Knox, Jessie Juliet

Biography

Born Jessie Juliet Daily, Jesse Juliet Knox (1867? - ) was an author mostly of children's tales, poem, and verse. She was born in Cleveland, Tennessee; youngest daughter of Reverend William Clinton (1818-1897) and Julia Ann (Godby) Daily. Reverend Daily was a veteran minister and pioneer of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Knox was educated, specializing in music, in various public and private schools in Tennessee, graduating from high school in 1884.

Knox moved to San Jose, California after graduation, where she married Charles Williams Knox, a San Jose banker and singer, on June 4, 1890. She was the President of the Pacific Short Story Club of California. Beginning in 1900 she was a writer and lecturer on Pacific Coast Chinese.

Knox began writing stories and articles in a kindly and sympathetically matter about the Chinese for the time. Her writing style and positive view of the Chinese attracted the attention of Ho Yow, Chinese Consul General to San Francisco. Through this friendship, Knox gained the greater part of her knowledge of wealthy Chinese. She also became a patron of the San Jose Chinese community.

Knox "adopted" a nine year old Chinese girl, Lynne Shew (circa 1899). Under Knox's influence, Lynne became an expressive writer, an outstanding fundraiser, an able administrator and excellent teacher. Shew went to China in 1925 and founded a hospital, returning to San Francisco in 1940.

Knox divorced Mr. Charles Knox. She later moved from San Jose to Oakland, where she became a welfare worker. She passed away in Oakland, California, survived by one daughter, Helen Ferier; a sister, George Callen of Athens, Tennessee; a brother, Wilbur F. Bailey of Los Angeles; a niece, Bean; and a nephew, James H. Daily of Knoxville.

From the guide to the Jessie Juliet Knox Papers, 1893 - 1932, (History San Jose Research Library.)