THE KNIGHT FAMILY BIBLE

Transcribed by Nancy K. Kilbourn
Nancy Kilbourn DuShavo@adelphia.net 2015 McCrea Road
Thousand Oaks, California 91362-1115

The Knight family was in both Orange County and Crawford County. This bible belonged to Mason Knight, son of Robert Knight and Sarah Mason who came to Orange County Indiana before 1820. Mason lived most of his life in Crawford County, but his brothers and families continued to live in Orange County. Mason Knight's wife, Hettie Highfill, was the daughter of William Highfill, a settler to Harrison County, and his farm was in the area which became Crawford County.

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This bible first belonged to Mason and Hetty Knight of Crawford County, Indiana. It then passed onto their son Absolom Knight and his wife Nancy Elizabeth also of Crawford County Indiana. The third owner was Dovie M. Jacobs who was a daughter of Absolom and Nancy Elizabeth and wife of James D. Jacobs. Dovie and James lived in New Albany, Floyd County, Indiana. The bible is now in the possession of Nancy K. Kilbourn, granddaughter of Dovie and James Jacobs.
The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testaments: Translated out of the original tongues and with the former translations diligently compared and revised.
New York: The American Bible Society, instituted in New York, in the year 1816
1844 52nd edition
The book is leather bound and very well worn. The pages are browned from age and the
corners are all rounded. The size is 4 ½ inches wide by 7 ½ inches long and 2 inches thick. It seems to be intact. Some of the inscriptions are in pencil, some in ink, which is now brown. At some point one of the children got ahold of the book and wrote his name and birth date all over the pages (Andrew Jackson Knight b 5 April 1853). Please note these before you read:
* February was consistently spelled "Febuary"
* Several times "died" was written as "dide"
* "bornd" or "borned" was used. That is old colloquial English, not the upper class
London English we are used to reading.
* Absolom’s name spelled several different ways.
* There was uncertainty about how to separate the number of the day and the number of the year in dates. Sometimes you will see a space, sometimes a period, sometimes a hyphen and sometimes a colon.
*In the following transcription bold italics represent an attempt at an exact copy.
Before reading, here is a brief family chart to assist in keeping information in persective.
Mason Knight b 1812...d 1883 Married Hetty in Feb 1836 in Crawford Co. Indiana
Hetty Highfell (Highfill, Highfield) b 1820 ... d 1898
children:
William H. Knight b Nov 1836 married Lurena Patton
Robert Knight b 1839 died in 1861
Sarah (Sally) Knight b 1841 married Harrison Farmer
Henry Knight b 1843 married Alice Denbo
Elizabeth (Bet) b 1845 married Martin Goldman
John Knight b 1848 married Amanda Speedy
Mary Knight b 1851 died in 1854
Andrew Jackson Knight b 1853 married Mary Elizabeth Mullen
Absolom Mason Knight b 1856 married Nancy Elizabeth Miller
Inside front cover:
There are six lines which are now totally illegible. But the seventh line, in pencil reads:
Mifflin Crawford Co Ind.
The eighth line is almost gone and not legible.
This page may refer to the marriage of Absolum and Nancy Knight who were married at Mifflin, or to the marriage of Mason and Hetty Knight who were also married in Crawford Co.
The first page, which was originally blank, was used to record information. Most of the writing is in pencil, but Andrew wrote his name in ink. There are some math calculations.
Mason Knight
illegible
.....40cty
Andrew 1730
35
A. J. Knight Knight
35
-3
math on top of writing...both illegible
Andrew Knight was born seventh 1853
The second page, which also was originally blank but was used to record information in pencil.
Abslom Knight was born Febuary the 7 1856
Charlse Henry Knight was born October 8 1876
The third page, also originally blank but used to record information which was done in pencil.
Andrew Knight was born April the 5 1853
...erasure that tore a hole in the page
was born...
15the 1873
The fourth page, originally blank but with information recorded in pencil:
large cursive script
State of Indiana
Crawford County
