Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#4269
ELIZABETH WASHINGTON GRIST KNOX PAPERS
Inventory
Abstract: Elizabeth Washington Grist Knox, 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. Other family members include
Elizabeth's father, cotton planter John Washington
(1768-1837) of Kinston, Lenoir County, N.C., and her
brother, James Washington (1803-1847), a doctor in New
York City.
Chiefly letters, most of which were received by
Elizabeth Knox in Washington and New Bern, N.C.,
between 1827 and 1840, and in St. Louis, between 1840
and 1849, many from her brother James. There are also
many letters received by Franklin Grist, mostly
1845-1849, chiefly from relatives and school friends.
Also included are letters from John Washington to his
wife and daughter about running the family's
plantation and about Elizabeth's schooling and other
letters between various members of the Washington and
Knox families. There are also six letters from
Elizabeth's friend, reformer Dorothea Dix. Topics
include student life at the University of North
Carolina, 1822-1823; family life in eastern North
Carolina, St. Louis, and upstate New York; plantation
and household affairs; westward migration, especially
passage by steamship and wagon train; encounters with
the Nez Perc‚, Pawnee, and Flathead (Salish) Indian
tribes; observations on the Mormon community in Salt
Lake City; descriptions of ranching and mining in
California; Franklin Grist's travels as a sketch
artist with the Stansbury Exploration of the Great
Salt Lake region of Utah in 1849-1850; the activities
of slaves in Missouri; Franklin's student life at Yale
in the late 1840s and as an art student in Paris,
1855-1858; and James Washington's experiences as a
medical student in Philadelphia, 1824-1829, and Paris,
1829-1831. There are also a few college compositions,
poems, and other papers.
Online Catalog Terms:
Art students--France--History--19th century.
Artists--United States--History--19th century.
Dix, Dorothea, 1802-1882.
Family--California--Social life and customs--19th century.
Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs--19th
century.
Family--Missouri--Social life and customs--19th century.
Family--New York--Social life and customs--19th century.
France--Description and travel--1800-1918.
Grist, Franklin, b. 1828.
Kinston (N.C.)--Social life and customs--19th century.
Knox, Elizabeth Washington Grist, 1808-1890.
Knox family.
Knox, Reuben, 1801-1851.
Medical students--Pennsylvania--History--19th century.
Medical students--France--History--19th century.
Migration, Internal--United States.
Mormons--Utah--History--19th century.
New Bern (N.C.)--Social life and customs--19th century.
Nez Perc‚ Indians--History.
Paris (France)--Description--1848-1870.
Pawnee Indians--History.
Plantations--North Carolina--Lenoir County.
Saint Louis (Mo.)--Social life and customs--19th century.
Salish Indians--History.
Salt Lake City--Description--19th century.
Slavery--Missouri.
Stansbury Exploration, 1849-1850.
Steamboats--History--19th century.
United States---Discovery and exploration--19th century.
Washington (N.C.)--Social life and customs--19th century.
Washington family.
Washington, James Augustus, 1803-1847.
Washington, John, 1768-1837.
West (U.S.)--Description and travel--1848-1860.
Women--Missouri--Social conditions--19th century.
Women--North Carolina--Social conditions--19th century.
Yale College--Students--History--19th century.
Size: About 270 items (1.0 linear foot)
Provenance: The bulk of the papers were received from Agatha
Knox Chipley of Raleigh, North Carolina, in April
1981. Mrs. Chipley is the granddaughter of
Elizabeth and Reuben Knox. An addition of
approximately eighty items was received from Mrs.
Chipley in 1990.
Access: No restrictions.
Related Collections: Richard Grist Ledger (#3859);
William Alexander Graham Papers (#285).
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or
their descendants, as stipulated by United States
copyright law.
INTRODUCTION
Biographical Note
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. Eliza- beth,
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).
Collection Overview
The collection is arranged into two series as follows:
Series 1. Correspondence
Subseries 1.1. Letters from John Washington
Subseries 1.2. Letters from James Augustus Washington
Subseries 1.3. Letters from Dorothea Dix
Subseries 1.4. Letters from Elizabeth Grist
Subseries 1.5. Letters from Reuben Knox
Subseries 1.6. Letters from Franklin R. Grist
Subseries 1.7. Letters from others
Series 2. Miscellaneous Items
Typed transcriptions, prepared by the donor, of most of the
pre-1841 letters and some of the other letters, are interfiled
with the originals in Series 1. The central figures in the
correspondence are Elizabeth Grist Knox and her son, Franklin R.
