Abigail Knight

15 April 1697–14 October 1774 (Age 77)
Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America

The Life of Abigail

When Abigail Knight was born on 15 April 1697, in Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America, her father, Benjamin Knight, was 28 and her mother, Abigail Jaques, was 24. She married Jonathan Pearson on 24 January 1722, in Newburyport, Essex, Massachusetts, United States. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 6 daughters. She died on 14 October 1774, in Newbury, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America, at the age of 77.

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Family Time Line

Jonathan Pearson
1699–1767
Abigail Knight
1697–1774
Marriage: 24 January 1722
Abagail Pearsons
1723–1825
Hannah Pearson
1725–1726
Bethiah Pearson
1726–1736
Jonathan Pearson
1727–1821
Hannah Pearson
1729–1731
Mr. Pearson
1730–1731
Phebe Pearson
1732–1736
Paul Pearson
1733–1769
Anna Pearson
1738–1818

Spouse and Children

MARRIAGE
24 January 1722
Newburyport, Essex, Massachusetts, United States
children

(9)

+4 More Children

Parents and Siblings

siblings

(19)

    Benjamin Knight

    Male1692–1777Male

    Thomas Knight

    Male1692–1776Male

    Benjamin Knight Jr

    Male1693–1767Male

    Isaac Knight

    Male1694–1761Male

    George Knight

    Male1695–Male

+14 More Children

Name Meaning

1 English: status name from Middle English knyghte ‘knight’, Old English cniht ‘boy’, ‘youth’, ‘serving lad’. This word was used as a personal name before the Norman Conquest, and the surname may in part reflect a survival of this. It is also possible that in a few cases it represents a survival of the Old English sense into Middle English, as an occupational name for a domestic servant. In most cases, however, it clearly comes from the more exalted sense that the word achieved in the Middle Ages. In the feudal system introduced by the Normans the word was applied at first to a tenant bound to serve his lord as a mounted soldier. Hence it came to denote a man of some substance, since maintaining horses and armor was an expensive business. As feudal obligations became increasingly converted to monetary payments, the term lost its precise significance and came to denote an honorable estate conferred by the king on men of noble birth who had served him well. Knights in this last sense normally belonged to ancient noble families with distinguished family names of their own, so that the surname is more likely to have been applied to a servant in a knightly house or to someone who had played the part of a knight in a pageant or won the title in some contest of skill.2 Irish: part translation of Gaelic Mac an Ridire ‘son of the rider or knight’. See also McKnight .

Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.

Possible Related Names

Sources (3)

  • Abigail Pearson, "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001"
  • Abigael Knight, "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001"
  • Abigael Knight, "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001"

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