So your house is a seafood restaurant and bar... at least it's still standing! or The third time really is the charm
1.SAMUEL4 KNAPP (ELIJAH3, ISRAEL2, ISRAEL1) was born 9-18-1805 in [near] Cold Springs, Putnam Co., NY and died 4-1-1886 in Walkill, Orange Co., NY. He married (1) HANNAH MARIAH DECKER 2-26-1834 in Montgomery, Orange County NY, daughter of CORNELIUS DECKER ESQ.. He married (2) ELIZABETH YOUNG MILLER c. 1840 in Walden?, NY, daughter of GEORGE MILLER and JULIA YOUNG. He married (3) LAVINIA T. WAITE 10-16-1872 in Walden, NY.
Samuel Knapp was born on September 18, 1805 near Cold Springs, Putnam County New York, which was then a part of Dutchess County.. What education, if any, he recieved as a child is unknown, but census takers always recorded him as able to read and write. Politically, he was most probably aligned with the Republican Party (1).
After maturing, Samuel moved to Fishkill, Dutchess County NY, where he was living by 1834. In that same year he married his first wife, Hannah Maria Decker, a daughter of Cornelius Decker Esquire. The ceremony took place on February 26, 1834 in Montgomery, Orange County New York where the bride, who had been born on April 9, 1808, lived.
In 1838, Samuel, along with his brothers James, Henry and Gilbert, as well as his Uncle David Knapp, executor of the estate of Samuel's father, sold a parcel of land from this estate to Greenleaf Street.
Also 1838, Samuel purchased a farm in Walden, Orange County New York, consisting of a little over 142 acres of land. The purchase price was $6854.40 and it was understood that the farm had a $2000 mortgage on it left over from the previous owner. It was here that Samuel would spend the rest of his days, perhaps enlarging the farm a bit as time went on. The land was located along Bailey Road off of Route 208 a mile or so south of Walden. Part of it is now a Golf Course, and Knapp Lane runs through another part of it.
According to one family tradition, the orginal Knapp house burned down, and was later rebuilt. This home still stands today at 2 Bailey Road and is currently Capt'n Bills Seafood Restaurant and Clam Bar.
Hannah Decker Knapp died in 1839 (quite
possibly as a result of the birth of her daughter Hannah Maria
Knapp), and was buried in Walkill Valley Cemetery, or in the Decker
Burial ground southeast of Montgomery.
Elizabeth Young Miller was born in 1821, in Orange County NY.
Her father died when she was six or seven years old, and as no
further record can be found of her mother, it is probable that
she was orphaned at an early age. Census records indicate that
she was able to read and write. Elizabeth was a member of the
Dutch Reformed Church.
According to the International Genealogy Index (IGI) put out by the Mormon Church, Samuel Knapp and Elizabeth Miller were married on November 1, 1840 in Walden, but I am still looking for confirmation of this date. The newlyweds continued to live on the farm south of Walden. On August 23, 1849 Samuel was baptized into the Dutch Reformed Church at Walden, in which he would later be an Elder for many years.
The 1850 census records Samuel as a farmer with real estate worth $7000. The 1860 census lists him as a farmer with real estate worth $8500 and a personal estate of $1415. In 1870, he is again recorded as a farmer, this time with real estate worth $12100, and with a personal estate valued at $2000, which was a very good sum of money in those days. Indeed it would seem that the family was rather well to do, as in many census years they had a "Domestic" and several farm laborers living with them (2). Samuel is again recorded in the 1875 State Census and in the 1880 Federal Census as a farmer, living in Walden, Town of Montgomery, Orange County New York.
In 1871, Elizabeth Miller Knapp died, and was buried in Walkill Valley Cemetery. She was fifty years old.
Bachelorhood apparently did not suit Samuel, as he remarried on October 16, 1872. His new bride was Lavinia T. Whaite (Wait, Waite etc.). She had been born in 1827 in New York.
Little is known of Lavinia (or Lavina as the name sometimes appears). In 1870, according to the Federal Census, she was living in Walden, Town of Montgomery, Orange County New York with "S. H. Wait" and "Mary Wait." From their ages I would guess that they were her brother and sister-in-law. The family was prosperous, owning $25000 worth of real estate and having a $1500 personal estate. Lavinia's father had been born abroad, but her mother was a native of the U.S. (both names are unknown). Lavinia and her siblings were recorded in the census as literate
Samuel Knapp died intestate at Walkill, NY on April 1, 1886 at the age of eighty (a family bible gives the date as 1887), apparently having moved there sometime after 1880 (3). He was buried beside his wives in Walkill Valley Cemetery. On April 10, his widow, Lavinia, filed papers naming his heirs witht the Surrogates Court.
Lavinia survived him by many years, living with her step-daughter Josephine Knapp and her husband George LeFevre at the Berea (a tiny town in Orange County New York) farm that they managed (4). In old age she was weak and needed a lot of help, but her mind remained active enough that she could teach her young step-great-grandaughter her ABC's. According to the "Nicholas Knapp Geneaolgy," she died on June 29, 1917, at about the age of ninety. This date seems right, as her step-great-grandaughter, Katherine LeFevre Miller, remembers that she did not live to see the end of World War One. However, a transcript of her tombstone states she died in 1927. This is probably a typographical error. In any case, she was buried beside her husband in Walkill Valley Cemetery.
Our family still treasures an old oil lamp that was used by Lavinia as a night-light, and that Katherine LeFevre Miller used to light for her every evening as a child.
(1) This inference in drawn from the known facts that one of Sam's daughters was an ardent Republican, that two others married into Republican families and that the family of his second wife were also Republicans. The political affiliation of the rest of the Knapp children is unknown.
