Nobles County MN Archives Biographies.....Fox, Charles J. 1831 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com October 18, 2006, 11:03 pm

Author: Arthur P. Rose (1908)

CHARLES J. FOX, a retired farmer of Rushmore, is one of the pioneer settlers of

the county, having lived here since the summer of 1872.



  He is of Dutch-Scotch descent. His grandfather, Peter Wermoth Fox, was born in

Holland and came to America in 1784 with a colony that settled the Mohawk valley

in New York state. One of his sons was John P. Fox, the father of the subject of

this sketch. He was born at Palentine, Montgomery county, N. Y., in 1807, and

died Jan. 1, 1852. His wife, the mother of the Mr. Fox of this sketch, was Mary

(McKay) Fox, who was born at Fall Hill, Herkimer county, N. Y., in 1808. She

died in August, 1905, at Scriba, Oswego county, N. Y., at the advanced age of 97

years. She was the daughter of William and Margaret McKay, the former a native

of Scotland, the latter of Dutch descent.



  To these parents at Mendon, Montgomery county, N. Y., was born Charles J. Fox

on Oct. 25, 1831. The county of his birth was his home until 1856. There he

received a good common school education in the country and graded schools. When

a boy eight years of age he went to live with a relative who was engaged in the

mercantile business in Fort Plain, Montgomery county, N. Y., and during the time

he was going to school he helped in the store. After his school days he became a

salesman in the store and was thus employed five years. He was then made

constable of Mendon township and served several years. In 1852 he received the

appointment of deputy sheriff of Montgomery county and served in that capacity

for three and one-half years.



  In the spring of 1856 Mr. Fox decided to cast his fortunes with the west, and

located near Watertown, Wis. There he bought an 80-acre tract of timbered land,

started to clear it, gave up the job, and after owning the property about one

year, he sold it. He then secured a position as clerk in a store at Concord,

Wis., at which he was employed until the outbreak of the civil war.



  He enlisted Jan. 1, 1862, at Milwaukee in company D, of the 9th Wisconsin

infantry, and took part in some of the severest fighting of the west in the army

under command of General Fremont. He was mustered out with his regiment in the

fall of 1863 when only 284 men were left in the regiment. During this enlistment

Mr. Fox served as corporal and most of the time his duties were in the

commissary department. Mr. Fox reenlisted Jan. 4, 1864, in company D, of the

35th Wisconsin infantry, under the command of Col. Henry Orff. The regiment took

part in the Red River expedition, and it was during this campaign that Mr. Fox

was wounded in the ankle. From that campaign the regiment went to New Orleans

and then to Port Hudson, and was later sent in pursuit of General Price. The

battle of Duvall's Bluff was participated in by the Wisconsin regiment and for

eleven days the soldiers were under fire in the Mobile campaign. During this

fighting Mr. Fox was wounded in the head quite severely. After the surrender of

Lee the regiment was sent to Brazos, Texas, and there did garrison duty until

its muster out. Mr. Fox was taken sick while there and sent to the hospital.

Soon after he enlisted the second time the subject of this sketch was made

sergeant, and during the greater part of his enlistment was acting orderly

sergeant and drew the pay of that office. He was mustered out Aug. 1, 1866.



  After receiving his discharge from the army Mr. Fox returned to Wisconsin,

remained there only a short time, and then returned to his old home in New York

state. There he was engaged in farming until 1872. Again the western fever

seized him and he returned to Wisconsin. There he met parties who were about to

set out on a trip to the new country still farther west, and he went with them.

He arrived in Worthington June 23, 1872, and decided to locate in Nobles county.

He immediately took as a soldier's homestead a quarter section of land on

section 26, Olney township, two miles west of the present village of Rushmore,

and there he made his home until 1891. Besides farming, he also engaged in

carpenter work, and many of the first buildings in Rushmore were erected by him.

In 1891 he retired from active work and moved to Rushmore, where he has since

resided.



  Mr. Fox was married at Fort Plain, Montgomery county, N. Y., Jan. 4, 1854, to

Miss Rose Forncrook, eldest daughter of William L. and Sarah (Waterman)

Forncrook. To them have been born seven children: Mary, died in infancy;

Charles; John A., Keokuk, Iowa; Martha E. (Mrs. George Morton), St. Paul; Ervin,

died in 1891; Flora (Mrs. C. B. Andrews), Rushmore; Cora, residing at home.



  Mrs. Fox died at her late home in Rushmore Jan. 9, 1908, at the age of 71

years and 7 months.



  Politically Mr. Fox is a republican, and very few men have the party record he

has. He cast his first vote for John C. Fremont, the first republican candidate

for president, and his last for Theodore Roosevelt. In his township and school

district he has held many offices during his long period of residence in the

county. He is a member of Stoddard Post No. 34, G. A. R., and of the Rushmore

Methodist church.



Additional Comments:
Extracted from:



AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF NOBLES COUNTY

MINNESOTA

BY

ARTHUR P. ROSE



NORTHERN HISTORY PUBLISHING COMPANY 

WORTHINGTON, MINNESOTA 

PUBLISHERS

1908



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