Cox assisted in taking the 1810 United States census and collected taxes, paid at the time in fur pelts.
[1] Cox enlisted as a private in the 1st company, 2nd Regiment, Illinois Territory Militia in early, which served for three months.
[1] The militia may have been incorporated into General Benjamin Howard's 2nd Regiment, though Cox's movements after the 1813 discharge are uncertain.
When Union County, Illinois, was founded on April 8, 1818, Governor Ninian Edwards appointed Cox a justice of the peace.
[1] Cox expanded his land speculation to central Illinois in 1821, including a home in the new Sangamon County.
Governor Edwards recommended Cox as Register of the United States General Land Office in Springfield, which was approved by President James Monroe.
Along with Elijah Iles, Daniel Pope Cook, and Pascal P. Enos, Cox platted the town of Springfield.
[1] In 1827, a tribe of Winnebago around Prairie du Chien, Michigan Territory, caused alarm for political leaders in Illinois.
This prompted new governor John Reynolds, who previously served with Cox, to raise six more companies of militia.
Following the ensuing Battle of Bad Axe, the last engagement of the war, Cox was mustered out with the rest of his company on August 16, 1832.
[1] Upon his return to Illinois, he accepted an offer to join his brothers-in-law, Lemuel and William Bartlett, in an operation in Ste.
Soon after, however, Cox was appointed United States Deputy Surveyor to subdivide a portion of the Black Hawk Purchase in the Wisconsin Territory.
Cox himself selected a site for a new home that summer on the north bank of the Maquoketa River on the road between Dubuque and Davenport.
Cox expected to be re-elected, even in his absence, but instead a Bellevue hotel-keeper named W. W. Brown secured the Democratic Party nomination.
[1] When the session concluded in January 1840, Cox returned to Jackson County to find that it was being harassed by a gang of outlaws.
Probate Judge James K. Moss authorized Cox and sheriff Warren to organize a posse to apprehend Brown and Thompson's gang.
Brown surrendered, but as he was lowering his rifle, he accidentally discharged his weapon, which fired a bullet through Cox's coat.
In the ensuing trial, they were whipped and told not to return to the county; one member, William Fox, joined the Banditti of the Prairie.
However, there is no record of any impeachment attempt made in the assembly; in fact, he was named Speaker of the House pro tempore for the opening of a special session that July.
In 1904, the Jackson County Historical Society moved his remains to Mount Hope Cemetery in Maquoketa, Iowa.