ADAM FOX OF SEVIER COUNTY, TENNESSEE
Marker in Sevier County, Tennessee near Adam Fox's land.
Wife: ELIZABETH DERRICK
Born: c 1762
Died: 1830’s Sevier County, Tennessee
Buried: Sevier County, Tennessee (Probably Fox Cemetery
Father: John Derrick Mother: Anna Maria Dunkelberger
Children: Johannes (John) Fox B: 19 Feb 1784-Shenandoah County, Virginia M: Nancy Patterson D: 1852 Sevier County, Tennessee
George Fox B: 24 Jul 1789 Tennessee M: Christena Eversall D: 1858 or 1857 Sevier Co, TN
Adam Fox III (normally known as Adam Fox Jr.) B: About 1794 Tennessee M: Mary Shrader D: 8 Nov 1867 Jefferson County, Tennessee
Mark Fox B:13 Jul 1798-Sevier County M: Anna Dickey D: 1862-64--Sevier County
William Fox B: 12 Dec 1803 Sevier County M: Rebecca Dickey (3 May 1799-3 Apr 1851) D: 13 Dec 1874 Fox Cemetery
Catherine Fox B: 1780-1790 M: Joseph Keeler (2 Mar 1784-1887) - 1 Sep 1805 D: Before 1850
Elizabeth Fox B: 1800 Sevier County, Tennessee M: Alfred Allen D: Living 1860
Martha Fox B: Sevier County, Tennessee M: ? Strickland D: Unknown
The will of Adam Fuchs Sr. was written 22 March 1768 and was probated in Frederick County in 1769. The will was written in German and stipulated that the widow Catherine was to have her lawful third and that Adam's two sons were to each have a third, providing that they stayed on the land until reaching lawful age. The names of the two sons were not actually given in Adam's will, but were proven several years later when the estate was finally settled in Shenandoah County. Shenandoah County had been formed in 1772 and included the part of Frederich County where the Fox land was located. Adam Sr. also stipulated in his will that his daughters were to share equally with the boys, but instead of land, they were to receive their share in cash after the land was appraised. The names of the daughters were not named in the will but at least some of them can be tentatively identified by their later associations with Catherine and her sons.
On 7 August 1771, an appraisal of the estate of Adam was filed in Frederick County.
In 1775, Catherine Fox received 171 acres of land on Mill Creek, a branch of the North River Shenandoah, adjoining her own land. The date of warrant application was 13 November and the survey date was 5 November. (Volume III page 8) When a part of this land was sold to son Mark in 1784, that record (Deed book D page 203) indicated that Catherine was not granted this land until 16 July 1779. The grant was from the Proprietor's Office of the Northern Neck.
On 21 January 1777, Catherine Fox was a sponsor for the child of Jacob and Catherine Roush at the Old Pine Church in Shenandoah County. Catherine's name was listed as Catharina Fuksin. In German script, "in" was sometimes added to the surnames of women. The Foxes were Lutheran and Old Pine Church was a Union Church (Lutheran and German Reformed) and was located 2 miles west of Mt. Jackson, Virginia, a short distance from the present Pine Church. From this record, we can speculate that Catherine Rousch was a daughter of Adam and Catherine Fuchs and "The Roush Family in America" by Dr. L.L. Raush confirms that Catherine Rousch was a Fox According to Vogt & Kethley’s "Shenandoah County Marriage Bonds, 1772-1850", Catherine Fucksin and Jacob Rausch were married on 21 February 1775. And according to Wayland's "History of Shenandoah", their children were Rosina (born 1777), Dorothea, Catharina, Johannes, Adam, Susana and Paulas. The family left Shenandoah County for Gallia County, Ohio in 1796. Jacob Rausch was born about 1746 and was the son of John Adam Rousch and Susanna Schlern.
Dr. Rausch’s book also notes that Jonas Rausch was married to Barbara Fox. Jonas was born in 1763 and married Barbara in 1784. The family later moved to Mason County, West Virginia. Jonas and Jacob were brothers and Barbara was probably another of Adam and Catherine's children.
