Brief Life History of William E.
When William E. Knight was born on 11 December 1838, in Golden, Adams, Illinois, United States, his father, James H Knight, was 37 and his mother, Martha Patsey McKinney, was 33. He married Martha C. Poe in 1865, in Brown, Illinois, United States. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 5 daughters. He lived in La Prairie, Adams, Illinois, United States in 1900 and Adams, Illinois, United States for about 10 years. He died on 5 December 1921, in Golden, Adams, Illinois, United States, at the age of 82, and was buried in Knight Cemetery, Brown, Illinois, United States.
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Family Time Line
Sources (37)
- William Night, "United States Census, 1850"
- William Knight, "Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947"
- William Knight, "Illinois, County Marriages, 1810-1940"
Spouse and Children
Children (9)
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Siblings (13)
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World Events (8)
1839 · From Swamp to Beautiful Place
By 1829 Venus, Illinois had grown sufficiently and in 1832 was one of the contenders for the new county seat. However, the honor was awarded to a nearby city, Carthage. In 1834 the name Venus was changed to Commerce because the settlers felt that the new name better suited their plans. But during late 1839, arriving members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints bought the small town of Commerce and in April 1840 it was renamed Nauvoo by Joseph Smith Jr., who led the Latter-Day Saints to Nauvoo to escape persecution in Missouri. The name Nauvoo is derived from the traditional Hebrew language. It is notable that by 1844 Nauvoo's population had swollen to around 12,000 residents, rivaling the size of Chicago at the time. After the Latter-Day Saints left the population settled down toward 2,000 people.
1846
U.S. acquires vast tracts of Mexican territory in wake of Mexican War including California and New Mexico.
1862
Historical Boundaries: 1862: Adams, Illinois, United States
Name Meaning
English: status or occupational name from Middle English knight ‘retainer, attendant’ (Old English cniht ‘boy, youth, lad)’. The specialized feudal sense ‘a high-ranking tenant bound to serve his lord as a mounted soldier’ is not known to have ever given rise to the surname, although it is not out of the question that it may occasionally have been used as a nickname, perhaps for someone who played the part of an armed knight in a local pageant.
Irish: sometimes adopted for Gaelic Mac an Ridire ‘son of the knight’. See also McKnight .
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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