Fountain Fox MILLER, I was born in Monticello, Wayne, Kentucky on November 7, 1850 as the 11th child of Absalom and Hannah (BARTLESON) MILLER's 11 children. His siblings, including himself, numbered 4 girls and 7 boys with dates of birth between 1835 & 1850. Their names were, in order of birth: Peggy, Nancy, Louisa Jane, unknown female, unknown male, Alexander Pearson, William, John Marion, Armstead, Marion, & Fountain Fox MILLER. [NOTE: The 2 unknown children, most likely twins, were both born and died in 1841.]
Fountain Fox married Florence WARDEN (7/9/1854-9/12/1915) on May 17, 1877 In Monticello, Wayne, Kentucky. Their 8 children, all born in Kentucky, in order of their birth were: Samuel Graham (1878-1969)(FAG Memorial #114457866), John Vance (1880-1965)(FAG Memorial #164138788), Nettie (1882-1973), Fountain Fox II (1884-1921), Herman Harle (1886-1949), Milton Elliot (1890-1921), Amp Warden (1893-1982), and Tula MILLER (1895-?).
Two of his sons, i.e., Fountain Fox and Milton Elliot MILLER were shot on December 10, 1921 at Wortham, Freestone, Texas during a real estate dispute. They were transported to a Dallas, Texas hospital where Fountain Fox died on 12/11/1921 and Milton Elliot died on 12/12/1921. Fountain Fox MILLER, II was buried at Grove Hill Cemetery in Dallas, but Milton Elliot was transported for burial at Frederick Memorial Cemetery at Frederick, Tillman, Oklahoma. During the burial service on December 15, 1921 when the elder Fountain Fox MILLER was watching the second of 2 of his sons buried in the previous 3 days as a result of murder, he had a heart attack and died there. He is also buried at Frederick Memorial Cemetery. This was a very sad week for his family.
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COMMENTS FROM THE GREAT, GRANDSON OF FOUNTAIN FOX MILLER I REGARDING HIS DEATH:
I had always understood that Milton Elliott MILLER (my great uncle) and his brother Fountain Fox MILLER II (my grandfather) were both shot (or otherwise grievously injured) on 11 December 1921 in a real estate dispute in Wortham, Freestone County, Texas. My grandfather died that day in Wortham and his brother Elliott died the next day after having been transported to Dallas for treatment. Elliott's body was then transported for burial in Frederick, Tillman County, Oklahoma. During the funeral service or at the actual burial on or about 14 December 1921, their father Fountain Fox MILLER I (my great, grandfather) had a heart attack died there.
On 03/02/2013 during a Google Search through The Dallas Morning News archives for Fox Miller, I found reference to the following two articles: (1) Dallas Morning News - December 15, 1921 "Three Members of Fox MILLER Family Died within Five Days"; and (2) Dallas Morning News - December 15, 1921 "Father of MILLER Brothers is Dead."
Using these references a search of The Historical Dallas Morning News these two articles were not only located, but I was MOST DELIGHTED to find that they included a picture of my father Fountain Fox MILLER III, my grandfather Fountain Fox MILLER II, and my great, grandfather Fountain Fox MILLER I. The test of the articles is as follows:
ARTICLE 1 - DALLAS MORNING NEWS – December 15, 1921: DALLAS MEN, BROTHERS, DIE AFTER BEING SHOT IN OFFICE AT WORTHAM" (i.e., Wortham, Freestone County, Texas) -- Elliott MILLER and F.F. (Fox) MILLER, brothers, 6121 Bryan Parkway, died early Sunday (i.e., December 11, 1921) morning as a result of pistol shot wounds which they received while in the law office of Bryant & Ricker, in the First State Bank Building of Wortham (I.e., Wortham, Freestone County, Texas) at 6 p.m. Saturday (i.e., December 10, 1921). / Elliott MILLER died between Wortham and Corsicana while en route to Dalls on a train and F.F. MILLER died about one hour after arriving at a Dallas hospital. / Elliott was shot once through the head and his brother was shot twice, also in the head. / WIFE RUSHES TO SCENE -- Mrs. F.F. MILLER (i.e., Zula May (KINNARD) MILLER) left Dallas at 12:30 a.m. Sunday (i.e., December 11, 1921), accompanied by Dr. M.E. Lott, surgeon; Mrs. Cecil Garrard and Ampere (i.e., Amp Warden MILLER I) and Herman Miller, two brothers. They went to Corsicana by interurban and from Corsicana to Wortham by auto. They arrived just in time to place the wounded men on a train coming to Dallas. The men were placed on cots in the baggage car. They had been attended in Wortham by Drs. Horn, Sneed, Wade, and Hartley. / BOTH WELL KNOWN / BOTH WELL KNOWN / Both men were well known in Dallas. F.F. MILLER was 36 years old. He leaves his wife (i.e., Zula May (KINNARD) MILLER) and two boys, Fox MILLER Jr. (sic; should be Fox MILLER, III), 7 years old and Kinnard MILLER, 4 years old. / Elliott MILLER was 34 years old and was single. / Surviving are their four brothers, Sam (i.e., Samuel Graham MILLER), Herman (i.e., Herman Harle MILLER), and Ampere (i.e., Amp Warden MILLER I) of Dallas and John MILLER (i.e., John Vance MILLER, Sr.) of Portales, N.M.; two sisters Miss Tula MILLER of Chicago and Mrs. Nellie NICHOLS (i.e., Nettie (MILLER) NICHOLS), and their father Fox MILLER (i.e., Fountain Fox MILLER, I) of Frederick, OK. / They were both members of the East Dallas Christian Church and F.F. MILLER was a deacon. / DOUBLE FUNERAL TODAY / A double funeral will be held today (i.e., December 13, 1921) at 4 p.m. at the family residence, 6121 Bryan Parkway. F.F. MILLER will be buried at Grove Hill Cemetery. The body of Elliott MILLER will be sent to Frederick, Ok., by Ed C. Smith Undertaking Company, to be buried by the side of his mother. / Both men were engaged in the real estate and building business in Dallas and were partners in a farm south of the city. / They had oil interests in Wortham and were in that city Saturday (i.e., December 10, 1921) to attend to business regarding a mineral lease which they had on land owned by Carter SESSIONS, a farmer living in Kirvin, near Wortham, and who had filed suit to cancel the lease. / TAKEN INTO CUSTODY / Following the shooting Mr. SESSIONS was taken into custody by City Marshal J.V. Lee and later delivered to H.M. Mayo, Sheriff of Freestone County, who took him to Fairfield and placed him in the county jail."
