Knight@HomePort

HomePort S.S. Neptune which was
first Captained by Hon. Edward White

Knight@HomePort

We are pleased to share information regarding the descendants of Michael Knight Sr. and Sarah Brace who married 20 May 1768 at St. John the Baptist, Anglican Cathedral, St. John's, Newfoundland.
	When their grandson, Capt. William Chancey Knight was hired in 1859 to take an American artist sailing aboard Integrity from Newfoundland to Labrador, little did he know the ongoing effect the voyage would have. The artist Frederic Edwin Church was a member of the group known as the Hudson River School. The year of the voyage Church's monumental painting The Heart of the Andes was first shown to the public illuminated by hidden gaslights in a darkened room - it caused a sensation in New York.


Following the Labrador voyage with Capt. Knight, Church painted Aurora Borealis a work that is now seen as a defining point in the life of the American people when, torn apart during the Civil War the image from the northern trip captured the hope epitomized by the light piercing the darkness. Many Americans saw a similar display in their skies that year, as northern had special meanings during these times, the painting became imbued with additional symbolism.


The Icebergs another painting from the voyage, when it sold in 1979 at auction, brought the highest price ($2.5 million) ever paid for a painting by an American artist, at that time. Rev. Louis Noble, who accompanied the voyage, published After Icebergs with a Painter in 1861. Captain Knight receiving a painting set, from the artist, and may have taken up painting himself, although no paintings have been located to verify this. A grandson of Knight - poet, E.J. Pratt, like Church, brought the sea and icebergs to life in poetic form during the 20th Century and great great grandson Christopher Pratt today continues Capt. William Knight's interest in ocean sailing.

The Complete Poems and Letters of E.J. Pratt: A Hypertext Edition includes cross referencing between poems and his letters and journals as part of the Pratt Project.

Knight Family Genforum , Knight at RootsWeb, Rootsweb Message Board [Knight] and the Knight Surname List are some research tools that may be of assistance to others researching Knight family lines.

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