Person Page - 764

       Thomas/3w Fox Jr. was born 26 Feb 1649/50 at Concord, MA.¹ "He is supposed to have died young," says William F. Fox.² However, a Thomas Fox, perhaps the same, had children, 1683-88 at Boston, by wife Elizabeth.³ The Thomas who was husband to Elizabeth is probably the same Thomas Fox married by Gov. Simon Bradstreet, 21 Mar 1690 at Boston, to Esther Jarvis.⁴

       Samuel/3w Fox was born circa 1651 at Concord, MA (no record survives).^1,3 He settled at New London, CT about 1675, and there married (1), 31 Mar 1676, Mary/2 Lester, daughter of Andrew/1 Lester and Barbara (–?–), with whom he had 4 children, including the first of his two sons Samuel, "the elder."⁴ (Their siblings Hannah Fox and Daniel Lester also married.). He lived near his brothers, John and Isaac, and sister, Hannah Lester, in the "General Neck" a few miles south of New London village.⁵ He married (2), after 1683, Joanna Way, with whom he had 2 children, and who died in the epidemic of 1689.^1,6
     He married (3), 1690, Bathsheba (Bathshua) Rogers, daughter of James Rogers, and widow of Richard Smith, with whom he had a son, Samuel "the younger." James Rogers was said to be "the wealthiest man in the colony of New London after Governor Winthrop."^1,6 Bathsheba died 3 Nov 1711.⁶ 15 Apr 1712, Samuel/3w Fox of New London made a deed of gift of 60 acres in Colchester to his loving son Benjamin Fox.⁷ Samuel Fox married (4) Esther, as she is named in his will, probably the Hester Allen who m., 9 Aug 1715, Samuel Fox of New London.^1,6 He died at New London 4 Sep 1727, leaving an estate prized at £2280-11-5½.^1,6
     Samuel Fox was admitted to the First Church, N.L., 20 Nov 1681.⁶ The Patent of New London, issued 1704, contains his name. "He was an extensive landholder, some of his land being situated at Great Neck, in the vicinity of New London. He also owned 500 acres in the North Parish, now Montville, upon which he erected a sawmill and a gristmill."⁶
     His will, dated 6 Apr 1727, proved 6 Sep following, gives eldest son Samuel, called "Samuel Fox the elder," his lands in the North Parish, with the mills known as the Fox mills, and all his wearing apparel. To his son "Samuel Fox the younger," he gives all his farming tools, and all his lands in Newbern, with Great Neck, subject to legacies to be paid to his siblings. To wife Esther, all the estate that she brought with her to me when I married her, and a living out of the whole during her widowhood. He also mentions sons Isaac and Benjamin; daughters Elizabeth and Anna; sons-in-law James Smith and John Smith; the children of his "daughter-in-law Bathshua Rogers, deceased" (meaning her children by her 1st husband); the children of his daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Camp, deceased; and granddaughter Elizabeth Platts; and appoints as executors son Samuel the elder, and friend Timothy Green, printer, of New London.⁸
     His brother Isaac, by deed dated 9 Jan 1729/30, gave the land for the first Baptist meeting house in New London, of which Samuel was a trustee. The building was shared by Seventh and First Day Baptists, who worshipped in it on different days. Standing on Fort Hill, and known from its height and peculiar proportions as the "Pepper Box," it was taken down in 1847.⁹
     "Samuel and Bathsheba, after their marriage, became Seventh Day Baptists. Samuel was arraigned once for catching eels on Sunday, whereupon he said that he made no difference in days; and Bathsheba went 'openly' to the meeting-house to proclaim that she had been doing servile work on their sabbath. She was accompanied at this time by her brother, John Rogers, who interrupted the minister by proclaiming that he had committed a similar offense. This John Rogers became the founder of the sect of Rogerenes. Samuel and Bathsheba seem to have courted persecution and to have taken no pains to avoid the martyrdom which fell to their lot. Bathsheba's brother, James, was sentenced by the court to receive fifteen lashes and to pay a fine of 5 pounds for 'rebaptizing' people.
     "The troubles and differences which Samuel² Fox had with his neighbors appear to have resulted from his marriage with Bathsheba. Her father, James Rogers, and his children also, as early as 1676, attracted attention by their declared opposition to infant baptism, and Samuel evidently was a convert to their views."¹⁰

       John/3w Fox was born circa 1653 at Concord, MA, although the record does not survive.^2,1 He removed to New London, CT about 1675, where he married (1), 28 [Caulkins: 2] Jun 1678, Sarah Larrabee, daughter of Greenfield Larrabee, with whom he had 3 children.^3,4 He married (2), by 1688, Hannah Isbell, daughter of Robert Isbell, and widow of Thomas Stedman, with whom he had 3 children.^5,6 John Fox lived near his brothers Samuel and Isaac, and sister Hannah Lester, in the "General Neck" section a few miles south of New London village.⁷ He married (3), circa 1707, Susanna Parker, daughter of Ralph Parker, and widow of Thomas Forster, who died 3 Apr 1718.⁸ He married (4), 9 Nov 1719 at New London, Mary/5w Lester, daughter of Daniel/4w Lester and Mary Wells, and his grandniece. "His last wife was fifty years younger than himself, and granddaughter to his sister," reported the New England Weekly Journal of 20 Apr 1730, in noticing his death at New London.^9,8
     All his children died without issue, except Benjamin. In deeding a farm at an unknown place to Benjamin in 1718, John calls him "my only child which it hath pleased God to continue in the land of the living."^5,10
     In 1700, John Fox and others complained to the General Court against the elder of the Church of Christ at New London. "The elder's party seems to have been the stronger, for they were all suspended from church privileges."⁸ Patentee of New London, 1704.⁶