IV. MARK FOX

IV. MARK FOX

B:13 Jul 1798-Sevier County
M: Anna Dickey 
D: 1862-64--Sevier County

Mark was the fourth son of: Adam Fox and Elizabeth Derrick.  He
married Anna Dickey about 1818-19, shortly after her arrival in
Sevier County.  Anna was from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia
and was the daughter of John and Phoebe (Daniels) Dickey.

Mark was a farmer and owned land south of his father's place near
Bird’s Cross Roads.  During the Civil War, Mark was killed by
Confederate soldiers because of his Union sympathies,  The story of
Mark's death at the hands of the Confederate is included In Edward
R. Walker III's Tales From The Civil War:

"In 1862 or 3 a company of Rebel soldiers made a raid down the
Newport road.  Near where Seldon Hill lived, a mountaineer took:
a shot at them, wounding their doctor in the arm.  That made them
mad.  They continued on down the road.  Just west of Haskew's
Chapel in Chestnut Hill, an old negro, Findley Patterson lived.  He
saw them coming and took leg-bail. and saved his hide.  At Bird's
Grass Roads, the Rebels went south 2 or 3 hundred yards to where
Mark Bird, my grandfather (John’s) brother lived.  They shot
Mark (Bird) and set his house on fire.  In the meantime,
Grandfather Fox had started to Chestnut Hill to get some news of
the war.  After the killing of Uncle Mark (Bird), the Rebs went on
down the road. Uncle Joe Shrader saw them and hid in a large
brush pile on top of the hill where Aunt Edna Fox lived.  The Rebs
and Grandfather (Fox) met opposite Uncle Joe, who could see and
hear all they said and all they did. (The Rebs) began to curse and
abuse Grandfather for being a Union(ist).  He gave them a
bawling out, then the commanding officer gave orders to shoot
(Grandfather Fox) and all the other men they saw.  After the Rebs
had gone on, Uncle Joe went on home and sent some of his
children to tell (my) mother (Charlotte Fox) and sisters Rebecca,
Phoebe and Emily).  They took a horse and sled and went after
(Grandfather Fox).  Their only brother (Mathias or Branson) was
a prisoner of: war.  All other Union(ists) had to hide out
regardless of age.”

The preceding story was submitted by Thomas de Arnold Byrd of
Florence, Texas as told to him by his mother, (Charlotte Fox Bird!.

The children of Mark and Anna were:

+ A. John Fox        12 Mar 1823
+ B. Adam Fox        1820-25
+ C. Mathias Fox     5 Sep 1826
+ D. Branson Fox     5 Sep 1828
+ E. Rebecca C. Fox  1829
+ F. Charlotte Fox   Sep 1831
+ G, Phoebe Fox      1834
+ H. Emily Fox       12 Jun 1837

Census records:

1830 Sevier County 130001-100001001
Men 30-40 = Mark 32            Women 60-70 = ? (Anna’s mother ?)
Men 05-10 = John 10            Women 30-40 = Anna 33
Men 05-10 = Adam 05-10         Women 00-05 = Rebecca 1
Men 05-10 = Mathias 5 
Men 00-05 = Branson 2

1840 Sevier County 0022001-1110001
Men 40-50 = Mark 42            Women 40-50 = Anna 52
Men 10-20 = John 20            Women 10-15 = Rebecca 11
Men 10-20 = Adam 15-20         Women 05-10 = Charlotte 9
Men 10-15 = Mathias 14         Women 00-05 = Phoebe 6
Men 10-15 = Branson 12

1850 Sevier County
Mark 52     Mathias 22   Branson  20    Phebea 17
Anna 55     Rebecca 21   Charlotty 09   Emily 14

1860 Sevier County
Mark 60 farmer              Mary     60 (Adam Jr.’s wife)
Anna 62                     William  23 (Mary’s son)
Rebecca 32 weaver           Nancy    17 (Mary’s daughter)
Mathis 30 farmer
Charlotte 28 spinster       Sarah Partrain 5
Tuba 25 spinster
Emily 21 spinster

Mark died without a will.  In 1874, Simon and Charlotte Bird
brought suit against Mathias Fox to force a division of Mark’s estate
among surviving descendants.  The court ordered the 227 acre farm
to be sold at auction and Mathias bought the farm for $800.  Named
in the various court documents were Charlotte and Simon Bird,
Rebecca C. Fox, Phebe Fox, Mathias Fox, Emily and Samuel
Shrader, Melvina Fox, Rebecca J. and James Bird, Mary J. and
Washington Shrader and William B.G. or G.B. Fox, James Mathias
Fox, John Fox, Amanda E. Fox, Hester Ann Fox, Thomas Nelson
Fox, Taylor Fox, Eveline Fox, Charles Fox and unnamed infant
Fox.  William B.G. Fox was not located.