ARTICLE 2 - DALLAS MORNING NEWS – December 15, 1921: (NOTE: This article, from the Dallas Morning News of December 15, 1921, describes the death of Fountain Fox MILLER I on December 14, 1921, the day after the second of his 2 boys was buried in the previous 2 days.) "FATHER OF MILLER BROTHERS IS DEAD / SUCCUMBS TO HEART FAILURE ON FARM AFTER BURIAL OF SLAIN SON / Special to the News / Frederick, Ok. Dec. 14 -- F.F. MILLER (i.e., Fountain Fox MILLER I), father of the two MILLER boys of Dallas, F.F. MILLER, Jr. (i.e., Fountain Fox MILLER, II) and Elliott MILLER (i.e., Milton Elliott MILLER), who were fatally shot while at Wortham (i.e., Wortham, Freestone County, Texas) last Saturday (i.e., December 10, 1921), dropped dead while at his early morning duties in the barn at his farm four miles west of this city (i.e., Frederick) this morning about 6 o'clock. He had been suffering from heart trouble for several years, but the immediate cause of his death is ascribed to grief. He was much overcome at the burial service of his son Elliott, whose body was brought here from Dallas Tuesday. Tuesday / Mr. MILLER was 71 years old and had been a Mason for fifty years, a member of the Christian Church, and one of the most prominent and respected farmers in this community. His wife (i.e., Florence (WARDEN) MILLER) died six years ago (i.e., September 12, 1915). He is survived by four sons (i.e., Samuel Graham MILLER, John Vance MILLER, sr., Herman Harle MILLER, and Amp Warden MILLER) and two daughters (i.e., Tula MILLER and Nettie (Mrs. John) (MILLER) NICHOLS). His son Sam lived on the farm with him and was about the place at the time of his father's death. / The funeral will be held Friday (i.e., December 16, 1921) under the auspices of the Masons. (NOTE: The following, seemingly totally unrelated, additional text appears as the next paragraph at the end of the article: "The State rested this afternoon and the defense began the introduction of testimony. Confessions alleged to have been made by Mrs. Keyes to her uncle W.T. Aven, were admitted in evidence. It is expected that Sheriff Bob Buchanan will be called to the stand tomorrow morning."
I located a wedsite: http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jwheat/1921.html which had a compilation of "Important Happenings in Dallas During Year 1921." The entry for December 11 of that year included the following brief statement: "File murder charge against Carter Sessions of Freestone county for killing F. F. Miller of Dallas."
I subsequently began some looking for any follow-up regarding a trial for the "alleged" murderer, Carter A. SESSIONS, who shot Fountain Fox MILLER II and his brother Elliott MILLER. Following extensive searching, I found the following small article on page 2 of the March 6, 1922 issue of The Mexia (Texas) Evening News: "SECOND SESSION TRIAL ENDS IN ACQUITTAL" In the trial of Carter SESSIONS and son, Jim SESSIONS (i.e., James Rogers SESSIONS, Sr.), for killing Elliott MILLER (i.e., Milton Elliott MILLER, son of Fountain Fox MILLER, I) of Dallas, both were acquitted Friday morning by an instructed vertict (sic) at the request of the District Attorney. // In the first trial for the the (sic) murder of F. F. MILLER (i.e., Fountain Fox MILLER, II) of Dallas, who was wounded at the same time his brother was fatally shot, SESSIONS and his son were acquitted by the jury after a deliberation of forty minutes. -- Wortham Journal"
Of course, it is now 82 years after the fact and obviously I am biased toward a decision in favor of my family, BUT it seems very strange that a man who murdered two brothers during a meeting in his hometown in the office of his attorney and was "acquitted by the jury after a deliberation of forty minutes" in the first trial and was "acquitted … by an instructed vertict (sic) at the request of the District Attorney" in the other trial received as VERY SIGNIFICANT benefit in having both trials take place in his own hometown.
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COMMENTS FROM THE GREAT, GRANDSON OF FOUNTAIN FOX MILLER I REGARDING THE PROBABLE ORIGIN OF HIS GIVEN NAMES AS WELL AS THOSE OF HIS SON (FOUNTAIN FOX MILLER II) AND GRANDSON (FOUNTAIN FOX MILLER III):
I have wondered since I began pursuing genealogy as a hobby in April 1974 about the origin of my great, grandfather's given names. This is more particularly meaningful for me because my father was Fountain Fox Miller III. I had previously discovered others among my distant relatives in the Wayne County, Kentucky area with the same names, e.g., Fountain Fox Cooper and at least one other whom I don't recall at present. I had heard suggestions that it may have come from a political cartoonist named Fontaine Fox who lived about that time. I think I've tried to find out more in the past but had no luck. Of course, such research was extremely difficult in the pre-Internet days.
On May 15, 2014, I was reading an article about the death of Mickey Rooney in the Irish Central e-newsletter. It included the comment: "Fontaine Fox had placed a newspaper ad for a dark-haired child to play the role of "Mickey McGuire" in a series of short films." That reference to Fontaine Fox re-triggered my interest in trying to find out the origin of my great, grandfather's given names (as well as the names of my grandfather and father). I was fairly sure offhand that the cartoonist probably had not have been born early enough to have become prominent enough for my great, great, grandparents to have named their child after him in 1850.
After a little further searching via Google, I saw a reference to the cartoonist being Fontaine Fox Jr., so I figured I'd try to find out about his father. I realized that I had not tried Find-A-Grave in researching this. I think almost all of my prior efforts had involved searching for the name as my family spelled it, i.e., Fountain Fox. When I tried Fontaine Fox in Find-A-Grave, I hit the jackpot. I found (1) Judge Fontaine Talbot Fox (born 1803), (2) Fontaine T. Fox Sr (born 1836; he should actually be Jr, because he is the son of Judge Fontaine Talbot Fox); (3) Fontaine Talbot Fox (born 1884; he is the son of FTF, Jr. and so was FTF, III); and (4) Fountaine D. Fox (born 1892; I'm not exactly sure where he might come in as yet). I also found 6 individuals searching for Fountain Fox. One of the searches was for Fountaine T. Fox (born 1857).
I concentrated on the Fontaine Foxes I had found. I noted that three of the four were from within a 2 or 3 county area of Kentucky just north of Wayne County where my great, grandfather was from. Since my GGF was born in 1850, I discarded the 2 Fontaine Foxes born in 1884 and 1836. I then was left with the one born in 1803. When I opened his Find-A-Grave Memorial (# 42143819) and found a very extensive write up about his life as a prominent jurist and leader, I knew that I had found the individual who was most likely the person after whom my GGF, GF, and father were named. I felt as if a long-standing mystery had been solved.
I assumed that there was not any potential for an actual relationship connection to my own family, but for interest sake I researched the FOX family a little more, I soon found a familiar surname when I located the wife of William Montgomery Fox. This was Sophronia M. Coffey. I knew there were a lot of Coffeys among my family's Wayne County, Kentucky relations. I then read in Sophronia's FAG Memorial bio that her father Jesse Moore Coffey was from Wayne County, Kentucky. From there it took only a few more steps before I was able to merge the FOX Family Tree into my main genealogy database. Granted the connection is fairly distant, but it is there nonetheless.
