This sketch provides a little more information on Joel Fox. We find out that Gustavus is born in Connecticut in 1810. Joel then moves his family to Batavia, Genesee County, New York by 1815. Joel Fox moves to Canada in 1823. This sketch states that Gustavus arrives in Michigan in 1832. Henry Fox is said to have arrived in Michigan in 1833. If this sketch is correct, we can place the father of Henry and Gustavus in Connecticut up to at least 1810.
Two of Gustavus's children have biographical sketches in the History of Macomb County, Michigan. I have clipped the part of the sketches that refer to either Joel or Gustavus Fox.
Both of the above sketches mention Joel Fox, too. Robert Fox states that Joel came to Macomb County by 1827 while Henrietta Fox says Joel 'and his family' arrive in Michigan about 1830. Either way, Joel Fox is supposed to be in Michigan very early. In the late 1820s and early 1830s Michigan was truly a frontier. The population of Michigan did not appreciably grow until after the completion of the Erie canal in the 1830s. The 1830 census does exist for the territory of Michigan, but I do not see Joel Fox listed. Of course he could easily have been missed as most of the area outside of Detroit were extremely remote settlements.
Henry Fox died before death certificates were required in Michigan. Gustavus Fox died in 1904. By this time death certificates were required for all deaths. I copied the death certificate for Gustavus Fox. It is displayed below.
This record confirms the father of Gustavus Fox as Joel Fox. It also shows the mother of Gustavus Fox as being Ellath... Mac. I'll let you figure out what her first name is. If you look at her last name it appears to be Mac. A quick search online for Gustavus Fox turns up several files which list her surname as Mann. I'm not quite sure where this comes from. I think her name was Mac (I'll tell you why in a later post).
Now we are ready to recap all the information we have collected as we continue on our Fox hunt...
