Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 59

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 978

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Giles and Elizabeth (Williams) Knight had four sons, all of whom emigrated to America, viz :

THOMAS KNIGHT, of whom presently ;

Benjamin Knight, settled in Bensalem township, Bucks co., Pa .;

Abel Knight, who went to N. C., where his descendants still reside;

John Knight, located in Mass., where his cousins, Richard and Elizabeth Williams, had previously settled; his descendants are quite numerous and now widely scattered over the New England States and Canada; some of them having acquired considerable prominence in public affairs; among these being Jeremiah R. Knight, U. S. Senator from R. I.

Giles Knight married (second) Elizabeth, daughter of George Payne. She is referred to in the will of John Elbridge, (son of Giles Elbridge, before referred to as one of the grantees of twelve thousand acres of land in New England) of the Parish of St. Peter's, Bristol, county Gloucester, dated September 11, 1646, as "cousin Elizabeth."

Giles Knight, son of Giles and Elizabeth (Payne) Knight, came to Pennsyl- vania with William Penn, in the "Welcome," in October, 1682, and settled in Byberry, Philadelphia county. He had married in England, Mary, daughter of Joseph English, of Horsley, (about twenty-five miles northeast of Bristol, Glou-

Rebecca Collings Knight

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cestershire), who accompanied him to Pennsylvania. This Joseph English was an original purchaser of one thousand acres of land of William Penn, five hundred acres of which were laid out to him in Byberry, near the site of Byberry Friends Meeting House, and another tract of five hundred acres in Warminster township, Bucks county, on which he settled on his second marriage, 1684, to Widow Joan Comly ; he divided his Byberry tract between his son, Henry English, and his son-in-law, Giles Knight. He died in Bucks county, 1686.

Joseph English and his son-in-law, Giles Knight, were members of the Society of Friends prior to their emigration to Pennsylvania, and were among the first members of Byberry Meeting. Giles Knight was a man of prominence and ability, liberal and progressive in his views. He died August 20, 1726, and his widow, Mary (English) Knight, died July 24, 1732. They have left numerous descend- ants in Bucks and Philadelphia counties, who, in the successive generations to the present time, have taken a prominent part in the affairs of their respective coun- ties as well as of the Province and State.

THOMAS KNIGHT, one of the sons of Giles Knight, of Gloucestershire, by his first wife, Elizabeth Williams, came to America in 1683, and settled in Burlington county, New Jersey. He married, by New Jersey license, dated August 12, 1686, Elizabeth Browne, of Burlington. Little is known of his subsequent life, or of the time and place of his death or that of his wife.

ISAAC KNIGHT, son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Browne) Knight, married at Haddonfield, New Jersey, 1728, Elizabeth Wright. He died March 22, 1750, and his wife, November 27, 1746. She was a daughter of Jonathan Wright, many years a member of Assembly from Burlington county.

JONATHAN KNIGHT, son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Wright) Knight, was the owner of considerable real estate in Burlington and Gloucester county. He mar- ried 1756, (first) in Gloucester county, New Jersey, Elizabeth Clement, of an old New Jersey family, some account of which is given in these volumes; (second) Elizabeth Delap, or Dunlap, as the name is usually spelled, April 8, 1765; (third) March 13, 1769, Isabel Davis.

WILLIAM KNIGHT, only son of Jonathan, by first wife, Elizabeth Clement, was the owner of several hundred acres of land at Collingswood, Gloucester, now Camden county, New Jersey, inherited from his father. He married, March 18, 1784, Elizabeth Webster, of Haddonfield, New Jersey, and had two sons, viz :

Samuel Knight, born February 3, 1785; married Sarah, daughter of Richard and Sarah Williams, of Philadelphia, and on his marriage settled in Philadelphia ; and,

JONATHAN KNIGHT, born June 6, 1788, married, November 15, 1809, Rebecca, born April 5, 1789, daughter of Edward Zane Collings, of Newton township, Gloucester county, New Jersey, and his wife, Sarah Thomas.

