Chambers County AlArchives Cemeteries.....McKnight Family Cemetery - Complete Survey ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Donna McKnight katiekaykdk@yahoo.com September 8, 2013, 12:29 pm Abstracted By: Donna McKnight GPS Coordinates: Latitude: 33.01941, Longitude: -85.55030 According to a couple of McKnight family researchers, John McKnight and Martha Sims McKnight are buried in an area on county road 121, 1/4 of a mile from Ebenezer Methodist Church, near the Bosworth community in northwest Chambers county, located in Section 4, Township 23N, Range 25 E. At one time, the land belonged to the McKnight/ Alsobrooks family. The graves are supposedly in a remote, thickly grown area which may now be private property. Estine Inez McKnight Fitzpatrick, great-great grand-daughter of John McKnight and Martha Sims McKnight, is responsible for having placed the gravestones with very informative inscriptions for John and Martha. The stones are granite markers resting upon thick rock slabs, approximately 3 1/2 feet by 7 feet, which in turn rest upon smaller, neatly squared rock bases. Last Name First Name Middle Name Birth Death Comment ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- McKnight John Lee August 6, 1788 February 26, 1856 McKnight Martha Sims 1793 August 17, 1856 Additional Comments: John Lee McKnight's gravestone reads: JOHN MCKNIGHT, son of Andrew McKnight and wife Elizabeth Nesbitt. Born in 1785, in Laurens Dist., South Carolina. Married Martha Sims. About 1827, they moved to Georgia, settled near Newnan. In 1830 he was elected State Senator from Coweta County. Settled here in Chambers County, Alabama about 1834. Died February 26, 1856. Martha Sims McKnight's gravestone reads: MARTHA SIMS MCKNIGHT, daughter of John Sims and wife Mariah Ann Jane McGee. Born 1793 in Laurens Dist., South Carolina. Died August 17, 1856 here in Alabama. In 1835, John McKnight w/friend, built and operated grist and sawmills on Chicasanoxee Creek, about 3 miles from here. In 1836 he established a ferry 1/2 mile N.W. of mills, across the Tallapoosa River, to aid travel North and West. John McKnight Information: Married Martha Sims 1812, Laurens County, South Carolina. Father of: Andrew M. McKnight, Mariah McKnight Bentley, Nancy McKnight Causey, Hiram Lee McKnight, Thomas McKnight, Larissa McKnight Welch, Lewis Newton McKnight, John W. McKnight, Martha Elizabeth McKnight Sims, Mary McKnight Standfield, Elvira Minerva McKnight Spraggins Monkress, Christopher Pusilamus Columbus McKnight, and Gilbert Motier Lafayette McKnight. Served as Worshipful Master for the Burns Masonic Lodge, Coweta County, Georgia. Elected State Senator from Coweta County, Georgia in October 1830. See http://genealogytrails.com/geo/coweta/pioneers.html and the book titled "Coweta County chronicles for one hundred years : with an account of the Indians from whom the land was acquired, and some historical papers relating to its acquisition by Georgia, with lineage pages" by Mary G. Jones published in 1928. John can be found on the 1850 census in Chambers County Alabama. His age is listed as 61, estimated birth year 1789, birth place South Carolina, profession farmer. The other household members are: Martha McKnight age 55, birth year 1795, birth place South Carolina. Lewis McKnight age 25, birth year 1825, birth place Georgia. Martha E. age 22, birth year 1828, birth place Georgia. John W. age 23, birth year 1827, birth place Georgia. Mary J. age 21, birth year 1829, birth place Georgia. Minerva age 17, born 1833, birth place Georgia. Christopher age 15, born 1835, birth place Georgia. LaFayette age 13, born 1837, birth place Alabama. Also listed in the household are Charles P. Simpson born age 27, born 1823 Georgia, profession school teacher and Susan M. Simpson age 21 born 1829 South Carolina. On the same census in Chambers County, Alabama John's grown children and their families Mariah McKnight Bentley and Thomas McKnight are neighbors. On Ancestry.com's Alabama Marriages 1809-1920 Selected Counties list, I find where John McKnight performed marriages as a Justice of the Peace from 1836- 1855 in Chambers County, Alabama. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/chambers/cemeteries/mcknight136cm.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/alfiles/ File size: 4.7 Kb