John F. Knox Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 617-618

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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JOHN F. KNOX, a prominent farmer of Faulk county, has a pleasant home, 
and enjoys prosperity in township 119, range 67. He was born in Canada, 
in the province of Toronto, December 28, 1867. His father, P. E. Knox, 
was an eminent Methodist Episcopal divine, and studied for his life 
work after attaining the age of thirty years. He was a native of 
Canada, and the grandfather of our subject was a native of Vermont and 
was a carpenter by trade. The Knox family came to America prior to the 
Revolution, and General Knox of Revolutionary fame was the great-
grandfather of our subject, while the grandfather of our subject was a 
soldier in the war of 1812. The mother of our subject, Amy Raven, was 
born in Canada, and her father was a native of Maryland. The father of 
our subject went to Dakota in the winter of 1882 and squatted on land 
in Faulk county, and the following spring removed his family. 

He was one of the earliest settlers, and was the first minister in the 
country, organized the first Sunday school, preached the first funeral 
service, and performed the first marriage ceremony in the county, in 
the spring of 1883. He erected a sod shanty, and sod barn, and had 
three horses, one cow and a calf, and was three hundred dollars in debt 
when he started in Dakota. He made a success of the calling of an 
agriculturist, and was in easy circumstances at the time of his death, 
which occurred December 12, 1897. He was prominent in township and 
county affairs, and took an active interest in the welfare of his 
community. He was the second county treasurer of Faulk county, serving 
during 1884-85 and '86, and was a delegate to the state constitutional 
convention at Sioux Falls, and took part in the organization of the 
state and county. 

Our subject was the seventh in a family of nine children, and was 
reared and educated in Wisconsin. He ran away from home at the age of 
fourteen years, and followed the cattle range in Texas three years. In 
1885, at the age of seventeen years, he went to Faulk county, South 
Dakota and worked a short time, then went to Brown county, where he 
remained from 1887 to 1892. In the winter of 1892 he went to his 
father's farm, and took charge of his estate, since which time he has 
operated the farm. He operates about seven quarter-sections of land 
annually and the farm consists of three hundred and twenty acres. Snake 
Creek runs through the land, and numerous springs supply water for, its 
flow the year round. He engages in wheat and cattle raising. He now 
owns forty head of cattle, and always has a good average yield of 
grain, eight to ten bushels per acre, although he has met with loss by 
drought and hail several times. A good set of farm buildings completes 
a ,model farm, and modern machinery is used to facilitate the work of 
cultivating and garnering the grain. 

Our subject is a Republican in political faith, and is strong in his 
convictions. He is active in matters of a public nature, and is keenly 
alive to the needs of the community. His efforts are expended in the 
behalf of every good cause, and any feasible plan to advance the county 
and township meets with his favor. He takes an active part in the 
political movements of his county, and is one of the leaders of his 
party in his vicinity. As a respected and upright citizen he commands a 
high position.