Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/803

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
COX
COX
759

member of the state assembly, and one year its speaker. He was also a representative from New Jersey in the 10th congress, serving from 23 May, 1809, until his death. — His grandson, Samuel Sullivan, statesman, b. in Zanesville, Ohio, 30 Sept., 1824; d. in New York city, 10 Sept., 1889. His father was a member of the Ohio senate. He at- tended the Ohio university at Athens, and was graduated at Brown in 1846. During his stay in college he maintained himself by literary work, and obtained the prizes in classics, history, literary criticism, and political economy. Adopting the profession of the law, he returned to Ohio to begin practice, but soon laid it aside, and went to Eu- rope. On his return he became, in 1853, editor of the Columbus, Ohio, " Statesman," and from that time turned his attention to political issues. While editing this jour- nal he published a gorgeous de- scription in so- ph omoric strain, which procured for him the so- briquet of " Sun- set" Cox. Mr. Cox was offered, in 1855, the sec- retaryship of le- gation in Lon- don, but de- clined it. The opportunity was given not long after of going to Lima, Peru, in a similar capacity, and he accepted. He remained in

Peru one year,

and on his return was elected to congress, and re-elected three times, serving continuously from 7 Dec, 1857, till 3 March, 1865. During three terms he was chair- man of the committee on Revolutionary claims. Mr. Cox was a delegate to the Chicago, New York, and St. Louis democratic conventions of 1864, 1868, and 1876. During the civil war he sustained the government by voting money and men, although he took a prominent part in opposing certain policies of the administration. In 1866 he took up his resi- dence in New York city, and was elected as a repre- sentative to congress in 1868, and re-elected three times. He served on the committees on foreign af- fairs, banking, the centennial exhibition, and rules. At the opening of the first session of the 45th con- gress, in 1877, he was one of three candidates for the speakership. Although not elected, he served fre- quently as speaker j5ro tern. In this session he took upon himself, by a special resolution of his own, the work of the new census law. He was the au- thor also of the plan of apportionment adopted by the house. He was the introducer and champion for many years of the bill concerning the life-sav- ing service, and finally witnessed its passage. Mr. Cox's work in congress included the raising of the salaries of letter-carriers, and granting them a va- cation without loss of pay. This latter measure involved an appropriation of $96,000, but its re- sults justified the action. He was on the committee to investigate the doings of Black Friday, Federal elections in cities, the New York post-office, and the Ku-klux troubles. He was also for many years one of the regents of the Smithsonian institution, his term closing in 1865. In 1869 he visited Europe and northern Africa, journeying through Italy, Corsica, Algeria, and Spain. In 1872 he was de- feated as candidate at large for the state, but the death of his successful competitor necessitated an- other election, which resulted in Mr. Cox's return to his seat. He was re-elected in 1874, 1876, 1878, and 1880, serving twelve consecutive years, making a total congressional service on his part of twenty years. The last effort of Mr. Cox, and for which the Chamber of commerce of New York city thanked him, was the passage of a law r.niting all jurisdic- tions in the Federal jurisdiction, so as to preserve New York harbor and its tributaries from destruc- tion. This had passed in the house, but it was de- feated on a point of order in the senate. In the summer of 1882 Mr. Cox visited Sweden, Norway, Russia, Turkey, and Greece. In 1885 he was ap- pointed minister to Turkey, but returned to the United States in October 1886 after a year's ab- sence, and in November was re-elected to con- gress. He had a reputation as an effective and humorous speaker, writer, and lecturer. In addi- tion to a large amount of newspaper and magazine work, he published " The Buckeye Abroad " (New York, 1851); "Puritanism in Politics" (1863); "Eight Years in Congress" (1865); "A Search for Winter Sunbeams" (1870); "Why We Laugh" (1876); "Free Land and Free Trade" (1876); "Arctic Sunbeams" (1882); "Orient Sunbeams" (1882); "Three Decades of Federal Legislation" (1885) ; and " The Diplomat in Turkey " (1887).


COX, Kenyon, painter, b. in Warren, Ohio, 27 Oct., 1856. After preliminary studies in Cincinnati and Philadelphia, he went to Paris in 1877, and be- came a pupil of Cai'olus-Duran and of Gerome, remaining in France, with short intervals, until 1882, when he returned to New York. He is a mcml)er of the Society of American artists. His works include " Head of Venetian Girl " (1879) ; "Lady in Black" (1880); "Pink and White" (1881); "Two Portraits" (1882); "Thistledown" (1883) ; and "A Corner Window" (1884).


COX, Lemuel, master mechanic, b. in Boston, Mass., in 1736 ; d. in Charlestown, Mass., 18 Feb., 1806. Until about the age of forty-five his life is hid in obscurity. At this time he was, on 29 Dec, 1775, imprisoned at Ipswich, because of his strong attachment to royalist principles. In 1786 began the first of his most prominent works by building the Boston and Charlestown bridge. Its length was 1,500 feet, its width 43 feet, and it was es- pecially adapted to withstand the tidal currents and ice. Its construction occi;pied but thirteen months. In 1787 he built the Essex bridge at Sa- lem, which was nearly as large. His success with these and others built by him in Maine and Massa- chusetts caused him to be invited to direct the construction of the great bridge at Waterford, Ire- land, in 1793. Mr. Cox was the inventor of a ma- chine for cutting card-wire, the first projector of a powder-mill in Massachusetts, and the first to sug- gest employing the prisoners on Castle island to make nails. For these reasons and for various other discoveries in the mechanic arts a grant of 1,000 acres of land in Maine was made to him by an act of legislature.


COX, Melville Beveridge, missionary, b. in Hallowell. Me., 9 Nov., 1799; d. in Liberia, Africa, 21 July, 1833. His early education was obtained in the common schools. At the age of about nineteen he became a Methodist, and preached as a licentiate in various towns and villages in Maine. Failing health caused him to seek a more congenial climate. He spent a few years in Baltimore and vicinity, where he received an appointment as