Ruby Cox Letter, June 1925

This letter was from Ruby Priscilla Cox to her parents George and Rett Cox and to her younger brother Robert Cox.

Ruby and her husband Emmert Oral Bryan were my paternal grandparents.  George Jackson Cox and Clarissa Loretta (Rett) Nichols were my great grandparents.

The letter was written in June of 1925.  At that time, Ruby was married with two children, and her brother Robert was 15 years old.

She was writing from Morristown.  Her parents were living in Jefferson County, about ten miles away.

I assume the reference to "papa" was a reference to Ruby's father George Cox, although she refers to him as "Father" in the salutation of the letter.

Turner was Joseph Turner Harrison, Ruby's nephew.  He was the son of Dan Harrison and Ruby's sister Ethel Cox.  Turner was 12 years old in 1925.

The reference to Ruby's head hurting concerns a mastoid infection which killed her on August 9th of the same year.  The letter does not make reference to it, but she was pregnant at the time the letter was written and she gave birth on July 23.  She was being prepped for mastoid surgery at the time of her death, but she never made it to the operating room.

The reference to Edna was to Edna Omage Bryan who was Ruby's sister-in-law.  Aunt Edna was 17 years old in 1925.  I don't know why Aunt Edna was sore, or why there was a reference to her being home and getting along just fine.  She must have injured herself or have had some sort of medical problem in the summer of 1925.

Jack and Lena Maude were Ruby's children.  Jack was 3 years old at the time, and Lena Maude was about 1 and 1/2.  As of the time this letter was written, Ruby appears still to have been taking care of her children.  But in another letter a few weeks later, Ruby was so sick that her parents were taking care of the children.

The reference to Jack "having a good time down there" was a reference to him having visited Emmert's mother and his two younger sisters, Willie (known as Bill or Aunt Bill) and the aforementioned Edna.  It would make sense that Jack might have been visiting with his grandmother and his aunts to give Ruby a break from childcare, given that she was 8 months pregnant and that she was suffering from a severe mastoid infection.

Minnie was Ruby's older sister Minnie Cox who married Port Slaton (Uncle Port).

I do not know who Mrs. Williams was.  The aforementioned Edna Omage Bryan married Lon Williams in 1932, and Mrs. Williams might have been Uncle Lon's mother.

The reference to Ethel could have been a reference to Ruby's older sister Mary Emily Ethel (Ethel) Cox who married Dan Harrison (Uncle Dan).  The reference to Ethel also could have been a reference to Emmert's older sister Lydia Ethel (Ethel) Bryan was married Robert Elmer (Elmer) Cox in 1919.  Uncle Elmer was Ruby's first cousin.

As previously mentioned, Emmert was Ruby's husband.