Baptized as Marie Anne Meyer on the day of her birth at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Schirrhein, Alsace; her sponsors were Marie Anne Schitter and Eve Gaengel. The youngest of 12 children, Mary Ann experienced the death of her mother at only a year old and was largely raised by her father and older sisters.

Immigrated to America via La Havre aboard the Lyons, arriving in New York on October 12, 1838, along with her father, surviving siblings, and the families of her two older half-sisters, Elizabeth and Catherine. The family would settle among other Alsatian immigrants in Senecca County, OH, where Mary Ann would grow up. After her fathers death in 1848, Mary Ann would move to Akron to work in a textile factory, one of the few jobs available to women at the time.

Married to August Fox by Fr. Peter Weber on July 27, 1853 in Massillon, Ohio. August was also from the village of Schirrhein and was a brother-in-law to Mary Ann's sister, Julia Ann Fox. Together they would have ten children:
1. Mary Magdalena (b. February 8, 1857, in Avilla, IN)
2. Anna Catherine (b. July 4, 1858, in Avilla, IN)
3. Frances (b. October 27, 1860, in Avilla, IN)
4. John Henry (b. May 10, 1863, in Avilla, IN)
5. Emma (b. February 7, 1864, in Avilla, IN)
6. Clara Miriam (b. December 27, 1864, in Avilla, IN)
7. Charles Ignatius (b. October 6, 1866, in Avilla, IN)
8. Rosa Frances (b. February 22, 1870, in Avilla, IN)
9. Agnes Mathilda (b. November 11, 1874, in Leo, IN)
10. Martha Cecelia (b. November 20, 1877, in Leo, IN)

After their marriage, Mary Ann and August followed her brothers, Alvin and Ignatius, to Noble County, IN. They were part of a close-knit community of German-speaking Catholics at St. Mary's parish in Avilla. While August worked as a builder and farmer, Mary Ann was a devoted wife, mother, and parishioner. She would remain so after the family moved to Leo, IN, near Fort Wayne, and finally to Monterey, IN, in Pulaski County. The Fox family always resided near Mary Ann's brothers and sisters and their children.

Died at Monterey of heart failure on November 1, 1902. Buried in St. Anne Cemetery alongside her husband on November 1. The graves of her daughters, Rosa Zurn and Agnes Zehner, and their husbands are on both sides, and are nearby the unmarked graves of daughters, Magdalena and Martha.

"Friday night at 12 o'clock. Mrs. August Fox died of consumption. The funeral was held Monday from the Catholic church. The services were conducted by Rev. Joseph Bilstein, internment following in Catholic cemetery, west of town."