Cliff Buchan
News Editor

When Mike Knox talks history to his fifth-grade students at Linwood Elementary, they listen with interest. Here is a teacher who knows his history. And thatís not just a play on words.

For the past 35 years, Knox, 57, has poured his free time into a genealogy project that has achieved amazing results. And Knox is far from done with this labor of love to document his ancestors.

Since first starting on this personal pursuit of ancestors in 1970, Knox has documented some 50 generations of family that date to 6 a.d. It is a documentation that has lineage to kings, dukes and noblemen stretching from the British Isles across Europe.

In the first four centuries of life in America, Knoxís descendants include a brush with the presidency, slave owners and military men who fought in many wars, including the American Revolution with the Colonial Army and with both the Union and Confederacy in the Civil War.

How it started

Born in Tennessee in 1947 the son of a World War II Naval veteran, T. Michael Knox arrived in Minnesota in June of 1969 after serving four years in the Air Force. While stationed in Germany, he met his wife-to-be, Rebecca, who was from Minneapolis.

They married in November of 1969 and Knox enrolled at North Hennepin Community College. It was here in early 1970 when he was first introduced to a genealogy class as he started pursuit of his teaching degree.

The class triggered a personal learning desire that is yet to dim, even after 34 years. ìOnce Iím hooked, Iím hooked,î Knox said.

Knox has accomplished his amazing documentation as time has allowed. He intertwines his genealogical study around family and work.

He has taught at Linwood Elementary since 1974, minus a stint in 1978-79 to attend school for air traffic control certification and a second stint in the military, this time from 1982-1984 with the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant junior grade after graduating from Officer Candidate School.

He returned to teaching in 1984 when his Naval commitment came to a close.

ìAt that point I decided teaching was what the Lord wanted me to do,î he says. ìYouíve got to love what you do.î

Through his many career steps, Knox says he always found some time to work on the family history. He has done so with his own research and the efforts of other family members who have the same interest

History is personal

Students with any interest in history will find Knoxís lectures sprinkled with personal facts and dates that bring the textbook lessons to life. As a teacher, he says one of his goals is to instill a love of history in his students.

Based on his research, Knox has traced his ancestry to Europe and shortly after the birth of Christ.

And there are brushes with fame in the family background of this Linwood Township man.

ìIíve got them back to William the Conqueror,î Knox said of his lineage. William I was the Norman who defeated the English in 1866 and became King of England. He lived from 1028-1089.

The ancestry includes the likes of many notables.

Take Friedrich Barbarossa (1123-1190), a German King and Holy Roman Emperor who led the Third Crusade to the Middle East to free Jerusalem in 1190. Barbarossa never made it as he drowned in Syria while attempting to cross a river, Knox said.

He also has family ties to the Plantagenet period that started in the 14th century. Knox says he has traced his ancestry directly to King Edward I of England. He was born in 1239, the son of King Henry III, and ruled from 1272 until his death in 1307.

King Edward I was known as ìLongshanksî for his fierce treatment of opponents and as the ìHammer of the Scotsî for his efforts to keep Scotland under English control. He conquered Wales during his reign.

Longshanks was the English king who eventually defeated and executed William Wallace in 1305 during the height of the Wars of Scottish Independence. Wallace became a household historical figure with the Mel Gibson movie, ìBraveheart.î

Knoxís historical work has produced documentation that his predecessors fought in numerous European wars.

American roots

Today, Mike and Rebeccaís kids, Colleen and Stephen Michael, represent the 12th generation on American soil.

On the Knox side of the family tree, the lineage traces to around 650 a.d. and the highlands of Scotland. Knox comes from the Gaelic word ìLennokk,î meaning hills or low mountains. His family comes from the Clan MacPharland.

ìWe were the MacPharlands who lived up in the hills,î Knox said. While some people from the time took their names from their occupations, others, such as the MacPharlands, obtained family names based on where they lived.

In an effort to find a better life and avoid conscription to fight in European wars, the Knox clan was one of thousands to see a new life in the Colonies that became the United States. The first Knox family member arrived in Virginia in the 1730s.

According to Knoxís research, at least nine family members from the Rogers/Lutterls family branch fought in the American Revolution against the English.

ìThey were all soldiers, not just patriots,î Knox said. ìAnd all nine survived.î

Two family members fought at Bunker Hills and two others were in action at Yorktown, according to Knoxís records.

During their first century of life in America, many of the Knox clan moved to the mountains of North Carolina and Virginia.