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NOTE: This memorial was created for my great, grandfather.
Fountain Fox married Florence WARDEN (7/9/1854-9/12/1915) on May 17, 1877 In Monticello, Wayne, Kentucky. Their 8 children, all born in Kentucky, in order of their birth were: Samuel Graham (1878-1969)(FAG Memorial #114457866), John Vance (1880-1965)(FAG Memorial #164138788), Nettie (1882-1973), Fountain Fox II (1884-1921), Herman Harle (1886-1949), Milton Elliot (1890-1921), Amp Warden (1893-1982), and Tula MILLER (1895-?).
Two of his sons, i.e., Fountain Fox and Milton Elliot MILLER were shot on December 10, 1921 at Wortham, Freestone, Texas during a real estate dispute. They were transported to a Dallas, Texas hospital where Fountain Fox died on 12/11/1921 and Milton Elliot died on 12/12/1921. Fountain Fox MILLER, II was buried at Grove Hill Cemetery in Dallas, but Milton Elliot was transported for burial at Frederick Memorial Cemetery at Frederick, Tillman, Oklahoma. During the burial service on December 15, 1921 when the elder Fountain Fox MILLER was watching the second of 2 of his sons buried in the previous 3 days as a result of murder, he had a heart attack and died there. He is also buried at Frederick Memorial Cemetery. This was a very sad week for his family.
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COMMENTS FROM THE GREAT, GRANDSON OF FOUNTAIN FOX MILLER I REGARDING HIS DEATH:
I had always understood that Milton Elliott MILLER (my great uncle) and his brother Fountain Fox MILLER II (my grandfather) were both shot (or otherwise grievously injured) on 11 December 1921 in a real estate dispute in Wortham, Freestone County, Texas. My grandfather died that day in Wortham and his brother Elliott died the next day after having been transported to Dallas for treatment. Elliott's body was then transported for burial in Frederick, Tillman County, Oklahoma. During the funeral service or at the actual burial on or about 14 December 1921, their father Fountain Fox MILLER I (my great, grandfather) had a heart attack died there.
On 03/02/2013 during a Google Search through The Dallas Morning News archives for Fox Miller, I found reference to the following two articles: (1) Dallas Morning News - December 15, 1921 "Three Members of Fox MILLER Family Died within Five Days"; and (2) Dallas Morning News - December 15, 1921 "Father of MILLER Brothers is Dead."
Using these references a search of The Historical Dallas Morning News these two articles were not only located, but I was MOST DELIGHTED to find that they included a picture of my father Fountain Fox MILLER III, my grandfather Fountain Fox MILLER II, and my great, grandfather Fountain Fox MILLER I. The test of the articles is as follows:
ARTICLE 1 - DALLAS MORNING NEWS – December 15, 1921: DALLAS MEN, BROTHERS, DIE AFTER BEING SHOT IN OFFICE AT WORTHAM" (i.e., Wortham, Freestone County, Texas) -- Elliott MILLER and F.F. (Fox) MILLER, brothers, 6121 Bryan Parkway, died early Sunday (i.e., December 11, 1921) morning as a result of pistol shot wounds which they received while in the law office of Bryant & Ricker, in the First State Bank Building of Wortham (I.e., Wortham, Freestone County, Texas) at 6 p.m. Saturday (i.e., December 10, 1921). / Elliott MILLER died between Wortham and Corsicana while en route to Dalls on a train and F.F. MILLER died about one hour after arriving at a Dallas hospital. / Elliott was shot once through the head and his brother was shot twice, also in the head. / WIFE RUSHES TO SCENE -- Mrs. F.F. MILLER (i.e., Zula May (KINNARD) MILLER) left Dallas at 12:30 a.m. Sunday (i.e., December 11, 1921), accompanied by Dr. M.E. Lott, surgeon; Mrs. Cecil Garrard and Ampere (i.e., Amp Warden MILLER I) and Herman Miller, two brothers. They went to Corsicana by interurban and from Corsicana to Wortham by auto. They arrived just in time to place the wounded men on a train coming to Dallas. The men were placed on cots in the baggage car. They had been attended in Wortham by Drs. Horn, Sneed, Wade, and Hartley. / BOTH WELL KNOWN / BOTH WELL KNOWN / Both men were well known in Dallas. F.F. MILLER was 36 years old. He leaves his wife (i.e., Zula May (KINNARD) MILLER) and two boys, Fox MILLER Jr. (sic; should be Fox MILLER, III), 7 years old and Kinnard MILLER, 4 years old. / Elliott MILLER was 34 years old and was single. / Surviving are their four brothers, Sam (i.e., Samuel Graham MILLER), Herman (i.e., Herman Harle MILLER), and Ampere (i.e., Amp Warden MILLER I) of Dallas and John MILLER (i.e., John Vance MILLER, Sr.) of Portales, N.M.; two sisters Miss Tula MILLER of Chicago and Mrs. Nellie NICHOLS (i.e., Nettie (MILLER) NICHOLS), and their father Fox MILLER (i.e., Fountain Fox MILLER, I) of Frederick, OK. / They were both members of the East Dallas Christian Church and F.F. MILLER was a deacon. / DOUBLE FUNERAL TODAY / A double funeral will be held today (i.e., December 13, 1921) at 4 p.m. at the family residence, 6121 Bryan Parkway. F.F. MILLER will be buried at Grove Hill Cemetery. The body of Elliott MILLER will be sent to Frederick, Ok., by Ed C. Smith Undertaking Company, to be buried by the side of his mother. / Both men were engaged in the real estate and building business in Dallas and were partners in a farm south of the city. / They had oil interests in Wortham and were in that city Saturday (i.e., December 10, 1921) to attend to business regarding a mineral lease which they had on land owned by Carter SESSIONS, a farmer living in Kirvin, near Wortham, and who had filed suit to cancel the lease. / TAKEN INTO CUSTODY / Following the shooting Mr. SESSIONS was taken into custody by City Marshal J.V. Lee and later delivered to H.M. Mayo, Sheriff of Freestone County, who took him to Fairfield and placed him in the county jail."
