John McKnitt (abt. 1627 - abt. 1708)

Born about 13 Apr 1627 in Ulster, Ireland [uncertain]

Husband of Elizabeth Jane (Wallace) McKnitt — married 1659 in Manokin Hundred, MD

Descendants

Died about 1708 at about age 80 in Somerset, Maryland

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John McKnitt migrated from Scotland to America.

Biography

He was born about 13 Apr 1627 in Ulster, Ireland.

Immigrated from Ireland to America about 1670's. McKnitt invited young John Brevard in their emigration to America. Brevards along with the Wallaces, McKnitt s, Alexanders, and other Scotch Irish left Ireland for America.

John McKnitt married (c1652 or c1659 or 28 Mar 1693 ?) to Elizabeth Jane Wallace or Wallis (1632–1708). ^{[1] [2]}

John McKnitt married about 1660 in Manokin Hundred, Somerset, Maryland to Jane Alexander.

John McKnitt married about 1700 in New Munster (later Chester County, Pennsylvania) to Martha Dale.

He died about 1708 in Somerset County, Maryland and was buried at Manokin Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Princess Anne, Somerset County, Maryland. ^{[3] [4]}

Court

Maryland State Archives - Somerset Judicial Records 1692-96, Abstracts with Selected Transcriptions - Volume 535, Page 72

JANUARY COURT 1693/94

John McKnitt and Amos Parsons appear;

Mcknitt testifies per previous appearance that he fears Parsons doing harm to his person or property;

Court orders Parsons to post security for his good behavior;

Parsons makes bond for £10, securities Thomas Beauchamp, William Warwick.

Amos Parsons fined for contempt for failure to obey a summons.

https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000

Children

1. Jane=Jean (McKnitt) Alexander, b: 1680
2. Abigail (McKnitt) Alexander 1667–1714
3. John McKnitt, Jr., b: about April 1660 Ireland; d: 23 Dec 1714 Elk River, Cecil County, Maryland; buried: Newark, New Castle County, Delaware; m: c1684 Jane Alexander (sister of Elizabeth)
4. Robert McKnitt, b: 04 Jun 1685
5. John McKnitt, b: 08 Sep 1687 ^{[5] [6] [7]}
6. Mary Katherine McKnitt, b: 10 Aug 1689 ^[8]
7. Margaret McKnitt, b: 26 Dec 1693 ^{[9] [10] [11] [12]}
8. Daniel William McKnitt, b: 1696
9. Jean McKnitt b: 18 May 1698
10. Sarah McKnitt, b: c1701
11. Elizabeth McKnitt, b: c1703
12. Abigail McKnitt b: c1708

Research Notes

After a merge this profile has info for both John McKnitt Sr. and Jr. mixed together.

• Not to be confused with John McNaught, b: c1625 Dalry Strathclyde Scotland; migration: c1714; d: c1714 Londonderry, Ireland; m: Florence Gordon; son Alexander McNaught & wife arrival: 1720 Boston, Massachusetts; res: Palmer, MA; last direct male heir to the MacNaucht estates, John McKnight, was lost at sea in 1738 on a voyage from New York to Jamaica.

• Not to be confused with John McKnight, b: c1627 Wigtown Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland; d: c1683 Scotland; m: Sarah Moore; daughter Jane McKnight, m: John Walker; grandson John Walker, b: 1676 Wigton, Scotland; immig: 1694 Woburn, MA > VA > NC; d: Sep 1734 Chester County Pennsylvania; m: Katherine Rutherford (1682-1702); Rutherford Bible cited by White in 1902 bears the signature of John McKnight on its title page; was passed down through the family - Katherine Rutherford > John Walker, Jr. > Jane McKnight.

McNaught

McNaught Saga - How McNaught evolved into McKnight, McNitt, McNutt, McKnitt

Ancient Scottish clan MacNauchtan (or MacNaughton).

A branch of the MacNauchtans of Argyll settled in the province of Galloway in Southwestern Scotland in the thirteenth century and shortened the name to MacNaught.

Centuries later, as members of the family moved to northern Ireland and then to America, many adopted such forms of the surname as McNitt, McNett, McNutt, McNight, and McKnight.

In a span of a dozen generations, the surname adopted by a son of Nauchtan during the Middle Ages gradually evolved into a score of variants including McKnight, McNeight, McNaight, McNeit, McKnitt and others.

The MacNaughts were centered in the Lowland region of Galloway near Dumfries, not far from the border between Scotland and England where the ruins of Hadrian's Wall still stand. Here, well removed from the bloody turmoil of the Highlands, they tended modest estates, the largest of which was called Kilquhanity. By most accounts, the "MacNaughts of Kilquhanity" were peaceful farmers who lived in quiet prosperity from approximately 1300 until the late-1600s when the the English kings demanded they renounce their religious convictions upon penalty of death.

