Born: January 20, 1812 Plymouth, Chenango, Oswego County, New York
Died: June 5, 1879 Manti, Sanpete, Utah
Baptized: October 3, 1968
Ordained: High Priest 1839
Endowed: Dec, 25, 1845 Manti Temple
Son of: Johnathan Upham Cox and Lucinda Blood (Sealed to parents: April 24, 1896)
Married: Emeline Whiting September 16, 1835 Nelson, Portage, Ohio by the Prophet Joseph Smith. (Sealed: January 27, 1846 Nauvoo Temple)
Frederick Walter Cox was usually called just Walter by his family. He was 18 years old when his father died. Frederick Walter Cox was the third son and being the older of the boys he tried to be a father to his younger brothers and sisters. It is said that he was a “smooth shaven man and he was tall and well appearing”. It is assumed that he went to work in the timber industry. Some say the Coxes sawed bridge lumber for the Erie Canal. The canal was near completion at this time. Around 1833 or 1834 Walter and his brothers floated a great raft of lumber down the Susquehanna for three hundred miles. At Harrisburg, Pennsylvania they parted. Walter and William went back up the river where they were joined by Charles and traveled through New York and Pennsylvania to Ohio. When they had a house ready they moved the rest of their family to Ohio. Walter was quite a hunter. He occasionally took the gun and brought back a deer before breakfast. One day Walter shot a wild turkey; later he found a nest of wild turkey eggs. He put the eggs under a setting hen and the chicken hatched and raised the wild turkeys.
Shortly after Joseph Smith came to Kirtland only 25 miles north of Nelson. Frederick Walter met the Mormon Elders and was converted while in Windham. He and his family were baptized in 1834. Some family records say that they were baptized by Thomas B. Marsh. On September 16, 1835 F. Walter and Emeline Sally Whiting were married by Joseph Smith at the Hurlbert home in Geauga County. The saints started migrating to Missouri. The whole church was alive with the spirit to go build up a Zion in Missouri. Emeline told that “they hitched up a wild steer with an old cow to their covered wagon and went hurrying off to Missouri to be there before the Savior arrived.” They moved with the prophet and other Saints to Far West, Caldwell County, Missouri in 1836. Lucinda died at the age of 51 on December 25, 1838. Driven from Caldwell County, Missouri to Hancock County, Illinois in 1839, they pitched their tents in the backwoods where they lived until log cabins could be built. At Quincy, Illinois on May 19, 1839, Frederick Walter Cox was one of eight men to be ordained a Seventy. They settled in the Morley settlement in Illinois. The cabin home was built of logs. Its roof had been covered with earth to shed the water. The floor had been made of split logs hewed with an ax and pinned to the ground with wooden pegs to keep them from moving. Across the one small window, a cloth had been tacked to keep out the cold. In 1840 while living in Lima, Illinois Frederick and Edwin Whiting were counselors to Isaac Morley when he was Bishop and also when he was Stake President. The three served in the same manner in Manti, Utah many years later. Frederick operated a chair-making shop there. In April of 1844 Frederick Walter Cox was called to New England to preach the restored gospel and speak for the election for the Joseph Smith as president of the United States. In the fall of 1845 mobbers came upon the Mormon settlement in Lima and burned their homes, barns, grain, and hay and drove the people away. After the mob burned the Morley Settlement the men, for want of food, returned there to harvest corn from their abandoned fields at night. One night the mob set fire to a stack of straw near a barn and concealed themselves. Frederick Walter Cox and a group of men came out of the cornfield to put out the fire to save the barn. The mobsters shot and killed one of Fredericks group and one pointed his gun at Frederick Walter with the full intent to shoot him. As he did so, such a strange feeling came over the mobster that he could not bring himself to pull the trigger. Upon learning of it, Cox “acknowledged the power of the Almighty in his remarkable escape, and knew that his work was not yet finished.” In the Nauvoo Temple on January 27, 1846 Frederick married two girls Jemima Losee and Cordelia Calista Morley.
When the family arrived at Mt. Pisgah F. Walter Cox built two huts for his family. He also cut down trees, split the trunks and made benches for a little school in a grove. The lower benches were for seats and the higher ones for desks. Frederick Walter Cox Jr. attended school there. In the fall, when F. Walter finished gathering his corn crop, he took his three wives and four children and made his way toward Winter Quarters. F. Walter Cox wanted to go with the company of families that was heading west, but Brigham Young assigned him the job of inspecting wagons. Therefore he remained at Winter Quarters for a time. He moved to Silver Creek, Mills County, Iowa and raised corn, potatoes and other vegetables. He made chairs, which he would barter away in Missouri for provisions. His family lived a long way from the mills so he made a mill of his own. In 1851 F. Walter was summoned into court and was told that it was not lawful for him to keep his two younger wives. He said “I will never desert those two girls, so help me!” They agreed to leave him unmolested if he would move Cordelia and Jemima out of Mills County on or before January 15th. The only place that he was able to find was a deserted cabin in Carterville, Pottawattami County. Jemima had three children and expecting her fourth, and Cordelia had three children. A wagon loaded with food, bedding, a stove, etc. was fitted out for the mothers. The stable was 14 feet square. There on February 29, 1852, Jemima’s time was upon her, an awful blizzard was raging and they were miles from help. A ‘kind woman from beyond the veil’ came and helped, and a baby girl was born named Esther Philena Cox. As soon as everything had been taken care of and the babe place in it’s mothers arms and the kindly woman left and neither of the wives ever saw or heard from her again. They always felt that this was God-given aid, for who could have expressed such a keen sympathy or sent more needed help. Jemima had nine children and Cordelia had seven children.