ARTICLE 2 - DALLAS MORNING NEWS – December 15, 1921: (NOTE: This article, from the Dallas Morning News of December 15, 1921, describes the death of Fountain Fox MILLER I on December 14, 1921, the day after the second of his 2 boys was buried in the previous 2 days.) "FATHER OF MILLER BROTHERS IS DEAD / SUCCUMBS TO HEART FAILURE ON FARM AFTER BURIAL OF SLAIN SON / Special to the News / Frederick, Ok. Dec. 14 -- F.F. MILLER (i.e., Fountain Fox MILLER I), father of the two MILLER boys of Dallas, F.F. MILLER, Jr. (i.e., Fountain Fox MILLER, II) and Elliott MILLER (i.e., Milton Elliott MILLER), who were fatally shot while at Wortham (i.e., Wortham, Freestone County, Texas) last Saturday (i.e., December 10, 1921), dropped dead while at his early morning duties in the barn at his farm four miles west of this city (i.e., Frederick) this morning about 6 o'clock. He had been suffering from heart trouble for several years, but the immediate cause of his death is ascribed to grief. He was much overcome at the burial service of his son Elliott, whose body was brought here from Dallas Tuesday. Tuesday / Mr. MILLER was 71 years old and had been a Mason for fifty years, a member of the Christian Church, and one of the most prominent and respected farmers in this community. His wife (i.e., Florence (WARDEN) MILLER) died six years ago (i.e., September 12, 1915). He is survived by four sons (i.e., Samuel Graham MILLER, John Vance MILLER, sr., Herman Harle MILLER, and Amp Warden MILLER) and two daughters (i.e., Tula MILLER and Nettie (Mrs. John) (MILLER) NICHOLS). His son Sam lived on the farm with him and was about the place at the time of his father's death. / The funeral will be held Friday (i.e., December 16, 1921) under the auspices of the Masons. (NOTE: The following, seemingly totally unrelated, additional text appears as the next paragraph at the end of the article: "The State rested this afternoon and the defense began the introduction of testimony. Confessions alleged to have been made by Mrs. Keyes to her uncle W.T. Aven, were admitted in evidence. It is expected that Sheriff Bob Buchanan will be called to the stand tomorrow morning."
I located a wedsite: http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jwheat/1921.html which had a compilation of "Important Happenings in Dallas During Year 1921." The entry for December 11 of that year included the following brief statement: "File murder charge against Carter Sessions of Freestone county for killing F. F. Miller of Dallas."
I subsequently began some looking for any follow-up regarding a trial for the "alleged" murderer, Carter A. SESSIONS, who shot Fountain Fox MILLER II and his brother Elliott MILLER. Following extensive searching, I found the following small article on page 2 of the March 6, 1922 issue of The Mexia (Texas) Evening News: "SECOND SESSION TRIAL ENDS IN ACQUITTAL" In the trial of Carter SESSIONS and son, Jim SESSIONS (i.e., James Rogers SESSIONS, Sr.), for killing Elliott MILLER (i.e., Milton Elliott MILLER, son of Fountain Fox MILLER, I) of Dallas, both were acquitted Friday morning by an instructed vertict (sic) at the request of the District Attorney. // In the first trial for the the (sic) murder of F. F. MILLER (i.e., Fountain Fox MILLER, II) of Dallas, who was wounded at the same time his brother was fatally shot, SESSIONS and his son were acquitted by the jury after a deliberation of forty minutes. -- Wortham Journal"
Of course, it is now 82 years after the fact and obviously I am biased toward a decision in favor of my family, BUT it seems very strange that a man who murdered two brothers during a meeting in his hometown in the office of his attorney and was "acquitted by the jury after a deliberation of forty minutes" in the first trial and was "acquitted … by an instructed vertict (sic) at the request of the District Attorney" in the other trial received as VERY SIGNIFICANT benefit in having both trials take place in his own hometown.
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COMMENTS FROM THE GREAT, GRANDSON OF FOUNTAIN FOX MILLER I REGARDING THE PROBABLE ORIGIN OF HIS GIVEN NAMES AS WELL AS THOSE OF HIS SON (FOUNTAIN FOX MILLER II) AND GRANDSON (FOUNTAIN FOX MILLER III):
I have wondered since I began pursuing genealogy as a hobby in April 1974 about the origin of my great, grandfather's given names. This is more particularly meaningful for me because my father was Fountain Fox Miller III. I had previously discovered others among my distant relatives in the Wayne County, Kentucky area with the same names, e.g., Fountain Fox Cooper and at least one other whom I don't recall at present. I had heard suggestions that it may have come from a political cartoonist named Fontaine Fox who lived about that time. I think I've tried to find out more in the past but had no luck. Of course, such research was extremely difficult in the pre-Internet days.
On May 15, 2014, I was reading an article about the death of Mickey Rooney in the Irish Central e-newsletter. It included the comment: "Fontaine Fox had placed a newspaper ad for a dark-haired child to play the role of "Mickey McGuire" in a series of short films." That reference to Fontaine Fox re-triggered my interest in trying to find out the origin of my great, grandfather's given names (as well as the names of my grandfather and father). I was fairly sure offhand that the cartoonist probably had not have been born early enough to have become prominent enough for my great, great, grandparents to have named their child after him in 1850.
After a little further searching via Google, I saw a reference to the cartoonist being Fontaine Fox Jr., so I figured I'd try to find out about his father. I realized that I had not tried Find-A-Grave in researching this. I think almost all of my prior efforts had involved searching for the name as my family spelled it, i.e., Fountain Fox. When I tried Fontaine Fox in Find-A-Grave, I hit the jackpot. I found (1) Judge Fontaine Talbot Fox (born 1803), (2) Fontaine T. Fox Sr (born 1836; he should actually be Jr, because he is the son of Judge Fontaine Talbot Fox); (3) Fontaine Talbot Fox (born 1884; he is the son of FTF, Jr. and so was FTF, III); and (4) Fountaine D. Fox (born 1892; I'm not exactly sure where he might come in as yet). I also found 6 individuals searching for Fountain Fox. One of the searches was for Fountaine T. Fox (born 1857).
I concentrated on the Fontaine Foxes I had found. I noted that three of the four were from within a 2 or 3 county area of Kentucky just north of Wayne County where my great, grandfather was from. Since my GGF was born in 1850, I discarded the 2 Fontaine Foxes born in 1884 and 1836. I then was left with the one born in 1803. When I opened his Find-A-Grave Memorial (# 42143819) and found a very extensive write up about his life as a prominent jurist and leader, I knew that I had found the individual who was most likely the person after whom my GGF, GF, and father were named. I felt as if a long-standing mystery had been solved.
I assumed that there was not any potential for an actual relationship connection to my own family, but for interest sake I researched the FOX family a little more, I soon found a familiar surname when I located the wife of William Montgomery Fox. This was Sophronia M. Coffey. I knew there were a lot of Coffeys among my family's Wayne County, Kentucky relations. I then read in Sophronia's FAG Memorial bio that her father Jesse Moore Coffey was from Wayne County, Kentucky. From there it took only a few more steps before I was able to merge the FOX Family Tree into my main genealogy database. Granted the connection is fairly distant, but it is there nonetheless.
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NOTE: This memorial was created for my great, grandfather.
