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| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-02-05 00:37:12 -0800 |
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diff --git a/old/50322-h/50322-h.htm b/old/50322-h/50322-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..928a4fb --- /dev/null +++ b/old/50322-h/50322-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,980 @@ + +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> + +<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<title> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of Biographical Sketch of Orville Southerland Cox, by Adelia B. Cox Sidwell +</title> +<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg"> +<style TYPE="text/css"> +body { color: Black; background: White; margin-right: 10%; margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: justify } + +h1 { text-align: center } + +h2 { text-align: center; padding-top: 15%; } + +h3 { text-align: center } + +h4 { text-align: center } + +p.chapterHeading { margin-right: 20%; margin-left: 20%} + +img {display: block; margin-left: auto; + margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 1%; margin-right: auto; } + +.pagenum { position: absolute; left: 1%; font-size: 95%; text-align: left; text-indent: 0; + font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-variant: normal; } + +.centered {text-align: center} + +sup { font-size: 60%} + +.sidenote { right: 0%; font-size: 80%; text-align: right; text-indent: 0%; width: 17%; + float: right; clear: right; padding-right: 0%; padding-left: 1%; padding-top: 1%; + padding-bottom: 1%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-variant: normal; } +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Orville Southerland Cox, Pioneer of 1847, by +Adelia B. Cox Sidwell + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: Orville Southerland Cox, Pioneer of 1847 + +Author: Adelia B. Cox Sidwell + +Release Date: October 27, 2015 [EBook #50322] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ORVILLE SOUTHERLAND COX *** + + + + +Produced by Margaret Willden, Mormon Texts Project Intern +(http://mormontextsproject.org) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1>Biographical Sketch of Orville Southerland Cox, Pioneer of 1847</h1> +<br><p class="centered">The Pioneer Spirit</p> +<p class="centered">The Pioneer Spirit that mastered things +<br> And Broke the virgin sod, +<br> That conquered savages and kings, +<br> And only bowed to God. +<br> The Strength of mind and strength of soul— +<br> The will to do or die, +<br> That sets its heart upon a goal, +<br> And made it far or high—</p> +<p class="centered">—Clarence Hawkes</p> +<h3>Orville Southerland Cox</h3> +<p>Biographical sketch of Orville Southerland Cox, Pioneer of 1847, +partly from a sketch written by Adelia B. Cox Sidwell for the +"Daughters of the Pioneers", Manti, Utah, 1913. </p> +<p>Orville S. Cox, was born in Plymouth, N.Y. November 25, 1814. He was +one of a family of 12 children, ten of whom reached maturity. His +father died when he was about fifteen years old. And he was then +"bound out"; apprenticed to learn the trade of a blacksmith under a +deacon Jones, who was considered an excellent man as he was a pillar +of the church. The agreement was that he was to work obediently until +twenty one and that Jones as to give him board and clothes, three +months of school each winter, and teach him the trade of +blacksmithing. No schooling was given or allowed, and one pair of +jeans pants was all the clothing he received during the first three +years of his apprenticeship, and his food was rather limited too. The +women folks ran a dairy, but the boy was never allowed a drink of +milk, of which he was very fond because the Mrs. said "it made too big +a hole in the cheese." He was indeed a poor little bondsman, receiving +plenty of abusive treatment. As to teaching him the trade, he was kept +blowing the bellows and using the tongs and heavy sledge. But the +deacon sometimes went to distant places and then the boy secretly used +the tools and practiced doing the things his keen eyes had watched his +master do. During some of these hours of freedom, he made himself a +pair of skates from pieces of broken nails he gathered carefully and +saved. </p> +<p>Also, he straightened a discarded gun barrel and made a hammer, +trigger, sights, etc, to it, so that he had an effective weapon. These +things he had to keep hidden from the eyes of his master and +associates, but secretly he had great joy in his possessions and once +in a while found a little time to use them. </p> +<p>Occasionally the monotony at the bellows and with the tongs and +sledge—was broken in other ways;—for example—at one time oxen were +brought to the shop to be shod that had extremely hard hoofs, called +"glassy hoofs". Whenever Deacon undertook to drive a nail in, it bent. +Cox straightened nails over and over, as nails were precious articles +in those days and must not be discarded because they were bent. After +a while, the boy said "let me". And he shod the oxen without a bending +a single nail; And thereafter Cox shod the oxen, one and all that came +to the shop. </p> +<p>One other pleasant duty was his: that of burning charcoal, as coal was +then undiscovered. He learned much of the trade of the woodman while +attending to the pits in the depth of the might New York Forests, as +well as having an opportunity to use his skates and gun a little. </p> +<p>He acquired the cognoman of "Deek" among his associates, and when he +had worked for something over three years, he came to the conclusion +that was all he ever would acquire, along with harsh treatment; so +during one of the Deacon's visits to a distant parish, he gathered +together his few belongings and a lunch, between two days, shouldered +his home made gun and "hit the trail for the tall timber", that being +the route on which he was least apt to be discovered. He made his way +toward the Susquehannah river. First he reached the Tioga River, which +was a branch of the Susquehannah. He began reconnoitering for a means +of crossing or floating down the river and soon discovered a log +canoe, "dug-out" as it was called, frozen in the mud. He decided to +confiscate it as "contraband of war" and pried it up, launched it, and +was soon floating and paddling in it down toward the junction of the +Tioga and the Susquehannah. </p> +<p>Shortly he felt his tired feet being submerged in cold water. Stooping +to investigate, he found that the log was leaky and rapidly filling +with water. He also found an old woolen firkin, a small barrel, that +he at once began making use of, bailing the water, alternately +paddeling, steering and bailing. He continued down the stream, keeping +near the shore as possible, in case the old dug-out should get the +best of him. The second day he heard "Hello, there, will you take a +passenger?" from a man on shore. "Yes, if you'll help bail, steer, and +row." "Barkis is willin", came the reply, so there were two in the log +canoe. </p> +<p>Then they made better time. Nearing the confluence of the rivers, they +saw a boat preparing to leave the dock for a trip up the Susquehannah, +a primitive stern wheel packet of those early days (1831). He and his +passenger applied themselves to their paddling, bailing and steering, +signalling the boat to wait; just as she started he drew near enough +to leap from the dug-out to her deck. </p> +<p>A free boy! For now he was sure pursuit would not overtake him. His +passenger called "What shall I do with this canoe?" "Keep her or let +her float" shouted Cox. (If the owner of that dug-out will send in his +bill for damages, O.S. Cox's children will cheerfully settle.) As for +food on this trip with the canoe, game was plentiful and he was a good +shot. While on this boat, he must have worked his passage, for he had +no money. </p> +<p>On board that boat with a Cargo of Southern Produce, he, for the first +time in his life, saw an orange. He remained on this little river +packet some distance up the river, then lended and found lucrative +employment at lumbering and logging, and sometimes at the blacksmith's +forge. Soon he had the good luck to find his two brothers, Walter and +Augustus, rafting logs down the river. He was an expert at this +himself. </p> +<p>Now he learned that his mother, and her younger children, Amos, +Harriet, Mary and Jonathan had gone to Ohio under the care of his +older brother, William U., via the great world famous Erie Canal; (at +that time the largest canal in the world.) So by slow degrees and hard +work he began to work his way toward Ohio. Usually he worked for +lumber companies. His two brothers did likewise. They literally walked +wall the way through the forests, the whole length of the state of New +York. Finally they were united as a family in Nelson, Portage