OVERVIEW
Location: Jones County, Mississippi; town of Soso, on the Leaf River, formerly Covington County
Date Constructed/ Founded: ca. 1815 – 1817
Associated Surnames: Baylis, Chambers, Clarke, Coleman, Davis, Harper, Husbands, Knight, Rainey, Reddoch, Wheeler, Whitehead, Youngblood
Historical Notes: The family of John “Jackie” Knight (b.1773), including himself, parents Miles and Mary, and two brothers, migrated from North Carolina to Burke County, Georgia before 1795. J. Knight married Keziah Davis in 1798, lived in Georgia for several years and had eight children. Between 1815 and 1817 J. Knight, his wife Keziah and their children moved to Covington County, Mississippi to become part of the early settler-colonizers of the Covington/ Jones County area. Around 1817, John’s mother Mary moved to Mississippi to join them and brought an enslaved girl named Huldy. According to historical accounts, Jackie Knight had frequented the slave auction sites and agricultural goods trading posts in Mobile, Alabama, and Augusta, Mississippi. Several slaves, including Lewis Hill, may have been purchased from slaveholder Caleb Hill, who owned 6 slaves in 1830; after his death in 1838 the Hill family no longer owned slaves (1840 Census).
Associated Pages: William H. Knight Plantation (Jones Co., MS), Caleb Hill Plantation (Jones Co., MS)
ASSOCIATED ENSLAVED PERSONS
Families Inferred from US Census and Plantation Records (*)
Hatton family: March Hatton (b.1824-d.?); Jane Hatton (b.1818-d.?) – from South Carolina, wife; Joseph Hatton (b.1851-d.?) – son; Leaven Hatton (b.1853-d.?) – son; Martha Hatton Wheeler (b.1855-d.?) dau., married Alfred Wheeler after 1865; Margaret Hatton (b.1857-d.?) – dau.; Phillis Hatton (b.1859-d.?) – dau. [1870 Jones Co., MS]
Note: From the slave narrative of Martha Wheeler, she was the daughter of March Hatton and was sold to Elizabeth E.C. Knight (wife of Daniel C. Knight, J. Knight’s son) during the settlement of John Knight’s estate (ca. 1861). Three other slaves sold during the settlement of the estate, and the rest were divided among John Knight’s children.
Hill family: Lewis* Hill (b.1800-d.?); Cate* Knight Hill (b.1801-d.1859/1870) – wife [1870 Jones Co., MS]
Note: Lewis was originally from the Caleb Hill Plantation. He was living with James “Dry” and Martha Harper Knight in 1870.
Plantation Records
1817: Huldy – brought to John Knight by his mother Mary Knight; sold in 1820 to an unknown buyer for $800
1830: 5 slaves – 1 boy under age 10 (b.1821-1830); 1 girl under age 10 (b.1821-1830); 2 females, age 10 – 23 (b.1807-1820); 1 woman, age 24 – 35 (b.1795-1806) [1830 US Federal Census, Covington Co., MS, John Knight]
1838: Jim – purchased from unknown seller [Vinson & Vinson 1985]
1840: 10 slaves – 2 boys under age 10 (b.1841-1840); 3 males, age 10 – 23 (b.1817-1830); 1 man, age 24 – 35 (b.1805-1816); 1 girl under age 10 (b.1841-1840); 1 female, age 10 – 23 (b.1817-1830); 2 women, age 24 – 35 (b.1805-1816) [1840 US Federal Census, Covington Co., MS, John Knight]
1850: To Altimirah Brumfield (daughter) – Esther (age 10, b.1840) [Vinson & Vinson 1985]
1850: Group 1 – Male age 45 (b.1805), Female age 40 (b.1810), Female age 25 (b.1825), Male age 23 (b.1827), Female age 8 (b.1842), Female age 6 (b.1844), Female age 2 (b.1848), Male age 8 (b.1842), Male age 5 (b.1845), Female age 2 (b.1848), Male age 0 (b.1850); Group 2 – Male age 25 (b.1825), Female age 26 (b.1824), Male age 30 (b.1820), Female age 30 (b.1820), Male age 18 (b.1832), Male age 12 (b.1838), Male age 8 (b.1842), Male age 5 (b.1845), Female age 4 (b.1846), Female age 2 (b.1848), Male age 0 (b.1850) [1850 US Federal Census (Slave Schedules), Covington Co., MS, John Knight]
