Oneida County 1810 Fox Families

I have avoided the 1810 Federal census for Oneida County because the census taker decided all he needed was the first initial and last name of each head of household.  To further muddy the water, no town names are listed either!  It is just one long list of names.  There are 4 Fox families and W. Forbes (whom is the father-in-law of Joel Fox).  So let's look a little closer at these records and try and figure out what they are saying to us.

The chart below displays the four Fox families and W. Forbes and the pages they appear on the census list.  S. Fox seems to be the closest to W. Forbes.  Do these page numbers represent 'closeness' to each other?  I really do not know.  The same handwriting is used for the entire list which makes me think this is probably an administrative copy of the original enumeration.  So who knows how the names were placed on the list.

Family	Census Page Number
M. Fox	Page 26
J. Fox	Page 33
S. B. Fox	Page 39
S. Fox	Page 91
W. Forbes	Page 96

I thought I would try and locate the towns these individuals are in by comparing them to the 1820 census.  The very busy looking image below is a comparison of the 1810 Oneida County census on the left and the 1820 Oneida County census for the town of Paris.  The lines are drawn from the individuals in the 1810 census to their matching family in the 1820 census.

  There are actually more matches for this group, but the list is too long to include.  I am pretty confident in stating that M. Fox lived in the town of Paris in the 1810 census.  Now all I have to do is figure out who M. Fox is.  His/her family is displayed below.

So far I haven't been able to figure out who this family is.  I went page by page in the 1820 census for the town of Paris, but can find no M. Fox listed.  Now let's see if I can locate the towns the other three Fox families were living in in 1810...

 

John Clark and Ruth Barnum Fox of Camillus, Onondaga

John Clark applies for a Revolutionary War service pension on 13 Apr 1818.  He states his age as 62 years which places his date of birth around 1756.

The above record is from an 1820 affidavit for John Clark.  John lists all of his household goods and debts.  He also lists the individuals living in his household in 1820.  Richard Fox, aged 15 years is living in John's household.  Richard was alive and not mentioned in William Barnum's will so Joel Fox may well have been alive, too.

Ruth Randall files papers as John Clark's widow on 28 Jun 1848.  She states John Clark died on 04 Jun 1840.  Ruth further states she married David Randall on 11 Nov 1840 and that he died on 15 Sep 1847.  So we now have Ruth Barnum Fox Clark Randall!

I also copied the letter below used as a proof of Ruth Barnum's marriage.

The witnesses are Sarah Tenbrook and Rebeca Showens.  They say they were present at Ruth's marriage.  I wonder if these are her daughters?  Sarah would have been 22 and Rebecca would have been 15 at the time. There is also another letter with a statement by Maria Stevens and Sarah Ruggles written on 04 Mar 1854 also confirming the marriage.  I'll have to see what these other names turn up...

The Russians are Coming ... Herkimer Countians that is!

I came across the record below which is why I know the Ruth Fox in Camillus is the same Ruth Fox in Herkimer County.  This is from Will Book B of Herkimer County.

This is a will abstract for William Barnum of Russia, Herkimer County.  It is dated 29 June 1812.  He gives part of the land he lives on to his daughter Ruth and on her said death to her son Daniel Fox.  He also mentions two sons, Richard and John Barnum.  He names his daughters, Sarah Mead, Hannah Jones, Phebe Primer, and Mary Duber with bequests of $25.00 each.  

My last post mentioned two letters which Ruth Fox used to prove her marriage to Lemuel Fox.  One was signed by Sarah Brumagin and Phebe Primmer.  I wonder if Sarah Brumagin is Sarah Mead?  It would make sense.  These would be sisters of Ruth Barnum.  

William Barnum also mentions his grandchildren, Daniel Fox, Rabacha Fox, Mary Fox, and Hannah Fox.  This last mention makes me wonder if Lemuel and Ruth Fox's son Joel is still alive?  If he is, William failed to mention him in his will.

I copied the 1810 census listing for Ruth Barnum Fox below.  You can see how it matches the family of Ruth Fox.  I figure the male child must be Daniel and the adult male must be William Barnum.  If this is the case, the household matches the list for William's bequests.  

  In my last post, I was able to pace the birth of Ruth Fox around 1770 based on one of her depositions.  I have estimated William Barnum's birth based upon Ruth's birth.  Notice William Barnum's son John Barnum is living next door to Ruth Fox, as well.  So, if the male child is Daniel Fox, and I think this pretty likely, three boys are missing from the household, Amos Fox b. 16Jul1791, Joel Fox b. 25Dec1795, and Richard Fox b.17Dec1802.  Are these three children deceased?

Let's start by looking at the 1800 and 1790 census records to see what the household 'looks like'.  Lemuel Fox and family are located in Camillus, Onondaga County in 1800.  The census page is in really bad shape, so I highlighted Lemuel's household.  All of Ruth's children up to 1800 are listed in the household.

  I cannot seem to locate Lemuel Fox in 1790.  There is a Lemuel Fox listed in Connecticut, but he doesn't match with what we know about our Lemuel Fox.  I'll keep looking, though.  Now let's see what Ruth Barnum Fox's second marriage to John Clark looks like...

