FROM A COLLECTION OF MEMORIES-A HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY 1876-1965, BY ARMSTRONG COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION.

At some point in time, Emanuel Kight's family moved from Hampshire County, West Virginia to Mineral County which later became Calhoun County, West Virginia. They lived possibly near Grantsville, West Virginia in White Pine. "The Kight family was involved in the Civil War and this brought financial disaster to their home. Emanuel Kight served the South, and his family took shelter in Ohio until the war closed. They lived on bread, water and sorghum during the winter of 1863 - 1864, as they farmed in Perry County, Ohio. In 1865, they moved to Ellensboro, West Virginia and farmed, cut hoop poles and made crossties. In 1866, they were back on the old home farm in Calhoun County. In October or November of 1877, Emanuel moved his family to Van Alstyne, Grayson County, Texas, going with his son, Henry Moses, and Henry's new wife, Amy Louise Norman." While in Grayson County, Emanuel's wife, Charlotte, died in 1881 and she was buried in the Mugg Cemetery in Collin County. In 1888, Henry Moses moved to Armstrong County in the Texas Panhandle and Emanuel moved there also. In September of 1896, Emanuel married Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Bagwell. Sadly, two months after his marriage, Emanuel died. He is buried in the Claude Cemetery in Armstrong County

THE FOLLOWING IS A BIOGRAPHY OF EMANUEL MILLER KIGHT WRITTEN BY HIS DESCENDENT LOU S. HANSEN FROM TEXAS PANHANDLE FOREFATHERS-AMARILLO GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, 1983, PUBLISHED BY NATIONAL SHAREGRAPHICS OF DALLAS.

EMANUEL M. KIGHT F127

It was the year 1890 that Emanuel Miller Kight and his sons moved to the Texas Panhandle to settle in the town of Panhandle, and later in Claude. This part of Texas was booming with the influx of settlers, Claude having just been chosen as the county seat of Armstrong County. The prospects were promising for Emanuel Miller Kight and his sons.

Emanuel, the oldest son of Henry Thomas Kight, Junior and Sarah Sharpless, grew up in a household of eight brothers and sisters in the Allegany Mountains of Virginia and Maryland. He married Charlotte Ayers in 1846. To them were born Salem, Marcellus, Sarah Ellen, Huffman Alexander, Henry Moses, Vasthi Virginia, Charles Oliver, Louise Gay and Viola Kight.

In 1852, the family moved to Calhoun County, West Virginia, where according to the census, Emanuel was a farmer and a sawyer. (A sawyer was one who cleared the land.) The state of Virginia was divided by the Allegany and Appalachian Mount ions. At the onset of the Civil War, those living east of the mountains symphathisized with the South, while most of the people on the west side were Union sympathizers. The Union and Confederate records in the West Virginia State Archives reveal that some of the Kights were both Union and Confederate soldiers.

Emanuel, at the age of 39, joined the Union Army, 11th Regiment, Company C in Smithville, West Virginia. He was discharged because of a disability on April 23, 1863. This disability affected him later in life rendering him unable to work. After moving to Texas, Emanuel must have decided that being a Union veteran was not too popular, for it is reported he claimed to have been a Confederate soldier.

In 1877, Emanuel moved his family from West Virginia to Grayson County, Texas, traveling overland to Parkersburg, West Virginia, then by riverboat down the Ohio River to St. Louis, and then overland to Texas. Charlotte, his wife, died four years later and is buried in Mugg Cemetery in Collin County, Texas.

In 1890, Emanuel and his sons arrived in the Texas Panhandle and engaged in farming and ranching. The sons’ interests expanded into the mercantile and banking business in Claude. Henry Moses Kight was particularly interested in agriculture and is attributed to introducing millet, milo, maize, gip corn, Mexican beans and kaffir corn to the Panhandle of Texas in 1894 after a wheat crop failure.

Emanuel married his second wife, Mary Elizabeth Bagwell and resided in the Panhandle until his death on November 24, 1893. He is buried in the Claude cemetery.

FROM INFORMATION OF KIGHT RESEARCHERS OF WESTERNPORT, MARYLAND.

"After Emanuel and Charlotte married, they lived in Allegany County, Maryland until 1852 when they moved to White Pine, Calhoun County, West Virginia some 150 miles away. On the 1850 census of Allegany County, Emanuel is listed as a farmer and sawyer. In the fall of 1853, Emanuel's parents, Henry T. Kight, Jr. and Sarah rode horseback, Sarah on sidesaddle to Calhoun County, West Virginia to visit him and the family of his brother, Benjamin who also lived in the area. The trip was 150 miles through thick forests and across the Potomac and Cheat Rivers.

During the Civil War, Emanuel Kight, age 39, joined the Union Army, 11th Reg. Co. C in Smithville, West Virginia and was mustered into service on 12/22/1861 at Elizabeth, West Virginia. He was discharged on account of disability on 4/23/1863. This disability affected him in later life to such an extent that he was unable to work. Though he applied for disability pension, he never received it. After moving to Texas, he felt it prudent to say that he fought for the South."

FROM THE CALHOUN COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA WEBSITE:

KIGHT, Emanuel, Private, born 1822, Allegany Co., Md. Company C, 11th West Virginia Infantry. Mustered 22 Dec. 1861, discharged Parkersburg, W.Va., 23 Apr. 1863. Union.

On 1860 Calhoun County, West Virginia census, Arnoldsburg PO, p. 11, household 765-706. On 1870 Calhoun County, West Virginia census, Sherman Township, Grantsville, p. 649, household 7-7. On 1880 Grayson County, Texas census, Pct 4, SD 3, ED 11, p. 278B, household 385-408.

Charlotte Ayers died in Weston/Van Alstyne, Collin County, Texas. She is buried in Mugg Cemetery, Collin County, Texas near the town of Weston. Her son, Charles Oliver's first child, Nora, is also buried there.  The cemetery is on a hill with pasture land on each side. Charlotte's grave sits under a huge cedar tree and she looks upon a beautiful marker of another family with an angel beside this family's stone. She is not alone as there are many other pioneer families with her. The cemetery is well kept up and amply shaded.