1857: William (age 11, b.1846) – purchased from unknown seller [Vinson & Vinson 1985]
1859: To Altimirah Brumfield (daughter) – Mary (age 12, b.1847), Mary Ann (age 12, b.1847); to Mary Whitehead (daughter) – Cate (age 58, b.1801), Lewis (age 59, b.1800) [Vinson & Vinson 1985]
1860: Female age 36 (b.1824), Female age 35 (b.1825), Female age 35 (b.1825), Female age 35 (b.1825), Female age 26 (b.1834), Male age 25 (b.1835), Male age 17 (b.1843), Female age 17 (b.1843), Female age 16 (b.1844), Male age 14 (b.1846), Male age 16 (b.1844), Male age 8 (b.1852), Female age 8 (b.1852), Male age 7 (b.1853), Female age 7 (b.1853), Female age 6 (b.1854), Female age 6 (b.1854), Female age 6 (b.1854), Female age 4 (b.1856), Female age 2 (b.1858), Male age 2 (b.1858), Male age 2 (b.1858) [1860 US Federal Census (Slave Schedules), Covington Co., MS, John Knight, 22 slaves, 6 slave houses]
1861: To William Knight (son) – Rachel, son Jeffrey, daughter Goergeanne; [1861 Will of John Knight, Vinson & Vinson 1985]
ASSOCIATED FREE PERSONS
Knight family: John “Jackie” Knight (b.1773-d.1861) – owner, slave trader; Keziah Davis Knight (b.1778-d.1859) – wife (m.1798); John Knight (b.1808-d.1833) – son;
Knight family: Albert Knight (b.1799-d.1862) – son of J. and K.D. Knight; Mary Mason Rainey Knight (b.1805-d.1868) – wife (m.1820); Taylor Knight (b.?-d.?) – son; Sill Knight (b.?-d.?) – son; John Knight (b.1821-d.?) – son; Thomas Knight (b.1823-d.?) – son; Keziah “Kizey” Knight (b.1824-d.?) – dau.; Reuben B. Knight (b.1827-d.?) – son; James Benjamin “Jim” Knight (b.1831-d.?) – son; Albert Knight Jr. (b.1833-d.?) – son; Jesse M. Knight (b.1835-d.?) – son; Newton Knight (b.1837-d.?) – son; Leonard Luke Knight (b.1839-d.?) – son; George Franklin “Frank” Knight (b.1843-d.?) – son; Martha Ann Knight (b.1846-d.?) – dau.; Andrew Taylor Knight (b.1849-d.?) – son
Brumfield family: Charles Brumfield (b.?-d.?); Harriet Knight Brumfield (b.1804-d.1870) – wife (m.1820), dau. of J. and K.D. Knight; John G. Brumfield (b.1829-d.?) – son; Margaret Sisley Kelly Brumfield (b.1832-d.?) – dau.; Lucy Brumfield (b.1835-d.) – dau.; Thomas A. Brumfield (b.1837-d.?) – son; George Davis Brumfield (b.1839-d.?) – son; Oscar Hope Brumfield (b.1841-d.?) – son; Jesse Marion Brumfield (b.1843-d.?) – son
Husbands family: Elijah Husbands (b.?-d.?); Elizabeth Knight Clarke Husbands (b.1806-d.1885) – wife, widow of John B. Clarke (b.1811-d.?) (m.1832), dau. of J. and K.D. Knight
Whitehead family: John Whitehead (b.1805-d.?); Mary Ann Knight Whitehead (b.1810-d.1882) – wife (m.1832), dau. of J. and K.D. Knight
Knight family: William H. “Pap” Knight (b.1812-d.1880) – son of J. and K.D. Knight; Mary “Polly” Youngblood Knight (b.1812-d.1870) – wife (m.1832); Jesse Davis Knight (b.1833-d.?) – son; Harriet E. Knight (b.1834-d.?) – dau.; Cornelia Ann Knight (b.1835-d.?) – dau.; Benjamin Franklin Knight (b.1836-d.?) – son; William Martin “Dickie” Knight (b.1840-d.?) – son; Keziah Jane Knight (b.1841-d.?) – dau.; Caroline Amanda Knight (b.1843-d.?) – dau.; John A. Knight (b.1845-d.?) – son; James A. Knight (b.1847-d.?) – son; Mary A. Knight (b.1849-d.?) – dau.; Serena Margaret Knight (b.1852-d.?) – dau.
