The Journals of Madam Knight, and Rev. Mr. Buckingham: From the Original Manuscripts, Written in 1704& 1710 (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from The Journals of Madam Knight, and Rev. Mr. B...)
Excerpt from The Journals of Madam Knight, and Rev. Mr. Buckingham: From the Original Manuscripts, Written in 1704& 1710
It is to be regretted that the brevity of the work should have allowed the author so little room for the display of the cultivated mind'and the brilliant fancy which frequently betray themselves in the course of the narrative; and no one can rise from the perusal without wishing some hap py chance might yet discover more full delinea tions of life and character from the same practised hand., Subjects so closely connected with our selves ought to excite a degree of curiosity and interest, while we are generally so ready to open our minds and our libraries to the most minute details of foreign governments, and the modes and men of distant countries, with which we can have only a collateral connection.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Sarah Kemble Knight was an American teacher and diarist. During her lifetime she was also involved in some business ventures.
Background
Sarah Kemble Knight was born on April 19, 1666 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Her father, Thomas Kemble, a merchant, is mentioned as living in Charlestown in 1651, but he moved to Boston shortly before his daughter's birth. Her mother was Elizabeth Trerice, whose father had a residence in Charlestown as early as 1636. Kemble was Cromwell's agent in selling prisoners of war, and there is a tradition that he was put in the stocks for "lewd and unseemly conduct" in kissing his wife on the Sabbath, when he met her at his door after an absence of three years.
Career
After her father's death in 1689, Sarah Kemble became the head of the household and acted as the adviser of a number of relatives living with her. She was employed in connection with the recording of public documents, and more than a hundred official papers bear her signature as a witness, while many court records dating from the vicinity of 1700 are thought to be in her hand. She also kept a writing-school that Benjamin Franklin is said to have attended, although he does not mention her in his Autobiography.
She was generally known as "Madam Knight" because of her educational and quasi-legal activities, for court records show that she was sometimes paid to assist in settling estates. Apparently her energy, ability, and knowledge of legal procedure led to her being entrusted with the management of considerable business, and in 1704 some of this required her presence in New York. The journey was a serious undertaking in those days, and it was an unheard of thing for an unaccompanied woman to attempt it, but Madam Knight accomplished it successfully and left in her diary an account of it that gives a vivid picture of the people and conditions she encountered. The diary also displays a sense of humor, and, beneath much vigorous abuse, a tolerance not commonly associated with her time. This diary did not make her prominent in her lifetime, but her other activities did.
In 1712 her mother died, and Madam Knight sold her house in Boston and moved to Connecticut, where she occupied or operated property in the towns of Norwich and New London from 1714 till her death. She speculated in Indian lands, conducted several farms, and kept a shop and house of entertainment. In 1718 she was indicted and fined for selling liquor to the Indians, but she blamed a servant for the offense, and it does not seem to have affected her public repute. Her material affairs prospered, for she left an estate of £1, 800 and gave valuable property to her daughter before she died.
Madam Knight's diary remained in manuscript till 1825, when it was printed in New York and elicited much notice. The diary next appeared serially in the Protestant Telegraph of Boston in 1847, and in 1858, in Littell's Living Age for June 26, it was reprinted with notes and commentary by W. R. Deane. Later editions appeared in Albany, New York (1865); Norwich, Connecticut (1901); and Boston (1920).
Achievements
Knight was best remembered for her "Journal of Mme Knight", a brief and humorous diary of her five-month travel adventure from Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, to New York City. This work was regarded as one of the most important historical records of 18th-century colonial life in America.
(Excerpt from The Journals of Madam Knight, and Rev. Mr. B...)
Connections
In 1689 Sarah Kemble married Captain Richard Knight, a widower much older than herself, who was a shipmaster. They had one child, Elizabeth, who married Colonel John Livingston of New London, Connecticut in 1713.
