Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 3325and among the first members of the House of Burgesses was Peter Knight,a man of large means and of wide acres. His paternal ancestor of the Waltonfamily came over with William Perm in 1682. George Walton, one ofthe signers of the Declaration of Independence on behalf of Georgia, belongedto this family and before coming to Georgia was identified with theOld Dominion.' Mr. Knight's mother sprang from two of Georgia's most distinguished families, the Lamars and the Cobbs, both of which were plantedin this country before the Revolution.The Cobbs, it is believed, came from Wales. The Lamars were FrenchHuguenots, who came to America upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantesin 1685. There has scarcely been a generation in which these families havenot been represented in the public life of America. Mr. Knight's great grandfather, Peter Lamar, was perhaps the wealthiest land owner in Northeast Georgia. Another ancestor, Thomas Cobb, the first of the noted Cobb family tolocate in Georgia, reached the patriarchal age of one hundred and twelve years.Mr. Knight, on his mother's side, is a kinsman of the South's great oratorand editor, Henry W. Grady. His grandfather, Walton Knight, came toGeorgia about 1820, and engaged extensively in the cotton business, dividinghis time between Augusta and Charleston. He died in the latter town duringthe famous yellow fever epidemic of 1838, within two days of his wife, whodied of the same malady.Mr. Knight received his elementary education in the public schools ofAtlanta, Georgia. Entering the state university c.t Athens, he was graduatedwith the degree of A. B.. and later at Prineeton, New Jersey, he receivedthe degree of A. M. While in the latter institution, he was a student underDr. Woodrow Wilson, af*"""rQ v'd President of the United States.At the University 'ia, he was class valedictorian, and universityprize debater, carrying 011 ^e latter honor over several law students. In hisjunior year, he won his speakership at commencement on three merits: classstanding, composition and declamation. On the death of Doctor Mell, hedelivered the Phi Kappa memorial oration.Adopting journalism as his profession, he served on the staff of theAtlanta Constitution from 1892 to 1902, and during the greater part of thistime was, in association with Joel Chandler Harris (Uncle Remus), one ofits chief editorial writers.Mr. Knight expected at one time to enter the ministry, and was calledto the Central Presbyterian Church of Washington, District of Columbia,after completing a course of study at Princeton, but found it necessary torelinquish his ambition in this direction on account of ill health. Severalmonths of European travel greatly enriched his storehouse of mental impressions, but did not materially benefit him otherwise, and he thereupon madean extended trip to the far West.From 1906 to 1908, he spent two years in Southern California, where hewrote his first work, in two volumes, entitled "Reminiscences of Famous Georgians." After completing these books he returned to his native state, andbecame editor of the Atlanta Georgian, a position which he held from 1908 to1910, succeeding Hon. John Temple Graves-who, in 1908, became editor ofthe New York American.In 1913, he accepted'from Governor Brown an appointment to the officewhich he now holds, that of compiler of state records, an office in which histime, second vice president and literary editor of the Martin & Hoyt Cornpredecessorshave all been governors of the state. He is also, at the' presentpany, one of the leading publishing houses of the South, and vice presidentof the John B. Daniel Company, one of the largest manufacturing establishments south of Baltimore.Mr. Knight's writings have been voluminous. Besides the initial workto which reference has been made, he has published a "Biographical Diction-