Sunday's Obituary: Rosa Fox

Over the past two weeks I have featured my 2great-grandparents, Louis Fox and Cora Jones. This week it seems only fitting to feature their young daughter Rosa, my great-grandmother's sister. Sadly, she died quite young, at the age of only 11. She was a victim of the 1918 influenza epidemic.

The Sun reported Rosa's death the same day that she passed.

Rosy Fox Dead

Elliott, Dec. 12--Rosy Fox, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Fox, died about 1 o'clock this morning from pneumonia, following influenza. Other members of the family who were sick are recovering. The funeral will be late Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock.

I enjoy the fact that they referred to her as "Rosy." It feels so much more personal than Rosa, and I can imagine her friends and acquaintances calling her by that name on an everyday basis. I also find it interesting to learn that other members of the family also came down with the influenza; that is something I might never have otherwise learned.

The following week, the Red Oak Express provided a more comprehensive obituary of Rosa's short life, plus a little more information on the experience of the rest of the family.

WEEKLY LETTER FROM ELLIOTT
Rosa A. Fox Dies of Influenza...

Rosa Adella Fox, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L. A. Fox, was born in Montgomery county July 1, 1907. She was called to her reward Dec. 12, 1918, at the age of 11 years. The entire family except her sister Hazel was sick with influenza, Miss Rosa developing a case of pneumonia after a short illness. During her short life she endeared herself to all her associates in school as well as in the bible school and junior work. She was a member of Miss Hazel Collins' class in bible school and under Mrs. R. N. Collins and Mrs. McKee in junior work. She will be greatly missed by the members of these departments. She leaves to mourn her departure her mother, father, three sisters, Mabel, Hazel and Viola, one brother Clyde, besides a number of other relatives and friends. Short services were held at the home Friday afternoon conducted by Rev. J. W. McKee. Interment was in Elliott cemetery.

Right off the bat, Rosa's reported name in this article provided me a small surprise. Here, it was recorded as Rosa Adella Fox. On Find A Grave and the index to "Iowa, County Death Records, 1880-1992" at FamilySearch it is recorded as Rosa Adolla Fox. However, Find A Grave does not cite a source for the middle name, and the photograph of her headstone shows that only a middle initial is inscribed. I have not yet been able to view an original document in the Iowa County Death Record database at FamilySearch, only the index, which could, of course, be subject to transcription errors. Naturally, newspapers are also notorious for misspelling names. Yet, "Adella" is a familiar name, as opposed to "Adolla." At this point, it cannot be determined with certainty which is correct.

Sources:

"Rosy Fox Dead," Sun, 13 Dec 1918, p. 6, col. 2; digital images, Community History Archive (https://redoak.advantage-preservation.com/ : accessed 24 Feb 2023).


"Weekly Letter from Elliott," Red Oak Express, 20 Dec 1918, p. 13, col. 4; digital images, Community History Archive (https://redoak.advantage-preservation.com/ : accessed 24 Feb 2023).


Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8643200/rosa-adolla-fox: accessed 28 March 2023), memorial page for Rosa Adolla Fox (1 Jul 1907–12 Dec 1918), Find a Grave Memorial ID 8643200, citing Hillside Cemetery, Elliott, Montgomery County, Iowa, USA; Maintained by Marty & Harley (contributor 47240226).


"Iowa, County Death Records, 1880-1992," database, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 26 Mar 2023), entry for Rosa Adolla Fox's 1918 death; citing Death, Sherman Township, Montgomery, Iowa, United States, page 193 cn98, offices of county clerk from various counties; FHL microfilm 1,481,703.

Sunday's Obituary: Cora Mae (Jones) Fox

Last week we did my 2great-grandfather, Louis Arthur Fox. Let's stay in that family for a bit and read about his wife, my 2great-grandmother Cora Mae (Jones) Fox, today. These articles are also courtesy of that wonderful Red Oak Community History Archive.

