The Fox family of Cohasset and Springfield, Mass., and the Simon family of New York City, N.Y., were joined by the marriage of Edward Whiting Fox (1911-1996) and Elizabeth Simon in 1935. Edward Whiting Fox ( Teddy in his youth, Ed later on) was the only son of Agnes Whiting Fox, a teacher before she married, and Philip Fox, an engineer and later a director of a trade school. He received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from Harvard University. A prominent European history scholar, Fox briefly served as an Assistant Secretary of State for policy analysis during the Truman administration before joining the history faculty at Cornell University where he spent most of his career teaching.
Edward's maternal grandparents were Millah Cherrie Whiting and Frank Whiting and maternal great-grandparents were Martin Cherrie, a captain in Company K of the 3rd Iowa Cavalry in the Union Army during the Civil War, and Agnes B. Cherrie of Knoxville, Iowa. Maternal great aunts and uncles included Mary Cherrie and George Kruck Cherrie (1865-1948), a naturalist and explorer, and his wife Stella Cherrie.
Elizabeth Simon ( Betty ) was the oldest daughter of Robert E. Simon (d. 1935) and Elsa Weil Simon (d. 1964). Robert E. Simon, the son of Pauline Morgenthau and Edward S. Simon, was a real estate mogul in New York City. He purchased Carnegie Hall in 1925. The Simons' other children were Helen, Carol, and Robert E. Jr. Betty graduated from Vassar College in 1931 and received an M.A. from Harvard University in 1932.
Edward and Betty had three children: Elizabeth Ann ( Betsey or B. A. ), Edward W. ( Teddy ), and Rebecca ( Becky ). Betsey Fox, like her father, was a prominent historian. She married Eugene Genovese in 1969.
From the guide to the Fox and Simon Family Papers, 1862-1991, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)
