The Lost Children of the Alleghenies were two missing brothers from the

Appalachia Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...

region of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1856. George and Joseph Cox, then aged seven and five respectively, disappeared from their home in Pavia, Pennsylvania, on April 24, 1856. Their dead bodies were found several days later in the surrounding woods and they were buried in the Mount Union cemetery in nearby Lovely. There is a small memorial to them in the Spruce Hollow forest in

Blue Knob State Park Blue Knob State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Kimmel, Lincoln, and Pavia townships in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The average annual snowfall at the park is about . The park is named for Blue Knob, the second high ...

, Pennsylvania.

Background

George, 7, and Joseph, 5, were the sons of Samuel and Susannah Cox. The Cox family lived in a cabin built by Samuel for his wife and children. At this time old-growth logging had not yet begun in this area of Pennsylvania and the area was still heavily forested.Lost children still haunting mountain
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Disappearance

During the morning of April 24, 1856, Samuel Cox heard his dog barking in the forest and thought that it must have trapped a squirrel in a tree. Samuel retrieved his rifle and headed into the woods. It is thought that while Samuel was gone, the boys must have strayed from home to follow their father. Susannah thought that Samuel had taken the boys with him. It was only when Samuel returned without them that they realized their children were gone. They called for the boys, but received no replies. Samuel went for help from his nearest neighbors and by that evening more than one hundred men were searching for the children. Fires were lit in the forest in the hope that the boys would see one and approach. Nearly a thousand people showed up to search the next day. A nearby stream, Bob's Creek, was surging with spring snow melt and it was thought that there was no way the boys could have crossed to the other side without drowning. A search of the creek was performed but the boys were not found. On April 26, suspicion fell on Samuel and Susannah Cox. It was thought that they might have murdered their children in the hope of gathering donations from a sympathetic population. The Cox cabin and garden were searched but no bodies were located. The searchers went so far as to bring in a

dowser Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, Petroleum, oil, claimed radiations (radiesthesia),As translated from one preface of the Kassel experiments, "roughly 10,000 active do ...

and a

witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...

from Somerset County. The dowser found nothing and the witch, despite claiming to know the children's location, led a search team through the woods for hours without turning up anything.

Discovery

A local farmer, Jacob Dibert, heard about the missing children and remarked to his wife that he wished to be able to dream of the boys' location. On May 2, 1856, he had a dream in which he walked a path through the woods past a dead deer, a child's shoe and a fallen birch tree and eventually to a copse of birch trees in a small ravine. Here he found the bodies of the Cox boys. The dream reoccurred on the two following nights. Dibert told no one but his wife about the dream; however, he felt that the dream was prophetic and on May 7 he told his brother-in-law Harrison Whysong. Whysong recognised elements from Dibert's dream and the two men decided to make a search, culminating in the discovery of the bodies just as the dream had described - under birch trees in a small ravine reached along a track with a dead deer, a child's shoe, and a fallen birch.

Aftermath

In 1906, for the 50th anniversary of the event, the community of Pavia took up donations for a Lost Children of the Alleghenies Monument to honor the Cox family. In 1910, they erected the monument at the spot where Joseph and George Cox were found over 50 years earlier.

Alison Krauss Alison Maria Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass-country singer and musician. She entered the music industry at an early age, competing in local contests by the age of 8 and recording for the first time at 14. She signed with ...

released a song written by Julie Lee and John Pennell about the story entitled "Jacob's Dream".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lost Children Of The Alleghenies 1850s missing person cases 1856 deaths 1856 in Pennsylvania Allegheny Mountains American folklore April 1856 events Brother duos Child deaths Formerly missing people History of Pennsylvania Missing person cases in Pennsylvania Unsolved deaths in the United States

Background

Disappearance

Discovery

Aftermath

See also

References