Fountain Fox MILLER, I was born in Monticello, Wayne, Kentucky on November 7, 1850 as the 11th child of Absalom and Hannah (BARTLESON) MILLER's 11 children. His siblings, including himself, numbered 4 girls and 7 boys with dates of birth between 1835 & 1850. Their names were, in order of birth: Peggy, Nancy, Louisa Jane, unknown female, unknown male, Alexander Pearson, William, John Marion, Armstead, Marion, & Fountain Fox MILLER. [NOTE: The 2 unknown children, most likely twins, were both born and died in 1841.]
Fountain Fox married Florence WARDEN (7/9/1854-9/12/1915) on May 17, 1877 In Monticello, Wayne, Kentucky. Their 8 children, all born in Kentucky, in order of their birth were: Samuel Graham (1878-1969)(FAG Memorial #114457866), John Vance (1880-1965)(FAG Memorial #164138788), Nettie (1882-1973), Fountain Fox II (1884-1921), Herman Harle (1886-1949), Milton Elliot (1890-1921), Amp Warden (1893-1982), and Tula MILLER (1895-?).
Two of his sons, i.e., Fountain Fox and Milton Elliot MILLER were shot on December 10, 1921 at Wortham, Freestone, Texas during a real estate dispute. They were transported to a Dallas, Texas hospital where Fountain Fox died on 12/11/1921 and Milton Elliot died on 12/12/1921. Fountain Fox MILLER, II was buried at Grove Hill Cemetery in Dallas, but Milton Elliot was transported for burial at Frederick Memorial Cemetery at Frederick, Tillman, Oklahoma. During the burial service on December 15, 1921 when the elder Fountain Fox MILLER was watching the second of 2 of his sons buried in the previous 3 days as a result of murder, he had a heart attack and died there. He is also buried at Frederick Memorial Cemetery. This was a very sad week for his family.
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COMMENTS FROM THE GREAT, GRANDSON OF FOUNTAIN FOX MILLER I REGARDING HIS DEATH:
I had always understood that Milton Elliott MILLER (my great uncle) and his brother Fountain Fox MILLER II (my grandfather) were both shot (or otherwise grievously injured) on 11 December 1921 in a real estate dispute in Wortham, Freestone County, Texas. My grandfather died that day in Wortham and his brother Elliott died the next day after having been transported to Dallas for treatment. Elliott's body was then transported for burial in Frederick, Tillman County, Oklahoma. During the funeral service or at the actual burial on or about 14 December 1921, their father Fountain Fox MILLER I (my great, grandfather) had a heart attack died there.
On 03/02/2013 during a Google Search through The Dallas Morning News archives for Fox Miller, I found reference to the following two articles: (1) Dallas Morning News - December 15, 1921 "Three Members of Fox MILLER Family Died within Five Days"; and (2) Dallas Morning News - December 15, 1921 "Father of MILLER Brothers is Dead."
Using these references a search of The Historical Dallas Morning News these two articles were not only located, but I was MOST DELIGHTED to find that they included a picture of my father Fountain Fox MILLER III, my grandfather Fountain Fox MILLER II, and my great, grandfather Fountain Fox MILLER I. The test of the articles is as follows:
ARTICLE 1 - DALLAS MORNING NEWS – December 15, 1921: DALLAS MEN, BROTHERS, DIE AFTER BEING SHOT IN OFFICE AT WORTHAM" (i.e., Wortham, Freestone County, Texas) -- Elliott MILLER and F.F. (Fox) MILLER, brothers, 6121 Bryan Parkway, died early Sunday (i.e., December 11, 1921) morning as a result of pistol shot wounds which they received while in the law office of Bryant & Ricker, in the First State Bank Building of Wortham (I.e., Wortham, Freestone County, Texas) at 6 p.m. Saturday (i.e., December 10, 1921). / Elliott MILLER died between Wortham and Corsicana while en route to Dalls on a train and F.F. MILLER died about one hour after arriving at a Dallas hospital. / Elliott was shot once through the head and his brother was shot twice, also in the head. / WIFE RUSHES TO SCENE -- Mrs. F.F. MILLER (i.e., Zula May (KINNARD) MILLER) left Dallas at 12:30 a.m. Sunday (i.e., December 11, 1921), accompanied by Dr. M.E. Lott, surgeon; Mrs. Cecil Garrard and Ampere (i.e., Amp Warden MILLER I) and Herman Miller, two brothers. They went to Corsicana by interurban and from Corsicana to Wortham by auto. They arrived just in time to place the wounded men on a train coming to Dallas. The men were placed on cots in the baggage car. They had been attended in Wortham by Drs. Horn, Sneed, Wade, and Hartley. / BOTH WELL KNOWN / BOTH WELL KNOWN / Both men were well known in Dallas. F.F. MILLER was 36 years old. He leaves his wife (i.e., Zula May (KINNARD) MILLER) and two boys, Fox MILLER Jr. (sic; should be Fox MILLER, III), 7 years old and Kinnard MILLER, 4 years old. / Elliott MILLER was 34 years old and was single. / Surviving are their four brothers, Sam (i.e., Samuel Graham MILLER), Herman (i.e., Herman Harle MILLER), and Ampere (i.e., Amp Warden MILLER I) of Dallas and John MILLER (i.e., John Vance MILLER, Sr.) of Portales, N.M.; two sisters Miss Tula MILLER of Chicago and Mrs. Nellie NICHOLS (i.e., Nettie (MILLER) NICHOLS), and their father Fox MILLER (i.e., Fountain Fox MILLER, I) of Frederick, OK. / They were both members of the East Dallas Christian Church and F.F. MILLER was a deacon. / DOUBLE FUNERAL TODAY / A double funeral will be held today (i.e., December 13, 1921) at 4 p.m. at the family residence, 6121 Bryan Parkway. F.F. MILLER will be buried at Grove Hill Cemetery. The body of Elliott MILLER will be sent to Frederick, Ok., by Ed C. Smith Undertaking Company, to be buried by the side of his mother. / Both men were engaged in the real estate and building business in Dallas and were partners in a farm south of the city. / They had oil interests in Wortham and were in that city Saturday (i.e., December 10, 1921) to attend to business regarding a mineral lease which they had on land owned by Carter SESSIONS, a farmer living in Kirvin, near Wortham, and who had filed suit to cancel the lease. / TAKEN INTO CUSTODY / Following the shooting Mr. SESSIONS was taken into custody by City Marshal J.V. Lee and later delivered to H.M. Mayo, Sheriff of Freestone County, who took him to Fairfield and placed him in the county jail."
