William Ruffin Cox (Congressional Biographical Directory)

COX, William Ruffin, a Representative from North Carolina; born in Scotland Neck, Halifax County, N.C., March 11, 1831; attended Vine Hill Academy in his native town; moved with his mother to Nashville, Tenn.; was graduated from Franklin College in 1851 and from the Lebanon College Law School in 1853; was admitted to the bar in 1853 and practiced in Nashville, Tenn., 1853-1857; returned to North Carolina in 1857 and engaged in agricultural pursuits in Edgecombe County; moved to Raleigh, N.C., in 1859; early in the Civil War entered the Confederate Army as major of the Second North Carolina State Troops; became brigadier general; resumed the practice of law at Raleigh, N.C., in 1865; solicitor of the sixth district 1866-1870; delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1868; judge of the superior court for the sixth district in 1877 and 1878, when he resigned; chairman of the Democratic State committee 1875-1877; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-seventh, Forty-eighth, and Forty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1881-March 3, 1887); unsuccessful candidate for renomination; elected Secretary of the United States Senate April 6, 1893, qualified August 7, 1893, and served until January 31, 1900; resumed agricultural pursuits, with residence at Penelo, Edgecombe County, N.C.; president of the State agricultural society in 1900 and 1901; died in Richmond, Va., on December 26, 1919; interment in Oakwood Cemetery, Raleigh, N.C.