Crenshaw County AlArchives Biographies.....Knight, Lawrence S. January 5 1846 - living in 1893 ************************************************ 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: Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 18, 2004, 12:07 pm Author: Brant & Fuller (1893) LAWRENCE S. KNIGHT, sheriff-elect of Crenshaw county, was born near Griffin, Ga., January 5, 1846. He is a son of William and Mary (Sansom) Knight, the former a native of Edgecombe county, N. C., born in 1808, and the latter of Walton county, Ga., born in 1812. Mr. Knight came to Georgia with his parents when a little boy, and lived in that state until 1856, when he came to Butler, now Crenshaw county, Ala., settling near where Rutledge now is, on a small improvement, and lived there until 1866, when he removed to Greenville. Here he was engaged in business until his death, in 1888, his wife having died about seven years before. Both were members of the Christian church, he for many years. He followed farming and milling during the early part of his life, and, while strong in his political convictions, never sought nor held office. He was a man of remarkably sound judgment, and was a counselor among his neighbors and friends for many years. He was a Mason of good standing, and assisted to remove the Cherokee Indians to the west. His father, Charles Knight, came from North Carolina to Georgia, was of Scotch-Irish descent, was a farmer in Georgia, and died in that state. His wife came with her son to Alabama, and died at Greenville, a few years ago, over one hundred years old. Grandfather Sansom was killed by the Indians in Georgia, when Mrs. Knight was but a little girl, and Mrs. Sansom died there in the fifties. They had six children. Lawrence S. Knight is the youngest but one of three sons and six daughters, viz.: Elizabeth, deceased wife of David Clements: Franklin, was killed at Appomattox the morning of Lee's surrender. He had enlisted in Hilliard's legion in 1862, and had been wounded once; Mary A., a twin with Franklin, is the widow of William Jackson; Lucy, deceased; Charles P., was with Franklin in the war till the close, was wounded once, and died in 1889; Lucinda, widow of William H. Hambrick; Emily, wife of J. M. Ellington; Lawrence S.; Nannie, wife of R. Pace. Lawrence S. Knight was reared on a farm. July 9, 1861, when not sixteen years old, he enlisted in company K, Seventeenth Alabama infantry, was mustered in at Montgomery, and spent the first year at Pensacola, and was in the bombardment of Fort Pickens. After fighting at Shiloh and other battles, he was taken sick and was off duty for some time. He re-joined his company at Tupelo, and from there went to Mobile in May, and remained there on garrison duty until 1864. In 1864 he joined Johnston at Resaca and fought down to Kenesaw Mountain, June 20, when he was wounded in the left arm, and was in the hospital at Macon, Ga., until July 11, when his arm was amputated, and he then returned home. He was a private soldier, and had been slightly wounded before. After his recovery he taught school in northern Alabama for three years. In 1868 he engaged in merchandising in a country store in Crenshaw county. In 1870 he married Fannie, daughter of Peter and Matilda (Welsh) Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell was a farmer, and died in 1879. Mrs. Mitchell is still living. Mrs. Knight was born in what is now Crenshaw county, and has four children: Dr. William P., a practicing physician, a graduate from the Southern Medical college, at Atlanta, in 1892; Lucy E.; Herbert, and Clay Armstrong. In 1874 Mr. Knight was elected sheriff of Crenshaw county, and served with general satisfaction four years, and from 1879 was five years superintendent of education. Afterward he was engaged in milling a few years, and since then in farming. He owns 600 acres of land where he lives, besides other lands in the county. He has under cultivation about 200 acres. What property he has he has accumulated by his own efforts. On March 22, 1883, while he was at court, his residence was destroyed by fire, causing a loss of $940 of the public funds. Col. H. Clay Armstrong, a warm personal friend of his, and who was speaker of the next house of representatives, advocated a measure for his relief, but Mr. Knight declined it, preferring to make good the loss himself Mr. Knight is a member of Greenville lodge, No. 70, I. O. O. F., and of Honoraville lodge, No. 20, K. P. He is treasurer of Crenshaw county alliance, and chairman of the executive committee of the same. He and. his entire family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, south. August 1, 1892, he was elected sheriff of Crenshaw county for four years. Additional Comments: from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 783-784 Published by Brant & Fuller (1893) Madison, WI This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 5.0 Kb