Frederick’s brother, Amos Cox, joined the Mormon Battalion. Near the Arizona-California border they encountered a heard of wild Mexican bulls. Amos was caught on the horns of one bull and thrown at least 14 feet high and severely injured with a 7-inch tear in the groin. Not trusting the company Doctor, Amos requested that his hurt be kept a secret among his friends. Sylvester Hulet (brother of our ancestor Charles Hulet) sewed the wound up and it was healed in less than 7 days. When General Kearny arrived in California, he found that the great pathfinder, John C. Fremont, had proclaimed himself the First Governor of California. Since this was not acceptable and according to law, Kearny arrested Fremont and took him prisoner to Washington D.C. for usurpation. Both Amos Cox and Sylvester Hulet were chosen as guards to escort the illustrious prisoner on the trip east.
Frederick’s brother, Orville Sutherland Cox was the first Bishop in Bountiful Utah in 1848. Orville married Elvira Pamela Mills, daughter of Robert F. Mills and Rhoda Hulet (Sister of Charles Hulet, our ancestor.)
Frederick Walter Cox joined Captain Walker’s company at Council Bluffs. His outfit consisted of three wagons. The third wagon was teamstered by Frederick Walter Cox Jr. Frederick Walter Cox carried a barrel of drinking water on the side of his wagon and filled it every morning with water and added a cup of vinegar and some sugar, thinking it was more healthful to drink. They also had five milk cows. They put a barrel of milk on the side of the wagon every morning and by evening they would have fresh butter to eat. They traveled about fifteen miles per day. Cholera broke out in the camp and F. Walter came down with the disease, but eventually got better. They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on September 28, 1852. Then they went on to Manti, Utah.
Frederick and his family arrived in Manti on October 4, 1852. That first winter they lived in a little log cabin owned by Sylvester Hulet, situated on the corner lot on 2nd North and 1st West. The next year they moved into what was called the little stone fort and stayed there for nine years in two sixteen foot rooms with four wives and 19 children. In the spring of 1853 they purchased the Old Cox barn and used it for sleeping quarters. When Fredrick Jr. married Lucy Allen they added another member to the Cox family, making 25 that used the Old Barn for sleeping quarters. During seven of the Nine years spent there they were building a house inside the Big Fort. They had to work at night after the day’s work was done. They built twelve rooms with one large room on the third floor, which was used, for a schoolroom and dance hall. A singing school was taught by W.K. Barton and Uncle Orville Cox taught dancing. The house was split in quarters and each wife lived in a section with a fireplace in each section. They all had to work hard to help make a living. Such as clearing the land of brush and making it ready for cultivation, going in the canyon for lumber, logs and wood, making roads and dug ways, and helping build two forts for the protection of the people against the invasion of the red men. On October 11, 1854 Frederick took a fourth wife, Margaret Lydia Losee, the younger sister of his wife Jemima. They had three children together.
Frederick played the flute beautifully and was a good singer and sang in the choir. One time a salesman tried to sale Frederick a sewing machine, but he did not see the point. The salesman said “But Brother Cox this is a Singer.” To which Frederick replied, “That’s nothing, I have a houseful of singers.” They lived and enjoyed the blessings of their labor and the entertainments and social gatherings of their friends and neighbors who were always made welcome and enjoyed themselves in the sociability of the Cox family.
Brigham Young visited Manti early in January 1858. Edmond and Mary Richardson asked Brigham Young for a blessing that they might have more children. (Edmond had become a eunuch because their previous faith, Presbyterian, felt it was improper to have more than two children.) Brigham Young presented them with the names of three worthy polygamist men. He told them to choose one of the three to father some children for them. They choose Frederick Walter Cox, who hesitated to fill the request. Brigham Young used strong persuasion on Frederick Walter. Brigham Young gave a temporary separation to Edmond and Mary and performed a civil marriage between Frederick Walter Cox and Mary Richardson on January 9, 1858. Edmond went away to work but he sent alimony to Mary. She continued to live at the Richardson home. It was agreed that any children born to Mary would carry the Richardson name. Mary gave birth to two little boys the first Edmond and the second, Sullivan was born January 26, 1861. A year or so after Sullivan C. Richardson was born, Edmond Richardson returned from his labor at the mines. Frederick Walter and Mary were separated and she was again united with Edmond.
