Fonds F0594 - A.E. Cox family fonds

Arthur Edgar Cox, 1856-1946, was born in England. He emigrated to the USA, and in 1882 journeyed from there to Winnipeg to join a Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) construction crew. He spent 1883 with a Dominion Land Survey party near Maple Creek, and in 1884 moved to Pincher Creek, Alberta where he became the town's first school teacher. He taught there until 1891. He married Mary Elizabeth Willock in 1887 in Fort Macleod, and they settled on a ranch near Pincher Creek.

Mary, 1868-1940, was born in Ontario, and came with her family to the Pincher Creek area in 1883. A.E. and Mary had thirteen children, Margery Caroline May, 1888-1973, Eva Cicely, 1890-1980, George Francis, 1892-1972, Millicent, 1894-1983, Dorothea Isabella, 1895-1979, Arthur Edgar, 1897-1976, Mabel Gertrude (Sykes), 1900-1999, Thomas William, 1902-1969, Florence Emily, 1904-1997, Alfred Charles Linney, 1906-[died as infant], Norma Alexandrina (Goodwin), 1908- , infant daughter, 1911-1911, and Vera Irene, 1912-1996.

In 1897 A.E. was appointed the Dominion Lands sub-agent at Pincher Creek. He also acted as a land agent for the Calgary and Edmonton Land Company (on behalf of Osler, Hammond and Nanton), and the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). He continued to ranch while running the office in town. Their daughter, Mabel, was a nurse at the Calgary General Hospital from ca.1920 until 1943 when she married Thomas E. Sykes.

For further information see Sheilagh S. Jameson's article "Trials of a Dominion Land Agent" in Glenbow [magazine]. -- vol. 3, no. 4 (July 1970), p. 8.