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Anna
(McKnight) Fox |
Anna Hesterwas born on Sept. 10, 1873, the daughter of Arthur A. and Elizabeth Jane (McGovern) McKnight.
The name of her first husband is not yet known.
At the age of 24, in about 1898 before her second marriage, she gave birth to a son, whom she named Thomas McKnight.
On Sept. 17, 1901, Anna married Joseph Fox (1877-1941), a native of England, and the son of Joseph "Thomas" and Sarah Ann (Pratton) Fox. It was her second marriage, and his first. Joseph came to the United States in 1883, when he was age six, and eventually became naturalized as an American citizen.
When the federal census was taken in 1910, Anna and Joseph and son Thomas made their home in Brownsville, Fayette County. Joseph's occupation that year was listed as coal miner. Anna's 62-year-old mother lived under their roof, with the father living elsewhere. Their dwelling was along Albany Road.
Tragically, Anna died on Sept. 7, 1917, at the age of 44. Details are not yet known.
As a widower, Joseph may have moved back into the Brownsville home of his widowed mother and single brothers Harry (age 44) and George (29) and married sister and brother in law Anna and J.C. Groomes. They are shown together on the 1920 federal census.
Joseph married again, to Bertha Bolte ( ? - ? ), and in 1921 relocated to Westover, near Morgantown, Monongalia County, WV. They made their home at 80 Gans Avenue.
The census-taker of 1930 listed his occupation there as "weighman" in a "coal mine."
Joseph died of an embolism at home one day after his 64th birthday, on Nov. 26, 1941.His remains were returned to Canonsburg for interment in the Oak Spring Cemetery.
Bertha's fate is unknown, but evidence suggests that she did not remain in West Virginia.
Son Thomas (1898- ? ) may have taken the "Fox" surname. He is said to have lived in Reading, Berks County, PA and to have been "a good artist."
Copyright © 2000, 2010 Mark A. Miner