Lewis A. Fox (b. 1874, Faribault County, Minnesota) was the editor and proprietor of the Tripp Ledger in Tripp, South Dakota. After learning the printing trade in Lake Preston, South Dakota, Fox acquired the Tripp Ledger in 1893, transforming it into a respected local newspaper. Active in Republican politics and a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, he also served as justice of the peace for seven years. In 1898, he married Elsie E. Morris, with whom he had a daughter, Ruth. Fox’s family history includes deep military ties, with ancestors serving in conflicts from the War of 1812 to the Spanish-American War.
Lewis A. Fox, editor and proprietor of the Tripp Ledger, was born in Faribault County, Minnesota, on August 30, 1874, a son of Cyrus A. B. and Sarah H. (Alvey) Fox, of whose seven children five are living, namely: Estella, wife of M. H. Skiff, of Minneapolis, Minnesota; John C.; Lewis, the subject of this sketch; Donald H., a resident of Madison, this state, and employed as express messenger on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad; and C. Roy, a clerk in the post office at Sioux Falls. The father of the subject was born in Washington County, Missouri, in 1846, and soon after his advent in the world, his parents removed to Stark County, Illinois, where he was reared and educated. In 1862, when but fifteen years of age, he enlisted in Company H, Eighty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in the capacity of fifer, and he continued in active service for nearly three years, being mustered out in June, 1864, a youthful veteran of the greatest civil war known in the annals of history. He returned to Illinois, where he learned the trade of carpenter, also teaching school for a time. In 1870 he removed to Faribault County, Minnesota, where he was for a number of years in the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad in the capacity of bridge builder. In 1880, while engaged in the work noted, he received a severe injury as the result of an accident, and he then resigned his position and finally entered the employ of the Hodge & Hyde Elevator Company, having charge of the erection of their elevators along the line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad from La Crosse, Wisconsin, to Woonsocket, South Dakota, and also between Madison and Bristol, this state. He remained with this concern until 1889, when he was compelled to resign on account of impaired health, and since that time he has followed various vocations, he and his wife being now residents of Sioux Falls. He is a prominent and popular comrade in the Grand Army of the Republic and always attends the national encampments of the same, taking with him on these occasions his organization known as Fox’s Martial Band, of which he is commander. He is familiarly known by all his comrades and friends as “Colonel” Fox.
The subject of this review received his early educational discipline in the public schools of Kingsbury County, South Dakota, his parents having taken up their abode there in 1887. At the age of fifteen years, he secured employment in the Farmers’ Bank of South Dakota, at Lake Preston, in which town the family located in 1887, having come to Forestburg, Sanborn County, in 1883, and resided there until the year mentioned. The parents have been residents of the city of Sioux Falls since 1890. The subject was employed in the bank for one year and then began his apprenticeship at the “art preservative of all arts” by entering the printing office of L. J. Bates, publisher of the Lake Preston Times, where he remained about three years, becoming a skilled workman and acquiring a thorough knowledge of the country newspaper business. On the 1st of September, 1893, he removed to Alexandria, where he acquired a half interest in the Alexandria Journal, but two months later he disposed of his interest and came to Tripp, where he purchased from J. B. Stout & Company the plant and business of the Tripp Ledger, whose publication he has since successfully continued, making it one of the best local papers in the state. In politics, Mr. Fox is a staunch adherent of the Republican party, in whose support his paper is effectively enlisted. He served seven years as justice of the peace, refusing to continue as incumbent of the office. Fraternally, he is a member of Tripp Camp, No. 5931, Modern Woodmen of America.
On the 22nd of June, 1898, Mr. Fox was united in marriage to Miss Elsie E. Morris, a daughter of H. V. Morris, a well-known citizen of Tripp, and of this union has been born a winsome little daughter, Ruth B.
It may be said in conclusion that Mr. Fox comes of military stock in both the paternal and maternal lines. Two of his paternal uncles were prominent in the military operations in Dakota in the early ‘sixties. His mother’s parents were born in England, and her grandfather was a participant in the Battle of Waterloo. C. A. Fox, grandfather of the subject, took part in the Black Hawk War in Illinois, and both of the great-grandfathers in the paternal lines were participants in the War of 1812. Two of Mr. Fox’s brothers maintained the military prestige of the name by their service in the Spanish-American War, being on duty in the Philippines. John C. was first lieutenant of Company B, First South Dakota Volunteer Infantry, and Donald H. was quartermaster’s sergeant in the same company.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.