Colonel James Knox

The following passage is from The Long Hunters of Skin House Branch by Ruth Paull Burdette and Nancy Montgomery Berley and published in 1970 by Statesman Books --

"James Knox was one of the men who made the Long Hunt on Skin House Branch.  He had evidently been in Kentucky, perhaps with Henry Skaggs, before the 1770 stay.  He was born in Ireland and when fourteen years of age gained passage money to America by giving up to his sisters any claim to their father's estate.  On arrival he made his way to the Virginia frontier and became one of that region's most noted hunters.

He was in Kentucky with the Isaac Hite surveying party in 1774.  On 18 July Knox and about nine men were in camp on Salt River when they were attacked by the Indians.  James Hamilton of Fredericksburg and James Cowan of Pennsylvania were killed.  The other got back to James Harrod's camp and left soon afterward for Virginia. 

On his return to Washington County, Knox served as a scout for Colonel William Christian's Regiment in the Point Pleasant campaign.  He saw service in the American revolution, heading a company of Morgan's Riflemen at Saratoga, Stillwater, and elsewhere and retired at the war's end with the rank of major.  After he settled in Kentucky, despite his former rank, he enrolled as private in a company of Lincoln county militia commanded by his friend, Benjamin Logan.  He later rose to colonel in the militia. 

In 1788 Knox represented Lincoln County in Virginia Legislature and was senator in the Kentucky body from 1795 to 1800.

He took up much land in the state.  In 1775 he located and raised a crop of corn on a 400 acre survey on Beargrass Creek in Jefferson County.  He entered large tracts 'on the edge of the barrens' in the Green River Country, one of which was for 500 acres some ten miles below Pitman's Station, another, a 1000 acre survey on Sinking Creek.  He did much surveying in the area, locating land for others.  Henry Skaggs was at times engaged to furnish meat for the surveying crews. 5-

Colonel Knox made his settlement in Shelby County between the Jefferson County line and Shelbyville on Bullskin Creek, where his good friend Benjamin Logan later moved.

General Logan died in 1802 and in 1805 his widow, Anne Montgomery Logan, married James Knox.  It was a first marriage for him.  Knox died in 1822 and three years later the widow of the two distinguished Kentucky pioneers passed away.  She was buried close to the graves of her two husbands but beside General Logan.

The simple granite stone that marked the grave of one of the most noted of the Long Hunters of Skin House Branch was chiseled with a modest inscription:

'General James Knox was born in Ireland, came to America at the age of 14.  Served in the Revolutionary War. Died December 24, 1822 at an advanced age.'

Knox in later years was best remembered of the Long Hunters.  Because of frequent association - hunting, exploring, and surveying - with the Green River Country, he has been a favorite of the residents who later named the settlement which grew up along the bank of Skin House Branch 'Camp Knox' in his honor." (p. 24).

Another resource with information on James Knox is Collin's History of Kentucky by Lewis and Richard Collins, specifically volume two.  This work was published in 1882 by Collins & Co. and is highly referenced in subsequent books on Kentucky's history.