Descendants
of John Knight
Generation
No. 1
1.
John1 Knight was
born 1747, and died April 10, 1841. He married (1) Unknown
?. He married (2) Betsy Douglas. She
was born 1760, and died 1810.
Notes
for John Knight:
Laurens
County Advertiser--June 10, 1981---Revolutionary War Soldier is Honored
Nestled in a small country cemetery on a hilltop near Ware Shoals,
Revolutionary War Soldier John Knight lies buried.
Between summer showers Sunday, a marker for Knight's grave in Medlock
Cemetery was dedicated by Knight descendants and members of the Sullivan-Dunklin
Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution
[DAR].
Following the presentation of colors by a South Carolina National Guard
unit and the reading of Knight's biography, the grave marker was unvieled by
Knight descendant Cynthia Finethy. A wreath and flag were placed on the grave of
Knight descendants Sharon Beckham and Troy Beach.
The maker was dedicated by Mrs. Ernest McDaniel, vice-regent of the
Sullivan-Dunklin Chapter of the DAR, and accepted by Mrs. J. Carlton Vaughn,
regent of the South Carolina DAR. Also present at the dedicationceremony was
Mrs. John V. Buffinton, a past state regent of the Virgnia DAR.
Knight was born in 1747 and died at his daughter's home in Laurens County
around 1841, according to biographical information compiled by Mrs. Charles S.
Schneider, a Knight descendant. No one is certain where Knight was born.
Prior to the Revolutionary War, Knight was assigned 150 acres of bounty
land in Granville County [now part of Laurens County] by the King of England.
Medlock Cemetery, where Knight is buried, stands on part of that 150-acre grant.
He was also given 300 acres in Craven County on the south side of the PeeDee
River, Mrs. Schneider's research shows.
According to documents, Knight enlisted in Kershaw Districtm South
Carolina and served serveral tours of duty in the war under Captains John
Weathers and Benjamin Hale and uner Colonels Taylor and Washington.
He also claimed to have served under Generals Sumter, Marion and Greene.
Knight fought at the battles of Warshaw, Hanging Hook, Camden, Kings
Mountain, Rugley's Mills and Eutaw Springs, research indicates. Knight was
stabbed in the breast with a bayonet at the battle of Eutaw Springs.
Knight was a pensioner of South Carolina, but his pension was cut under
1834 legislation which dropped all Revolutionary War soldiers from the state
roll.
The first marked grave in Medlock Cemetery belongs to Knight's stepson,
William Rutledge, who died in 1822. The
land at that time was owned by Knight, who sold it to James Medlock in 1832Mrs.
Schneider said.
Also buried at Medlock Cemetery are Knight's daughter, Delilah Knight
Puckett, and her husband, William Smith Puckett. Knight's son, John, Jr. is also
buried in the cemetery, Mrs. Schneider said.
From
"The Root and Some of The Branches of THE PUCKETT FAMILY TREE"
by Christine South Gee
John
Knight Revolutionary War Soldier and some of his Descendants
John
Knight, Revolutionary War Soldier and father of Delilah Knight Puckett, enlised
in the service from Kershaw District. He
married Betsy Rutledge, a widow. John
Knight was born 1747. The 1840
Census gives his age as 90-100. Betsy
Rutledge is said to have been born in 1760, William Rutledge, her only son by
her first marriage, gives his birth date as 1780, tombstone in Medlock Cemetery
in Laurens County. Who Betsy
Rutledge was before her first marriage we are not sure, but she may have been a
Douglas. Whether or not John Knight
was born in South Carolina we are not sure. He had a long, service record in the Revolutionary War.
John
Knight and Betsy were not married until after the REvolutionary War.
It would appear that they were living in Chester County when their
daughter Delilah and William Smith Puckett were married. Delilah states on her
pension claim for her husbands service in the War of 1812 that they were married
in Chester District in 1813. Still there is a John Knight listed in Abbeville County
Census for 1790 that would appear to be out John Kngith. Be that as it may, his son jJohn Knight was living in Chester
until about 1820 when he appears in the Laurens Census.
