Knox, Elizabeth Washington Grist, 1808-1890.

Elizabeth Washington Grist Knox was the wife of Dr. Reuben Knox (1801-1851) of St. Louis, Mo., and mother of Franklin R. Grist (b. 1828), a Yale graduate, painter, and diplomat. Her father was cotton planter John Washington (1768-1837) of Kinston, Lenoir County, N.C. Her brother, James Washington (1803-1847), was a doctor in New York City.

From the description of Elizabeth Washington Grist Knox papers, 1814-1863; 1890; 1909 [manuscript]. WorldCat record id: 27190323

Elizabeth Heritage Washington, daughter of planter John Washington (1768-1837) and Elizabeth Heritage Cobb (1780-1858), was born on 10 February 1808 and spent her childhood in Kinston, N.C. Among her siblings were an older brother, James Augustus (1803-1847), who practiced medicine in New York, and a younger sister, Susannah Sarah (1816-1890), who married William A. Graham, governor of North Carolina and United States senator. Elizabeth was educated at Mrs. White's in Raleigh, N.C., between 1822 and 1824. After completing her schooling, she lived with her parents in Kinston until 18 June 1927, when she married Richard Grist of Washington, N.C. Richard and Elizabeth had one surviving child, Franklin R., born 22 December 1828. Richard Grist died on 21 September 1833.

In July 1840, Elizabeth Grist married Reuben Knox (1801-1851), a widower originally from Massachusetts. From his previous marriage to Olivia Kilpatrick, Knox had at least four children: Joseph A., born 11 October 1830; William Augustus Washington, born 8 August 1832; Henry Elijah, born 5 September 1835; and Alexander (1837-1841). He may also have had a son named Thomas. The Knoxes moved their family to St. Louis, Mo., soon after their marriage. At least two children were born to them in St. Louis: Eliza Washington, born 17 November 1846, and James Augustus Washington, born 6 May 1849.

Reuben Knox practiced medicine and conducted various business affairs in St. Louis. He was often not paid for his services, and the cholera epidemic of 1849 increased his patient load beyond what he felt he could handle. To better conditions for himself and his family, Knox decided to move to California. In May 1850, he began his journey accompanied by his sons Joseph and Henry, his nephew Reuben Knox, and a few slaves. Elizabeth, with the couple's two youngest children, went to visit friends and relatives in Massachusetts and North Carolina. She and the children were to join Knox and the older sons in California once a home and business had been established.

In 1849, Franklin Grist, Elizabeth's son by her first marriage, graduated from Yale and joined Harold Stansbury's expedition to explore and survey the Great Salt Lake region of Utah. Grist was an artist who had been hired to make sketches and maps for the expedition. In July 1850, Grist joined the Knoxes' wagon train en route to California.

Knox and his party arrived in Sacramento on 14 September 1850. Knox established a mercantile business and began plans for a store in San Francisco. Along with his son Joseph, he later farmed and raised livestock on the Novato Ranch near San Francisco. On 28 May 1851, Knox drowned in a sailboat accident in San Pablo Bay. After his stepfather's death, Franklin Grist moved to Washington, D.C., where he was a portrait painter, and then sailed to France where, between 1855 and 1858, he studied art in Paris. Grist remained abroad for 35 years, serving in the late 1880s as vice consul for the United States in Venice. He returned to Raleigh upon his mother's death in 1890.

For further information, see A Medic Fortyniner: Life and Letters of Dr. Reuben Knox, 1849-'51 (N.P.: McClure Press, 1974), edited by Charles Turner, which includes an introduction and transcriptions of letters from Knox and his sons, 1850-1856; and references in The Papers of William Alexander Graham, Volumes 1-4, edited by J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton (Raleigh: State Department of Archives and History, 1957-1961).

From the guide to the Elizabeth Washington Grist Knox Papers, 1814-1863, 1890, 1909, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)