Rev. David L. Cox
A Pastor of the Church of God.
From its beginning in 1879 to its ending in the 1930s, the Newburg Church of God was served by an ever-changing series of itinerant preachers appointed at the annual statewide conference of elders. Reverands Burtch,1 Long,2 Wimmer,3 Manchester,4 Heltibridle,5 Ossman,6 Chamberlain,7 Miller,8 Fatland,9 Huddle,10 and Primrose11 all followed their appointments to Newburg. There surely were others. Yet, the only pastor of the Church of God remembered in Pioneers Past and Present is David L. Cox. “The doors of the church were closed during the depression years of the 1930’s”, it says. “Rev. Cox had been their pastor for sometime.”12 Rev. David L. Cox did serve the Church of God congregation at Newburg, but he seems to have been only briefly appointed there, and that some 20 years before the church’s closing. What may have been different about Rev. Cox, and what made him memorable when other pastors were not, is that he actually lived in Newburg. The people knew him, and he was there for them even when his appointments from the conference of elders took him on the weekends to other communities.
David Cox was born in Jasper County, Iowa in 1854.13 His family lived near Newton.14 Before coming to Newburg, he farmed in western Iowa15 where he married and had five children.16 In July 1891, a year after his first wife, Josephine Lassiter Cox, died, David Cox married Dora Cook Hoagland in Harrison County, Iowa.17 By the time their son, Raymond Cox, was born in February 1893, the family was living at Newburg.18 Rev. Cox’s obituary says “he began his ministry in the Church of God in 1885”,19 but at the time of his son’s birth in 1893, his occupation was still given as “farmer”.20 He did, in March 1893, speak on “ways of working” at the Hickory Grove Sunday School Convention,21 and, in August of that year, a newspaper referred to David Cox as “Reverend” for the first time. “Rev. Cox,” said the Grinnell Herald, “supplied the pulpit at Newburg Sunday evening, in the absence of the minister, Rev. Mr. Burtch.”22
In 1890, at roughly the time his first wife died, David Cox was suffering from mental health issues which he attributed to a bout of sunstroke. He consulted Mrs. Maria Woodworth, a faith healer, about his condition, and she prayed for him. When Rev. Cox consulted her again, he gave this testimony:
“Four years ago I received a sunstroke. The result of it was the wrecking of my nervous system. I couldn’t control my mind I was so nervous. I sent a written description of my case to Mrs. Woodworth, while she was in St. Louis with a friend. At the time she was to pray for me I experienced relief and complete recovery from my nervousness and I haven’t been bothered with it since.”23
Maria Woodworth-Etter was a faith healer who traveled with a tent capable of holding 8,000 people. She had begun praying for the sick in 1885, and her meetings became known for people succumbing to trance-like states and falling to the floor. She was dismissed from the Churches of God in 1904.24
In June 1894, Rev. Cox was afflicted with a paralysis and again sought Mrs. Woodworth’s healing power, this time in person in Columbus Junction, Iowa. He testified:
“My whole left side has been numb for the past five months. I could use my left arm and leg a little but had no control over them. I heard that Mrs. Woodworth was in this place and I drove overland to Columbus Junction. The long ride made my side worse. My hand began to get blue before I got here. The doctors said I had Bright’s disease also, and that I was liable to die any time. I came here expressly for the purpose of getting healed and have experienced a complete healing and have good use of my side as you see.”25
Oddly, at a time in which the Hickory Grove correspondent to the Grinnell Herald regularly reported such things as “Two children of Mr. and Mrs. David Cox were reported to be quite sick recently. They have now nearly recovered”,26 there was never a mention of Rev. Cox’s paralysis on his left side or its miraculous disappearance.
