Knapp Family

This is my "thinking" page.  I am trying to figure out something about the ancestors of Mary Martha "Patsy" Knapp, who was born Aug. 25, 1799 near Lexington, Fleming County, Kentucky.  Her parents were:
Moses Knapp, b abt 1774 in New York, d Mar 1860, Mason Co, WV
and
Elizabeth "Betty" Emmons, d about 1800 in Fleming Co, KY

There was a Nicholas & Elinor Knapp who arrived in Boston in 1630 on Wintrop's fleet of 11 ships.  Along with them were probably relatives William & Mrs. Knapp and maybe their children, John, Anne, Judith, Mary, James John, William Jr.
Moses doesn't seem to be in this Nicholas Knapp line who was a 1630 emigrant to Massachusetts.

I am focusing on the Knapps from New York.

MOSES KNAPP, RWPA #S13675. He was born at Port Church in Warwick Township, Orange County, New York on Sept. 3, 1755. He served as a private in Captain Calvin Shepherd's Company of Colonel John Hawthorne's Regiment in the West Point and Minisinck Theaters.

Loyalist:
There was a Moses Knapp from Ulster Co, NY who was a loyalist in the Rev. War.  The Westchester County Knapps also seemed to be loyalists (maybe he is the same one).  This Major Moses Knapp was a burly man, 6'3" tall and a bully. He was active in the Westchester County area. Timothy Knapp was hanged as a horse thief for stealing Moses' horse. Moses served with the Delancey Rangers and fought in Charleston as well as in the north. He fled to Nova Scotia where land awaited him. He seems to have failed at that, returned to New York, committed some crime and was imprisoned where he died.

Warwick, NY had a Moses Knapp (along with William, Charles & Caleb) who participated in the Rev. War.

Moses Knapp, b 1645 Watertown, Middlesex Co, MA; d 1756 Peekskill, Westchester Co, NY, son of Nicholas & Eleanor.

1790 census:
New York - 48 Knapps, including 1 Moses Knapp, Rensselaerville, Albany Co, NY
New York - 45 Knaps, including 3 Moses:
             Moses - Salem, Westchester Co,
             Moses Sr & Moses Jr - Fredericktown, Dutchess Co
Connecticut - 63 Knapps, 16 Knaps
Massachusetts - 10 Knapps, 39 Knaps
PA: 4, RI: 4, VT: 20, ME: 2, NH: 9

1800 census:
New York - Moses Knapp - Frederick, Dutchess Co,
. . . . . . . . . - Moses Knapp - Pompey, Onondaga Co [He was 86 in 1840]
. . . . . . . . . - Moses Knapp - Salem, Westchester Co
There was also 1 Moses Knapp in Massachusetts, Vermont & Connecticut.
 

There were 2 Knapp families of Mason Co, WV: Moses & Caleb.
Moses was from New York and Caleb was from Greenbrier Co, (W)Va.  Not related.  Caleb was son of Titus Knapp.

In 1783 Moses Knap and Caleb Knap were in the tax records of Doe Hill (which is now in Highland Co, Va., formerly Pendleton Co, WV, before that it was in Augusta Co, Va.) 
Moses disappeared from the record in 1810 (because he had moved to Mason Co, WV by then).  The early 1800 records of Highland Co, VA also had two other Knaps: Abraham and John.  They were gone by 1813.  Abraham was Caleb's son.

Moses and his brother, Joshua went to Kentucky, where they married sisters in a double wedding in 1792, Bourbon Co, Ky.   Moses "moved" to Lexington, Fleming Co, Ky. (in NE KY) where his daughter, Martha, was born in 1799, then his wife, Elizabeth died in Fleming Co, Ky. in 1800.
[Actually, he may not have moved at all.  Fleming Co, Ky was formed in 1798 from Mason Co]

There is a marriage of Moses Knapp to Anne Byram in Fleming Co, Ky in 1802.
They were still in Fleming Co, Ky in 1805 where was some court action taken on Sept. 11. Evidently James Roe's wife, Abigail, said some slanderous words to Anne, and Anne took her to court.  A few days later (Sept 20) they were in court again accusing Richard Hart of slanderous words against Anne.  So this may give some reasoning of why Moses and Anne decided to move away from Kentucky.

By 1810 they were living in Mason Co (W)Va.
The 1810 census of Mason Co, (W)Va. shows:
p376A  Knap, Moses          0101 - 02 01
1 male 10-16 [William-14]
1 male 26-44 [Moses]
2 females 10-16 [Martha-11, Priscilla-13?]
1 female 26-44  [Anne]
See: ftp://ftp.us-census.org/pub/usgenweb/census/wv/mason/1810/pg0372.txt

Also living not far away was:
p375  Prewet, Obed  [Moses' daughter's future father-in-law]

In 1812 Moses was fined $200 by the court for failing to keep his son William under control.
In 1819 Moses bought 104 acres on Thirteen-mile Creek in Mason County. (probably in Union District)

In 1820 Moses was on the Mason County census, p125.

1823 the first meeting of the Methodist Society was at the home of Moses Knapp.  In 1840 the Smith (Methodist) Church was formed. Several of his descendants are buried at the cemetery of the old Smith Church.  The old log church stood on a high point overlooking the Thirteen-mile Creek valley. See:  http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/8003/cem.html
A new structure replaced the log church in 1900.  See picture at:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/8003/newsmith.html

1830 census, Mason Co, (W)Va (Knapp heads of households)
Moses Knapp, p 149
John
William
George
Peter
[This would seem to indicate that Moses and Anne had other sons named John, George & Peter.]

In 1832 the first election was held at Moses Knapp's home.
1837 Moses bought 150 acres.

1840 census - Mason Co, (W)Va.
Moses
John
William
Jacob
John
Peter

1842 Moses married 3rd to widow Sarah (Haptonsthall) Weaver.
In 1842 & 1843, 3 different men brought court action against Moses for a debt.  But in 1844 Moses had an action against another man for a debt.

MOSES was listed in the 1850 Mason Co. WV census as being 75 yrs old (b. 1775 NY) m. to Sara S who was 43 and b. abt 1807 in Ohio.

In 1850, 1852 & 1854 Moses sold some of his land.

Moses Knapp's Last Will and Testament (recorded in Mason Co. Will Bk 1a, p 143) which was written and signed on September 8, 1859. It was proven by the County Court on April 2, 1860.
He probably died on March 15, which was the last date his doctor visited him (doctor bill in estate papers, plus a bill from a shopkeeper for black crepe bought on the 15th)
In the will Priscilla Harrison is mentioned as receiving a portion of Moses Knapp's estate.

Buried in the Samuel Greenlee Cemetery, a mile from Leon, WV. on a High Point above 13 mile Creek, opposite the Devil's Tea Table (rock formation).
See map:  http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvmason/masoncomap.html


There was a Knapp's Creek off Greenbrier River in West Virginia (at what is now known as Marlinton).

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There was a Abraham KNAPP b abt 1801 in Greenbrier Co. He married Jeanette B. Taylor 1821 in Monroe, but children born in Greenbrier are Albert, Caleb and James. Albert and James moved to Mason Co. about 1850.
Albert KNAPP was born Greenbrier 1824 died in Mason Co.  His wife Mary Ann Welch, their sons James KNAPP and Thomas KNAPP were in Mason by 1850.
Thomas m Sarah Jane LAMBERT in Mason.