Thomas James "Tom" Fox, Sr.

Tom Fox (1843–1902) and his wife, Kate Sweeney Fox (1858–1941), were Irish immigrants. He was from Armagh in Northern Ireland and arrived in the United States around 1870. She was from County Limerick and came ten years later. Both were working in a wool mill in Colchester, Vermont, in 1880; they married in 1882. Thereafter, they had some ten children.

"Thomas Fox one of our leading grocery merchants, is one of the noblest Roman's of them all.  He is supposed by some to be a Norwegian, but we have heard it intimated that Hibernia has prior claims to him.  He is tall and fair and slender, with eyes of deepest blue; is temperate and well fixed in a pecuniary point of view.  As his name intimates, he is devilish sly, and has withstood the siege of many a battery of blushing eyes, but we predict that he will capitulate to the first determined antagonist."  ("The Being Leap Year, the Ladies Have a Chance".  Denison Daily News, Sunday, February 1, 1880, pg. 8)

By 1887, the Foxes were living at 620 West Woodard Street in Denison. He owned the "Our House" Saloon at 317 West Main Street. In 1891, the City Directory listed him as a real estate dealer operating out of his home.

Then, by 1896, Tom was back in the saloon business. With partner George O'Brien (1858–1936), he owned the Bank Palace Saloon, at 327 West Main, next door to the Leeper Hardware Company, also known as Security Building.

In 1898, the Foxes moved to a new home across the street, at 621 West Woodard.

Terry Grier, a Fox descendant who graduated from Denison High School in the Class of 1974, posted this comment on Facebook:

I was talking to my dad tonight and he said Tom Fox bought the house [621 West Woodard] in 1898 and then died four years later in 1902. He was married to Kate Fox. He had a business in downtown Denison.... Those are the Foxes in the photo. They had several children. My mother knew Kate Fox. She was from Ireland and a spunky woman. She would hear of a man beating his wife, and the first thing out of her mouth was: "Where was her poker?"

The 1900 Census stated that Kate had had seven children, all of them alive. Another daughter was born on January 17, 1902. Tom passed away three months later, on April 25 of that year. Kate lived until 1941. The two were buried together at Calvary Cemetery (the Roman Catholic cemetery) in Denison. Buried with them were several of their children.

One of the children was Leo M. Fox, who passed away in October 1915, early in his senior year at Denison High School. He was a star athlete and his loss was deeply felt by his classmates as well as his family.

After Tom's death in 1902, the 1903 City Directory still listed Fox and O'Brien as owners of the Bank Palace Saloon, but George O'Brien's individual listing did not mention the saloon. In addition to having lost his partner, in 1903 George and wife Mary's, infant daughter, Helen, had died. The O'Brien family is also buried in Calvary Cemetery.

In 1905, the City Directory did not mention the Bank Palace Saloon, but George O'Brien was operating a cold stoarge facility at 327 West Main.

621 West Woodard Street
Home of Tom & Kate Fox (later Jenkins home)
Between Johnson-Moore Funeral Home and First Christian Church
Photo by Mavis Anne Bryant, July 2010






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