Her obituary appeared in at least two of the local papers, the Red Oak Express and the Sun. First we will hear from the Express.

Services Are Held For Mrs. Louis Fox

ELLIOTT--Funeral services for Mrs. Louis Fox, 77, Elliott community resident since 1897, were held Wednesday, Mar. 31, at the Methodist church here with the Rev. A. Breeling officiating and burial in Hillside cemetery.

She died Sunday, Mar 28, at the hospital in Red Oak, where she had been a patient four weeks.

Cora Jones was born Aug. 12, 1876, in Missouri and moved to Coburg with her parents as a youngster. She was married there in 1897 to Louis Fox, who survives.

Also surviving are three daughters, Mrs. Mable Peck of Elliott, Mrs. Hazel Hoyt of Council Bluffs and Mrs. Viola Leighton of Griswold, son, Clyde, near Stennett; seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Her obituary in the Sun gave much of the same information, but with perhaps a few more details. (And an erroneous middle initial for her husband, Louis Arthur Fox.)

Mrs. Louis Fox Of Elliott Dies

Elliott, March 31--Funeral services were held Wednesday at 2 p. m. at the Methodist church here for Mrs. Louis F. Fox. Rev. A. Breeling officiated at interment was in Hillside cemetery, Elliott.

Cora Jones was born August 12, 1876 in Missouri. When a small child she came with her parents to Coburg and was married there Dec. 19, 1897, to Louis Fox. They have resided in this community since that time. Mrs. Fox has been a patient invalid for a number of years. She died Sunday afternoon at Murphy Memorial hospital where she had been four weeks She is survived by her husband and three daughters and one son as follows: Mrs. Mable Peck, Elliott; Mrs. Viola Leighton, Griswold, Mrs. Hazel Hoyt, Council Bluffs, Clyde Fox, Red Oak. There are seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

As if two obituaries weren't enough, there are a couple further notes in the Sun, mentioning some of the guests at her funeral.

Mr. and Mrs. Lon Sheppard and Dave Morgan were in Elliott to attend the funeral of Mrs. Louis Fox, 77, which was held at the Methodist church Wednesday.

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Jones attended the funeral of Mrs. Louis Fox in Elliott Wednesday. Services were held at the Methodist church.

Kenneth Jones was Cora's nephew, a son of her brother John Martin Jones. I have not yet identified Lon Sheppard or Dave Morgan. They may have been relatives of some sort, or they may have been friends.

Source:
"Services Are Held For Mrs. Louis Fox," Red Oak Express, 1 Apr 1954, p. 2, col. 1-2; digital images, Community History Archive (https://redoak.advantage-preservation.com/ : accessed 24 Feb 2023).

"Mrs. Louis Fox Of Elliott Dies," Sun, 1 Apr 1954, p. 2, col. 6-7; digital images, Community History Archive (https://redoak.advantage-preservation.com/ : accessed 24 Feb 2023).

"Personals," Sun, 5 Apr 1954, p. 2, col. 1-2; digital images, Community History Archive (https://redoak.advantage-preservation.com/ : accessed 24 Feb 2023).

 

Sunday's Obituary: Louis Arthur Fox

Here's a tip: If you don't already have access to Newspapers.com, make sure to at least get on their mailing list. About once a year they provide free access to the site for an entire three-day weekend, but you can only take advantage of the offer through the link in the email.

A little over a month ago, for President's Day Weekend, the offer appeared. It was an inconvenient time for me; my laptop had just died. And by died, I mean died. I could not get it to turn on. I bought a new one, but my genealogy program with all its tasks was still on the old one. There was no way I was going to miss out on free newspapers, though! I just couldn't be as strategic as I would have liked. My searches would have to be based on the bits and pieces I have in the cloud, and pure, fitful memory. Inevitably, searching this way resulted in finding some things I have found before, but I still made a considerable number of new discoveries.

