John Fox, Jr
John Fox, Jr. was an American author born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, in 1862 or 1863. He was educated at home until the age of fifteen before attending Transylvania College and later Harvard University, from which he graduated in 1883. Although he briefly studied law at Columbia University, he did not complete his degree. Fox worked for notable newspapers such as the New York Sun and The New York Times but returned to Kentucky due to illness in 1885. He became involved in mining ventures with his family, some of which were financially successful while others were not. In 1890, he settled in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, where he began to write about Appalachian life, producing notable works like "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine," which became a bestseller. Fox's marriage to opera singer Fritzi Scheff lasted five years, after which he struggled to replicate his earlier success. He passed away from pneumonia in 1919, and his legacy endures through the annual John Fox, Jr. Festival in Big Stone Gap, celebrating his contributions to Appalachian literature and culture.
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Subject Terms
John Fox, Jr.
- Born: December 16, 1862 or 1863
- Birthplace: Bourbon County, Kentucky
- Died: July 8, 1919
- Place of death: Big Stone Gap, Virginia
Biography
John Fox, Jr., was born to Minerva and John Fox in 1862 (or 1863), in Bourbon County, Kentucky. Although his father was schoolmaster at the local Stony Point Academy, Fox was homeschooled to the age of fifteen. In 1879, he attended Kentucky’s Transylvania College and later transferred to Harvard University, where he graduated in 1883. He enrolled in Columbia University’s law school, but did not graduate. While in New York City, he held various positions at the New York Sun and The New York Times. However, in 1885 he became ill and returned home to Kentucky. There he became involved, with his father and brother, in various mining speculations and development schemes in Jellico, Indiana, and the Cumberland Mountains. Though several of these efforts proved successful, many of them were financially disastrous.
By 1890, Fox moved to Big Stone Gap, Virginia, where he began writing fictional pieces about the people of Appalachia. His novellas, published during this period, included Christmas Eve on Lonesome and A Mountain Europa. Because his finances were entangled with development ventures, he tried to stay solvent by giving a series of lectures. Theodore Roosevelt attended one of these lectures; when Roosevelt later become president, he invited Fox to give a reading at the White House. This was quite a feather in Fox’s cap; it garnered him favorable publicity and added to the popularity of his writing. Not incidentally, it brought favorable notice to the Big Stone Gap community.
In 1908, Fox married an Austrian opera singer, Fritzi Scheff. At that time, his most famous novel, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, was on the best-seller list. The marriage lasted five tumultuous years during which Fox produced no successful writings, and he and his wife divorced in 1913. He produced two other works after the divorce but neither was as successful as The Trail of the Lonesome Pine. (The Trail of the Lonesome Pine was adapted as a motion picture in 1936). Fox died of pneumonia in 1919, having contracted the illness after a fishing trip in Virginia.
Fox is honored each year by the people of Big Stone Gap with a John Fox, Jr., Festival. Each summer since 1964, Lonesome Pine Arts and Crafts, Inc., has presented a stage version of The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, and the production has been designated Virginia’s Official Outdoor Drama. Fox’s work is important because he raised awareness and appreciation for life in the Appalachian region. He is considered by some to be the most important local writer about the region since Mary Noailles Murfree.