My Genealogy Hound

HON. STRATTON S. KNOX a leading member of the Cortland County bar, once judge of the County Court, and now president of the National Bank of Cortland, is one of the foremost men of the middle section of the Empire State.

Judge Knox was born in the town of Colesville, Broome County, N. Y., in 1845, and is a son of Ira and Annie (Doolittle) Knox. He received his preliminary education in the schools of Windsor, after which he entered the Cortland State Normal School, graduating with the Class of 1871, and then attended the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn. He immediately began the study of law in the office of M. M. Waters, of Cortland, and was formally admitted to the bar in 1875. He then began practicing law in company with his preceptor, and so continued until Mr. Waters in 1881 removed to Syracuse. Mr. Knox then proceeded alone until 1884, when he was elected to the office of county judge, a position he held for the full term of six years. In 1890, he returned to the active practice of his profession, which he has continued ever since. He was made president of the National Bank of Cortland in 1897, succeeding Mr. Wesley Hooker.

The National Bank of Cortland was chartered March 1, 1869, as the Bank of Cortland, with a paid-up capital stock of $100,000.00. Mr. James S. Squires was its first president. On January 1, 1875, the Bank was re-organized as the National Bank of Cortland, with the same capital stock and the same president in charge. Mr. Squires retired in 1884, and was succeeded by Mr. Hooker. The history of this institution since its inception has been of the best. Ever in the hands of men of the highest worth and integrity, it has stood the test of the most stringent times without a tremor. Its record in the community and in the banking world is one of conservative, skillful and trained management, which has resulted in a successful fulfillment of the purposes for which it was founded.

The paternal grandfather of the subject of this biography was James Knox, who came into Central New York from the State of Connecticut. He took up and settled a tract of land in Windsor, Broome County, which comprised over seven hundred acres, felling the trees and building the first home on his new possession from logs. Few luxuries of life were to be enjoyed by the pioneers in those days. All they had either in the way of food or apparel had to be produced by their own ingenuity and labor from the land they tilled. Mr. Knox toiled long and faithfully, and prosperity came to him. He was able in time to get a goodly portion of his land under cultivation, to put up new buildings and to surround himself and family with the comforts of life. He died at an advanced age, having accumulated a very considerable property. His family that he reared consisted of the following members, by name: Henry; James; William; Charles; Hezekiah; Caleb; Ira; Hannah (Hoadley); Mrs. Chaffee; Mrs. Freeman; and Mrs. Burroughs.

Ira Knox, a son of the preceding, and father of the Judge, was born and reared on the home place in Broome County. He retained the homestead and three hundred acres of the original estate, and in the old age of his parents tenderly cared for them. In early life, besides his duties on the home farm, Mr. Knox did considerable lumbering and rafting, and dealt in cattle. The lumber he rafted down the Susquehanna River to tide-water, and the cattle he marketed at various Eastern points. Mr. Knox was married to a daughter of Abel Doolittle of Ouaquaga, Broome County, N. Y., and to them were born three children: Milton, now deceased; Stratton S., our subject; and James. Ira Knox was born in 1801, and died in 1871. His wife Annie’s life was spanned by the years 1811 and 1884. Through life Mr. Knox was eminently a business man. The enterprises he touched seemed to thrive from the very contact. Withal he was a very popular and respected gentleman, and representative of his county in every sense. He was a leading Democrat, and held many of the town offices, as well as being a prime mover in the plans of the party. On his own place the evidences of his thrift were prominent. A large frame house, which he erected, stands to this day and is the property of Mrs. Milton Knox, a daughter-in-law. His farm was one of the very best in a section celebrated for fertile and productive land.

Judge Knox married the daughter of his former tutor and partner, M. M. Waters, Esq. The latter was for years one of Cortland’s brainiest and most respected attorneys, a man of learning and pronounced legal capacity, to whom Judge Knox has been a worthy successor. Entering the practice of law with a complete preparation, and having mental abilities and a natural bent of the kind most useful to a successful lawyer, our subject has attained both prosperity and influence. Of most genial nature and pleasing address, he has a host of friends, whom he loves to welcome in his beautiful home on South Main Street. Shrewd, alert, and foreseeing when the time for action has come, Judge Knox is an advocate, in whom men trust, and an antagonist with whom they combat with caution. He is a gentleman of a wide range of experience, and in the financial field, where he is an important factor, he brings to bear the same thorough and methodical ways, which stand him in such good stead in his profession. On a preceding page may be found an excellent portrait* of Judge Knox, who easily ranks with the best citizens of Cortland County.

*A portrait was included in the original printed volume.