In the past couple of years since I first began taking advantage of these Newspaper.com weekends, I have developed a process. I clip and download as many relevant articles as I can in the time available, and when the weekend is over I go through the tedious work of transcribing and creating citations. That is what I have been doing every evening in the intervening days.

So anyway, that was a long-winded way of saying that I have a whole new batch of obituaries, and they may be pretty random as to who they are or to which branch of family they belong.

Let's begin with my 2great-grandfather, Louis Arthur Fox. This was my Grandpa Jack's maternal grandfather, and the only grandparent whose name Grandpa Jack was able to tell me. The reason he knew his name, he explained, was that one day when he was visiting, a package arrived that needed to be signed for. Louis Fox had lost an arm, and was holding something in his other arm, so he had Grandpa Jack sign for it. He told him his name and how to spell it.

Incidentally, I also discovered a number of newspaper articles from the time that Louis Fox lost his arm, but I'll save those for another post.

Services at Elliott For Louis Fox, 87

ELLIOTT -- Services were held Wednesday, Dec. 3, for Louis Fox, 87 of Elliott, who died at his home here Monday, Dec. 1.

He was born July 3, 1871, at Lebanon, Ohio, and came to Iowa when he was quite young. He was married to Cora Jones at Coburg in December, 1896. He lived in the Elliott community a number of years as a farmer, retiring in 1943.

Services were held at the Elliott Methodist Church with the Rev. Clarence Landis, officiating.

Survivors are four children, Mrs. Hazel Hoyt of Council Bluffs, Mrs. Viola Leighton of Griswold, Mrs. Mabel Peck and Clyde Fox of Elliott; seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

 I realize as I paste in the citation that this article did not come directly from Newspapers.com. I discovered it as an indirect effect of the Newspapers.com weekend special. Searching for this family and not finding them on that website, I did a search for newspapers from Red Oak, Iowa, and discovered that there is a free website of newspapers for that area! My finds from there and from Newspapers.com are all jumbled up in my head, and will continue to be all jumbled up in the order I present them.

Source:

"Services at Elliott For Louis Fox, 87," Red Oak Express, 4 Dec 1958, p. 2, col. 5; digital images, Community History Archive (https://redoak.advantage-preservation.com/ : accessed 24 Feb 2023).

52 Ancestors Week 10: Strong Woman

Katie Sandwina, "The Lady Hercules," lifting three men
Bain News Service / Public domain

It is incredibly difficult to narrow down the topic of "Strong Woman" to a single woman in my family. In just one generation--that of my great-grandparents--it is impossible to decide. There is Great-Grandma Flora (Amos) Underwood, who left England with her husband and infant son, to travel across the ocean on a journey to America, knowing she would never see her home in England again. She left a comfortable middle-class life for the unknown world of the western U.S., living almost a pioneer existence and learning the skills along the way.

There is Great-Grandma Cora (Wade) Brosius, who raised a family of six boys and one girl in Kansas, married to a man nearly twenty years older than she was. When he died and left her with four children who were still quite young, she packed those children into a car and the five of them drove across the country to the Pacific Northwest to begin their new lives.

There is Great-Grandma Mary (Craig) Stroesser, who grew up in "the Bottoms" in Omaha, a neighborhood marked by its shanty houses and poverty, and frequently flooded by the nearby Missouri River. She went on to marry and give birth to thirteen children, suffering post-partum depression after many of them according to family lore, and suffering also the deaths of three of her sons. Although Grandma Rose, her daughter, had a strained relationship with her, it seems clear that Great-Grandma Mary was battling her own demons.

Then there is Great-Grandma Hazel (Fox) Hoyt, who, according to family lore, graduated valedictorian. Unlike my other great-grandmothers, she began to work outside the home during WWII, and continued to work after the war was over. She was a shipping clerk at Dehner Boot Company until her retirement. She was also the only great-grandmother whose lifetime overlapped my own.

Truly, I believe that you could pluck almost any woman off my family tree and, looking at her life and circumstances, come to find that she deserves the appellation of a "Strong Woman."