NJGenWeb ~ Morris County, New Jersey

Source: History Morris County New Jersey, Volume II, Lewis Publishing Co., 1914

Charles J. FOX is descended, as is the case with so many of the citizens of the United States today, from two very different stocks, both of which, however, are represented here in very large numbers and have contributed their peculiar virtues to the new race in progress of formation in this country. Indeed it seems probable that it is in the fusing of such healthy races, which takes place here on a scale impossible in any other part of the world, that the wellnigh unparalleled vigor and vitality of the people of the United States has its origin, a thought which augurs wells for the coming American race just mentioned.

Edward FOX, father of Charles J. FOX, was born in Germany, in 1833, and married Mary Ann CLARK, a naïve of county Cork, Ireland, where she was born in the same year as her husband. Edward FOX came to the United States together with three brothers, when he was but nineteen years of age. He made a short visit to Buffalo, New York, and there two of his brothers remained, and finally died. Edward and the third brother finally located in Rockaway, Morris county, New Jersey. There was also a sister, Pauline FOX, who accompanied her brothers to this country, married a Mr. SCHURR, of Newark, and later died in that city. The two brothers who had settled in Rockaway engaged in the butcher business. Edward working for C. C. DeHART, a prominent butcher of that place. Later, however, the two brothers, by dint of hard work and frugality, saved up a sufficient capital to begin in the same line on their own account, with the firm name of Fox Brothers, an enterprise which met with instant and great success. At the time of their arrival in this country the brothers had no capital, and it is doubly creditable to them that they were able to collect a sufficiency to engage in business for themselves, and that they should have so well conducted this business when once embarked. Edward FOX was throughout his life a most energetic man, active in all that he undertook, and always working for its advancement. From the time he entered the employ of C. C. DeHART of Rockaway, up to the time of his death, he was never idle. The result of this untiring energy, combined with an alert mind and quick grasp of the practical situation, was that he became a man of large substance in his community and the owner of much valuable property. He owned the farm upon which Charles J. FOX, of this sketch, now resides, as well as much real estate in Rockaway. His death occurred in June 1, 1896, at the age of sixty years. He was a Democrat in politics and took an active part in the local councils of his party, and served for a number of years as a township councilman. His religious affiliations were with the Roman Catholic Church, and he attended St. Cecilia’s Church of that denomination in Rockaway. Mr. FOX Sr. married Mary Ann CLARK, already mentioned. While still a young girl, she had come from the village of Churchtown, county Cork, Ireland, the place of her birth, in company with a brother, to the United States. Settling in Rockaway, New Jersey, she there met Mr. FOX, and eventually their marriage was celebrated in that place. Mrs. FOX survived her husband for a number of years, her death finally occurred in the year 1908, when she was seventy-five years of age. To Mr. and Mrs. Edward FOX were born six children, as follows: Charles J., of whom further; Edward J., now a resident of Jersey City, New Jersey, where he conducts business as a commission merchant in the great stock yards of the place, dealing extensively in live stock; William H., a resident of Paterson, New Jersey, where he is employed as a salesman by Schwartzchild & Sulzberger; Caroline, now Mrs. William J. LOONEY, of Morristown, New Jersey, where her husband conducts a plumbing business; Francis E., a collector and salesman for the Ballantine people of Newark, New Jersey; Agnes, deceased, who became the wife of Joseph YOST Jr.

Charles J. FOX, the eldest child of Edward and Mary Ann (CLARK) FOX, was born in 1860, in Rockaway, Denville township, Morris county, New Jersey. He received his education at the local schools, which he attended until seventeen years of age, when, having completed his studies, he entered the employ of his father and worked the elder man’s butcher establishment for a number of years. The year 1884, witnessed the election of Grover CLEVELAND as president of the United States, and after taking office in 1885, he appointed Mr. FOX postmaster at Rockaway, a position he held for four years. After the return to power of the Republican party, Mr. FOX returned to private life and took up for a time the butcher business. He added to this farming and the ice business and the two latter have gradually absorbed more and more of his time, so that he has now completely given up his trade in meat. Upon his father’s death in 1896, he inherited from him the valuable farm of ninety acres, situated near Rockaway, which he now operates in the most modern and scientific manner, and which yields to his efforts a most lucrative return. Upon this property is situated also the ice pond from which Mr. FOX cuts the ice which he uses in his trade in that commodity, and his attractive home. He is a life-long resident of Morris county and stands high in the estimation of his fellow citizens, having an enviable reputation as a business man of capacity and unimpeachable integrity. He is extremely active in the conduct of his business, in which he takes after his father, but in spite of the energy and time he gives in this direction, he has plenty to spare for many activities of a different sort in connection with the life of the community of which he is a member. He is not one of those who narrows himself by a selfish consideration of his personal interests which will brook the entrance of no other matter into his mind. On the contrary, he has surely learned the wisdom of altruism which shows us that happiness consists in broadening our interests until they include all about us. Especially does he take keen interest in all matters political, and is an intelligent observer of the great questions and issues which confront the nation in this day of vast social movements. In local politics also, he is ever on the alert, and is a prominent figure in the councils of the Democratic party in Morris county, of which he is an ardent member. It was the effective work which he did in the CLEVELAND campaign which drew the attention of the President to him, and to-day he is still a worker. A devoted admirer of President WILSON, he is following with the greatest interest that statesman, in the full conviction that he is on the right track towards the solution of our social questions. Besides the office of postmaster which he held during the first term of President CLEVELAND, Mr. FOX has been elected to office in his home community a number of times. He has held for several years a membership in the Rockaway council, and also on the Denville township commission. His conduct in these offices has been all that could be desired, and he has given the greatest satisfaction to his constituency by his handling of the community’s affairs in a manner so able and disinterested.

Mr. FOX married, March 22, 1893, Minnie J. KIEPE, a native of Buffalo, New York, where she was born November 25, 1864, a daughter of William and Katherine (VON KENNEL) KIEPE, of that place. Mr. and Mrs. FOX are the parents of two sons, as follows: Karl Edward, who was educated in the public schools of Rockaway, and is now a machinist in the employ of M. HOGLAND Sons Company of Rockaway, New Jersey; Arthur W., a student in the Rockaway High School.

Mr. FOX is a member of the Roman Catholic Church, as his forebears have always been, attending the Church of St. Cecilia of Rockaway, and is active in the work connected therewith, supporting in a material way its many benevolences. Mrs. FOX and their children are members of the Presbyterian church.

Transcribed by John Cresseveur (1949-2003)

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