Sarah Kemble Knight

Sarah Kemble Knight (April 19, 1666 – September 25, 1727) was a teacher and businesswoman, who is remembered for her diary of a journey from Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, to New York City, Province of New York, in 1704–1705, a courageous adventure for a woman to undertake.

She was born in Boston, to Thomas Kemble and Elizabeth Trerice.^{[citation needed]} In 1689, Sarah married Richard Knight; they had one child, Elizabeth. Having been left a widow, in middle life she opened a school, which gained some reputation in Boston and included amongst its students Benjamin Franklin.^{[citation needed]} Before opening this school, Madam Knight, as she was generally called, in 1704 took a journey on horseback from Boston to New York City, an unparalleled feat for a woman.^{[citation needed]} She recounted her experiences in the "journals" that have made her known to students of American Colonial literature and history.^{[citation needed]} The small diary of her Boston–New York journey was first published, posthumously, in 1825, by Theodore Dwight.^{[citation needed]} The Journal of Madam Knight has subsequently been reprinted by others with additional biographical information.^{[citation needed]}

Her journal remains noteworthy both for its larger-than-life central character (Knight) and its telling of a trying journey not normally undertaken by a woman. The discomforts of primitive traveling are described with much sprightliness and not a little humor.^{[citation needed]} Despite its uniqueness, its authenticity has been contested.^{[citation needed]} Dwight stated that, after the publication of his volume, the manuscript was unfortunately burned.^{[citation needed]} Furthermore, much of it had been in shorthand and never translated.^{[citation needed]}

In 1714, Knight's daughter married John Livingston, of Connecticut, and Madam Knight moved with them to New London, where she continued her business and land dealings.^{[citation needed]} When she died in 1727, she left her daughter a very large estate, attesting to her shrewdness and skill as a businessperson.^{[citation needed]}

Sarah Kemble Knight is buried at Ye Antientist Burial Ground, New London.^{[citation needed]}

External links

• Sarah Kemble Knight - From Annenberg Media Learner.org
• Sarah Kemble Knight - From Houghton Mifflin The Heath Anthology of American Literature
• "Wee made Good speed along" - Boston Businesswoman Sarah Knight Travels From Kingston to New London, 1704.

This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.