‘The Life and Times of Almira Fay Leavitt Cox’ by Almira Cox, edited and appended by Lark Thwing (independently published, 251 pages, $19.95)
I never met Almira Leavitt Cox (1884-1958). I have met her daughter, several of her grandchildren, and several of her great-grandchildren.
The Cox family was headquartered in Holyoke, where Almira’s husband, Stanley Cox, was a prominent doctor. They spent as much time as they could here in Hawley, however, on property they first began to acquire in 1923.
In the mid-1940s, Almira wrote a partial autobiography for her children. Her typewritten pages remained in a box until 1996, when her daughter, Charlotte Cox Thwing, presented the manuscript to Charlotte’s son Lark in 1996.
It took Lark Thwing many years to get around to transcribing and editing his grandmother’s work. He recently published it.
The book is mostly intended for the reading pleasure of family members. Indeed, Almira Cox as the narrator tends to assume that her readers are familiar with the relatives to whom she refers.
Nevertheless, I found it fascinating for the insight it gave me into the life of an upper-middle-class woman in the early 20th century, as well as into the changes in urban and rural Massachusetts over the past century.
Lark Thwing titles the book “The Life and Times of Almira Fay Leavitt Cox.” He gives it the subtitle “Minister’s Daughter, Doctor’s Wife.” I am not sure how I feel about this.
Almira’s intelligence, eloquence, and energy shine through her writing. Defining her by the men in her life seems to diminish her to some extent.
On the other hand, many in her generation believed that a woman’s major priority was to support and sustain the men in her life, and the book shows Almira’s adherence to that belief. Perhaps the subtitle is appropriate.
Although a small essay at the end of the book discusses Almira’s childhood, her narrative mostly focuses on her adulthood, particularly after her marriage to Stanley Cox in 1912.
She did her best to adjust to life in Holyoke and to the bustle of being a doctor’s wife — and to motherhood, which came quite quickly; the couple soon had five children. She clearly used old account books to recall specific moments in the past. Her story details the many costs incurred by a middle-class family of the era.
It is clear from the book that Stanley Cox loved to spend money. He added to the family’s property frequently. He also loved to purchase farm animals that he intended, but doesn’t seem to have managed, to care for.
He joined associations and clubs and purchased numerous cars. He also provided financial support to relatives and also to many of his acquaintances and patients.
Almira finally managed to get the family’s spending under control when Stanley went off to serve in World War I and she was left in charge of the family finances.
Stanley was clearly taken aback upon his return from the war to learn that she had taken the financial reins — but he seems to have given her a little more financial autonomy after that. When the couple purchased the property in Hawley, the deeds were in Almira’s name.
Hawley seems to provided Almira with the latitude to indulge her creativity as a mother. She gave her children a lot of freedom in the former tavern and fields in which they spent every summer here. She also encouraged them to create art, get to know their neighbors, and make up stories.
Clearly, her grandson and his daughter, who contributes to the book’s afterword, took after Almira. I wish I had known her.
“The Life and Times of Almira Fay Leavitt Cox” is available for purchase at Amazon.com. Local would-be readers can also arrange to purchase it from Lark Thwing by emailing him at kthwingjr@gmail.com.
Tinky Weisblat is the award-winning author of “The Pudding Hollow Cookbook,” “Pulling Taffy,” and “Love, Laughter, and Rhubarb.” Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.