He inherited a portion of the lands of his grandfather, near Collingswood, but was obliged by reverses to sell the greater part thereof. The land belonging to the family of his wife, Rebecca Collings, [See "Collings" and "Lane" families, First Settlers in Newton Township-Clement] had largely passed out of the family prior to her marriage, but some of it was held by Edward Zane Collings, third of the name, a half century later.

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Issue of Jonathan and Rebecca (Collings) Knight :

Martha Washington Knight, b. April 9, 1812; m. James Harding Stevenson, of Phila .; EDWARD COLLINGS KNIGHT, b. Dec. 8, 1813; of whom presently;

Isaac Knight, b. Nov. 14, 1815;

Samuel Knight, b. April 7, 1818;

Sarah Collings Knight, b. Oct. 20, 1819; m. Aaron Albertson Hurley, of Phila .;

Jonathan Knight, b. Sept. 5, 1821, d. inf .;

Jonathan Knight, b. Nov. 24, 1823.

EDWARD COLLINGS KNIGHT, born at Collingswood, New Jersey, December 8, 1813, went to Philadelphia, 1832, at age of nineteen, and secured a position as clerk in the grocery establishment of Atkinson & Cuthbert, South street wharf, and remained with them for four years, leaving them in 1836 to establish himself in the grocery business on Second street. Having acquired a thorough business training, and possessed of fine executive and business ability, his business thrived from the start. In 1844 he engaged in the importation of coffees on a large scale . and became a ship owner, and in 1846 removed to the southeast corner of Chestnut and Water streets, and added to his wholesale grocery, commission, and importing business, that of sugar-refining, and in 1851 organized the firm of E. C. Knight & Co., sugar refiners, and became widely known as a merchant and business man. The sugar-refining business eventually outgrew the original plant, and in 1881 the immense refining plant was erected on Mr. Knight's property, Delaware avenue between Bainbridge and South streets, and extending back to Penn street, one of the most complete and convenient refineries in this country, with a capacity of fifteen hundred barrels per day, their trade extending to all the larger cities of the United States.

Mr. Knight early in his business career became interested in railroad enter- prises ; he was elected a director of the Pennsylvania railroad, and it was largely through his instrumentality as chairman of the committee that the American Steamship Line, between Philadelphia and Europe, was established, and he was appointed its first president. He later withdrew from the Pennsylvania railroad directorship, and became a director of the Central railroad of New Jersey, of which he was president from 1876 to 1880. In 1874 he organized, and was chosen president of the Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad Company, which position he held until his death, July 22, 1892. He was also a director of the Philadel- phia & Reading, and of the North Pennsylvania Railroad companies, and was president of the latter. He was also the first president of the Guarantee Trust and Safe Deposit Company, of Philadelphia.

Probably one of the most interesting events of his long and successful career was his invention, in 1859, of the sleeping car, later known as the Pullman Sleeper, the company organized by him for its manufacture having sold their patents to the Pullman Company in 1868. In 1873 Mr. Knight was a member of the State Constitutional Convention, and his sound opinions and advice as a busi- ness man had unusual weight in the formulation of much of the best provisions of the present organic law of this Commonwealth. He was chosen president and was one of the most active promoters of the Bi-centennial Association of 1882, commemorative of the landing of William Penn. He was for many years a director of the Union League, and was a presidential elector in 1860.

anna M. Knight-

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Though early transplanted to Philadelphia, where his whole active life was spent, always making it his residence, and doing all in his power to promote the best interest of the city, Edward Collings Knight always retained a keen interest in Collingswood, the place of his birth. Whenever opportunity offered he pur- chased, bit by bit, the lands that had formerly belonged to the Collings and Knight families, and after obtaining them all, he set aside eighty acres and donated it as a public park in memory of his parents, and placed in trust, one hundred thousand dollars, the interest of which to be always used in maintaining and beautifying the grounds.

Edward Collings Knight married, July 20, 1841, Anna Marie, daughter of James Magill, of Maryland, and his wife, Ann Marie Leinau (see DeLignaud Family).

