Knox family papers

The papers of many different people in the Knox and related families appear in this collection. Some of the people whose names appear in this collection are documented sufficiently that brief biographical statements can be made about them.

These are: Dr. D.R. Dunlap: Dr. David R. Dunlap was born in Anson County, NC in 1777, and migrated to Mecklenburg County early in the nineteenth century. He practiced medicine for many years, and developed a fine reputation. In addition to his medical practice, he also served as the clerk and master of the Court of Equity in Mecklenburg County. Dr. Dunlap married a Miss Jenkins, but this marriage was short-lived, as she died about a year later. Then Dunlap married her sister—a practice not accepted by the Presbyterian Church. Being cast out from the Presbyterian Church, Dunlap was one of the charter members of the new Methodist Church in Charlotte. After the death of his second wife he married Polly Lowrie. By the middle of the nineteenth century, Elizabeth B. Lowrie, Margaret A. Lowrie and Mrs. Margaret Jones were all living in the Dunlap household. The 1850 census indicates that he had an estate valued at $5700 at that time.

James B. Knox: James B. Knox was the third child of James Knox and Hannah McFalls Knox and was born in Steele Creek Township, Mecklenburg County in 1803. As an adult, he became a lawyer and served as the executor of several estates, including those of his parents and other family members. He married Ann Graham Price on August 31, 1842.

Samuel B. Knox: Samuel Buie Knox was the eldest child of James and Hannah Knox. He first married Cynthia Pettus (his second cousin), of York, South Carolina in 1825. This marriage was short-lived, as Cynthia died in childbirth the following year, and she and her child were buried in the family cemetery in 1826. Knox remarried in 1836 to Ann Sloan Lowrie, a widow with two children—Robert B. Lowrie and Samuel J. Lowrie (both of whom served in the Civil War). According to his will, at the time of his death, he owned hundreds of acres of land and was a man of considerable wealth.

William Harrison Knox: William H. Knox, born in April of 1844, was the fourth child of Samuel B. Knox and Ann Sloan Lowrie Knox. He served in Company H of the 11th North Carolina Volunteers during the Civil War, and was wounded, but never fully recovered from his injury. Like his elder brother, James, he never married. After his death in 1919 he was buried in the cemetery of the Steele Creek Presbyterian Church.

Samuel J. Lowrie: Samuel J. Lowrie was a lawyer who lived in Charlotte in the mid-nineteenth century. He seemed to have been a fairly prominent member of the Charlotte and Steele Creek community, and he also traveled to such places as New York City and Philadelphia, writing home about his travels. In some of his letters he sometimes referred to “Aunt E” who was probably Elizabeth Lowrie. A leave-of-absence form, dated August 19, 1861, that bears his signature indicates that he served as a first lieutenant in Company C of an artillery battery during the Civil War. Lowrie is listed in the 1850 census when he was nineteen years old.

Charles June Porter: We know quite a bit about June Porter by the volume of written material he left behind. His name is a source of conjecture because though he seems to have referred to himself most often as “June” other documents identify him as Charles J. Porter, or J.C. Porter or June C. Porter. June married Annie Knox and with her had several children: Margaret Agnes, Mary Lee, Charles June, Junior, and Ruth. There is a large quantity of papers documenting the purchase of real estate in Charlotte in 1927. What we know of their children is that at least one of them, Margaret, went on to higher education, matriculating through the Appalachian State Teachers College.