Person:John Knight (246)

DEATH: FROM THE MILLEDGEVILLE, GA, "SOUTHERN RECORDER" Page 4, Column 5,November 20, 1838 (microfilm, Georgia State Archives, Atlanta): Agreeably to the Last Will & Testament of John Knight, Sr., late of Jasper County, deceased, will be sold at his residence on Wednesday, the 2nd of January, 1839, all the perishable property of said deceased, consisting of horses, cattle, hogs, fodder, plantation tools, household and kitchen furniture, and a variety of other articles too tedious to mention. Sale to continue from day to day until all are sold. Terms made known on the day of sale.--John Knight, James Knight, Thomas J. Knight, Ed. M. Allen, Executors.

BIOGRAPHY: November 13, 1838 AT THIS TIME (January 26, 1990) the earliest documented evidence of John Knight is found on his marriage bond dated November 17, 1792 (Orange County, NC). Mary Carrington is listed as the bride. The parents of John Knight are unknown. Some researchers of Knight-Carrington families think Mary Carrington to be the daughter of John and Mary Carrington. Whether it is John, Sr., or John, Jr., is uncertain. Another document of John Knight having lived in North Carolina is a sale of property wherein May, 1793, for a sum of 500 pounds John Carrington, Jr., sold 172 acres to John Knight. February 3, 1798, John Knight sold this land for same sum to George Carrington of Orange County, NC. It is probable John Knight, with his wife and two small sons, Carrington and William, moved to Georgia in 1798. A John Knight is on an 1801 tax list for Georgia. John Knight, Jr., was born Oct. 25, 1800, and on the 1850 census states he was born in Georgia. That places John and Mary Knight in Georgia in 1800. The actual whereabouts of John, Sr., are unknown until October 3,1808, when he bought land in Baldwin County, GA (that portion that is now Jasper County). This land was situated in the 13th District of the county at the town of Hillsboro. It consisted of more than 400 acres. John bought more land over the years. He acquired land in Irvin County by a land lottery. There are no census records in Georgia for 1800 and 1810. The 1820 census shows John in Jasper County. Mary Carrington had died by this time as she does not appear on that census. By using the census records we are able to ascertain her death to have been in 1819, for that is when the last child by her was born. Mary Carrington Knight died leaving six small children under 5 years old, and 3 teenage children. She and John had been married 27 years. January 21, 1821, John Knight married Temperance Head Bullard. Three of his children also married in 1821. Temperance had three children from her first marriage. It was her daughter, Mary, who married James Knight, son of John, Sr., in 1829. John Knight, Sr., wrote his will in April of 1838 in Jasper County. That will was proven in October. In all probability he died in October. According to the county historian of Jasper County, John and Mary were buried on his plantation. The graves were marked. Another person told me he had seen these graves, but when Georgia Power Company was in the area the graves and markers were destroyed. Temperance and John Knight, Sr., were married 17 years. They had two daughters, Salathia and Martha Aston Eliza. In her old age Temperance lived with Sarah Wilson, her daughter by William Bullard, in Muscogee County, GA. Nearby lived her daughter, Salathia Kimbrough (by John Knight, Sr.). Temperance is buried beside Salathia in the Pierce Chapel Methodist Church cemetery just north of Columbus, GA. Using the estate inventory of John Knight, Sr., we can see he was a wealthy planter of that era, having accumulated hundreds of acres of land, over 50 slaves, and owning much personal property. He was a man who loved his family of 13 children, and his grandchildren as well.