Issue of Edward Collings and Anna Marie (Magill) Knight:

Jonathan Knight, b. May 28, 1842; Anna Magill Knight, b. Oct. 2, 1848; Edward Collings Knight, Jr., b. May 16, 1855, d. inf .;

Annie Collings Knight, b. March 25, 1861;

EDWARD COLLINGS KNIGHT, JR., b. Dec. 14, 1863.

EDWARD COLLINGS KNIGHT, JR., born in Philadelphia, December 14, 1863, mar- ried, June 3, 1886, at St. Paul's Church, Chestnut Hill, Clara Waterman, daugh- ter of Edmund Parsons Dwight, and his wife, Clara, daughter of Isaac Skinner Waterman, who was born in Philadelphia, November 18, 1803, and married. March 3, 1831, Mary L. Woodward. He was a son of Isaac Skinner Waterman, grandson of Jesse Waterman, of Philadelphia, and great-grandson of Bernoni Waterman Jr., of the Barbadoes.

Edmund Parsons Dwight was a son of Jonathan Dwight ; grandson of Capt. Justus Dwight ; great-grandson of Captain Nathaniel Dwight, who was commis- sioned Captain in 1757, and marched to the relief of Fort William Henry ; great- great-grandson of Justice Nathaniel Dwight, Justice of the Peace and of the Courts of Hampshire County, Massachusetts ; and great-great-great-grandson of Capt. Timothy Dwight, who held a commission in the Colonial Army from 1676 to 1693. The father of Capt. Timothy Dwight was John Dwight, founder of the family in America, who came from Dedham, England, 1634, and settled in Water- town, Massachusetts, 1635, and the following year became one of the nineteen grantees and owners of Dedham and adjacent lands in Massachusetts.

Edward Collings Knight Jr. and his wife, Clara Waterman (Dwight) Knight, have one daughter,

Clara Waterman Knight, b. April 27, 1887; m. Dec. 31, 1907, at St. Mark's Church, Phila., Sidney Jones Colford, Jr., of New York; Sidney Jones Colford, Jr., is a son of Sidney Colford Jones, who prior to his marriage, Oct. 8, 1882, to Laura Frances Chartrand, changed his name to Sidney Jones Colford; his father was Lewis Colford Jones, who m. Aug. 11, 1849, Catharine Margaretta Berryman; a son of Isaac Col- ford Jones, who m. Dec. 10, 1823, Rebecca Mason; and grandson of John Jones, who m. April 29, 1779, Eleanor Colford.

KLAPP FAMILY.

The Klapp family of Philadelphia is descended from the ancient family of Clapp, long settled in Devonshire, which claimed descent from Osgod Klapa, a Danish noble at the Court of King Knut, ( 1017-33), and from whom Clapham, Surrey, where he had a seat, is supposed to have derived its name. The Clapp family were long possessed of the Manor and estate of Salcome, in Devon, and bore as their arms, "Quarterly, first and fourth, ermine, three battle axes ; second, sable, a griffin passant, argent ; third, sable, an eagle with two heads, displayed within a border engrailed, argent."

Representatives of this family were among the early Puritan settlers of New England, five landing at Dorchester, Massachusetts, between 1630 and 1640; and a sixth coming later to New York founded the Philadelphia branch of the family in America.

DR. GEORGE GILSON CLAPP, founder of the American branch of the family with which this narrative is concerned, was born in England, presumably in the county of Devon, and was educated for the profession of medicine. The account of his life and travels prior to his arrival at New York about the year 1670, is largely traditional, though verified at material points by documentary evidence. In sub- stance it is as follows: Possessed of an ardent thirst for knowledge, Dr. George Gilson Clapp visited many of the countries of Europe, extending his travels through Palestine and some parts of the Turkish Empire, and visiting the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem in the character of a pilgrim, the only mode in which it could be visited in safety. He is said to have spent nearly twenty years in foreign travel and expended the greater part of a large fortune before his return to England. He commenced the practice of medicine in London, but left there during the prevalence of the Great Plague in 1665, and emigrated to South Caro- lina, and removed thence to New York about 1670. He located in the county of Westchester, where he practiced his profession. He was esteemed one of the most learned men of his time, and his knowledge of science was so much in advance of his time that he was credited amongst many of his neighbors with the possession of supernatural powers.