Co. +Ohio, the former home of his future wife, Elvira, although she was at +that time an emigrant in Missouri. The eight Cox boys continued their +westward course; some of them reached California during the gold +stampede. Charles B. Cox was elected Senator from Santa Rosa Company +for a number of terms. William U. had put his property in a concern +called the Phalanx and was defrauded by the officers of every cent and +left in debt $3000.00, an enormous sum for those days. Orville's +mother Lucinda, and her family went to Missouri. Walter had receive +the gospel in Ohio previously. Orville heard terrible stories of the +outlawry of those "awful Mormons"; but he became personally acquainted +with some (Among them a Sylvester Hulet). He decided they were sinned +against. He lived in Jackson County for a time, and ever after Jackson +County Missouri was the goal of his ambition; He believed to his dying +day that he should one day return to that favored spot. </p> +<p>Orville met and loved Elvira in Far West, but was not baptized. He +said he didn't propose to turn Mormon to procure a wife. When the +Saints were driven from Missouri, he located near Lima, Illinois, with +a group of Mormons and helped build the Morley settlement. </p> +<p>Nearing his 24th birthday, he was a thorough frontiersman, forester, +lumberman, a splendid blacksmith, a natural born engineer; in short a +genius and an all around good fellow. He was six feet in his socks and +heavy proportionately. </p> +<p>While here he won the heart of the orphan girl, Elvira P. Mills, who +was living with her uncle, Sylvester Hulet. But she hesitated about +marrying a gentile. October 3, 1839, however, she yielded, and they +were married in Father Elisha Whiting's home, at the Morley Settlement +by Elder Lyman Wight. </p> +<p>The two newly weds, on October 6, 1839, drove into Nauvoo twenty miles +away, and Orville S. Cox was baptized by the Prophet Joseph Smith. He +went a gentile and returned a full-fledged Mormon, so short a time it +takes a woman to make a convert. He was a faithful L.D.S., full of love +and zeal. He was a member of the famous brass band of the Nauvoo +Legion. When the Prophet and his brother were killed, none mourned +more sincerely than he. He assisted those more helpless or destitute +in the migration from Nauvoo. His stacks of grain were burned at the +Morley settlement by the robbers, and they fled to the City of Nauvoo, +he with his wife and two children—the oldest child had died when an +infant as a result of its mother having chills and fever, and from +exposure resulting from mobbers' violence. </p> +<p>He attended the meeting where Sidney Rigdon asked the Saints to +appoint him as guardian, and where Brigham Young claimed that the +Twelve Apostles were the ordained leaders; and many times thereafter +he testified that he saw Brigham Young changed to appear like Joseph +and heard his voice take on the Prophet's tone. And after that +manifestation he never doubted for a moment that the rightful +leadership of the Church was vested in the twelve, with Brigham Young +at their head. He remained in Nauvoo till almost the last departed. He +assisted Browning in transforming the old rusty steamer shafts into +cannons that were so effectually used by Daniel H. Wells at the Battle +of Nauvoo. </p> +<p>Leaving Nauvoo with the last of the Mormon exiles, he crossed Iowa and +settled at Pisgah, where he served as counselor to Lorenzo Snow, +President at Mt. Pisgah. In his devoted attachment to Lorenzo Snow, he +was an enthusiast; also to Father Morley and he would follow their +leadership anywhere. Orville and Elvira had their two children, Almer +and Adelia. </p> +<p>An incident that illustrated the pioneer life of 1845-6 is told in the +story of the "Last Match." In the winter of 1845-6 Orville S. Cox and +two Whiting boys, cousins of Elvira, went from Pisgah with ox teams +and wagons down into Missouri with a load of chairs to sell. Whitings +had a shop in which they manufactured chairs. Being successful in +disposing of their chairs, and securing loads of bacon and corn, they +were almost home when an Iowa blizzard, or hurricane, or cyclone, or +all in one, struck them. Clouds and Egyptian darkness settled suddenly +around them. They had not modern "tornado cellars" to flee into and no +manner of shelter of any kind. The cold was intense; the wind came +from every direction; they were all skilled