The students of the Radical University: Clarence W. Fox

Clarence W. Fox, ca.1903
Men of Massachusetts

Clarence W. Fox
From The Western Druggist, August 1893

Clarence Woodbury Fox (b. April 12, 1857; d. February 12, 1912)
New York.  White.
Occupation: clerk, merchant.
Father's occupation: clergyman, farmer, teacher.

Clarence W. Fox was born in Ashland, New York to Clarinda S. and Henry J. Fox. Henry was originally from England.  Henry embraced Methodism and, in 1844, left England.  He planned to go to Canada, but during a stay in New York City, he was convinced by Methodist ministers to stay there and work as a pastor.

The year Clarence was born (in 1857), his father Henry J. became the president of Ashland Collegiate Institute (a school in Ashland, New York which was open from 1858 to 1861). That year his father also received an A.M. degree from Wesleyan University.  Over the next few years, the family moved around the state as his father changed jobs and continued his education.  The father received a D.D. degree from Union College (in Schenectady, New York) in 1866.  During this time, Clarence studied at public schools.

The family left New York for South Carolina in 1869. They first moved to Chesterfield County, and the father tried to start a farm. The family had a difficult time there. Recent immigrants like the Fox family were subject to Klan violence, and the Fox family ended up abandoning their farm. They left Chesterfield for Charleston in 1872. That year Clarence's father Henry J. was appointed to a church in Charleston. 

The family moved again in 1873. That year, they moved to Columbia, South Carolina because the father had been given the position of Professor of Rhetoric, Criticism, Elocution, English Language and Literature at the University of South Carolina.

On July 27, 1874, Clarence applied to be a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Pont. His application was sponsored by Robert B. Elliott. West Point records indicate that Clarence was ultimately rejected as a candidate.   At the time, upon arrival on campus, candidates to the Academy were required to undergo a physical examination and academic testing.  Presumably Clarence was rejected on that basis, although Academy records justify the rejection with the unknown abbreviation "Ac. Bd."  

Clarence registered as a university student at the University of South Carolina on November 21, 1874.  He entered into the college preparatory (or sub freshman) class, but had moved to the college class following the modern studies track by 1876. The university closed before he completed his degree.

Clarence's formal education ended with the university's closure. He entered business and moved to Boston.  He lived in Saugus, a town in the greater Boston area. For several years, he worked as a bookkeeper at L. C. Paul & Co., a company that made bottle glassware and "druggists' sundries." In 1882, he decided to start his own business and, in partnership, he formed Fox, Fultz & Webster which later became Fox, Fultz & Co.  Like L. C. Paul & Co., his firm sold things like glassware to pharmacists.

Clarence's contributions to the glassware industry was not limited to running his business. He also worked as an inventor. He received at least nine U.S. patents. For example, he received a patent for a shaker for mixing drinks in 1891. 

Beyond his work, Clarence was a member of the East Saugus M.E. Church and active in local politics.  He served as a Saugus selectman and was twice a Republican delegate (in 1894 and 1900).  

Clarence died on February 12, 1912 from heart trouble after a brief disease.  His death certificate lists the cause as grippe followed by interstitial nephritis with angina pectoris. He was buried in Riverside Cemetery in Saugus. His death was reported in The National Druggist, a periodical for pharmacists. That periodical described him as "a man of liberal views, kindly in nature and much loved by his fiends, of whom he had a great many."

Clarence W. Fox
From New York, the Metropolis

Clarence W. Fox in 1905
Boston Globe, February 28, 1905

Clarence W. Fox was elected Saugus selectman in 1905
Boston Globe, February 28, 1905

  

Advertisement for Fox, Fultz & Co.
From American Druggist And Pharmaceutical Record, Volume 36: 1900.

The Fox, Fultz & Co. building

From New York, the Metropolis

Patents

1) C. W. Fox. "Glass Holder." No. 378,361. United States Patent Office. February 21, 1888.

2) C. W. Fox. "Shaker for Mixing Drinks." No. 447,069. United States Patent Office. February 24, 1891.

3) C. W. Fox. "Device for Washing Bottles." No. 457,603. United States Patent Office. August 11, 1891.

4) C. W. Fox. "Spatula." No. 479,937. United States Patent Office. May 19, 1892.

5) Clarence W. Fox. "Funnel." No. 502,881. United States Patent Office. August 8, 1893.

6) C. W. Fox. "Machine for making suppositories." No. 509,154. United States Patent Office. November 21, 1893.

7) C. W. Fox, J. G. Blount, & B. J. Noyes. "Machine for making tablets, pills, &c." No. 597,110. United States Patent Office. January 11, 1898.

8) C. W. Fox. "Nursing Bottle." No. 898,975. United States Patent Office. January 5, 1907.

9).  C. W. Fox. "Liquid-Receptacle."  Patent No. 901,433. United States Patent Office. October 20, 1908.

Sources

1). "New England Letter" The Western Druggist.  August 1893,  Volume XV,  Number 8: pp. 338-339.

2). National Wholesale Druggists' Association.  Proceedings of the National Wholesale Druggists' Association.  Volume 38.  1912.

3). "Clarence W. Fox"  National Druggist. March 1912:  p. 170.

4). 1910; Census Place: Saugus, Essex, Massachusetts; Roll: T624_588; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 0482

5). 1880; Census Place: Saugus, Essex, Massachusetts; Roll: 527; Page: 274C; Enumeration District: 146

6). 1870; Census Place: Old Store, Chesterfield, South Carolina; Roll: M593_1491; Page: 359A

7). 1870; Census Place: Old Store, Chesterfield, South Carolina; Roll: M593_1491; Page: 366A

8). Warriner, Edwin.  Old Sands Street Methodist Episcopal Church of Brooklyn N. Y.: An Illustrated Centennial Record, Historical and Biographical.  Phillips & Hunt, New York: 1885. pp. 331-333.

9) 1900; Census Place: Saugus, Essex, Massachusetts; Page: 22; Enumeration District: 0464; FHL microfilm: 1240648

10) Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911

11) 1860; Census Place: Ashland, Greene, New York; Page: 897; Family History Library Film: 803758

12) "Clarence W. Fox Buried." February 16. 1912. p. 11. 

13) "Saugus solid for Hayes" Boston Globe September 19, 1894. p. 4.

14) "Caucus results Elsewhere." Boston Globe, April 19, 1900. p. 3.

15) "Six Aspire to Board." Boston Globe, February 28, 1905. p. 5.

16) "Here From Many States." Boston Globe, September 9, 1903. p. 4.