ARTICLE 2 - DALLAS MORNING NEWS – December 15, 1921: (NOTE: This article, from the Dallas Morning News of December 15, 1921, describes the death of Fountain Fox MILLER I on December 14, 1921, the day after the second of his 2 boys was buried in the previous 2 days.) "FATHER OF MILLER BROTHERS IS DEAD / SUCCUMBS TO HEART FAILURE ON FARM AFTER BURIAL OF SLAIN SON / Special to the News / Frederick, Ok. Dec. 14 -- F.F. MILLER (i.e., Fountain Fox MILLER I), father of the two MILLER boys of Dallas, F.F. MILLER, Jr. (i.e., Fountain Fox MILLER, II) and Elliott MILLER (i.e., Milton Elliott MILLER), who were fatally shot while at Wortham (i.e., Wortham, Freestone County, Texas) last Saturday (i.e., December 10, 1921), dropped dead while at his early morning duties in the barn at his farm four miles west of this city (i.e., Frederick) this morning about 6 o'clock. He had been suffering from heart trouble for several years, but the immediate cause of his death is ascribed to grief. He was much overcome at the burial service of his son Elliott, whose body was brought here from Dallas Tuesday. Tuesday / Mr. MILLER was 71 years old and had been a Mason for fifty years, a member of the Christian Church, and one of the most prominent and respected farmers in this community. His wife (i.e., Florence (WARDEN) MILLER) died six years ago (i.e., September 12, 1915). He is survived by four sons (i.e., Samuel Graham MILLER, John Vance MILLER, sr., Herman Harle MILLER, and Amp Warden MILLER) and two daughters (i.e., Tula MILLER and Nettie (Mrs. John) (MILLER) NICHOLS). His son Sam lived on the farm with him and was about the place at the time of his father's death. / The funeral will be held Friday (i.e., December 16, 1921) under the auspices of the Masons. (NOTE: The following, seemingly totally unrelated, additional text appears as the next paragraph at the end of the article: "The State rested this afternoon and the defense began the introduction of testimony. Confessions alleged to have been made by Mrs. Keyes to her uncle W.T. Aven, were admitted in evidence. It is expected that Sheriff Bob Buchanan will be called to the stand tomorrow morning."
I located a wedsite: http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jwheat/1921.html which had a compilation of "Important Happenings in Dallas During Year 1921." The entry for December 11 of that year included the following brief statement: "File murder charge against Carter Sessions of Freestone county for killing F. F. Miller of Dallas."
I subsequently began some looking for any follow-up regarding a trial for the "alleged" murderer, Carter A. SESSIONS, who shot Fountain Fox MILLER II and his brother Elliott MILLER. Following extensive searching, I found the following small article on page 2 of the March 6, 1922 issue of The Mexia (Texas) Evening News: "SECOND SESSION TRIAL ENDS IN ACQUITTAL" In the trial of Carter SESSIONS and son, Jim SESSIONS (i.e., James Rogers SESSIONS, Sr.), for killing Elliott MILLER (i.e., Milton Elliott MILLER, son of Fountain Fox MILLER, I) of Dallas, both were acquitted Friday morning by an instructed vertict (sic) at the request of the District Attorney. // In the first trial for the the (sic) murder of F. F. MILLER (i.e., Fountain Fox MILLER, II) of Dallas, who was wounded at the same time his brother was fatally shot, SESSIONS and his son were acquitted by the jury after a deliberation of forty minutes. -- Wortham Journal"
Of course, it is now 82 years after the fact and obviously I am biased toward a decision in favor of my family, BUT it seems very strange that a man who murdered two brothers during a meeting in his hometown in the office of his attorney and was "acquitted by the jury after a deliberation of forty minutes" in the first trial and was "acquitted … by an instructed vertict (sic) at the request of the District Attorney" in the other trial received as VERY SIGNIFICANT benefit in having both trials take place in his own hometown.
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COMMENTS FROM THE GREAT, GRANDSON OF FOUNTAIN FOX MILLER I REGARDING THE PROBABLE ORIGIN OF HIS GIVEN NAMES AS WELL AS THOSE OF HIS SON (FOUNTAIN FOX MILLER II) AND GRANDSON (FOUNTAIN FOX MILLER III):
I have wondered since I began pursuing genealogy as a hobby in April 1974 about the origin of my great, grandfather's given names. This is more particularly meaningful for me because my father was Fountain Fox Miller III. I had previously discovered others among my distant relatives in the Wayne County, Kentucky area with the same names, e.g., Fountain Fox Cooper and at least one other whom I don't recall at present. I had heard suggestions that it may have come from a political cartoonist named Fontaine Fox who lived about that time. I think I've tried to find out more in the past but had no luck. Of course, such research was extremely difficult in the pre-Internet days.
On May 15, 2014, I was reading an article about the death of Mickey Rooney in the Irish Central e-newsletter. It included the comment: "Fontaine Fox had placed a newspaper ad for a dark-haired child to play the role of "Mickey McGuire" in a series of short films." That reference to Fontaine Fox re-triggered my interest in trying to find out the origin of my great, grandfather's given names (as well as the names of my grandfather and father). I was fairly sure offhand that the cartoonist probably had not have been born early enough to have become prominent enough for my great, great, grandparents to have named their child after him in 1850.
After a little further searching via Google, I saw a reference to the cartoonist being Fontaine Fox Jr., so I figured I'd try to find out about his father. I realized that I had not tried Find-A-Grave in researching this. I think almost all of my prior efforts had involved searching for the name as my family spelled it, i.e., Fountain Fox. When I tried Fontaine Fox in Find-A-Grave, I hit the jackpot. I found (1) Judge Fontaine Talbot Fox (born 1803), (2) Fontaine T. Fox Sr (born 1836; he should actually be Jr, because he is the son of Judge Fontaine Talbot Fox); (3) Fontaine Talbot Fox (born 1884; he is the son of FTF, Jr. and so was FTF, III); and (4) Fountaine D. Fox (born 1892; I'm not exactly sure where he might come in as yet). I also found 6 individuals searching for Fountain Fox. One of the searches was for Fountaine T. Fox (born 1857).
I concentrated on the Fontaine Foxes I had found. I noted that three of the four were from within a 2 or 3 county area of Kentucky just north of Wayne County where my great, grandfather was from. Since my GGF was born in 1850, I discarded the 2 Fontaine Foxes born in 1884 and 1836. I then was left with the one born in 1803. When I opened his Find-A-Grave Memorial (# 42143819) and found a very extensive write up about his life as a prominent jurist and leader, I knew that I had found the individual who was most likely the person after whom my GGF, GF, and father were named. I felt as if a long-standing mystery had been solved.
I assumed that there was not any potential for an actual relationship connection to my own family, but for interest sake I researched the FOX family a little more, I soon found a familiar surname when I located the wife of William Montgomery Fox. This was Sophronia M. Coffey. I knew there were a lot of Coffeys among my family's Wayne County, Kentucky relations. I then read in Sophronia's FAG Memorial bio that her father Jesse Moore Coffey was from Wayne County, Kentucky. From there it took only a few more steps before I was able to merge the FOX Family Tree into my main genealogy database. Granted the connection is fairly distant, but it is there nonetheless.
