Last September, Kevin and I enjoyed a day trip photographing cemeteries along the rural back roads of southern Cambria and northwestern Bedford Counties in western Pennsylvania. Later in the day, we decided to make the little trek down the secluded, heavily-wooded one-lane gravel/dirt road in Blue Knob State Park, curious to see the monument known locally as “The Cox Children” monument and known regionally as “The Lost Children of the Alleghenies” monument.
In the dusky gloom of the fading September sun, after turning off of Burnt House Road (part of State Route 869) onto Monument Road, we made our way down the isolated gravel road that takes you to the Children of the Alleghenies monument path.
Monument Road, the lonely, isolated gravel road leading to the Lost Children monument.
Bullet-riddled sign pointing the way to the turn-off onto Monument Road, the location of the Lost Children of the Alleghenies monument along Ciana Run in Spruce Hollow, Blue Knob State Park, Bedford County, PA.
The Story
On a Thursday morning, April 24, 1856, Samuel Cox was eating breakfast with his wife, Susannah, and their three children in their cabin which they built in a clearing within the heavily wooded Spruce Hollow, near the villages of Lovely and Pavia, Bedford County, Pennsylvania. Hearing his dog barking about a quarter of a mile away, Sam quickly finished his breakfast and headed out into the woods in hopes of getting whatever creature his dog had treed in order to provide meat for his family. At some point after finishing their breakfast, excited by their father’s enthusiasm, the two oldest children, George, 7, and Joseph, 5, decided to follow after him and they disappeared into the old-growth forest, never to be seen alive again.
Upon returning to the cabin, having decided to take another path back, Samuel and Susannah both discovered, to their utter horror, that the boys were not with the other parent. After frantically calling out to their children, to no avail, Samuel rounded up as many neighbors as possible, and by evening about 100 people were out looking for the two boys. By the next day, almost a thousand people were combing the densely wooded hillsides and steep ravines around the area.
Wildly bigoted speculations about the children’s fate begin to circulate: they were kidnapped by the band of gypsies seen recently in the area, or, they were captured by the monks at the nearby Roman Catholic monastery in Loretto to be forcibly indoctrinated into their “peculiar religion”. Most heinous of all was the accusation by one neighbor (often mistakenly identified in later accounts as “Charley Ross”), who insisted that Samuel and Susannah had likely murdered their children to elicit sympathy money from their neighbors. This neighbor was so insistent with his vicious accusations that he actually pulled up the Cox cabin floorboards and dug up their garden in hopes of turning up the boys’ bodies. Soon over a week had gone by, with no signs of either little George or Joseph.
Meanwhile, about twelve miles away, near the town of Claysburg in Blair County, Jacob Dibert began having dreams about the two lost boys. Like most people within a broad radius of the region, Jacob was aware of their plight and often talked about it with his wife, Sarah, as they were both distressed for the boys and the unimaginable worry of their parents. Soon, Jacob began having dreams about being alone in the forest searching for the boys. By the third night of his dreams, all of which gave forth vivid clues as to their whereabouts: a deer carcass, a child’s shoe, a large stream with a beech log across a narrow, and a birch tree with a distinctly lopped-off top, Jacob, a decidedly non-superstitious man with little belief in omens, become nonetheless convinced that his dreams were meaningful. He described the dream landscape to Sarah, who recognized it, especially the beech log stream crossing, as the wooded area surrounding her childhood home, about five miles away.
Jacob decided to conduct his own search and enlisted the help of his wife’s brother, Harrison Whysong. On the next morning, Thursday, May 8th, sure enough, while on their way to the beech log crossing, they encountered a deer carcass, and further on, a child’s shoe. After crossing the stream, known as Bob’s Creek, they made their way onward until indeed, a birch tree with a broken top appeared along a smaller stream known as Gypsy (now called Ciana) Run. And there, lying together within the semi-circular embrace of the birch tree’s roots, were the emaciated bodies of the two children, George and Joseph. It appeared that the younger boy, Joseph, had first succumbed to starvation and hypothermia, as his head was lying on his brother’s hat, under which had been placed a large smooth stream rock as a pillow. A signal was raised at around 11:00 AM and the community began gathering at the secluded spot while Jacob Dibert stood protectively over the little boys until their father could make his way over, weeping and overcome with grief.
A $50 reward had been raised by the surrounding community which was then given to both Jacob Dibert and Harrison Wysong. They immediately turned the reward money over to Samuel and Susannah Cox so that they could purchase a proper monument for their sons’ gravesite. Both boys were small enough to be placed in the same casket and a white marble monument, still in place today, marks their joint gravesite at Mt. Union Cemetery in Pavia. Their epitaph reads:
“George S.,
Born March 30th, 1849,
and
Joseph C.,
Born Oct. 29th, 1850.
sons of Samuel and Susannah Cox. Wandered from home April 24, 1856, and were found dead in the woods, May 8th of the same year, by Jacob Dibert and Harrison Wysong.”
Aftermath and Folklore
Jacob Dibert ended up dying of dysentery eight years later, October 26, 1864, while fighting for the Union cause at the siege of Petersburg, Virginia.
In 1906, on the 50-year anniversary of this tragic event, money was raised to put in place a permanent marble monument, marking the exact place where George and Joseph were found. The birch tree is long gone, as is the smooth stream rock upon which Joseph’s little head had rested. Apparently, vandalism became a concern at some point, as a roofed structure with a chain link fence enclosure now surrounds the monument, making it difficult to photograph.
Tucked along the heavily wooded Ciana Run is the monument demarcating the spot where the Cox children met their fate in May 1856.
White marble monument erected on the exact spot the Cox children were found in May 1856.
The story of ‘The Lost Children of the Alleghenies’ quickly became an iconic tale in the folk culture of northern Appalachia that endures into the 21st century. “Jacob’s Dream”, a hauntingly beautiful song about this tragic tale, was written by John Pennell and Julie Lee and recorded by renowned bluegrass artist, Alison Krauss, on her 2007 album 100 Miles Or More. Click here to listen to her poignant musical tribute. Also, click here to read more about the songwriters’ inspiration for writing the song.
Written by Stacey. Photos by Stacey & Kevin unless otherwise stated.
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If you find cemeteries and grave markers fascinating, check out Stacey’s cemetery/grave marker photo gallery on Instagram: @memento_mori_sp