Rev. Cox’s success with faith healing did not put him off traditional medical science. In February 1923, having undergone successful surgery by Dr. O. F. Parish and Dr. C. D. Busby to repair a hernia, Rev. Cox wrote a letter to the Grinnell Herald praising the Community Hospital at Grinnell. “I do know that you will get the very best care at the Community, in Grinnell”, he wrote.27 The hernia, Rev. Cox says, had been bothering him “for almost 30 years standing.” He advised “if you are in any sense in the condition that I was in do not put off an operation. It is but wisdom to attend to it at once.”28
In 1894, Rev. Cox served the Church of God congregations in Pleasantville and in Dallas County,29 sometimes spending as much as two weeks at a time away from home.30 In 1896, the eldership appointed Rev. Cox to serve the Churches of God in the Glidden circuit.31 While Rev. Cox had a history in Carroll County at Glidden, and his parents and siblings still lived there, serving the Glidden circuit meant he would be living in Newburg and serving a congregation a hundred miles away. In November 1899, the Coxes moved to Missouri32 where Rev. Cox served congregations in the Green City, Sullivan County area and was also appointed pastor of the Shambaugh and Larkin, Iowa Churches of God,33 well over a hundred miles away. After moving to Sioux County, Iowa in 1913,34 Rev. Cox returned to Newburg in October 1916. “Rev. Cox comes here as pastor of the Church of God,” said the Grinnell Herald.35
David Cox was still pastor of the Newburg Church of God in the fall and winter of 1918 when misfortune struck his family four times in close succession. In that short time, he lost one daughter-in-law and two sons-in-law.36 But the hardest blow was the news that his son, Private Emery M. Cox, had been killed in action in France on 12 September 1918, the first day of the Battle of Saint-Mihail.37
Twenty-nine years old in 1918, Emery Cox had lived in Newburg as a boy but was living with his brother at Hawarden, Iowa when he registered for the draft. From France, he wrote eloquent letters home to his father and step-mother. On 09 July, he wrote:
“This is a pretty country. There are mountains all around and we take hikes over there. We took a hike of eight miles yesterday and had a nice swim. The water was cold and clear as glass so we could see the bottom, and it was over our heads.”38
In his last letter, written three days before he was killed, Private Cox wrote:
“I just got back from the front line trenches and believe me there was some noise. Fritz sure could send over some shells. The boys call them G. I. cans. . . . I won’t say I wasn’t a little nervous because I think every one of us was. It wasn’t so bad when a fellow could get in a dugout. I feel thankful we all got back safe.”39
“Pray for us,” he concluded. “I know you do. I’ll have lots to tell you when I get home.”
Finding closure for the death of his son was not easy for Rev. Cox. The memorial service originally scheduled for 20 October 1918 had to be indefinitely postponed “on account of the prevalence of the flu and the closing of all the churches”,40 and in January 1919, Rev. Cox visited the Red Cross in Grinnell hoping to find help “in securing information concerning the whereabouts of the burial place of his son.”41 In March 1919, the Sioux City Journal reported that Rev. Cox was still looking for answers. “Rev. D. L. Cox, of Newburg, has been unsuccessful in obtaining from the war department a detailed account of the death of his son,” they reported. “Letters written to the Red Cross in France and to the Salvation Army headquarters overseas have been without result.”42 Private Cox’s memorial service was finally held on 11 May 1919. His father put a signed notice in the Grinnell Herald making a “special request that all the boys in Hickory Grove township be present in their uniforms.”43
Private Emery M. Cox is buried at the St. Mihiel American Cemetery in Thiaucourt, France.44 On 17 June 1932, Dora Cox arrived at New York aboard the steamer The President Roosevelt which had departed from Le Havre, France.45 Rev. Cox does not seem to have been with her, but Dora Cox, one assumes, had visited her stepson’s grave.
