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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Auckland Provincial District]

Mr. Charles Knox

Mr. Charles Knox, one of Auckland's very early and prosperous pioneers, was born at Ardstraw, County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1809, and was descended from a well-known old Irish family in Ulster, a country which has given New Zealand men who, through ability and perseverance, have taken the front ranks in politics and enterprise. Mr. Knox was brought up to farming, and in the early forties left Ireland with his wife, and determined to acquire a fortune in the Colonies. He landed first at Sydney, where he remained two years, and then removed to Auckland, which was then a small assemblage of tents and huts, with very little promise of the noble city which now lies embosomed in the Waitemata harbour. Shortly after his arrival Mr. Knox, with his thorough knowledge and practical experience in farming, picked out and purchased about 500 acres of land between where St. John's College now stands and the Tamaki, a district known to possess some of the finest pastoral land about Auckland. Here he carved out from the native bush what in a few years he converted into a fine property, which supported hundreds of cattle, sheep, and horses. During the number of years Mr. Knox occupied the farm, he was continually improving and adding to its value. Mr. and Mrs Knox made two trips to the Old Country, and previous to his death Mr. Knox was contemplating a prolonged tour through America and Europe, when a stroke of paralysis seized him, and he never thoroughly recovered. He had a third stroke, which cut him off on the 5th of December, 1871, at the age of sixty-two years, and his widow was his sole survivor. Mr. Knox was a thorough colonist, who, undeterred by the early pioneer struggles and hardships, retired with a large fortune, acquired through perseverance and thrift. Previous to his last contemplated tour, he sold a considerable part of his estate, but a large position is still in possession of Mrs Knox. Although Mr. Knox abstained from taking part in public affairs, his well-known acts of kindness and of monetary help placed many a poor struggling colonist on the way to success. Mr. Knox married Miss Russel, of Ardstraw Bridge, who accompanied him to New Zealand. In her he possessed a worthy and devoted wife, who cheered him by her courage and sympathy, through all the vicissitudes and hardships of the early pioneer days, and also helped him in a practical way in the management of his tarm; in fact, her knowledge of
Mrs. E. Knox.

Mrs. E. Knox.

page 434 stock and farming was equal to that of her husband. Since the death of Mr. Knox she has lived in dignified retirement in her beautiful villa in Symonds Street, doing good in an unostentatious way, her right hand, in the words of the Scripture, not knowing what her left doeth. And although she is now (1901) over eighty years of age, she is a fine hearty old lady, and still retains the distinctive traits of her delightful countrywomen—keenness of wit and tongue, and robust health.