Cox

Aaron Asbury Cox — One of San Bernardino's early settlers, Aaron Asbury Cox was also one of the leading practical horticulturists of the county, for although he was born and educated in the East and saw quite a little of the pioneering in farming in Colorado, he was not in his adopted home long before he took up the growing of oranges. In this he was more than successful, and later he added the packing of the golden fruit, building a packing plant of his own first, then being the chief promotor and stockholder in the Rialto Packing House and having many hundreds of acres of fruit under his jurisdiction in packing and shipping. When he passed away he was the president of the company.

Mr. Cox was born on a farm, reared on one and naturally his plans and ambitions were all in that direction from early boyhood. His birth took place on September 11, 1860, at Vernon, Illinois. His father, John Cox, was a native of Ohio and while he was a farmer he was also the very capable sheriff of Fayette County at one time.

Mr. Cox was educated in the public schools of Vernon, Illinois, afterward assisting his father on the home farm. When he went out in the world to make his own future he located in Central Illinois and followed farming for a few years, but, deciding to come West, he located in Burlington, Colorado, during the early settlement of that country. He took up a claim and started farming, proving up on it and living there for a time. In 1888 he determined to move to California and make his home there if conditions were favorable, and this he did, locating in San Bernardino in 1888. He came here primarily to see a brother and uncle who had located there, but he lost no time adopting it for a permanent home.

For a year he followed various occupations and then went on the Judge Curtis place and worked this ranch for a time and then he purchased a home place of over twenty acres. He started in to actively develop it and soon had apricots, peaches and alfalfa planted. Later he put fifteen acres in oranges and made his home ranch a beautiful place, a producing home. He sold this place in 1903. He then bought the old Morris place, tearing down the old building in 1916 and building the present beautiful home on Mt. Vernon Avenue. It is one of the most attractive residence homes in the city.

Mr. Cox owned other orange groves in the Mt. Vernon district which are still in the possession of the family. He turned his attention to the packing business, and was a director of the Rialto Packing House, having previously built a packing house of his own. When he passed away on January 23, 1920, he was president of the Rialto Packing House. He was always deeply interested in experimental research in the citrus industry and he was always successful in his growing and in his packing. He did not allow his horticultural pursuits to lesson his interest in his adopted city, for, while a man of worth and ability, he never became actively identified with its business interests, yet he was a more than loyal citizen and always eager to do his part in its advancement, public spirited always. He filled a niche in the civic, fraternal, social life of San Bernardino which will be hard indeed to fill.

Mr. Cox was a member of the Woodmen of the World and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In political belief he was a demo- crat. He married in 1886 Rosa Dunham, a native of Lincoln, Illinois, and a daughter of William Dunham, a farmer of that state. Mr. and Mrs. Cox were the parents of five boys and two girls. Miss Mabel Lucille Cox, a graduate of Stanford University, residing at home. Harold Dunham Cox, a rancher of San Bernardino. He married Hattie Brown. They have four children. Rose Elizabeth, Roy Aaron, Phillis Adele and Jean Louise. William Lawrence Cox, a horticulturist of San Bernardino, married Esther Evelyn Pearson. They have two children, Dorothy Evelyn and Katherine Doris. Roy, an orchardist of San Bernardino, married Florence Woodhouse. They have two children, Roy Darnell and Glen Wilgus. Clifford Bryan Cox is the manager of the packing houses. Donald Aaron Cox is the sixth child. Doris Geraldine is the wife of James S. Willits, of Roseville. They have one daughter, Doris. Three of the sons, Roy, Clififord and Donald, took part in the World War. Roy trained at Camp Lewis, was made a corporal and went overseas with the 71st Division. He lost a leg in the battle of the .Argonne. Clifford trained in Camp Kearney, was a corporal and went overseas with the 40th Division. He was in France with his Company until the signing of the armistice. Donald enlisted in the navy, trained at San Pedro and was assigned to San Francisco.

Aaron 1860-1920 is buried in San Bernardino, # 34246128.

" SAN BERNARDINO has had more than her share of sadness in the past few weeks, as one by one many of her best loved sons have passed away, and last evening she was called upon again to mourn, when Aaron A. Cox of North Mt. Vernon avenue answered the last summons. Mr. Cox went quietly to sleep, unconscious for some days. He had been failing in health for the past six. months, although only perceptibly since the first of the year, having taken to his bed on January 4. In the death of A. A. Cox, the community loses not only a citizen of the first rank, but a man of dominating, one of those men who consulted with several Republicans, including .... any city can forceful personality, which any city can i11 afford to lose. He was a big-bearted man, full of resourceful energy, putting his whole strength into the work at hand. Mr. Cox was 69 years of age last September, and had come to San Bernardino some 32 years ago from Colorado. He was born in Patoko, Illinois, and married there, later going to Colorado, and finally drifting west. He was employed by a citrus grove owner when he first came to this community, and so thoroughly did he absorb knowledge of orchards that he became an expert orchardist. Such an expert, in fact, that he could go through a given grove and estimate the number of boxes on the trees, and his ability in that line was regarded as nothing short of remarkable. He often bought run-down orchards and made them wonderfully productive within a short while, for he knew all about irrigation and fertilizing. Mr. Cox was president of the Rialto Orange Company, owner of a packing house there, and another on Base Line and J Streets, and of orchards at Rialto and in the Mt. Vernon district, at which place he had made his home for the past 15 years. He was also the owner of considerable other property, and was worth something like a quarter of a million dollars. He was a director of the Farmers' Exchange Bank, and a member of the Woodmen of the World, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Loyal Mystic Legion. Sympathy of the many friends and acquaintances who had come to esteem Mr. Cox through personal and business relationships, will go out to the family today to the home circle where the loss of husband and father is so keenly felt. Besides the widow, Mrs. Rosa P. Cox, there survive: Two daughters, Mabel and Geraldlne; and five sons, Harold, William, Roy, Clifford and Donald; and a brother, J. H. Cox.

Funeral service will probably be held on Mionday, and interment will be in Mountain View. Stephens & Son are in charge."

December 22, 1937 "Paying their last tribute to one of the valley's most beloved pioneers, a large group of friends and relatives attended services for Mrs. Rosa D. Cox Tuesday at 2 p. m. The rites were conducted from the J. W. Woodhouse chapel with the Rev. Otis D. Ironmonger officiating. Floral offerings banked the walls of the chapel and during the services Mrs. W. J. McCarthy, accompanied by Frank T. Perkins at the console of the organ, sang "In the Garden" and "Beautiful Isle of Somewhere." Mrs. Cox died Saturday at her residence, 2865 Pershing avenue. She was born in Lincoln, Illinois, and came to California 49 years ago with her husband, Aaron A. Cox, ho was prominent in developing the citrus industry.
Pallbearers were S. W. McNabb, W. McKinley, H. E. Winslow, S. E. Bagley, Holman Curtis and L. M. Bemis. Interment followed in Mountain View cemetery. "

Kit Carson County, Colorado Histories

Kit Carson County, Colorado
Histories