Talk:Josiah Fox

Birthdate discrepancy
"Josiah Fox (1794-1847) was a naval architect noted for his involvement in the design and construction of the first significant warships of the United States Navy.

Fox was born in Cornwall, England in 1763, and completed the apprenticeship at the Royal Dockyard, Plymouth, where he later served as a shipwright. In 1793 he traveled to the United States to survey timber resources and was there engaged to teach drafting to the sons of Jonathan Penrose, an American shipwright."

1794 or 1763, please?

== Vernon White (talk)  17:45, 17 December 2006 (UTC)


 * "In 1794 he was employed by the US Navy as a draftsman...." is rather suggestive of an earlier birth! DuncanHill 17:48, 17 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Just found this http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohmfahs/fl-2003d.htm DuncanHill 17:51, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Published biography
There was a biography published in 2004. Author Merle Westlake Publisher Xlibris (US) Hbk ISBN 140109600X Pbk ISBN 1401095992 Synopsis For two hundred years historians have debated the role Josiah Fox played in the design of the USS Constitution. This biography records what he had to say about the situation, his experiences as a naval constructor during the Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison administrations, and expels the idea that Joshua Humphreys alone designed the first frigates built by the United Sates government. In addition it explores his early life in England and a return visit forty years later; the frictions generated by his Quaker attitudes in this country as well as in England; and the life of a naturalized American citizen in Philadelphia, Norfolk, Washington, D. C., and the Ohio River valley. Included is his disownment by the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting and his involvement in the Hicksite Separation that occurred at Mount Pleasant, Ohio. Forty years of correspondence with his brothers and sisters in England provide a glimpse into family life in the early nineteenth-century. === Vernon White (talk)  00:18, 18 December 2006 (UTC)