Fredrick Walter Cox and Jemima Losee

Fredrick Walter Cox was my great-great-great grandfather,  born in New York in 1812. He joined the Church while living in Ohio and was baptized by Thomas B. Marsh in 1838. After his conversion, Fredrick traveled to Far West, Missouri. From there he was driven to Lima Illinois, and then to Nauvoo after his home and property were burned by a mob.

Jemima Losee was my great-great-great grandmother, born in Canada in 1823. She grew up a Quaker, but was never satisfied with this religion. When she was 17 years old, she listened to a Mormon sermon for the first time, delivered by Elder Henry Lamnoreau. He baptized her parents David Losee and Lydia Huff. Three months later, Jemima was baptized by Elder George Johnson.

The next winter, Jemima left with her parents for Nauvoo. They arrived in 1841, weary and destitute. Shortly after they arrived in Nauvoo, everyone in the family but Jemima came down with with chills and a fever. This was a difficult trial for her, but she escaped the illness while nursing the rest of her family, and without any complaint.

Jemima learned privately of the revelation on plural marriage. At first she looked upon it with such antagonism that "she wished with all her heart she could die". She was a thorough believer in Mormonism, however, and it came to her gradually that this principle also was from God. She accepted it as such a thorough principle that she privately married Fredrick Walter Cox in 1844 as his second wife. She didn't even tell her mother about her marriage for nearly a year, and although she experienced trials and sorrows, never for one moment did she regret this step, nor doubt the principles of plural marriage.

After spending a year in Iowa, Fredrick was arrested and tried for practicing plural marriage. He was required to have only one wife or to leave the county. His response was "I will never desert these girls, so help me God!"

Fredrick was still preparing wagons to move west, so he had to find a place to move Jemima and another wife, Cordelia, and their five babies to keep the peace while he finished his work. He tried in vain to find a suitable home for his beloved wives. The only shelter he could find was a stable about 25 miles away. The room was about fifteen square feet with no place for a fire and no window for light. "Oh the misery of that home, and yet it became a hollowed place."

Fredrick made them as comfortable as he could and then left them alone in the care of "One who knows when a sparrow falls." God did not forsake them. Three documented miracles are evidence of this:

1. One night a mob came to burn down their home, but then left them unharmed after having a quarrel among themselves.
2. The stable was located on the road of the California gold seekers, so Jemima and Cordelia often did laundry for these men. One time a man demanded a gold piece he had left in his shirt, which they had not seen. They were afraid and Jemima went out to look with a prayer in her heart for help to find the gold. Jemima found it on the ground and thanked God for this miracle. 
3. After six weeks of living in the stable, Jemima was ready to deliver a baby. "She had no one to go to but her God who rules the destiny of all. The dreaded night came on February 29th, with no help and no chance of obtaining it. In the evening while Jemima and Cordelia were wondering what to do, someone knocked on the door. Cordelia opened it and a woman walked in. She asked how they were doing and and if she could do anything to help. 'Surely this was a Ministering Angel!' Who had sent her this cold winter night? And why, at this hour, so unexpected? She was a perfect stranger. They discovered she was a nurse and immediately gave her something to do. Before midnight, a baby girl was born. After performing her task and seeing that all was well, this woman departed as suddenly as she had come. They had never seen her before, and have never seen her since." Their prayers had been heard and answered.

Jemima and Cordelia were well cared for and protected from harm. Eventually they began the journey west with Fredrick. After a difficult journey that brought death to many, the Cox family arrived in Manti. Here Fredrick died in a logging accident in 1879, and Jemima died a "beautiful death" 22 years later at the age of 78. (Tennant Family History: 11-22)