As I am currently without all the research I've spent years gathering on my mum-in-law's family due to a computer collapse which my son needs to try and rescue when he has finally got some time, I have decided to use the gifted laptop to try to sort out some of my own Knight family.
My grandfather was JOHN THOMAS CHARLES WILLIAM KNIGHT born 27th October 1894 in Leicester. He was very proud of his Irish gipsy roots.
JTCW was the son of JAMES KNIGHT AND ANNIE NORTH
JAMES was born in 1867 in Leicester.ANNIE was born in Newark, Notts in about 1871.
JAMES was the son of WILLIAM KNIGHT AND MARY ANN AKIENS.
WILLIAM was born christened on 23rd August 1822 in St Margaret's Parish Church in Leicester. He was listed on the census of 1881 as a traveller. He also operated as a General Dealer in1861 and 1871 apparently leaving Mary Ann to run the shop when he went travelling as in 1881. James and his older sister, Catherine, worked at the shop as 'chip choppers.'
It is known among the family that JAMES AND ANNIE had a fairground ride which they operated at the then Leicester Racecourse in Victoria Park Certainly JTCW shared many of the travelling adventures of his father's life before having plenty of similar adventures himself so I have no reason to disbelieve the story about the fairground ride. These stories were told to my Dad and his two borthers before being told to me by Granddad then verified by Grandma, Dad and Uncles.
So, I have my Father, Grandfather, (JTCW) Great Grandfather, (JAMES) and Great, Great Grandfather (WILLIAM) but at this point it gets a bit murky. My first cousin once removed claims that WILLIAM was the son of a JOHN KNIGHTS AND SUSANNAH HERBERT. she won't discuss her version of the family tree with me so I don't know how she has verified that. Another, more distant relative seems fairly certain that WILLIAM'S parents were THOMAS KNIGHT AND CATHERINE HEMSLEY.
JOHN KNIGHT was born in 1795 in Lubenham, Leicestershire and married Susannah at Leicester St Margaret in 1814. My closer relative has credited them with siblings who's parents, from what I have looked at are, in fact, THOMAS KNIGHT and Catherine. Indeed, one of their sons became a Greengrocery Hawker, a trade my granddad undertook as one of his adventures, earning himself the nickname THE APPLE KING OF LEICESTER, another fact my Dad and Uncles were proud of.
I can't find a birth for THOMAS although a family tree on Ancestry has him listed as being born in Leicester in 1784, the only child of VALENTINE KNIGHT AND SARAH GROOM. VALETINE was born in Westminster in 1734 and was the sone of FRANCIS KNIGHT AND ANN YOUNG (FRANCIS was born in London in 1698.
I'm not really sure this fits in with the gipsy roots but can't find any other possibles for THOMAS' parents. Can anyone see anything I'm missing as neither Ancestry nor Family Search seem to be bringing up any information for THOMAS when I search
Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give.