Among the younger representatives of the medical fraternity in the capital city of California is Dr. Thomas J. Cox, who was born in Sacramento County in 1871 and is a son of Thomas and Mary (Flanigan) Cox. His parents were natives of Ireland, but in the year 1849, the father came to California, crossing the plains with an ox team. In this slow way, he traveled for days and weeks until several months had passed before he reached his destination. At length, he located in Coloma and for a few years followed mining, but later turned his attention to agricultural pursuits in Sacramento County, being thus identified with the farming interests of the central portion of the state until his death, which occurred in 1878. His wife survived him for a number of years, passing away in 1890. In their family were two sons and two daughters, of whom Dr. Cox is the youngest.
Upon his father’s farm, Dr. Cox spent the days of his boyhood and youth. He attended the public schools of Sacramento and completed the high school course by graduation with the class of 1891. Being desirous of entering upon a professional career, he then matriculated in the medical department of the University of California and was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. His first practical training was received as house surgeon for the Southern Pacific Railway Hospital at Sacramento, with which he was connected for a year and a half. He then resigned to accept the position of assistant superintendent in the county hospital and acted in that capacity for four years. On the expiration of that period, he entered upon the private practice of medicine in Sacramento, where he has continued up to the present time, and his business has been of an important character, his patronage steadily growing in volume.
In 1900 Dr. Cox was joined in wedlock to Miss Alice Sheehan, a native of Sacramento County and a daughter of General T. W. Sheehan, the manager of the Record-Union of Sacramento. They now have two interesting children: Margaret and Thomas, Jr. Dr. Cox is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Native Sons of the Golden West. In politics, he is a Republican, interested in the local advancement as well as state progress of his party, and in all matters of citizenship he is public-spirited, endorsing all the measures calculated to prove of benefit to his community and giving his hearty co-operation to many movements for the general good.
Source: Leigh H. Irvine; A History of the New California Its Resources and People, 2 Volumes; New York and Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1903.