Person:Joseph Knight (190)

Joseph Knight, Sr. (1772–1847) was a close associate of Joseph Smith, Jr. who provided significant material support to Smith's translation and publication of the Book of Mormon.

BIOGRAPHY: Page: 001469 Name: Joseph Knight Sr. Departure Date: 09 Oct 1946 (Nauvooto Mt. Pisgah, IA) Departure Place: Nauvoo, IL Travel Company: Family, Including wife Phoebe Ave Soa Joseph,Jr. Party: Joseph Knight,Jr. Capt. Trail: Poor Camp to Mt. Piscah Arrival Date: Abt 14 Nov 1847 Arrival Place: Mt. Pisgah Religion: LDS Occupation: Miller Death Date: 02 Feb 1847 Death Place: Mt. Pisgah Burial Place: Mt. Pisgah Sources: "They are My Friends" (Book) (Sup Cabrary) Ancestral File & Ordinance Index Family Archives of Submitter Comments: He died before Reaching Kainsville at Age 75. Sub Name: Darrell V. Knight Sub Date: Jan 1999 Pioneer Immigrants to Utah Territory.

BY DARYL JAMES FROM 'JAMES/HATCH ONE MINUTE HISTORIES' (1994)

Joseph Knight Sr. was born November 1772 at Oakham, Worcester County, Mass., the oldest of nine children. His family moved to Windham County, Vt., around 1780 when he was 8, and he remained there about 35 years.

Joseph married Polly Peck around 1796 when he was 23 and she was 21. Together they had seven children. After Polly died in 1831, Joseph married Phoebe Crosby and had six more children. Joseph and Polly moved to Colesville, N.Y., around 1815 and established a sawmill. In late 1826, Joseph Smith became a hired hand for Joseph Knight Sr. in Colesville.

Young Joseph did farm work and probably helped at the Knights' sawmill. In November 1826 Joseph Smith told the Knight family he had seen a vision of God the Father and the Son six years earlier near Palmyra, N.Y. -- 115 miles northwest of Colesville. He also told them about the Gold Plates he was preparing to receive.

The Knights were impressed with Young Joseph's story and later became instrumental in the rise of the Church. Joseph Knight Sr. was also instrumental in Joseph Smith's courtship with Emma Hale. ``I paid him the money and furnished him with a horse and cutter [sled] to go and see his girl, writes Joseph Knight Sr. (Joseph and Emma married shortly after this in 1827).

"When the time came for Joseph Smith to obtain the plate s, writes William G. Hartley, ``Father Knight traveled to the Smith home, where the Prophet used his wagon to retrieve the plates. Late that night, after Joseph Smith had returned from his mission, he said to Brother Knight, `It is ten times better than I expected.' According to Father Knight, the Prophet described the plates, though he seemed `to think more of the glasses or urim and thummim than he did of the plates.'

By early 1828, Joseph and Emma Smith had moved to Emma's father's property, about 30 miles from the Knights. Joseph Smith found it impossible to both earn a living and translate the plates. The Smiths asked Joseph Knight Sr. for help. Although the Knights were ``not in easy circumstances, Father Knight gave the Prophet as much as he could. A few days later, Father Knight visited the couple and gave them money to buy paper for the translation. ``Father and I often went to see him and carry him something to live upon, writes Joseph Knight Jr.

Years later Joseph Smith praised Father Knight for these supplies. "They enabled us to continue the work when otherwise we must have relinquished it for a season, he said. In May 1829, Joseph Knight Sr. desired to know what he should do regarding the divine work then unfolding. The Prophet inquired of the Lord and received a revelation instructing Father Knight to ``seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion (D&C 12:6). This was the first of seven revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants mentioning the Knights. On the day The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, one-third of the 60 people in attendance were Knight relatives. Joseph Knight Sr., his wife, and many others were baptized June 28, 1830, in Colesville; however, Joseph Smith was arrested before these people could be confirmed. Joseph Knight Sr. acquired a lawyer to defend Joseph Smith at his trial and had him freed.

Between 1831 and 1846, the Knight clan helped to pioneer 10 Church settlements in Ohio, Missouri, Illinois and Nebraska. In January 1842, Joseph Smith listed in the Book of the Law of the Lord the names of the ``faithful few who had stood by him through his trials. Joseph Knight Sr. was among those listed. ``For 15 years he has been faithful and true, and even-handed and exemplary, and virtuous and kind, never deviating to the right hand or to the left, writes Joseph Smith.

Joseph Knight Sr. headed west with the Church in 1846, but died in Iowa Feb. 3, 1847, before reaching Utah. He was 74.

-- Sources: 1. Lydia Knight's History: The First Book of the Noble Women's Lives Series. Juvenile Instructor Office, Salt Lake City, 1883. (On record at Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University; Provo, Utah.) 2. The Jesse Knight Family: Jesse Knight, His Forbears and Family, by J. William Knight. The Deseret News Press, 1940. (On record at Harold B. Lee Library, BYU, Provo, Utah.) 3. "The Knight Family: Ever Faithful to the Prophet," by William G. Hartley. The Ensign of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, January 1989, pps. 43-49.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Joseph Knight, Sr..