52 Ancestors: Week 26 "Halfway": Annie Cox

The theme for Week 26 of the 52 Ancestors Challenge is "Halfway." I have chosen to write about Annie Cox because she was my great-great-grandmother Sarah Claire "Sadie" Dyer's half-sister, and because her life was short (actually, less than half the length that she could have lived).

Annie was born about 1872 in Tennessee (probably Nashville, since that is where her family lived). She was the first child that my 3rd-great-grandmother Mary had with her second husband John Cox. Annie lost her father when she was about six years old; John Cox died in 1878. In 1880, Mary Cox headed the household. Annie was then known as Nannie. She and her older half-brother Mike Dyer were attending school.

1880 United States census, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, population schedule, enumeration district 43, page no. 38. Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. 

The 1895-1897 Nashville city directories list Annie as an operator working at 180 N. College. While researching my Tarkington relatives (on another line), I learned that this was the Cumberland Telephone & Telegraph Co. Annie and my other relatives were telephone operators. Annie lived in the household of her mother, who was a grocer. They were listed at a different address in each directory.

Nashville City Directory, vol. 31, 1895. Joel Davis, comp. Nashville: Marshall & Bruce. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Nashville City Directory, vol. 32, 1896. Joel Davis, comp. Nashville: Marshall & Bruce. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Nashville City Directory, vol. 33, 1897. Joel Davis, comp. Nashville: Marshall & Bruce. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. 

Annie lost two siblings during this time. Her older half-brother Michael J. Dyer died of congestion of the brain on 24 December 1895, and her younger brother William Cox died from abscess of the lungs on 2 March 1896.

Annie died in Nashville, Tennessee on 19 July 1898. She was only 26 years old. Her cause of death was pulmonary tuberculosis. Her funeral was held at the Cathedral of Nashville (now St. Mary's Catholic Church). She was buried in Calvary Cemetery,  Section 10, Lot 3, Space 11 on 20 July 1898.

My great-great-grandmother Sadie (Dyer) Gatlin's daughter Anna Elizabeth Gatlin may have been named after Annie (whose given name was probably Anna.)

Annie Cox death record. Ancestry.com. Tennessee, City Death Records, 1872-1923 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: Tennessee City Death Records Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Memphis 1848-1907. Nashville, Tennessee: Tennessee State Library and Archives.

Annie Cox death record (2nd half of page.) Ancestry.com. Tennessee, City Death Records, 1872-1923 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: Tennessee City Death Records Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Memphis 1848-1907. Nashville, Tennessee: Tennessee State Library and Archives.

 Nashville Banner, 20 July 1898, page 7