JOHN CLAPP, son of George Gilson Clapp, was also a physician. He married and had four sons: Henry, Gilson, John and Elias. John, third son, became a member of the Society of Friends, married, in 1713, Eliza Douglass Quinby, of a family later prominent in Pennsylvania, and had four sons, and a daughter Phebe, who married Edward Halleck, of Long Island. He was the ancestor of the Clapps of Greenwich, Connecticut, and of a branch of the family now numerous in Canada.

ELIAS CLAPP, son of John, and grandson of George Gilson Clapp, was the father of four sons: Joseph, Benjamin, Henry and John ; the latter of whom was the father of Allen Clapp, M. D., of Philadelphia, born May 5, 1768; for twenty- five years superintendent of the Pennsylvania Hospital ; married at Christ Church, Philadelphia, April 14, 1795, Margaret Redmond, and had one son William Red- mond Clapp, many years a resident of Trenton, New Jersey.

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JOSEPH CLAPP, son of Elias Clapp, of Westchester county, New York, mar- ried Mercy Carpenter, and settled near the town of La Grange, Dutchess county, New York, where he died during the Revolutionary War.

HENRY KLAPP, son of Joseph and Mercy (Carpenter) Clapp, and fourth in descent from Dr. George Gilson Clapp, born in Dutchess county, New York, about 1765, was the ancestor of the Klapp family of Philadelphia, and the first to spell the name with a K. When a young man he removed to the neighborhood of Albany, New York, where he married Mary Ostrom, of Holland ancestry. He became closely associated with Gen. Stephen Van Rensselaer, the fifth patroon of Van Rensselaer-Wyck, the manorial estate of the family near Albany ; a member of the Colonial Assembly, State Senator, General of the New York troops in the War of 1812, founder of Rensselaer Institute, at Troy, New York, etc., and on the death of Henry Klapp, when his children were quite young Gen. Van Rensselaer became their guardian, and did much for their future welfare.

Issue of Henry and Mary (Ostrom) Klapp:

JOSEPH KLAPP, M. D., b. Dec. 7, 1783, d. in Phila., Dec. 28, 1843; m. Anna Milnor; of whom presently ;

Harvey Klapp, M. D., came to Phila. after the establishment of his brother there, and studying medicine under him, became a popular and successful physician, but died at the early age of forty years. He m. (first) Rebecca Pelts; (second) Anne McKnight, a niece of Commodore Decatur. By his first wife he had issue :

Mary Klapp, m. Richard W. Steel, a merchant of Phila .;

Rebecca Klapp, became the second wife of Richard W. Steel, her sister, Mary, having d. soon after her marriage;

Gertrude Klapp, m. Howard Hinchman, of Phila., merchant;

Elizabeth Klapp, m. Capt. Stites, of the U. S. N.

Hon. John Klapp, of La Grange, Dutchess co., N. Y., who began the study of medicine with his brother, Joseph, in Phila., but at the age of 21, returned to New York and m. the daughter of Gen. Samuel A. Barker, of La Grange, and lived for a number of years on the estate of his father-in-law, later engaging in business in Poughkeepsie, where he d. at the age of 83 years. He was a soldier in the War of 1812-14, and saw active service on the frontiers of New York, filling the position of Quartermaster; was a member of the General Assembly of New York, in 1824, etc. He had issue:

Henry Augustus Klapp, M. D., d. at Fishkill, N. Y .; m. Nancy Grant, and left issue;

John Randolph Klapp, M. D., studied medicine with his uncle, Dr. Joseph Klapp, of Phila., and went to Ohio, later to Ill .; left a large family;

Edward Meritte Klapp, b. 1815, d. in Palmyra, N. Y., 1840;

Philip Schuyler Klapp, who made a trip around the world at the age of 17 years; later studied medicine with his brother, Randolph, in Ohio; d. in early life, unm .;

Louisa M. Klapp, m. William F. Aldrich, a lawyer of New York City, and re- sided during his lifetime in Brooklyn. Her sons became prominently interested in mining interests in Ala., and their mother joined them there.