Grist. The bulk of the letters were received by Elizabeth in
Washington and New Bern, N.C., between 1827 and 1840, and in St.
Louis, between 1840 and 1849. Almost half of the letters to
Elizabeth are from her older brother James Augustus Washington.
Most of the rest are from her son, Franklin, with scattered items
from her father, John Washington; her second husband, Reuben
Knox; and others. Letters received by Franklin Grist, mostly
1845-1849, are chiefly from his stepbrothers, his mother, and
school friends. Miscellaneous letters are principally from
Elizabeth's father to his wife; from family members in New York
to Reuben Knox before his marriage to Elizabeth; and between
other members of the Washington and Knox families. Six letters
appear from reformer Dorothea Dix.
The correspondence is most useful as a source for the study of
family life in eastern North Carolina, St. Louis, Missouri, and
upstate New York, and includes detailed information on daily
activities, the education of children, plantation affairs, and
neighborhood and church news. Unusual opportunities also appear
in the correspondence for studying westward migration in its peak
period between 1849 and 1851, when several family members moved
to California. Their letters describe their passage by steamship
and wagon train, their experiences with various Indian tribes,
observations of the Mormon community in Salt Lake City, the
landscape and people of their new homes, and their business
affairs. A number of Franklin Grist's letters were written while
travelling as a sketch artist with the Stansbury Exploration in
1849-1850. Correspondence also appears for Franklin as a college
student at Yale in the late 1840s and as an art student in Paris,
1855-1858. These letters provide mostly details of college
social life, city life in Paris, and the French countryside.
Letters from James Washington, a medical student in Philadelphia,
1824-1829, and in Paris, 1829-1831, discuss his travels and
French politics.
Eleven miscellaneous items found in Series 2 include college
compositions, poems, and scattered personal papers of Franklin
Grist.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1. Correspondence
1814-1863. About 260 items.
Arrangement: By correspondent.
Chiefly letters received by Elizabeth Grist Knox between
1822-1858 from her brother James Washington and her son Franklin
Grist, with about fifty letters received by Franklin Grist as a
student at Yale between 1845-1849. Elizabeth's correspondents
also include her father, John Washington; her second husband,
Reuben Knox; and her friend, Dorothea Dix. A few letters that
she wrote Reuben and Franklin appear between 1846-1851. There
are also miscellaneous letters exchanged by various Knox and
Washington family members.
Topics in the letters include family life in Kinston and
Washington, N.C., St. Louis, Mo., and upstate New York; college
social life; westward migration and exploration; and travel and
study in France.
Subseries 1.1. Letters from John Washington
1814-1835. 32 items.
Originals and typed transcriptions of letters from John
Washington to his wife Betsy and his daughter, Elizabeth. The
earliest items are five letters, 1814-1817, to Betsy, written
while Washington was on business trips to Philadelphia,
Petersburg, Virginia, and Raleigh, N.C. These letters include
mostly instructions for managing the family's plantation near
Kinston. Brief letters between 1822 and 1824 from Washington at
his home in Kinston to his daughter Elizabeth, a student at Mrs.
White's in Raleigh, report illnesses and other family news and
give Elizabeth copious advice on her education. Washington's
letters in 1828 and 1829 are chiefly to Elizabeth in Washington,
N.C., where she moved after her marriage to Richard Grist. They
provide news of her brothers and sisters and of plantation
affairs. One letter in 1835 from Washington in New York to Betsy
in New Bern, N.C., concerns having the cotton on their plantation
ginned.
Folder 1 1814-1815, 1817
2 1822-1824, 1828-1829, 1835
Subseries 1.2. Letters from James Augustus Washington
1822-1845. About 130 items.
Sixty-eight letters to Elizabeth from her brother James
Augustus Washington between 1822 and 1845, most with typed
transcriptions. A letter from Washington to his father and one
to his brother-in-law appear in 1833.
Three letters in 1822 and 1823 from Chapel Hill, N.C., where
Washington was attending the University, discuss student life and
give Elizabeth brotherly advice. Six others from Washington in
Kinston are addressed to Elizabeth at school in Raleigh. From
1824 to 1829, James wrote from Philadelphia, where he was
pursuing medical studies, to Elizabeth in Kinston and later in
Washington and New Bern, N.C. The approximately twenty letters
from this period are taken up largely with family affairs and
express James's tender feelings for Elizabeth. His letters give
little attention to his medical studies.
