The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1900-04-11
IN MEM0R!AM.
d Sketsh of the Late Thomas Shelton
Fox, M. D.

eldest son or J0nn ana E!lLa oioueA
fer Fox, was born at L. xlngt"n
Curt House, S C, September lst'
1886. His educational advantages
in Youth were the best to be had IN
his native county. At the ege @
nineteen he entered the famous Uni
varsity of Virginia, graduating with
distinction st the end of the third
year. The profession OF medicine was
chosen as bis life work, and beng
ambitious to excel, he attended
and graduated from one Of the best
colleges of medicine in the city Of
New York. After graduation he
spent eighteen months in active prac-
tice in a hospital on Blackwelis Is
land, N. Y under the eye OF some OF
the ablest practitioners Of that day.
Fcom there he returned to his native
State and began the practice OF his
profession in Orapgeburg county
near the town Of Brarehville.
He enlisted in the Confederate
army in April, 1861, as a corporal IN
the Edisto Rifss, Co. A. FIRST Rsel-
ment, South Csrolins Iufantry, COM
manded by Col. Hsgood. This reg
iment was disbanded after the fall
of Fort Sumter when be enlisted as
q Sergeant in Company B, Sixth
South Carolina cavalry. After eight
months service in this command ne
was promoted to the position OF AS
sistant surgeon and was assigned to
the Six$y-sixsh North Carolina regi
ment, then stationed at Wilmington,
N. C. Ee served in that capacity un-
til Johnson's forces surrendered at
Greensboro, N G.. He participated
ia the lombard ment of Fort Sumter,
S. G, the battle of Bermuda Hun
dred, Va, Plymouth, n G, the siege
of Petersburg, Va, Fort Fisher, N.
c., and the battle of Bentonville, n
u: .o,r a, @ soldier was
marked by that fearless devotion to
daty which was to be expected OF
one who possessed his love of coun-
try and his high sense Of personal
honor.
No sooner had the smoke of battle
cleared away than he returned to his
own and his fathers native county
and resumed the practice of medi-
cine, locating inF1S6s, near to where
the present town OF Batesburg now
stands. When be came the man was
almost wholly unknown aud the
physician was we'll nigh an utter
stranger in the entire community. 1t
ives not long before the physicians
skill attracted public attention and
through the physician the people
came to know the man. To know him
was to respect, admire, honor aud
love him. When the railroad was
built and the town located in 1859,
he became a citizen Of BAtesburg
aud has been ever since. 10 1879 be
Won the heart aud hand Of Miss
Mamie. Yonngblood, the eldest
daughter of Mr.. Louis ". Young,
blood of ElgeGeld county. To them
have been born six cbiidren-fve sons
and a daughter-the first born, a
SON, dying in infancy.
Soon after the civil Var d.. Fox
became a member of the Masonic
fraternity, in the principles and pro,
eress Of which he cherished q Lively
interest. His zeal and devotion to
the order were recognized and
rewarded by his brother Masons in
his repeated elevation to tie highest
Office within their gift. He was the
first and last Master of Batesburs
Lodge A. F. AZ. It may be men
toned as o coincidence that the first
Mason made in the Batesburg Lodge
acted as Master at the burial OF Dr..
Fox, the first Master.
He died at 2 o'clock p. ~, March
5, 1900, of heart disease. For a
year previous to his death he had &C.
casional symptoms of the fatal NAL
ads, but not until a few weeks before
his death di3 they assume 8 danger
Gus form. Tue shock which came to
the hearts and homes Of a multitude
in town and country, asths news went
abroad DIR. Fox's dead" can never
be understood except by those who
felt it. We all knew he filed a large
place in our hearts and in cur CON-
munisy, but We did not realize how
large until We were brought to look
into the great void his death had
made. For third Of century his
relations to the community hud been
such as to mark him more than any
o her man, as entitled to tie honor
able distinction, "our first citizen"
T. is lot extravagant TO say, in the