The Silcox Family

Ancestors of Rose Emma Silcox

(first wife of John B. Mattingly)

NOTE:  I am grateful to C. Rote, daughter of Mary Lyle Wills Speaks and granddaughter of Sudie Bell Mattingly Wills, who provided most of the information and all of the beautiful photographs in this section.  Also, J. Whittridge, daughter of John Isaac Wills and granddaughter of Sudie, gave me some corrections and additions to this section. 

1st Generation

 Isaac Silcox
(1802-1871)

Margaret Van Fleet
 (1808-1897)

Photo:  Thanks to C. Rote!

Margaret  Van Fleet Silcox

Isaac Silcox (1802 NJ-12 Jan 1871) married Margaret Van Fleet (1808 NJ-1897)

Their children were: 

          i.        Henry Silcox (1829-1859)

          ii.       Mary Mildred Silcox (b. 1832), m. James A. Johnson, d. 1917

          iii.      John Benjamin Silcox (1837-1894) m. Paulina Terhune[1];

                   parents of  Rose Emma Silcox 

          iv.      William Silcox (1840-1840)

          v.       Susan Elizabeth Silcox (1841-1919) m. William Daniel Barnett;

                    cared for Rose Emma's children.  William Daniel Barnett is the

                   oldest brother of Sarah Barnett, John B. Mattingly's second

                   wife.

          vi.      Margaret C. Silcox (1844-1900) m. Charles F. Vanarsdale

2nd Generation

John Benjamin Silcox
 (1837-1894)

Paulina Terhune
 (1841-1870)

John Benjamin Silcox  was born in 1837, the third of six children of Isaac Silcox and Margaret Van Fleet Silcox.  He married 20 March 1859 in Boyle Co., KY, Paulina Terhune (b. 1841)  (see TERHUNE), the daughter of Peter Terhune (1790-1855) and Agnes Houchins (1800-1865)[2]. 

Children of John Benjamin Silcox and Paulina Terhune were:

            i.        Rose Emma Silcox (1860-1881) m. John B. Mattingly

          ii.       Charles H. Silcox (b. 1859) m. 1891 Maggie Mershon;

                    living in New Mexico in 1935[3]  d. 1943 Curry Co. NM  

          iii.      Theresa (Reesy) Silcox (1864-1935) m. William D. Phillips

          iv.      John  E. Silcox  (1866-1944)[4] m. Melissa Gooch                       

          v.       Nancy ("Nannie") Silcox (1868-1949) (did not marry)   

          vi.      Isaac Thomas Silcox  (1870-1947)[5]  (did not marry)                  

           Paulina Terhune Silcox died at the time of, or soon after the birth of her youngest child in 1870. 

            John Benjamin Silcox second married on 26 March 1872, Elizabeth Trisler Hall, born 1840, daughter of Jacob Trisler and Martha Hall Trisler, widow of Jacob Hall, mother of one son.  They had one child:

                   vii.     William C. Silcox b. Feb. 1886, d. 1959 Huron Co., OH

Photo-- thanks to C. Rote!

Rose Emma Silcox about 1880

Rose Emma Silcox was born 29 January 1860, daughter of John Benjamin Silcox and Paulina Terhune Silcox. 

The 1860 Mercer Co., KY census, taken in July, shows this family as J.B. Silcox, 33, Paulina 20, and Rosa 6 months.

The 1870 Washington Co., KY census spelled their name Sylcox:  John Sylcox, 36; Palina 28; Emma 11; Charles H. 9;  Theresa 6; John 3.

Rose Emma married John B. Mattingly on 6 January 1880 in Mercer Co., KY., just before she was 20 years old.  (see MATTINGLY)  Bondsmen on the marriage bond were J.B. Mattingly and J.B. Silcox (her father).[6]

Soon after her marriage she became pregnant with twins (although in those days twins usually came as a surprise) and she apparently went to live with her family, for she appears with the family of John B. Silcox and his second wife Elizabeth in the 1880 Mercer Co. census, which gives her age as 22, a couple of years more than she actually was.  It does not give her last name as Mattingly.  John B. Mattingly was not found in the 1880 census.  No one now living has any memory of hearing anything about why this couple may have separated.

            Rose gave birth to her twins, a boy named John Charles and a girl named Sudie Bell on 4 January 1881[7] and only eight days later, on 12 January 1881, Rose died.  She was buried in the Berea Christian Church Cemetery in Mercer Co., KY.

Rose and John Mattingly's son John Charles, called Charley, lived only 14 months and died 15 March 1882.  He was buried beside his mother.  On his tombstone is written, "Our little lamb has gone to sleep."

Rose's aunt Susan Elizabeth Silcox Barnett cared for the twins after Rose's death.

