Family History of Dicey Cox
Beginning with 
George M. Bratcher and Sarah Elizabeth Dewitt-Cox

Born a slave in the year 1845, was when it all started.  As history has it, Dicey Cox was born and a very hard worker to God.  She gave birth to her first-born child in 1862, for which she named Ann Cox.  After the birth of Ann, Ms. Dicey became the mistress of a Caucasian man, Bill Bratcher, for whom she conceived four lovely children: Waiters Cox in 1865; Joseph Cox in 1867; Mary Cox in 1872; and George M. Cox, the baby, in 1879.  George took on the name “Babe Bratcher” for being the youngest.  Ms. Dicey was cared for greatly by Bill Bratcher, as sources indicated.  He gave her a home and thirty-five acres of land for her and their lovely children.  Ms. Dicey will always be remembered as “Grandma Dicey”, a very independent and strong-minded lady, who enjoyed smoking her pipe. 

George grew up a hard-working, ambitious man with strong Christian convictions.  He built and repaired furniture.  George owned a gristmill, which was used to turn corn into grits and meal.  He was very business oriented; if someone could not afford to have their corn grounded, he would take part of their grits or corn for payment.  He would then in turn sell it for profit.  He made many wise trades throughout the year to help support him for the upcoming year.  He owned several horses and buggies and could even afford to pay for others to hitch his horse and buggy.  He would give $0.50 to the person who assisted him.  To this day, he is known to many as “Granddaddy”.

Granddaddy had a reputation for fairness and honesty, which made him well liked in Horry County, South Carolina.  He never held a public job since he always owned his own business.  When he worked, he worked only for himself.  He had many great opportunities in life.  He once had the option of purchasing some land in Myrtle Beach, SC (today known as Ocean Drive Beach) for $0.50 an acre.  Granddaddy did not purchase the land; he felt it was just sand and useless to him.  To this day, his kids think of how rich they could have been if he had purchased the land back in the day.

George is known as one of the foundering members of True Vine Missionary Baptist Church on Hwy. 90 in Conway, SC.  On (date unknown) George found true love and his soul mate – a beautiful, warm easygoing, co-operative young lady named Sarah Elizabeth Dewitt - and on (date unknown) they married.  They enjoyed life together as husband and wife for (unknown) years, during which time they were blessed with nine (9) children – Mary, Bell, George, Viola, Lewis, Blanche, Bessie, Annie, and Alice.  These children inherited a potent blend of strong convictions, thoughtfulness, sensitivity, pride, and the girls inherited their motherly wit.  The family used both Cox and Bratcher on everything.