Pictured taken at the Knight Family Reunion, October 5, 2003

Alvin Knight s memories:

Plummer told his son Early the last time Charles Knight heard from one of his brothers was when his brother went out West as an Indian Scout for Federal Troops. I believe that it was possibly around San Marcus, Texas near El Paso.

Another one of Charles Knight s brothers moved to Mississippi.

Plummer Knight s hair was snow-white as long as I can remember. He chewed tobacco and wore a mustache.

Otis Sheridan bought the old Plummer Knight place after my grandfather Plummer died.

Plummer and Melissa homesteaded their old place right after they got married. It was required to clear and fence in five acres and put a house on it. The first house that Plummer built was a lean-to on his land to the south. He lived there about 3 or 4 years. During this time his son George and his daughter Louisa were born in the lean-to.

Then, Plummer built a 2 room log house with a mud floor. He burned the mud to make a glaze. Early was born in the log house. Melissa swept the floor with a straw broom. She planted a grapevine by the little log house and grew a catnip bush in her garden. She would boil the leaves of the catnip bush and use it for medicine.

A little later on, Plummer built a big new house. It had a hall down the middle and 4 bedrooms. Lillie and his youngest son James Robert "Jimmy" the baby was born there.

There was a traveling barber that would come into the area about every 3 or 4 months to cut everyone s hair. One time the barber was late coming and Plummer s children s hair was getting very long, so Plummer used some sheep shears to cut their hair. He said at least they didn t have to worry about it getting down to their shoulders.

A lot of people in Washington Parish raised sheep, back then, until a screw worm epidemic killed a lot of the sheep in the area.

The paper mill was started in 1906.

Jockey Jim was a Mason. He was the 1^st Tyler. A Tyler was the guard on the outside of the door of the Masonic Hall. Calvin Marcus was also a mason.

James "Jockey Jim" never lived in the same place for more than 5 or 6 years. He always lived around Pine. Once, he lived about 6 miles south west of Pine near a water mill in the swamp. He built the water mill to grind his corn.

Jockey Jim loved to hunt turkeys. One day when Jockey Jim went turkey hunting, his son heard his gun go off and thought that he had better go look for his old father before he hurt himself. Jockey Jim had killed two turkeys in the head with one shot. His son saw him coming down the path with two turkeys thrown over his shoulder.

When Plummer was about 17 or 18 years old, he went to live and work for Nancy Thigpen in Picayune, Ms. He stayed there until he married Melissa Corkern. Nancy Thigpen gave Melissa an iron bedstead, and she gave Plummer a wash pot as a wedding present. The wash pot is still in the family today.

James son Calvin s wife was Nancy ? They lived by Pine. Calvin is buried in the Nobles Cemetery. Nobles Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in the area.

Jockey Jim and his wife Nancy Blackwell lived in Pine. They traveled by horse and buggy all the way to Enon to attend church. Nancy was a very big woman, weighing over 300 pounds. Jockey Jim cut a tree and left a stump near the church so that, when they arrived for church, Nancy was able to get out of the buggy and onto the ground by stepping on the stump first.

People would lean over the high back benches to pray during services at Enon Baptist Church. One day, while everyone, including Nancy, was leaning over the bench in prayer, Nancy had a heart attack and died. No one knew that she was dead until they were finished with their prayers.

After Nancy died, Jockey Jim lived with his children. He spent a lot of time at his son s "Peg Jim" James and Plummer s homes. They both lived in Sheridan.

There were so many William Knights and James Knights during the 1800 s that they all got nicknames so that people would know which one you were talking about.

James Warren Knight accidentally shot his arm off one winter while hunting. He put his boot on a log to tie his shoe lace and the gun went off. He was sent to a New Orleans hospital. New Orleans was having a yellow fever epidemic at the time, and James caught yellow fever and died. He was buried in the St. Louis Cemetery #1 in New Orleans.

Dennis Knight was a very large man. Dennis wanted to marry Calvin McNeese s daughter Molly, but Calvin McNeese didn t want her to marry Dennis. One time Dennis invited Calvin McNeese squirrel hunting. He brought a gallon of whiskey with him. Calvin McNeese came back drunk, and Dennis and Molly took the opportunity to get married. Dennis and Molly had 6 or 7 children.

In 1915 an unknown man was buried in the Baughman Cemetery. He was shot in the woods. Many years later they found out that the man was from Wiggins, Miss. and that he had gotten in a fight with a Miley boy.