Kentucky: A History of the State. Perrin, Battle & Kniffin, 6th ed.,1887,
Spencer Co.

JOSEPH B. COX was born in Spencer County, Ky., near the present site of
Waterford, on January 12, 1821.  The family of which he is a representative
is of Scotch-Irish descent.  Jonathan Cox, his father, engaged in farming
in Spencer for many years, and was one of the first justices of the peace
commissioned after the formation of the county in 1824.  He also served as
sheriff for several years, and was a public spirited, enterprising citizen.
He moved to Missouri in 1835, and died there in October 1853.  His wife was
Mary, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Froman) McGee, early residents of
Nelson County.  She died in January, 1833, leaving four surviving children,
viz.: James E.; Mary Ann, who married James H. Hobbs of Taylorsville, Ky.;
Joseph B., and Sallie M., who resides in Quincy, Ill., as the widow of
Erasmus Moffett, a former prominent citizen of that place.  Joseph
Blackburn Cox passed the earlier years of his life at Taylorsville,
receiving his education at the schools of that place, and finishing at the
academy.  At the age of fourteen he entered the clerk's office of Spencer
county as deputy under Raphael Lancaster, the old experienced clerk to
whose prudent control of young men, wise and judicious counsel, and correct
business example, he is indebted for many of those elements of his own
character that have proven most valuable to him in the later years of his
life.  He remained one year in the clerk's office and then removed to
Missouri with his father, but returned in 1839, and re-entered the office
of the circuit and county clerk under Mr. Lancaster, remaining in that
office as deputy until 1851, when he was elected county court clerk of
Spencer County under the provisions of the new constitution of Kentucky.
He was afterward re-elected to the same office for six successive terms,
holding the position for nearly twenty-four years, when he declined further
election.  In 1860 he was duly licensed to practice law, and practiced his
profession with success until 1879.  He then withdrew from active practice,
and devoted his time to the performance of his duties as executor of
several estates, and as school commissioner.  He was appointed master
commissioner by the circuit court in 1879, and has performed the duties of
that office since.  He was one of the organizers of the Bank of
Taylorsville in March, 1882, and has occupied the office of president
continuously since, conducting its affairs, assisted by E.D. Bourne,
cashier, with an intelligence and degree of success that is seldom attained
by similar institutions.  In political affairs Mr. Cox was identified with
the Whig party until its dissolution, and then affiliated with the
Democratic party.  He was equally opposed to secession and coercion during
the war, but was in sympathy with the Southern cause after the invasion by
the North.  He has not aspired to political office, but confined himself to
the performance of his duties as clerk, and to that of other positions in
the line of his profession.  He has been a member of the Presbyterian
Church of Taylorsville since March, 1840, and has served as deacon in that
body, and is a ruling elder at the present writing.  The first permanent
Sunday-school in the county of Spencer, owed its establishment and
continuance in a great measure to the efforts and faithful support of Mr.
Cox, who, for a quarter of a century, was the superintendent, and an
unfailing worker in this department of the church.  Here, through his
example and teaching, perhaps the most lasting impress of his life has been
made, many of the present active generation owing their guidance and
association with this cause to his services, from which has grown a general
system of Sunday-schools over the county.  Mr. Cox is a Master Mason, and
is now a member of Taylorsville Lodge, No. 210, is a charter member and was
the first Worshipful Master of said lodge.  He is of a peculiarly modest
and retiring disposition, is universally trusted and esteemed in the
community in which he resides, is one of the oldest residents of
Taylorsville, and has always held an important relation to the growth and
development of that place.  He married, December 5, 1850, Ann B., daughter
of James H. and Rachel D. (McGee) Brown, of Spencer County, both of whom
have passed away from an honorable and useful life, the former in Union
County, Ky., February 25, 1868, and the latter in Mount Vernon, Ind., July
8, 1887.  Mr. and Mrs. Cox have no children.

Cox Froman McGee Hobbs Moffett Lancaster Bourne McGee Brown
=
MO Nelson Adams-IL Union Posey-IN

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/spencer/cox.jb.txt