#4 - Ivy H. Cox (1827 - 1898) - Minister, Judge, and More!

PCA Archive

Ivy H. Cox was born January 9, 1827, in Virginia. After graduating from William and Mary College, he was ordained a minister. He then went to Texas, where he was elected the presiding elder of the Methodist Episcopal circuit. He married Mary Jane Cook of Alabama. During the Civil War, Cox served as a chaplain in the 8^th Texas Infantry (Hobby’s Regiment). Around 1869 he moved to California. In 1877 he moved to Florence, Arizona, and shortly thereafter to Phoenix, where he turned to the practice of law and became a judge. His wife Mary Jane died December 29, 1886, and was buried in City/Loosley Cemetery. The last years of Judge Cox’s life were spent on the family ranch four miles north of Phoenix, where he engaged in growing fruit and keeping bees. He died December 20, 1898, and was buried in City/Loosley Cemetery next to his wife.

Jennie Isaac (1827 - 1902) - Women's History Month

Jennie Isaac with Husband, PCA Archives

Jane “Jennie” Netherton Isaac was born 1827 in Tennessee. She married William in 1848 and they would eventually have 11 children, 8 survived to adulthood. The family moved to California around 1860 and in 1870 were in Gilroy where they were farmers. William would also serve as a Baptist Minister and on the Board of Education. Education would continue to be a priority for this family. 

In the Spring of 1875, Jennie packed up her household and all headed for Prescott with two wagons, each pulled by four horses. It took two months to arrive, at one point crossing the Colorado River. The family would remain in Prescott until the Spring of 1876, moving temporarily to a small adobe house in Phoenix. A home was built on 400 acres of land at what is now 35th Ave. & McDowell Rd. The Isaacs needing to educate their children, donated the land founding Isaac School. That school is still in existence. 

The Isaacs prospered and in 1884 Jennie began conducting business in her own name dealing with stock and farming products. The Arizona Legislature had given married women that right in 1865. In 1887 Jennie helped start a chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star as William was a Mason. Jennie held the office of the “Electa,” who shares the lesson of Charity and Hospitality. Jennie’s husband William died March 23, 1900. Jennie lived alone until she developed grippe, the flu, and died after seven days on February 10, 1902.  Jennie is buried in the Masons Cemetery next to her husband.

-Donna Carr

William Isaac (1827 - 1900) - Isaac School Founder

 

William Isaac and Jane "Jennie" Netherton

PCA Archives

William Isaac was born 8 March 1827 in Tennessee. The Isaac family moved west, ending up in Platte County, Missouri, where William married Jane "Jennie" Netherton on 11 July 1848.

William and Jennie’s first child, a son named Eli Egbert, was born in Platte County in 1849. Three daughters and another son followed at two-year intervals.

Between 1858 and 1860, the Isaacs moved to California, where they were recorded on the federal census of 1860 for Contra Costa County. William was a farmer. Besides his own wife and five children, William was supporting his widowed mother Mary as well as several of his younger siblings. Six more children were born to the Isaacs in California.

By the 1870 federal census, the Isaacs were living in Gilroy Township, Santa Clara County, and William’s occupation was listed as ‘surveyor’. He also served as a Baptist minister and member of the San Jose Board of Education.

The William Isaac family left Salinas, California, in the spring of 1875, bound for the Arizona Territory. Arriving in Prescott, they stayed there for the summer. In the fall, William Isaac and his grown sons rode south to the Salt River Valley, where they staked out a homestead west of Phoenix.

In the spring of 1876, the Isaacs moved to Phoenix. They resided in an adobe structure at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Jackson Street while the men constructed a house on their new homestead, near what is now 35th Avenue and McDowell Road.

Among the household items the Isaacs had brought with them from California was a four-octave melodeon. On Sundays, the legs were removed and it was conveyed by buggy to the South Methodist (now Central Methodist) Church in Phoenix, where it provided music during the worship services.

To ensure that his younger children got an education, William Isaac founded the Isaac school. He assisted Captain Hancock in surveying the Grand Canal and was active in the local Masonic lodge.

William Isaac retired from active farming around 1890. He died 23 March 1900 of 'dilatation of the heart' and was buried in the Masons Cemetery. - adapted from a story by Donna Carr and Dean Isaac

Find out more about the amazing person by coming to the PMMP!