Mary Simpson Harding Cox was the first wife of James M. Cox, Governor of Ohio. She was a daughter of George W. & Emma E. (Simpson) Harding. Her father was a prominent attorney in Cincinnati and a Democrat. The Harding family was Presbyterian.
Mary married James M. Cox in 1893; they divorced in 1911, while Cox was serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and prior to his election as Governor of Ohio.
She married (2) Richard H. Lee in 1914.
History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (Cincinnati: S.B. Nelson & Co., 1894), pp. 589-590; US Census 1900