The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 29, July 1925 - April, 1926 Page: 36
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: Southwestern Historical Quarterly and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Texas State Historical Association.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
FROM TEXAS TO CALIFORNIA IN 1849:
Diary of C. C. Cox
EDITED BY MABELLE EPPARD MARTIN
I
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF CORNELIUS C. COX1
Cornelius C. Cox was born December 8, 1825, at Piqua, Ohio,
to which place his parents had moved from Lexington, Kentucky,
where the father was engaged in the saddle business. This boy
left home at the early age of twelve to live in Texas with his oldest
sister, who had married Colonel Sidney Sherman. Colonel Sher-
man had taken part in the Texas Revolution, and after the battle
of San Jacinto had returned to Kentucky for his wife, and it was
on this occasion that young Cornelius returned with them to
Texas, where they settled on the shore of San Jacinto Bay, mid-
way between Galveston and Houston.
The next year Colonel Sherman, in an effort to give the boy
some practical business training in lieu of schooling, secured for
him a clerkship in a store in Houston. After two years he re-
turned to the home of Colonel and Mrs. Sherman, who, ever anxious
about his education, enlisted him in the Texas Navy. He served
out his term of enlistment, and returned to his sister's home once
more, now a young man. About this time the Sherman family
moved to Harrisburg, near Houston.
While living at Harrisburg, Cornelius heard of the California
gold discoveries, and like others became affected with the "gold
fever." Leaving Harrisburg April 14, 1849, in company with Mr.
and Mrs. Lewis B. Harris, their two slaves, and James McAlister,
they traveled to Fredericksburg, where they took part in the or-
ganization of a company that elected Thomas Smith captain.
Smith's company reached the great half-way place, El Paso, on
June 27, and disbanded. From the fragments of various com-
panies a new company was formed to continue the journey. This
second company disintegrated along the way, as most such com-
panies did; the group with which Cox and the Harris family
traveled reached Los Angeles November 18. At this place Cox
had to part company with the Harrises, because they wished to re.
'See "Reminiscences of C. C. Cox" in THE QUARTERLY, VI, 113-138.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 29, July 1925 - April, 1926, periodical, 1926; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117141/m1/44/?rotate=90: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.