In the spring of 1829, James left Philadelphia to continue his
medical training in Paris, France. About sixteen letters from
him there, written between 1829 and 1831, are included. Along
with references to family affairs, Washington discussed such
topics as European political events, especially the Revolution of
1830; night life in Paris, including evenings at the theater; and
points of interest, such as the Tuilleries palace and the Louvre.
When he returned to the United States, Washington completed his
medical training and established a practice in New York City.
About nineteen letters to Elizabeth between 1832 and 1845 relate
largely to family matters, especially physical problems. In a
few letters, particularly those of 21 April 1834, 8 December
1834, and 1 September 1836, Washington recommended treatments for
ailments suffered by various family members.
Two additional letters appear in 1833: one, from James in New
York to his father in New Bern, discusses the death of
Elizabeth's daughter; the other, from James in New Bern to
Richard Grist in Washington, discusses a visit he planned to make
Richard and Elizabeth.
Folder 3 1822-1823
4 1824
5 1825-1827
6 1828
7 1829
8 1830
9 1831-1833
10 1834, 1836-1840, 1845
Subseries 1.3. Letters from Dorothea L. Dix
1848-1851. 6 items.
Originals of six letters to Elizabeth Knox in St. Louis,
Raleigh, and New Bern, from Dorothea Dix in 1848, 1849, and 1851,
while she was campaigning for reforms in the treatment of the
mentally ill. She wrote the Knoxes from Washington, D.C.,
Germantown, Pennsylvania, Baltimore, Md., Raleigh, N.C., Fort
Chester, N.Y., and Columbia, S.C., to report on her travels, her
efforts on behalf of state and national legislation to finance
improvements in the care of the insane, and her health.
Folder 11 1848-1849, 1851
Subseries 1.4. Letters from Elizabeth Grist Knox
1846-1851, 1863. 19 items.
Letters from Elizabeth Knox, chiefly to her son, Franklin R.
Grist, and her husband, Reuben Knox, between 1846 and 1851, with
two letters addressed to other relatives. Typed transcriptions
appear for eight of the letters.
Elizabeth wrote Franklin from St. Louis between 1845 and 1849,
while he was at Yale. She discussed his schoolwork, vacation
plans, and drawing; reported on his brothers' activities; and
gave news of family illnesses, deaths, and marriages and of the
family's household and business affairs. Of note is a letter of
22 January 1846 cautioning Franklin against overrefinement and
informing him of her contempt of "Dandyism." Also of interest
are letters of 8 June 1846, commenting on the Mexican War; of 31
March 1848, describing a trip to New Orleans; and of 19 December
1847, concerning several slaves working to pay for the freedom,
one by opening a barbershop. A few of Elizabeth's letters in
1846 and 1847 contain notes to Franklin from his stepbrother,
William A. Knox, and his stepfather, Reuben Knox, which discuss
mostly family, school and social life and provide news of mutual
friends.
Seven detailed letters from Elizabeth to Reuben, written in
1850 and 1851, while she was visiting family in Hillsboro, New
Bern, and Raleigh, N.C., and he was travelling to and settling in
California, pertain to the welfare of their children and to the
activities of North Carolina relatives and friends. Elizabeth
often related stories in her letters that she had heard about
other westward migrants and expressed fears for her husband and
sons. Her comments on Reuben's activities sometimes offer
insight into his life on the trail.
Additional letters include one, dated 9 June 1849, from
Elizabeth in St. Louis to "Sister Mary," concerning the birth of
Elizabeth's son James, a cholera epidemic in St. Louis, and
Franklin's joining the Stansbury expedition. Another, dated 30
October 1863, is from Elizabeth at "La Cabana" in Chatham County
to her sister, Susan Graham, in Hillsboro concerning knitting and
news of friends.
Folder 12 1846-1850
13 1851, 1863
Subseries 1.5. Letters from Reuben Knox
1840-1851. 36 items.
Twenty-five letters to Elizabeth from Reuben Knox, and about
ten letters from Knox to other relatives, especially his son
Joseph, and his stepson Franklin Grist. One typed transcription,
for a letter dated 20 June 1848, appears.
