Cox, Melville Beveridge

Cox, Melville Beveridge a Methodist Episcopal missionary to Africa, was born at Hallowell, Me., Nov. 9, 1799; was converted in 1818; entered the ministry in 1822; on account of failing health was superannuated from 1825 to 1831; and afterwards served some time as agent of the Wesleyan University. In 1831 he was stationed at Raleigh, N. C. Soon afterwards he volunteered to go to Africa as a missionary, and sailed from Norfolk, Va., November 6, 1832, arriving in Liberia March 8, 1833. Here at once he set to work to lay the foundations of the Church in Africa. He labored faithfully, organizing the mission, collecting information, and preaching and teaching incessantly. In a few months he had formed a school of 70 scholars; but the African fever seized him, and on the 21st of July, 1833, after four months' labor, he died in triumph. Mr. Cox was a man of great piety and devoted zeal. — Meth. Mag. and Quart. Review, Jan. 1834; Amer. Miss. Memorial, p. 431; Cox, G. F., Life and Remains of M. B. Cox (N. Y. 18mo); Sprague, Annals, 7:656.