Person:Jonathan Knight (46)

Jonathan Knight is listed as a patriot in the Daughters of the American Revolution Patriots, !Daughters of the American Revolution, Vol. 1, Pg. 393

Mrs. Annie Fitch Bacon Shaw, great-granddaughter of Jonathan Knight, provided the following citation as one of the charter members of the D.A.R. Her citation may be found in D.A.R. Vol. 9, page 123. Her D.A. R. ID Number is 8319.

"[p. 123] Mrs. Annie Fitch Bacon Shaw DAR ID Number: 8319 Born in Connecticut. Widow of Hanford Livingstone Shaw. Descendant of Dr. Jonathan Knight, of Connecticut Daughter of William Thompson Bacon and Elizabeth Ann Knight, his wife. Granddaughter of Jonathan Knight and Elizabeth Lockwood, his wife. Gr.-granddaughter of Jonathan Knight and Anna Fitch, his wife.

Jonathan Knight enlisted in 1777 under Col. John Durkee and was surgeon's mate with the suffering army[of George Washington] at Valley Forge. He was retired [from military service] in 1781, and died 1829."

According to Military and Pension Records obtained from the Daughters of the American Revolution National Library, Jonathan Knight served from 1 Feb 1778 to 1 Jan 1781 in the 4th Regiment from Connecticut under Colonel John Durkee. He served as a surgeon's mate at with George Washington's suffering army at Valley Forge.

DEATH: The D.A.R. lists the date of death for Jonathan Knight as April 12, 1829, however,his headstone has April 13, 1829 as his date of death.

DEATH: The headstone of Dr. Jonathan Knight reads. !DR. JONATHAN KNIGHT !DIED !Apr. 13, 1829 !AE 74

CHRISTENING: KNIGHT, Jonathan Christening Sex: Male Birth Date: 1758 Recorded in: Newent Congregational Church, Lisbon, New London, Connecticut Father: Jonathan KNIGHT Father's Father: Jonathan KNIGHT Father's Mother: Abigail LONGBOTTOM Source: FHL Number 4706 Dates: 1724-1885

MILITARY: Connecticut Men in the Revolutionary War Jonathan enlisted in the Fourth Regiment, "Connecticut Line" Formation of 1777 - 1781 as a Surgeon's Mate and was commissioned Feb. 1st 1778 - retired Jan. 1, 1781

Connecticut Pensioners, 1835 March 1, 2005 12:05 AM Name: Jonathan Knight Rank: Surgeon's mate Annual Allowance: 240 00 Sums received: 700 16 Description of service: Connecticut line When placed on the pension roll: July 16, 1818 pension date: May 1, 1818 Age: 76 Laws under which inscribed, increased or reduced OR Remarks: Dropped under act May 1, 1820. Restored commencing February 8, 1825. Relinquished for the benefit of act May 15, 1828. Source Information: United States Senate. Report from the Secretary of War, in Obedience to Resolutions of the Senate of the 5th and 30th of June, 1834, and the 3d of March, 1835, In Relation to the Pension Establishment of the United States. [Connecticut Section], WASHINGTON, D.C.: Duff Green, 1835.

24th Congress 1st Session [Rep. No. 617] Ho. Of Reps.

Doctor Jonathan Knight April 27, 1836 Read, and laid upon the table.

Mr. Chapin, from the Committee on Revolutionary Claims, made the following Report.

The Committee on Revolutionary Claims to which was referred the petition of Ann Knight, Abigail Knight, and Jonathan Knight; report:

  The petitioners allege that Jonathan Knight, deceases, was a surgeon's mate of the continental line of the army of the revolution: that he died about the year 1831; that he had drawn full pay for life, under the act of Congress of the 15th of May, 1828, then had not received his commutation of five years full pay, in lieu of half pay for life as granted by the resolutions of Congress to the officers of the army of the revolution.
  In this case the evidence of the service of Jonathan Knight, as such officer, is insufficient; besides, there is the absence of all proof that he did serve until the end of the war.
  It seems, also, from the letter of the Third Auditor of the Treasury, accompanying this report, it is the opinion of the Department, that the benefits of the resolutions of Congress granting half-pay for life, or commutation in lieu thereof, to certain officers of the army of the revolution, do not extend to surgeon's mates. The committee, without intimating at this time, any opinion in regard to the rights of this class of officers, have come to the conclusion that the prayer of the petitioner ought not to be granted.

Treasury Department, Third Auditor's Office, April 14, 1836.

  Sir: I have the honor to state, in reply to your letter of the 13th inst. that  the revolutionary records on file in this office, do not furnish any evidence of Doctor Jonathan Knight having been a surgeon's mate of the Connecticut line, any time during the revolutionary war, and of course I am unable to furnish any information in relation to his services. I can state, however, that if his rank was never higher than that of a surgeon's mate, he was not entitled either to half-pay for life, or to commutation pay in lieu thereof, under the resolutions of Congress making said grants: surgeons' mates not having been provided for by said resolutions.
  The evidence in relation to Doctor Knight's application for the benefit of the act of May, 1828, is not on file in this office, but in that of the Commissioner of Pensions.

