Thomas Knox (1770 - 1837)

Born 1770 in Virginia Colony [uncertain]

Husband of Elizabeth Betsey (DeWitt) Knox — married 15 Apr 1799 in Clark County, Kentucky, USA

Descendants

Died 1837 at about age 67 in Montgomery County, Kentucky, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Daphne Maddox [send private message]

Biography

Thomas Knox was born in 1770,^[1] possibly in Virginia.^[2]

He and other members of his family may have begun pioneering as Long Hunters. He first settled in "Old Indian Fields" in what became Clark County.^[3]

In 1794, he served as Private in William Price's Battalion of Kentucky Mounted Volunteers, where he was on payroll and mustered July through October, marked "Present", with remark "lost his home 19 Aug. 1794."^[4] During this time, the battalion fought in Battle of Fallen Timbers , and its role in the battle has been described as "the army's forwardmost advance guard." "Dressed in frontier clothing rather than uniforms, they fought as riflemen. For close combat, they carried tomahawks and butcher's or other knives."^[5]

On 15 Apr 1799, Thomas married Elizabeth DeWitt ("Betsie") in Clark County, Kentucky.^[6] and they began a family there. His name appears in there in the tax list of 1800,^[7] in which year a James Knox, a Moses Knox and a William Knox are also found taxed there.^[8]

Between 1810 and 1820 they moved a bit east to Montgomery County (modern day Powell County). Supposedly, "owing to the scarcity of game, [he] removed to the mountains and there spent the rest of his life as a hunter in the rougher parts of the state."^[3]

Whatever the reason for the move, his household appears in Montgomery County in the 1820 census. Interestingly, in that year it is marked that there are three women 45 or older in the house, only one of whom could be Betsey.^[9]

In the 1830 census he is living with a male and female in their twenties and one boy.^[10]. Elizabeth must have died in the 1820s (if not sooner). Thomas' son George Knox appears adjacent to him in the census, and his son Thomas Jr. is found separately.^[11]

Thomas wrote his will 4 November 1837. According to the family bible, Thomas died in 1840,^[1] but his will was presented in December court 1837.

"I Thomas Knox of the County of Montgomery and State of Kentucky now being in my right mind and it being my request that George Johnson is to have one fifth part of my Estate after my debts are paid and that part is to be left in George Knox'es hands until he is 21 years of age and the said Knox is to pay six per cent on the money as long as it is in his hands and the interest of the money is to go to school the said George Johnson And this being my last will and testimony November the 4th 1837

Thomas Knox"

Atttest:

• William Ewen
• Green Hall

Who was the minor George Johnson?

Children

• George Knox, b. abt. 1800^[1][3][10]
• Thomas Knox Jr., b. abt. 1802^[12]

Census data indicate there are at minimum two other (female) children.

Research Notes

It would be nice to know how Thomas originated. Some have asserted that he was of a Quaker family from the Rich Square meeting in Northampton County, North Carolina, but there are problems with that scenario.

In a 1922 biography of a great-grandson, A.T. Knox, it is asserted that Thomas Knox

"was a son of one of three Scotch brothers, one of whom settled at Knoxville, Tennessee, one in Michigan and one in Massachusetts. Among the descendants of this ancestor was the mother of former President James K. Polk, and Philander C. Knox of Pennsylvania is also of the same line, while the City of Knoxville is named in honor of the family..."^[3]

The entire biography, a few paragraphs, reads as if it had been informed heavily by the subject, A.T. Knox himself, or members of his family. We might discount at least some of the stated relationships to famous Knox men, but we also might give some credence to the story of three brothers splitting up across the colonies, as that might have been the kind of innocent fact which could survive unembellished through a few generations.

A similar story was handed down by Lillian Elizabeth (Shear) Nelson, who added that the brothers probably migrated around 1740.^[13]

(all below is wrong -- he came from Pennsylvania -- need to move this info into other profiles where it belongs) In considering how Thomas might be related to any other Knoxes, we must wonder about [James Knox]]. James Knox was certainly associated with some of the same people who would become Thomas' neighbors in Montgomery County by 1820, including John Montgomery himself, and for these reasons he is the leading candidate to be Thomas' father. But James and his wife Ann Montgomery aren't believed to have had children, thus the hypothetical mother of Thomas would have need to have been a prior marriage.

Is James Knox a brother? An uncle? Who are Moses and WIlliam Knox who are also on the 1800 Clark County tax list?

There are also other possibilities.

A Thomas Knox was granted 100 acres under a Land-Office Military Warrant in 1784 for three years service in the Virginia Continental Line.^[14] It is possible that he could be "this" Thomas' father. In fact, he could be also be James' brother. No trace of a survey or patent of the land is found.

