Richard Cox and his first wife, Mary Fitzgerald had no children. All children attended Mt Erin Catholic School.
The Tumut and Adelong Times 22 Nov 1927
MR RICHARD COX'S DEATH OLDEST WAGGA NATIVE OVER EIGHTY YEARS' DISTRICT RESIDENCE. The demise occurred late last Monday evening of Mr. Richard F. Cox, at his residence, Livingstone Gully, Wagga. Only three weeks ago the late Mr. Cox vsited Wagga and took a lively interest in the "Back to Wagga" movement, when he was the recipient of many congratulations upon the fact of his being the oldest native of the district, and being able to so enter into this movement, which had largely for its purpose the honoring of the pioneers. During the "Back to Wagga" week his brother, Mr. Lawrence Cox, writing upon the family history, stated: "My parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Cox, with their six children, migrated from Ireland to Australia in 1836. They travelled by the old sailing vessel, Lady M'Naughton, and the voyage occupied six dreary months. During the voyage an epidemic of fever broke out on the ship; my father was stricken, and his wife died. My father recovered, however, and in the ensuing year he married my mother, one of the young women who had nursed his children on the voyage. Arriving in Australia, my parents migrated to the Murrumbidgee country with their six children, of whom five were girls. Their journey to the Riverina was probably the most hazardous ever undertaken by any of the early pioneers of this land, even the adventurous explorers; for the explorers were strong parties of men provided with the best and most suitable equipment for their journey, but my parents, entirely new to the country, had only the bullock, dray and the roughest equipment with which to face the wilds. "A great part of the country at that time was dense forest, unfenced, and the distance between the meagre settlements was occupied by aborigines still at the time in a wild state. Numerous creeks and rivers on the way were unbridged, and the difficulties were apparently unsurmountable. As luck would have it, the years 1837 and 1840 were the driest the district has ever known, and the rivers were all easily fordable. But for that fact the brave migrants could not have returned to Sydney, the only place at the time where the necessities of life were obtainable. "In 1846 the family moved on to Livingstone Gully, and there they lived for the remainder of their lives. "During the period from 1837 the six children were married, and shortly afterwards were all settled in their different homes on the land. We, the second family, numbered nine, making a total of 15 in my father's family. Every one of us married and settled on the land in the Wagga district. None of the nine died accidentally or from illness in early life, and only one died childless. The families of the remainder ranged from 7 to 10, which added considerably to the population of the district, and is possibly a record for any one family in the State. Grand and great grand children are innumerable: they evidently have the blood of the pioneers in their veins, for descendants may be traced in all the cities to the remotest parts of Australia — from the back blocks far out west to the dairying districts of the coast.'' |