Lorenzo V. Knox was a great merchant, assisted in building up a wholesale enterprise at Leavenworth which still exists, flourishes, and bears his name.
In a broad public sense more important even than his achievements as a merchant were the efforts and influences which he directed to the general well being of his home city. He became actively identified with all that pertained to the material and moral welfare of the community. This was particularly manifested in his connection with educational affairs. For years Mr. Knox was a member of the Leavenworth school board, serving twelve years in all and part of the time as president of the board. The impress of his activities is a lasting benefit to the city educational institutions.
Lorenzo V. Knox was born in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts November 6, 1841, and died at Leavenworth December 6, 1899, at the age of fifty-eight. His parents were Abijah B. and Abigail (Babcock) Knox. He was descended from William Knox, who came to America in colonial times and founded a home in Massachusetts.
In his early boyhood Lorenzo V. Knox went with his parents to Westfield, Massachusetts, and while growing up he received a normal school training. For a time he was a teacher, and during the Civil war he was a member of the Signal Service Corps.
It was in 1866 that he came to Leavenworth and began the residence in this city which was only terminated by his death thirty-three years later. In Leavenworth he had an uncle, Griswold Catlin, who was member of an old wholesale shoe firm, a business that had been established in the pioneer times of Leavenworth. Mr. Knox became an employe of this house and by unremitting industry, fidelity to his duties, a comprehending intelligence rose in responsibilities until he became a partner. The firm of Catlin & Knox still exists, though the older members have passed away.
Mr. Knox was also the first president of the Union Savings Bank of Leavenworth. However, his home was his chief delight. On May 4, 1880, he married Miss Lizzie V. Ide, of Leavenworth. They became the parents of three daughters: Edith, Mrs. Franklin Edward Carroll; Dorothy; and Marion, who became the wife of Leo J. Kern and died in Los Angeles January 14, 1916.