The following is based on two books.  One is titled "The Knaptons of Wescoe Hill 1638-1962 by Thomas Grady Barnes of Marion Ohio published in 1962.    The other is Old Settlers and Prominent People of Wisconsin published in 1899 by Huffman and Hyer. With the text about the Knapton's written by Isaac Knapton (1A3C5F8)

 

The Knapton name here in the USA is an unusual name.  There is at least one other knapton family from near London that came to America about the same time as our ancestors.  No connection has been found with this family that goes back to 1788. 

 

Our branch of the family originated, as early as is known, at the Village of Knapton, three miles west of York, England, in the parish of Accomb.  Some Gazettier's place it in the East Riding.  In 1865 the population was 98.  There are at least two other villages of Knapton in England, one in the parish of Wintringham, six miles northeast of New Malton in the East Riding.  The other village is located near the sea in Norfolk County.

 

Early entries of the family name appear during the time of William the Conqueror and are mentioned in the Domesday Books.  The earliest book is dated 1086.  Domesday or Doomsday books were a record of land ownership, state of cultivation, area of cultivation and population at the time.

 

Later entries from the records of Book of Wills, in Chancery Records, Chancery Lane, London, indicate the Yorkshire area as well as some of the family names.

 

6 July 1400 Alica, wife of William Knapton of Yorkshire

28 November 1440 Richard Knapton of York

7 March 1447 Cecilia Knapton of York

11 Sept 1504 Richard Knapton of Rufforth York

28 November 1549 William Knapton Vicar of Stansill, York

10 October 1584 Robert Knapton of Rufforth, York

 

One of the Knaptons migrated to the Wharfedale area near Otley and in particularly to Wesco Hill, in the parish of Harewood, where they remained as farmers on the Earl of Harewood estate for a period of over three hundred years.  Although, there are no Knaptons living there today, the Postmaster remembers the Knapton name there not many years ago.

 

Wesco Hill is located forty miles west of York, twelve miles north of Leeds and five miles east of Otley.  Near here are the villages of Huby, Weeton, Harewood and Dunkeswick all places that Knaptons have lived during the 17th and 18th centuries. 

 

The first entry found to date in this area is the marriage of John Knapton and Susanna Peele in the parish registry of Harewood July 20 1636.

 

The Genealogy begins with (1)  William Knapton born 1638 and his parents could have been the above mentioned John and Susanna but no records to proof this and many pages are missing.  He married Jane _______in 1658.  He married Ann Walker in Nov 1677.  He had William, Richard, Frances, Jean, Richard and two infants and Catherine and Anne by his second marriage. 

 

The (1A) William his first son was born 1659 at Wesco Hill and Married Mary Mawson in May 1681.  He later married Alice Athay if Feb 1710.  They had Isbel, John, William, Thomas, Isbel, Joshua, Mary and Samuel by second wife.

 

(1A3) William Knapton their third son was baptized in Feb 1693.  No records of his marriage or who he married.  They had children Mary William, John and Richard.

 

(1A3C) John Knapton married Hannah Collet in Nov. 1750.  Their third son was baptized in Jan 1728 as the son of William Knapton of Wesco Hill near Otley England. He replaced a William Knapton as the renter at Weeton and Wescoe Hill in 1789.  This could have been his father or brother.  They had children Hannah,John, Mary, Sarah, and William.

 

(1A3C5) William Knapton was born July 1767 at Huby near Otley.  He married Grace Huddleston in Nov 1787.  He inherited the Weso hill farm from his father in 1795.He had children Isaac, Sarah, Hannah, Elisabeth, Matty, William, Mary, Grace, John, Joshua, Priscilla, and Jane.

 

(1A3C5F)  William Knapton the fifth child of above was born Dec 1797  He married Jane Carmley in 1821.   She was the youngest daughter of John and Margaret (Joy) Carmley.  He emigrated to the USA in April 1848.Wife and nine children his sons wife and one grandson  Two children had died and one had married and remained in England.  They had children Marry Ann, John, Priscilla, Jane, William, Sarah, Charles Thomas, Isaac Christopher, Jane, Joshua, Joshua Carmley, Francis.  This is the one buried in Deansville Wisconsin cemetary.

 

(1A3C5F8)  Isaac Christopher Knapton was born Dec 1828 in England.  He emigrated with his father.  He married Mary Agnew.  She was the daughter of Robert Agnew who emigrated from the Parish of Donaghee in Ireland in 1853.  They had children Priscilla Ann, Edward Robert, John Harvey, Edith Perry, and Priscilla Ellen.  Burried in Marshall Wisconsin cemetary

 

(1A3C5F8C)  John Harvey was born January 1867.  He married Anna Louise Ortman on Sept 7th 1892.  He died March 1941.

