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| Henry A. Fox From "scm4020" via Ancestory.com |
Henry Austin Fox (b. 1852; d. January 21, 1882)
Connecticut. White.
Occupation: mail agent, printer, post office clerk.
Father's occupation: clergyman, farmer, teacher.
Henry A. Fox was born in Connecticut to Clarinda S. and Henry J. Fox. Henry J. was originally from England but had immigrated to American to work as a Methodist minister. Henry J's history is discussed in greater detail in his own entry as well as in the entries for Henry A's brothers Gil, Irving, and Clarence.
The Fox family was living in Hartford, Connecticut when Henry A. was born, but within a year, the family had moved to New York City. There the father Henry J. served as a minister at several churches, mostly in Brooklyn.
In 1857 (when Henry A. was 5 years old), the family left the city and moved to Greene County (in central New York state). The father Henry J. established and ran a school, the Ashland Collegiate Institute. He also purchased a large tract of land and maintained a farm.
The Ashland Institute closed in 1860 after a fire destroyed the school building. The Fox family then returned to New York City and the father Henry J. continued his work as a minister.
Henry A. enrolled as a student at the College of the City of New York in fall 1867 (when he was fifteen years old). Henry A. was part of the Introductory class. (This was essentially a remedial program. Students took a year of college preparatory work designed to prepare them for freshman college work.) It appears that Henry A. did not continue his studies as he is not listed as a student in subsequent years.
In early 1869, most of the Fox family left New York City to start a farm in upstate South Carolina. Although he was only seventeen, Henry A. remained behind. In 1870, he was living in the town of Southeast (near the border with Connecticut) and working for the Brewster Standard newspaper.
In 1873, Henry J. and the rest of the family left the upstate and moved to Columbia. Henry A. had rejoined the family there by 1874.
The Fox family had moved to Columbia because the father Henry J. had been elected professor at the University of South Carolina. Henry A. enrolled at the university as a law student on May 5, 1874. He graduated with an LL.D. degree on December 21, 1875.
The year he graduated, Henry A. was admitted to the South Carolina bar. However, he does not appear to have worked as a lawyer. Instead, he began working as an assistant at the university's Preparatory School. The Preparatory School closed in summer 1877 when a newly elected Conservative state legislature shutdown the university.
After the closure of the university, most of the Fox family moved to Boston, Massachusetts. However, Henry A. was again an outlier: he remained in the south. By 1880, he had moved to Savannah, Georgia and was working for the federal government. He worked as a clerk for the post office and as a railway mail agent. As mail agent, he was assigned the Jacksonville, FL–Charleston, SC railroad line.
Henry A.'s life was tragically cut short in 1882. On January 21, a train that he was riding on collided with another train. Both trains were traveling at full speech, and the mail car that Henry A. was in was wrecked. The collision left several seriously injured and two – including Henry A. – dead. Henry A. was buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Washington DC.
The 1870 census does appear to say painter but I believe it should be read printer as Henry started a publishing company and a few news papers at this time starting with the Brewster Gazette in 1869. In those newspapers there's some fascinating correspondence from his brother Gilbert about the terrors the Fox family and others were facing in Chesterfield county SC.
ReplyDeleteThanks, SCM! This is really helpful. I hadn't known about Henry's work in the newspaper industry. After you mentioned it, I was able to find digitized copies of the Brewster standard which he edited. I also found a letter published in the newspaper a letter from Gilbert in which he describes the family's experiences in Chesterfield. His account filled in some information that I had been unable to find. (In general, Klan violence in Chesterfield is poorly documented.)
DeleteThanks again! If you know of other records that I've missed and you are interested in sharing them, I'd greatly appreciate it.
You're very welcome. Thank you so much for your blog! I've been trying to learn about the Fox family for a long time and have found so much useful info, and many more avenues to explore, thanks to your great work.
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