Nicholas N. Cox


Nicholas Nichols Cox was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for the Tennessee's 7th congressional district.

Biography

Cox was born in Bedford County, Tennessee on January 6, 1837, the son of Caleb and Nancy Cox. He went to Seguin, Texas as a child, attended the common schools, served on the Mexican frontier, and graduated from Lebanon Law School in 1858. He was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice at Linden, Tennessee. He was married on January 6, 1859, to Mary Slayden, daughter of Thomas Boyd and Jane Slayden, and had five children, with three boys and three girls, four surviving his death.

Career

During the Civil War Cox was a colonel in the Tenth Tennessee Cavalry of the Confederate Army, serving principally with General Forrest. He settled in Williamson County, Tennessee in 1866 and engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1860, he was a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket of Breckinridge and Lane.
Cox was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-second and the four succeeding Congresses. He served from March 4, 1891 to March 3, 1901. He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1900. He resumed the practice of law and engaged in the practice of banking in Franklin, Tennessee.

Death

Cox died in Franklin, Tennessee on May 2, 1912. He is interred at Mount Hope Cemetery. His home in Brentwood, the Owen-Cox House, was add to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1988. It is also known as Maplelawn.