With great respect, Peter Hagner, Auditor.

Hon. Graham H. Chapin Of Committee on Rev'y Claims, House of Reps. United States.

BIOGRAPHY: Dr. Jonathan Knight was a physician in Norwalk,Connecticut for 50 years. The Norwalk street sign, "Knight Street" is named for him. The biographical sketch for his son, Dr. Jonathan Knight that was compiled by Franklin Bowditch Dexter in Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale University stated that Dr. Jonathan Knight of Norwalk was the grandson of David Knight a founder of Lisbon,Connecticut.

Jonathan Knight is listed as a patriot in the Daughters of the American Revolution Patriots, !Daughters of the American Revolution,Vol. 1, Pg. 393

Mrs. Annie Fitch Bacon Shaw, great-granddaughter of Jonathan Knight, provided the following citation as one of the charter members of the D.A.R.. Her citation may be found in D.A.R. Vol., page 123, her D.A.R. ID Number is 8319

"[p. 123] Mrs. Annie Fitch Bacon Shaw DAR ID Number: 8319 Born in Connecticut Widow of Hanford Livingston Shaw Descendent of Dr. Jonathan Knight, of Connecticut Daughter of William Thompson Bacon and Elizabeth Ann Knight,his wife Granddaughter of Jonathan Knight and Elizabeth Lockwood, his wife Gr-granddaughter of Jonathan Knight and Anna Fitch,his wife

History of the Department of Cell Biology Yale University School of Medicine By Thomas L. Lentz

    An interesting event in the history of anatomy at Yale was the "Dissection Riots" of 1824. Cadavers were needed for instruction but at that time they were very difficult to obtain. This shortage led to grave robbing at Yale and other institutions. In 1824, a farmer from West Haven discovered that the body of his 19-year old daughter Bathsheba, buried two days earlier, was missing from the Grove Cemetery. The farmer went to the medical school, then located across the street from the cemetery, and demanded to search the building. Dr. Knight knew nothing of the grave robbing and allowed the farmer to search the place. The body was found in the cellar under a large flat stone. The body was taken in a wagon to West Haven arousing the citizens along the way. Several days of riot's followed in which hundreds of citizens attacked the medical school, which was defendended by armed medical students. The riots were quelled when first the militia and the then the Governor's foot guard in full regalia and muskets were called out. Accused of the crime were a medical student who fled the state and an assistant at the school who was convicted. One positive outcome of the riots was that the Connecticut legislature passed a law making the bodies of criminals executed or dying in prison available to the professors of anatomy and physiology.

An Early Connecticut Engraver and his work By Albert C. Bates Hartford 1906 - Page 27

  A volume of poems by Richard Savage printed in 1805 and recently picked up the writer in a second hand book store in New Haven, contains the plate of Jonathan Knight. It also contains the autograph  of “Jonathan Knight New Haven Conn. June 5th 1807.” This is of course, Jonathan Junior, who was at that time a student in Yale College, and at once brings up the question whether the plate should be credited to him or to his father of the same name, to whom it is assigned by Mr. Allen. It seems most likely that the plate belonged to the senior Jonathan, although in this instance it was used by his son.
  Jonathan Knight, Senior, was born at Norwich, Conn., Jan. 10, 1758. He served in the Continental army during the Revolution, being commissioned as Surgeon's Mate of the Fourth regiment “Connecticut Line,” Feb. 1, 1778, and retired Jan. 1, 1781. He was a pensioner under the act of 1818. On Oct. 11, 1781, he married a daughter of Dr. Asahel Fitch of Redding and the same year removed to Norwalk, Conn., where he became a practicing physician. In 1875 he bought land and built a house on what is now Knight street. There three children were born, the eldest of whom was Jonathan, born Sept. 4, 1789. Dr. Knight is described as “a skilled medical practitioner who continued active in his work until his death in March, 1829.”
  Jonathan Knight, Junior, was graduated at Yale College in 1808, and received its honorary M.D. in 1818. Returned to Yale as a tutor; was appointed Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at the organization of the Medical School in 1813; was transferred to the Chair of Surgery, and after twenty-five years in each professorship resigned early in 1864. For many years he also lectured in the Academical department; and he also kept up an extensive medical practice in New Haven. He was one of the founders of the Amercan Medical Association, and its President in 1853. At his death, Aug. 25, 1864, he was President of the American Mutual Life Insurance Co. The United States Government hospital in New Have was named after him.

BURIAL: National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution Patriot Grave Search KNIGHT, Dr Jonathan Surgeon's Mate CT Union Cem Norwalk, Fairfield County, CT 1758 - 1829 Revolutionary War Graves Register. Clovis H. Brakebill, compiler. 672pp. SAR. 1993. Also SAR Revolutionary War Graves Register CD. Progeny Publishing Co: Buffalo, NY. 1998 Fitch, Anna