Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/804

760 the first American Methodist missionary to the colony of Liberia. He arrived at his field" of labor on 8 March, 1833, established a Sunday-school, sum- moned conferences, and organized the Methodist Episcopal church in Africa under the supervision and control of the general conference of that de- nomination in America. In less than five months from his arrival he became a victim of African fever. During the brief period of his sojourn in Liberia he wrote " Sketches of Western Africa" which was appended to a memoir of his life written by his brotlier, G. F. Cox, D. D. (New York, 1840).

COX, Palmer, artist, b. in Granby, Quebec, Canada, 28 April, 1840. He was graduated at Granby academy in 1858, and subsequently re- sided in Springfield, Mass., and Lucknow. Ont., until 1863. From 1863 till 1875 he made San Fran- cisco, Cal., his home, and while there contributed regularly to the " Golden Era " and the " Aita California." In 1875 he settled in New York, where he follows artistic and literary pursuits. He has distinguished himself chiefly by illustrating his own writings with characteristic drawings, as shown in " The Brownie Stories." Mr. Cox has con- tributed to various magazines, and has published " Squibs of California " (Hartford, 1874) ; " Hans Ton Pelter's Trip to Gotham " (New York, 1876) ; " How Columbus found America " (1877) ; and " That Stanley " (1877).

COX, Samuel Hanson, clergyman, b. in Rah- way, N. J., 25 Aug.. 1793; d. in Bronxville, Westchester CO., N. Y., 2 Oct., 1881. His father, who at the time of his death, in 1801, was engaged in mercantile en- terprises in New York city, was descended from a family that in the 17th century settled on the eastern shore of IM a I- viand, where the name, di- versely spelled, has been long connected with the Quakers of Talbot county. By intermar- riages with other families of the peninsula, this connection was rendered nomi- nal at different periods ; but, as the father of Dr. Cox had main- tained his relations with the society, he received his academic education at their high-school or col- lege at Westtown, near Philadelphia. He also received private instruction in Philadelphia, and was a law-student in Newark, N. J., in 1812, when, with Southard, Prelinghuysen, and others that became eminent, he organized a volunteer corps of riflemen, which occasionally served in the war, notably at Fort Green, L. I. He studied tlieology in Philadelphia under Dr. Wilson, a distinguished Presbyterian clergyman. The degree of M. A. was conferred upon him by Princeton, and that of D. D. by Williams. He was ordained in 1817, and ac- cepted the pastorate of Mendham, Morris co., N. J. In 1821 he removed to New York as pastor of the Presbyterian church in Spring street, and thence to Laight street in 1825. His congregation here was largely composed of wealthy merchants. He took a leading part in the foundation of the University of the city of New York and in literary conventions, one of which was presided over by John Quincy Adams, called to aid in its organiza- tion. He was appointed to open the instructions of the imiversity with the late Dr. Mcllvaine, afterward bishop of Ohio, and delivered one of the two memorable courses of lectures in the winter of 1831-'2, his department being that of moral phi- losophy. During the cholera season of the latter year he remained at his post until stricken down by the disease. In impaired health Dr. Cox went to Europe in 1833, where a speech, delivered at the anniversary of the British and foreign Bible so- ciety in London, gained him distinction and opened the way to honors and attentions in Eu- rope. The anti-slavery sentiment then predomi- nant in England made a great impression on Dr. Cox, and he publicly defended his country, when it was gratuitously assailed on that point, and de- livered a celebrated sermon against slavery, soon after his return, which, though moderate in tone, drew upon him a great share of the violence with which the agitators were then visited. He was never identified with their extreme measures, and afterward took a leading conservative position in all questions connected with the south, which for a long time disturbed the Presbyterian church. In recognition of this service to tlie counsels of his brethren, he received the degree of LL. D. from a southern college. In other questions his theo- logical standing was with the new school, of which he was a prominent champion. In the order and discipline of his church, however, he maintained the highest and most thorough old-school position. He was elected professor of pastoral theology in the Theological seminary at Auburn in 1834, but in 1837 became pastor of the 1st Presbyterian con- gregation in Brooklyn, L. I., where he built a new chui'ch in Henry street. In 1845 Dr. Cox attended the Evangelical alliance in London. In 1852, his liealth declining, he visited Nassau, but with so little good effect that, against the remonstrances of his people and the most liberal proposals on their part, he resigned his charge, and retired to a pleasant property, which they enabled him to purchase, at Owego, N. Y. He considered his career as a pastor at an end, but frequently delivered lectures and appeared in pulpits in New York for several years subsequently. He was for many years professor of ecclesiastical history in the Union theological seminary of New York. His contributions to pe- riodicals and journalistic literatiire were numerous. His work on " Quakerism " (1833) is in part an autobiography. In connection with the duties of his chair, he edited Bower's " History of the Popes " (New York, 1847). He also presided for a time over the Ladies' college at Le Roy, N. Y. For the last twelve years of his life he lived in retirement in Westchester county. Although much criticised for personal eccentricities, he was generally recog- nized as a man of high character and commanding talents, of great boldness in expressing his strong convictions, and of singular power as an orator. Dr. Cox was the eldest of three sons, all of whom attained professional eminence. James died pre- maturely in Philadelphia in 1830, Abraham Lid- don, after a brilliant practice in New York, where he became professor of surgery in the medical col- lege now connected with the New York university, of which he was one of the founders, died in the ser- vice of his country near Chattanooga in 1863. — His son, Arthur Cleveland Coxe (he added the '"e"), P. E. bishop, b. in Mendham, N. J., 10 May, 1818; d. in Clifton Springs, N. Y., 20 July, 1896. His parents removed in' 1820 to New York city, where