The letters from Knox to Elizabeth are dated 1840-1841 and
1849-1851. The earlier letters chiefly discuss family affairs,
although experiences on a trip from St. Louis to New England also
are recounted, including life aboard the riverboat "Ohio," on
which Knox travelled. The later letters to Elizabeth were
written during Knox's journey west and after he arrived in
California. He wrote from Cairo; from aboard the steamers St.
Storm, St. Paul, and St. Joseph; from Ft. Kearney; Scott's Bluff;
Ft. Laramie; Salt Lake City; Sacramento; San Francisco; and
Novato Ranch (outside San Francisco). In those dated before
September 1850, Knox described, among other subjects, difficult
travelling conditions, encounters with Pawnees and other Indians,
and the frustration he experienced as a doctor on the trail as
members of the wagon train succumbed to cholera and other
diseases. Knox's letters from California relate to personal and
business affairs, which included ranching, merchandising, and
mining. His letter of 14 October 1850 mentions a "submarine
armor," apparently worn to dive in search of metal in deep rivers
or old mines filled with water. In his letter of 1 May 1851,
Knox mentioned a fire in San Francisco that destroyed many
businesses and in which he himself suffered some financial
losses. His last letter, begun on 18 May 1851, was completed on
27 May 1851, the day before he died.
Knox's letters to other family members are chiefly dated 1845
and 1848-1850, and most are addressed to his son Joseph between
1848 and 1850 and stepson Franklin in 1845 while they were
attending Yale. These letters largely impart fatherly advice,
although in the later ones Knox discussed his plans to go to
California.
Two letters appear from Knox in St. Louis to his
mother-in-law, Mrs. John Washington, in Hillsboro, N.C. Dated
1844 and 9 May 1849, they inform her of the birth of a son and
Elizabeth's health, and give news of other family members.
Folder 14 1840-1841, 1844-1846, 1848-1849
15 1850-1851
Subseries 1.6. Letters from Franklin R. Grist
1840-1858, 1909. About 50 items.
About forty-five letters Franklin Grist wrote to his mother,
Elizabeth Knox, with a handful of letters addressed to his
stepfather, Reuben Knox, his Aunts Mary and Susan, his
stepbrother, William, and his niece, Ethel Hughes.
Transcriptions, mostly typed but a few handwritten, appear for
about half of the letters. Three letters are available only in
transcription.
Grist's earliest letter appears in 1840, when he wrote his
mother from school at Mr. Baldwin's in Hillsboro. No letters
appear between 1841 and 1846. In 1847 and 1848, Grist wrote to
his mother from Yale concerning his painting, his vacation
activities, family, and news of his stepbrother Joseph, who was
also at Yale. Of note is a letter of April 1848 to his father
concerning commencement.
Seven letters appear to his mother and one to his father in
May 1849 and June 1850, when Franklin was travelling as an artist
with the Stansbury expedition to Utah. These letters describe
the men on the expedition, including Howard Stansbury, J. W.
Gunnison, George M. Howland, and Dr. James Blake. Also described
are a tornado and other storms; a buffalo hunt near Ft. Laramie;
and encounters with Indians from various tribes, such as the
Flathead and the Nez Perc‚. Grist also discussed the beliefs,
practices, and government of the Mormon community in Salt Lake
City. His letter of October 1849 includes a sketch of the survey
party's camp in the Salt Lake Valley.
There are six letters, 1850-1851, from Franklin in San
Francisco to his mother. In them, he described his arrival in
California, the landscape and people around him, local land
disputes, and his feelings of failure over his painting and his
being an "effeminate--over refined--and useless incumbrance" upon
his stepfather (see 21 May 1851). Of note is a letter, dated 21
May 1851, that he wrote to Reuben Knox in San Francisco from
Trinidad, concerning their packing business.
A handful of letters appear from Grist to his mother and
others while he was working as a portrait painter in Washington,
D.C., between 1852 and 1854. These letters discuss mostly
family, his deep depression, and his painting.
About twenty letters, 1855-1858, were written to his mother by
Grist from Paris, where he apparently had gone as a student.
