Family:William Knox and Mary Campbell (1)

According to Knox’s two major biographers (North Callahan and Thomas Morgan Griffiths), Henry Knox was one of ten boys born to William and Mary Campbell. Only 4 lived to adulthood: John (baptized July 5, 1741), Benjamin (baptized April 7, 1747), Henry (b. July 25, 1750) and William (baptized August 19, 1756). John and Benjamin apparently went to sea, and pretty much disappeared from the historical record – Knox’s personal papers do not contain any correspondence to or from them and very little mention of them, and there are only a couple of instances in contemporary diaries or correspondence of other people that a Knox who might have been one of those sea-faring brothers is mentioned. In 1780, Knox indicated in his correspondence that William and he were the only brothers still living, but it is unclear when the others died.

1. ↑ The Brannan Family, in The Saunders Family History.

   Ellen Dyer, Director of Education and the Center for the Study of Early American
   History at The General Henry Knox Museum in Thomaston Maine provided the following
   information:
   According to Knox’s two major biographers (North Callahan and Thomas Morgan Griffiths), Knox was one of ten boys born to William and Mary Campbell. Only 4 lived to adulthood: John (baptized July 5, 1741), Benjamin (baptized April 7, 1747), Henry (b. July 25, 1750) and William (baptized August 19, 1756). John and Benjamin apparently went to sea, and pretty much disappeared from the historical record – Knox’s personal papers do not contain any correspondence to or from them and very little mention of them, and there are only a couple of instances in contemporary diaries or correspondence of other people that a Knox who might have been one of those sea-faring brothers is mentioned. In 1780, Knox indicated in his correspondence that William and he were the only brothers still living, but it is unclear when the others died. William was very close to Henry, and there is no record that we have found indicating that he married and had a family (indeed, he apparently suffered from an unrequited love that may or may not have contributed to the mental illness that eventually caused his death). It is possible that John and/or Benjamin married and had a family, but neither Knox’s biographers nor we have yet come across any mention of it in the historical record. I did check the index of Knox’s correspondence for a Sarah Emery or a Sarah Brannan, but did not find her."