ROBERT LINDEL KNOX was born in Camden, New Jersey on April 6, in either 1888, 1892, or 1893, as he gave different answers to government officials at different times in his life. According to the 1895 New Jersey Census, his parents were William and Jennie Knox. William Knox apparently was an ill-tempered sort, and was in and out of trouble with the law on numerous occasions. His parents appear to have parted ways shortly thereafter, and shortly before the 1900 Census was enumerated his mother married Joseph Lane, son of former Camden Fire Department member Barton Lane and nephew of Camden Fire Department members James Lane, and Charles Lane.

The 1910 Census shows Robert L. Knox living with his grandparents, parents, and extended family at 310 Washington Street in South Camden. He was then working as a teamster for the American Ice Company, which sold coal and ice. By 1912 he had married and by the following year was living with his wife Rosalia at 822 Division Street. A son, Robert B. Knox, was born in 1913 but died in August of that year  at the age of six months from an intestinal ailment.

Robert L. Knox was still working for American Ice when he registered for the draft on June 5, 1917. Another child had been born by this time. The Knox family was still living at 822 Division Street.  During the years on Division Street, 821 Division lived was well-known local baseball player George Clayton. Both men worked for the American Ice Company. In January of 1917, while cutting ice at a lake in the Kirkwood section of Voorhees Township, both men took part in rescuing a skater who had fallen through the ice, with four other men, including a teenager, Raymond Burgess. Both Knox and Burgess would later join the Camden Fire Department.

On March 23, 1918 Robert L. Knox was appointed to the Camden Fire Department. By the end of 1918 he and his wife moved to 766 Pine Street, where they were residing when the 1919 Camden City Directory was compiled. He was still a member of the Camden Fire Department in January of 1920 when the census was enumerated. Sadly, he and his wife had lost their child, possibly during the flu pandemic of late 1918. The 1920 Census shows that Robert and Rosalia Knox were then living with his mother and her third husband, John Coates, at 802 South 6th Street.

By 1924 Robert L. Knox had left the fire department, possibly due to injury as he was collecting a pension of some sort in 1931, according to Fire Department records. He was living at 450 Henry Street.

The 1927 Camden City Directory indicates that Robert L. Knox had remarried. He was working as a taxi driver and living with his wife Martha at 811 Princeton Avenue. By 1929 they had left Camden and had moved to 721 Center Avenue in Collingswood. The 1930 Census shows him at that address, and states that he was a partner in a taxi business. Fire Department records from 1931 also show him at that address.

By the spring of 1942 Robert Knox was out of the taxi business and had returned to Camden. He and his wife Martha were then living at 224 Friends Avenue. He was then working at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation shipyards. The 1947 City Directory lists him and his wife at 478 Newton Avenue. He was then working as a boiler fireman. New Jersey Bell Telephone Directories show him at that address as late as the fall of 1959.

By 1970 Robert L. Knox had left Camden. His last address according to the Social Security Administration was in Fortescue, Cumberland County, New Jersey. He passed away in July of 1968.