(2) In 1850 these were Rosanna Mc Ackantee,
domestic and Cornelius Insberry, laborer. In 1870 these were Maggie
Lembie, domestic and Mattheus Zipolas, farm laborer. In 1860,
the Knapps employed one farm laborer, Frederick Knapp, who had
been born in Germany and was of no relation to our Knapps. In
1880, they employed Sidney Weller as a laborer.
We have several old silver spoons with the initial "K"
engraved upon them. These came down through the family line from
Josephine, Sam's daughter, and most probably were originally owned
by her father.
(3) This is in some doubt. He may actually have died at Walden; the Nicholas Knapp Genealogy is quite unclear on this point.
(4) She moved in with them sometime after 1910, when she was living with her unmarried step-daughter Sarah in Walden in a rented home near her other step-daughter Mary Knapp Hill.
----------------SOURCES---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-NICHOLAS KNAPP GENEALOGY, by Alfred Averill Knapp, M.D., 1953
-RECORDS OF THE WALDEN DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH
-KATHERINE LEFEVRE MILLER
-FRED KNAPP ([email protected])
-DUNCAN MORROW ([email protected])
-MARCUS MILLSPAUGH ([email protected])
-PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF ORANGE COUNTY NEW YORK, 1895,
Chapman Publishing Company
[email protected] mailing list archives at sites.rootsweb.com,
message from [email protected] 22 Feb. 1998
-1850 FEDERAL CENSUS
-1860 FEDERAL CENSUS
-1870 FEDERAL CENSUS
-1880 FEDERAL CENSUS
-1900 FEDERAL CENSUS
-1910 FEDERAL CENSUS
-INTERNATIONAL GENEALOGICAL INDEX (IGI) at www.familysearch.org
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More About SAMUEL KNAPP:
Religion: Dutch Reformed
Occupation: Farmer
Burial: Walkill Valley Cemetery
More About HANNAH MARIAH DECKER:
Religion: Dutch Reformed
Occupation: House Wife
Burial: Walkill Valley Cemetery
More About ELIZABETH YOUNG MILLER:
Religion: Dutch Reformed
Occupation: Housewife
Burial: Walkill Valley Cemetery
More About LAVINIA T. WAITE:
Religion: Dutch Reformed
Occupation: House Wife
Burial: Walkill Valley Cemetery
Children of SAMUEL KNAPP and HANNAH DECKER
are:
i. SARAH ANN5 KNAPP, b. 9-13-1836, Walden, NY; d. 1923, Walden,
NY.
Sarah never married. The "Nicholas Knapp Genealogy"
states that she died in Tallahassee, Fla. This does not seem to
make sense given the fact that she is buried in Walkill Valley
Cemetery in Orange County NY. Perhaps the body was shipped there
for burial. It is known that she was living in Orange County NY
in 1911 when she testified regarding the pension application of
her cousin's widow.
ii. HANNAH MARIA KNAPP, b. 4-1839, Walden,
Orange Co., NY; d. 11-1841, Walden, Orange Co., NY.
Children of SAMUEL KNAPP and ELIZABETH
MILLER are:
iii. MARY K.5 KNAPP, b. 9-23-1842, Walden, Orange Co., NY; d.
1923, Berea, Orange Co., NY; m. MARCUS KING HILL.
In 1911, she testified in support of the pension application of
her cousin's widow, as a resident of Orange County NY.
Mary loved to read, despite the fact that she went blind in old age. Her great niece, Katherine LeFevre Miller recalled being yelled at at one time for disturbing her literary pleasures.
iv. JULIA MILLER KNAPP, b. 7-11-1844,
Walden, Orange Co., NY; d. 3-20-1921, Los Angeles, CA; m. AUGUSTUS
HILL, 11-12-1866, Walden, NY.
v. HELEN AUGUSTA KNAPP, b. 9-1846, Walden,
Orange Co., NY; d. 10-1854, walden, Orange Co., NY.
vi. CORNELIA WEEKS KNAPP, b. 7-16-1848,
Walden, Orange Co., NY; d. 1935, Orange, Ca.
vii. GILBERT S. KNAPP, b. 4-1851, Walden, Orange Co., NY; d. 4-1852,
Walden, Orange Co., NY.
viii. ISABELLE BLAKELY KNAPP, b. 10-25-1855,
Walden, Orange Co., NY; d. Aft. 1935, Lake Worth, Fla.; m. HARRY
SANDERSON WHEELER.
More About ISABELLE BLAKELY KNAPP:
Also Known As: Belle
ix. FRANCES ELIZABETH KNAPP, b. 10-1856,
Walden, Orange Co., NY; d. 1895, Walden, Orange Co., NY; m.CHARLES
E. CUNNINGHAM, 5-21-1890.
The "Nicholas Knapp Genealogy" gives her birthdate as
Nov. 19, 1857, which has to be an error. Indeed, many of the dates
given in the Knapp Genealogy for this family group are about one
year ahead of when they actually occured, as can be proven from
church records.
More About FRANCES ELIZABETH KNAPP:
Also Known As: Fanny
x. JOSEPHINE TOWNSEND KNAPP, b. 11-7-1858,
Walden, Orange Co., NY; d. 9-8-1948, Walden, Orange Co., NY.
xi. SAMUEL HARVEY KNAPP, b. 3-1863, Walden, NY; d. Aft. 1935,
Cleveland, OH; m. AURORA WOOLEY.
The 'Nicholas Knapp Genealogy" gives his birthdate as April
10, 1864, which has to be an error as church records record his
birth in March 1863, and christening in November of that same
year.