backwoodsmen and knew they +were very close to their homes; but they also knew that they were +hopelessly lost in that swirling wind and those black clouds of snow. +They and their oxen were freezing, and their only hope of life was in +making a fire and camping where they were. Everything was wet and +under the snow, and an arctic wind in the fierceness of unclaimed +violence was raging around them. At first, they unyoked the oxen that +they might find some sort of shelter for themselves. Then with +frost-bitten fingers they sought in the darkness and storm for dry +fuel. The best they found was damp and poor enough—and now for a +match. Only three in the crowd, and no such matches as we have in +these days either. Inside a large wooden bucket in which they fed +grain, they carefully laid their kindling. Then turning another bucket +over it to keep out of the falling snow, and hugging close over to +keep the wind off, they lifted the top bucket a little and one of the +Whiting boys struck a precious match. It flickered, blazed a moment +against the kindling and was puffed out by a draft of wind. Another +match was taken, and it died almost before it flared. Only one match +remained to save three men from certain death. Their fingers were so +numb they could not feel, and every minute increased their numbness. +"Let Orville Try; he is steadier than we", they said. So Orville, +keenly sensing his responsibility, took the tiny splinter of wood and +struck the spark; it caught, it blazed and the fire lived and grew. </p> +<p>Now they were in the woods and the fuel was plentiful and soon a +roaring blaze was swirling upward. The cattle came near, and although +their noses and feet were frozen, their feet grew new hoofs and their +noses healed of frosted cracks. When the storm broke and light +appeared, they found themselves only a few rocks from their home +fences. </p> +<p>For a good reason, Orville was not in the Battalion draft. The Whiting +boys, Sylvester Hulet, and Amos Cox were. But Orville was very busy +manufacturing wagons. It was told of him that he found a linch pin and +said, "I'll just make a wagon to fit that pin". He prepared as good +and serviceable an outfit as his limited means would allow for the +long dreary journey to the mountains. Two home made wagons, without +brakes—brakes were not needed on the eastern end of the journey—two +yoke of oxen, three yoke of cows, a box of chickens on the back of a +wagon, a wife and two children, with bedding and food, was the outfit +that started across the plains the last of June 1847, singing the song +"In the spring we'll take our journey. All to cross the grassy +plains." He travelled in the hundred of Charles C. Rich, known as the +Artillery Company. Cox was captain of one of the tens. Oh! the +seemingly endless level prairie! The monotony was terribly wearing. +When Independence Rock was sighted, and again when Chimney Rock was +sighted, it was wonderful relief. Great land marks they were, in that +unsettled country. Now they were sure they were approaching the Rocky +Mountains, especially the children longed for that goal. </p> +<p>One evening at camping time, 4:00 P.M., a herd of buffalo were sighted +about two miles away. The people were very hungry for a piece of fresh +beef, so Father and one companion shouldered their guns, snatched +their percussion caps and powder horns, and started to "try a hunter's +luck." About sunset they got their steak, a generous load of the best +cuts from the Buffalo, and started for camp. On and on they went. What +they thought was a two mile stretch lengthened and lengthened, and +their loads of meat grew heavier and heavier. They began to think they +were lost; but the camp fires and stars told them they were going in +the right direction. Finally they decided to fire their guns. This +they did, and it filled the camp with alarm, least the hunters were in +danger. Two or three men rushed away in the darkness to give aid, and +they fired their guns to locate the hunters. Several shots brought +them together. "Help us with this grub pile", they said. Help was +given. They reached the camp at 11:00 o'clock. It must have been six +miles or perhaps ten to the herd of buffalo. They were now in the +clear air of the up-lands and could see much farther than they had +been able to see in the Mississippi valley. </p> +<p>The next morning all in the camp had a feast of fresh meat. </p> +<p>After leaving