Dickey Family

Mark’s wife was Anna Dickey.  His brother William was married to
Anna’s sister, Rebecca Dickey.  The following information on the
Dickey family was receivd from Eddie Walker III.

Dickey is a family name no longer found in Jefferson County.  The
Dickeys in Chestnut Hill came from the Shenandoah Valley of
Virginia.

A genealogy of this family was prepared by Josephine Greve Fisher,
Anthony, Kansas.  She cited as her source a book on the Dickeys by
John Vance Dickey.  She borrowed the book and its owner has
since died and no one seems to know the whereabouts of the book.

The line begins with Abraham Dickey who was born in 1532 in
Brundon, Wales.   He was married in 1554 to Kate Pingren.  Their
children were James, William, John, Mary, Julia, Kate, Anna and
Hannah.  Kate married E.W.  Chicesters, Glasgow, Scotland; the
other two daughters remained single.

The above James Dickey was the father of Sarah, Jane, and Daniel
Dickey.   Daniel, in turn, was the father of William, Jacob, Thomas,
Millie and Mary Dickey.

William Dickey was the father of Joshua, Ben, Henry, Kate, Mary
and Polly Dickey,

Joshua Dickey married Rebecca Bruce of Edinburgh, Scotland, and
they immigrated to America in 1734, settling in what is now known
as Rockbridge Co., Virginia.  Their Children were John, William,
Henry, Thomas, Kate, Becky, Mary and Jane.

The son John Dickey married Phoebe Daniels.  They lived in the
Shenandoah Valley and they were the parents of the Dickeys who
came to Tennessee.  The children of this couple were John Dickey,
Ben Dickey (the father of John Vance Dickey), Thomas Dickey,
Phoebe Dickey (who married Mike Stover and moved to Ohio),
Anna Dickey, and Rebecca Dickey.   Neither Henry nor Thomas
ever married.

When the Dickeys came from Virginia, they made the trip in a
covered wagon and the journey took six weeks.  There were at least
three of the Dickey children who made this trip.  It is not known if:
the parents of these children came with them.

The three children were Anna Dickey (b.  ca 1795), who married
Mark Fox, Rebecca Dickey (1799-1851), who married William
Fox,  and John Dickey (ca 1804-ca 1822), who married Rebecca
Ketner.

Hannah McAndrew Rainwater always told that the Dickeys were
Welsh.  In the 1880 census, John Dickey listed his birthplace as
Virginia, his mother's as Maryland and his father’s as Virginia.

The sisters, Anna and Rebecca Fox, lived in the Fox settlement,
Sevier County.  Their brother, John Dickey lived nearby in the edge
of Jefferson County.  His house is still standing on Dickey Road and
the area is still called the "Dickey Community".  The old Dickey
school is the 3-in-1 Baptist Church.

One bad trait which the Dickey line has left for posterity is that of
poor sightedness.  Some of the descendants have been afflicted with
night blindness with their sight only impaired after dark.  Others,
however, have been unfortunate in being totally blind.

Perhaps the most colorful of all the family was barn Dickey.  He
was known as the “biggest liar in Jefferson County” (or more
exaggerated in seven states).  Mrs. C.C. Strange said he was just a
teller of tall tales rather than a liar.  She felt that the label liar had a
bad meaning and Uncle Barn meant no harm in his tales.   He was
also one of the casket makers for the community.

There were other Dickeys in Sevier County.  A Miss Rebecca
Dickey (born ca 1870) had two children by Alexander Preston.  The
children were Stewart O. Dickey (27 May 1812-23 mar 1893) who
married Mary Ann Snapp and Martha Dickey (born ca 1818) who
married P.H. Toomy.  These Dickeys lived in the Murphy’s Chapel
section of Sevier County, not more than 8-10 miles from the other
Dickeys.  However, Inda Fox Proffitt said that her father, William
Carroll Fox, always said there was no kinship between these two
sets of Dickeys.

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