Exactly how "MacNaught" became "McNitt" is itself a complicated tale. But the gist is this: The Scots-Gaelic name "MacNaught" was difficult for English speakers to pronounce. In the Anglicized atmosphere near the English border, some "MacNaught" took to calling themselves "MacKnight," which is, in fact, a loose translation based on the ancient meaning of the Celtic word "nachtan" used to describe a fair-haired and innocent youth with great potential.

On written documents, however, MacKnight was often spelled phonetically - with McKnitt being one of many forms including others such as McNeight, McNaight and McNeit.

All were understood to mean the same thing: MacKnight.

The "McNitt" variant seems to have evolved in the first half of the 1600s in Ulster Province, Northern Ireland, where MacNaught/MacKnight/McKnitt sons had gone to seek their fortune on farm land leased to English and Scottish settlers.

The "McNett" name appeared in 18th- and 19th-century America among sons whose fathers once called themselves McNitt.

Sources

1. ↑ Maryland, Church Records 1668-1995 on FamilySearch database (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F4NN-FQH : 24 Feb 2016) citing FHL#14,416; m: 28 Mar 1693 Somerset County, Maryland for John McKnitt & Jane Wallis
2. ↑ Maryland County Marriages, 1658-1940, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F4NX-1XQ : 07 Jul 2016) m: 1693 for John McKnitt & Jane Wallis
3. ↑ "Find A Grave Index" database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVK1-Y3RW : 13 Dec 2015) citing memorial #52846194; for John McKnitt-McKnight, buried: Manokin Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Princess Anne, Somerset, Maryland, USA
4. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #52846194 for John McKnight, b: 1630 Scotland; d: 1708 Somerset County, Maryland, USA; buried: Manokin Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Princess Anne, Somerset County, Maryland, USA
5. ↑ Maryland Births and Christenings 1650-1995 on FamilySearch database (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F4Z7-NJV : 24 Jan 2016) citing FHL#14,416; for John Macknitt, b: 08 Sep 1687 Somerset County, Maryland
6. ↑ Maryland Births and Christenings 1650-1995 on FamilySearch database (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F4ZQ-PP1 : 24 Jan 2016) citing FHL#14,363; for John Macknitt, b: 08 Sep 1687 Somerset County, Maryland
7. ↑ Maryland Births and Christenings 1650-1995 on FamilySearch database (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F4ZQ-P59 : 25 Feb 2016) citing FHL#14,363; with Jane in entry for John Macknitt, b: 08 Sep 1687 Somerset County, Maryland
8. ↑ Maryland, Church Records 1668-1995 on FamilySearch database (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F4Z7-DDQ : 24 Feb 2016) citing FHL#14,416; with John Macknitt in entry for Katherin Macknitt, b: 10 Aug 1689 Somerset, Maryland
9. ↑ Maryland, Church Records 1668-1995 on FamilySearch database (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F4Z7-6S3 : 24 Feb 2016) citing FHL#14,416; with John Mcknitt in entry for Margarett McKnitt, b: 26 Dec 1693 Monokin, Somerset County, Maryland
10. ↑ Maryland, Church Records 1668-1995 database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F4Z7-6SS : 24 Feb 2016), Margarett McKnitt, b: 26 Dec 1693 Monokin, Somerset County, Maryland, USA
11. ↑ Maryland Births and Christenings 1650-1995 on FamilySearch database (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F4ZQ-JRN : 12 Dec 2014) citing FHL#14,363; for Margarett Mcknitt, b: 26 Dec 1693 Monocan, Somerset County, Maryland
12. ↑ Maryland Births and Christenings 1650-1995 on FamilySearch database (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F4ZQ-JRJ : 24 Jan 2016) with Jno. Mcknitt in entry for Margarett Mcknitt, b: 26 Dec 1693 Monocan, Somerset County, Maryland

• Maryland, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index 1772-1890; res: Cattle Marks Twp, Somerset, Maryland

• Manokin Presbyterian Church in Princess Ann Maryland

• Hezekiah Alexander and the Revolution in the Backcountry p14-16

• McNitt Family History & Genealogical Archive

• Piedmont partisan: the life and times of Brigadier-General William Lee Davidson by Chalmers Gaston Davidson & Davidson College in 1968

• History of Mecklenburg County and the City of Charlotte from 1740 to 1903 by D. A. Tompkins in 1904

• "Lineage and Tradition of the Family of John Springs, III" by Julia Amanda Springs Gibson in 1921

• Morrison-Williams Register: 4780 Full Names in Compact Display Showing Family Relationships By Generations, With Vital Statistics and Revolutionary Service Indicated Where Known by William Mann Morrison of Atlanta, GA in 1991 on ancestry.com

• The History of Hopewell Presbyterian Church by Charles Sommerville pg 249-250.