Alford
S. McKnight
(1853-1909)
Alford
S.
McKnight was born on Sept. 27, 1853 in Fayette County, PA, the son of William and Mahala (Minerd)
McKnight.
Alford married Mary L. McGovern (1851-1922).
Their children were Nora E. Deck, Emily Ella McKnight and Jesse Minerd McKnight.
Like his father and brothers, Alford was a coal miner.
The McKnights lived on a two-acre tract of his parents' farm near Sandy Hill, Fayette County. They were members of the Central Christian Church of Uniontown.
Alford died at age 55 on Feb. 12, 1909, at the family residence on the New Salem Road near Sandy Hill.
Mary outlived him by 13 years. She passed away on Oct. 17, 1922. They are buried together at the Sandy Hill Church, near the graves of his parents and step brother John Henry McKnight.
Other distant cousins buried at Sandy Grove are Robert "Milroy" Everly and John F. Rockwell. Whether the McKnights were acquainted with these individuals, or knew of the family connections, is unknown.
Daughter
Emily Ella McKnight (1879-1951) apparently never married. She was a nurse and
historian at Uniontown Hospital, having graduated from the Uniontown Hospital
School of Nursing in 1910. She was a member of the Central Christian Church and
the Uniontown Hospital Alumnae Association. At age 50, she made her home with
her widowed brother Jesse in Uniontown in 1930. In the early 1950s, she lived in
an apartment in the Titus Building in Uniontown. She died on May 13, 1951, and
received a a front page obituary in the Uniontown Morning Herald. She is buried near her
parents. Her grave marker is seen at right.
Copyright © 2000, 2002-2003, 2008 Mark A. Miner