Betsy
Rutledge Knight died about 1810. Some
time afterwards we know that John Knight married again for we find in Book A, p.
50, Laurens County, deeds the following: John Knight, Sr. deeds to his rpresent
wife's daughter, Emila Donald, 47 A of land lying on the waters of Reedy River,
plus household furniture and farm animals.
March 24, 1834. Who this second wife was we do not know.
He lived his last days in the home of his daughter, Delilah, and her
husband, William Smith Puckett.
The
only record we have of John Knight's children we get from the two wills left by
William Rutledge and the administration of his estate, all being on file in
Probate Judges Office In Laurens, SC. William
Rutledge died March 12, 1822. Will
was probated in Laruens County, June 4, 1822.
A will written in 1815 mentions John Knight, his dear brother, and his
sisters, Fanny, Betsy, Jenny, Delilah and deceased sisters, Polly and Nancy.
In the petition of John Knight, Jr. for papers of administration he
states that William Rutledge left no relatives of the full blood.
The relatives listed above were half brothers and sisters.
John
Knight, the Revolutionary soldier, born 1747, died April 10, 1841 and is buried
on the place that formerly belonged to his son, John Knight, Jr., and is still
owned by his descendants, I believe. The
place is on the Highway between Greenwood and Greenville, near Princeton.
The following is a record of his Revolutionary Service from the National
Archives.
Affidavit
on file in Pension Office [Now National Archives] Claim No. 6026
John Knight
State
of South Carolina Laurens District
In Common Pleas
On
the 17th day of April personally appeared in the open court before his Honor B.
J. Earle, one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas now sitting, John
Knight, aged 90 years, a resident of Laurens District, South Carolina, who being
sworn in due form of law, doth on his oath make the following declaration in
order to obtain the benefit of an Act of Congress passed the 7th day of June
1832, that he entered the sevice of the United States under the following
officers and served by him as states:
1st
Tour
That
he entered first for six months under Captain Weathers as a draugtsman in
Kershaw District [South Carolina], who was under the command in General Sumter
and rendezvoused near Camden [South Carolina], Marched thence to Four Holes,
thence to Orangeburg, where they joined Col. Taylor and from thence to Edisto
where he was stationed the balance of the six months, and was discharged by
General Sumter in writing, but discharge has been lost or mislaid.
2nd
Tour
He
enlisted for eighteen months at Camden under General Clewford [the pension
officials think this has reference to General Buford, as the records fail to
show that there was a General Blewford in the service.
J. Brodus Knight, who copied this record in Washington] he thinks,
marched thence to Stone and was stationed there for the remainder of the
eighteen months and was discharged and said discharge was in writing and has
been lost.
3rd
Tour
He
enlisted at Stone for eigteen months, was stationed there the whole term, liking
tree months and he was carried from thence to Charleston across an area of the
sea and was thence marched to Camden under the same command, thence to the
Waxhaw settlement in South arolina where they met the British and were defeated
and immediately afterwards they were disbanded and he went home without a
discharge of any sort further than a mere agreement among themselves to go home.
4th
Tour
That
he enlisted under General Sumter in the Waxhaw Settlements [South Carolina], in
what year he does not know, for eighteen months, rendezvoused at Camden, was
marched thence to Eutaw Springs, where he fought the British and wounded in the
breast with a bayonet, the Britist first left the battlefield, but returned and
the Americans retreated and deponent was carried off on a wagon to Hillsborough,
North Carolina, to the hospital, where he remained six months when his term of
service expired and he was discharged in writing by General Sumter or by a Capt.
Weathers by Sumter's orders, but his discharge has been lost.