....rest is illegible and too faded to read
The pages between the Old and New Testament were printed and reserved by the printers for record keeping.
Page facing 508 was to record marriages.
This first set was done in ink
Mason Knight and Hetty Highfell was married the 3rd day of Feb. 1836
The information on the rest of the page was in pencil and the handwriting is different from the first set of information.
Andrew J. Knight and Mary E. Mullen was marred March 2 1876
Charles H. Knight was born October 8 1876
E.D. Knight was born Feb. 16 1879
The page entitled "births" was all written in ink by the same hand as the first set of information on the preceding page, marriages. I would guess that given the information recorded it is the penmanship of either Mason or Hetty.
Mason Knight was born April the 2nd 1812
Hetty Knight his wife was born May 5th 1820
Children ages:
William Knight was born Nov. 14th 1836
Robert Knight was born June 26th 1839
Sarah Knight was born Feb. 23rd 1841
Henry Knight was born March 9th 1843
The second page entitled "births" has three different hands and three different inks.
First set is the same hand and ink as the preceding page:
Elizabeth Knight was born the year of our lord September the 9th 1845
John Knight was born the year of our lord July the 13th 1848
The second set was also black ink but a different style of cursive script.
Mary Knight was bornd year of our Lord Febuary 17th 1851
The third set is in blue ink and a very different style of writing.
Andrew Knight was born April the 5 fifth ... illegible... year of our lord 1853
Absalom Knight was borned in the year of our lord 1856 Febuary the 7 seventh
The page enscribed as "deaths" was written in black ink which is almost totally faded and mostly in one hand. The very bottom of the page is in pencil and in two different hands.
Mary Knight dide Febuary the 9 th 1854 age 3
Robert Knight dide May the 19th 1861 age 22
William Knight died January the 11th 1865 age 29 still black ink but different hand
Henry Knight died April 30, 1887 age 44
In pencil and a different hand
Mason Knight died April 20 1883 age 71
In the inside margin reading from bottom to top in black ink and different hand again
Mary E. Knight died Sept. 9. 1895
The frontpiece for the New Testament section also has been written on, in black and blue inks and three different styles of script.
The top in black ink
Hettie Knight died Aug 18. 1898 age 75
In blue ink and a different hand
Sarah Knight died December 18, 1910 age 68
In black ink and the third hand
Abslom M. Knight died Aug 12-1928 age 72
Andrew J. Knight died Jan 29 1938 age 85
On page 669 the end of Revelations, in pencil, one hand has recorded:
Charles H. Knight was born October 8 1876
Edward D. Knight wasborn Febuary 16. 1879
The next five pages had been left blank by the publisher and have been written on in pencil and in the same hand.
Andrew J. Knight Was Born April the 5 th 1853
Joseph A. Farmer Was Born July 10: 1878
Hettie Ellen Farmer Was Born Sept 11. 1887
second page
William H. Farmer Was Born Febuary the
William H. Farmer Was Born December the 13 th 1869
Mason J. Farmer Was Born Febuary the 6 th 1873
third page
Abslom M. Knight Was Born Feb 7. 1856
Andrew J. Knight Was Born April 5. 1853
Abslam M. Knight and Nancy Miller was Married December 24. 1874
fourth page
Andrew J. Knight was Born April 5. 1853
Andrew J. Knight and Mary E. Mullen Was Married March.2.1876
fifth page
William H. Knight Was Born Dec. 13: 1864
Mason J. Farmer Was Born Feb 6. 1873
1891 Two sets of entries one on top of the other and both faded the math is to the left
- 3 ....illegible.... Was Born ....illegible ....26 1875
1888 April 5 1853
Mary E. Knight Was Born October 30 1856
122
Inside the back cover, written in pencil and very large and loose, open script
Elizabeth Knight was born the year of Septber the 9th of the 1845
John Knight born the year of our lord July 13th 1848
John Knight (in ink and smudged)
As you can see, not all family bibles are a wealth of ancient information or are neatlykept. But there is important information about the family. It is to the benefit of many if you will take out the family bibles and ledgers in your possession and read them carefully. Then transcribe them for printing in a quarterly or journal.