Anna Cox, the daughter of Peyton A. Cox (died circa 1895) and Mary E. Wheeler Cox (fl. 1885), was born about 1885, and spent her early childhood in Salem, Forsyth County, N.C. Her brothers and sisters were William A. Cox, John M. Cox, George H. Cox, Emma Cox, and Flora L. Cox. In 1897, Anna Cox moved to Mooresville, Morgan County, Ind., to live with her brother William (Will) and his wife, Lizzie Hadley Cox. She attended high school there and graduated in 1901. Shortly after her graduation, she returned to North Carolina and taught school in a Forsyth County community called Nain. The collection contains about fifteen letters, before 1890, to and from members of the Cox family; about seventy-five letters, 1893-1908, between Anna Cox and her friends and relatives in Indiana, North Carolina, and elsewhere; about sixty letters, 1893-1915, between other members of the Cox family; four writings by Anna Cox; and a few miscellaneous items. The bulk of the papers consists of correspondence, 1893-1908, between Anna Cox and friends and family members in the areas of Mooresville, Morgan County, Ind., and Salem, Forsyth County, N.C. Many of these letters are from former classmates and refer to local news, career goals, marriage plans, and other personal matters. Two letters with a somewhat different focus are from a North Carolina soldier, George Yarbrough, stationed in Florida and Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Two Civil War letters, both addressed to Confederate Lieutenant R. L. Cox, are included in the earlier correspondence. In one, J. M. Cox of Madison, Rockingham County, N.C., inquired concerning life in the training camp in Raleigh, N.C., and related community and family news. In the other, W. D. Wallace (a friend at Camp Marshall, near Orange Court House, Va.), related camp news to Lieutenant Cox while Cox was on furlough. A few letters from this period between other family members are included; they pertain to health, weather, garment making, debts, and farming. In the later correspondence of other members of the Cox family, topics such as divorce, illnesses and death, household chores, and social activities are discussed.
