THE KNOX FAMILY THE KNOX FAMILY A GENEALOGICAL AND BIOG­ RAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE Descendan(.s of John Knox • OF ROW AN COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA AND OTHER KNOXES 'By HATTIE s. (booDMAN ILLUSTRATED RICHMOND, VIRGINIA WHITTET & SHEPPERSON, Printers and Publishers 1905 CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. ORIGIN OF THE NAME KN ox, AND EXTRACTS FROM DIF­ FERENT BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS ON THE EARLY FAMILY OF KNOX, .............................. 9 CHAPl'ER II. THE FAMILY OF KNOX THE REFORMER, ................. 17 CHAPTER III. WILL OF JORN KNOX, THE REFORMER, 25 CHAPTER IV. JOHN KNOX, EMIGRANT, AND JEAN KNox's'WILL, 30 CHAPTER V. WILLIAM KNOX AND DESCENDANTS, • • • • • . • • • • • • . • • •. 38 CHAPTER vr. SAMUEL KNOX AND DESCENDANTS, • • . • • . • • • . • . • . • • • . 74 CHAPTER VII. JAMES KNOX AND DESCENDANTS, • • • • • • • • • • . • • . • • . 113 CHAPTER VIII. ABSALOM KNOX AND DESCENDA_NTS, .•. ." ...•........... 142 CHAPTER IX. JOHN KNOX, JR., AND DESCENDANTS, . ~ ............... 172 CHAPTER X. JOSEPH KNOX AND DESCEN:DANTS., . • . • 209 2 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XI. PAGB. BENJAMIN KNOX AND DESCENDANTS, •...•.••....•..••. 224 CHAPTER XII. MARY KNOX AND HER DESCENDANTS, • • . • • . • . • • . 231 CHAPTER XIII. · OTHER FAMILIES OF KNOX, . • . • . • • . • • . • • . 235 CHAPTER XIV. NOTES ON THE_FAMILY OF KNOX FROM SCOTTISH REGIS- TERS., ......... -. .. 253 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PA.GB. Hattie S. Goodman, .............................. Frontispieee. John Knox, the Reformer, . 19 John T. Knox; . 39 Ben Allen Knox, . 52 Mrs. Cynthia Knox Borders, . 76 Christophe~ C. Knox, . ... ... 81 Group of Tennessee .Kn.oxes, . 97 John B. Knox, . 102 Knee Buckle of Capt. James Knox, . .. 113 William H. Polk, .. ·................ _.................. ~ .... 120 James K. Polk, ............................_ ...... ; ....... 121 Rev. Absalom K. Barr and wife, ................. .' ......... 157 Rev. William A. Wood, ................................... 166 Home of Rev . .A. K. Barr and family at Springfield, Ohio, . 168 Mr. and Mrs. Sarah Barr Beach, ........................... 169 Lawrence W. Barr and family, .................... , ........ 169 Rev. and Mrs. L. L. Uhl and daughter, ...................... 170 Home of Rev. and Mrs. Uhl, in India, ............. ; ......... 170 John Scudder Barr and family, . 171 Rev. James Knox, ........................................ 197 Group of six Knox brothers, .............................. 210 ' R. M. Knox's residence in Pine Bluff, . 213" Mrs. Sue Knox Wherry and Miss Mittie Knox, . 215 J. R. Jackman, . 243 PREFACE. ABOUT sixty years ago the Rev. James Knox, an uncle to the writer, drew up a sketch of the names of his Knox ancestors, as f~r back as he could trace the line-..:-beginning with his great­ grand:£ather, John Knox, from Scotland. Upon .seeing this, the idea was at once .suggested to the writer to undertake a Genealogical Knox Family Tree. With this miniature chart on a ,sheet. of writing paper as a nucleus or starting point, the work was commenced in 1890. Year by year the "tree" continued to grow, as in tracing out the different branches new limbs were added, until, at present, it contains not less than 2,200 names, many dates, etc. While collecting material for the "tree," there was quite an amount of information sent in that miglrt prove of interest, and could not be entered on the drawing, which we have been re­ quested to prepare, in connection with the genealogy, for book form. In the preparation of this work the ,author hais endeavored to present as full and irecurate a record as possible of the de­ scendants of John Knox, immigrant Still, there are some branches we have not succeeded in tracing, or carrying down to the present day. , v.r e had hoped to trace the line back into Sc_otland, but so far have not been able to do ,so. • We have been greatly aided in 'the work by some of the cousins on the respective branches, to all of whom we extend sincere thanks. We might mention several to whom we are specially indebted for valuable assistance. On the Samuel Knox branch, 6 PREFACE. Hon. John B. Knox, Anniston, Ala., aided in many ways­ loaned me a book, The Bowie Family, which was indeed a very great help. Judge T. J. Davis, Cav€ Spring, Ga,; Dr. R. Y. Rudicil, Summerville, Ga:, and W. W. Knox, Menlo, Ga., sent int~resting data. On the David Luckey Knox branch, Mr. Walter S. Knox, Charleston, Tenn., and Brother Hen~y Knox and Mr. Chris. L. Knox, Corsicana, r:rexas, gave help and en­ couragement. On the William branch, Mr. J-ohn T. Knox, San . Bernardino, Cal., and John Knox, Sigourney, Iowa. On James Knox b;ranch, Mrs. Virginia Knox Madd,ox, San Francisco, Cal.; Mr.s. William Polk, Warrenton, N. C., and Mrs. Boo:µe, Carthage, Missouri. Mr. Jesse Brandon .sent a record of the Br.andons. On Joseph. Knox