Worthens - Isaiah Cox Jr.

Booklet for 2011 Worthen Reunion

joefree — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 11:45:17 -0700

We printed a booklet to use in one of our activities at the reunion. Here is the digital copy of the booklet. We have 3 versions.

The first just prints full size pages. full size booklet

The second has been setup to print on a duplex (double sided) printer. So you can print it and then just have it cut in half and fold the halves together into a booklet and have it bound. duplex booklet

The third set allows you to print the odd pages then turn them over and print the even pages then cut in half, fold in half and bind. odd pages even pages

MEMORIES OF MY GRANDFATHER, ISAIAH COX, JR.

joefree — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:07:19 -0700

by Clesta Worthen Adams

I was around ten years old when Grandpa Cox and Aunt Anna moved to St. George. They had been living in the Moapa Valley, Nevada. I recall him talking about raising cantaloupes. He said the ground got so it didn't produce well - got too hard - so he had the bright idea of plowing straw into the ground, and it produced much better.

He and Aunt Anna built a new home in St. George, in the northwest part of town, and my father and mother built next door to them. Grandpa had an old threshing machine in his yard. He puttered around it a lot, hoping to invent something better. He had a large Asparagus patch in his yard, and walked with his crop to Warren Cox's hotel. He liked to sit on his front porch and read the scriptures. While married to his first wife, Abigail McMullin, he was called on a mission to the Southern states, and his family had a real struggle while he was away. My mother told me how little food they had. She was the oldest girl. He got sick and had to return home.

Information on Abigail McMullin

joefree — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:05:23 -0700

by Clesta Worthen

Abigail McMullin was born in Payson, Utah County, Utah, 12 November 1861. Daughter of Willard Glover McMullin and Mary Ann Holmes. In December 1862 she moved with her parents, who had been called to colonize the cotton mission, to Harrisburg, Wash Co., Utah. Her father died 18 Oct 1884. Her mother continued to live in Harrisburg for several years and then moved to Leeds, Wash. Co.. She married Isaiah Cox, Jr., 15 November 1882. They were the parent of eight children:

Walter McMullin Cox, born 11 Aug 1883, at Leeds, Washington, Utah
Mary Ann Cox, born 23 Jan 1885, at Harrisburg, Wash., Utah

Worthen GEDCOM

joefree — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 00:32:45 -0700

Here is the GEDCOM file I have at this point. I have also created this fan chart that shows some of the contents of the file, but not all.

As I have entered some of the stories I have found other names that are not in the GEDCOM file, so I'm sure someone has a more up-to-date copy.

But here is what I have for what it is worth.

History of William Worthen

joefree — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 00:03:15 -0700

Clesta Worthen Adams, daughter

William Gordello Worthen, son

William Worthen was born April 16. 1879, in St. George, Utah, to Joseph Smith Worthen and Mary Jane Heap Worthen. He was the fifth in a family of twelve children.

We don't know much about his childhood except that he was taken out of school each spring as soon as the grass became green to herd cows and also to work as a mason's helper carrying 'mud' or mortar. This work helped support his father's family. Mother has said she remembered him in the seventh grade when she was in the sixth, but didn't know if he finished that grade. Missing so much school accounted for his being so far behind. She was almost six years younger than he. In spite of his lack of education, he was a very refined person. He spoke quietly in a deep-toned voice, with no swearing or vulgar language.

History of Willard Glover McMullin

joefree — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 23:55:38 -0700

We, descendants of Willard Glover McMullin, can only trace ourselves through our grandfather Willard Glover, through his father, Archibald, Jr., to our great-great-grandfather, Archibald McMullin, Sr., of whom we are only sure of eight positive facts. These are:

Birth of a son to him and his wife, Martha, in Dedham, Massachusetts, in 1751. Martha died in Dedham, Massachusetts, January 14, 1753, at the age of 35.

Archibald married Anna Bacel in Dedham, June 15, 1754. Of these two women we know nothing prior to their marriage to our great grandfather, and of Martha, we do no even know her surname. Following are the remaining five dates known:

History of Mary Ann Cox Worthen

joefree — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 23:29:03 -0700

Written August 13, 1954

by herself

I was born on the 23 day of January 1885 at Harrisburg, Utah, a small ghost town some three miles south of Leeds, Utah.

My father was Isaiah Cox, Jr. and my mother was Abigail McMullin Cox daughter of Willard Glover McMullin and Mary Ann Holmes McMullin. My grandfather Willard Glover McMullin was a convert to the church, and was born in the New England States. My grandmother, Mary Ann Holmes was born in England.

I belong to a large family having 5 brothers and 2 sisters. Three of my brothers are now dead. I lived in Harrisburg until I was nine years of age, then my parents moved to St. George, Utah that their children might have better schools to attend. I have pelasant memories of my childhood in Harrisburg. There I lived near my grandmother McMullin and my grandmother Cox came to visit often. Another pleasant memory was an old gray horse named "Gray Bill". I loved to ride and he was safe for a very young child to ride. We also had many pleasant picnics with our young friends to the canyon where the Quail Creek went through the hill east of Harrisburg. The water came down the ledge causing ferns to grow, the place was cool and very pretty in the summer, though there was danger of floods when it was stormy. There was also a large tree where swings were put at Easter time when the weather was good, and the town gathered for a picnic.

Isaiah Cox, JR. and Henrietta Janes

joefree — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 22:35:04 -0700

The following two newspaper articles are the only written information we have found about Henrietta Janes Cox and her son, Isaiah Cox, Jr.

ISAIAH COX, PIONEER TO DIXIE IN 1862, REACHES 85TH MILESTONE

Monday June 5th, marked the 85th milestone for Isaiah Cox, acclaimed as the first white child born in Mt. Pleasant, Sanpete county, Utah. Mr. Cox has been ill for a month, hence the celebration of his anniversary was limited to a dinner for immediate family members.

Born June 5, 1859, in Mr. Pleasant, his parents were Isaiah Sr., and Henrietta Janes Cox, early LDS converts and pioneers to Utah in 1847. The family came to Utah's Dixie cotton mission in 1862, when Isaiah was scarcely three years old. He learned early the business of pioneering, and drove a team before he was in his teens. He was one of the boys who helped to gather the small black rocks from the ridge west of town to be hammered into the immense underground marsh on which the great white temple of St. George was erected.