I really am brickwalled with the Knight family once I am back into the early 1700s and I would like more proof of the marriage in the 1760s between William Knight and Mary Dashwood 9 Aug 1760 at St Peters Shaftesbury Dorset and the children that are generally attributed to this marriage. Their daughter Jane Knight married John Hardy and they are the ancestors of author Thomas Hardy. The good news is that the Dorset records from 1813 have come on line at Ancestry and the earlier records are also apparently coming. I have not been able to purchase any of their records so this is a real boon to me in my Dorset families research with the Knight family forming a large group in that my 2x Knight great grandparents both have the surname Knight - Ellis Knight and Eleanor Knight who were married 29 May 1804 at Spetisbury.
My grandfather knew of his Knight family probably from his mother and grandfather. His grandfather Samuel Knight lived to be 83 years of age and my Grandfather was a father himself with an eight year old son (my father) when his grandfather Samuel Knight died 16 Apr 1912 at Turnworth Dorset. My father used to visit his great grandfather at Turnworth when he was a child and he remembered him as a tall thin white haired man but to a child that young I expect most people were tall. My great grandmother Blake (née Knight) looks quite tall in her picture though so it may have been true.
What I remember about the Knight family from my grandfather was that his grandparents were cousins and that they had eighteen children. I have only found 13 and I think I may have misunderstood the 18 and it should have been 13 but I think that he was telling me that they lived in the house across from the church and that it was a double house with Samuel and his wife Louisa Butt living on one side and Thomas (Samuel's older brother next in age to him) living on the other side with his wife Thurza Butt. Louisa and Thurza were sisters. A third brother-sister marriage was Abel Butt (brother to Louisa and Thurza) married to Martha Knight (youngest sister of Thomas and Samuel). When it came time to celebrate the birthday of the father of Louisa, Thurza and Abel, my grandfather and all of his siblings went to Turnworth for the 80th birthday party and he had been born in December 1801 at Winterborne Stickland. I think the party was actually in the summer of 1882 as my grandfather said he was seven years old at the time. It was an enormous family gathering apparently especially given the three Knight-Butt marriages and all their children and grandchildren/great grandchildren. More on that when I talk about the Butt family.
Maria Jane Knight (my great grandmother) was born January 1850 at Turnworth and baptized at the Parish Church 27 Jan 1850 (St Marys). We visited the Church with my second cousins in April 2008 and holding the enormous skeleton key in my hand was a monumental event for me. Perhaps it is my Celtic blood running through my veins but I felt a tremendous sense of connection to Samuel and Louisa at that moment in time as I am sure there were times when Samuel helped Thomas and probably held that same key (Thomas was the Parish Clerk of this parish for thirty years). Only the two generations were baptized there and that included Samuel Knight (my 2x great grandfather) born and baptized 25 May 1828 at Turnworth (surprisingly these records are not on Ancestry as I received a paper printout of photographs of the records from another researcher who had photographed them in the late 1990s as I recall. Before the days of digital cameras I guess as he didn't offer to send the original images. Not all of Samuel's siblings were baptized at Turnworth and his parents were Ellis Knight and Eleanor Knight mentioned above as marrying 29 May 1804 at Spetisbury. I am looking forward to the records before 1813 being available to look at their actual marriage lines to see if it answers the question was Eleanor the first cousin of Ellis Knight?
Children of Ellis and Eleanor Knight
1. Ellis baptized 27 Jul 1806 at Spetisbury; likely the father of Elizabeth Anne Knight Morris (daughter of Mary Ann Morris) baptized 26 Sep 1824 at Winterborne Stickland. To the best of my knowledge this Ellis never married and he may be the Ellis Knight listed as a mariner at Liverpool on the 1841 census. He is listed as living on Highfield Street and a number of the people living there are in the navy. I do not find him again on any census/burial record/marriage registration.
2. George baptized 28 Jun 1808 at Spetisbury; buried 18 Jul 1830 at Blandford (possibly) but likely dead before child 13 born.
3. Mary Ann baptized 25 Nov 1809 at Spetisbury; married to James Ainsworth 27 Sep 1835 at Turnworth and they had six children: Martha Jane baptized 25 June 1837 Stourpaine, Tabitha baptized 14 May 1839 Stourpaine, William and Georgianna baptized 18 June 1843, John Edward baptized 5 May 1845; buried 24 Apr 1847, Stourpaine and Jane baptized 1 Mar 1849 Stourpaine.
4. Samuel Knight baptized 8 Nov 1811 at Spetisbury; buried 14 Jul 1823 at Turnworth.
5. Maria baptized 16 Feb 1814 at Spetisbury
6. Henry baptized 28 Jan 1816 at Spetisbury married to Elizabeth Lane 24 Feb 1838 at Winterborne Houghton and they had one child: Theophilus Sep 1844 Winterborne Houghton.
7. Elizabeth Knight baptized 30 Aug 1818 at Turnworth and she married Samuel Ballam 1 Sep 1834 at Turnworth. I have one son for this couple Frederick bc 1841 Lytchett Minster. Frederick married Matilda Drake and they had five children.
