Person:William Knopp (9)

From The Great Migration

WILLIAM KNOPP

ORIGIN: Bures St. Mary, Suffolk
MIGRATION: 1630
FIRST RESIDENCE: Watertown
OCCUPATION: Carpenter.
EDUCATION: Signed his deed of 1655 by mark. His inventory included "1 Bible" valued at 6s.
OFFICES: On 3 February 1651/2 Watertown selectmen ordered that "Sergeant Beeres shall view the several particulars of old Knop's work done at the meeting house and to make return for the town" [ WaTR 30]. On several occasions in 1651 "Old Knop" received payments from the town treasury, apparently for this work [ WaTR 24, 25, 28, 29].
ESTATE: Granted thirty acres in the Great Dividend at Watertown, 25 July 1636 [ WaBOP 3]. Granted seven acres in the Beaverbrook Plowlands, 28 February 1636/7 [ WaBOP 7]. Granted seven acres in the Remote Meadows, 26 June 1637 [ WaBOP 10]. Granted a farm of ninety-three acres, 10 May 1642 [ WaBOP 12]. In the Inventory of Grants at Watertown, "William Knop, senior," held six parcels: homestall of sixteen acres; seven acres of plowland in the Further Plain; seven acres of Remote Meadow; seven acres and a half of upland beyond the Further Plain; thirty acres of upland in the Great Dividend; and one acre in West Meadow [ WaBOP 104]. In the Composite Inventory he held seven parcels: homestall of sixteen acres; seven acres of plowland in the Further Plain; eight acres of plowland in the Further Plain; seven acres in the Remote Meadows; seven acres and a half of upland beyond the Further Plain; thirty acres of upland in the Great Dividend; and a farm of ninety-three acres [ WaBOP 54].
At Watertown selectmen's meeting, 11 December 1656: "Old Knap being in want & complaining to the Selectmen they make this proposition, that if his children will take his estate into their hands, & provide such necessaries for their father & mother as is convenient, they shall have the said estate for the performance thereof when their father & mother cease to be, but if the said children refuse thus to do, then the town will undertake the same, upon such terms as the children should, & this to be fully concluded upon the next second day being the 15th of December (16)56" [ WaTR 1:49; see also WaTR 1:53-56].
In a defective will (lacking date and witnesses, and not naming an executor) "William Knop" stated that "After all just debts of the aforesaid William Knope is satisfy the estate that remains is to be equally divided amongst [illegible] children viz. William Knope, John Knope, James knope, Elizeath [sic] Knope, Mary Knope, Ane Knope, Judeth Knope the house & land adjoining to it & cattle & moveables viz. I give unto my wife two pound ten shillings" [ NEHGR 147:325, citing Middlesex Court Files, foilo 16, #5]. The inventory of the estate of "William Knap, late of Watertowne, deceased," was taken 31 August 1658 and totalled £129 3s. 10d. (with some small items added later), including the "house & land" valued at £100 [ MPR 1:241-42].
On 27 March 1660 "Elizabeth Buttery, widow, of Buers St. Mary," Suffolk ("whereas William Knap the father of the aforesaid Elizabeth Butterie late of New England deceased" left estate which was to be divided among his children) made Nicholas Danforth of Cambridge and John Parmenter Senior of New England her attorneys to receive her legacy [ MLR 2:218-19].
On 1 April 1662, whereas "William Knap late of Watertown deceased ... who died intestate" held land which was divided by the court on 15 October 1659 "to Priscilla Knap his relict widow" one third for life, and the remainder and reversion of the widow's thirds to "William Knap, Jno. Knap, James Knap, Mary Smith, Judeth Cady, children of the said William Knap, together with the children of John Philbricke deceased, being the grandchildren of the said William Knap, deceased," therefore William Knap, James Knap and Elizabeth his wife, Thomas Smith and Mary his wife and Nicholas Cady and Judith his wife joined with their brother John Knap and
Sarah his wife in confirming sale of this land to Nathaniel Coolidge [ MLR 2:201-03].
BIRTH: Baptized Bures St. Mary, Suffolk, 1 January 1580/1, son of Thomas and Alice (Howlat) Knopp [ NEHGR 147:323-24].
DEATH: Watertown 30 August 1659 [sic, recte 1658] "aged about 80 years" [ WaVR 21].
MARRIAGE: (1) Wormingford, Essex, 11 January 1606[/7] Judith Tue, baptized at Wormingford 31 May 1589, daughter of John and Cicely (_____) Tue [ NEHGR 147:319, 324, 328]; she died by 1651. (2) Soon after 20 June 1651 Priscilla (_____) Akers [ NEHGR 147:325]; she died by 1 April 1662 when the heirs sold the real estate which they had inherited, apparently including the widow's thirds [ MLR 2:201-03].
CHILDREN:
With first wife

• i ELIZABETH, bp. Wormingford, Essex, 10 July 1608; m. _____ Buttery.

