JAMES Z. FOX is a native of Morgan County Ill., and was born March 3, 1855. The younger generation of farmers that have succeeded the pioneers, are of the energetic temperament, that makes a prosperous community. They have seen and know of the hardships through which their fathers went and have profited thereby.

James Z. Fox is the son of John H. and Maria Fox, pioneers of this county, of whom further mention is made in the sketch of George R. Fox. The subject of this sketch received his education at the district school, and that he improved his opportunities, can be verified by conversing with him. At the age of fifteen years he went to live with his uncle, Samuel French, at Chapin, and while with him attended school for several winters, and when about twenty years of age he attended the preparatory course for one year at the University of Illinois. Thus it will be seen that he was anxiously in pursuit of knowledge, and as a further means of gaining an education, he taught five terms of school, three terms of which were in the Chapin schools. Mr. Fox has decided musical talents which it is a pleasure for him to develop. He has for a number of years, been actively engaged in musical matters, in fact he has devoted pretty much all of his later years to that art. He is an accomplished musician, and is one of the most successful teachers of music in his section of the country. Mr. Fox is what may be called an all-around musician, and is especially a skilled violinist. He has trained and formed three orchestras out of country boys in his neighborhood - one of which is comprised in the Fox family.

Our subject was married, Sept, 28, 1887, to Bessie Burnham, of Chapin. He owns sixty-five acres of good land and is meeting with fair success in the cultivation thereof. Politically, Mr. Fox is a Republican leaning toward the Prohibitionists. He is not an office seeker, and is in favor of the best men for places of trust. He is public spirited, and approved of any measures that will forward the interests of his town. As a man, he is affable and entertaining, and possesses generous impulses that have won for him the respect of the whole community, and being a worthy scion of one of the prominent pioneers of this county, it is easy to predict for him a promising future. His amiable wife is also an accomplished musician, and both take an active part in the society of their locality. He and his wife are both members of the Protestant Methodist Church. He has recently been very successfully and extensively engaged in de-horning cattle. During this year he has been engaged in reading medicine, and has been engaged in reading medicine, and has made his arrangements to enter as a student in September, 1889, Rush Medical College at Chicago, with the view of preparing himself for the practice of medicine.