8. Edward baptized 12 Nov 1820 at Turnworth; buried 8 Nov 1841 at Turnworth.
9. John baptized 18 May 1823 at Turnworth; married sep quarter 1843 Blandford RD to Harriet Whitty and they had 12 children: Edward born mar quarter 1845 Winterborne Houghton, John Augustus born mar quarter 1846 Blandford RD, Julia Jane born sep quarter 1848 Blandford RD, Eliza bc 1850 Blandford St Mary, Ann bc 1854 Blandford St Mary, Edith born sep quarter 1855 Blandford RD, Henry born mar quarter 1858 Blandford RD, Euphremia bc 1859 Blandford St Mary and died dec quarter 1859 Blandford RD, Sarah bc 1860 Blandford St Mary, Frederick born dec quarter 1860 Blandford RD and died mar quarter 1861 Blandford RD, Frederick Albert born jun quarter 1865 Blandford RD, and Florence bc 1869 Blandford St Mary.
10. Thomas baptized 24 Apr 1825 at Turnworth; married 10 Nov 1844 at Turnworth to Thurza Butt and they had eight children: Agnes Jane born dec quarter 1845 Turnworth married James Snook and they had 11 children, Emily Jane born jun quarter 1848 Turnworth married to Henry Snook and they had 10 children, Eleanor baptized 26 Oct 1851 at Turnworth, Hezekiah born jun quarter 1854 turnworth married Margaretta Bedford and they had 10 children, Josiah Ellis born mar quarter 1857 turnworth married Esther Marsden and they had 6 children, William Thomas baptized 10 Jun 1859 and buried 23 May 1860 at Turnworth, Isaac born 24 Jan 1861 at Turnworth married Sarah Josephine Harman and they had 6 children, and Caroline born dec quarter 1865 married Charles Read and they had 2 children.
11. Samuel (my 2x great grandfather) baptized 25 May 1828 at Turnworth and married to Louisa Butt 7 Sep 1849 at Winterborne Stickland and they had 11 children although only four survived infancy: Maria Jane (my great grandmother) baptized 27 Jan 1850 married to Edward Blake and they had 12 children, Elizabeth baptized 24 Dec 1851 Turnworth married Charles Swyer 30 Nov 1874 at Bland\ford and they had 1 child, Mary Ann baptized 20 Oct 1853, Eliza baptized 10 Feb 1856 and buried 12 Nov 1857 at Turnworth, Henry baptized 5 Feb 1858 at Turnworth married Catherine Crankshaw dec quarter 1878 at Chorley and they had one son, Lucy baptized 31 Aug 1861 and buried 17 Apr 1862 at Turnworth, Jane and Martha (twins) baptized 31 Jul 1863 and buried 11 Dec 1863 at Turnworth, Edward and Eliza (twins) baptized 30 Oct 1865 and Edward buried 14 Nov 1865 and Eliza buried 18 May 1866 at Turnworth and Emma baptized 13 Nov 1866 and buried 7 Jan 1867 at Turnworth. Although Maria Jane (my great grandmother must have viewed all these deaths with great sadness not a word of that passed down through the family).
12. Martha baptized 21 Nov 1830 and married Abel Butt 8 Feb 1850 at Turnworth and they had 8 children: Jane baptized 12 Sep 1852 at Winterborne Stickland married George Christopher dec quarter 1869 Blandford RD and they had two children, George baptized 12 Jan 1855 at Winterborne Stickland married Maria Snape probably at Withnell Lancashire and they had three children, Eliza baptized 2 May 1858 Winterborne Stickland married George Brindle 28 Aug 1875 at Chorley RD and they had 8 children, Louisa bc 1861 Winterborne Stickland married James Rogers 1 Oct 1882 at Withnell and they had three children, Tabitha Ainsworth was baptized 21 Sep 1862 at Winterborne Stickland married William Stringfellow 1 Mar 1884 at Withness and they had 15 children, Emma baptized 16 Apr 1865 at Winterborne Stickland married Robert Woods 9 Jun 1883 at Withnell and they had 6 children, Lucy Elizabeth baptized 30 Aug 1868 at Winterborne Stickland married Douglas Heaton 1 Mar 1899 at Withnell, and Annie baptized 13 Aug 1871 at Winterborne Stickland married John Thomas Woods 10 Feb 1897 at Withnell and they had 3 children.
13. George Knight bc 1830 at Turnworth; died sep quarter 1852 Blandford RD.
With the availability of all the Dorset records (except Turnworth is missing for the moment) I shall verify all of these dates which I have received from other researchers and change any that are not correct both in my blog today and my Legacy file. I have both Find My Past and Ancestry to check for the available information.
I sorted through a number of the Dorset family records although none in my direct line and entered in baptismal dates and marriages dates/location. For the marriages I have just the registration district and these registrations give me the exact location.
Continue to extract records for the Knight family on my next research day for this family.
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