John Cox was born in Warren county, Ohio, near Franklin, on the 5th of March, 1831, his parents being John and H. (Shinn) Cox, natives of New jersey. The father was an early settler of Warren county and there took up a claim from the government and developed a farm upon which our subject spent the days of his boyhood and youth. He remained with his parents until twenty-two years of age, when he went to Edinburg, Indiana, where he continued for five years, after which he returned to Warren county. Two years later he came to Miami county, locating in Spring Creek township, in the spring of 1861. He there pur-chased eighty acres of land and devoted his time and attention to its cultivation and improvement until 1888, when he came to his present home in the same township. He here owns fourteen acres and is practically living a retired life. He has elsewhere in the county, however, a valuable farm of eighty acres and the income from this property, together with the capital which he acquired by his own well-directed efforts in former years, now provides him with all of the comforts and many of the luxuries of life.

Up to the time of his retirement he was actively connected with agricultural interests, save for the period of his short service in the civil war. On the 14th of June, 1864, he enlisted in the Union army, becoming a sergeant of Company E, One Hundred and Forty- seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was mustered in at Camp Dennison and with his command was sent to the defense of Washington against the invasion of the Confederate forces. His term of enlistment was one hundred days, and on the expiration of that period he received an honorable discharge, in November, 1864.

Mr. Cox was married, September 28, 1853, to Miss Lydia Hall and to them have been born six children, four of whom are yet living, namely: Emma, wife of J. D. Buchanan; Annie T., deceased; Ida, at home; Flora, wife of George Lang; Lydia K., widow of John Alexander, and Enoch. Mr. Cox is a member of the Baptist church and has served as trustee of Spring Creek township for nine years, his long continuance in office being an indication of his ability and fidelity. His life has been an active, useful and honorable one and through his long connection with the agricultural interests of Miami county he was known as a representative farmer, whose retirement from labor gives him a richly deserved rest.