1870 Child's Gazetteer: History of Knox
GAZETTEER
AND
BUSINESS DIRECTORY
OF
ALBANY & SCHENECTADY CO,. N. Y.
FOR 1870 – 71.
COMPILED AND PUBLISHED BY
HAMILTON CHILD.
AUTHOR OF WAYNE, ONTARIO. SENECA, CAYUGA. TOMPKINS, ONONDAGA,
MADISON, CORTLAND, CHEMUNG, SCHUYLER. ONEIDA, STEUBEN, ORLEANS,
NIAGARA, GENESEE, CHENANGO, MONROE, HERKIMER,
SARATOGA, WASHINGTON, MONTGOMERY AND
FULTON, AND OTHER COUNTY DIRECTORIES.
Permanent Office, 23 & 24 E. Washington St., Syracuse, N. Y.
"He that has much to do, will do something wrong, and of that wrong must suffer
the consequences ; and if it were possible that he should always act rightly, yet when
such numbers are to judge of his conduct, the bad will censure and obstruct him by
malevolence and the good sometimes by mistake."—SAMUEL JOHNSON.
НАNG UP THIS BOOK FOR FUTURE REFERENCE.
SYRACUSE:
PRINTED AT THE JOURNAL OFFICE, 23 & 24 E. WASHINGTON STREET.
1870
Page 136
KNOX, named from John Knox, the Reformer, was formed from Bern, February 28, 1822. It is the north-west corner town of the County. Its surface consists of a high platean region, broken by a few small hills. Its eastern part constitutes a portion of the Helderbergh region, but the declivities are gradual and give the surface a moderate inclination towards the north and west The principal streams are the Bozen Kil, forming a part of the eastern boundary, and its branches, and the Foxen Kil and Beaver Dam Creek in the south part. There are two caves, supposed to be of considerable extent, about one and a fourth miles north of Knoxville. The soil is chiefly gravel and clay, with hardpan underneath. The Albany & Susquehanna Railroad extends through the north-east part of the town.
Knoxville (Knox p. o.) was formerly known as "Union Street," and is still locally called " The Street."
West Township, (p. o.,) East Township and Peoria, (West Bern p. o.,) on the line of Bern, are small villages.
This town was settled by Germans before the Revolution. During the war the people became divided in politics, and after the defeat of Burgoyne, many of the Tory families went to Canada. Captain Jacob Van Aernden was an active leader of the Whigs of this section during the war. Samuel Abbot and Andrew Brown, from Connecticut, settled in the town in 1789, and soon after twenty or thirty families came in from the same State. The first church was a Reformed Protestant Dutch.
The population in 1865 was 1,809, and the area 25,587 acres.
There are 12 school districts, employing the same number of teachers. The number of children of school age is 532 ; the number attending school, 436; the average attendance, 173, and the amount expended for school purposes during the year ending September 30,1869, was $3,188.45.
https://archive.org/details/cu31924025959135
Child's Gazetteer Front Page, 1870 
Child's Gazetteer Page 136, 1870 - Knox History
