Charles N. Fox

Charles Nelson Fox (March 9, 1829 – April 26, 1903) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California from June 25, 1889 to January 7, 1895.

Charles Nelson Fox
California Supreme Court justice Charles Nelson Fox.
Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
In office
June 1889 – January 1891
Appointed byGovernor Robert Waterman
Preceded byJackson Temple
Succeeded byJohn J. De Haven
Assemblyman from Alameda County of the California State Assembly
In office
September 1879 – September 1880
Appointed byElection
Personal details
Born(1829-03-09)March 9, 1829
Redford, Wayne County, Michigan, U.S.
DiedApril 26, 1903(1903-04-26) (aged 74)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Spouse(s)
Mary Schwartz Rive
​
(m. 1864)​

Early life

Born at Redford, Wayne County, Michigan to Benjamin F. Fox, a farmer of English descent,[1] Fox moved to Ann Arbor at the age of fifteen to earn his own living, and to attend the newly opened Ann Arbor University.[2] Due to a bout of illness,[1] and unable to afford tuition, he took a job at a printing office, and soon became an editor.[2] He was elected city recorder of Ann Arbor, and acted as mayor of the city a portion of the term. He read law in the office of Kingsley & Morgan, and was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of Michigan in 1856.[1][2]

In August 1857, he moved to San Mateo County, California, was admitted to the California bar in July 1858, and shortly thereafter was appointed to fill a vacancy in the office of the district attorney.[3][4][5] He won successive elections to the office for five years, when he declined further election.[1][2][6] He was retained by the Spring Valley Water Company to attend to their business in San Mateo County, and succeeded in securing the legal rights and property without involvement in any lawsuits over a ten year period. He then became a local attorney for the newly organized San Francisco and San Jose Railroad Company, securing their right of way through San Mateo County, and thereafter became president and attorney of the Western Pacific Railroad Company.[7][8][9] He then moved from Redwood City to San Francisco and was appointed general attorney of the Spring Valley Water Company, and continued to act as one of its legal advisers for nearly forty years.[2][10]

Fox declined several overtures to accept judicial and other positions, but ran for a seat as a Republican in the first session of the legislature held under the 1879 Constitution of California.[11][12][13] He was made chairman of the judiciary committee, and used his position to keep bad laws out of the statutes, reportedly causing the postponement of a thousand bills. Very few bills that he opposed ultimately passed, and every one that was passed against his opposition on the ground that it conflicted with the constitution, was eventually pronounced unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court.[2] In September 1880, he resigned from the Assembly to serve as an elector for presidential candidate James A. Garfield at the Republican national convention.[14]

Fox remained active in civic activities in Oakland. In June 1877, he helped organize a free reading room in the city.[15] In February 1878, he was a founder of the Oakland Law Library.[16] In March 1879, he was elected to the Oakland Board of Education, and served as its president.[17][18]

In 1881, Fox was selected as general counsel for the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company. In June 1889, Governor Robert Waterman appointed Fox as an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court, following the resignation of Justice Jackson Temple.[19] Fox served on the court to the end of the next year. He authored one of the most noted opinions of the term in Jessup's Case,[20][2] establishing a rule by which an illegitimate child can become legitimized.[1]

After leaving the court, he was a member of the law firm of Campbell, Fox & Campbell, then with the firm of Fox, Kellogg & King.[21] This firm became Fox, Kellogg & Gray until 1895, when it became the firm of Fox & Gray. He was working up until the day of his death, leaving his office on April 26, 1903, about five o'clock in the afternoon, and dying before morning had dawned.[2][22][23]

Clubs

Fox became a member of the Odd Fellows at the age of 21, and was active and influential in that organization throughout his life, serving as grand master for the state of California in 1867-68, grand patriarch in 1868-69, and representative to the grand lodge of the United States in 1869-70.[24][25] He was the first president of the Odd Fellows' home founded under his administration, acting in that capacity from 1893 to 1898.[1][26] In October 1869, he was elected an officer of the Sons and Daughters of Temperance.[27][28]

Personal life

Fox had married Celestia M. Fox in Michigan, but she died in Redwood City, California, on January 29, 1859.[29] On January 1, 1860, he remarried to Lucy Taylor in San Mateo, California.[30] In June 1864, after her death, he remarried to Mary Schwartz Rice, a native of France, who came to California in 1857 and lost her first husband soon after her arrival.[31] He had eight children, but only two survived him: Mrs. Mary Gray and Miss Ida Frances Fox.[1]

His two brothers, Benjamin F. and George W. Fox, an attorney, and two sisters also lived in California.[32]

