Emma Florence Cox 1862-1941

In an older blog I wrote, entitled Genealogy Bug Bites Me I mentioned not knowing the maiden name of my Great Grandmother Emma Cox.  I still haven’t solved the mystery of her family past.  Being an amateur at this, I thought I’d toss it out to the experts who have done this for years and are very good.  Also, looking at the trees on Ancestry and Family Search, others have this same missing limb.

First of all, I’ll tell you what I know. 

Emily Florence Cox, called Emma by her family, was born December 5, 1862 in Cherokee County Alabama.  Sadly, the Cherokee County courthouse suffered fires which destroyed records in both 1882 and 1895.

She married Albert Henry Cox, b1857, in Etowah County, Alabama, on Sunday November 2, 1879 by H. M. Brock who was the Justice of the Peace.  Emma would have been 17 years old.  Etowah Courthouse records have her last name as Cox on the marriage records. 

The 1880 United States Census has them residing alone, at Beat 10 & 17(same page of records) Duck Springs, Attalla, Etowah, Alabama.  I believe this would have been near the Cox Gap home of Albert’s Dad, Thomas Gale Amis Cox.  The 1880 Census has her name spelled Emely F. Cox.  Every other census only lists her as Emma Cox.

Albert and Emma had the following children;

Ollie Cox                        1882-1914

James Willie Cox            1884-1975

Eula Cox                         1886-1971

Wallace Henry Cox         1888-1981

Knox Cox                        1891-1968

Claudia Ann Cox             1894-1985

Alva Mae Cox                 1896-1987

Albert died in 1915 at 58 years old, in Etowah County Alabama.  The 1940 census has Emma living with her son, Will and his wife, Amy in Alabama City, Alabama.  She passed away October 29, 1941 at 79 years old.  I have a copy of her death certificate that has parents as “unknown”.   Emma & Albert are buried in the Cox Family Cemetery on Cox Gap Road in Etowah County.

 Last week, I traveled back to Gadsden to visit the Nichols Memorial Library, which is home to the Northeast Alabama Genealogical Society.  They had four folders on Etowah County Cox families.  Most contained information I already had.  The last folder was compiled by the late Jerry Jones.  Jerry was a well known historian and genealogist.  Most of his entries for Emma were the standard “Emma F. Cox” I’ve seen everywhere, except for the last page.  Almost out of place, even.  He had Emma’s maiden name as “Wester”.   So, if this is correct, I need to find Emma Florence Wester’s family origins from Cherokee County, Alabama.

An interesting coincidence is the 1880 census I mentioned earlier.  In the house almost next door to Albert and Emma resided a Ms. Wester with two sons, Franklin and Thomas.

One other note, our son had an Ancestry DNA test done.  In his results, there were no direct connections to a Wester, but two of those listed had a Wester in their tree.  A Milly Wester, born 1770 in Warren, Georgia and Nancy Sarah Wester, born 1736 in Franklin, North Carolina.  I struck out on connections to either.

Hopefully, this will help someone solve this mystery for the rest of us.  If you are the Sherlock Holmes for Emma Cox, I will make sure everyone knows who to give the credit to.  Just leave me a comment and we'll talk!

I’ll close with a quote on genealogy I came across from an unknown author.  Some family trees have beautiful leaves, and some have just a bunch of nuts.  Remember, it is the nuts that make the tree worth shaking.