Knight family: James “Dry” Knight (b.1814-d.1901) – son of J. and K.D. Knight; Harriet Youngblood Knight (b.1816-d.?) – first wife of J. Knight (m.1836); Daniel Thomas Knight (b.1840-d.?) – son of J. and H.Y. Knight; Mary Margaret “Peggy” Knight (b.1843-d.?) – dau. of J. and H.Y. Knight; Almeda Kiziah Knight (b.1845-d.?) – dau. of J. and H.Y. Knight; John J. Knight (b.1848-d.?) – son of J. and H.Y. Knight; Francis F. “Fannie” Knight (b.1849-d.?) – dau. of J. and H.Y. Knight; Cordelia Ann Knight (b.1851-d.?) – dau. of J. and H.Y. Knight; Martha Jane Harper Knight (b.1835-d.1924) – second wife of J. Knight (m.1865); Josiah W. “Joe” Knight (b.1866-d.?) – son of J. and M.J.H. Knight; Amanda J. Knight (b.1867-d.?) – dau. of J. and M.J.H. Knight; Susan A. Knight (b.1870-d.?) – dau. of J. and M.J.H. Knight; Henretta “Kenny” Knight (b.1873-d.?) – dau. of J. and M.J.H. Knight; Alice Knight (b.1876-d.?) – dau. of J. and M.J.H. Knight; James “Jimmy” Robert Knight (b.1877-d.?) – son of J. and M.J.H. Knight; Benjamin Knight (b.1879-d.?) – son of J. and M.J.H. Knight
Knight family: Benjamin Franklin Knight (b.1817-d.1858) – son of J. and K.D. Knight; Catherine M. Reddoch Knight (b.1817-d.?) – first wife of B.F. Knight (m.1836); Aletha Jane Knight (b.1840-d.?) – dau. of B.F. and C.M.R. Knight; Cassandra A. Knight (b.1847-d.?) – dau. of B.F. and C.M.R. Knight; Hester A. R. Chambers Knight (b.1833-d.?) – second wife of B.F. Knight (m.1853)
Brumfield family: George Mattison Brumfield (b.1812-d.1901); Althimirah Knight Brumfield (b.1819-1871) – wife (m.1839), dau. of J. and K.D. Knight; Sarah Elizabeth Brumfield (b.1840-d.?) – dau.; Mary Louise Brumfield (b.1845-d.?) – dau.; Annice McInnis (Ann) (Kennis) Brumfield (b.1849-d.?) – dau.
Knight family: Jefferson “Jessie” Davis Knight (b.1821-d.1863) – son of J. and K.D. Knight; Elizabeth Baylis Knight (b.1823-d.1870) – wife (m.1841); Mary Keziah Knight (b.1842-d.?) – dau.; Elizabeth Jane “Lizzie” Knight (b.1846-d.?) – dau.; Altemirah “Alta” Cynthia Knight (b.1848-d.?) – dau.; Martha L. Knight (b.1850-d.?) – dau.; George Baylis “Clean Neck” Knight (b.1852-d.?) – son; Robert W. Knight (b.1854-d.?) – son; Wyatt Davis Knight (b.1857-d.?) – son; Alice H. Knight (b.1859-d.?) – dau.; Laura Knight (b.1863-d.?) – dau.; Eugene Knight (b.1869-d.?) – son
Knight family: Daniel C. Knight (b.1824-d.1863) – son of J. and K.D. Knight; Elizabeth “Lizzie” E. Coleman Knight (b.1825-d.1877) – wife (m.1844); Mary E. Knight (b.1845-d.?) – dau.; Almeda J. Knight (b.1847-d.?) – dau.; Samuel Thomas Knight (b.1849-d.?) – son; L.R. Knight (b.1850-d.?) – son; Zorada Keziah Knight (b.1850-d.1943) – dau.; Sanfrancisco Knight (b.1855-d.1917) – son; Champenois Knight (b.1854-d.?) – son; Corine Knight (b.1866-d.?) – dau.
RESEARCH LEADS AND RECORDS
- None listed yet
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
- Land purchases recorded for John Knight: 1837 – 40.08, and 40.06 acres; 1840 – 160 acres; 1841 – 81.42 acres; 1859 – 160 acres; 1860 – 40.6
- Main house and cabins – Martha Wheeler described John “Jacky” Knight’s home as a double-pen log house with two enormous rooms on the front and two slightly smaller ones on the back (on the lean-to order) with a very large kitchen quite a distance back of the house. His slave quarters and work shops were arranged in front of his house in somewhat of a semi-circle, the cabins starting about 100 yards to the right and left of the front porch (gallery).
- Leaf River Baptist Church – founded by Norvell Robertson on September 18, 1828. White and enslaved black people were included as members.
REFERENCES
- Rootsweb World Connect: My Family History Project (John “Jackie” Knight, ID: I3009) https://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=rp98007
- Slave Narrative of Martha Wheeler. Works Project Administration. Slave Narratives (database on-line). Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000. Original data: Works Project Administration. Federal Writers Project. Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves. Washington, D.C.: n.p., n.d.
- Vinson R., Vinson D.K. The Family of John ‘Jackie’ Knight and Keziah Davis Knight, 1773 – 1985. 1985
- Haynes K. The Slave State of Jones: Black Lives Bought and Sold by John “Jackie” Knight. https://sososlaveryhistory.wordpress.com/2016/06/28/black-lives-bought-and-sold-by-john-jackie-knight/
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