The Fox Hunt Continues...

Ruth Fox in Camillus, Onondaga County tries for years to convince the Pension Board to give her a pension.  On 04 Dec 1852 she tries one more time.  She states her age as 82 years.  So we can place her birth around 1770.  She also needed to have proof of her marriage.  The letter below was submitted as this proof.  This letter is actually a fascinating family document - though you wouldn't know it.

The statement was made by Peter Brumagin in Schenectady County (charmingly spelled Schenattada County).  He states he was familiar with Mrs. Ruth Randall and her deceased husband Lemuel Fox.  He further mentions he was living in the neighborhood as a close neighbor at the time of their marriage.

Phebe Primmer and Sarah Brumagin also state they were close neighbors at the time of Ruth Randall's marriage to Lemuel Fox.  They further state they have read Peter Brumagin's statement and they are in agreement with it.

The last letter in the file was from Peter Primmer of Schenectady County.  He essentially repeats the same statement the three individuals state in the previous letter.

My next post will examine why I know these individuals are family and I'll explain why I know the Ruth Fox in the 1810 Russia, Herkimer County is the same person mentioned here...

Ruth Fox 1810 Herkimer County

Ruth Fox is an interesting person!  She married not one, but two Revolutionary War veterans.  And she tried to collect pensions for both!  I almost thought I had found my Joel Fox's mother - and maybe I have - I just need to 'mull' it over.  I'll let you decide if enough evidence exists to link Ruth and Joel.

One of the joys of Internet research can also be one of the frustrations.  You can find a lot of things online, but only the 'tip of the iceberg' is actually showing.  So many more records and documentary evidence has yet to make it to the Internet.  So I'll give you the online version of Ruth Fox's life and hopefully some day I'll be able to  verify my story with on site research.

I'll start with Ruth's application for a widow's pension based on her first husband's Revolutionary War service.  Lemuel Fox is a Connecticut Fox.  Ruth Fox applied for a pension in Onondaga County, New York on 28 Feb 1849 as Ruth Fox.  She didn't mention she had since married two more times.  Ruth states Lemuel Fox entered the service from Dutchess County, New York.

Ruth further declares her maiden name was Ruth Barnum and she married Lemuel Fox on 28 Jun 1789 at Philipstown which she states is now called Nassau, New York.  This is located in Rensselaer County.  Ruth declares her husband Lemuel Fox died on 17 Aug 1808 at the town of Camillus in Onondaga County.  This will give us two chances to locate Lemuel Fox in the census, 1790 and 1800.

Widows always had to prove they were married to the deceased veteran.  If they could not produce a marriage record, they usually would list all of the children they had with their deceased husband as proof of the marriage.  Ruth did even better, she cut the family pages right out of her Bible and submitted them as proof of her marriage to Lemuel Fox.

The image above is from the pension file and is a microfilm copy of the original Bible page!  Obviously this record was written after the birth of the last child and the death of Lemuel Fox as it is in the same handwriting and from the way the record looks, at least to me, was probably written at the same time.

To sum up her family:

• Lemuel Fox m. Ruth Barnum on 28 Jun 1789
• Amos Fox b. 16 Jul 1791
• Sarah Fox b. 16 Jun 1793
• Joel Fox b. 25 Dec 1795
• Daniel Fox b. 23 Mar 1798
• Rebecca Fox b. 17 Jul 1800
• Richard Fox b. 17 Dec 1802
• Polly Fox b. 25 Aug 1805
• Hannah Fox b. 21 Feb 1808

The only death record listed is that for Lemuel Fox who died 17 Aug 1808.  I copied the Map Quest map below to give you an idea of where the Lemuel and Ruth married and the area they settled in.  Notice that even today, you would drive through Utica to get to Camillus.

I became excited with the listing for their child Joel Fox.  The birth age fits perfectly with the Joel Fox living in Deerfield, Oneida County in 1820.  Is this him?  

   

Zeroing in on Joel Fox in Deerfield

I have been able to narrow down where in Deerfield, Oneida County, New York my Joel Fox lived.  It was actually one of those serendipitous finds at Google Books that put me a step, or maybe an itty bitty baby step, closer to finding Joel Fox's father.  I came across a list of subscribers to a religious track published in 1822.  The town of Deerfield is listed.  I clipped the page below:

This list has fascinated since I found it.  First, I learned that Joel's father-in-law is a Deacon (in what church I still have yet to figure out).  I also discovered that most of these individuals lived in the small hamlet of North Gage in the town of Deerfield.  In fact, Warner Forbes is buried in North Gage (I found this on GenWeb).  North Gage is about 12 miles away from Utica, which matches the distance from Utica mentioned in Sarah Fox Perry's obituary for her place of birth.  

The map below shows North Gage in relationship to Utica.  I also added a new name to my Fox list, Ruth Fox who is living in the town of Russia, Herkimer County in the 1810 census.  Many of the families that settled in North Gage came from the town of Russia.  My next post will try to figure out Ruth's family.