Title proper
Knight family
General material designation
- Textual record
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on contents.
Level of description
Fonds
Repository
Reference code
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Date(s)
Physical description
20 cm of textual records
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Name of creator
Biographical history
The Knight family were Quakers (members of the Society of Friends) from Abingdon, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who emigrated to Beaver Harbour, New Brunswick, in 1783. Although Joshua Knight (1731-1806), a blacksmith, had been disowned by the Society in 1777 for repairing arms, he became a leader of the emigrants. He was accused of treason in Pennsylvania in 1778 and fled, spending a winter in a salthouse on Campobello Island. He was named on a list of the Loyalists in New York City where he was one of the 49 original signatories of the Quaker agreement to settle in Canada and was one of 254 people who sailed for Nova Scotia in 1783. Joshua Knight received a land grant of 28 acres divided into 3 lots. In 1787 Joshua Knight submitted a successful claim for his war time losses in Pennsylvania.
Joshua Knight was the son of Isaac Knight and his wife Elizabeth. He married Sarah Tyson, the daughter of John Tyson, and they probably had three children, Joshua (b. 1773), Priscilla, and Isaac. In 1786, Joshua Knight was elected as one of the 5 directors of the settlement. Directors managed the business of the settlement for a term of one year.
Joshua's son, Joshua, was recorded as a Quaker in Beaver Harbour in 1787. In 1794 he married Jane, daughter of Gideon and Phoebe Vernon of New Market, Upper Canada (now Ontario). They had 8 children: Joshua (b.1795), Gideon (b. 1796), Sarah (b. 1798), Phoebe (b. 1800), Isaac (b.1801), Moses (b.1802), Priscilla (b. 1804) and Edmund (b. 1806). Joshua (b, 1773) was the town clerk of Pennfield (1820-1823) and was also an assessor and commissioner of roads. He was a surveyor and lumber merchant. His son, the third Joshua (1795-1851) married Elizabeth Justason and by 1831 had become an Anglican and warden of Christ Church, Pennfield.
Sources: Theodore C. Holmes, Loyalists to Canada: The 1783 Settlement of Quakers and Others at Passamaquoddy
Custodial history
Information about the custody of these records prior to acquisition is incomplete.
Scope and content
Fonds consists of family correspondence, financial records, deeds and memorabilia. Of particular note are two account books begun in Pennsylvania before the American Revolution and continued in Canada. There is a daybook, 1774-1821, including the names of people in the Quaker community, their purchases (e.g. flour, pork) and entries for blacksmith work done for them. Another account book, 1774-1825, includes accounts of individuals in the community for repairs, purchases and their pay for work. There are deeds for family properties, 1825-1867, and legal records, 1842-1909, including estate papers pertaining to Joshua Knight's guardianship of Bessie Knight Hilliard's children.
The genealogical material, 1814- 1971, includes correspondence and charts relating to the Knight, Vernon, Prescott and other related families, also copies of wills of Isaac Knight and copy of patent and deeds of Elizabeth Shorter, an ancestor who was believed to have received them from William Penn. There are also family history notes by Bertha Carson and background material about the towns connected to the family history, 1940-1962, assembled by Marion Tuttle. Also included are family correspondence,1840-1850, a collection of post cards, press clippings and memorabilia.
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Donated by Marion Tuttle, Massachusetts. 1938, 1959, 1963, 1971
Arrangement
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
No restrictions
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Associated materials
A record book belonging to Joshua Knight (1795-1851) can be found in MC581 Joshua Knight fonds in the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick.
Ganong Collection, F157 includes "Book of the Proceedings of the Society of Friends or Quakers who settled at Pennfield in Charlotte County in 1783 [continues to ca. 1833]" by Joshua Knight given to Ganong by C. Johnson.