FOX, Mathias Joseph 1880-1973
FOX, GILLES, BUESE
Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 3/18/2011 at 12:23:51
#1:
MATHIAS (MATT) FOX
RICEVILLE, IOWA - Mathias (Matt) Fox, 92, died Friday morning at Salida, Colorado. Services will be tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. at St. Peter's Catholic Church at New Haven, with burial in the church cemetery. Rosary at 8 p.m. tonight at St. Peter's Church. Friends may call at the church after 3 p.m. today, and the Chisholm Funeral Home in Riceville from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Survivors are his wife, Martha, of Salida; four sons, Bernard and William, of Spooner, Wisconsin, Garland, of Salida, and Norman, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin; three daughters, Mrs. Wayne Leazer, of Martin Grove, Illinois, Mrs. Lorraine Van Buskirt, Bellfair, Wisconsin, and Miss Leone Fox, of Golden, Colorado; 24 grandchildren; 31 great-grandchildren; a brother, Henry, of Elma; and four sisters: Mrs. Ellen Wagner, of Riceville, Mrs. Ida Burke, of Mason City, Mrs. Frank Marley, of New Haven, and Mrs. Herbert Michaels, of Osage.
[Waterloo Courier, Sunday, January 28, 1973]
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#2: (Biographical sketch)
MATHIAS FOX FAMILY
Mathias Joseph Fox, the son of Chris and Josephine Buese Fox, was born on February 24, 1880. He was the first born in the family of eight children. He worked for a short time at Bisbee, Arizona, for his uncle in a gold and copper mine. Mathias was known as Matt and "Biese" because of his mother's maiden name and because he was an expert bee keeper.
Upon his marriage to Martha Gilles on November 17, 1908, he entered into a partnership with his father-in-law, Mease Gilles, in the General Store in New Haven. He went from there to a garage with John Wagner and then to a garage of his own where he sold Model T's and other makes of cars. About the same time he built a custom feed mill. This was a large burr mill powered by a one cylinder gas engine. Later the garage was eliminated and the feed mill rebuilt. It was equipped with a Jay Bee Hammer mill, powered by the first 4 cylinder motor built by Hart Parr at Charles City. Some time during the operation of the last feed mill, he purchased the New Haven Telephone line for $1000, from Mike Loftus and moved it to a room in his house beside the Mease Gillis general store. About the same time he built a large dance hall behind his house where Tom Mix and other western star movies, as well as Charlie Chaplin, were shown.
During his early years in New Haven he became interested in 32-volt light plants, and he wired and installed these units on many farms. He also had the first radio in New Haven.
In 1924 Matt traded the feed mill and Telephone Company for a farm at Spooner, Wisconsin. Here he farmed, built a lath mill, made some sorghum, and did a lot of work with steam engines. The depression was hard on Matt and Martha with a family of seven children.
They came back to New Haven in about 1938 and he helped his son Garland operate a garage purchased from John Wagner. In 1939 Matt built a garage building for his son Garland on the old site of the feed mill that had burned down earlier. When Garland was drafted into the army in 1942, Matt took over the operation of the Garage and Allis Chalmers Implement business. He had no trouble adapting his talent to auto repair, electric and acetylene welding and farm equipment repair. Here was a man with a fifth grade education that would accept any challenge and succeed. About the only thing he ever failed at is - while hunting in Wisconsin for deer, he got "buck fever" when the chance to shoot a buck occurred.
Matt died in 1973 and Martha (Mert) died in 1981. They are buried in New Haven. They are survived by seven children: Bernard, Garland, Norman, Mary, twins Leone and Lorraine, and Bill.
By Garland Fox,
MITCHELL COUNTY HISTORY, 1989-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#3:Photo of Mr. and Mrs. Matt Fox from MITCHELL COUNTY HISTORY, 1989.
Mitchell Obituaries maintained by Sharyl Ferrall.
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