Henry
McKnight
(1848-1926)
Henry
McKnight
was born in 1848 in Fayette County, PA, the son of William and Mahala (Minerd)
McKnight. He suffered many tragic heartaches in his life, including the
death of his first wife and their infant child, and, during World War I, the
death of one son and the severe wounding of another son.
Henry was a coal miner and farmer who lived and worked in Menallen Twp., Fayette Co., PA, in 1870.
In 1871, he married his 1st wife, Elizabeth Hileman. Their only child died in infancy in March 1874, and Elizabeth died shortly afterward, on May 30, 1874. She and the infant are buried at the Little Redstone Presbyterian Church Cemetery.
Later
that year, on Oct.
22, 1874, Henry married Martha Matilda Nutt, daughter of William and Mary (Thorn)
Nutt,
seen here.
They lived at Fayette City, Brownsville, Braznell (Grindstone) and Adah, PA. Their 11 children were Mary "Mollie" Catherine Pratton, Anna Elizabeth Seddon, James Hart McKnight, Laura Edna Horstman, James Henry McKnight, William Curtis McKnight, Charles Howard McKnight, Viola "Grace" Soules, Frank Trevor McKnight, Thomas Springer McKnight Sr. and Adeline Stephens Radcliffe.
Henry worked as a farmer at Braznell circa 1910, and his neighbors
were son James McKnight and daughter Laura Horstman and their
families.
Martha was a member of the Evangelical Church in Brownsville.
Son William married a cousin, Dora Strauch, daughter of John and Mary (McKnight) Strauch. In 1918, tragedy struck when William, serving in the US Army in World War I, was killed in a railroad accident in France.
The McKnights also suffered through the devastating poison gas wounding of their soldier-son Charles, who never fully recovered and was never able to work again.
Their family remained close over the years. The photo below of a McKnight reunion, date unknown, shows Henry and Martha seated, surrounded by their children and grandchildren.
Henry died eight years after the war ended, on Oct. 20, 1926. He is buried along with a number of their descendants in the Little Redstone United Methodist Church Cemetery, near Fayette City, where the family's 2001 reunion was held.
Martha
outlived her husband by 12 years. During the Depression, in August 1932, she
wrote a letter to her son James, summarizing the struggles of the family during
that era:
I am not vary well this Spring and Summer but able to work. We have had so many to cook for. There was lots of berries and lots of people. We don't have mutch fruit, not many apples, lots of grapes.... Charley was up the other day. Lizzie has left him. He is getting a divorce. Tom was over last evening. He onely has 3 nights [of work] a week. Mollie and Jo has a hard time. So has Grace, 2 to 3 days a week.... Bill Radcliffe got his hand hurt comeing home from work. They [are] up at Clarksville. Frank has a little work on the roads. There is hard times every place so Gimmy come home and stay with me.
Martha
was ill most of the last six years of her life. In 1938, her health became
critical, and she moved into the home of daughter Grace Soules in Canonsburg,
PA. She passed away, with the funeral held at the Soules home, and was buried beside her husband.
At the time, son James was residing in Chicago, with her other adult children
living in Western Pennsylvania.
The McKnights imparted to their offspring a great sense of family connectedness which continues to bear fruit today. Great granddaughter Beth Radcliffe is actively researching this branch, and helped to organize McKnight Reunions in 1999-2002.
Copyright © 2000-2002 Mark A. Miner