TRENTON, Ohio – James Cox (1870 - 1957), two-time governor of Ohio and founder of Cox Enterprises, grew up on the Cox Farm. Tim Sheley started working full-time there in 1977 and has been there ever since. There have been changes, but he keeps the estate and the farm in beautiful condition.

“When I started here on the Cox Farm, we had 1,000 head of registered Aberdeen Black Angus cattle. The cattle were donated to four universities in 1992 because they were registered breeder stock. We no longer have animals here, so it is much changed.

“When I was working here as a young boy, there were 792 acres,” he said. “They sold a lot of that to Gary Gerber, a local farmer. We are down to 108 acres. We take at least two crops of hay off every year to keep it on a farm-tax basis.”

Back when Cox Farm was a working farm, wheat and corn were the primary crops. They would put the corn in the silos; they sold the wheat but kept the straw as they needed it for bedding for the cattle.

“In the early years, they started out with pigs and sheep,” Sheley said. “James’ father, Gilbert, started with the development of the Poland China pigs. He had the champion pigs at the 1899 Ohio State Fair. There is a picture of those pigs in the house.”

James Cox worked on the farm as a boy. He later served as the 46th and 48th governor of Ohio, from 1913-1915 and 1917-1921, and was a two-term U.S. Representative from Ohio from 1909 until 1913.

He was the Democratic nominee for president of the United States in the 1920 election. He lost to fellow Ohioan Warren G. Harding. After that, he decided to focus on expanding his business. He founded the chain of newspapers that continues today as Cox Enterprises. The corporate headquarters is in Atlanta, Ga.

Cox eventually moved to Kettering. When he was running the Dayton Daily News, he would still often come back to the farm on weekends, Sheley said. In his later years, he would have his chauffeur drive down, and he would hitch a horse up to a buggy. He would go around the block surveying his property and the animals on the farm.

“My wife’s grampa would be sitting on the porch and he would wave to him as he went by,” Sheley said.

That buggy sits now in the 1890 barn. Once the cattle were gone, Sheley and his father reconfigured it for meetings. The Butler Soil and Water Conservation District hosted field days there for the past several years.

“The main use for the barn, as time has evolved, is for meeting purposes,” Sheley said. “We use the barn for training classes for Cox Enterprises. We have quarterly meetings here, and they fly in groups of our employees.”

Interestingly, Cox Enterprises now has three grow farms in the United States, Sheley said. They are all under cover and grow vegetables year-round. One of the largest is about 360 acres.

“They are still in the farming business,” Sheley said, adding, “It is a joy to have and be a part of this. I plan on retiring one day, but I don’t know if it will be in the near future.”

Sheley also maintains the 19th-century home and guest houses on the property.