Biographical Sketches

Thomas Bayley Fox (1808-1876) graduated from Boston Latin School in 1824 and Harvard University in 1828. He then attended the Harvard Divinity School until his ordination as a Unitarian minister in 1831. His initial pastoral post was with the First Religious Society of Newburyport, where he served from 1831 to 1845. In 1831, he married Feroline Walley Pierce. All of their five children were born during this time in Newburyport.

In 1845, the Fox family moved to Boston, eventually settling in Dorchester. The Rev. Fox was called to the Indiana Street Congregational Church (Unitarian) of Boston which had been "...erected to try the experiment of gathering a Society on a plan slightly differing in its economical arrangements from other societies, and comparatively unexpensive [sic]."

In 1855, the church merged with the Church of Disciples and moved to another location. The Rev. Fox ceased to be a full-time pastor at this point, although he continued to travel and preach at numerous churches throughout the area under the auspices of the Benevolent Fraternity of Unitarian Churches. During his lifetime, he wrote several books for Sunday School teachers and juvenile readers, including a hymn-book for normal and high school use.

As an undergraduate at Harvard, he had written for the press. He continued this interest and contributed as a regular correspondent to the Christian Inquirer; as editor and correspondent with the Christian Register; and as owner and participating editor of the Christian Examiner. In a more secular vein, he prepared book notices, biographical sketches, and articles for the Boston Transcript.

His father, John Fox, was married to Abigail Caseneau (Cazeneau) Bayley of Boston in 1794. He maintained shops in Boston's Cornhill Street area specializing in dry goods, English goods, and linens between 1802 and 1830.

John Pierce (1773-1849), father-in-law to the Reverend Fox, was a Harvard graduate, class of 1793. He went on to serve as minister to the First Church in Brookline (Unitarian) from 1797 to 1849. A sizable collection of his papers is held by the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Charles Barnard Fox (1833-1895) was the eldest son of Thomas and Feroline (Pierce) Fox. During the Civil War, he served first with Co. K of the Massachusetts 13th Infantry Regiment from 1861 to 1863. In May of 1863, he was promoted to major and served with the Massachusetts 55th Infantry Regiment, the second Black regiment raised in the North, receiving a promotion to lieutenant colonel in November of that year. He was finally mustered out in June 1865. After the war, he returned to his occupation as a civil engineer and formed a real estate partnership, Holbrook & Fox, which had offices in Boston's Post Office Square until the 1890s. During his lifetime, he served in the Massachusetts legislature and was a director on the Real Estate Exchange. He married and had two daughters.

George William Fox (1834-1917), the second son of Thomas and Feroline (Pierce) Fox, served for 56 years with the American Unitarian Association. Due to a physical disability, he was unable to serve in the Civil War, but at that time he acted as secretary to the AUA, the only layman to ever hold that post. He married Mary S. Poor in 1863, and they had one daughter and four sons, one of which was George B. Fox.

The third son of Thomas and Feroline (Pierce) Fox, John Andrews Fox (1836-1920), graduated first in his class from Dorchester High School and apprenticed with Garbett & Wood. While with them, he helped survey Boston's Stony Brook and the marsh. His Civil War service with Co. I and F of the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment lasted from 1862 to 1865 and included Sherman's march to the sea. After the war, he returned to Boston and became an independent architect with offices at 12 Post Office Square. He was active in the Boston Society of Architects and the Boston chapter of the American Institute of Architects, which he helped found in 1870. He maintained his practice for over 50 years. His major commissions, besides many private homes, included work on the Boston Museum (theater) in 1871; the New Theater at Brockton in 1873; Tewksbury Hospital Building in 1886; and the Town Hall in Provincetown in 1886. For over 50 years, he remained the secretary of the 2nd Massachusetts Volunteers Association until it disbanded in 1916. He married Josephine Clapp in 1878.

Thomas Bayley Fox, Jr. (1839-l863) was the youngest son of Thomas and Feroline (Pierce) Fox. He spoke for his class at the graduation exercises of Harvard University in 1860. He proceeded to study law with John A. Andrew and received his LL.B. from Harvard Law School in 1862. He enlisted with Co. C of the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry and rose to the rank of captain after transferring to Co. K. He fought at Chancellorsville, Antietam, and Gettysburg, where he was wounded in the ankle in early July 1863. He returned home to Dorchester, where he later died as a result of this wound.

The youngest child of Thomas and Feroline (Pierce) Fox, Feroline Pierce Fox, was born in 1843. She was known within the family by the name "Fairy."

Thomas Alfred Fox was one of the grandsons of the Reverend Fox. By 1893, he had become a member of St. Botolph Club, which had been founded for the "...promotion of social intercourse among authors and artists and other gentlemen connected with, or interested in art and literature." He served on their election committee several times and was the club secretary from 1920 to 1924.