I fear that Joseph Fox may have lost his mother when he was only two years old. An Elizabeth Fox was buried at Clarborough about 7km away from Sturton le Steeple (Sturton cum Fenton) in 1702. There is no positive evidence to suppose this was our Elizabeth as there is no indication of her age or marital status in the record. However, there were no more children of the marriage as far as I can find.
Joseph was born, lived and died at Sturton cum Fenton in Nottinghamshire, but I believe his parents were from Lincolnshire on the opposite bank of the River Trent. His father Thomas was born in Kettlethorpe and his mother Elizabeth (nee Tailor) at Torksey. They married at Aisthorpe.
Why they moved to Sturton le Steeple we cannot know but the family would prosper there. We have no record of Joseph’s occupation, but he left a will to the value of £40, which would be about £85,000 in 2020 wages according to Measuring Worth. This branch of our family would live in Sturton for almost two hundred years.
Joseph himself had a short life, dying at the age of 39. He left his widow Margaret with five children. In a sad echo of Joseph’s own childhood our ancestor Jane was about sixteen months old when he died.
Father of Jane Fox and son of Thomas and Elizabeth Fox
Born 8 January 1700 at Sturton cum Fenton, Nottinghamshire
Married Margaret Althorp on 22 January 1722
Buried 28 February 1739