Bill Cox: Story Teller

.....Neil Caldwell called Bill the biggest liar around. But, I call him the "Great Story Teller." I have always liked to tell stories myself, but my mother would say, "Now Okey Lester, you know that is just a lie." Some folks do not appreciate a story unless they know that it is the "gosple" truth. And, some do not like those who are true. No matter how outlandish the story might, seem, Bill always told it like he believed every word of it.
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.....This is Mary Ellen Lane Cox, Ruth Cox 1909-1991, Bill Cox, Charles Cox 1907, and Joseph Cox 1914-1982.

.....I would have like to have had this photo when Bill was still living. This photo had to have been made about 1915. But, who would have been taking photos way back on Big Ridge in 1915? Bill would have told me a good story about it.
.....You can see the walls of a rough mountain home behind the family. People of our latter generations find it hard or impossible to comprehend what it was like living back on the ridges and in the hollows back in those days. To say that these folks were tough, is an understatement. They were beyond tough. And bill was a good example. So was Mary Ellen and the rest of the family. Most folks lived it without becomeing soured on life. of course sone did sour and some went wrong. This life made people who you could depend on. An outsider my find it tough to become part of their ranks, but, if you proved true and did them no wrong, they would always help you when you needed a helping hand.

.....When I met Bill, he was already an old man. The first time I saw him, he was wearing an old black skirt. Why was he wearing a black skirt? He was working in the woods with his son Buck when a tree he had cut fell into another tree. Buck tried to tell him to leave the tree alone because it was too dangerous, but, Bill didn't listen. He tried to cut the tree loose, but a limb whipped free and shattered his leg. Bill wore the skirt because pants chaffed his injured leg. But, his many days of working in the woods were over.

.....Bill lived with his son and daughter-in-law Andrew "Buck" and Mary "Sis" Cox. Buck and Sis are another story. I wrote a novel called Our Mountain of Refuge. Buck, Sis, and Bill and many others from Tuckahoe and Glace are characters in the novel which I wrote as a memorial to the folks of thqt area.
.....The Coxes were our friends as well as being part of my extended congregation. Whenever I had the opportunity , I would try to get Bill to tell a story. I wish that I could remember all the stories, but this is not about the stories. It is about the storyteller. Some such as the one he told about the hoop snakes, were outlandish. He claimed that the railroad hired him to kill the "deadly poisoness" hoopsnakes that were killing the railroad workers. Outlandish as the story sounds, he was deadly serious when he told it. Not so outlandish was his story and claim that he was once the Sheriff of Allegheny County, Virginia. He could make every story come alive and amke someone, who didn't know him, go away beliving that they had heared the gospel truth. If you didn't know that there wasn't any such thing as deadly hoopsnakes, you would be convinced that he had actually done what he said he had done. That was what made Bill the king of the story tellers. My mother would have called him a lier, but not me. I call him a treasure.

.....Mary Ellen Lane was born on Barker's Ridge in Wyoming County on June 06, 1879. She was the daughter of Miller W. and Martha J. Lester Lane. I cannot find Mary Ellen in the 1900 or 1930 Census. I do know that she lived some of last year years with her son Daniel Hillman Cox. Hillman's wife was Elizabeth Sparks. Her story is told on another page.

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..............Lizzy and Hillman on their 50th wedding anniversary

....Mary Ellen's husband Matthew Cox was gone by 1910. Where he went, I do not know. Mary Ellen was left to survive back on the ridge and it was hard. She is listed as head of the household in both 1910 and 1920. George Alderman is listed as living in the household in 1920. Hubert Hoke, a Burdette, and George Alderman were part of Mary Ellen's life at one time or another. After the photo was taken, Woodson, Hillman, and Susie Cox were born. But, across the ridges and in the hollows, these things were a fact of life.

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..........Mary Ellen in her later years with grandson Roy.

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.........................This is Hillman and Lizzy Sparks Cox.

This is Woodson Cox about 1940

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.....This is Woodson Patrick Cox who is the nephew of Woodson Cox in the upper photo. Woody is a long-time deacon of Peniel International Pentecostal Holiness Church at Tuckahoe in Greenbrier County.