5th
Tour
He
enlisted under General Francis Marion in Kershaw District, South Carolina, and
rendezvoused in said district and was thence marched to the lower part of the
state, ther term of his enlistment was for eighteen months and he served the
whole tour under Marion and was discharged by Marion in the Waxhaw Settlements.
His discharge was in writing but has been lost.
6th
Tour
He
enlisted under Colonel Washington in Kershaw District, South Carolina, for
eighteen months and was thence marched to Rugely's Fort and took said fort with
two pine logs put on wheels in imitation of cannon, consisting of five hundred
prisoners, amongst them were several British officers whose names he has
forgotten, but that he and his party took prisoners to Hillsborough, NC where
they were left under guard and deponent and his party returned to South Carolina
and was discharged by Colonel Washington in Kershaw District, South Carolina,
but the discharge was lost.
7th
Tour
He
enlisted under General Green in Kershaw District, South Carolina for eighteen
months, was thence marched to Camden and the British evacuated that place and
went to Charleston and General Green and his army, amongst whom was the
deponent, pusued the British to Charleston and there remained at what was called
the Governor's gate until peace was made and was thence discharged which was
lost.
I
do hereby relinquish every claim to a pension or annuity except the present, and
declare that my name is not on the pension roll of any agency in any state.
Sworn
to and subscribed this day aforsaid in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and thirty-seven.
John
Knight
Sworn
to in open court
18 April, 1837 Signed:John Garlington, Clk.
We,
Hendrick Arnold, a clergyman residing in the State and District of Laurens, and
A. C. Jones, residing in the same, hereby certify that we are well acquainted
with John Knight, who has subscribed and sworn to the above declaration; that we
believe him to be ninety years f age; that he is reputed and well believed in
the neighborhood where he resides, to be a soldier of the Revolution and that we
concur in that opinion.
H.
T. Arnold
Sworn
to and subscribed the day and year aforesaid,
Signed A. C. Jones
Sworn
to in open court
18 April, 1837 Signed:John Garlington, Clk.
And
the said court do hereby delcare the opinion, after the investigation of the
matter and after putting the interrogatories prescribed by the War Department,
that the above named applicant was a Revolutionary soldier and served as he
states and the court further certifies that it appeared to them that H. T.
Arnold, who has signed the same as a resident of Laurens and that A. C. Jones,
who has signed the same is a resident in the District of Laurens and is a
credible person and that their statemtn is entitled to credit.
signed
B. J. Earle
I,
John Garlington, hereby certify that the above contains the original proceedings
of the said court in the matter of the application of John Knight for a pension.
In
testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal of office this 18th day
of April, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven.
Signed
John Garlinton, Clerk of Laurens Dist.
As
is shown by the records, the House of Representative of South Carolina, passed
an act granting John Knight a pension on Dec. 1, 1832.
The
same act passed the Senate of South Carolina on Dec. 6, 1832.
The
clerk of the House of Representatives on April 1st, 1851 certified that the
papers on file in his office at that time showed the above facts.
He also certifies that the said papers give a list of the property owned
by the said John Knight. Benjamin Hart was then clerk of the House of Representatives.
On
some of the papers on file in the Pension Office I find the number 34036, but do
not know to what it refers, unless itis to the claim of John Knight on file in
Columbia.
[The
above research was done by J. Brodus Knight while he was living in Washington as
private secretary to Senator Benjamin R. Tillman. This was furnished by Mrs. Broadus Knight.]
More
About John Knight:
Burial:
April 1841, Medlock, Puckett, Knight Cemetery; Ware Shoals, Laurens County,
South Carolina
Children
of John Knight and Betsy Douglas are:
+
2
i.
Delilah2 Knight, born 1794; died February 11, 1876.
+
3
ii.
John Knight, Jr., born March 04, 1795; died March 14, 1875.
4
iii.
Fanny Knight.
5
iv.
Betsy Knight.
6
v.
Jenny Knight.
7
vi.
Polly Knight.