Hillsborough County FlArchives Biographies.....Knight, Peter O. 1866 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/fl/flfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Nancy Rayburn http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00025.html#0006128 October 19, 2015, 11:20 pm Source: Vol. II pg.103-104 The Lewis Publishing Co. 1923 Author: History of Florida, Past and Present PETER O. KNIGHT. This statement is often made, and is backed by undisputed facts, that the legal profession offers more opportunities for advancement along many lines than any other calling, but it is equally true that no man can take advantage of these openings unless he possesses in marked degree certain salient qualifications. He must be brainy, resourceful and tactful, broad and liberal in his views, and able to see and appreciate the viewpoint of another, as well as possess a thorough training in his exacting profession. That all of these are possessed by Hon. PETER O. KNIGHT, one of the most distinguished citizens and successful lawyers practicing at the bar of Tampa, is unquestionably admitted by all who have followed his career, and those who know him best declare that he has not by any means yet reached his goal. Although admirably fitted to achieve high honors in any branch of his calling, he has shown preference for corporation law, and his services have been retained by a number of the leading concerns of Florida, as well as of the country. PETER O. KNIGHT was born at Freeburg, Pennsylvania, in 1866, and received his collegiate training at Valparaiso, Indiana, where he took both the classical and legal courses, and was graduated from the latter in 1885, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Soon thereafter he was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Indiana, and not long after that went to Fort Myers, Florida, where he entered upon an active practice. Mr. Knight has always been a man who could look into the future, and although in 1889 Tampa showed to the casual observer little promise of its present greatness, he decided that here he could find the opportunities for professional advancement and civic usefulness for which he was searching, and therefore became a permanent resident of the city, and has given it fully as much as it has bestowed upon him, many as have been his honors. Today Mr. Knight occupies a foremost position among the corporation and constitutional lawyers of the country, and is associated with the leading financial enterprises of Tampa and the South. He has represented the largest corporations of Southern Florida, including the Seaboard Airline Railway, the Tampa Electrical Company, all of the Stone and Webster interests in Florida, the Tampa Gas Company and the Tampa Northern Railway Company. He is president of the Tampa Hardware Company and the Tampa Investment and Securities Company; vice president of the Tampa Foundry and Machine Company, Bank of Tampa, the Tampa Electric Company, the Ybor City Land and Improvement Company, the Tampa Gas Company, Exchange National Bank, the Bank of Brooksville, the Tampa Building and Loan Association, and many others. He is actively interested in extensive agricultural developments near Tampa, in which his son, JOSEPH KNIGHT, is also interested as manager of the enterprise. He is general counsel for the Wholesale Hardware Jobbers’ Association, one of the most important trade organizations of the country. During the last war he served as Vice President, General Counsel and director of the American International Shipbuilding Corporation, which constructed the Hog Island Shipbuilding Yards. Mr. Knight received from former Secretary of War Baker a certificate of commendation which praises “the loyalty, energy and efficiency in the performance of war work by which the American International Shipbuilding Corporation aided materially in obtaining victory for the army of the United States of America in the war with the Imperial German government and the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian government.” Some idea of the magnitude of the services rendered by Mr. Knight as general counsel for the Stone and Webster Corporation and properties in the State of Florida may be gathered from the following list of concerns controlled by this corporation within the state: The Key West Electric Company, the Jacksonville Traction Company, Pensacola Electric Company, Tampa Electric Company, with all of the subsidiary companies. In young manhood PETER O. KNIGHT married Miss Frierson, a daughter of Major Frierson, of the Confederate service, and a member of one of the oldest and most honored families of Florida. They have two sons. Mr. Knight is a thirty-third degree Mason, and belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Patriotic Order Sons of America, Sons of the American Revolution and the Military Order of Foreign Wars. He is entitled to membership in the Sons of the American Revolution through RICHARD KNIGHT, who was born in 1767 and died in 1850. In 1778 RICHARD KNIGHT enlisted as a drummer boy in the American Revolution, and served as captain of a company during the War of 1812. A contemporary journal speaking of Mr. Knight says: “Mr. Knight’s home is known for its lavish entertaining, his social duties are as great as his extensive business interests will permit. He is a thoroughly equipped corporation lawyer in every sense. He enjoys a lucrative practice, is recognized as a dangerous legal opponent by his brother members at the bar. His success in every relation of life is the result of sterling integrity toward the world and every trust reposed in him. His appearance emphasizes brains. He has a fund of rich humor, keen satire and quick repartee.” For thirty-three years Mr. Knight has been a resident of Tampa, and not only has been connected with its wonderful development but is proud of it and his association with so many of its enterprises. In a recent interview relative to the city, he said in part: “one grows fonder of Tampa with each passing year. Tampa just simply grows on you. It’s the combination of a fine and growing city, peopled with the best people on earth, blessed with the finest climate conferred upon any spot anywhere. To have lived in South Florida as many years as I have and to have seen it developed so wondrously is an inspiration. It is a far cry from the Tampa of ‘89 to the Tampa of today, yet I am sure we have just really begun because Tampa is destined to become a great city and a great port.” Mr. Knight is a man of unimpeachable character, of unusual intellectual endowments, with a thorough knowledge of the law, and possesses patience, industry and urbanity in its application, all of which have brought him honor and well-merited popularity, as the above sketch clearly proves. In private life, as in professional circles, Mr. Knight is always the same reliable, honorable man-affable, yet firm in maintaining what he regards as right. His pledge is never secured except upon the most carefully examined grounds, but once obtained is immovable. His charity is broad and warm, and it is the universal verdict that he has never weighed an act of his life in the scale of sinister policy. 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