Life History
James Richard Fox was the son of William and Celia Fox. He was born August 27,1882, in Concord, Knox County, TN. He attended school in Concord and Knoxville, TN. On December 28, 1901, in Knoxville, Knox County TN, he married Dora Jane Green. Dora was born January 8, 1881, in Mossy Creek, TN. James met Dora at the house of the people with whom she was living. He made the statement to family members, “that was the woman would be his wife”.
In February of 1903, James and Dora with their daughter Lorena, who was four months old, came to Crawfordsville, Linn County, OR by steam train. The trip took seven days. James and Dora were travelling with Dora’s uncle Bob and his wife and their four children. There were two other families of friends. The car was full. James was always playing jokes on the other passengers.
The group arrived in Portland in the evening. The milk train south did not leave until morning. They were unable to get rooms, so the group slept on the floor of the depot. They had just mopped the floors, but they were tired so they spread their blanket on the wet floor. Dora caught a cold.
The group had a car to themselves. The trip to Halsey took all day because they had to make sever stops to take on wood. Dora’s brother jerry was there to take them to Crawfordsville. The two other families settled in Eugene and Springfield. In Crawfordsville, James went to work for Mr. Frank Purvine at the sawmill. While they were in Crawfordsville their son Raymond was born.
When Raymond was about a year old, they moved to Coburg, Lane County, OR. While there three sons: Emerson, Eugene, and James, and two daughters: Thelma and Myrtle, were born. James and Dora were Southern Baptist but while in Coburg they joined the Disciples of Christ Church.
James worked as a laborer in a lumber mill. He ran a planer. Somehow, he got his hand caught in the planer. He held onto a post to keep the planer from pulling his arm in. All the while James was yelling for someone to turn off the planer. They wanted to amputate his arm, but they were able to save it.
Shortly after the accident they moved to a big ranch outside of Eugene which had the name of Fox Hollow. They had 20 cows to milk. They sold butter in Eugene. Dora did a lot of canning, made their clothing, and worked in the fields. While here, a daughter, Irene, and a son Robert, were born. Robert was the only one of the nine children to be born in a hospital.
When Dora and Robert came home from the hospital, it was to a new home in Suver. James worked with Dora’s brother William (Will) for two years on a ranch. About 1918 James bought his first car which was a Model T ford. He was given some instruction by the salesman and drove home. As he approached the house, he forgot how to stop the car, so he drove around and around the filed until he learned how to drive and stop the car.
They moved back to Crawfordsville. Lorena was living with Grandfather Green in Brownsville while attending her last two years of high school. When Lorena went to Monmouth to get her teaching credentials, the family moved to Brownsville. Lorena taught Robert in the first grade and Irene in the second grade.
In August of 1932, James and Dora with some of the children moved to Long Beach, CA, where for 12 years he operated a parking lot and gas station. He was responsible for the establishing the Spit and Argue Club on the pier, in long Beach. In 1944, they returned to Oregon where for a year they made their home in Portland. In 1945, they moved for the last time making their home in Tangent, OR.
In 1951 James and Dora renewed their wedding vows in the gymnasium at Tangent, OR. Their children were in attendance as their bride’s maids and best man. James enjoyed the life and history of the Willamette Valley. He as one of the founders of the Crawfordsville Round-up which was a well-known event in the past. He would display his garden produce in the general store booth at the annual Tangent Fair. His outspoken opinion about politics won him the title of Honorary Mayor of Tangent.
When James was 85 years old, he was made an honorary Four Start General at a dinner held in his honor at Adair Air Force Base, Corvallis, OR. Two years later, at the age of 87, he was accorded assignment as honorary General of the “Tangent Air Force.
One event in his life which he remembered was that he served as a pallbearer during the funeral of “Indian Lize”. She was the last of the Calapooya Indians. James was member of the First Christian Church; Linn County Historical society; Western Star Grange; and the independent Order of Odd Fellows, Lodge No. 4, Tangent, OR. He was a past grand noble.
James and Dora had nine children. They were married for 69 years. In an interview Roslyn had with her grandmother, Dora stated that the early years were stormy years. They did do quite a bit of fighting. They were proud of their children and their accomplishments.
At the time of James’ death, July 2, 1971, they had 22 grandchildren; 35 great grandchildren; and 1 great-great granddaughter.
Why did James and Dora leave their family and friends to travel to Oregon? Probably because Tennessee was becoming industrialized. James was a farmer and some of Dora’s family had already settled in Oregon where jobs were easier to find.
