Aloysius R. Fox

Aloysius R. Fox, a machinist and engineer by trade, is a son of Charles Thomas Fox, who was a bank clerk by occupation in London, England.

Our subject was born in London, England, September 26, 1830, and obtained his education in part at Shetley Park College, Somertown, in that city. In 1850 he came to America, settling in Buffalo, and here accepted employment as a machinist on what was then known as the Buffalo & Rochester railroad, now the New York Central railroad, working part of the time in the shops and also running the engine on the road. He was under David Upton, master mechanic. In 1853 Mr. Fox became second engineer on the steamer Michigan, owned by Owen Newberry, on which he remained one season. The following season he was second engineer and chief, respectively, of the propeller Ogontz, and in 1855 he became third engineer on the side-wheel steamer Crescent City, running between Buffalo and Cleveland. During the same season he was second engineer of the side-wheel steamer Mississippi, which was the largest passenger boat on the lakes at the time, and ran between Buffalo and Monroe, Mich.; she was about three hundred feet over all. The passenger traffic that year was rather light because of the prevalence of cholera, and on one of her trips to Buffalo she carried one passenger only. For the season of 1856 Mr. Fox was second and chief engineer, respectively, of the propeller Queen of the Lakes, and during the winter following he worked for the Kirby Agricultural Works for one dollar per day for a portion of the time, and the remainder for store pay. For three years beginning with the spring of 1857 he was chief engineer of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, and during the three following years he was engaged in a machine shop on Washington Street, where he built oil engines.

For the first two months of the year 1863 Mr. Fox worked in the Erie Railway Company's shops, and then fitted out the steamer Grace Dormer with her machinery and boiler. In March of that year he was made second engineer of the Buffalo Water Works, which was then owned by a stock company, but in 1866 the city purchased the plant, and subsequently, in the year 1875, he was made chief engineer, continuing there in that capacity until 1880, when he resigned. During the three succeeding years he traveled and established plants for the C. J. Hamlin Sugar Works, while during the two succeeding years he was employed by the Holly Manufacturing Company, setting up pumps and steam plants. From 1885 until the present time Mr. Fox has been engaged as a machinist, repairing steam engines, printing presses, distillery pumps, beer pumps, etc., and also in tannery work at No. 86 Maryland Street, Buffalo, N. Y., where he resides.

On August 16, 1860, Mr. Fox was married at Buffalo to Ellen Eliza Kilpeck, and they have the following children: Eliza, now (1898) aged thirty-three years, wife of George R. Steers, of Chicago, a chief engineer; Charles J., aged thirty-one, who was chief engineer of the steamer Nahoning, of the Anchor line, during the season of 1896; Mary, aged twenty-seven, wife of Charles Wehser, a carriage painter, residing at Buffalo; and Ellen T. Fox, aged twenty-four.

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Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.