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NOTE: This memorial was created for my great, grandfather.
Fountain Fox married Florence WARDEN (7/9/1854-9/12/1915) on May 17, 1877 In Monticello, Wayne, Kentucky. Their 8 children, all born in Kentucky, in order of their birth were: Samuel Graham (1878-1969)(FAG Memorial #114457866), John Vance (1880-1965)(FAG Memorial #164138788), Nettie (1882-1973), Fountain Fox II (1884-1921), Herman Harle (1886-1949), Milton Elliot (1890-1921), Amp Warden (1893-1982), and Tula MILLER (1895-?).
Two of his sons, i.e., Fountain Fox and Milton Elliot MILLER were shot on December 10, 1921 at Wortham, Freestone, Texas during a real estate dispute. They were transported to a Dallas, Texas hospital where Fountain Fox died on 12/11/1921 and Milton Elliot died on 12/12/1921. Fountain Fox MILLER, II was buried at Grove Hill Cemetery in Dallas, but Milton Elliot was transported for burial at Frederick Memorial Cemetery at Frederick, Tillman, Oklahoma. During the burial service on December 15, 1921 when the elder Fountain Fox MILLER was watching the second of 2 of his sons buried in the previous 3 days as a result of murder, he had a heart attack and died there. He is also buried at Frederick Memorial Cemetery. This was a very sad week for his family.
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COMMENTS FROM THE GREAT, GRANDSON OF FOUNTAIN FOX MILLER I REGARDING HIS DEATH:
I had always understood that Milton Elliott MILLER (my great uncle) and his brother Fountain Fox MILLER II (my grandfather) were both shot (or otherwise grievously injured) on 11 December 1921 in a real estate dispute in Wortham, Freestone County, Texas. My grandfather died that day in Wortham and his brother Elliott died the next day after having been transported to Dallas for treatment. Elliott's body was then transported for burial in Frederick, Tillman County, Oklahoma. During the funeral service or at the actual burial on or about 14 December 1921, their father Fountain Fox MILLER I (my great, grandfather) had a heart attack died there.
On 03/02/2013 during a Google Search through The Dallas Morning News archives for Fox Miller, I found reference to the following two articles: (1) Dallas Morning News - December 15, 1921 "Three Members of Fox MILLER Family Died within Five Days"; and (2) Dallas Morning News - December 15, 1921 "Father of MILLER Brothers is Dead."
Using these references a search of The Historical Dallas Morning News these two articles were not only located, but I was MOST DELIGHTED to find that they included a picture of my father Fountain Fox MILLER III, my grandfather Fountain Fox MILLER II, and my great, grandfather Fountain Fox MILLER I. The test of the articles is as follows:
ARTICLE 1 - DALLAS MORNING NEWS – December 15, 1921: DALLAS MEN, BROTHERS, DIE AFTER BEING SHOT IN OFFICE AT WORTHAM" (i.e., Wortham, Freestone County, Texas) -- Elliott MILLER and F.F. (Fox) MILLER, brothers, 6121 Bryan Parkway, died early Sunday (i.e., December 11, 1921) morning as a result of pistol shot wounds which they received while in the law office of Bryant & Ricker, in the First State Bank Building of Wortham (I.e., Wortham, Freestone County, Texas) at 6 p.m. Saturday (i.e., December 10, 1921). / Elliott MILLER died between Wortham and Corsicana while en route to Dalls on a train and F.F. MILLER died about one hour after arriving at a Dallas hospital. / Elliott was shot once through the head and his brother was shot twice, also in the head. / WIFE RUSHES TO SCENE -- Mrs. F.F. MILLER (i.e., Zula May (KINNARD) MILLER) left Dallas at 12:30 a.m. Sunday (i.e., December 11, 1921), accompanied by Dr. M.E. Lott, surgeon; Mrs. Cecil Garrard and Ampere (i.e., Amp Warden MILLER I) and Herman Miller, two brothers. They went to Corsicana by interurban and from Corsicana to Wortham by auto. They arrived just in time to place the wounded men on a train coming to Dallas. The men were placed on cots in the baggage car. They had been attended in Wortham by Drs. Horn, Sneed, Wade, and Hartley. / BOTH WELL KNOWN / BOTH WELL KNOWN / Both men were well known in Dallas. F.F. MILLER was 36 years old. He leaves his wife (i.e., Zula May (KINNARD) MILLER) and two boys, Fox MILLER Jr. (sic; should be Fox MILLER, III), 7 years old and Kinnard MILLER, 4 years old. / Elliott MILLER was 34 years old and was single. / Surviving are their four brothers, Sam (i.e., Samuel Graham MILLER), Herman (i.e., Herman Harle MILLER), and Ampere (i.e., Amp Warden MILLER I) of Dallas and John MILLER (i.e., John Vance MILLER, Sr.) of Portales, N.M.; two sisters Miss Tula MILLER of Chicago and Mrs. Nellie NICHOLS (i.e., Nettie (MILLER) NICHOLS), and their father Fox MILLER (i.e., Fountain Fox MILLER, I) of Frederick, OK. / They were both members of the East Dallas Christian Church and F.F. MILLER was a deacon. / DOUBLE FUNERAL TODAY / A double funeral will be held today (i.e., December 13, 1921) at 4 p.m. at the family residence, 6121 Bryan Parkway. F.F. MILLER will be buried at Grove Hill Cemetery. The body of Elliott MILLER will be sent to Frederick, Ok., by Ed C. Smith Undertaking Company, to be buried by the side of his mother. / Both men were engaged in the real estate and building business in Dallas and were partners in a farm south of the city. / They had oil interests in Wortham and were in that city Saturday (i.e., December 10, 1921) to attend to business regarding a mineral lease which they had on land owned by Carter SESSIONS, a farmer living in Kirvin, near Wortham, and who had filed suit to cancel the lease. / TAKEN INTO CUSTODY / Following the shooting Mr. SESSIONS was taken into custody by City Marshal J.V. Lee and later delivered to H.M. Mayo, Sheriff of Freestone County, who took him to Fairfield and placed him in the county jail."