More generally, Hattie Goodman's tome, "The Knox Family..." presents some possibilities which ought to be ruled out or included individually when time permits.^[15] Further research required. Maddox-1056 may have some notes floating around based on analysis of the Hattie Goodman book and research by

Circumstantial evidence and family stories may be sufficient to say that it is probable that Thomas is related to James, but we have no particular evidence that James is the father, and so can reach no meaningful conclusions as to his origins.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Smillie, Carol. Transcription of old family bible in Forum message: Message Boards > Surnames > Knox. boards.ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/boards/surnames.knox/19.45.47.781.787 : [https://web.archive.org/web/20221116231645/https://www.ancestry.com/boards/surnames.knox/19.45.47.781.787 accessed/archived 28 Apr 2015); citing "an old Bible owned by one of Uncle Harve's grand daughters."
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCCX-82Z : accessed 26 August 2015), Thomas Knox, Crooked Creek, Estill, Kentucky, United States; citing enumeration district 39, sheet 62A, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 0412; FHL microfilm 1,254,412. His son Thomas Jr.'s census indicates that his father was born in Virginia, however, this census was taken 110 years after Thomas' birth, and thus may not be considered most reliable.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} Kerr, Charles, William E. Connelley, and E M. Coulter. History of Kentucky Vol 5. Chicago: American Historical Society, 192; digital images "History of Kentucky,' The Internet Archive (https://archive.org/stream/historyofkentuck05kerr#page/312/mode/2up : accessed 25 Aug 2015), pp. 312-313. The biographer asserts that he came to the Old Indian Fields because he believed it would be a good place to hunt.
4. ↑ U.S. Compiled Service Records, Post-Revolutionary War Volunteer Soldiers, 1784-1811 for Thomas Knox, ancestry.com; citing National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served from 1784 to 1811; Record Group: 94, Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1762 - 1984; Series Number: M905; Roll Number: 13, Range of Surnames : Acres, Benjamin - Young, William (http://interactive.ancestry.com/2237/32321_B034564-00821/12411 : accessed 25 Aug 2015).
5. ↑ Winkler, John F, and Peter Dennis. Fallen Timbers, 1794: The Us Army's First Victory. Oxford: Osprey Pub, 2013., p. 25.
6. ↑ Doyle, George F. Marriage Bonds of Clark County, Kentucky: From the Formation of the County in 1793 to 1850. Winchester, Ky: Doyle, 1933. Print, "Knox, Thomas, and Elizabeth Dewitt, daughter Peter Dewitt (consent); surety, Moses Tredway 1799 Apr 15."
7. ↑ Kentucky, Tax Lists, 1799-1801 for Thomas Nox, Clark County, "'Second Census' of Kentucky 1800", Ancestry.com. Kentucky, Tax Lists, 1799-1801 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006; citing Clift, G. Glenn. Second Census of Kentucky, 1800. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2005. p. 218 (http://interactive.ancestry.com/3720/gpc_secondcensusky-0234?pid=20783 : accessed 25 August 2015)
8. ↑ Ibid., p 165 (http://interactive.ancestry.com/3720/gpc_secondcensusky-0234?pid=20783 : accessed 25 August 2015).
9. ↑ "United States Census, 1820", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHGF-9PH : accessed 26 August 2015), Thomas Knox, 1820.
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1} "United States Census, 1830," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-25125-20613-73?cc=1803958 : accessed 26 August 2015), Kentucky > Montgomery > Not Stated > image 57 of 101 > entry for Thomas Knox, age 50-60; citing NARA microfilm publication M19, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
11. ↑ "United States Census, 1830", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHPG-Q84 : accessed 26 August 2015), Thomas Knox, 1830.
12. ↑ Thomas Jr.'s association to the family is circumstantial based on his name and that he lived very near to George, whom we believe to be his brother.
13. ↑ This fact is not directly sourced, but in general she cited statements and papers from her mother, Armina (Knox) Shear; papers and notes of Grace Maxwell Knox loaned to her by Mary Baker Knox Morard; and newspaper clippings from Kentucky. This citation needs improvement once Libby's document is posted. Maddox-1056.
14. ↑ "REVOLUTIONARY WAR WARRANT 2860.0,", Land Office Images, Secretary of State, Kentucky; original certificate, Land-Office Military Warrant, No 2860, Certificate from the Governor and Council, Commonwealth of Virginia. ( http://landofficeimages.sos.ky.gov/landofficeimages/jukeboximage.aspx?DocDb=REVOLUTIONARY+WAR+WARRANTS&DocTitle=2860.0&Title=REVOLUTIONARY+WAR+WARRANT+2860.0 : accessed 25 August 2015).
15. ↑ Goodman, Hattie S. The Knox Family: A Genealogical and Biographical Sketch of the Descendants of John Knox of Rowan County, North Carolina, and Other Knoxes. Richmond, Va: Whittet & Shepperson, 1905; accessed as "The Knox family; a genealogical and biographical sketch of the descendants of John Knox of Rowan County, North Carolina, and other Knoxes," Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/knoxfamilygeneal00good : accessed 25 August 2015).