Samuel Knight
M, #16296
| Marriage* | before 24 August 1837 | Samuel Knight married Ruth Ann Johnson, daughter of Thomas Johnson and Hannah (__________), before 24 August 1837 as she's referred to as Ruth Ann Knight in deed of that date. |
| Divorce* | Samuel Knight and Ruth Ann Johnson were divorced; 24 Aug 2007 - Yesterday I went to the Putnam County Court house to look at records that are not on microfilm at the state library. I was determined to find out what happened to Samuel Knight. As you know, the deeds (where the 10 kids and Hannah sell their property) show Nancy Hill, Ruth Ann Knight, and Mary Wright without husbands leading me to believe they were widows. After rechecking everything in the probate and deed books I went to the probate order books, still nothing about Ruth Ann's husband. I was beginning to think he had died after they went to Illinois. Then I checked the Civil records. I remembered your story and there it was!! Ruth Ann Knight divorced Samuel Knight. Very interesting considering it was in the 1830's. She said he beat her and she went to live with her mother then he said he would be nice so she went back but he was worse. Apparently he left town (or the state) so the judge had Ruth Ann put an ad in the Rockville Indiana newspaper for 3 weeks. There, apparently, was no newspaper in Putnam County at that time or at least the archives says none exists from that time. There was no answer from the ad so the judge granted the divorce. Next week I will go to the archives and see if I can find those notices in the Wabash Herald newspaper. There is mention that Ruth Ann had "infants" but no mention of their names. I still think Ruth Ann later married Isaac N. Seevers but just not enough proof at this point. There was also a notice in the civil order book about a Joseph Jackson vs Lenox Knight (I thought he might be Samuel's brother) and Samuel Knight but the case was continued because no one could locate Samuel. So I will go back to the courthouse in a few weeks and see if I can find more info. The suit between Jackson and the two Knights is for "convenance." My husband says that is like breech of promise and it could be that they sold Joseph Jackson land and he never got the title or something to that effect. I wonder what happened to Samuel. I still found no info about his land in Putnam County and I checked from the 1830's to the 1860's and didn't find where it was ever sold. They do have land transfer books that start in the 1860's but I really couldn't figure out how to use them and the courthouse employee wasn't much help. This was in the auditor's office. They are not as helpful as the recorder's or the clerk's office. Those two offices are really nice. Next trip I might see if the plat office can help me and I can see who owns it now. Though I really don't know if it will prove anything and it might take awhile to go from 2007 back 170 years. I thought it might be possible (given my Thomas Johnson's behavior in later years) that Samuel disappeared for good. Lenox Knight was a physician and he was in Putnam County in the census for 1850. Samuel probably married someone else and made their life miserable.1 |
Family | Ruth Ann Johnson b. 28 Feb 1811, d. 26 Dec 1901 | |
| Children |
| |
| Last Edited | 9 Mar 2013 |
Citations
- [S1647] "email from Angela to Kathryn," e-mail message from Angela McLaughlin, private email address to Kathryn Bassett, Apr 2007+.