John Knight
John Knight is a good type of our selfmade men, who have also afforded valuable assistance in the making of their native county, Pickaway while industriously accumulating the property that places them among its substantial, well-to-do citizens. Our subject has one of the best-managed and improved farms in all Washington Township, where he carries on a profitable business as a tiller of the soil and stockraiser.
Mr. Knight was born in Washington Township, Pickaway County, September 4, 1835. His father, Thomas Knight, who came of the old pioneer stock of Ohio, and was a native of the State, died in 1838, when our subject was a small boy, and he was only a little child when his mother died. He is the sixth of seven children, five of whom are still living. Being thus early sadly bereft of his parents when he most needed their care, he was bound out to Samuel Fedderoff, a farmer in Salt Creek Township, with whom he lived until he was eighteen years old. He was naturally a bright, intelligent lad, of good parts, but an education was denied him, as he was forced to work when his time should have been given to learning, and his schooling was confined to a brief attendance at a pioneer log schoolhouse. However, his time was not wholly lost, as he learned to work well and to make good use of his faculties, and he has in a measure made up for his early deficiencies in learning by acquiring a goodly fund of information by observation, experience and reading.
At the age of eighteen, Mr. Knight began to work out by the month, receiving $13 a month during the first part of the six years that he was so engaged, his wages gradually increasing until he obtained $22 a month. He wisely saved his money and in due time became independent and was able to establish a home for the wife of his choice. After his marriage, he located on a farm that he bought in Washington Township, and farmed that some years. In 1867, he purchased the farm upon which he has since lived on section 15, of the same township, which, under his careful system of cultivation, is very fruitful, yielding abundant harvests and a comfortable income. Its one hundred and sixty-six acres are well drained and fenced, and our subject has made extensive improvements since the farm came into his possession, repairing and remodeling the buildings, which are commodious and well fitted up, and everything about the place shows the guidance of a master hand and the presence of one who thoroughly understands his calling. Mr. Knight has a well-balanced mind, is sensible and shrewd, carrying on his affairs in a business-like manner, fairness and justice characterizing all his dealings, and he bears a high reputation among his fellow-citizens, who know him well and esteem him accordingly. In his political views, he is a decided Democrat and is unswerving in his allegiance to his party.
Our subject was married in 1859 to Miss Rebecca Leist, who was an important factor in his prosperity. Mrs. Knight was also a native of Pickaway County, her birthplace in Washington Township, and she was a daughter of one of its early pioneer families. Her parents, Jacob and Julia Leist, were natives of this State, and have long since passed away. Mrs. Knight was a valued member of the Evangelical Association and was a true Christian in every sense of the word. Her otherwise happy wedded life with our subject was overshadowed by the death of four of their nine children, Charles, Georgia, Emma and Ida. These are spared: Lizzie, Rose, Laura, John and Minnie. Our subject's wife departed this life at her home April 20, 1892.
From PORTRAIT & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF FAYETTE, PICKAWAY AND MADISON COUNTIES, OHIO - Chapman Bros. [Chicago, 1892]