On 7 September 1778, Catherine, as the executrix of Adam Fox, made a deposition regarding land sold by her husband Adam in Augusta County in 1753. This land had been purchased by Adam in 1752, sold in 1753, but had not been officially recorded. This record confirms that Adam was in Virginia as early as 1752.
Records indicate that Catharina Fuchs (18 shares) and Adam Fuchs (12 shares) were among 18 Lutherans who "paid in paper money to free the congregational land from debt in the year 1781"
On 24 April 1783, Adam Fox took the oath of constable for the county.
On 25 December 1783, the court appointed Benjamin Fawcett, John Roush and Philip Roush to appraise the land of Adam Fox, deceased and to report to the court as "the youngest boy is of age". This indicates that the land was to be divided soon by the terms of Adam's will and also that Mark was either then or soon would be 21 years of age.
On 23 June 1784, 260 acres of Adam and Catherine’s land was sold to their son Mark. The selling of the land to Mark, who was an inheritor of a third of the land by the terms of Adam's will, was probably a formality in order to raise cash to distribute to Adam and Catherine's daughters as specified in the will. Catherine, Adam and Elizabeth Fox (Adam's wife) were listed as sellers on the document.
On the same day, the remaining 21 acres were sold to John Snavely, whose German name was probably Johanne Schneblis. Johannes’s wife, Anna Maria, was probably another of Adam and Catherine's daughters. The sellers of this portion of the land was listed as Catherine, Adam, Elizabeth and Mark Fox. Mark signed in a German script and Catherine, Adam and Elizabeth signed with an X.
Mark and Adam are mentioned in a 1785 Alterations list for Shenandoah County. The Alterations list was a listing of land that had not previously been listed on the tax roll, or had previously been undervalued or had been recently inherited; Mark Fox is listed with 260 acres (the land that he had purchased from the estate) and Adam Fox is listed as owner of 170 acres. The source of Adam's land is not clear as there is no record of him buying land in the county and Adam and Catherine’s 471 known acres are accounted for by Mark's 260 acre purchase and the 211 acres sold to the Snavelys. Both Mark's and Adam's land was designated "by Catherine Fox", indicating that they received the land from her by inheritance.
Adam married Elizabeth Derrick, daughter of John Derrick and Anna Maria Dunkelberger of Shenandoah County and formerly of Berks County, Pennsylvania. The exact date of Adam's marriage to Elizabeth Derrick is not known but based on birth of their oldest child in early 1784, the marriage date was probably in 1782 or 1783. The birth of Adam and Elizabeth's son was recorded in the records of the Old Pine Church on 19 February and the record reads, "a Son Johannes born to Adam Fuks and Elisabeth" The year of the birth is not given in the church record, but the 1850 census of John Fox in Sevier County indicates that he was born in 1784. Sponsors for the child were, Johannes Schneblis and wife Maria, the purchasers of the 211 acres of Adam's land, further confirming that Maria was another daughter of Adam and Catherine.
On 11 August 1784, Anna Maria Shenebele (Snavely) was born. She was the daughter of Johannes and Anna Maria and was baptized 7 September. Sponsors were Johannes and Susana Fitzmeyer.
On 4 Jun 1785, Mark Fox and Ann Bauthman (Baughman/Boughman) were married in Old Pine Church. Bondsmen were Catherine Fax and Barbary Bauthman.
In the 1785 census, Catherine is on the list of Jacob Rinker and according to Wayland's 1785 Heads of Families", Rinker’s list included families near his home in Conicville and adjacent sections of Hudson’s Cross Roads, Jerome, Liberty Furnace and Mt. Clifton. Also an Rinker's list were Jacob Baughman, who was probably the father of Marks future bride and John Lindamude, whose child was later sponsored by Mark Fox. Others included in the 1985 Shenandoah census, but not in the area surveyed by Rinker, were Peter Fox and Joseph Keeler. Peter Fox is not believed to be related. The area where he lived would later become a part of Page County when that county was formed from Shenandoah. Adam and Elizabeth's oldest daughter, Catherine, would twenty years later marry a Joseph Keeler in Sevier County, but it has not been established that he was related to the Joseph included in the 1785 census. Some miscellaneous Shenandoah and Botetourt County records:
l782 Shenandoah Land Book. Catherine is listed with 300 acres with a valuation of 150 pounds.
