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John Knight (d. 1674)
Mary Unknown (d. 1676)
John Knight, Senior, malster of Charlestown died on 29 May 1674 in Charlestown. [1, 1: 90]
Mary, the widow of John Knight, the elder, died on 19 May 1676 in Charlestown . [1, 1: 94]
John Knight probably came to New England on the Bevis in 1638. [2] He settled in Watertown, then moved to Sudbury, Charlestown and Woburn. [2]
John Knight came on the Bevis, which departed Southampton in May 1638, as a servant to Annis Littlefield. [3]
John went to Sudbury from Watertown about 1638 or 1639. [4, p. 26] He was a freeman in 1642. [4] He was a malster. [4]
John was granted 16-1/2 acres in Sudbury on 22 February 1639. [4, p. 113] On 18 November 1640 he was granted 55 acres at the "Gravel Pitt" and six acres on the south side of this land. [4, p. 115]
Margery Knight admitted a church member in Charlestown on 3/7/1650. [5, 23: 281]
Thompson says, "John Knight's parents John and Mary had spend the latter part of their peripatetic lives in Woburn. Knight's sister was married to Robert Pierce of that town." [6, 239]
The 17 December 1655 Middlesex court papers say that a writ was issued against John when John Myrick sued him for trespass. [7, 1 4:46]
John Knight was presented to the Middlesex court for "annoying" the highway with a lean-to on 14 March 1658/9. [7, 1: 99]
John and Joseph Knight were on a 1655 Woburn tax list. [7, 2: 159]
On 31 March 1640 Thomas White granted John Knight a house and land that he bought from William Swift of Watertown. [8] John Knight of Woburn bought 80 acres of meadow at the southwest end of the town of Woburn from John Green, Sr. of Charlestown by a 8 September 1649 deed. [9, p. 3][10] On 9 October 1654, John Knight, Sr., planter and inhabitant of Woburn, bought 18 acres in Charlestown, near Capt. Johnson's, from James Heyden of Charlestown. [11] On 29 December 1671, John Knight, malster, sold William Johnson of Woburn, carpenter, his messuage and extended a 400 pound mortgage to him, secured by the property. [9, p. 14]
Note: Do not confuse this John Knight with John Knight of Newbury or the John Knight, who along with Richard Knight, was a tailor from Romsey.
Children of John Knight and Mary Unknown:
i. Mary Knight married Robert Pierce.
On 3 Jul 1693, Robert Pierce of Woburn, yeoman, gave all his land and housing to his son Benjamin, in return for Benjamin maintaining him and his wife Mary. In this agreement, he refers to 20 acres on the Great Meadow Plain that he bought from his father-in-law, John Knight, late of Charlestown, deceased, on 6 March 1663. [9, p. 32-33]
ii. John Knight was born in 1633. He died on 1 December 1714 in Charlestown. He married first Ruhamah Johnson. He married second Abigail Stowers. He married third Mary Bridge. He married fourth the widow Mary Clements. He married fifth the widow Sarah (Rawlins) Holsworth.
iii. Joseph Knight (maybe) died on 13 August 1687 in Woburn. [12, 3: 108] He married Hannah ___. Hannah, the relict of Joseph, Sr., died on 13 January 1695 in Woburn. [12, 3: 108]
iv. Michael Knight (maybe) married Mary Bullard on 20 October 1677 in Woburn. [12, 2: 157].
References:
1. Vital Records of Charlestown, Massachusetts: "Massachusetts Vital Records, 1620–1850," database with images, AmericanAncestors.org > Charlestown, vol. 1 and vol. 1, originally published as Vital Records of Charlestown, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850, 2 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1984, 1995).
2. "John Knight of Watertown and Beyond" Great Migration Newsletter vols. 21–25: 77–78.
3. John Camden Hotten, The Original Lists of Persons of Quality ... who Went from Great Britain to the American Plantations, 1600–1700, reprinted (New York: Empire State Book Co., n.d.), 299.
4. Alfred Sereno Hudson, History of Sudbury (Sudbury: the town, 1889).
5. James F. Hunnewell, "Record-Book of the First Church in Charlestown," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 23 (1869).
6. Roger Thompson, From Deference to Defiance: Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1629–1692 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2012).
7. "Middlesex County, MA: Abstracts of Court Records, 1643–1674," database with images, AmericanAncestors.org.
8. "Great Migration 1634–1635, R–S," digitized book, AmericanAncestors.org, originally published as: Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634–1635, Volume VI, R–S (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009), 627.
9. Edward F. Johnson, Abstracts of Early Woburn Deeds, Recorded at Middlesex Vounty Registry, 1649-1700 (Woburn: The News Print, 1895).
10. "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620–1633, Volumes I-III," digitized book, AmericanAncestors.org, originally published as: Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 volumes (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), 811.
11. "Great Migration, 1634–1635, G–H," digitized book, originally published as Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration to New England, 1634–1635, Volume III, G–H (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2003), 278.
12. Edward Francis Johnson, Woburn Records of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, Part 1 (births), Part 2, (deaths) Part 3 (marriages) (Woburn: Andrew Cutlery & Co., 1890).
06-Nov-2023