They had children Ruby Priscilla, Isaac William, Frank Robert, Nellie Wilhelmina, Mary Alice, Robert Leonard, Dorothy Louise, Alice Mary, Lenora Emielie, Lillian Helena, Lester William, Altha Joshua, Alvin Thomas, John Julius, Grace Marie, Gordon Walter, and Edward Ernest Buried in Marshall Wisconsin cementary

 

(1A3C5F8C17)  Edward Earnest Knapton was born July 8th 1919. He married June 1 1946 Wilhelmenia Alma Riege.  She was my mother and was always know as Gertrude.  She was born Sept 9th 1919.  They had me Edward John Knapton  and Isaac Knapton.  My dad was killed in a tractor accident on his fifth wedding anniversary June 1951.  My mother then had another child with my uncle Isaac William though she never remarried.  His name was Dale Robert Knapton.

 

I Edward Knapton have had only one daughter Jennifer Ann born Dec 6th 1971.  I was born June 28th 1949.  I married Carol Webber on May 30, 1970.

 

Letter I got

KNAPTONS...A Genealogy Introduction...

 The Jews are the best genealogists of ancient times. The Bible has extensive record in Genesis 5 and in Luke 3:23-38 and Matthew 1:1-17, the latter consisting of 42 generations. The word genealogy is a Greek word which signifies a history of descent of a person or family from an ancestor, in order that family honors and family property should descend properly.

For the Knaptons most of the evidence as to who we are has been lost in the mad rush of life. Only bits and pieces remain to be found and pieced together to discover who we are and the journey we have taken. We have made a history but we have not kept the record. A few golden nuggets are the best that we can do.

This compilation is the latest and perhaps one of the most unworthy of all Knapton records. It contains a personal collection of the past 50 years, most of which have come in the last 2-4 years. The following comes from Donald Knapton (of Naples, NY) from a private printing and copyrighted by Thomas Grady Barnes of Marion, Ohio entitled THE KNAPTONS OF Wescoe Hill 1638 -1962-‑

"Early entries of this family name appear during the time of William the Conqueror and is mentioned in D Doomesday books. The earliest-book is dated 1086. Doomesdaybooks...were a record of land ownership, state of cultivation, area of culti­vation and population at that time.

"Later entries from the records of BOOKS OF WILLS, in Cancery Records, Chancery Lane, London, indicate the York-shire area as well as some of the family names:

July 6,               1400		Alicia, wife of William Knapton of Yorkshire
July November, 1440		Richard Knapton of York
March 7,	1447	Cecilia Knapton of York
September 11,	1504	Richard Knapton of Rufforth, York
November 28,	1549	William Knapton, Vicar of Stansill, York

(the above 2 paragraphs copied without permission).

There are 12 generations developed from William Knapton and the family of York. My studies have found Knaptons from Norwich, London and Bridgewater/Sussex as well as the York area. My line personally is from the lattc r, but most families in this report are from the York area.

The earliest record in America comes from Jane Knapton of Virginia in 1632. Many of the New England families seem to come in the middle 1800's or later. One lady from Virginia of this date omits the `K' from the name.

 

This collection of data is the result of a curiosity developed over some 60 years and just in recent times reaching out to the Central and Eastern sections of the USA. I am certain that there are others who have been collecting information much longer, and probably are largely unknown to each other.

 

You will note that there are six separate lines in this assembly two of which are about to come together. Some of you can greatly assist in all of this coming together.

MY GOAL WOULD BE TO HAVE ONE PERSON (family) SERVE AS THEIR LINE `CAPTAIN', who would personally pursue your line and act as a `collector of data' to which others could send their

Material.  The present 6 lines are a bit more than Mary and I are able to handle.

 

New ways of discovering information (such as the internet) give promise toexpanding the picture which  one day will be brought together. Some work is now underway in Utah, Wisconsin, California and Texas (and probably several other places.) Canada is reported to have at least 70 families. Other Nations (esp.) Australia report numbers of Knaptons. WHO WILL WRITE FOR US THE WORLD BOOK KNAPTONS??. a major enrichment to all of our families.

 

Let me extend to so many of you significant THANKS for contributions of the data enclosed. Until we get a team leader for each line please feel free to mail any and all your material to us. In some cases we have not been able to include the present children's generation; send all of this along, too.

 

June 25, 2000                                      Roger W. and Mary Knapton 128 Plymouth Street Norwich, NY  13815  607-334-3476

Letter I got.

My calling and ministry has been as a Southern Baptist preacher for the past 55 years. My vision of a lost world and its need of Jesus Christ has taken me to mission trips around the world, including several to England since 19724T.

