The genealogical data in these pages is accurate to the best of my current (at the time of writing) knowledge. This means it is of very variable reliability, since sources at one extreme are 100% certain (e.g. I know who I married, where and when, and the identity of my parents) to the mere rumour level, such as LDS data extracted from the IGI and Ancestral File, and reminiscences of elderly relatives, some now deceased. Anyone wishing to make any use whatever of this information is therefore strongly advised to contact me for source details.
A second possibility is a translation of the Irish-Gaelic Mac an tSionnaigh, which means "Son of the fox".
The third source listed is the Anglicisation of the Jewish (Ashkenazic) names Fiks, Fiksman, Fuchs, Fuchsman, Fucks, Fuks, Fux and Fuxsman.
Fourth is the Low German Focks, meaning son of Fock (a given name derived from (Volk).
James's wife Elizabeth died, probably before 1872, and certainly before the 1881 census. He took in his half-cousin Elizabeth Fisher, nominally as his housekeeper. The 1881 census shows them living in Wanborough, together with three children stated to be his sons but surnamed Fisher (in addition to the Fox children listed above). These children were George (born about 1872), Joseph (1874) and Henry (1880). This census describes him as a mason.
He suffered an injury at some time which meant he had a hook in place of one hand. He had an unfortunate reputation, as described to me by my father's aunt, who knew him. She said that on one occasion when she saw him approaching along a country lane near Wanborough, she hid in a ditch until he had passed, rather than risk meeting him alone!
On 19th May 1850 he, by then a widower, married Harriet Attwood. The 1871 census shows the couple living at 12 Moorleaze, Wanborough, with his 5-year old grand-daughter Robina Fox.
The 1841 and 1851 censuses, and son James's 1839 birth certificate all describe him as an agricultural labourer, but his marriage certificate to Harriet Attwood says he was a glazier, while son James's marriage certificate in 1864 calls him a tradesman.
Widowed near the end of that year, she married blacksmith John Fisher in December 1809. She bore him at least three children; the census of 6th June 1841 shows the couple living with Joseph (aged between 25 and 29), Thomas (between 20 and 24) and James (15), as well as Joseph's wife and daughter. The address given in the 1841 census record is "North East side of Easter Town, Wanborough".
On 21st October 1719 he married Joan Edes at Wanborough parish church. The couple produced eight children: John (baptised 14th August 1720), Robert (19th November 1721), Anne (28th November 1725), William (22nd February 1726/7), John (26th March 1729), Betty (10th January 1730/1), Richard (3rd February 1733/4) and Mary (16th April 1736).
Although she was not a direct ancestor of mine, I am including a little about this lady because she was closely involved in the upbringing of my father and his siblings. She was the daughter of James Fox, my great grandfather, by his wife Elizabeth (née Adams). She was born in Wanborough on 30th November 1869, but, judging from the census records, appears to have been fostered by her uncle William Fox from a very early age. The 1871 census shows her living with that family, while her siblings were presumably with their father (I have not yet found the family in that census). The 1881 census shows her father and siblings living in Wanborough together with Elizabeth Fisher and the children she bore James Fox, but she, her uncle and his family I have not found.
When her half-brother Joseph Fisher's wife (my grandmother) died in 1922, leaving him with several children including my infant uncle, she moved in with the family (then living in Swindon) and remained with them. After the children grew up and left home she remained in the family home, first with Joseph and then alone for the 5 months between his death in November 1941 and hers (from a heart attack while in a cinema) in April 1942.
The above photo (click on the thumbnail for a larger image, 67,607 bytes) has been scanned and enlarged from an old reprint of part of the scene at the church door on the occasion of my parents' marriage in August 1935 (Apologies for the poor quality - the original I think from its appearance was photocopied from a newspaper!).
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