Holbrook line: William Knight, Immigrant

It's hard to write a blog post when there is not a lot to go on as far as documentation.  One must read between the lines, and perhaps draw incorrect conclusions.  The good thing is that someday, someone will figure out a lot of these mysteries.  I hope to be around to witness at least some of these new discoveries. 

William Knight is a good example of this.  We do have some information, but some of it is conflicting and much information is missing.  We'll either look at this glass as half full or half empty, and I guess I'm voting for half full. 

After all, we do know at least two and perhaps three of William's wives. We know when he arrived in Massachusetts Bay Colony, and we know what he left as an estate.  That is more information than we have for some of our ancestors, anyway. 

We don't know for sure where or when William was born.  One suggesting is December 15, 1670 in London, Middlesex, England, with parents of John Knight and Margery Lascelles.  I think this is probably not our William Knight, as it would leave him coming to America as a man of 65 and fathering children here.  It's possible, but unlikely. 

One of the challenges is that there are at least three proposed wives for William.  One is Ann Ives, who probably died between 1612 and 1622, when there is a distance of ten years between the noted children.  But his records in America indicate his wife may have been Emma Potter, whom he had married by 1635.  How do we account for his children born in the 1620s?  And finally, he had a second or third wife Elizabeth Lee Ballard, who was living when William died and whom he married  in or soon after 1640.  He seems to refer in his wife to having had four children with Elizabeth, in addition to those he had earlier. 

He refers to sons John, Jacob, and Francis, and to daughters Ann and Hanna, as well as to two of Elizabeth's children by her first husband, and to the four children (unnamed) that he has with Elizabeth.  I'm not sure why Margery, our connection, wasn't mentioned in the will but there could be any number of reasons, including that he may have given a marriage gift, either of land or money. 

William died March 5, 1655/56, in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony.  He had been in America about 20 years, having arrived at Salem in either 1635 or 1636.  He owned land in Salem in 1636, so probably he arrived in 1635.  There is a William Knight who was made a freeman in 1638 in Boston, but I don't know whether this is our William or not. 

William's inventory is interesting.  He owned a dwelling house, barn, and fifteen acres of plow land, six acres of meadow in Rumley marsh and five acers of meadow in the town marsh, plus oxen, cows, sheep and swine.  He has a significant amount of household goods, more than many farmers had, which partl can be explained by the fact that he lived in seaside towns where goods were more readily available than on the frontier.  For instance, he had "stolls, chears, and a table", which was more than was usual for the time.  He had three spinning wheels, so the women of the house must have been kept busy with the wool from the sheep.  I see no mention of books, not even a Bible.  The total inventory including uncollected debts was about 163 pounds.

I wish I knew more about William, especially the niggling little question of whether he was really Margery's father, or whether there are more William Knights than have yet been discovered.  I'd like to know his religion, and his occupation if he did more than farm.  If I learn that this is not Margery's father, then I'll update this post but as of now, I think it's at least somewhat likely. 

The line of descent would be:

William Knight-Ann Ives
Margery Knight-William Hayward
Huldah Hayward-Ferdinando Thayer
Jonathan Thayer-Elizabeth French
Hulday Thayer-Benjamin Wheelock
Mary Wheelock-Ebenezer Thayer
Abigail Thayer-Jesse Holbrook
Amariah Holbrook-Molly Wright
Nahum Holbrook-Susanna Rockwood
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

There is also a second line:

Samuel Hayward (son of William Hayward and Margery Knight above)-Mehitable Thompson
Mary Hayward-Joseph Rockwood
John Rockwood-Deborah Thayer
Joseph Rockwood-Alice Thompson
Levi Rockwood-Deborah Lazell
Susanna Rockwood-Nahum Holbrook
and on as above

Once again, we are our own cousins.