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KNIGHT, Elizabeth (née HARTWELL) – emigrated 1874

Elizabeth Knight, née Hartwell (1825-1885) was born at Badsey in 1825, the sixth of ten children of Charles Hartwell and his wife, Maria (née Collett).  Elizabeth grew up at Sharps Row where she was living at the time of the 1841 census.

On 26th February 1848, Elizabeth married Elizabeth William Knight in St James’ Church, Badsey.  They had two sons and one daughter:  John (1849), Edwin (1855) and Ann Elizabeth (1863).  They lived at Sharps Row in 1851, close to Elizabeth’s parents.  Several of their neighbours at Sharps Row were also to emigrate to America in the 1870s:  John Hicks (whose first wife was Elizabeth's sister, Mary) and his daughter, Mary Anne Sears, William and Elizabeth Edgington, John Wheatley.

By 1861 they had moved to Badsey Fields Lane, where William worked as a carter, and by 1871 they were living on Brewers Lane.

In 1872, Elizabeth’s eldest son, John, then aged 22, decided to seek his fortune overseas.  Together with his village friend, Owen Joseph Hall, they set off for America.  Whereas Owen later returned to Badsey, John settled in America, and the rest of the family emigrated, too.

William and Elizabeth, with their other two children, Edwin and Ann, left Badsey in 1874 for America.  At the time of the 1880 census, William was farming in Auburn, Geauga County, Ohio.  The household comprised Elizabeth, William, their three children, and John’s wife and son.  They lived eight houses away from the Edgington family.

In the early 1880s, the Knight family moved to Duplain Township, Clinton County, state of Michigan.  Elizabeth died there on 6th October 1885.  William died at Duplain in 1907.