On April 17, 1863 Frederick Walter Cox left home on a mission to England. The President of his mission was George Q. Cannon. On October 17th, he had his first baptism in England, George Ward, and confirmed him the following day. On the 24th he baptized seven people: Hugh Clayton, Elizabeth Clayton, William Bell Hunt, Nancy Parker, Mary Toping, Rosan Greyson and Catherine Ward. He commented once in his journal about the rain in England, “If God is not angry his feelings do not correspond with the frowning of the heavens for it rains almost constantly.” On March 28, 1864 Frederic Walter went to Jarrow England and organized the Jarrow Branch. On November 2, 1864 He baptized John J. Hart in the bath. Also Sister Wilson, Richard Wilson, Robert Wilson, Robert Stevens and John William Embleton in the sea. December 6, 1964 he baptized Sister Isabella Newby in the sea. He labored for thirteen months with Brother Joseph H. Felt. On February 26, 1965 he baptized Favor Cox and Jane Sutliff Nott. On April 18, 1865 he baptized and confirmed Robert Midleton and Elizabeth Kilbarn. As he prepared to leave England for home the saints gave him a flute as a token of their love for him. On April 29, 1865 he set sail for New York, arriving June 1, 1865. On returning, and while on the frontier, he sold his watch and other personal property and borrowed some from his brother, fitted up a team and brought five orphan and friendless children to Utah. He served in England for 27 months arriving home in October 1865. When he returned home he gathered his large family around him and sat on the porch with his flute and the children all sang.
Frederick served as counselor to President Chapman and he held the office of High Priest and officiated in laying the northwest corner stone of the Manti Temple. He said; “We now pronounce this northwest corner stone properly laid and we pray God our eternal Father that his spirit may rest down upon all who work in connection with the building of this temple. Amen.” He was also chosen in the Territorial legislature. He held the office of county treasurer for many years along with other offices of trust. One winter the snow stayed on the ground until May in Manti. In the spring the rattlesnakes were very thick. All night long the people killed the poisonous rattlers. They built fires of dry willows to see by and threw the dead snakes on the fire. Some said they killed 1500 but no one counted. As Stake counselor, Frederick raised his hands to heaven and dedicated Temple Hill against rattlesnakes; none were seen thereafter. The people were hungry and food was very scarce, but south of Temple Hill they found a new plant for ‘greens’ that was tasty and most nourishing. They cut the leaves week after week. Finally when the wheat turned yellow and was ready to use the greens disappeared and was not seen again.
Frederick Walter Cox, then fifty-eight years old, married Emma Sophia Petersen, age twenty, as his sixth wife on October 11, 1870. He build a smaller stone home south of the big one for Emma while the four older wives continued to live together in the large home.
Frederick Walter was called on a special mission to the Indians in the fall of 1876. It was told that sometime after that, a whole company of Indians came to visit him. They sat mounted on their horses, between 1,000 and 1,200 Indians, filling the street in front of his home. He stood on the porch of the stone home and preached to them in their own language for an hour or more. The Indians found Frederick to be a true friend and counselor. They never left him in anger, because he spoke forcefully and honestly. He put President Young’s advice “It is better to feed them than to fight them” into practice and he often would kill a beef and give them a feast. He always kept his word with them and they knew that he did not talk with a ‘forked tongue’. Often he would go with them for two or three days at a time. He spoke three Indian dialects: Blackfeet, Navaho, and Ute. The Indians came to him with many of their troubles.
On June 2, 1897 Frederick and some sons were unloading logs at the sawmill behind the house and his head got caught in-between two logs. He was taken to the house where he lived until June 5th. He spoke one word in that time, when the question was posed whether the family should send for William, his son, to come home from his mission; he said, “NO!” Frederick was a man of more than medium height and weight. He had brown hair, blue eyes, a mild and kind temperament and a loving disposition. He was a father in the community and everyone wished him near them in a time of sickness or sorrow. There was something about Frederick that inspired one to better thoughts and better deeds. He seemed to read the countenance of people like an open book, and unless their lives were clean few came to trouble him. He was always able to look everyone in the eye, speak his mind and give his advice and counsel, which was sought in all the affairs of life. The poor and the downtrodden looked to him for comfort. Even the Indian found him a true and lasting friend. His talk to them was so forceful and the right so plainly pointed out that they were usually willing to follow his directions. He read things with so clear an eye and understood cause and effect so well that his work was almost prophetic. His sublime faith, his unfaltering integrity in all the walks of life made him a husband, a father, a friend, and a good citizen to be loved, honored and respected by all. His life was success and the bond of affection that still continues unbroken among his descendants is one of the forceful evidences of his worth. All their highest ideals, their greatest achievements, their loyalty to the principles and faith of their fathers are tributes to his memory. All together he was the husband of five wives who bore him fourteen sons and twenty-two daughters. His wives were all noble women, who acted well their part in helping to maintain their families and in educating them.
Submitted by Ginger S. Vandenburg, 2010