Lewis A. Fox Biography


	This biography appears on pages 925-926 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	LEWIS A. FOX, editor and proprietor of the Tripp Ledger, was born 
in Faribault county, Minnesota, August 30, 1874, a son of Cyrus A. B. 
and Sarah H. (Alvey) Fox, of whose seven children five are living, 
namely: Estella, wife of M. H. Skiff, of Minneapolis, Minnesota; John 
C.; Lewis, the subject of this sketch; Donald H., a resident of 
Madison, this state, and employed as express messenger on the Chicago, 
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad; and C. Roy, a clerk in the post office 
at Sioux Falls. The father of the subject was born in Washington 
county, Missouri, in 1846, and soon after his advent in the world his 
parents removed to Stark county, Illinois, where he was reared and 
educated. In 1862, when but fifteen years of age, he enlisted in 
Company H, Eighty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in the capacity of 
fifer, and he continued in active service for nearly three years, being 
mustered out in June, 1864, a youthful veteran of the greatest civil 
war known in the annals of history. He returned to Illinois, where he 
learned the trade of carpenter, also teaching school for a time. In 
1870 he removed to Faribault county, Minnesota, where he was for a 
number of years in the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul 
Railroad in the capacity of bridge builder. In 1880, while engaged in 
the work noted, he received a severe injury as the result of an 
accident, and he then resigned his position and finally entered the 
employ of the Hodge & Hyde Elevator Company, having charge of the 
erectior~ of their elevators along the line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & 
St. Paul Railroad from La Crosse, Wisconsin, to Woonsocket, South 
Dakota, and also between Madison and Bristol, this state. He remained 
with this concern until 1889, when he was compelled to resign on 
account of impaired health, and since that time he has followed various 
vocations, he and his wife being- now residents of Sioux Falls. He is a 
prominent and popular comrade in the Grand Army of the Republic, and 
always attends the national encampments of the same, taking with him on 
these occasions his organization known as Fox's Martial Band, of which 
he is commander. He is familiarly known by all his comrades and friends 
as "Colonel" Fox. 

	The subject of this review received his early educational 
discipline in the public schools of Kingsbury county, South Dakota, his 
parents having there taken up their abode in 1887. At the age of 
fifteen years he secured employment in the Farmers' Bank of South 
Dakota, at Lake Preston, in which town the family located in 1887, 
having come to Forestburg, Sanborn county, in 1883, and there resided 
until the year mentioned. The parents have been residents of the city 
of Sioux Falls since 1890 The subject was employed in the bank for one 
year and then began his apprenticeship at the "art preservative of all 
arts" by entering the printing office of L. J. Bates, publisher of the 
Lake Preston Times where he remained about three years, becoming a 
skilled workman and acquiring a thorough knowledge of the country 
newspaper business. On the 1st of September, 1893, he removed to 
Alexandria, where he acquired a half interest in the Alexandria 
Journal, but two months later he disposed of his interest and came to 
Tripp, where he purchased from J. B. Stout & Company the plant and 
business of the Tripp Ledger, whose publication he has since 
successfully continued, making it one of the best local papers in the 
state. In politics Mr. Fox is a staunch adherent of the Republican 
party, in whose support his paper is effectively enlisted. He served 
seven years as justice of the peace, refusing to longer continue 
incumbent of the office. Fraternally, he is a member of Tripp Camp, No. 
5931, Modern Woodmen of America. 

	On the 22d of June, 1898, Mr. Fox was united in marriage to Miss 
Elsie E. Morris, a daughter of H. V. Morris, a well-known citizen of 
Tripp, and of this union has been born a winsome little daughter, Ruth 
B. 

	It may be said in conclusion that Mr. Fox comes of military stock 
in both the paternal add maternal lines. Two of his paternal uncles 
were prominent in the military operations in Dakota in the early 
'sixties. His mother's parents were born in England, and her 
grandfather was a participant in the battle of Waterloo. C. A. Fox, 
grandfather of the subject, took part in the Black Hawk war, in 
Illinois, and both of the great-grandfathers in the paternal lines were 
participants in the war of 1812. Two of Mr. Fox's brothers maintained 
the military prestige of the name by their service in the Spanish-
American war, being on duty in the Philippines. John C. was first 
lieutenant of Company B, First South Dakota Volunteer Infantry, and 
Donald H. was quartermaster's sergeant in the same company.