Our KNIGHT Family  

KNIGHT

 
       Peter Knight appears on land grants in several counties of the early Virginia colony beginning in 1638. He was a Jamestown merchant and a member of the House of Burgesses in 1657, 1659-60, and 1684-5. He was also a Captain in the Indian Wars. His wife was Mary Basse. Their children's names are unknown, but it is presumed that a grandson was the John Knight (1690-1762) who was born in Sussex County and married Elizabeth Jordan. Their children were William, John, Jordan, Joel, Peter, Richard, Ann and Mary.  

       John Knight (c. 1710-1771), believed to have been his son, served as a witness to an indenture between Samuel Gregory of Charles City County and William Knight of Goochland County in 1727. In this transaction, Gregory sold Knight 130 acres in Goochland County for £20 - land formerly owned, in part, by Joseph Woodson. Joseph had a sister Elizabeth Woodson, who married John Knight about two years later. In June 1742, William and John Knight sold the same 130 acres for £50. In February of that year, John had received a patent to 383 acres of land in Brunswick (now Lunenburg) County. John and Elizabeth been married for 14 years when they moved to these newly settled lands. However, within six more years, John was buying land in North Carolina, owning finally about 1,000 acres. He lived there for a time, but eventually moved back to Lunenburg County. His will, covering six pages, lists what his twelve children have already received and what he feels is due them. The children were Jonathan, John, Peter, William, Joseph, Rachel, Charles, Woodson, Elizabeth, Judith and Mary Lea.

        Jonathan Knight (c. 1731- 1809) was born in Goochland County, Virginia. By 1742 his father began making plans to move into the new lands he had purchased in Brunswick County. During the next years the names of John, John Jr., and Jonathan Knight all appear on the tithe lists. However, some of them moved even further into the new counties and down into North Carolina. Jonathan had land there as early as 1751. On February 25, 1762, his father John Knight, Sr. sold 300 acres to Jonathan Knight where he now lives. Jonathan paid his father £50 and other considerations. In 1757 Jonathan married his cousin, Judith Woodson (1741-?), the daughter of Joseph Woodson (1715-?) and Elizabeth Mattox. Elizabeth was the  daughter of  Quaker immigrant John Mattox and his wife Margaret Kent. The eight children of Jonathan and Elizabeth were John (marriedMartha Montague), Woodson, William (married Elizabeth Maupin), Elizabeth (married James Lewis Amis), Rachel (married a Mr. de Jarnet), Judith Woodson (see below - this is our line of family), Mary "Polly" (married John Amis) and Jonathan (married Christinna Bennett).

       The daughter, Judith Woodson Knight (c. 1772-bef. 1825), born in Granville County, NC married William Amis in 1793.