ìThey didnít want anything to do with the English. ìThey lived with the Indians. Many married Cherokee or Creek Indians.î

It was only recently that Knox, through family research, found that his ancestry included Cherokee blood. It had been a deeply hidden family secret but not for vain reasons.

In the 1830s when many Eastern Indians, including Cherokees, were displaced and deported to Oklahoma, Knoxís relatives were able to shield many family members from relocation.

Family members told government officials the dark-skinned family members were ìBlack Dutch,î a family blood line that dated to Europe and the familyís military duty with the English sea battle in 1588 that defeated the Spanish Armada. Legend has it that defeated Spanish seamen made it to Ireland and Holland where they intermixed.

ìThatís what they claimed to protect their families,î Knox said of the Black Dutch legend. ìWe always thought they were from Ireland and Holland. Thatís what we were always told.î

More U.S. wars

The desire to escape wars in Europe was achieved but Knox family members in the U.S. found other hostilities here. Prior to the Revolutionary War, family members fought in the French and Indian War (1754-1760).

For family members, the War of 1812 the U.S.-Mexican War (1846-1848) and the U.S. Civil War would follow. The Knox clan moved to the mountain regions of Tennessee after the War of 1812.

In the Civil War, Knox said many members of the Knox clan, some of which were slave owners, fought on the Confederate side. On his motherís side (Rogers) of the family tree, strong Methodist beliefs and politics of anti-slavery led to Union backing.

Knox has yet to determine exactly how many family members fought in the Civil War for the two sides. He has documented that seven family members, including his great-great grandfather, Ike Russell, was captured by the Union at the Battle of Vicksburg. They were later released with the understanding they would return home and no longer fight.

ìAll but two went back home (to Tennessee),î Knox said.

An uncle, Jeremy Knox, the only Knox family member who served in the Union Army, is the only known casualty, a victim of measles, Knox said.

Old ways died hard, however, Knox said. In the years following the Civil War, a number of family members joined the Ku Klux Klan.

Helps kids learn

It is such personal stories that sprinkle Knoxís history lessons to his students. He also teaches a condensed genealogy unit to introduce the topic to kids who learn the basics of researching family history.

ìIt gives me a perspective of who we are and where we come from,î Knox said of his research. He hopes the lessons will open the eyes of students.

ìItís not for me, itís for them,î he says.

ìWe are history. Our people do these things. We fight in wars. We are leaders. They built this country.î

Knox says he can see the eyes gleam in students when he tells them he is a cousin, many times separated, of the 11th President of the United States, James Knox Polk, 1845-1849. But it is true, he says, pointing to the fact James Knox Polkís mother, Jean, was his great-great-great-great aunt.

A work in progress

Knox says his historical quest of the family tree is a work in progress. It is something he plans to pursue in greater detail after he retires from teaching.

After military stays in countries in all corners of the world, he plans more trips to destinations where his family history has connections.

He hopes to write at least one book on growing up in the South and his life experiences. A family history may also be a topic.

Knox says he looks forward to his first visit to the highlands of Scotland where some of his ancestors once lived. ìI canít wait to get there,î he says with that Southern drawl that has never left him.

Heís been told by relatives who have visited the region of Scotland that there are relatives there with a strong resemblance to the teacher.

ìThatís a scary site,î he says with a big grin and a twinkle in his eye.

Genealogy tips

Michael Knox, a fifth-grade teacher at Linwood Elementary School, has been working on his family genealogy since 1970 and he still has work to do. Itís a project that anyone with a computer and Internet service can do today, Knox says, but donít rush the project. The work will take time and the ability to deal with roadblocks.

Here are some tips from Knox:

ïUse a loose leaf notebook and bookmark one page for each family member.

ïStart little by documenting your immediate family.

ïStart your research by listing complete names and birthdays of relatives. Use old family Bibles, books, visits with family members, grave stones at cemeteries and the Internet to research your family tree, Knox says. Other good sources of information include military records, birth and death certificates on file with county officials, and pension numbers that were tied to military records in earlier periods of history.

ïRecords may also be available from such nationally-based organizations as the Sons of the American Revolution or the Mormon Church Family Service Center of the Latter Day Saints in Salt Lake City, UT.

ïThen itís time to ìstep back,î Knox says. ìAt some point you will run out of places to go. But donít quit.î

The secret, he says, is remaining vigilant and willing to continue the research when time and opportunity presents. Those opportunities may happen when you least expect and sometimes after the research sits fallow for a time. ìUntil that lost cousin finds me,î Knox said.

For more information on how to get started, go to: www.usgenweb.org/research/starting.shtml.

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