Fayette County PA Archives Biographies.....Cox, Michael A. July 26, 1821 - ????
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Marta Burns marta43@juno.com September 1, 2024, 9:01 am

Source: Gresham and Wiley, 1889: Biographical & Portrait Cyclopedia, Fayette Co, PA, pg 263
Author: John H. Gresham & Samuel T. Wiley

    Captain Michael A Cox of Brownsville is one of the 
ablest as well as safest commanders that ever trod the deck 
of a steamboat, and is one of the oldest steamboat captains 
now in active service on the western rivers.  He has 
commanded twenty two different steamboats, being part owner 
in all of them, on the Monongahela, Ohio, Mississippi, 
Missouri, Arkansas and Cumberland rivers.  He has also a 
pilot's license on all of these rivers.  Transporting 
hundreds of thousands of passengers, moving millions of tons 
of freight, he has never has an accident by which a life was 
lost or any amount of property destroyed.
    The beginning of his long and so far distinguished 
career upon the "Western Waters" was in 1844 as a clerk of 
the steamboat MASSACHUSETTS, commanded by Captain Isaac 
Bennet.  Captain Cox is now commanding the Adam Jacobs on 
the Monongahela river.
    Captain M A Cox was born in Hampstead, Carroll county, 
Maryland, July 26, 1821, and is a son of Jacob Cox and 
Keziah Armacost Cox, both natives of Carroll county, 
Maryland.
    Jacob Cox came to Fayette county in 1825 and engaged in 
his life long pursuit of farming near Brownsville.  He died 
in 1836 and his wife passed away eighteen years later.
    Captain Cox obtained his education in the country 
subscription schools of that time: his attendance was, 
however, limited to the winter sessions as he was employed 
on the farm during the summer.
    At seventeen years of age, he turned his attention to 
the mercantile business.  In order to properly qualify 
himself for that pursuit, he engaged as a clerk with James L 
Bowman of Brownsville with whom he remained for six years.  
He completed his experience in mercantile life with two 
years spent as a clerk for Jesse H Duncan in an iron and 
commission house in Brownsville.
    He was united in marriage, May 7, 1850, to Miss Mary 
Ellen Krepps, a daughter of the Hon Samuel J Krepps; she 
died in 1880 leaving five children: Annie E Cox, Samuel K 
Cox, Solomon G Cox, Michael A Cox Jr, and Mary E Cox.
    Two of his sons, Samuel K Cox and Solomon G Cox, are 
successful businessmen of Chicago and the other, Michael A 
Cox Jr, is a prosperous businessman of St Louis.  One of his 
daughters, Mary E Cox, married Mr William J Parshall; the 
other, Annie E Cox, is single and has the care of her 
father's comfortable home in Brownsville.
    In addition to his Brownsville possessions, Captain Cox 
owns a valuable body of land in West Virginia, besides other 
property.  Thus he has accumulated enough of this world's 
goods to render him comfortable in his old age, and to give 
his children a fair start in life.
    He is a man of fine and commanding presence.  
Politically he is a democrat.  Although not connected with 
any church, his religious views are in accord with the 
teachings of the Protestant Episcopal church.  The captain 
in forty five consecutive years of service in navigating 
western rivers, has often piloted his own boats.
    He is as spry and active as the general run of men who 
are his juniors in age by twenty years, and bids fair from 
his present appearance to tread the deck for a number of 
years to come.
    The Captain has been a prominent member of the Masonic 
order for more than thirty years, and has been eminent 
commander of St Omer's Commandery No 7 at Brownsville for 
many years.

Additional Comments:
Originally submitted 2000.

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