Knight

John Knight was the father of Delilah Knight, who married William S. Puckett.

From “The Root and Some of The Branches of THE PUCKETT FAMILY TREE” by Christine South Gee

John Knight Revolutionary War Soldier and some of his Descendants

John Knight, Revolutionary War Soldier and father of Delilah Knight Puckett, enlised in the service from Kershaw District.  He married Betsy Rutledge, a widow.  John Knight was born 1747.  The 1840 Census gives his age as 90-100.  Betsy Rutledge is said to have been born in 1760, William Rutledge, her only son by her first marriage, gives his birth date as 1780, tombstone in Medlock Cemetery in Laurens County.  Who Betsy Rutledge was before her first marriage we are not sure, but she may have been a Douglas.  Whether or not John Knight was born in South Carolina we are not sure.  He had a long, service record in the Revolutionary War.

John Knight and Betsy were not married until after the Revolutionary War.  It would appear that they were living in Chester County when their daughter Delilah and William Smith Puckett were married. Delilah states on her pension claim for her husband’s service in the War of 1812 that they were married in Chester District in 1813.  Still there is a John Knight listed in Abbeville County Census for 1790 that would appear to be out John Kngith.  Be that as it may, his son jJohn Knight was living in Chester until about 1820 when he appears in the Laurens Census.

Betsy Rutledge Knight died about 1810.  Some time afterwards we know that John Knight married again for we find in Book A, p. 50, Laurens County, deeds the following: John Knight, Sr. deeds to his present wife’s daughter, Emila Donald, 47 A of land lying on the waters of Reedy River, plus household furniture and farm animals.  March 24, 1834.  Who this second wife was we do not know.  He lived his last days in the home of his daughter, Delilah, and her husband, William Smith Puckett.

The only record we have of John Knight’s children we get from the two wills left by William Rutledge and the administration of his estate, all being on file in Probate Judges Office In Laurens, SC.  William Rutledge died March 12, 1822.  Will was probated in Laurens County, June 4, 1822.  A will written in 1815 mentions John Knight, his dear brother, and his sisters, Fanny, Betsy, Jenny, Delilah and deceased sisters, Polly and Nancy.  In the petition of John Knight, Jr. for papers of administration he states that William Rutledge left no relatives of the full blood.  The relatives listed above were half brothers and sisters.

John Knight, the Revolutionary soldier, born 1747, died April 10, 1841 and is buried on the place that formerly belonged to his son, John Knight, Jr., and is still owned by his descendants, I believe.  The place is on the Highway between Greenwood and Greenville, near Princeton.  The following is a record of his Revolutionary Service from the National Archives.

Affidavit on file in Pension Office [Now National Archives]    Claim No. 6026  John Knight

State of South Carolina  Laurens District In Common Pleas

On the 17th day of April personally appeared in the open court before his Honor B. J. Earle, one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas now sitting, John Knight, aged 90 years, a resident of Laurens District, South Carolina, who being sworn in due form of law, doth on his oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of an Act of Congress passed the 7th day of June 1832, that he entered the service of the United States in seven tours of duty.

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