Louisiana AHGP

Part of the American History and Genealogy Project

Joseph C. Cox

Joseph C. Cox was born in Grayson County, Virginia on July 11, 1870. His parents were mountain people and he spent his childhood in the Blue Ridge foothills in a very primitive area. He left the area at the age of eighteen to go west and seek his fortune. Brother Cox was converted and united with the Battle Creek church in Nebraska and made his first attempt to preach one week after being baptized. He had his first pastorate in Stanton, Nebraska under the Home Mission Board of New York and had as his pastorate an entire county for four years.

He married Zona Bozeman and moved to Missouri so that he could attend William Jewell College, from which he graduated in 1902. He had a pastorate in the area, at Marcelline, Missouri and oversaw the building of a new church plant during his ministry. From here he moved to Louisiana as a pastor in local churches, including Homer, and a principal of Mt. Lebanon University. He was active in state associational work and was especially interested in the state children's home.

In 1912 he and his family moved to Kindrick, Virginia where he and his wife taught in one of the Home Mission Board's Mountain School. There he oversaw the building of a fifty thousand dollar school facility. At the beginning of World War I, he moved to Arcadia, Louisiana as pastor.

He pastored Mt. Lebanon from 1917 to 1927, Cypress Springs from 1924 to 1940 and Gibsland from 1924 till 1934. Cypress Springs Church remembers Brother Cox and his love for outdoor baptisms well. At that church, which had a baptismal poor formed by the enlargement of a nearby spring (much like the Old Tanyard Branch baptismal pool our church had) he would reserve all baptisms for the night time. Those of the church who owned cars or trucks would be requested to park so that their dimmed head lights would shine on the pool and the ladies of the church would gather wild flowers to float in the water during the ordinance. He baptized over two thousand persons and performed over thirteen hundred weddings. Ola Horton Allen remembers Brother Cox baptizing her, Boykin King and Russell Smith around 1912.

He and his wife had three sons: Charles S., Byron B. and Joseph C., Jr. Mrs. Cox was very involved in WMU work and later sponsored state R.A. camps. They are buried in Mt. Lebanon cemetery.32

Biographical Sketches| Claiborne Parish | AHGP

Source: Author's Notice: I hereby give permission for the free dissemination of any and all material included within the book and permit any non profit use of that material. Should any agency wish to use the material in a profit context, permission must be secured from the church body of First Baptist Church, Homer, LA 71040.  By Barbara Smith, Homer, Louisiana.