the Platte River, while travelling along the sweet Water +River, the company met General Kearney and his company of Battalion +scouts with their illustrious prisoner, the great path-finder +Freemont. </p> +<p>(When California was freed from Mexican rule, Freemont and his little +band, who had helped to free it, were greatly rejoiced; and in their +enthusiasm his followers proclaimed Freemont governor. General Kearney +arrived and expected to be governor by right of his generalship. He +was very angry and had Freemont arrested and sent to Washington.) </p> +<p>With Freemont's guards were Sylvester Hulet, Elvira's Uncle, and Amos +Cox. They had traveled many weary months in an unknown, lonely +country; and C.C. Riche's company were also travel weary. To thus meet +relatives so unexpectedly was a joy unspeakable to both parties. </p> +<p>Now the battalion men heard from their families left in Iowa, for the +first time in more than a year. And tears of joy and sorrow were +freely mingled. A daughter of Amos had died. Sylvester's wife had gone +to New York where the Whitmer's and her father and brothers lived; so +he decided to return to the Rocky Mountains with the pioneers, and +Kearney gave him his discharge. Amos Cox continued with the prisoner +to Fort Leavenworth, where he received his honorable discharge, and +then went to his weary waiting family in Iowa. </p> +<p>The pioneering company continued on westward. At Green River, near +Bridger's Station, they met pioneers who had reached Great Salt Lake +Valley and made a start toward a new home; and were now returning to +the camps in Iowa, with more definite knowledge and instructions to +impart to those who were to come to the mountains next year. They told +Rich's company many things regarding the way that lay before them, and +it was a great relief to know that they were nearing their +destination. </p> +<p>From now on the mountains were on every side; frowning cliffs looked +ready to fall on and crush the poor foot-sore travelers; for people +raised on the plains are apt to have a shuddering of such sights. C.C. +Riche's artillery company rolled into the valley of the great Salt +Lake. They were only two or three days behind Jedediah M. Grant's +company of one hundred wagons. </p> +<p>Being expert in handling lumber, Cox was immediately sent into the +canyon for logs. Houses must now be built. Among other timbers, he +brought down a magnificent specimen of a pine for a "Liberty Pole", +which he assisted in raising on Pioneer Square. It was the first pole +to carry the stars and stripes in the city. One had been raised on +Ensign Peak before. They wintered in Salt Lake Valley. There another +son, Orville M., was born November 29, 1847. </p> +<p>Very early in the spring of 1848 father moved from the Adobe Fort with +his wife and three children, and began farming in Sessionsville, Now +Bountiful; He was the first bishop of the ward. There they had the +famous experience with the crickets. He devised the broad paddles, as +well as the oft mentioned methods, to try to exterminate them; and +then came the Gulls. He raised a crop in '48 and '49 there; also he +dug the first well in Bountiful, and struck water so suddenly as to be +drowned by it before he could be hauled up. In the fall of '49 he was +called to go with "Father" Morley's company to colonize the valley of +Sanpitch. </p> +<p>He arrived at the future site of Manti November 19, 1849. The journey +from Salt Lake City to the Sanpete Valley occupied one month, breaking +new roads, fixing fords, and building dug-ways. The forty families +worked industriously, sometimes only movin' forward two or three +miles. One six mile stretch in Salt Creek Canyon occupied them a whole +week. The only settlement between Salt Lake and Manti was Provo, +consisting of a little fort of green cottonwood logs. </p> +<p>After getting through Salt Creek Canyon in two weeks, they worked to +their upmost strength for it began snowing on them there; and it was +far from being a desirable winter's home. That winter was one of the +hardest with the heaviest snow fall for many succeeding years. +Arriving at their destination, camp was made by the Morley's company +on the south side of Temple Hill which was a sheltered spot. Now they +must do their upmost in canyons, raising log cabins, sowing lumber on +the saw pit, which was the most primitive of saw mills. </p> +<p>Orville was an expert at hewing and