Shawnee County KS Archives Biographies.....Knox, John D. 1828 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com September 26, 2006, 3:45 pm Author: James L. King (1905) REV. JOHN D. KNOX. REV JOHN D. KNOX, who has been identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church in Topeka since this city boasted of a population of 1,600 inhabitants, has been identified with all that has worked for Topeka's educational and moral advancement for the past 40 years. He was born in Belmont County, Ohio, October 28, 1828, and is a son of John and Mary (Davis) Knox, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Rev. Mr. Knox bears a noted historical name, one which has been connected with religious work and faithful adherence to conscious duty for generations and generations. His ancestors as far back as John Wesley were Methodists. Before the removal of the family to the North of Ireland, they lived in Scotland, about 12 miles south of Glasgow. William Knox, the grandfather of our subject, was born in Ireland, in June, 1767, and was licensed to preach in 1787. In 1791 he came to America and in 1800 he joined the Baltimore Conference as a probationer, from which he passed into the Ohio Conference and in 1825 into the Pittsburg Conference, on its organization. He was a faithful and useful servant of the church, and died at his home at Cadiz, Ohio, June 14, 1851, when a few days over 80 years of age. One of his sons, Jeremiah Knox, was well known in Pittsburg and was a member of his father's conference, and the ministry is represented in the third generation by our subject. "Father" Knox, as he was affectionately called for many years, is mentioned by one who knew him well, as a composite of goodness. In no sense was he a great preacher, but he was Methodistic in his doctrines, was Biblical in his teaching and touching in his exhortation. His sweetness of spirit and his simple, holy manner of life, made him a very useful minister. For a number of the last years of his ministry, he was relieved from a settled charge and was placed on a four weeks circuit as second preacher, in the vicinity of his home. He was then 75 years of age and a remark made to a friend at that time showed his attitude of mind. "The conference" said he, "is so kind in placing me with young men, who take such good care of me." John Knox, father of Rev. John D. Knox, removed from Belmont County to Cadiz and later to Freeport, Harrison County, Ohio, while our subject was young. He was a chairmaker by trade and some of the products of his skill were disposed of in the Capitol Building at Washington. He participated in the War of 1812, and assisted in keeping the English out of Baltimore, in which city he learned his trade. He died at the age of 62 years. His widow, who was born in 1800, survived until the age of 87 years. She retained all her faculties and her physical vigor to old age, her hair not becoming gray before she was 80 years old. Rev. John D. Knox spent the greater part of his youthful days at Freeport, Harrison County, Ohio, where he attended the local schools. He also was a student at Franklin College and graduated from Duff's Mercantile College at Pittsburg. In his 17th year he united with the Methodist Episcopal Church and that his professions were regarded as entirely sincere was shown by his appointment, a few months later, as a class leader. It was the desire of his parents that he should be educated as a physician and, with this end in view, he was sent to Dr. McBain, a well-known practitioner at Cadiz, to study the science of medicine. Probably the experienced medical man soon discovered that his pupil was only half-hearted in his devotion to the study of anatomical charts and the marvelous construction of the human body, and when he found him pouring over Horn's "Introduction to the Holy Scriptures" instead of a treatise on the circulation of the blood, he advised the parents to give up their plans for making a physician of him and to send him to Franklin College to study for the ministry, saying: "He will make a better preacher than a doctor." This sensible physician had also under his teaching, when a young man, the late distinguished Bishop Simpson, but we are not advised as to whether he gave the same advice in that case. Thus it was that John D. Knox became a theological instead of a medical student. While still at college he was licensed to exhort and a few months later was licensed as a local preacher on his home circuit. At the next Quarterly Conference he was recommended to the Pittsburg Annual Conference as a suitable person to enter the traveling connection. Accordingly, in June, 1850, he was admitted on trial, at Canton, Ohio, and was sent to the Washington and Cambridge circuit. For 15 years he took work in that conference and served three stations in Pittsburg. It was during the fearful ravages of cholera in that city, in 1854, that the young minister particularly attracted attention by the practical following out of the great truths he loved to preach. Regardless of his own safety and comfort, he nursed the sick, comforted the dying and cared for the dead until he himself fell a victim to the dread scourge. A remarkably strong constitution and a previous abstemious life brought him safely through. His experiences during that solemn time when 1,800 people in Pittsburg perished in two months and when at one period there were 40 dead and unburied persons in the vicinity of his Church, Asbury Chapel, can never be forgotten, nor can his services as he bravely labored night and day to succor those in need. In 1864, Rev. Mr. Knox served the Christian Commission at Fredericksburg, Bells Plain, Falmouth Station and other points, his time being filled with important duties and great responsibilities. He recalls one Sunday in Fredericksburg when he waited on sick and wounded soldiers in two hospitals, until 10 o'clock in the morning (there being at that time 8,000 sick and wounded in the city) and then preached seven different sermons up to 10 o'clock that night. In 1865 he was transferred to the Kansas Conference and was stationed at Topeka where he remained three years. Later he was twice appointed presiding elder of the Fort Scott district, but work and exposure, with attacks of fever and ague, had so prostrated him that he requested to be relieved from the duties of that position. Since then he has made his home at Topeka and has been a witness to the wonderful development of this whole section. When he came here, he remembers the fort that then stood on the corner of Sixth and Kansas avenues. Rev. Mr. Knox, while accepting no charge, has never entirely given up preaching the Gospel. Finding that change of scene and climate were needed to restore him to health, he so arranged his business affairs that he could be absent a long time and for 20 years did not travel less than 8,000 miles annually and sometimes 20,000 miles. He has been twice through Continental Europe, Scotland and England, once in Ireland, Egypt and Palestine and has lectured on many subjects in various localities. His lecture, "The Holy Land," has been listened to by thousands with pleasure and profit. He has been a valued contributor to the Pittsburg Christian Advocate; for four years was editor of the Kansas Methodist, and is the author of a widely circulated book of 583 pages, entitled "Paths to Wealth." At various times he has served as chaplain to a number of organizations like the Masons, Odd Fellows and Sons of Temperance, to which he belongs and has never failed to raise his voice and use his influence in promoting everything educational, reformatory and moral. He has served as superintendent of public instruction for Shawnee County, and for some time was treasurer of the Kansas Freedmen's Relief Association. As such he was summoned to Washington, D. C, to appear before the committee to investigate the causes that led to the emigration of the negroes from the Southern to the Northern States. In 1873 he was honorary commissioner to the Austrian Universal Exposition held at Vienna. In 1858, Rev. Mr. Knox married Mary Dibert and they had eight children, three daughters and one son being still at home. All the children still survive and there are 11 grandchildren. One son, William C, who is now located at San Francisco, built what is now known as the Columbian Building on West Sixth street, Topeka, formerly known as the Knox Building. Mr. Konx's mansion, known as "Belvoir," at Potwin, was about the second house erected there. This addition to the city of Topeka is now fllled with some of the most beautiful mansions in this part of the State. The population is several hundred and the locality is considered one of the choicest residential sections of the city. Additional Comments: Extracted from: HISTORY OF SHAWNEE COUNTY, KANSAS AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS EDITED AND COMPILED BY JAMES L. KING TOPEKA, KANSAS "History is Philosophy Teaching by Examples" PUBLISHED BY RICHMOND & ARNOLD, GEORGE RICHMOND; C. R. ARNOLD. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, 1905. 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