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Kim Cox moved from Robinson in 1977, but he has long maintained close ties with the town where he grew up.
His latest love letter to Robinson is the self-published book "Historical Handbook of
Crawford County, Illinois," a 445-page history of the county and its early settlers illustrated with historic and current photos.
The book is the story of civilization coming to the old Northwest's wilderness, how the
white man's occupancy and ways succeeded those of the Native American, and how the
settlers quickly established themselves and their culture in a land of ancient wilds, wastes and native people.
Cox will be giving a reading of the book at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 7, at the Lincoln Trail College library. The book is available on Amazon, and a few copies of the book will be available at the event.
"Thanks to my father, Carroll T. Cox, my grandmother Harriet Patton Cox and 'uncles'
Clarence and Kent Phillips, I grew up with a profound interest in the history of Illinois and Crawford County's role in it," said Cox. "Crawford County residents should be proud of their role in the nation's development, from before the Revolutionary War until now."
This is the second book that Cox, now a retired lawyer in San Diego, has published about Crawford County. His first book, "I Remain, As Ever, Your Kinsman," is a compilation of letters from Crawford County relatives who participated in the California Gold Rush and those of his great-uncle, Private Allen M. Patton, who served in the 21st Illinois Volunteers and was killed in action at Stone's River in Tennessee during the Civil War.
The Crawford County history book has its own lengthy history. The project was started in the 1960s by Clarence Phillips, Cox's grand-uncle once removed. Phillips worked to take two previous county histories in 1883 and 1909 and put them into a usable handbook, along with his own research.
After Phillips died in 1967, his son Kent took up the project. In 1996, Phillips submitted the handbook to the Robinson Daily News, and parts of it were published in the newspaper.
Kent continued working on the handbook with Cox, his nephew, but the project was
shelved as Kent Phillips grew ill and later died in 2005. After Cox retired, he had the time and interest to publish the two books.
Cox's connection to Crawford County extends beyond the two books. A third-generation
lawyer, his father and grandfather- and Kent Phillips -were partners in the Cox, Phillips,
Weber and Weber law firm in Robinson. Cox's father, Carroll Cox, died in 1976, and his
family moved to San Diego the next year.
His family's history runs deep in Crawford County. Cox's great-great-great-great
grandfather, James Wilson, owned a tavern in Palestine where court hearings were held for the first time in Crawford County, following statehood. His great-great-great uncle, Joseph Kitchell, was a signer of the first Illinois constitution in 1818.
Cox's father had purchased land in Crawford County to fish and hunt, and some of Cox's most enjoyable childhood memories are of staying at a hunting cabin on the Embarras River. In 2021, Cox sold about 650 acres of land that his family had owned adjacent to Chauncey Marsh State Nature Preserve to the Nature Conservancy, which in turn donated the land to the state to be preserved. Cox still owns 188 acres on the Embarras River, now known as the Carroll T. Cox Forest and listed as an Illinois Natural Heritage Landmark.