These letters, most of which are quite difficult to decipher,
describe city life, including theatrical performances he attended
and sidewalk cafes, and his travels into the French countryside,
including visits to small towns, ruins, and chateaus, and the
local people. Of note is a letter of 11 August 1855, giving a
detailed description of the Fˆte Nationale. Grist also wrote
from London and Liverpool in early 1855, describing the bad
weather and pollution, and from Dresden and Munich in 1858,
discussing his travels there.
Folder 16 1840, 1847-1849
17 1850
18 1851
19 February-June 1855
20 July 1855-May 1856
21 1858, 1909, and undated
Subseries 1.7. Letters from Others
1818-1851, 1890, and undated. About 50 items.
Chiefly letters from relatives and friends to Franklin Grist
while he was a student at Yale between 1845 and 1849. Scattered
letters, also mostly from family and friends, appear addressed to
Elizabeth Grist Knox between 1825-1851, to Reuben Knox between
1821-1850, and to other family members.
Franklin Grist received letters from his stepbrothers, Joseph,
Henry, and William, and his half-brother, James Knox, and from a
number of school and family friends. Topics include Joseph's
preparations to enter Yale; hunting, fishing, and other outdoor
activities; church and school news; vacation plans; college
social life, especially the use of alcohol; and news of friends
and family. Of note are a letter in 1846 from F. T. Bryan, a
student at West Point, describing the dullness of the school, and
a letter from Reuben Knox in California in 1851 to Frank in an
unknown location describing Reuben's work on Novato Ranch and a
law suit concerning the ranch.
Between 1821 and 1830, while practicing medicine in Kinston,
N.C., Reuben Knox received five letters from his sisters, Ruth,
Mary, and Eleanor, who lived at the family's home, Blandford, in
New York. They wrote concerning church affairs and religious
devotion; the failing health of their mother; the death of their
sister, Almira; Ruth's teaching school; and Reuben's impending
marriage to Olivia Kilpatrick in 1829. Reuben also received two
letters in 1828 from his brother, Joseph Knox, at Blandford,
discussing his plans to take the bar examination and establish
himself as a lawyer in Hardwick, their mother's poor health, and
politics. There is also an 1850 letter to Reuben from New York
minister, Henry M. Field, who wrote giving news of his brother
Stephen's sailing for San Francisco and his ministerial
activities.
In 1846 and 1847, Elizabeth Knox received two letters from her
friend Mary E. Field in New Haven. Mrs. Field wrote giving news
of Franklin and Joseph at Yale and discussing her brother Henry's
travels abroad. Elizabeth also received single letters from her
cousin Mary Ann Washington in Waynesboro (1825); her mother
Elizabeth Cobb Washington (1829); her brother, George Washington,
in New York (1837?); her sister, Susan Washington (183?); her
stepson Joseph in California (1851); and her friend, E. T.
Atwood, in St. Louis (1851). These letters mostly discuss family
matters. Of note are mention in George's letter of tensions
between Northerners and Southerners at Yale, Joseph's
descriptions of his work on Novato Ranch, and Mrs. Atwood's
detailed news of a cholera epidemic in St. Louis and of former
friends and servants of the Knox family there.
Miscellaneous letters include one dated 1818 from Elizabeth
Cobb in Granville County to her niece, Susanah Gatlin, in
Kinston, discussing preaching and her travels; one dated 1834
from Ann N. Bryan in Beaufort to her sister, Susan Washington, in
Norwalk, Conn., concerning family matters; and an undated letter
from Louisa H. Washington to Susan Washington Graham in Hillsboro
also concerning family matters.
Folder 22 1818, 1821, 1824-1826, 1828-1830
23 1834, 1837, 183?, 1845-1846
24 1847-1848, 1850-1851, 1890, and undated
Series 2. Miscellaneous Items
1845, 1848, 1852, 1890, and undated. 11 items.
College compositions on philosophical and historical topics,
undated humorous and epic poems, and miscellaneous personal items
of Franklin Grist. Included are a bill, dated 26 April 1848,
from Thomas Pease of New Haven for painting supplies and books; a
Vatican museum pass for 1873; and a note from Grist's doctor in
Venice in 1890 attesting to his inability to travel to a
diplomatic meeting because of illness. Also included is an
undated poem on friendship, entitled "Composed By Her Friend
Eliza H. Washington And Presented To Sarah Ann Jones."
Folder 25
SHELF LIST
Box 1 Subseries 1.1-1.6 (folders 1-18)
Box 2 Subseries 1.6-Series 2 (folders 19-25)