Joseph Fox (Pennsylvania politician)

Joseph Justinian Fox
26th Speaker of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly
In office
1764, 1769 – 1766, 1769
Preceded byIsaac Norris II
Succeeded byJoseph Galloway
Member of the Pennsylvania Colonial Assembly
In office
1750–1751
Pennsylvania Colonial Assembly for Philadelphia County
In office
1753–1771
Personal details
BornJanuary 12, 1709
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, British America
DiedOctober 12, 1779(1779-10-12) (aged 70)
North Third Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Political partyAnti-Proprietory
Spouses
  • Elizabeth Mickle
    ​
    (m. 1746)​
  • January 1, 1805(1805-01-01) (aged 76)
Children
  • Thomasine Mickle
  • Hannah
  • Joseph Mickle
  • George
  • Samuel Mickle
  • Elizabeth Hill
  • Seven infant deaths
Parents
  • Justinian Fox
  • (Plymouth, Devon, England)
  • Elizabeth Yard
  • (Exeter, Devon, England)
Residence(s)Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Profession
  • Colonial Politician
  • Land surveyor
  • Master builder (Carpenters' Company)
  • Municipal affairs

Joseph Fox (January 12, 1709 – December 10, 1779) served as a Pennsylvania councilor during the colonial governship of Pennsylvania being a proprietary colony subjugated by The Crown. Fox civic tenure spanned from 1750 to 1771 serving the Pennsylvania Colonial Assembly suitably elected by the council as Speaker of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly from 1764 to 1766. During 1769, Joseph served as a provisional speaker for the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly upon the unforeseen ailment of Joseph Galloway.[1][2]

Joseph Fox was a craft guild member of the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia.[3][4] Fox was apprenticed to James Portues serving Philadelphia as an architect and master builder. Portues died in 1737 leaving Fox a substantial financial fund allowing credit loans for municipal developments and guild craftsmen relations in Philadelphia.[5][6]

Fox being a company master by 1763 and possessing the financial resources fostered a harmonious rapport with the Carpenters' Company tradesmen. The craftsmen guild illustrated their talents by the construction and development of the Philadelphia Commons known as Carpenters' Hall located in close proximity to Independence Hall and Society Hill. Fox was unwaveringly recognized as kindling the essence of the prelude to the American Revolutionary War with the craftsmen guild of Philadelphia.[7]

Family

Justinian Fox, father of Joseph Fox, was born December 19, 1673, in Plymouth, Devon, England. Justinian arrived in British Colonial America with the Plymouth Friends in 1686 establishing the Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania settlement. Elizabeth Yard, mother of Joseph Fox, was born 1678 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Elizabeth has ancestry origins in the United Kingdom geographically in the civil parish of Exeter, Devon, England. Justinian Fox and Elizabeth Yard corroborated their matrimonial union after Plymouth Friends maritime landing and arrival in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania.

Joseph Fox was born to Justinian Fox and Elizabeth Yard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 12, 1709. Joseph was christened on March 12, 1709, at First Church, Philadelphia known as Christ Church located in Old City, Philadelphia. Joseph Fox and Elizabeth Mickle shared matrimonial vows on September 25, 1746, at Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. Fox and Mickle had thirteen children with subsequently six children thriving to adulthood.[8]

Philadelphia Country Estate

In 1770, Joseph Fox established a two hundred acre estate ten miles north of Old City, Philadelphia known in present time as Olney, Philadelphia.[9] The first architecture built on the property was a stone structure and by generational descent would become known as Champlost.

In November 1777, the stone dwelling was ravaged by an act of arson due to a potential royalty affiliation. The Pennsylvania colonists contrived suspicions of Joseph Fox conducting skeptical relations with the colonial loyalists at the outbreak of British Philadelphia campaign. The Fox family rock architecture was rebuilt by a son Joseph Jr. after the departing of Joseph Justinian Fox in 1779.

In 1808, George Fox inherited the rural settlement citing the property as Champlost. George augmented his education and social consciousness during his occupation of Paris in the 18th century. George was alluded by the French aristocracy seen as an expression by the landscapes of Champs-Élysées and Louis period architecture. The Yonne, Burgundy exploit of revolutionary France inspired the development to what was too become known as Champlost being a French country estate in north rural area of Philadelphia.[10][7]

Benjamin Franklin, a colonial agent of the Pennsylvania Assembly, departed the mid-atlantic colony for a transatlantic crossing to England regarding a redress of the British Crown taxation policies in 1765. Franklin had numerous documents and writings which required safekeeping while in transit for the Pennsylvania colony. Franklin appealed to Joseph Galloway and Joseph Fox to secure the hand written artifacts while conducting diplomacy and international relations in England.

The Champlost and Growden Mansion estates were preferential repositories for the safekeeping of The Papers of Benjamin Franklin during the timeline of the American Revolution. Champlost had the accommodations of a multi-story livery stable featuring an upper garret serving as an obscure cockloft for safekeeping of artifacts pertaining to the founding of colonial America.[11] Benjamin Franklin's artifacts remained at Champlost until Fox family descendent Charles Pemberton Fox relinquished the Franklin historical chronicles to the American Philosophical Society in 1840.[12]

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Joseph Fox: 1764 - 1766, 1769 - 1769". Pennsylvania General Assembly ~ House Speaker Biographies. Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
  2. ^ "Joseph Fox: 1764 - 1766, 1769 - 1769". Pennsylvania House of Representatives ~ House Speaker Biographies. Pennsylvania General Assembly.
  3. ^ "Fox, Joseph". Carpenters' Company Digital Archive & Museum. Carpenters' Hall.
  4. ^ "Fox, Joseph (1709 - 1779) Master Builder". Philadelphia Architects and Buildings. Athenaeum of Philadelphia.
  5. ^ "Portues, James (d. 1736/7) Architect; Master Builder". Philadelphia Architects and Buildings. Athenaeum of Philadelphia.
  6. ^ "Portues, James". Carpenters' Company Digital Archive & Museum. Carpenters' Hall.
  7. ^ a b Karsch, Carl G. "The Quiet Revolutionary". CarpentersHall.org. Carpenters' Hall.
  8. ^ Cresson, Anne H (1908). "Biographical Sketch of Joseph Fox, Esq., of Philadelphia". Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. XXXII (2). University of Pennsylvania Press: 175–199. JSTOR 20085425.
  9. ^ "Champlost (Fox Family)". Philadelphia Architects and Buildings. Athenaeum of Philadelphia.
  10. ^ Castner, Jr, Samuel. "Castner Scrapbook v.27, Old Houses 4, page 27" [Old Champlost for a City Park: Mansion was Frequently Visited by Benjamin Franklin and Fanny Kemble]. Digital Collections ~ Historical Images of Philadelphia. Free Library of Philadelphia.
  11. ^ Lutz van Ammers, Valerie-Anne (October 2009). "Champlost: Estate of the Fox Family and Repository for Franklin's Papers" (PDF). Franklin Gazette. XIX (3). Friends of Franklin, Inc.: 4–5.
  12. ^ Bell, Jr., Whitfield J (January 1, 1955). "Franklin's Papers and the Papers of Benjamin Franklin" [Franklin's papers for safekeeping at country estates near Philadelphia]. Pennsylvania History. XXII (1). Pennsylvania Historical Association: 1–17 – via Pennsylvania State University Libraries ~ Penn State Press.

See also

Franklin Papers Archives regarding Joseph Fox in British Colonial America

Bibliography

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