The KNIGHT Family of Woburn and Charlestown

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JOHN KNIGHT (d. 1674) of Woburn and Charlestown m. Mary Unknown (d. 1676)
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JOHN KNIGHT (c. 1621 - aft. 1713) of Charlestown m. Ruhamah Johnson
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ELIZABETH KNIGHT (1656 - 1713) m. Jacob Bacon

First Generation

JOHN KNIGHT (d. 1674) of Woburn and Charlestown

Parents:

John Knight, Sr., malster of Charlestown, died on 29 May 1674 in Charlestown. [Ref] He married Mary Unknown. Mary, the widow of John Knight, the elder, died on 19 Mar 1676 in Charlestown. [Ref]

A John Knight was a proprietor of Sudbury in 1640. [Ref]

John Knight of Woburn bought 80 acres of meadow at the southwest end of the town of Woburn from John Green, Sr. of Charlestown by a 8 Sep 1649 deed. [Ref, p. 3] On 9 Oct 1654, John Knight, Sr., planter and inhabitant of Woburn, bought 18 acres in Charlestown, near Capt. Johnson's, from James Heyden of Charlestown. [Ref] On 29 Dec 1671, John Knight, malster, sold William Johnson of Woburn, carpenter, his messuage and extended a £400 mortgage to him, secured by the property. [Ref, p. 14]

Note: Do not confuse this John Knight with John Knight of Newbury or the John Knight, who along with Richard Knight, was a tailor from Romsey.

Children of John Knight:

  1. Mary Knight married Robert Pierce.
    On 3 Jul 1693, Robert Pierce of Woburn, yeoman, gave all his land and housing to his son Benjamin, in return for Benjamin maintaining him and his wife Mary. In this agreement, he refers to 20 acres on the Great Meadow Plain that he bought from his father-in-law, John Knight, late of Charlestown, deceased, on 6 Mar 1663. [Ref, p. 32-33]
    some descendants of Mary Knignt
  2. John Knight married firs Ruhama Johnson. He married second Abigail Stowers. He married third Mary Bridge. He married fourth Mary Clements. He married fifth Sarah Holsworth.
  3. Joseph Knight [Ref, p. 222]
  4. Samuel Knight [Ref, p. 222]

Second Generation

JOHN KNIGHT (c. 1621 - aft. 1713) of Charlestown

Parents: John Knight [Ref, p. 222]

John Knight was born about 1621. [Ref, p. 222] He presumably died after 7 Nov 1713, as his last wife is referred to as his wife, not his widow, in her death record. He married Ruhamah Johnson on 25 Apr 1654 [Ref] in Charlestown. [Ref] He married second Abigail Stowers. [Ref, p. 222][Ref] Abigail, the daughter of Nicholas and Amy Stowers, was born on 27 Jun 1636 in Charlestown. [Ref] She was baptised there on 28 Jun 1636. [Ref] She died on 9 Mar 1668 in Charlestown. [Ref] He married third Mary Bridges on 22 Jun 1668 in Charlestown. [Ref][Ref] Mary, the daughter of William and Persis (Pierce) Bridges, was probably born in 1649. [Ref] She died on 13 Aug 1678 in Charlestown. [Ref] Mary and three of her children were victims of the 1678 smallpox epidemic. He married fourth the widow Mary Clements on 19 Dec 1678 in Charlestown. [Ref] She died on 5 Feb 1682 in Charlestown. [Ref] He married fifth the widow Sarah Holsworth on 24 May 1684 in Charlestown. [Ref] She died on 7 Nov 1713 in Charlestown. [Ref]

John is referred to as a malster in the record of his marriage to Sarah Holsworth. [Ref]

Ruhamah, the wife of John Knight, was admitted to the church in Charlestown on 29 (2) 1660. [Ref] Abigail Knight, sister Stower's daughter, was admitted to the church on 13 (8) 1667. [Ref] John was admitted into the church on 26 (11) 1667. [Ref][Ref, p. 222, says 26 Nov 1667, age 46][Ref] Mary Knight, the wife of brother John Knight, was admitted to the church on 23 Sep 1677. [Ref] Mary Knight, the brother of John Knight, was admitted to the church on 9 Jan 1680. [Ref] Sarah Knight, the wife of brother John Knight, was admitted to the church on 9 Mar 1684, having been dismissed from the First Church of Boston. [Ref]

A John Knight is on a 24 Aug 1676 list of soldiers in King Philip's War. [Ref]

Children of John Knight and Ruhamah Johnson:

  1. Ruhamah Knight was born on 29 Jan 1654/5 [Ref] in Charlestown. [Ref] She died on 13 Feb 1654/5 [Ref] in Charlestown. [Ref]
  2. Elizabeth Knight was born on 3 Jun 1656. She died on 27 Feb 1713. She married Jacob Bacon.
  3. John Knight was born on 4 Nov 1657 [Ref] in Charlestown. [Ref]
  4. Ruhumah Knight was born on 16 Feb 1658/9 [Ref] in Charlestown. [Ref]

Children of John Knight and Abigail Stowers:

  1. Abigail Knight was born on 27 Feb 1663 in Charlestown. [Ref] She and her brother John were baptised on 27 (8) 1667 at the church in Charlestown, as the children of John and Abigail Knight. [Ref]
  2. Mary Knight was born on 27 Dec 1665 in Charlestown. [Ref] She died on 5 Apr 1666 in Charlestown. [Ref]
  3. John Knight was born on 1 Sep 1667 in Charlestown. [Ref] He was baptised 27 (8) 1667 at the church in Charlestown. [Ref] He died on 2 Jun 1668 in Charlestown. [Ref]

Children of John Knight and Mary Bridges:

  1. Persis Knight died on 24 Aug 1669 in Charlestown. [Ref]
  2. Mary Knight was born on 29 Jul 1670 in Charlestown. [Ref] She was baptised on 31 (5) 1670 at the church in Charlestown, as the daughter of John Knight. [Ref] She died of smallpox on 20 Aug 1678 in Charlestown. [Ref]
  3. Persis Knight was born on 11 Mar 1672 in Charlestown. [Ref] She was baptised on 17 (1) 1672 at the church in Charlestown, as the daughter of John Knight. [Ref] She died on 13 Aug 1701 in Charlestown. [Ref]
  4. John Knight was born on 16 Nov 1673 in Charlestown. [Ref] He was baptised on 23 (9) 1673 at the church in Charlestown, as the son of John Knight. [Ref] He died of smallpox on 16 Aug 1678 in Charlestown. [Ref]
  5. Samuel Knight was born on 8 Sep 1675 in Charlestown. [Ref] He was baptised on 12 (7) 1675 at the church in Charlestown, as the son of John Knight. [Ref]
  6. Rebecca Knight was born on 28 Oct 1677 in Charlestown. [Ref] She was baptised on 21 (8) 1677 at the church in Charlestown, as the daughter of John and Mary Knight. [Ref] She died, presumably of smallpox, on 18 Sep 1678 in Charlestown. [Ref]

Third Generation

ELIZABETH KNIGHT (1656 - 1713)

Parents: John Knight and Ruhamah Johnson [Ref, p. 117][Ref, p. 222]

Elizabeth Knight was born on 3 Jun 1656 [Ref][Ref, p. 222] in Charlestown. [Ref, p. 117] She died on 27 Feb 1713 [Ref, p. 117] in Roxbury [Ref] and is buried in West Roxbury. She married Jacob Bacon. [Ref][Ref, p. 117]

After her husband's death, Elizabeth signed a petition to attend church in Roxbury. [Ref, p. 117]

Elizabeth's gravestone in West Roxbury says, "Here lyes ye Body of Elizabeth Wife to Jacob Bacon aged 57 years decd Feb ye 27 1713." [Ref]

Her grandfather William Johnson mentions his granddaughter Elizabeth Bacon in his will. [Ref]

References

Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. Vol. 1-3. Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995, entries for William Bridges and Nicholas Stowers.

Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Vol. 3, Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2003, enry for James Heyden.

Baldwin, Thomas Williams, Bacon Genealogy: Michael Bacon of Dedham, 1640 and his descendants, Cambridge, Mass, unknown, 1915.

Bodge, George, "Soldiers in King Philip's War," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, many volumes.

Editors, "Record Book of the First Church in Charlestown", New England Historical and Genealogical Register 25, 1871, , 279-284, 339-344; 26, 1872, 49-54, 249-253.

Johnson, Edward F., Abstracts of Early Woburn Deeds, recorded at Middlesex county registry, 1649-1700, Woburn, The News Print, 1895.

Johnson, G. W., "William Johnson and his Descendants," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 33, 1879, 81.

Joslyn, Roger D., Vital Records of Charlestown, Massachusetts to the year 1850, Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1984-1995.

Kilpatrick, Marian Douglas Jones, The Kilpatrick Family: Ancestors and descendants of Marian Douglas Jones and Robert Jackson Kilpatrick: with related families, Beatrice, Neb.?, R.J. Kilpatrick, 1930.

Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 (Online Database: NewEnglandAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2007).

Morse, Abner, "Original Proprietors of Sudbury, Mass.," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 13, 1859, 261.

Trask, William B., "Inscriptions from the Burial Ground in West Roxbury, Mass.," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 7, 1853, 331.