Sometime between 1880 and 1891, Charles Silcox went out west to Denison, Grayson County, Texas, where he married on 12 Sept 1891 Maggie Mershon, daughter of James H. and Minnie Mershon.  Her father was a grocer and she had a little boutique next door to his store.  Maggie wrote a letter in 1892 to her sister-in-law Theresa Silcox in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, telling about the stores.  She mentioned that Charles was working in a blacksmith shop but that it was very dangerous; another man had lost his hand just the day before.  She hoped that Charles would go into the grocery business with her father.   Apparently, she got her wish because the 1893-4  city directory of Denison, Texas, shows Charles H. Silcox, grocer, and next door, Mrs. Maggie Silcox, music teacher.  At the same address is James H. Mershon, deputy U.S. marshal and proprietor of the Mershon Hotel.  There are photos of Charles and Maggie taken by a professional photographer in Denison, Texas, and a photo of a small child, probably a boy, taken by the same photographer.  On the Grayson County website is this cemetery record:  Claude B. Silcox 5 Sept 1894 - 11 Nov 1899.  With no further information, we can only assume that is the child of Charles and Maggie.[8]

Photos—Thanks to C. Rote!

Charles Silcox

Charles & Maggie Silcox

Claud Silcox (?)

 John Benjamin Silcox died in 1894 (source?).  

The 1900 Mercer, KY census shows the family as follows:  Bettie Silcox, 60, Apr 1840; stepdaughter Nannie 21, Jun 1867; stepson Isaac T. 31, Sep 1868; son Willie C. 14, Feb 1886.

In September 1896 Charles and Maggie Silcox were divorced, and she is found in the 1900 Grayson, TX census, living with her mother and her new husband  George W. Carpenter.  Maggie has given birth to one child, but the child is not living.  In 1900, Charles Silcox is found in the Grayson Co., Texas census as Charley Sillsax, 38, b. Mar 1862, KY, single, a boarder with Patrick O'Toole.  Later, he moved on to New Mexico.  He is found in the 1910, 1920 and 1930 Curry, NM census, always identified as a boarder or lodger.   In 1910 he is listed as Charles H. Silcox, 48, widower, born KY, both parents born KY, occupation:  farmer, horse farm.  In 1920  he is listed as Charles Silcox, age 59, born KY, real estate agent.  In 1930 he is listed as Charles H. Gilcox (with a G, but it is surely the same person),  widower, age 68, real estate agent. Charles Silcox as listed as a surviving brother of his sister Theresa Silcox Phillips in her 1935 obituary.  Finally, his obituary is listed in an index on the Curry, NM website indicating he died in February 1943 at the age of 84.  (We have no information about a second marriage, if there was one.)  Maggie and her second husband George  W. Carpenter are found in the 1930 census in Los Angeles, California.  They died within a few days of each other in May 1951 in Los Angeles.

John E. Silcox married Melissa (Lissie) Gooch, daughter of Dabney Gooch and Louisa Sallyer,[9] and they appear in the 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 Boyle County census.  Melissa’s unmarried sister Mollie lived with them.  They had no children.  John died in 1944[10] and Melissa died in 1945[11].

Theresa Silcox lived with her aunt GeorgeAnn Terhune Vanarsdale (Paulina’s sister) in Harrodsburg for some time.  She appears with that family in the 1880 and 1900 census.  In about 1907 she married William D. Phillips, and they appear in the 1920 and 1930 Mercer Co., KY census.  In the 1920 census they are living next door to Theresa’s aunt Georgeanna Vanarsdale, who died in 1922.[12] Theresa died in 1935[13] and William died in 1950.[14]  They did not have children.

Photo—thanks to C. Rote!

Theresa Silcox Phillips

Thomas Silcox and his sister Nancy (Nannie) Silcox remained single and lived together in Boyle County.  They appear in the 1920 and 1930 census.  Thomas died in 1947 and Nancy died in 1949[15] .

Photo—thanks to C. Rote!

Nannie Silcox

Elizabeth Trisler Hall Silcox died in 1915 in Boyle Co., KY.[16]

Willliam C. Silcox, son of John Benjamin Silcox and his second wife Elizabeth, married Martha.  They appeared in the 1920 Boyle County census as follows:  William C. Silcox 32, wife Martha 26, W.C. Jr. 8, Dorothy 4.  They then moved to Huron County, Ohio:  1930 Willard, Huron Co., OH census:  William C. Silcox 42, married first at 28, b. KY, salesman rubber works; wife Martha 34 married first at 18; son William C. 17, dau Dorothy 14, son M.D. 7.  William died 3 Jun 1959 in Huron Co., Ohio, at the age of 72.

Thus, it appears that Rose’s daughter Sudie Mattingly Wills was the only grandchild of John Benjamin Silcox and Paulina Terhune to live to adulthood and have a family of her own.   (see WILLS)