Son of William Cox & Elizabeth Turner

Marrieed Eliza Roberts, 1 Mar 1836, Deerhurst, Gloucester, England

Cox, John – born in England where prior to his conversion to Mormonism he was possibly a parson in the Church of England and then became a member of the United Brethren. He married Eliza Roberts in 1836 and had at least two children in England. He was baptized into the LDS Church in June of 1839 in England and the family emigrated to America, arriving at New Orleans 16 April 1841, and on the immigration documents he was listed as a "farmer." They traveled up the Mississippi River to Nauvoo where more children were added to the family with the records confused as to the number. They were in the exodus from Nauvoo and frequently traveled with friends from their days in England and first heard the news of recruitment of Mormons for the war with Mexico at Mt. Pisgah. They received this news with great reluctance since many of them were not American citizens, having emigrated from England many on the same ship Echo, and most of them had families. In addition, they were fully aware of the lack of protection for the Mormons by the government in the troubles as experienced at Nauvoo and Missouri. Furthermore, they couldn't understand why Church leaders were now so adamant and forceful in the recruiting of Mormon soldiers. The Church leaders' heavy recruitment by emphasizing this military service as being a religious duty rather than a patriotic one caused many in the traveling group to give their names as volunteers. They were John Cox and his brother-in-law Levi Roberts, as well as Daniel Browett, Robert Harris, Richard Slater and Robert Pixton. At Council Bluffs they were enrolled between July 16 and July 21st in Co. E, the last company formed and the smallest. Cox and his five cited friends made the march all the way to California. At the end of their one-year enlistment they were mustered out at Los Angeles on 16 July 1847. Some 223 men formed under Levi Hancock and subdivided into four groups with intentions to go to the new home of the Mormons. The six friends (Cox, Roberts, Browett, Harris, Slater and Pixton) camped and ate together. They moved north some five hundred miles and failing to find Walker's Pass, they settled on the Truckee route over the mountains at Donner Pass. When they encountered Capt. Brown from Utah with counsel from Brigham Young, only Harris continued eastward to Utah with Hancock's party to arrive at Salt Lake in early September of 1847. A large number of the Mormons returned to California were Cox and his friends found employment with Captain John A. Sutter in various places and positions. Most finished their work with Sutter even after the word spread about the discovery of gold. Some, perhaps most, did some searching for gold. By June of 1848 a group determined to go to Salt Lake selected a rendezvous point some forty to fifty miles east of Sutter's Fort in a small valley they named "Pleasant Valley." Cox was here with at least three of his long-termed friends and the group brought supplies, wagons and animals along with two small brass cannon purchased from Sutter. Cox contributed $20 and Browett $10 for these cannon out of a total subscription of $512. Three men went ahead to scout the best way but never returned; later their bodies were found. Finally by 3 July 1848 they decided the mountain snow had melted sufficiently to allow crossing of the mountain. This party known as the Holmes-Thompson company blazed a new road over Carson Pass and then across the desert and took the first wagons over the Salt Lake Cutoff and arrived at Salt Lake the first week of October of 1848. The details of the coming together of Cox and his family are not known. The family settled in Weber County where additional children were born into the family. They remained in Weber County until 1867 when they moved to Oxford, part of Cache Valley in Idaho. John Cox died at Oxford sometime around 1868 and was buried in the Oxford, Idaho Cemetery.