Seymour H. Knox I (1861-1915)

He was born on a small farm in Russell, St. Lawrence Co., New York. He went to the village school where he became a teacher himself at just fifteen. In 1884, he put every dime he had into opening a store with his maternal first cousins Frank and Charles Woolworth in Reading, Pennsylvania. The Woolworth & Knox partnership continued to grow until he bought out his cousins and continued as S.H. Knox & Co. in Buffalo. In 1911, he merged his 111-stores with his cousins to incorporate the famous F.W. Woolworth & Co., receiving $12-million of the merger proceeds that he used to buy the Marine Bank. By the time of his death, he was Vice-President of the Woolworth Company and Chairman of the Board of the Marine Trust Company. His private art collection was one of the finest in the country and he gave generously to the Albright Gallery. In 1890, he married Grace, daughter of Charles A. Millard, and had four children.