Joseph Fox

Unidentified · 1790s

Joseph Fox was a prominent citizen of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, where he served as town clerk, taxman, and highway surveyor. In 1769 he married Mary Tuttle, and together they had six children. In his later years he acted as town treasurer, made unsuccessful bids for the state senate, and became a justice of the peace. The portrait shows a middle-aged man with the powdered hair that befitted a political figure of the early 1800s. The artist chose to show Fox with a thoughtful, alert expression, as if he had just been posed a difficult question.