squaring the logs with his ax, and +making everything as comfortable as possible in their home. All winter +long they had to help the cattle find feed by shovelling snow in the +meadows, as the snow lay four feet deep. It was May before the snow +was gone so that the men could begin to clear the ground and begin +their farming. Then there came irrigating ditches to dig and the usual +labor of clearing, plowing, and planting. </p> +<p>Between their individual duties, they found time to build log school, +and a bowery, and then a meeting house. They felt that it was quite +commodious. Here in the long evenings of the winter of 1850-51 Cox +taught a singing and dancing school. Sarah Potty was the first school +of Ma'am. In the winter of 1850-51, school was taught by Jesse W. Fox. +In 1850 he was elected Alderman. </p> +<p>O.S. Cox married Mary Allen about 1854; he served many years as the +first counselor to Bishop Lowry; and he was captain of the Militia. He +was very energetic in the performance of his duties, especially +through the protracted period of the Walker war. He married Eliza +Losee about 1857-59. He served under Major Higgins, and old Battalion +veteran. </p> +<p>To be sure, nobody appreciated more than he did a liberty pole, and all +that it typified, so he was commissioned to find one at the earliest +convenient moment for Manti; this he did in 1850. Ten years he labored +faithfully for the upbuilding of Manti, and then like Boon and +Crockett, "he wanted more elbow room" and moved to Fairview, Sanpete +County. He also moved part of his family to Gunnison (Hog Wallow, it +was called then) and raised two crops there. In February 1864, he +moved part of his family to Glenwood, built a cabin there and raised a +crop. He sold out and moved elsewhere to engineer ditches. He +engineered over forty ditches in Utah and Nevada, as near as his +children can remember in 1910, as well as doing all other kinds of +pioneer work. </p> +<p>In 1865 he was advised by Lorenzo Snow to move to the Muddy, a branch +of the Rio Virgin, a stream running through Moappa Valley, to assist +in surveying and making irrigation ditches there. The soil was very +rich, but there was so much quick sand that it made it almost +impossible to build a dam that hold or to irrigate without washing +away the soil. So he went south into southeastern Nevada. He thought +that was the route the saints would travel going back to Jackson +County, so he was that much nearer the final home. He labored here for +six years, and engineered a number of dams that would hold against the +floods and treachery of quicksand. They had only poor home made plows +and a few other tools to work with, and no cement or modern building +material. He also built cabins and cleared and tilled the land there. +In clearing the land, the "Mesquite" brush root was the hardest +digging they encountered. St. Thomas, St. Joseph and Overton, the 3 +towns in the valley were partly of his building. The first trip, he +took with him his third wife, Eliza, and her one child, a little two +year old girl; and Walter, a 14 year old son of the first wife, +Elvira. The following year, after crops were in and the spring work +done, he returned to Fairview after another section of his +family—Mary, the second wife, and her five children. From that time +on O.S. Cox's life is a volume of tragedy and hardship. The life in +the burning desert is always more or less unpleasant, and pioneering +is excessively hard. And he was past fifty years old. </p> +<p>During his absence, Eliza's little girl Lucinda, took her little pail +to the creek to get some water; the quicksand caused her to slip and +she was drowned. They took her out not very far from down the stream, +but could not resuscitate her. The poor mother, among strangers and +homesick, was unconsolable in her sorrow. Walter, seeing his little +pet companion stricken in all her robust beauty and health, was wild +with grief, and could not be comforted. After a time the neighbors +concluded that Walter would die if some change did not come to get him +to sleep and eat. They told Eliza of their fears for him, and so the +disconsolate mother tried to hide her own grief and comfort him. It is +said it was the saddest thing the woman there ever saw, to see the +brave mother and the boy trying to comfort each other in their +loneliness. Fifty years later, it was a nightmare to Walt. </p> +<p>Almer, Laun and Walt