KSGenWeb Digital Library Biographical Sketch of Jared C. Fox Atchison County, Kansas

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The following transcription is from a 750 page book titled "Genealogical and Biographical Record of North-Eastern Kansas, dated 1900.  These have been diligently transcribed and generously contributed by Penny R. Harrell, please give her a very big Thank You for her hard work!

Jared C. Fox

That the plentitude of satiety is seldom attained in the affairs of life is to be considered as a most grateful and beneficial deprivation, for where ambition is satisfied and every ultimate aim is realized, if such is possible, there must follow individual apathy.  Effort will cease, accomplishment be prostrate and creative talent waste its energies in supine activity.  The men who have pushed forward the wheels of progress have been those to whom satiety lay ever in the future, and they have labored continuously and have not failed to find in each transition stage an incentive for further effort. 

As a result of ambition to make the most of opportunities and gain a prominent place in business circles, Jared C. Fox is steadily working his way upward, and is now a member of the firm of McPike & Fox, wholesale druggists of Atchison, Kansas.

They are at the head of one of the leading stores in their line west of the Missouri river, and their trade is steadily increasing.  Mr. Fox is a native of the Empire state, his birth having occurred in Monroe County, New York, October 30, 1841; and his parents were Jared W. and Mary (Copeland) Fox.  The family is of English lineage, and the grandfather of our subject was Jacob Fox. 

The maternal grandfather, Jonathan Copeland, was a soldier in the War of 1812, and held a colonel's commission.  Jared Fox, Sr., was born in Connecticut, and devoted his life to the ministry.  He died in Kansas in 1896 and his wife passed away several years previously.

In presenting to our readers the life record of him whose name heads this sketch, we know that his history cannot fail to prove of interest, for it demonstrates and illustrates the possibilities that lie before young men of energy and determination.

He spent his boyhood days in New York attending the district schools near his home, and afterward continued his studies in Walworth Academy, in Wayne county.  In 1860 he determined to try his fortune in the West, and came to Kansas.

For a time he occupied a position as a clerk in Valley Falls, at a salary of one hundred and fifty dollars a year.  He remained there until 1862, and in the spring of that year came to Atchison, where he accepted the position of salesman in the dry goods store of W. C. Smith & Son, where he continued for several months.

On the expiration of that period he moved to Rolla, Missouri, where he acted as quartermaster's clerk under E. B. Grimes, who was filling the position of quartermaster in the regular army.

In the fall of 1868 our subject became a member of the firm of McPike & Allen, wholesale druggists of Atchison, and when Mr. Allen retired the firm name was changed to McPike & Fox.  They carry a very large line of goods, their house being one of the most extensive of the kind west of the Missouri river.

Their patronage comes from many western cities and they are well represented on the road by a large and efficient corps of traveling salesmen. The quality of goods which they carry, together with their well known reliability in trade circles, insures to them a continuation of profitable business.

In December, 1868, Mr. Fox was united in marriage to Miss Virginia A. Tortat, of Atchison, and to them have been born five children, namely: Jared C., Jr., who is the manager of the Frank Howard Manufacturing Company, of Atchison; Edith, wife of W. A. Jackson, a prominent attorney of Atchison; Henry Irving, who is a traveling salesman for the firm of McPike & Fox, with headquarters in Hutchinson, Kansas; William Tortat, also employed by McPike & Fox; and Florence, at home.

In his political views Mr. Fox is a gold Democrat and served for several years as a member of the board of education, during which time the school interests of the city were greatly advanced.  He is also the president of the Western Wholesale Druggists' Association, and the honor conferred upon him by his election is well merited.  A prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, he belongs to Washington Lodge, No. l, F.& A.M.; to the chapter, to Atchison Commandery, K. T., and to the Mystic Shrine.

His attention has been given very closely to business, however, and he has met with most creditable success.  He is recognized as one of the most able merchants of Atchison, and his diligence, indomitable energy and perseverance have won him the prosperity that numbers him among the most substantial citizens of his adopted state, nor has he advanced his individual interests alone, for he has done much toward promoting the general welfare by encouraging trade and commerce and by supporting all measures and movements which are calculated to prove a public benefit.

In manner he is cordial and genial, and has won a host of warm friends in the state where he now makes his home.

Last update: Wednesday, January 11, 2006 02:15:27

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