Cox Family Collection

Collection

Identifier: A-0388

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Cox Family Collection offers an insight into the city of Nacogdoches from 1895 to 2021.The Navarro Cox Tire Co. is featured prominently in the collection through photographs and annotations written on the back that detail the history of the company. Peggy Cox’s correspondence provides the history of historic sites around Nacogdoches such as the restoration of the Durst-Taylor House and the construction of “The Treaty” statue. Nacogdoches civic organizations documented in the collection are the FAME Investment Club, Flora Garden Club, Historic Nacogdoches Inc., Literati Club, Nacogdoches Rotary Club, and the Rotary Ann’s Club. Family photographs, personal correspondence, newspaper clippings, and business records for some of the aforementioned organizations make up the bulk of the collection. Researchers interested in Nacogdoches families, businesses, and social organizations will find this collection useful.

Dates

Event: Donated 6/30/2025

Conditions Governing Access

Open for research.

Biographical / Historical

Navarro Bradford Cox was born on August 9th, 1898 in Nacogdoches to William McKenzie Cox and Eliza Jane Campbell. He was raised in East Texas, went to school in Nacogdoches and still lived with his parents there in 1920, working as a hotel clerk. Cox married Ruby May Ingram (1908-1989) on September 28th, 1924. They had two children named Navarro Campbell Cox and Pamela Cox-Cate. Navarro owned and operated the Navarro Cox Tire Co. from 1938 to 1970. In 1939, he purchased 880 acres in Nacogdoches to begin a cattle ranch. Cox was a member of many local organizations including the Rotary Club, the Shrine, the Knights Templar, the Masonic Lodge, and First Methodist Church. Navarro B. Cox died on June 11th, 1972 in Nacogdoches and is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery.

Navarro Campbell Cox was born in 1934 to Navarro B. and Ruby May Cox. He graduated from Nacogdoches High School in 1953 and joined the Army Corps of Engineers. In 1956, Cox married his high school sweetheart Peggy Green. He worked for his father, Navarro, in 1960 at the Navarro Tire Company and became the President of the company in 1970. Cox and his wife had two sons; Campbell Cox II and Marcus.

Peggy Green-Cox was born in 1937. Peggy graduated Nacogdoches High School in 1955. Mrs. Cox received a bachelor’s degree in science in 1958 and a master’s degree in 1959 from SFA. She taught third, fourth and fifth grade at Central Heights School for several years and retired after the birth of her second son, Marcus. Mrs. Cox is a member of the Flora Garden Club, Historic Nacogdoches Inc., Rotary Ann’s Club, and the Literati Club.

Campbell “Cam” Cox II was born 1962. He attended the University of Texas at Austin and in 1980 he earned his bachelor’s in business administration. Cox graduated St. Mary’s University with a law degree in 1987. In 1990, he married Jennie Williams. Together they have two sons, Travis and Thomas. Cox was the Assistant District Attorney for Dallas County from 1988 to 1994. He was elected as the District Judge of the 145th Judicial District Court of Nacogdoches in 2000, served for 20 years, and retired in 2020. Cox currently works as a Senior Judge, offering mediation and arbitration services throughout East Texas. He is a member of First Baptist Church, the Nacogdoches Chamber of Commerce, and a past Scoutmaster of Troop 103.

Source Citations:

[Navarro Bradford Cox], 1930 Census, HeritageQuest [subscription database]. Online at: https://www.ancestryheritagequest.com/search/collections/6224 (accessed September 12th, 2025).

About Campbell Cox, East Texas Mediation. Online at: https://www.easttexas-mediation.com/about-judge-cox-arbitrator-mediator-adr-nacogdoches-texas/ (accessed on September 15th, 2025).

Ad for Navarro Cox Tire Co., The Cherokeean/Herald of Rusk, Texas, pg. 13, Thursday, August 17th, 1989. Online at: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth151917/m1/13/ (accessed September 12th, 2025).

Cox Funeral Held in Nacogdoches, The Kilgore News Herald, Wednesday, June 14, 1972, Newspapers.com [subscription database]. Online at: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/612265948/ (accessed September 8th, 2025).

Mr. and Mrs. N. Campbell and Peggy Cox, SFA Scholarship Office. Online at: https://sfasu. academicworks.com/donors/mr-and-mrs-n-campbell-and-peggy-cox (accessed September 1st, 2025).

Nacogdoches (1938), Texas Archive of the Moving Image [online database]. Online at: https://texasarchive.org/2014_01266 (accessed September 3rd, 2025).

Navarra Cox, 1900 Census, HeritageQuest [subscription database]. Online at: https://www.ancestryheritagequest.com/search/collections/7602 (accessed September 12th, 2025).

Navarra Cox, 1940 Census, HeritageQuest [subscription database]. Online at: https://www.ancestryheritagequest.com/search/collections/2442 (accessed September 12th, 2025).

Navarro B Cox, 1950 Census, HeritageQuest [subscription database]. Online at: https://www.ancestryheritagequest.com/search/collections/62308 (accessed September 12th, 2025).

Navarro Bradford Cox (1898-1972), Family Search [subscription database]. Online at: https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LBZS-R9P/navarro-bradford-cox-1898-1972 (accessed September 2nd, 2025).

Navarro Bradford Cox (1898-1972), Find a Grave [online database]. Online at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/107593037/navarro-bradford-cox (accessed September 2nd, 2025).

Navarro Cox, 1920 Census, HeritageQuest [subscription database]. Online at: https://www.ancestryheritagequest.com/search/collections/6061 (accessed September 12th, 2025).

Navarro Cox, Obituary, The Times, HeritageQuest [subscription database]. Online at: https://www.ancestryheritagequest.com/search/collections/61843 (accessed September 18th, 2025).

Peggy A Green, 1950 Census, HeritageQuest [subscription database]. Online at: https://www.ancestryheritagequest.com/search/collections/62308 (accessed September 11th, 2025).

Peggy and Campbell Cox Family named Farm Family of the Year, Nacogdoches County Chamber of Commerce, March 28th, 2014. Online at: https://nacogdoches.org/news/1945/ (accessed September 8th, 2025).

Extent

1.50 Cubic Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

This collection consists of three clamshell boxes and one oversize bundle. Boxes 1 and 2 contain 19 legal folders, Box 3 holds 18 photographs, and Bundle 1 has one oversize marriage license. Documents are organized at the folder level, but the photographs in Box 3 and the marriage license in Bundle 1 are organized at the item level.

Separated Materials

- Polk’s Nacogdoches City Directory for 1960, 1984, 1985, and 1989 were added to archival stacks.

- Yearbooks from 1981-1982, 1982-1983, 1984-1985, 1986-1987, 1989-1990, 1996-1997, 1998-1999, 1999-2000, 2003-2004, 2004-2005, 2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2010-2011, 2012-2013, 2014-2015 were added to the Flora Garden Club, Nacogdoches, Texas, Collection (B-0094).