References
  1. Leigh Hadley Irvine, A History of the New California: Its Resources and People, Vol. II (1905), p. 668-70.
  2. In Memoriam: Charles Newton Fox, Cal. Reports Vol. 143 (1904).
  3. Johnson, J. Edward (1963). History of the California Supreme Court: The Justices 1850-1900, vol 1 (PDF). San Francisco, CA: Bender Moss Co. pp. 171–174. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 27, 2016. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
  4. "The Courts". Sacramento Daily Union. 15 (2287). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 27 July 1858. p. 3. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  5. "Court Proceedings". Daily Alta California. 17 (5487). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 15 March 1865. p. 1. Retrieved September 16, 2017. U.S. District Court: Charles N. Fox was admitted as an Attorney of this Court.
  6. "County Officers in San Mateo". Daily Alta California. 13 (4223). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 10 September 1861. p. 1. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  7. "Railroads". Sacramento Daily Union. 30 (4611). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 1 January 1866. p. 2. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  8. "News of the Morning: Railroad Lands". Sacramento Daily Union. 31 (4748). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 15 June 1866. p. 2. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  9. "Western Pacific Railroad". Sacramento Daily Union. 32 (4891). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 30 November 1866. p. 2. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  10. "Another Fraud Detected". Daily Alta California. 31 (10616). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 7 May 1879. p. 1. Retrieved September 16, 2017. Charles N. Fox, attorney for the Spring Valley Water Company
  11. "Ratification of Butte County-Enthusiastic Republicans". Sacramento Daily Union. 8 (103). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 7 July 1879. p. 2. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  12. "Alameda County Politics". Sacramento Daily Union. 8 (115). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 23 July 1879. p. 2. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  13. "Speakership of the Assembly". Daily Alta California. 31 (10746). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 15 September 1879. p. 1. Retrieved September 16, 2017. The eminent fitness of Hon. Charles N. Fox, of this city, for the position of Speaker of the Assembly. Is well known
  14. "Coast Items". Russian River Flag (44). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 2 September 1880. p. 2. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  15. "Free Reading Room in Oakland". Pacific Rural Press. 13 (24). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 16 June 1877. p. 380. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  16. "Incorporation". Sacramento Daily Union. 7 (6). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 28 February 1878. p. 3. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  17. "The Election in Oakland-Probable Success of the Citizens' Ticket-Third Dispatch". Sacramento Daily Union. 8 (8). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 11 March 1879. p. 4. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  18. "Arrival of General Grant". Daily Alta California. 31 (10757). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 26 September 1879. p. 1. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  19. "Charles Nelson Fox, ls Appointed to the Supreme Bench as Justice Temple's Successor". Daily Alta California. 80 (177). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 26 June 1889. p. 2. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  20. In re Jessup, 81 Cal. 408, 423, 6 L. R. A. 594, 21 Pac. 976.
  21. "Judge Buck's Early Decision Sustained". Coast Side Comet (15). 8 May 1914. p. 1. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  22. "Judge Fox is Paralyzed". Los Angeles Herald (213). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 29 April 1904. p. 4. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  23. "Death of Judge Fox". Mariposa Gazette (9). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 7 May 1904. p. 4. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  24. "The Real Cause". Russian River Flag (9). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 30 November 1867. p. 2. Retrieved September 16, 2017. Odd Fellows...Grand Master Charles N. Fox
  25. "Independent Order of Odd Fellows". Sacramento Daily Union. 36 (5544). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 1 January 1869. p. 2. Retrieved September 16, 2017. Present officers: Charles N. Fox, of San Francisco, M. W. Grand Patriarch
  26. "The Home for Aged Odd Fellows". Red Bluff Daily News. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 11 January 1895. p. 9. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  27. "Sons and Daughters of Temperance". Marysville Daily Appeal (105). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 31 October 1869. p. 2. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  28. "City Intelligence, Anniversary Address". Sacramento Daily Union. 46 (7097). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 1 January 1874. p. 8. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  29. "Died". Daily Alta California (XI (28)). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 29 January 1859. p. 2. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  30. "Married". Daily Alta California. 12 (6). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 6 January 1860. p. 2. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  31. "Married". Sacramento Daily Union. 27 (4119). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 3 June 1864. p. 2. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  32. "George W. Fox of Redwood City Dead". San Francisco Call. 85 (125). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 4 April 1899. p. 3. Retrieved September 16, 2017.

See also
Political offices
Preceded by
Jackson Temple		 Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
1889–1891		 Succeeded by
John J. De Haven
Preceded by
 Assemblyman from Alameda County of the California State Assembly
1879–1880		 Succeeded by
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