all went to the Muddy in 1867, the year Mary was +moved. In 1868 Philmon, fifth son of Elvira, a very promising lad of +thirteen, died of appendicitis, at that time called inflammation of +the bowels. Then Mary lost a little daughter, Lucy for whom she +grieved many years. </p> +<p>Financially the prospects were more promising than ever before. They +had planted a large orchard, and a vineyard that was just coming into +bearing. Then a new line was run between the states of Utah and +Nevada, which gave this section to Nevada, and Nevada demanded back +taxes; and they amounted to more than their farms and houses were +worth. So Brigham Young said, "Come home to Utah." They came. </p> +<p>Elvira, with Orville a grown son, Walter 17, Tryphena, Amasa and +Euphrasia, returned to the old home in Fairview, leaving all of their +beautiful peach orchards and vineyards, fields of cotton, cane, wheat +and the comfortable houses in the most fertile of lands, which they +had subdued and made to "Blossom as the Rose" by seven long years of +toil and privation. They rendered absolute obedience to their great +leader; and so they hitched up their teams, took their most choice +belongings, and wended their way back to Utah, leaving their +settlement and farms to pay Nevada the back taxes it had demanded. </p> +<p>One company which had thoroughly learned the trick of building a dam +in quick sand of the desert, stopped at an abandoned settlement in +Long Valley, Kane County. O.S. Cox and sons began the engineering of +irrigation canals and dams, and so on, as they had cleaned and +repaired the deserted cabins, so that they offered partial shelter +from the February storms. The people named this town Mt. Carmel. </p> +<p>When the former settlers learned that they had builded dams that would +stand, they came back and said, "Get Out, this is ours," So the weary +pioneers moved again, this time only a few miles farther up the valley +into a pleasant narrow cove, and went to work to build more dams, more +ditches and more cabins. In one place the water had to be carried +across a gulley, and it gave more trouble than all the rest of the +canal. After a while Cox, without comment or consultation, went into +the timber and found a very large log and felled it, made of it a huge +trough, placed it across the gully and it reached far enough to secure +a solid bed above the quicksand. Thirty years later, this "Cox Trough" +was still doing successful service as a flume. </p> +<p>In 1875, when Brigham strongly taught the principle of Cooperation, +this company of saints were organized by unanimous consent into the +united order of Enoch, and named their town Orderville. Their little +property, mostly cattle, horses and wagons, were owned jointly. Twelve +years father labored joyously and unselfishly in the "Order". The town +grew and thrived; the arts, schools and trades were remarkably well +represented by the young. Prosperity and a measure of plenty was +there, in spite of the fact that there were more infirm people in that +ward than any ward in the church. </p> +<p>Then dissatisfaction and disunion came, and the "Order" broke up. +There was not a great deal of property to divide, although some people +came out with more property with others, according to the amount they +consecrated in. Mary and Eliza, father's second and third wives, each +received a team and wagon. Mary and her family located in Huntington, +Emery County, Eliza and her family in Tropic, Garfield County. Father +well along in years, and broken in health, could do little more than +advise his sons. Eliza was dying of cancer. In 1886 Orville S. Cox +came to Fairview to the best-provided for branch of his family. One +year he remained an invalid, and on July 4, 1888 he laid his exhausted +body down to rest. The passing was quiet and peaceful. His two wives +Elvira and Mary and many of his descendants were with him at the last. </p> +<p>The following are some of the thriving towns O.S. Cox assisted in +founding: Lima, Ill.; Pisgah, Iowa; Salt Lake City, Bountiful, Manti, +Gunnuson, Fairview, Glenwood of Utah; St. Thomas, St. Joseph, Overton +of Nevada; Mt. Carmel, Orderville and Tropic of Utah. </p> +<p>If man ever earned his salvation, surely O.S. Cox did. Always found in +the van where the hardest work was to be done, and if he advanced the +cause one iota, no matter at what loss, or cost to himself, he +considered he had been eminently