Joseph Knight Sr. (November 26, 1772 – February 2, 1847) was a close associate of

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, ...

, founder of the

Latter Day Saint movement The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by J ...

. Knight provided significant material support to Smith's translation and publication of the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude d ...

Life

Knight was born in

Oakham, Massachusetts Oakham is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,851 at the 2020 census. History Oakham was first settled by British colonists in 1749 as part of Rutland, and was officially incorporated in 1762. It was ...

. In 1795, he married Polly Peck. By 1800 they were living in

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. They moved to Colesville, New York, in 1808. Among Knight's children was

Newel Knight Newel Knight (September 13, 1800 – January 11, 1847) was a close friend of Joseph Smith and one of the first branch presidents in the Latter-day Saint movement. Born at Marlboro, Vermont, Knight was the son of Joseph Knight, Sr. and Polly Peck. ...

Latter Day Saint movement

Knight first met Joseph Smith while Smith was working for Josiah Stowell. Knight later hired the 20-year-old Smith to work for him. Knight owned four farms, a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

, and two carding machines. Knight assisted Smith in his courting of

Emma Hale Emma Hale Smith Bidamon (July 10, 1804 – April 30, 1879) was an American homesteader, the official wife of Joseph Smith, and a prominent leader in the early days of the Latter Day Saint movement, both during Smith's lifetime and afterward as ...

by lending him his sled. The Smiths also borrowed Knight's wagon when they went to pick up the

golden plates According to Latter Day Saint belief, the golden plates (also called the gold plates or in some 19th-century literature, the golden bible) are the source from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of the faith. Some acco ...

from the

Hill Cumorah Cumorah (; also known as Mormon Hill,A. P. Kesler"Mormon Hill" ''Young Woman's Journal'', 9:73 (February 1898)."Thomas Cook History, 1930", in Dan Vogel ed. (2000). ''Early Mormon Documents'', vol. 3 (Salt Lake City: Signature Books ) pp. 243– ...

. Knight is addressed in a section of the Doctrine and Covenants dated to May 1829. Knight was baptized into the Church of Christ on 28 June 1830. All his children, their spouses, his sister, and three of his wife's siblings, along with their spouses joined the church. The Knight family constituted the Colesville Branch, the first

branch A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term ''twig'' usually ...

in the church. They later sold their homes and properties and migrated as a group to

Thompson, Ohio Thompson is an unincorporated community in Thompson Township, Geauga County, in the U.S. state of Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a po ...

, where they settled on the farm of

Leman Copley Leman Copley (March 25, 1781 – December 1862) was an early convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Born in Connecticut, Copley moved to Rutland County, Vermont, sometime before 1800 and was living in Thompson Township, Ohio, b ...

, a former Shaker who had become a Latter Day Saint. Shortly after this Copley left the church, and forced the Colesville Saints to leave his farm so they then migrated to Jackson County, Missouri. Knight and his family were driven from Jackson County in the Mormon persecutions of 1832–33 and eventually settled in Caldwell County, Missouri. They were driven from Missouri entirely in the winter of 1838–39 and settled shortly thereafter at Nauvoo, Illinois. The Knights became, in effect, a prototype of all those hundreds of Saints who were bodily thrust from Jackson to

Clay County Clay County is the name of 18 counties in the United States. Most are named for Henry Clay, U.S. Senator and statesman: * Clay County, Alabama * Clay County, Arkansas (named for John Clayton, and originally named Clayton County) * Clay County, Fl ...

, from Clay to Caldwell County, and later from the state. The personal descriptions and notarized statements that express their sufferings and losses become an index to the difficulties that whole mass of exiled people experienced. Knight was a member of the Nauvoo Masonic Lodge. The Knights left Nauvoo with the majority of Latter Day Saints in 1846, and journeyed west with the Mormon pioneers. Knight died on the trek west at

Mount Pisgah, Iowa Mount Pisgah was a semi-permanent settlement or way station from 1846 to 1852 along the Mormon Trail between Garden Grove and Council Bluffs, in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is located near the small community of Thayer in Jones Township, Unio ...

Legacy

A tourist attraction in Nineveh, New York, the former ancestral home of Joseph Knight Sr., is listed as the number one thing to do by Tripadvisor in the city.

Notes

References

*. *. *. *. *. *. *. {{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Joseph Sr. 1772 births 1847 deaths American Freemasons Converts to Mormonism Doctrine and Covenants people History of the Latter Day Saint movement Knight family (Latter Day Saints) Latter Day Saints from Illinois Latter Day Saints from Missouri Latter Day Saints from New York (state) Mormon pioneers People from Broome County, New York People from Colesville, New York People from Worcester County, Massachusetts