Joseph Fox

Joseph Fox (January 12, 1709 – December 10, 1779) served as a Pennsylvania councilor during the colonial governship of Pennsylvania being a proprietary colony subjugated by The Crown. Fox civic tenure spanned from 1750 to 1771 serving the Pennsylvania Colonial Assembly suitably elected by the council as Speaker of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly from 1764 to 1766. During 1769, Joseph served as a provisional speaker for the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly upon the unforeseen ailment of Joseph Galloway.

Joseph Fox was a craft guild member of the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia. Fox was apprenticed to James Portues serving Philadelphia as an architect and master builder. Portues died in 1737 leaving Fox a substantial financial fund allowing credit loans for municipal developments and guild craftsmen relations in Philadelphia.

Fox being a company master by 1763 and possessing the financial resources fostered a harmonious rapport with the Carpenters' Company tradesmen. The craftsmen guild illustrated their talents by the construction and development of the Philadelphia Commons known as Carpenters' Hall located in close proximity to Independence Hall and Society Hill. Fox was unwaveringly recognized as kindling the essence of the prelude to the American Revolutionary War with the craftsmen guild of Philadelphia.

Family Justinian Fox, father of Joseph Fox, was born December 19, 1673, in Plymouth, Devon, England. Justinian arrived in British Colonial America with the Plymouth Friends in 1686 establishing the Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania settlement. Elizabeth Yard, mother of Joseph Fox, was born 1678 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Elizabeth has ancestry origins in the United Kingdom geographically in the civil parish of Exeter, Devon, England. Justinian Fox and Elizabeth Yard corroborated their matrimonial union after Plymouth Friends maritime landing and arrival in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania.

Joseph Fox was born to Justinian Fox and Elizabeth Yard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 12, 1709. Joseph was christened on March 12, 1709, at First Church, Philadelphia known as Christ Church located in Old City, Philadelphia. Joseph Fox and Elizabeth Mickle shared matrimonial vows on September 25, 1746, at Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. Fox and Mickle had thirteen children with subsequently six children thriving to adulthood.

Philadelphia Country Estate In 1770, Joseph Fox established a two hundred acre estate ten miles north of Old City, Philadelphia known in present time as Olney, Philadelphia. The first architecture built on the property was a stone structure and by generational descent would become known as Champlost.

In November 1777, the stone dwelling was ravaged by an act of arson due to a potential royalty affiliation. The Pennsylvania colonists contrived suspicions of Joseph Fox conducting skeptical relations with the colonial loyalists at the outbreak of British Philadelphia campaign. The Fox family rock architecture was rebuilt by a son Joseph Jr. after the departing of Joseph Justinian Fox in 1779.

In 1808, George Fox inherited the rural settlement citing the property as Champlost. George augmented his education and social consciousness during his occupation of Paris in the 18th century. George was alluded by the French aristocracy seen as an expression by the landscapes of Champs-Élysées and Louis period architecture. The Yonne, Burgundy exploit of revolutionary France inspired the development to what was too become known as Champlost being a French country estate in north rural area of Philadelphia. Benjamin Franklin's artifacts remained at Champlost until Fox family descendent Charles Pemberton Fox relinquished the Franklin historical chronicles to the American Philosophical Society in 1840.

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