Daniel
Harry Knight
(1842-1917)
Daniel
Harry Knight was born on June 25, 1842,
in
Turkeyfoot Twp., Somerset
County, PA, the son of James and Susanna (Imel)
Knight Sr. He and his brother Norman
were soldiers in the Civil War.
At age 10, after his mother died, Daniel moved with his father and siblings to near Marshfield, Athens County, OH.
On Aug. 3, 1861, when Daniel was 19, he purchased a 2.5-acre parcel of the 80-acre farm of his father and stepmother. in Section 18, Township 10, Range 15 of Athens County. At about the same time, he also bought a nearby parcel of four acres from Andrew and Jane Means in Section 12, Township 10, Range 15.
He stood 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with a dark
complexion, brown hair and blue eyes.
After the Civil War broke out, Daniel enlisted in an Ohio regiment -- Co. A, 92nd OH Volunteer Infantry -- on July 30, 1862. His brother Norman also enlisted in the Army, as a member of the 4th WV Volunteer Infantry. The brothers remained close throughout their lives.
Daniel took part in
a number of major battles in the southeastern United States -- Chickamauga,
Chattanooga, Resaca (GA), Kennesaw Mountain, Jonesboro (GA). He also participated in the devastating
"March to the Sea" from Nov. 15 to Dec. 10, 1864, led by
General William Tecumseh Sherman, where Army forces destroyed railroad lines,
crops, houses and just about anything else in their way. Seen at left,
Sherman's troops rip up railroad track in Georgia.
The 92nd Ohio was present when Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to General Sherman in Durham, NC, in April 1865.
Daniel is said also to have marched in the Grand Review before President Andrew Johnson on May 24, 1865, involving more than 100,000 troops of the Grand Army of the Republic. He was discharged on June 12, 1865 at Washington, DC.
The Civil War records of Daniel and brother Norman's briefly are summarized in the 1989 booklet, Civil War Veterans of Athens County, Ohio, authored by Mary L. Bowman and published by the Athens County Historical Society & Museum. The work can be found today in the at the Alden Library at Ohio University in Athens.
Grand Review in Washington, D.C., May 1865
He then
returned home to Athens County. On Sept. 3, 1866, Daniel purchased the remaining
78 acres of his father's farm in Lee Township, for the sum of $2,370. Daniel
is named, and the location of his farm is visible, in the 1875 Atlas of
Athens County, Ohio, at left. His farm is in the lower right-hand
corner, directly south of Marshfield.
The
1866 real estate transaction may have related to the fact that the same month, September
1866, Daniel
married Caroline
Elizabeth Llewellyn (1846-1924). She was the daughter of Alphena and Ellen Nora (Schmitley)
Llewellyn of Scott, OH. (Ellen's maiden name also has been given as "Schantley.")
Officiating at the ceremony was E.R. Cooper, a justice of the peace, held in
Athens County.
A copy of Daniel and Caroline's marriage license is seen at right, still on file in the Athens County courthouse.
The Knights were the parents of six children -- Lillie May Walters, Norman W. Knight, James Jasper Knight, Martha Jane Webb, Zeruah Samantha Snyder and Laura Ann Knight. They also raised a granddaughter, Evangeline Strasburg.
Daniel and Caroline and their brood, late 1880s
In
the fall of 1867, Daniel lost the tip of his right-hand thumb, crushed by a
wheel wood machine. A stump of flesh grew around it over time, leaving a stub
1.25 inches long. A surgeon's sketch is seen at right. In about 1870,
Daniel came down with rheumatism which left him weakened the rest of his life.
The Knights lived on their farm near Marshfield until 1872. That year, on March 18, Daniel sold their 80-acre farm to Hiram F. Porter. Around that time, the Knights are believed to have moved to the western part of the state in Scott, Van Wert County. Some of his distant Minerd relatives also resided in the Van Wert area at that time, including a first cousin of Daniel's late mother, John Minerd Jr.
Daniel's physical condition worsened in about 1884 when he contracted "intestinal indigestion" as a result, he claimed, of diarrhea while in the Army during the war.
In March 1898, after about 25 years in Van Wert and Paulding Counties, Daniel and Caroline relocated again. They moved with their married children to Puget Sound, WA. However, the experience did not meet their expectations. Unhappy with the cold, wet climate, they decided to leave after only three months.
Gladwin's main street
at turn of the century
The Knights then relocated to Michigan, and settled on a farm near Gladwin, Gladwin County.
The
Knights' farmhouse near Gladwin is seen at left.
Daniel began receiving a federal government pension as compensation for his wartime disabilities. In about 1893, he began suffering from heart disease. He underwent annual medical checkups as part of his pension obligation. He complained of a sore spine and problems with swallowing in January 1896. At his exam in March 1905, doctors wrote that Daniel "can do a little choring but no real hard work" due to his rheumatism and weak heart.
Daniel
died at home on March 20, 1917, at the age of 75.
Caroline survived him by seven years. During that time, she endeavored to obtain her late husband's pension as a source of badly needed income. With the help of the Cashier G.C. Goodrum, of the First National Bank of Gladwin, she wrote to the Pension Commissioner, asking about the status of her petition. Her letter, on stationery of the Standard Oil Company, is seen at right.
Among the evidence she needed to furnish was proof of her maiden name. This involved providing names and dates from the old Lewellen Bible, and also the federal census from 1860, in which she was a teenager in her father's home. Eventually, her request was approved, and she ultimately received $30 each month.
Caroline passed away on Oct. 17, 1924.
The Knights are buried together in a family plot at nearby Ridge Cemetery. Their graves were photographed by Minerd.com's founder during a visit to Gladwin in 1992.
Daniel's grave, and the Knight family plot in Gladwin
Sketch reproduced from Life and Deeds of
General Sherman, F.F. Spyer
& Co., Brooklyn, NY.
Text copyright
© 2000-2007 Mark A. Miner