Sarah Kemble Knight

Sarah Kemble Knight

Sarah Kemble Knight (April 19, 1666 – September 25, 1727) was a teacher and businesswoman, who is remembered for her diary of a journey from Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, to New York City, Province of New York, in 1704–1705, a courageous adventure for a woman to undertake.

She was born in Boston, to Thomas Kemble and Elizabeth Trerice.[citation needed] In 1689, Sarah married Richard Knight; they had one child, Elizabeth. Having been left a widow, in middle life she opened a school, which gained some reputation in Boston and included amongst its students Benjamin Franklin.[citation needed] Before opening this school, Madam Knight, as she was generally called, in 1704 took a journey on horseback from Boston to New York City, an unparalleled feat for a woman.[citation needed] She recounted her experiences in the "journals" that have made her known to students of American Colonial literature and history.[citation needed] The small diary of her Boston–New York journey was first published, posthumously, in 1825, by Theodore Dwight.[citation needed] The Journal of Madam Knight has subsequently been reprinted by others with additional biographical information.[citation needed]

Her journal remains noteworthy both for its larger-than-life central character (Knight) and its telling of a trying journey not normally undertaken by a woman.[1] The discomforts of primitive traveling are described with much sprightliness and not a little humor.[citation needed] Despite its uniqueness, its authenticity has been contested.[citation needed] Dwight stated that, after the publication of his volume, the manuscript was unfortunately burned.[citation needed] Furthermore, much of it had been in shorthand and never translated.[citation needed]

In 1714, Knight's daughter married John Livingston, of Connecticut, and Madam Knight moved with them to New London, where she continued her business and land dealings.[citation needed] When she died in 1727, she left her daughter a very large estate, attesting to her shrewdness and skill as a businessperson.[citation needed]

Sarah Kemble Knight is buried at Ye Antientist Burial Ground, New London.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ Waisman, Charlotte S.; Jill S. Tietjen (2008). Her Story. Collins. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-06-124651-7. 

External links

This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.


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