Will Knight

Walnut Grove revival singer.

The revivals, that have been in progress during the winter in Lamberton and Walnut Station, have included nearly the entire population of those villages and the adjacent country. The change wrought is very marked and the interest continues. We believe that the Rev. Leonard Moses, who resides near Walnut Station and is pastor of the Congregational Church of that place, has been one of the most efficient laborers in the revival work. – Redwood Falls Gazette

     
William Fremont Knight was born August 8, 1859, one of twelve children born to Miranda and Byron M. Knight. He had a twin sister, Agnes. North Hero Township (originally Barton Township) was named by Byron Knight after his old home on the island of North Hero in Lake Champlain, Vermont. Byron Knight was one of the township supervisors of North Hero Township in Minnesota, along with John Fitch and Thomas Allen. In addition to a homestead, the SW 12-109-38, he owned Lot 10, Block 24 in Walnut Grove, which he sold in June 1879.

Will Knight celebrated his twentieth birthday after the Ingallses left Walnut Grove, yet Laura Ingalls Wilder referred to him in Pioneer Girl as “a man with a deep bass voice” who sang loudly at the local revival. Wilder was sickened by his moaning and calling upon the Lord to forgive him for back-sliding; the family doesn’t appear in On the Banks of Plum Creek. Will Knight married Emma Estella Glann in October 1882. They had seven children, and lived on a farm in North Hero Township until after 1900. They moved to North Dakota, then to Canada, where Will died July 19, 1913.

     

Will Knight (PG)