagon
making shop and begged just for a
| tryout. Snyder respondede that
| there wasn't a chance. So the boy
| went to Camp, with whom he had
| had some previous acquaintance.
| and got Camp to take him around to
! the other directors.
| He said that if he didn't give salts
! faction they could fire him on the
| spot. and with this understanding,
he received the job. His brother
| tells how he not only taught the
| school but engaged in all sorts of
| sports with the children, and it was
| not long until he was famous as the
hoy teacher" who was getting re-
suits.
His fame spread throughout the
| country, and the next year the Titus
| district hired him for a bigger sal
ary. Next he went to Woodsdale
Mills and then the Titus district
hired him back again. All this
time he was continuing his own
studies. He also found time TO take
on a job of teaching a night-school
that had been established for negroes
and the story is still told of how an
old slave, taught to write by Jim
| Cox. had sent a letter TO Washing
| ton through which she located re
latives of whom she had been seek
! ing information for many years.
! But his brOther-in-law's paper
| early claimed a good deal of his at
! tention. He began his work on this
! by acting as delivery boy and going
| around every Saturday to make col
| lections from the subscribers. 1t