• ii WILLIAM, bp. Wormingford 3 February 1610/1; m. (1) by 1642 Mary _____ (Priscilla, daughter of William & Mary Knap, b. Watertown 10 November 1642 [ WaVR 10]); m. (2) by 1652 Margaret _____ ("Judy Knap, daughter of Willyam & Mergrett Knop," b. Watertown 2 March 1652[/3] [ WaVR 16]).

• iii MARY, bp. Wormingford 19 August 1613; m. by 1637 Thomas Smith of Watertown (eldest child b. Watertown 18 September 1637 [ WaVR 5]).

• iv ANNE, bp. Wormingford 24 December 1618; m. by 1650 John Philbrick (eldest child b. Hampton 22 September 1650 [ HampVR 544; GDMNH 545].

• v JOHN, bp. Bures St. Mary 20 January 1622/3; m. Watertown 21 May 1660 Sarah Young [ WaVR 23].

• vi JAMES, bp. Wormingford 30 April 1626; m. by 1655 Elizabeth Warren, daughter of JOHN WARREN (eldest child b. Watertown 21 April 1655 [ WaVR 17]).

• vii JUDITH, bp. Bures St. Mary 16 July 1629; m. by 1650 Nicholas Cady (eldest child b. Watertown 15 January 1650[/1?] [ WaVR 15]).

ASSOCIATIONS: Many researchers have claimed that William Knopp and NICHOLAS KNAPP of Watertown were brothers, but there is no evidence for this connection, and much against. The most recent investigation of William Knopp shows no evidence of Nicholas Knapp in the family, or even in Bures St. Mary, Suffolk [ NEHGR 147:327-28]. The two differ in age by about twenty-five years, a full generation. William and Nicholas, despite residing in the same town for fifteen years, are never seen interacting in any way. Finally, although this would not normally be an important consideration, the town clerks at Watertown were consistent in spelling William's surname as Knopp and Nicholas's as Knapp, suggesting that in Watertown the surnames were seen as distinct.
Thomas Philbrick of Watertown and Hampton was also from Bures St. Mary, and he married there a Knopp, but she was not of the immediate family of William Knopp [ NEHGR 147:327]; a not-too-distant connection is likely, however.
COMMENTS: 30 November 1630: "It is ordered, that whosoever employeth Will[ia]m Knopp or his son in any work shall pay the one half of their wages to Sir Richard Saltonstall, & whoever buyeth boards of them shall pay one half of the price to Sir Richard, till the money he hath disbursed for them be satisfied" [ MBCR 1:82]. 22 March 1630/1: "It appears by Sir Rich: Saltonstall's note of disbursements that Will[ia]m Knopp owes him the sum of £19 5s., as was evidenced to the Court by Richard Browne & Ephraim Childe, being men indifferently chosen betwixt them to judge thereof" [ MBCR 1:85]. (These two court orders suggest that Saltonstall had paid the ship passage for William Knopp and his family in 1630.) 6 October 1633: "Will[ia]m Knopp is bound in £10 to appear at the next Court, & to abide the censure of the Court for swearing" [ MBCR 1:133]. 6 June 1637: "Willi: Knopp was enjoined, upon pain of £100 & imprisonment, to bring in sureties within 8 days for his appearance at the next Quarter Court, to answer what shalbe objected about his speeches of Mr. Vaine, our late Governor" [ MBCR 1:199].
7 April 1635: "It is referred to John Haynes Esq. & Mr. Rob[er]te Feakes, to audit the accounts betwixt Edward Howe & Will[ia]m Knopp, to swear witnesses, & examine them what they can say in the case, & to make return thereof into the next Court" [ MBCR 1:143].
1 June 1641: "Willi: Knopp, for selling bear two years unlicensed, was fined £5" [ MBCR 1:318].

BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: Two treatments of the family of William Knopp were published in 1993. Clifford L. Stott prepared an account in which the immigrant had resided at both Wormingford in Essex and Bures St. Mary on the Essex-Suffolk border, and had married a woman from Wormingford, Judith Tue [ NEHGR 147:313-28]. John Brayton produced a version in which the immigrant had lived only in Bures St. Mary and had married Margaret Deane of that parish [ GMC26 175-84]. Brayton apparently missed the chronological clues which indicate that there were two William Knopps of Bures St. Mary, so he apparently did not undertake the wider search which led Stott to his conclusions. We follow Stott's results, and the English records cited above are taken from his article, unless stated otherwise.

1. ↑ New England Historic Genealogical Society. NEGHR
   147:324-27.
2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 New England Historic Genealogical Society. NEGHR
   147:324.