Mary Hitchcock (Fox) Layton (1882 - 1978)

Born 24 May 1882 in Towanda, Bradford, Pennsylvania, United States

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 28 Sep 1978 at age 96 in Ithaca, Tompkins, New York, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Pauline Layton [send private message]

Biography

Mary Hitchcock Fox was born on 24 May 1882 on the Fox family estate, Fox Chase, at Towanda, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, near the Susquehanna River. Her parents were John Evans Fox and Elizabeth Hitchcock Miller. ^{[1] [2]}

In 1898, stock market woes caused the estate to be seized for unpaid taxes with the threat of a sheriff's sale. Mary's father had a prosperous cousin, Charles Fox, who had only one child - a son, Robert. Cousin Charlie offered to take one of the Fox daughters under his wing, and it was agreed Mary should go. Cousin Charlie worked for the Pillsbury-Washburn Flour Mills Company in Chicago. Sixteen-year-old Mary took a business course in shorthand and typing so that she could act as Cousin Charlie's stenographer. Soon Charles Fox was asked to relocate abroad as the company's European representative. Mary went along, and also Mrs. Blackman, the mother of Cousin Charlie's wife, Cousin Anna. They visited Ireland but made a lengthy stay in England, having rented Melton Lodge in Norwood near London. Sixteen-year-old Mary wanted to exchange her American schoolgirl's wardrobe for the then-fashionable Gibson Girl look, but there was friction with Mrs. Blackman who had her own ideas what a young lady ought to wear. Mary's marketable skills got her a job in London with a branch of the Remington Typewriter Company and she was able to clothe herself. Soon the Remington company sent her to Paris for a year, and she stayed with Mrs. Frank Wells' family and learned French and had the time of her life with the Wells daughters. ^[3]

Back home in America, father John Evans Fox had soon recouped his stock market losses and was able to buy back Fox Chase, but he was tired of farming. In 1903 he took a job with Texaco and he sold the Towanda land and moved the family to Brooklyn, so the family was already installed there by the time Mary returned from Europe. Mary found a job in Manhattan and went to work by walking across the Brooklyn Bridge every day. One day the young structural engineer, George Layton from Towanda, decided to look up this former Towanda family in New York City. Probably George and Mary knew each other from their childhoods in Towanda, but now they formed an attachment and soon were married, in 1906. ^[3]

George's work presently brought him to Montour Falls/Watkins Glen, New York where this young couple settled down. After giving birth to two sons, Mary found work in the Montour Falls Town Library. She could often be seen traveling back and forth on her bicycle. In time she became head librarian and was celebrated for her ability to help young students with their school projects. For many years she was Town Historian. She wrote many little historical articles for the local newspapers. She maintained a history museum in a back room at the Montour Falls Library. Later it would become the Schuyler County Historical Society Museum, in its own building. ^[3]

After her husband's death her health suffered. She spent her last years in a nursing home in Ithaca, New York, near her younger relatives. She took much comfort in a Bible studies class at the home. She died on 28 Sep 1978, at age 96. Her ashes were privately scattered. Later a new street was built that went along the side of her and George's longtime property in Montour Falls, and it's named Mary Layton Drive. ^[3]

Mary Fox and her husband George Layton had children:

• Donald Layton
• William Layton

Images

Mrs. Mary Fox Layton, photo by C. A. Payne of Watkins, New York. Maybe about 1920? Payne's studio in Watkins was the BEST.

Mary Fox at 16. Now that's a pompadour! She was obviously proud of her hair. The oddly shaped object showing on the back of her head was a big bow ribbon, as befitted a schoolgirl. Picture likely dates to when she was learning to be a stenographer while living with Charles Fox's family in Chicago, Illinois.

The library at Melton Lodge, where Cousin Charles Fox's family stayed near London for about five years at the turn of the century. A picture of Queen Victoria looks on as young Mary Fox sits forlornly in a grown-up outfit the Queen would have approved; does Mrs. Blackman look smug? Mary wanted to dress like a Gibson Girl, and she got herself a job in London as a stenographer and was able to buy clothing for herself. (The Gibson Girl image included unladylike activities like playing tennis, bicycling, or earning money.) The Remington Company even sent Mary to Paris for a year. The Queen would not have approved.

Tea at Melton Lodge, Norwood, England. (From left) Cousin Anna Fox, Mary Fox, maid, Cousin Robert Fox, Mrs. Blackman. Around 1900.

The country mouse and the city mouse, 1903. You can tell which mouse went to Paris. Younger sister Anna never did have any luck.

The surviving six Fox siblings in Brooklyn, New York in 1903. (Circling from back left): Anna, Katharine, Mary, Elizabeth, George, Margaret.

Mary Layton with her father John Evans Fox in 1911, probably taken in New York City. He looked quite distinguished in his old age.

Research Note

In 1995 a thick pamphlet about Fox family genealogy was put together by professional genealogist Roberta Daymon, with the title "Ancestors of Stuart Ames Fox." Stuart was Mary's nephew. Their ancestors include John (Jan) Lukens, an early Surveyor General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; Jonathan Fowler of early New Haven, Connecticut; and John Evans of early Pancader, Delaware. No doubt this history was assisted by a previous pamphlet put together in 1912 by Theodore Cooper at the behest of John Evans Fox: "Ancestry of Margaret Garret Evans, wife of Miller Fox of Towanda, Pa."

Footnotes

1. ↑ from family records
2. ↑ "Fox Chase" was the large family farm that had been in her family since Rudolph Fuchs bought land from the Indians in 1770. The property's name of "Fox Chase" dates back to around 1783. Built in the 1860's, the Fox house where Mary Fox was born would later become an orphanage and then a nursing home and eventually be American Legion Towanda Post 42.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} family sources

Sources

• Personal memories of Pauline Layton as recorded on 6 Oct 2020, also information gathered from various older Layton family members at various times.
• Fox family and Layton family records.
• Daymon, Roberta with Fox, Claire G. "Ancestors of Stuart Ames Fox" 1995. Copy in possession of Pauline Layton as of 6 Oct 2020.
• Cooper, Theodore. Ancestry of Margaret Garret Evans, wife of Miller Fox of Towanda, Pa. Published by Theodore Cooper, New York, Aug. 4, 1912. Copy in possession of Pauline Layton as of 6 Oct 2020.