branch, Mr. R. M. and S. Y. T. Knox, Piri1e Bl1;1ff, Ark.; also Mr. B. F. Kn:o:f., Milt.on., Tenn. On the Absalom branch,. the name of Miss Margaret Caumont ~ Force wiU be gratefully remembered for kind assistance, especiaHy in making rearch in the Congressional Library.. Many otheris might be named who cheerfully aided in the work. Mr. Robert T. Knox, of Freder~ckisburg, Va., though not of the line or family we have been tracing (.so far as we know), manifested much interest in the hist-Ory of our line of the ~nox family. He kindly loaned us a valuabl~ Knox book, fr.om which we eopied an amount of. interesting data. The material for the,se page,s has been gathered from a num­ ber of different sources: County \nd State record,s, Library of • Congress, and Bureau of Pensions a't Washington; Genealogical Memoirs of John Knox and the Family of '$nox, by Rev. Charles Rogers, LL. D., etc., etc. The genealogical da~ ha.s been secured chie:tly from letters and family records sent in for the Knox Tree. PREFACE. We also had research made in the records of Scotland, the result of which is, ,so far, rather unsatisfactory. The failure to connect. this family with the line of John Knox, the reformer, may be due to the fact that we were unable to locate with certainty the birthplace of John Knox, of Rowan, our immigrant progenitor. Notwithstanding the undertaking has proven quite a tedious. one, we have enj-0yed it, the only regret being that I wa,s not more capable of doing justice to the subject. Many, very many, error,s will be found., no doubt. After so long a time, the finis has been reached, and the result of our labors presented to the Knoxes and their descendants by THE AUTHOR. NOTE; A small :figure over a name indicates the generation. Starting with . the imigrant progeni-tor, John Knox, as No. 1, his children are marked •, and so on. Frequently there will be found large Roman ;m1~erals opp<)site the number and name, indicating the number of section further on where the line of descent is again carried on. An index at the close of the sketch will afford any further informa­ tion necessary. THE KNOX FAMILY. CHAPTER I. ORIGIN OF THE NAME KNOX. EXTRACTS FROM DIFFERENT BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS ON THE EARLY FAMILY OF KNOX. HE ,surnaIQ.e Kn-ox is local, and signifies a small, or round­ T topped hill. (This we have from several sources.) There are a variety of forms or spel~ings of the name to be found : Knoc, Knock, Knok, Knokis, Knoklds, Knokks, Knox, Knoxe, Knoxis. The following is copied from a narrative sketch of the family ot Knox. 1825. "Pedigree at large with John Frederick Knox, ·. Mount ]falcon Est1ate, Co. Mayo, Ireland." "The pedigree of this most ancient and most illustrious race ..,which has now flourished for more bl_lan fifteen hundred years ( and that historically), and which is of royal origin, has been given in the chart, heretofore iSupplied only from the period of their establishment in Ireland. This took place about the begin­ ning of the seventeenth century, about A. o. 1610, when they came hither from Scotland, where they had flourished in the highest distinction for more than five centuries previously, viz., from A. o. 1071 t:o A. D. 1610, when Andrew Knox, Bishop of the Isles, ·was translated thence to be Bishop of Raphoe, in Ireland, leaving his son, Thomas Knox, Bishop of the Isles. "Among other Scottish honor,s this family enjoyed three earldoms, viz., Dunbar, March and Moray. They have been regents of that kingdom, and have mated with the noblest and highest therein, including the blood royal; while for upwards of six centuries previous to A. D. 1072 they flourished in England as sovereign princes, viz., during the Saxon heptarchy, and until the Norman invasion. 10 THE KNOX :F'Al\ULY. "They came into England from Saxony, where their ancestors had reigned for centuries.· Of this royal family three brothers were the 'reigning :princes at the time of their coming into Eng­ land, ·about .A. D. 450, their names being Hengist, Horsa and Uchter, or Octer. Soon after thi,s period, Uchter ai-0resaid laid the foundations of the Anglo-S•axon kingdom of N orthumber­ land. "Later we find that 'the Saxon name of Uchter softened into Utred.' His son Adamus married the Lady Sybilla, or Isabella, the daughter of Walter, the High Steward of Scotland (his cousin by birth), and obtained with her in dowry and frank marriage :four baronies or lordships in fee within the regality of Renfrew on terms of :fealty (only) to the Baron of Renfrew, the said Walter, Lord High St~ward, who wa1s Lord Paramount of said regality. "The names of these four baronies were Knox, Ranfurly, Craigends and Gri:ffcastle~ aud Adam.us having left D~nbar and fixed his residenC€ in said Barony of Knox, came therefore and thenceforward to be described and known as Adamus de Kn-0x. Surnames were about that time coming into use, and were gen­ erally taken :from such and similar ca1::.;;es." KNO~ OF PREHEN.