successful. Never was there a murmur +from him. </p> +<p>To illustrate the ingenuity of O.S. Cox's ditch making, here is the +story of the Pig Plow as told by an old settler of Fairview, Pappas +Brady. </p> +<p>"When the ditch was first laid out that was afterwards called "City +Ditch", every man and boy was called on to come and work on it every +day til it would carry water. This was in the spring, and it had to be +finished before the fields were ready to be plowed and planted. The +men turned out well with teams and plows, picks and crow bars and +shovels. There was a rocky point at the head of the ditch to be ut +through, and it was hard pan, about like cement. Couldn't be touched +by plow, no siree; now more than nothing. We was just prying the +gravel loose with picks and crowbars, and looked like it would take us +weeks to do six rods. Yes, six weeks. Cox looked at us working and +sweating, and never offered to lift a finger. No sir, never done a +tap; just looked and then without saying a word, he turned around and +walked off. Yes, sir, walked off! Well of all the mad bunch of men you +ever saw I guess he was about the maddest. Of course, we didn't swear; +we was Mormons and the Bishop was there, but we watched him go and one +of the men says, "Well, I didn't think Cox was that kind of a feller." +His going discouraged the rest of us, just took the heart out of us. +But of course we plugged away pretendin' to work the rest of the day, +and dragged back the next morning." </p> +<p>"We weren't near all there when here came Cox. I don't just remember +whether it was four yoke of oxen or six or eight, for I was just a +boy, but it was a long string and they was every one of a good pulling +ox. And they was hitched on to a plow a plumb new kind, yes sir, a new +kind of plow. It was a great big pitch pine log, about fourteen feet +long, and may have been eighteen, with a limb stickin' down like as if +my arm and hand was the log and my thumb the limb; he had bored a hole +through the log, and put a crow bar down in front of the knob; and +cross ways along the log back of the limb he bored holes and put stout +oak sticks through spikes. They were the plow handles; and he had +eight man got ahold of them handles find hold the plow level and he +loaded a bunch of men along on that log, and then he spoke to his +oxen." </p> +<p>"Great Scott, ye oter seen the gravel fly, and ye oter heard us +fellers laugh and holler! Well, sir, he plowed up and down that ditch +line four or five times and that ditch was made, practically made. All +that the rest of us had to do was to shovel out the loose stuff; he +done more in half a day than all the rest of us could a done in six +weeks." </p> +<p>"Why didn't he tell his plans the first thing, so we wouldn't be so +discouraged, and hate him so? Why, cause he knew it wouldn't do a +might of good to talk. He wasn't the Bishop; and even if he had been, +plans like that would sure be hooted at by half the fellers. No, +siree! His way was the best when a bunch of men and a thing a workin' +they see believe; yes, sir, seein' is believin." </p> +<blockquote><p>The Pioneer Mother </p> +<p> Upon a jolting wagon sent she rode +<br> Across the trackless prairie to the west, +<br> Or trudged behind the oxen with a goad, +<br> A sleeping child clasped tightly to her breast, +<br> Frail flesh rebelling, but spirit never— +<br> What tales the dark could tell of woman's tears!!— +<br> Her bravery incentive to endeavor; +<br> Her laughter spurring strong men past their fears. </p> +<p> O to her valor and her comeliness +<br> A commonwealth today owes its white domes +<br> Of State, its fields, its highways, and its homes— +<br> Its cities wrested from the wilderness. +<br> Its bones in memory above the hand +<br> That gentled, woman-wise, a savage land. </p> +<p>—Ethol Romig Fuller </p></blockquote> + + +<h3>Transcriber's Note</h3> + +<p>The original pamphlet contains many images that were omitted in this +electronic version. Scans of the original work can be found at +<A HREF="https://archive.org/details/biographicalsket00sidw">archive.org</A>. The poem "The +Pioneer Mother," originally presented in a sidebar, has been moved +to the end of the work for improved readability on typical e-reader +devices.</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Orville Southerland Cox, Pioneer of +1847, by Adelia B. 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