Rev. Cox seems to have been a caring and dedicated pastor. One wonders how he felt on Christmas Night 1918, in the midst of so much personal misfortune, when he led Miss Lottie Adams and Mr. Howard Weaver down the staircase of the Adams home to the strains of piano music and performed their wedding ceremony beneath “the beautiful arch richly decorated for the occasion.”46
The nature of David Cox’s relationship with the Newburg Church of God might be characterized by an article in the 26 December 1919 Grinnell Herald. His time as Newburg’s appointed pastor had, apparently, ended in September. Yet when a Christmas event was planned for the children, it was David Cox the church depended on. “The 23rd was set apart by the church, and the Lord’s Day School to remind the children of one of the greatest gifts ever given,” said the article. The children were to meet at the home of David and Dora Cox because it was uncertain there would be coal to heat the church. “Mr. and Mrs. Cox had arranged to serve ice cream and cake and the church was to treat the children with what ever the committee might choose.” Mr. and Mrs. Cox, as well as hosting, were appointed the committee, “and they chose candy and an orange for each one. . . . Forty-five were served [ice] cream and cake, and each a sack of candy and an orange.” The concluding paragraph reads, “This church has been without a pastor since September until Last Lord’s Day. The church has now secured Rev. Mr. Primrose, of Grundy Center, Iowa, and all are hopeful for the future as they were very fortunate in securing this man as pastor.”47
For much of the 1920s and into the thirties, Rev. Cox served the Church of God in North Liberty, and thanks to the diligence of the Madison Township correspondent to the Iowa City Press-Citizen, we can get an idea of how much time Rev. Cox spent away from home in fulfilling his appointment. In 1924, Rev. Cox spent 15 weekends at North Liberty. He spent 20 weekends there in 1925, 11 in 1926, and 17 in 1932. Those are the weekends reported in the paper. In addition to his out of town work, Rev. Cox continued to serve the Newburg community even though he wasn’t their appointed pastor. In August 1923, he not only officiated at the wedding of Ernest Schroder and Mabel Barns in his own home (“ice cream and cake were served by Mrs. Cox”), he wrote the wedding announcement and submitted it to the Grinnell Herald. “[T]heir pastor spoke the words of a simple but impressive wedding service chosen by the writer”, he said.48 He also returned to the Adams home at Newburg in February 1924 to conduct the wedding service for Marie Adams and Jonas Hendrickson (Elizabeth Breeden played the bridal march, and Verna Burroughs served as ring bearer).49 In less joyful service, in April 1924, Rev. Cox officiated at the funeral of Sarah Dickson50 and in 1927 he presided at the funeral of her husband, Calvin Dickson.51 Both of those services were held at the Congregational Church in Newburg.
After serving a one year appointment at the Mt. Joy Church of God in Sioux County, Iowa, Rev. Cox moved back to Green City, Missouri52 where he preached until his retirement in December 1937. He died in Green City on 09 April 1938 and is buried with his wife, Dora Cook Hoagland Cox, at Hickory Grove Cemetery west of Newburg.53 In May 1938, the Milan Republican provided a one sentence report on Rev. Cox’s estate sale that might be taken as an odd epitaph: “Rev. D. L. Cox’s sale was well attended and things sold well.”54
“Hickory Grove”, Grinnell Herald, 22 August 1893, p. 3.
“Hickory Grove”, Grinnell Herald, 25 January 1895, p. 2.
Grinnell Herald, 01 October 1897, p. 3.
Grinnell Herald, 23 March 1900, p. 5.
Marshalltown Evening Times-Republican, 17 October 1904, p. 6.
“Gospel Meetings”, Grinnell Herald, 13 June 1905, p. 3.
“Newburg Items”, Grinnell Herald, 12 May 1908, p. 2.
“Newburg Local Notes”, Marshalltown Evening Times-Republican, 16 February 1911, p. 7.
“Newburg News Notes”, Marshalltown Evening Times-Republican, 20 April 1912, p. 2.
“Newburg Notes and News Items”, Grinnell Herald, 25 September 1913, p. 4.
Grinnell Herald, 23 April 1920, p. 1.
Adams, Mrs. Kenneth, Mrs. Ed Breeden, Mrs. Gail Cook, and Mrs. Marvin Emmert. Pioneers Past and Present: Newburg, Iowa 1878-1978. 1978. P. 40.
