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Below is a family biography included in The History of Cedar County, Missouri published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Richard N. Cox, circuit clerk of Cedar County, Mo., is a native of Knoxville, Tenn., where he was born on the 21st of May, 1841. His father, Richeson Cox, was of English descent, and was born in 1782, in Knox County, Tenn., where he spent his entire life engaged in farming. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, and died at the advanced age of 102 years. His wife, Mary Ann Julian, was also born in Knox County, Tenn., and is yet living, and draws a pension for services rendered by her husband in the War of 1812. Curd Cox, the paternal grandfather, was a native of Virginia, and a farmer by occupation. At an early day he removed to Knox County, Tenn., and there he died in 1853, at the age of ninety-six years. Richard N. Cox is the third of seven children and was reared on a farm until seventeen years of age, and from that time until 1858 was in his father’s stock stable at Knoxville, Tenn. In the fall of 1858 he left Tennessee, and went to Montgomery County, Mo., and was engaged in the saw-mill business until June 9, 1861, when he enlisted in Company K, Sixth Missouri Infantry, U. S. A., and was in the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Vicksburg, Arkansas Post, Jackson’s Siege of Vicksburg, Missionary Ridge, and was in the Georgia Campaign. At this time his term of enlistment expired, and he returned home and organized Company K, Forty-ninth Regiment, and was chosen first lieutenant and afterward brevet captain. After the war he was commissioned to administer the amnesty oath, and was discharged at Mobile, Ala., December 20, 1865. He then spent six years in Tennessee engaged in merchandising, and in 1871 came to Missouri and began merchandising at Springfield, but sold out two years later and went to Fair Play, where he remained six years. In 1879 he went to Caplinger’s Mills, selling goods there three years, and the two following years was at El Dorado, being the first merchant of the place. From 1884 to 1886 he was the proprietor of the Palace Hotel, now the St. James, and at the latter date was elected to the office of circuit court clerk on the Republican ticket by a majority of 274 votes, and entered upon the duties of his office in January, 1887. February 26, 1866, he married Miss Sarah E. Julian, a daughter of Capt. A. M. Julian, of Springfield, Mo. She was born in that city in 1845, and is now the mother of the following family: Effie Rosella, wife of Hartwell Busby; William A., Flossie Iduma, Minnie Pearl, Mamie and Robbie. Mr. Cox belongs to the G. A. R., Hubbard Post No. 154, of Stockton.

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This family biography is one of 92 biographies included in The History of Cedar County, Missouri published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Cedar County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Cedar County, Missouri family biographies: Cedar County, Missouri Biographies

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