Grant H. Cox

GRANT H. COX. The present mayor of Herndon is one of the old timers of Rawlins County, has been a homesteader and farm owner here for over thirty years, and has been an active figure in the political and public life of Herndon for over twenty years.

Grant H. Cox was born in Page County, Iowa, October 2, 1868. His paternal ancestors came originally from England and settled in New Jersey. His father, George W. Cox, was born at Dayton, Ohio, in 1827. From that city in early manhood he moved to Indiana, married in Indiana, and about 1866 established his home on a farm in Page County in Southwestern Iowa. In 1880 he left Iowa and farmed in Nemaha County, Kansas, until his death in 1900. George W. Cox was a Union soldier during the Civil war. He enlisted in 1863 in the One Hundred and Fifty-First Indiana Infantry. He served nearly two years and fought in the great battles of Lookout Mountain and Chickamauga, besides many minor engagements. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and in politics a republican. He married Jane Hiatt. She was born in Virginia in 1824 and was a Quakeress in religious faith. She died in Page County, Iowa, in 1872. She became the mother of twelve children, Grant H. being next to the youngest. Lewis is a farmer near Blockton, Iowa. Mary married John Tabler, a farmer at Hiawatha, Kansas. Jesse died young. Richard W. is a farmer at Seneca, Kansas. Cynthia died young. Coleman is a farmer at Forest Grove, Oregon. Martin was a rancher in the Black Hills, Wyoming, and was accidentally killed there in 1905. DeLafayette, a carpenter and builder, was accidentally killed in Washington. Irene is the wife of J. H. Hoffman, a farmer at Berne, Kansas. Charles owns a theater and business building at Olympia, Washington, and John, the youngest of the family, is a partner of Charles and lives at Olympia.

Grant H. Cox was twelve years of age when his father moved to Nemaha County, Kansas. He first attended school in Page County, Iowa, later in Kansas. He lived on his father's farm to the age of twenty, and in 1889 came west to Kansas and homesteaded a quarter section in Rawlins County. Later he sold that land, and his present farm comprises 240 acres six miles north of Herndon. He runs it as a grain and cattle proposition. Since 1897 Mr. Cox has been a resident of Herndon. He was appointed postmaster by President McKinley, and has filled that office eighteen years. He owns a store building in Herndon and also has a fine residence property, consisting of a house built in 1906, with a large yard, barn and other outbuildings. Mr. Cox since leaving the postoffice has been employing his time in a hardware store at Herndon. Politically he is an active republican. He held several town offices from the time the town was incorporated and is now deputy county clerk and was elected mayor in 1917. For ten years he was a member of the city council and has been a member of the school board for the past four years. He is also a stockholder and director in the First State Bank of Herndon.

Mr. Cox is affiliated with Atwood Lodge No. 164, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and is past master workman of Lodge No. 374, Ancient Order of United Workmen. In 1899, at Oberlin, Kansas, he married Miss Mary Demmer, daughter of Matt and Marie (Ecker) Demmer. Her father lives near Herndon, and was one of the early farmer settlers there. Mr. and Mrs. Cox have ten children: Blanche, a junior in the Herndon High School; Grace in the same class of high school as her sister; Fern, a member of the senior class in high school; Lewis and Florence in the eighth grade of the public schools; Francis in the sixth grade, Ruth in the fourth grade, while the three younger children still at home are Gladys, Harlan and Chester.

Pages 2478-2470.