.. thank you, OOH, for taking so much time to help a stranger on a forum, it's extremely kind of you.
You're welcome. I've done my family and my wife's but am addicted, so I enjoy working on rootschat threads. My wife's New England families spoiled me with all the records available. The rest of the colonies are really challenging.
Do you believe the DNA evidence, along with the circumstances like names of his sons, and coming from Brunswick county, is strong enough to make a case for, if not a son of James Knott and Mary Holliday, that Justin was part of that extended family?
I don't know enough about DNA to comment on that part. I'm more into paper trails.
Besides # of Cms, doesn't it also matter if they are all the shared DNA is in one piece? You might look into that. And if you have a tree from the people you match, you might be able to eliminate the possibility of the DNA coming from other shared relatives.
But based on the records, you do have them all in the same place and the same time - assuming there is some proof that James Knott and Mary Holiday's children were really in Brunswick Co. I couldn't find any, but it seems to be taken for granted. I didn't look as long for them as for Justin, but I found Knotts in Nasemond Co and thereabouts, then in Granville, NC. But Brunswick Co is along the route, so maybe a generation stopped there.
David is the unusual name in the bunch, if you can find a David Knott back before the lines diverge. And if only you could find an earlier Justin
- But if he was one of the youngest children, they might have run out of Knott family names and started using neighbors' names. Or maybe "Justin" came from the Holiday side. Can you find a Justin Holiday? Just thinking.
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You might try to find a copy of
The Genealogy of the Knott Family, 1617-1989: Founders of Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Park, California
Knott's Berry Farm, 1989 - Tennessee - 213 pages
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_genealogy_of_the_Knott_family_1617_1.html?id=mBdWAAAAMAAJfor a library copy, search at
https://www.worldcat.org/title/genealogy-of-the-knott-family-1617-1989-founders-of-knotts-berry-farm-buena-park-california/oclc/21145661this site says how many times "Justin Knott" appears in that book
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt/search?q1=justin+knott&id=wu.89082375510&view=1up&seq=11---------
There are mentions of the early generations of Knotts in
A dventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, 1607-1624/5: Families G-P, John Frederick Dorman, 2004, Genealogical Publishing Co,
https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/tcM40zgdAZgC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA427&dq=knott+family+brunswick+county+vaAnd a resource I always knew was there, but hardly ever used:
Search for Knott in the familysearch catalog:
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalogyou might find a kind soul in SLC, Utah, who would do a look up for you.
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I'm going to attach a few snippets from the Knott's Family book. The whole pages weren't available. If Google isn't violating any copyright by posting them, then I don't think I am.
I wondered if you were connected to the Knott's Berry Farm family, I guess so.