ARTICLE 2 - DALLAS MORNING NEWS – December 15, 1921: (NOTE: This article, from the Dallas Morning News of December 15, 1921, describes the death of Fountain Fox MILLER I on December 14, 1921, the day after the second of his 2 boys was buried in the previous 2 days.) "FATHER OF MILLER BROTHERS IS DEAD / SUCCUMBS TO HEART FAILURE ON FARM AFTER BURIAL OF SLAIN SON / Special to the News / Frederick, Ok. Dec. 14 -- F.F. MILLER (i.e., Fountain Fox MILLER I), father of the two MILLER boys of Dallas, F.F. MILLER, Jr. (i.e., Fountain Fox MILLER, II) and Elliott MILLER (i.e., Milton Elliott MILLER), who were fatally shot while at Wortham (i.e., Wortham, Freestone County, Texas) last Saturday (i.e., December 10, 1921), dropped dead while at his early morning duties in the barn at his farm four miles west of this city (i.e., Frederick) this morning about 6 o'clock. He had been suffering from heart trouble for several years, but the immediate cause of his death is ascribed to grief. He was much overcome at the burial service of his son Elliott, whose body was brought here from Dallas Tuesday. Tuesday / Mr. MILLER was 71 years old and had been a Mason for fifty years, a member of the Christian Church, and one of the most prominent and respected farmers in this community. His wife (i.e., Florence (WARDEN) MILLER) died six years ago (i.e., September 12, 1915). He is survived by four sons (i.e., Samuel Graham MILLER, John Vance MILLER, sr., Herman Harle MILLER, and Amp Warden MILLER) and two daughters (i.e., Tula MILLER and Nettie (Mrs. John) (MILLER) NICHOLS). His son Sam lived on the farm with him and was about the place at the time of his father's death. / The funeral will be held Friday (i.e., December 16, 1921) under the auspices of the Masons. (NOTE: The following, seemingly totally unrelated, additional text appears as the next paragraph at the end of the article: "The State rested this afternoon and the defense began the introduction of testimony. Confessions alleged to have been made by Mrs. Keyes to her uncle W.T. Aven, were admitted in evidence. It is expected that Sheriff Bob Buchanan will be called to the stand tomorrow morning."
I located a wedsite: http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jwheat/1921.html which had a compilation of "Important Happenings in Dallas During Year 1921." The entry for December 11 of that year included the following brief statement: "File murder charge against Carter Sessions of Freestone county for killing F. F. Miller of Dallas."
I subsequently began some looking for any follow-up regarding a trial for the "alleged" murderer, Carter A. SESSIONS, who shot Fountain Fox MILLER II and his brother Elliott MILLER. Following extensive searching, I found the following small article on page 2 of the March 6, 1922 issue of The Mexia (Texas) Evening News: "SECOND SESSION TRIAL ENDS IN ACQUITTAL" In the trial of Carter SESSIONS and son, Jim SESSIONS (i.e., James Rogers SESSIONS, Sr.), for killing Elliott MILLER (i.e., Milton Elliott MILLER, son of Fountain Fox MILLER, I) of Dallas, both were acquitted Friday morning by an instructed vertict (sic) at the request of the District Attorney. // In the first trial for the the (sic) murder of F. F. MILLER (i.e., Fountain Fox MILLER, II) of Dallas, who was wounded at the same time his brother was fatally shot, SESSIONS and his son were acquitted by the jury after a deliberation of forty minutes. -- Wortham Journal"
Of course, it is now 82 years after the fact and obviously I am biased toward a decision in favor of my family, BUT it seems very strange that a man who murdered two brothers during a meeting in his hometown in the office of his attorney and was "acquitted by the jury after a deliberation of forty minutes" in the first trial and was "acquitted … by an instructed vertict (sic) at the request of the District Attorney" in the other trial received as VERY SIGNIFICANT benefit in having both trials take place in his own hometown.
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COMMENTS FROM THE GREAT, GRANDSON OF FOUNTAIN FOX MILLER I REGARDING THE PROBABLE ORIGIN OF HIS GIVEN NAMES AS WELL AS THOSE OF HIS SON (FOUNTAIN FOX MILLER II) AND GRANDSON (FOUNTAIN FOX MILLER III):
I have wondered since I began pursuing genealogy as a hobby in April 1974 about the origin of my great, grandfather's given names. This is more particularly meaningful for me because my father was Fountain Fox Miller III. I had previously discovered others among my distant relatives in the Wayne County, Kentucky area with the same names, e.g., Fountain Fox Cooper and at least one other whom I don't recall at present. I had heard suggestions that it may have come from a political cartoonist named Fontaine Fox who lived about that time. I think I've tried to find out more in the past but had no luck. Of course, such research was extremely difficult in the pre-Internet days.
On May 15, 2014, I was reading an article about the death of Mickey Rooney in the Irish Central e-newsletter. It included the comment: "Fontaine Fox had placed a newspaper ad for a dark-haired child to play the role of "Mickey McGuire" in a series of short films." That reference to Fontaine Fox re-triggered my interest in trying to find out the origin of my great, grandfather's given names (as well as the names of my grandfather and father). I was fairly sure offhand that the cartoonist probably had not have been born early enough to have become prominent enough for my great, great, grandparents to have named their child after him in 1850.
After a little further searching via Google, I saw a reference to the cartoonist being Fontaine Fox Jr., so I figured I'd try to find out about his father. I realized that I had not tried Find-A-Grave in researching this. I think almost all of my prior efforts had involved searching for the name as my family spelled it, i.e., Fountain Fox. When I tried Fontaine Fox in Find-A-Grave, I hit the jackpot. I found (1) Judge Fontaine Talbot Fox (born 1803), (2) Fontaine T. Fox Sr (born 1836; he should actually be Jr, because he is the son of Judge Fontaine Talbot Fox); (3) Fontaine Talbot Fox (born 1884; he is the son of FTF, Jr. and so was FTF, III); and (4) Fountaine D. Fox (born 1892; I'm not exactly sure where he might come in as yet). I also found 6 individuals searching for Fountain Fox. One of the searches was for Fountaine T. Fox (born 1857).
I concentrated on the Fontaine Foxes I had found. I noted that three of the four were from within a 2 or 3 county area of Kentucky just north of Wayne County where my great, grandfather was from. Since my GGF was born in 1850, I discarded the 2 Fontaine Foxes born in 1884 and 1836. I then was left with the one born in 1803. When I opened his Find-A-Grave Memorial (# 42143819) and found a very extensive write up about his life as a prominent jurist and leader, I knew that I had found the individual who was most likely the person after whom my GGF, GF, and father were named. I felt as if a long-standing mystery had been solved.
I assumed that there was not any potential for an actual relationship connection to my own family, but for interest sake I researched the FOX family a little more, I soon found a familiar surname when I located the wife of William Montgomery Fox. This was Sophronia M. Coffey. I knew there were a lot of Coffeys among my family's Wayne County, Kentucky relations. I then read in Sophronia's FAG Memorial bio that her father Jesse Moore Coffey was from Wayne County, Kentucky. From there it took only a few more steps before I was able to merge the FOX Family Tree into my main genealogy database. Granted the connection is fairly distant, but it is there nonetheless.
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NOTE: This memorial was created for my great, grandfather.
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