John Knott was born in 1855 in London, England. His parents were John Knott and Ann (Dodd?)
The year John Knott came from London, England to the U.S. is not known. When he found work in Ohio, he sent for his wife, Eliza (Constable) and small son John II arriving in New York on the 23rd of January, 1880. He was a miner and Sunday school Superintendent, she a chambermaid, making one pound a month, while they lived in England. They moved to Oklahoma Territory where John worked in the coal mines. There, two more sons, Tom and George, were born.
After an accident at the coal mine in which a friend was killed, John decided he didn't want his sons to become coal miners. In 1888 they moved to the Dakota Territory. They took up a claim five miles SE of Lebanon on the SE 1/4 of Sec. 12 in Roy Twp. They built a sod house and other buildings which served for several years. Here five more children were born--Millie, Florence, Annie, Al, and Ella.
In 1904, at the age of 48, John Knott died. His wife Eliza stayed in Dakota a few more years before moving to California, taking the younger children with her. Al, the last to pass on died in 1982 in Rainbow, Ca.
John Knott II farmed in Potter County and served as County Commissioner. He died in 1945. Tom farmed in S.D., moved to California, and died in 1970. George, the second son, homesteaded on the SE 1/4 of Sec. 10 in Canton Twp. He farmed all his life, never married and died in 1962 at the age of 80. Millie, Florence, and Ella all migrated to California and eventually died there. Annie died of the flu in Potter Co., in 1918.
John II and his wife Emma Mikkleson took over the homestead place and raised five children: Anna Louise, Maxine, John, Ardell, and Loyd. All of them reside in California except John III. He married Verna Carlson of Columbia, SD. They own and live on the original homestead. They have one child, Margie Knott Hause and one grandson Yuri Judah Hause.
Temecula Couple Celebrate Golden Wedding Anniversary
La Laguna Review Volume III No. 8 June 1964
The Front Street home of Mr. and Mrs. Al Knott was bursting at the seams on Sunday, April 26, when over two hundred friends and relatives attended an open house and joined in the celebration of the Knott's fiftieth wedding anniversary.
Mrs. Knott was gowned in the wedding dress she wore as a bride fifty years ago when Mrs. Ed Freeman was bridesmaid to Mrs. Knott and Ross Rail served Mr. Knott as best man.
The entire affair began when the members of the family had a picnic lunch in the yard and at two in the afternoon the guest arrived and Mrs. Laurel Van Vickel and Mrs. Gail Wilcock served punch, cake, and coffee.
The wedding cake was made for the occasion by the Knott's daughter, Vera of Fallbrook and she was assisted in the decorating by Vesta Berry of Henderson, Nevada.
The biggest surprise of all to the Knotts was a gift of having a telephone installed and the phone bill paid for a period of one year by the Temecula community and some Murrieta residents.