DR. JOSEPH KLAPP, eldest son of Henry and Mary (Ostrom) Klapp, born near Albany, New York, December 7, 1783, after receiving a good preliminary educa- tion under the care and direction of his guardian, Gen. Van Rensselaer, was placed by him in the office of Dr. Benjamin Rush, the celebrated physician in Philadelphia, and he entered the Medical Department of the University of Penn- sylvania, from which he received his degree of M. D. in 1805. Dr. Rush formed a strong personal attachment for his young student, and after his graduation from the University with the highest honors, induced him to settle for practice of his profession in Philadelphia.

Dr. Joseph Klapp acquired considerable prominence in the, practice of his pro-

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fession, being esteemed as one of the most successful medical practitioners of his day. He was a founder and for a time a Professor and Lecturer in the Jefferson Medical College, and Physician to Philadelphia Hospital, resigning both these positions by reason of the pressure of his large private practice. He was the author of a number of essays on medical science which were re-published in several European languages, giving him an international reputation as a student and writer on scientific subjects. Like his cousin, Allen Clapp, M. D., he was a gentleman par excellence, and impressed all who met him by his courtly manners and intellectual conversation. He died suddenly December 28, 1843, at the Phila- delphia Courthouse, where he was attending court to give testimony concerning the sanity of a patient in an important case than pending.

Dr. Joseph Klapp was married at Christ Church, by Bishop White, August 24, 1805, to Anna Milnor, born August 23, 1783, died July 27, 1841, daughter of William Milnor, Esq., for many years United States Gauger of Port of Philadel- phia, by his wife, Anna, youngest daughter of John Breintnall, of Philadelphia. by his second wife, Hannah, daughter of Hon. Hugh Sharpe, of Burlington, New Jersey. The ancestry of Anna ( Milnor ) Klapp is as follows :

The Milnor family, (whose name was originally spelled Millner, or Milner, and probably pronounced "Miller," as in many cases both on English and Pennsyl- vania records, we find it so spelled, except in the case of an original signature). was one of ancient lineage, residing for many generations at Milner Hall, near Leeds, England, where a representative of the Philadelphia family was enter- tained some years ago by a descendant of the elder branch of the male line, still holding the ancestral home, tenanted by his ancestors for centuries. Dr. Isaac Milner, Dean of Carlisle, England, and his distinguished brother, Joseph Milner, (1744-1815), the eccentric ecclesiastic historian, author of the History of the Church of Christ, were of this family.

The earliest direct ancestor of Anna ( Milnor ) Klapp, of whom we have any definite record, was Daniel Milner, of Pownall Fee, Yorkshire, the record of whose death appears on the registry of Middletown Monthly Meeting of Friends in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, as occurring on "8mo (October ) 3, 1685," and his wife Ann, whose death as shown by the same record occurred on "10mo. (Decem- ber ) 29, 1688." When Daniel Milner came to Pennsylvania does not appear, but the Record of Arrivals in Philadelphia shows that Joseph Milner, of "Poonel," and his mother, Ann Milner, arrived together.

This Joseph Milner was party to a suit in the Common Pleas Court of Bucks county, in 1684, originating in some transaction between the said Joseph Milner and Thomas Janney, the eminent preacher among friends, also a native of Pownall Fee, Yorkshire, as a trustee for John Neild, a servant of Janney, who accompanied the latter to Pennsylvania in the ship, "Endeavor," which arrived in the Dela- ware, 7mo. 29, 1683. The date of the transaction as recited in the suit was "5mo. 1683," at least two months before the arrival of Neild in Pennsylvania, and prob- ably therefore consummated in Pownall Fee, Yorkshire, thus identifying the "Poonel" mentioned in the record of the arrival of Joseph and Ann Milner as "Pownall Fee," the English home of the Janneys.

