Knight Family History
August 12, 2017
We begin each day here at the Knight farmhouse by placing a sandwich board sign out on the grass where it can be seen in both directions as cars pass by. The sandwich board informs passersby of the opportunity to stop and tour the home. We also post a United States flag on the front of the home each morning. I love that a U.S. flag flies here at the Knight home each day. Joseph Knight Sr. descended from Puritans who helped settle the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and his wife, Polly Peck Knight, descended from Pilgrims who were Plymouth Colony founders. Joseph Knight's Puritan ancestor was Englishman John Knight Sr., who arrived in Boston Bay in 1635. Polly's ancestors came in 1620 as part of the Pilgrim migration. Joseph's father, Benjamin, served in the Revolutionary War. To put things into perspective historically, Joseph was 16 and Polly was 14 when George Washington became the first president of the United States in 1789. Joseph and Polly are about as American as one can get, so it is very appropriate that a U.S. flag graces their home each day.
The views in every direction from the Knight home are breathtaking. The home faces east and we wake up each morning to a glorious sunrise over the green, rolling hills in front of the house, and we end each day with an incredible sunset over the Susquehanna River and the green, forested hills behind the home. It really is a supremely idyllic setting. We have discussed several times over the last couple of days how difficult it must have been for the Knights to leave this beloved home and land when they were asked by revelation to join with the other Saints in Ohio in 1831. We read the following today in a Knight family history:
"Until 1830, rural Colesville provided the Knight families with property, homes, and livelihoods--a reasonably comfortable lifestyle. But because of their friend Joseph Smith, that changed. He pointed them toward an untried religious path, a fork off of their normal road, which they chose to take. That choice, made in 1830, changed their lives forever. They accepted baptism into the new church Joseph Smith organized, became a "Mormonite" branch in Colesville, were vilified by Protestant neighbors, defended Joseph Smith from local troublemakers, witnessed supernatural happenings, and left the Colesville area to follow Joseph Smith to Ohio (Stand by My Servant Joseph: The Story of The Joseph Knight Family and The Restoration, Hartley, 2002)."
Newell Knight said the following about this experience, "In obedience to the commandment which had been given, I, together with the Colesville Branch, began to make preparations to go to Ohio . . . As might be expected, we were obliged to make great sacrifices of our property . . . We bade adieu to all we had held dear on this earth . . . and carrying the little of our earthly substance which we could take with us, we started the forepart of April for Ohio."
Knowing what a great sacrifice it was for the Knights to leave here makes our opportunity to be here all the more meaningful and special for us. The Knights would eventually have to leave six homes--Colesville, Kirtland, three in Missouri, and Nauvoo--and start completely over as they devotedly followed their beloved prophet and friend Joseph Smith.
We get so excited when our phone rings at the Knight home and someone is calling about coming for a tour. We are loving this experience and treasuring every moment here. We will attend the Greene Branch for our Sunday meetings tomorrow. We talked today about how it is a little ironic that the very first branch of the Church was here, and now 187 years later there is still just a branch here, not even enough members in this area to create a ward.
We visited Pickerel Pond today, which used to be part of Joseph Knight Sr.'s property. It is now owned by the family of Johnny Hart who was the creator of the B.C. comic strip. He passed away in 2007, but his family still has a home on Pickerel Pond that is situated so beautifully in a thickly wooded area on the shore of the large pond (which looks more like a lake).
We have posted several pictures on the "Photographs" page of our blog, that would take too much room here, if you are interested in seeing them.
We begin each day here at the Knight farmhouse by placing a sandwich board sign out on the grass where it can be seen in both directions as cars pass by. The sandwich board informs passersby of the opportunity to stop and tour the home. We also post a United States flag on the front of the home each morning. I love that a U.S. flag flies here at the Knight home each day. Joseph Knight Sr. descended from Puritans who helped settle the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and his wife, Polly Peck Knight, descended from Pilgrims who were Plymouth Colony founders. Joseph Knight's Puritan ancestor was Englishman John Knight Sr., who arrived in Boston Bay in 1635. Polly's ancestors came in 1620 as part of the Pilgrim migration. Joseph's father, Benjamin, served in the Revolutionary War. To put things into perspective historically, Joseph was 16 and Polly was 14 when George Washington became the first president of the United States in 1789. Joseph and Polly are about as American as one can get, so it is very appropriate that a U.S. flag graces their home each day.
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| Our sandwich board sign |
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| Flying our flag |
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| The view from our backyard looking towards the Susquehanna. |
"Until 1830, rural Colesville provided the Knight families with property, homes, and livelihoods--a reasonably comfortable lifestyle. But because of their friend Joseph Smith, that changed. He pointed them toward an untried religious path, a fork off of their normal road, which they chose to take. That choice, made in 1830, changed their lives forever. They accepted baptism into the new church Joseph Smith organized, became a "Mormonite" branch in Colesville, were vilified by Protestant neighbors, defended Joseph Smith from local troublemakers, witnessed supernatural happenings, and left the Colesville area to follow Joseph Smith to Ohio (Stand by My Servant Joseph: The Story of The Joseph Knight Family and The Restoration, Hartley, 2002)."
Newell Knight said the following about this experience, "In obedience to the commandment which had been given, I, together with the Colesville Branch, began to make preparations to go to Ohio . . . As might be expected, we were obliged to make great sacrifices of our property . . . We bade adieu to all we had held dear on this earth . . . and carrying the little of our earthly substance which we could take with us, we started the forepart of April for Ohio."
Knowing what a great sacrifice it was for the Knights to leave here makes our opportunity to be here all the more meaningful and special for us. The Knights would eventually have to leave six homes--Colesville, Kirtland, three in Missouri, and Nauvoo--and start completely over as they devotedly followed their beloved prophet and friend Joseph Smith.
We get so excited when our phone rings at the Knight home and someone is calling about coming for a tour. We are loving this experience and treasuring every moment here. We will attend the Greene Branch for our Sunday meetings tomorrow. We talked today about how it is a little ironic that the very first branch of the Church was here, and now 187 years later there is still just a branch here, not even enough members in this area to create a ward.
We visited Pickerel Pond today, which used to be part of Joseph Knight Sr.'s property. It is now owned by the family of Johnny Hart who was the creator of the B.C. comic strip. He passed away in 2007, but his family still has a home on Pickerel Pond that is situated so beautifully in a thickly wooded area on the shore of the large pond (which looks more like a lake).
We have posted several pictures on the "Photographs" page of our blog, that would take too much room here, if you are interested in seeing them.
I have been under the impression that Polly Peck's ancestors came on the Mayflower. It arrived in 1620, and I don't think any other Puritans came that year, so there must have been someone named Peck on the ship or someone that married a Peck. I just checked, and it is through Polly that we have an ancestral line that goes back to England and King Edward I through his great-granddaughter Eleanor Mowbray. Polly was the granddaughter of Hezekiah Peck, whose wife, Elizabeth Carder, was descended from William Dungan, who would have been the right age to sail on the Mayflower. Brigham Young, Edward Partridge, Calvin Coolidge, and George Washington are also descended from Eleanor Mowbray.
ReplyDeleteYes, I have been told that we have an ancestor that came on the Mayflower, and I think it is Polly's line.
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