 

It was at Beauchamp Baptist Church in south-central England that I was leading; a two-week rally (early ,1980's) when, upon arrival, I received a phone call (from the advertising, no doubt) that I was not quite pepared for. "This is Admiral Knapton, recently retired from the British Navy speaking." And for the next few minutes we exchanged words of introduction about ourselves.

 

Almost immediately he asked if I knew of the origin of the `Knapton' name ( a thought that had never occurred to me.) "Well" he contined with a voice of confidence probably typical of hi rank, --it is an early English<sup>-</sup>word identifying a special group of people who helped lay found­ations to buildings in England hundreds of years ago. These skilled hard-working people in stone had developed into `knappers' ie.. chiselers of flint stone. Most of this stone was found on the tops of hills which were known as 'knaps' or hill-tops.

 

It was their task to discover these special beds of rock and gather around it to develop their products. A primary market was military, producing arrow heads and other equipment for combat in English wars. (Probably spears, swords, etc.) These highly-skilled products were the pride and success of early England in the defense of their country.

 

Chapter II

The name was the result of certain obvious skills of these people who gathered on hill-tops (knaps) to ply their trade and were known as `knappers'. (Since the English have trouble pronouncing their `k's) and as their communities gathered around their places of business in England called `towns' (We have located 3 such communities on modern English maps) Knapp-towns became a people of `knappers' living on knolls and producers of special products.

 

(Special note: The Admiral went 'on to say that tho people who work with raw wool were also called `knappers' in England, that this trade (according to him) did not produce the name of Knapton which they may have borrowed. We know that England had many sheep and wollen products, and that many early-arriving Knaptons in New England were skilled and worked in the textile mills.)

 

(Special note # 2) We know of some `Naptons' in Virginia and Missouri who were early (1600-) arrivers in America. We located a town in Missouri by the name of "Napton" founded by a local citizen by the name of Judge Napton and talked by phone to one of their people. They re­ferred to several `Napton's in Virginia as part of the legal profession. ^rwk.

 

PS: The British Admiral Knapton may still be living in England. I do not remember his name. This event was about 20 years ago. Special footnote #2 comes from my contacts when I lived in Kansas at that time. This may be the truth/

 

Rewritten from notes and memory in 2003 Roger W. Knapton

e-mail received Jan 22, 2008

Mr. Knapton-

I am Joann Knapton Johnson (my email address is scrapbookmom@cpws.net)
from Columbia, Tennessee; I was searching the internet for any Knapton in
Marshall, Wisconsin.  The reason that an article has

been written on our great Grandparents that were from Marshall, Wisconsin.
 When I opened up the web site, your site is the one that appeared I hope
you don't mind me

emailing you; we don't know anything about the Knapton side of our family.
 We knew Granddaddy had a brother in Arkansas and a brother in Nashville,
Tennessee, but

our father died about 41 years ago and one sister that did some research
died in 1974.  When I read the genealogy on the Knapton, I don't know if
there any kin or not, I

know when I was a child a William Knapton and his wife, would come
Wisconsin on their way to Florida and stopped at our house the did this
for several years, but I never

knew why they did not come by anymore, they were an older couple, maybe to
old to travel or death.  I was reading your web site and that you are a
Christian, well I am

too; my second son in a youth minister at Highland Park Baptist Church in
Columbia.  I was looking at all the flowers, I am sorry I can't make
flowers grow; my Mom could

almost make a dead flower come back to life, but not me.  Joann Knapton
Johnson, Columbia, Tennessee


January 20, 1908

HUSBAND FOLLOWS WIFE TO THE GRAVE, SPRING HILL, TENNESSEE
January 16 - Mr. Thomas Knapton and wife followed each other even to the
end.  At their home about three miles east of Spring Hill on Sunday at
11:25 a.m., Mrs. Jane
Knapton passed away first and was closely followed by her husband, who
died yesterday evening at 6:20 o'clock.  Both were buried at the Spring
Hill cemetery, an attack of catarrhal bronchitis being the cause of death
of each.  Neither was ill more than a very few days.  They are survived by
Charles T., Carl W. (my grandfather),
Walter B., Alda, Frank B. and Fred W. Knapton.  During their stay of
twenty years in the community they have been found most excellent citizens
and will be greatly missed.  Mr. Knapton was born in Yorkshire, England on
March 6, 1835 and Mrs. Knapton was born in Pennsylvania on March 13, 1838.
 Their home before moving to this section was Marshall, Wis.

Carl W. Knapton - Grandfather

William Henry Knapton - Daddy (1919 - 1967) -- two children - Joann
Knapton Johnson (4 children) & Mary Charles Knapton Harris (3 children)

Annie Belle Knapton Spivey -- Sister (1917 - 1995) three children (no
contact)

 Mary Thomas Knapton Brinkley - Sister (1915 - 1974) no children