Daniel and Ann Milner had besides Joseph Milner, a daughter Sarah, a record of whose death on December 17, 1689, appears at Middletown, before mentioned :

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and probably Isaac Milner, "of Hopewell, Burlington County Province of West Jersey, husbandman," who on October 19, 1708, was married at Falls Monthly Meeting, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, to Sarah (Baker) Wilson, widow of Ste- phen Wilson, of Anwell township, New Jersey, but a member of Falls Monthly Meeting. She was a daughter of Henry Baker, one of the prominent men of Bucks county, and the marriage took place, by permission of the Meeting, at the home of her brother, Samuel Baker, at Baker's Ferry, now Taylorsville, Bucks county, the scene of Washington's crossing of the Delaware in 1776. This Isaac Milner purchased a farm in Bristol township, Bucks county, where he died in 1712, and his widow, an eminent preacher among Friends, died April 6, 1715. They had two sons, Isaac, born August 17, 1709, and William, born in 1711, who was the ancestor of most of the Milnors of Bucks county.

Both Joseph Milner, great-grandfather of Anna ( Milnor ) Klapp, and his father, Daniel Milner, were purchasers of land of William Penn before coming to Penn- sylvania, and their respective names appear on two tracts of land adjoining each other on Holm's map, lying just below the tract of Henry Baker at Baker's Ferry on the Delaware in Upper Makefield township, each apparently of about five hun- dred acres, though there is no record available of the grant of warrants of survey to that amount. A warrant was issued June 19, 1683, for the survey of fifty acres to Daniel Milner, and one on October 26, 1683, for three hundred acres to "Joseph Milliner." After the death of Joseph Milner, to wit, March 31, 1701, a warrant was issued for the resurvey of his land, two hundred and ninety-six acres and three hundred acres, and another on April 31, 1701, for two hundred and fifty acres. A return of this survey of eight hundred and forty-six acres in "two parcels" was made February 19, 1701-2. A return of survey of three hundred and forty-six acres, for "Milliner Heirs" is made March 19, 1701-2, and on Oc- tober 16, 1703, a return of one hundred acres for "Ralph Miller," making an aggregate of about one thousand three hundred acres. The three hundred and forty-two acres were doubtless patented to John Knowles, in right of his wife, Sarah Milner, daughter of Joseph, as he received a patent for that amount of land, which descended to his representatives, a part of it to the present generation. On May 9, 1723, John Milner conveyed to his brother-in-law, Timothy Smith, two hundred acres that had descended to him from his father, Joseph Milner, but no deeds are of record showing the partition of the land among the heirs of Joseph and Daniel Milner.

Joseph Milner was a man of substance and prominence in Bucks county affairs. He was a member of the Grand Jury, June 10, 1685; was appointed as one of a jury to lay out roads in Falls township, in 1692; was an officer of the Court at various periods in and prior to 1697, and was elected to the Assembly of Pennsylvania in 1695. In the latter instance his name appears of record as Joseph "Miller," as do the names of his sons in the granting of deeds of land in Bucks county, though in the latter case the signature invariably appears as "Milner." Joseph Milner died in the winter of 1699-1700, and letters of administration were granted on his estate in Philadelphia to his widow Pleasant; even in this case the name is spelled "Miller" in the grant of letters, though on the inventory it is plainly written "Millner."

Joseph Milner married, at the house of Phineas Pemberton, "Grove Place," in

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Falls township, Bucks county, but under the care of Middletown Monthly Meet- ing, on July 10, 1690, Pleasant Powlin, or Paulin, who survived him and married (second) January 8, 1700-1, Francis Hague, of Bucks county, being his second wife; and surviving him also married (third) September 13, 1712, George Clough, of Falls township, whom she also survived.

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Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 59

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed Publication date: 1911 Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 978

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 978