1782 Shenandoah Personal Property Tax list: Catherine is listed with (0 tithes, 6 horses and l8 cattle.
1783 Shenandoah Personal Property Tax list. Catherine is listed as a widow with (0 tithes horses and 18 cattle.
1783 Shenandoah Census. Catherine is included in the list of Jacob Rinker and there are 5 persons in the household. If these 5 persons are Catherine, Mark:, Maria, Adam and his wife Elizabeth, then Adam is less than 22 years old and was born a few years later than 1760. This is based on the fact that the personal property tax list showed no tithes.
Jacob Birt 6 (Bird), Jacob Desk 6 (Derk), John Derk 8 (Derrick) and John Shavely 10 (Snavely) are included in the list of Evan Jones.
l784 Shenandoah Personal Property Tax list. Catherine is listed with (0 tithes, 6 horses and 16 cattle.
1785 Shenandoah Census: Catherine is listed as a widow with 4 persons in the household. There is one dwelling and one other building.
1785 Shenandoah Alterations List. Included are Adam Fox with 170 acres valued at 55/5/0 (55 pounds 5 shillings and 0 pence) or 0/6/10 per acre and Mark Fox with 260 acres valued at 84/l0/0 (0/6/6 per acre).
1785 Botetourt Personal Property Tax list. Adam Fox with 3 persons and no dwellings is living with John Derricks 9 persons, 1 dwelling and 2 other buildings.
1786 & 1787 Shenandoah Personal Property Tax lists do not include a Fox.
The last record of Catherine Fox: was the 1785 census of Shenandoah County. Did she die shortly after this census or did she finally remarry after raising her sons and dividing Adam's land or did she accompany her children to Tennessee? No records have yet been found to provide the answers to these questions.
Adam and Elizabeth also appear on the 1785 census of Botetourt County, Virginia at the home of Elizabeth's father, John Derrick.
- John Derrick 1 tithe. 4 horses 8 cattle - Adam Fox 1 tithe. 1 horse. 13 cattle
On 13 April 1786, Mark Fox was the sponsor for Catharina, a child of John and Magdalena Lindemuth (Lindamood) at the Old Pine Church. Mark's name was recorded as Marx Fuks.
On 24 May l786, Mark and Anne Fox sold their Shenandoah land to Philip Tusing for 280 pounds. The court record indicates "a tract of land on branch of Mill Creek which was conveyed to said Mark Fox by Catherine Fox, widow, and Adam Fox and Elizabeth his wife." (Deed Book F p24)
The last Virginia record of Adam Fox and Elizabeth Derrick was recorded several years after they had departed for Tennessee. Elizabeth Derrick's father John had died in Botetourt County Virginia in 1790. His will was dated 24 August 1790 and named only two of his children. However, during the settlement phase in 1797 "Eliza" and Adam Fox were named among the heirs. (Ref. LDS Films 030,724 and 050,725) At this point, we are reasonably certain of the following facts:
Adam Fuchs, a German immigrant arrived in Augusta County, Virginia by 1752. He died in 1768 or 1769 and his will was probated in Frederick County.
Adam Fuchs was married to Catherine and he had two sons, Adam Jr. and Mark and at least three daughters, Catherine Rousch, Barbara Rousch, and Anna Maria Snavely.
Adam Fox Jr. was born about 1760 and married Elizabeth Derrick, daughter of John Derrick, about 1782 or 1783. Their first child was born in 1784 and was baptized in Old Pine Church. Mark Fox married Ann Bauthman in 1786 in Shenandoah County.
Catherine Fox was still living in 1785 and Adam and his brother Mark were still in Virginia in 1785-86, but would soon move to the wilderness of Tennessee
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