Well hello Greg and welcome to rootschat!!
Oh the power of rootschat & its ability for names to be found even years after posting! This is a very exciting development. And since that 2014 post I have found the Hayters back to Charles Hayter 1728 - 1807 who married Hannah Chitty ca 1726 - 1793 in 1753 in Windleham, Surrey.
Foster James Knight and Amelia Catherine Haight from England who immigrated to the USA in the early 1840's.
This would explain why we can't find them on Enngland census!!
Too, is the class difference between the couple, James Fostine Knight Sr being an engineer and Charles Hayter being a smith.
This may have been an exaggeration over time, as James Fostine Knight jnr is described as a labourer on the 1839 marriage certificate, and engineer didn't mean quite what it does today. Also the Hayters, blacksmiths of Windlesham & Staines [from whom Charles descends], were a respected family. Not that I'm denying lower class origins
I have quite a few relevant certificates, baptisms, wills and even [very recently acquired] a photograph of my 2 x g grandmother Eleanor Trowsdale nee Hayter, Amelia's sister. Also including a diary of the voyage written by a relative Richard Ansell Hayter 1826 - 1905 in 1850 when he emigrated with 2 sisters to New Zealand, a copy of a
carte de visite of a relative John Hayter 1782 - 1855, copy of torn out loose page of a family bible [long lost] etc etc.
When you have made 2 more posts, Greg - just reply briefly to this thread twice - I can send you my email address by personal message [don't put email address on this public forum] and we can exchange information. Look forward to that...
Josey
