Fox, Norman

Norman Fox was born in 1792 in Chester, New York. His parents were Jehiel and Jerusha Fox. Norman attended Granville Academy in Washington County, New York and in 1813, he enrolled in Union College but he left before completing his degree. During the War of 1812, Norman served in the New York State Militia and then represented Washington County in the New York State Legislature. In 1831, Norman was ordained as a Baptist minister and served as minister at a variety of churches in upstate New York including the First Baptist Church of Ballston Spa from 1838 to 1850. In the same year, Norman married Jane DeHart Freeman. They had seven children, Adaline Sophia (1832-1850), Alanson Jehiel (1833-1903), Norman Jr. (1836-1907), William Freeman (1840-1909), Charles James (1842-1903), Mary Elizabeth (1844-1928) and George Henry (1846-1915). Poor health forced him to retire from the ministry in 1851 and he moved to Schenectady, New York for his children’s education. In 1854, five years after his first wife died, he married Mary Ann Chapman Hale. Norman was involved in several lumber businesses and in 1860, he moved to Painted Post, New York; the location of the family’s mill, Fox, Weston and Bronson. Norman died in 1863.https://digitalworks.union.edu/alumnifiles_1816/1020/thumbnail.jp