Missouri, U.S., Death Certificates, 1910-1969. Ancestry.com. {www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/60382/images/1938_00016047-02443?pId=1002646}.
Iowa, U.S., State Census Collection, 1836-1925. Ancestry.com. {www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1084/images/IA_57-0172?pId=7582248}.
1880 United States Federal Census. Amazon.com. {www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6742/images/4240675-00560?pId=23071513}.
“Rev. David L. Cox, 84, Dies at Green City”, Kirksville Daily Express and Kirksville Daily News. Kirksville, Missouri. 11 April 1938, p. 1.
Ibid. For more on Dora Cook Hoagland Cox’s family, see the Newburg Stories post “Hunts, Fishes, & Weds at 93”.
Iowa, U.S., Births (series) 1880-1904, 1921-1944 and Delayed Births (series), 1856-1940. Ancestry.com {www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/61441/images/61441_b1045565-00228?pId=452058129}.
See note 16.
See note 18.
“Hickory Grove”, Grinnell Herald, 21 March 1893, p. 3.
“Hickory Grove”, Grinnell Herald, 22 August 1893, p. 3.
“Wonderful Cures”, Muscatine Journal. Muscatine, Iowa. 28 June 1894, p. 3.
“Maria Woodworth-Etter”, Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. {en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Woodworth-Etter}.
See note 23.
“Hickory Grove”, Grinnell Herald, 01 February 1895, p. 1.
Cox, David L. “Rev. D. L. Cox, Newburg, Writes”, Grinnell Herald, 09 February 1923, p. 3.
Ibid.
“Hickory Grove”, Grinnell Herald, 12 October 1894, p. 2.
“Hickory Grove”, Grinnell Herald, 01 February 1895, p. 1.
“Church Gathering at Carroll”, Des Moines Register, 26 September 1896, p. 1.
“Newburg”, Grinnell Herald, 24 November 1899, p. 2.
“Eldership in Meeting”, Muscatine Journal, Muscatine, Iowa, 19 September 1902, p. 2.
“Newburg”, Grinnell Register, 16 October 1913, p. 1.
“Newburg”, Grinnell Register, 19 October 1916, p. 2.
“Cox Family is Hard Hit”, Grinnell Herald, 20 December 1918, p. 1.
“Private Emory M. Cox is Killed in Action”, Grinnell Herald, 15 October 1918, p. 1.
Ibid.
Ibid.
“Services Postponed”, Grinnell Herald, 18 October 1918, p. 1.
Grinnell Herald, 31 January 1919, p. 1.
“Seeks Details of Son’s Death”, Sioux City Journal, Sioux City, Iowa, 04 March 1919, p. 4.
Cox, D. L., “Memorial Services”, Grinnell Herald, 06 May 1919, p. 1.
U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S., Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, 1942-1949. Ancestry.com. {www.ancestry.com/discoveryuicontent/view/30213113:9170?ssrc=pt&tid=196660365&pid=232566779093}.
New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957. Ancestry.com. {www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7488/images/NYT715_5172-0407?pId=2015076316}.
“Adams-Weaver”, Grinnell Herald, 27 December 1918, p. 1.
“Church Reception Attracts Much Interest”, Grinnell Herald, 26 December 1919, p. 1.
Cox, D. L., “Barns-Schroder”, Grinnell Herald, 14 August 1923, p. 4.
“Adams-Hendrickson”, Grinnell Herald, 19 February 1924, p. 6.
“Mrs. Dixon Resided in Iowa for Many Years: Buried Tues.”, Grinnell Register, 21 April 1924, p. 5.
“Arrived in Covered Wagon”, 27 January 1927. Obituary Database. Drake Community Library, Grinnell, Iowa. {www.grinnell.lib.ia.us/Obit/D/DicksonCalvin.pdf}.
Independent, Hawarden, Iowa, 30 August 1934, p. 9.
See note 16.
“Green City Items”, Milan Republican, Milan, Missouri, 12 May 1938, p. 8.