Locomotive Engineer - J.T. Cox - Denison, TX
N 33° 45.707 W 096° 31.687
14S E 728935 N 3738489
A front shot of a train engine is a clue not only to what J.T. Cox did for a living, but also to how he died. He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Denison, TX.
Waymark Code: WM12DKB
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 05/05/2020
Views: 1
Mr. Cox's final resting place is in the back of the cemetery, in a nice, wooded area. The base of his headstone is slightly buried, and the family name, "Cox" is on the top, which is angled. On the front, there are flourishes in each corner, and while the detail is wearing, the train locomotive at the top center is still discernible. The inscription reads:
J.T. Cox
Oct. 21, 1876,
Dec. 25, 1910.
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We will meet again.
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He was James Thomas Cox, Sr., and for five years he was a railroad engineer for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (MKT, also "KT" or "Katy"). His Findagrave page has a photo of him with his crew, and includes a contemporary article from the Houston Post about his death. Entitled "Gay Festoons and Crepe", it paints a sad scene of the Cox household. In one room, they had decorated for the Christmas holiday, while in another, they laid out Mr. Cox. He and his fireman, R.E. Henderson, were killed on Christmas -- Mr. Cox's fifth anniversary of employment with the Katy -- when their engine overturned in Greenville, TX. He left behind a wife and four children. One of them, James, Jr., followed his father just a month later, a childhood victim of pneumonia. One can only wonder how Mrs. Cox and her children observed Christmas after 1910.