Author: Cox, Elizabeth
Biography:
COX, Elizabeth, formerly Paschall (1780-1852; ancestry.com)
Although NUC indicates that The Cottage Minstrel and by extension Flowers of Autumn are attributed to Elizabeth Cox, no evidence is provided and at least one other name has been suggested for the declared author, "a female of this city [Philadelphia]." Her preface to the first book says that poverty led her to publish poems "chiefly written at an early period of life; and without premeditation." If Elizabeth Cox née Paschall was indeed the author, she was the daughter of Ann (Garrett) and John Henry Paschall, born in Philadelphia on 11 Jan. 1780. On 2 Aug. 1795 she married Justice Coxe or Cox (1766-1813) at Christ Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. They lived in Kingsessing, Philadelphia, and had one son, Justice, born in 1803. After the death of her husband in 1813 she appears in census records as "Widow Cox." She may have remarried: there is an Elizabeth (Paschall) Smith (1780-1852) buried at the Episcopal Church of St. James, Kingsessing. (NUC; ancestry.com 17 Aug. 2025; findmypast.com 17 Aug. 2025) HJ