from The History of Hendricks County (Indianapolis: B.F. Bowen & Co., 1914)--pages 408-410
Among the citizens of Clay Township, Hendricks County, Indiana, who have built up comfortable homes and surrounded themselves with valuable landed estates and personal property, few have attained a higher degree of success than the subject of this sketch. With few opportunities except what his own efforts were capable of mastering and with many discouragements to overcome he has made an exceptional success in life and in his old age has the gratification of knowing that the community in which he resides has been benefited by his presence and counsel.
Henry Simpson Cox, one of the largest landowners in Clay Township, Hendricks County, Indiana, was born in the township where he has lived for the past sixty-six years. He is the son of William and Lucy (Plasters) Cox, and was born on September 12, 1848. William Cox was a native of Morgan County, and his wife was born in this county. William Cox moved to this county when he was a young lad with his parents and after leaving school he worked on his father's farm until he was twenty years of age. He then married Lucy Plasters, the daughter of William and Polly (Cleveland) Plasters, and rented land for a few years, after which he purchased a farm in Middle Township, where he lived until his death, April 15, 1881, his wife surviving him until 1884. To Mr. and Mrs. William Cox were born six children: John M., who died in childhood; William D., who died from injuries received from being kicked by a horse; Mary C., the wife of Stephen Morbley; James M., who died in infancy; Charles, who married Fanny Leachman, and Henry Simpson.
Henry Simpson Cox attended school in the rude log structures of his day, and received a practical education in the three “R's”, which were the only subjects in the curriculum at that time. He was early taught all of the ins and outs of farming life by his father, and when he married and started to operate a farm of his own, at the age of twenty-five, he was well equipped for the profession of farming. As a successful tiller of the soil he has few peers in the county and his farm of two hundred and nineteen acres bears glowing testimony to his success along agricultural lines.
Mr. Cox was married, February 3, 1874, to Mary Frances Flynn, daughter of Alfred and Artemesia (White) Flynn, and to this happy marriage have been born four children: Eva, who married Gus Bartholomew, and they have two children, Edgar and Hazel; Jennie married Frank Stanley; William Dayton, who is unmarried and still at home, and Alice, who also is under the parental roof.
Mincher Cox, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was one of the thousands of North Carolinians who came to this state. He came here as a young man and first settled in Morgan County, near Mooresville, where he farmed and engaged in the buying and trading of horses. He seemed to have been an adventurer of more than ordinary pretensions. We are told that on one of his numerous horse-selling trips he took a small pacing horse and drove it from Morgan County to Chicago, but when he reached the outskirts of that city a trapper offered him twenty acres of land for the horse, but his offer was refused. It is not related, however, just what he did get for the horse. Mincher Cox married in Morgan County and afterwards moved to Clay Township, in Hendricks County, where he remained for about eight years. The wanderlust then seized him and he moved to Grant County, Indiana, where he remained until his death. He married Sarah Nichols, and to this union six children were born, all of whom are deceased: William, the father of Henry Simpson; Lydia, who married John Scharey; Harriett married Daniel Hollingsworth; Louise became the wife of Austin Williams; James A., who married Lena Hathaway, and Thomas, who died unmarried.
The mother of Henry Simpson Cox was the daughter of William and Polly (Cleveland) Plasters, and was one of nine children, the others being as follows: John, who married Rebecca Bullard; Betsy became the wife of Michael Higgins; Eveline became the wife of Cyrus Moore; Phoebe married Alfred Stanley; Jackson; Polly became the wife of Buckner Highton; William married Mary Burgner; Sallie became the wife of Bunk Burnett, and Lucy, who married William Cox.
The father of Mrs. Henry S. Cox was Alfred Flynn, a native of Kentucky. He was reared on a farm in that state and after his marriage moved to Clinton County, Indiana, where he remained for about six years. He then moved to Hendricks County and located on a farm in Middle Township, where he remained until his death, November 10, 1908, his wife having preceded him in death in 1898. He had married Artemesia White, the daughter of William and Polly White, and to that union were born nine children: Mary Frances, the wife of Henry S. Cox; John, who married Martha Arnold; Nancy, who became the wife of Thomas Day; Louisa, who married Frank Burchman; George; William; Frank; Ella, who married William Smith; Ollie, who married Josie McCall.
Mr. Cox has been a life-long Democrat and has taken an active interest in the deliberations of his party. Some idea of the popularity which he has throughout the county is shown by the fact that he was elected in November, 1912, as commissioner of Hendricks County, despite the fact that Hendricks is a strong Republican county. In this important office he has shown that he has that admirable judgment and good common sense which is the making of a good and efficient public official. Mr. Cox is a man of genial personality and numbers his friends in every corner of the county. He is a man who has the welfare of his county at heart and is using his best efforts to improve his home county in every possible way.