Chatham-Mcintosh County GaArchives Biographies.....Knox, Robert H. 1862 - living in 1913 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 15, 2004, 6:41 pm Author: William Harden p. 724-725 ROBERT H. KNOX. Among the many progressive men who are making the city of Savannah, Georgia, a modern and up-to-date business center Robert H. Knox holds a prominent place. He belongs to that latest type of business men which believes a man should interest himself in affairs other than those pertaining to his own business in order to broaden his outlook and fit him for whatever responsibilities it may fall to his lot to shoulder. Therefore Mr. Knox has always taken a keen interest in politics, and before coming to Savannah was mayor of Darien, Georgia. His ability as a business man is unquestioned for he has attained his present high position by slow degrees, achieving success not through the fortunes of environment and good luck but by hard and conscientious work. He is a prominent figure in the social world; is a member of the Oglethorpe Club of Savannah, the Savannah Yacht Club, and St. Andrews Society. For a number of years Mr. Knox was prominently connected with the military organizations; of the state. He was captain of the McIntosh Light Dragoons, which afterward became Troop "G," one of the companies of the First-Regiment of Cavalry. Resigning this captaincy he became a member of the staff of Gov. "W. Y. Atkinson, and was also on the staff of Gov. A. D. Candler. He is now on the retired list, holding the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Fraternally Mr. Knox confines his interests to that oldest of orders, the Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, being an affiliated past master of Solomon's Lodge, No. 1, the oldest Masonic lodge in the state. Robert H. Knox was born in Savannah in 1862 while his mother was living temporarily in this city. His parents were Walter and Ellen (Hilton) Knox. His father was born in Charles county, Maryland, where his family had lived for several generations. His mother was born in England and came with her parents to Georgia in 1852. In 1817 his father came to Georgia and located in Wilkes county. Subsequent to this move the family lived for a time in Houston and Talbot counties in Georgia. Robert H. Knox lived in the central part of Georgia until he was fourteen years of age when his parents moved to the southern part of the state and settled in Darien, McIntosh county. On April 21, 1892, he married Miss Eloise M. Bennett, who was born in Walterboro, South Carolina. They have five children, namely: Eloise Bennett, Valencia Fraysse, Ellen Hilton, Robert Hilton and Janet Elizabeth. Mr. Knox became connected with the lumber business of Hilton and Foster at the age of fifteen, and since that time has been associated more or less prominently with the lumber industries of the state. The Hilton sawmill business was originally started at Darien before the war, having been founded by Mr. Knox's grandfather, Thomas Hilton, who took into partnership his two sons, Thomas and Joseph Hilton, under the firm name of Thomas Hilton & Sons. After the war when Thomas Hilton, Sr., retired from the business James L. Foster entered the firm which then became known as Hilton & Foster. Subsequently the business of this firm and that of Hilton, Foster & Gilson, and also that of R. Lachlison & Son, were merged into the Hilton Timber and Lumber Company. The new company then owned and operated four lumber mills. In 1889 the lumber business of Norman W. Dodge, who owned two mills on St. Simon's island, was consolidated with the Hilton interests, and the corporation then became known as Hilton & Dodge Lumber Company. At the same time a mill owned by Hilton & Foster on the Satilla river was taken in. Later the Altamaha mills near Brunswick were bought. In 1901 the Hilton & Dodge Lumber Company purchased the mill of the Vale Royal Manufacturing Company in Savannah, and in 1906 came into control of the Mill Haven Company. In addition to these two mills the company at that time owned and operated four other plants, namely: a large band mill at Belfast, Georgia; a mill at Darien; one near Brunswick, and another on the Satilla river. The general headquarters of the company have been in Savannah since 1905, at which time Mr. Knox moved to Savannah. In the fall of 1911 all of the interests of the company were consolidated with the Paschall and Gresham interests under the name of The Hilton-Dodge Lumber Company with a capital stock of $7,500,000. A large amount of capital was added for the purpose of enlarging the business and for carrying on more extensively such subsidiary enterprises as the handling of timber lands, agricultural lands, general merchandise, machinery and live stock. The Hilton-Dodge Lumber Company, of which Robert H. Knox became president, is one of the largest lumber concerns in the South. It has seven large sawmills in Georgia and South Carolina and branch offices in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Portland, Maine, and Richmond, Virginia. It has agencies in Atlanta and New Haven, Connecticut. Also in Liverpool, Hamburg. Rotterdam, Antwerp, and Spain, covering eastern Europe, to which it does a large export business. It is now engaged in building a transportation line consisting of a powerful sea-going towboat and eight sea-going barges of large capacity. The tug is one of the largest on the Atlantic coast. In addition to his connection with the Hilton-Dodge Lumber Company, Mr. Knox is president of the Savannah Timber Company, and is one of the directors of the Savannah Bank and Trust Company. He is also president of the Pulaski Realty Company, owning the Pulaski House property, and is largely interested in other real esate in Savannah. Additional Comments: A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA BY WILLIAM HARDEN VOLUME II ILLUSTRATED THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 1913 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/chatham/bios/gbs253knox.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 6.3 Kb