Clement Knott is my great-great-great-grandfather. He is the last person in the human chain of my paternal line. He is also a person of contention.

Clement was born about 1794 in Maryland. The death certificate for Raphael Knott, his son, gives Maryland as the birthplace of his father. The 1860 census for Breckinridge, Kentucky lists a C. Knott living in the household of Mary Swink. Clement’s daughter, Mary, married Christian Swink and lived in Breckinridge. Mary’s children were born there. The 1870 census for Breckinridge County had Clement Knot, 77, living with Ruben Ford and Catherine. Amanda Swink, a daughter of Mary Swink, lived with them.

Several researchers have placed Clement, my relative, as being born about 1780, moving to Kentucky before going to Missouri. I disagree with this assessment because that Clement stayed in Missouri and is on church roles there. The roles indicated he had his children in Missouri and died there. The Perry County Genealogy Trails list Clement and Mary Quick at their 15y daughter’s marriage in 1830. Clement Knott of Breckinridge was fathering children with Nancy ‘Ann’ Hardesty in Kentucky between 1815 and 1832.

Family oral history, as related, told Clement married Nancy Hardesty.  I searched for years, before Ancestry.com, for any reference to this marriage. I posted online to genealogy boards. One day I received an email that there was a Hardesty family history book that listed Ann Hardesty marrying John Riney who died within a year. She remarried to Clement Knott. The dates are appropriate for the age of the individuals and the children they parented.

Leave me a comment if you want additional information on Clement or Nancy. Or share with me your family history or family interest.

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Genealogy and creating a family tree is challenging without the internet. Today, Ancestry has digitized so much information that one is likely to find something on a person born a generation or more ago. I began before the internet or Ancestry.com.

My family provided my first data. I collared my parents, uncles, and aunts whenever I could. I scribbled down what they told me and stored it until I purchased a genealogy program. On one of my old computers is the second version of Family Tree. The program was amazing. It allowed me to enter a name, vital statistics, and see a relationship to others in the database generated. Now I use Family Tree v2014.1.

My database remained small for many years since new information came via interviewing relatives. Those opportunities came when home on leave from the Navy. When I married, my mother-in-law provided information on her immediate family and some ancestors.  I had 75 entries in my database when my wife and I attended her family’s reunion.

The reunion was in Oklahoma.  I brought a print out of my database and requested corrections or additions be noted. Those interested could use the blank family sheets I provided to give me their information. I added over 150 new persons to my database. Subsequent family reunions provided fewer additions and my interest in genealogy waned.

It revived when I found the internet. I discovered a college with a large collection of references including census, family bibles, family trees, and more. The college scanned the documents and made them available for download. The cost was not inconsequential to call and remain online searching. Long distance was billed by the minute. And I had blazing download speeds of 2400 bits/second. Yes, 2400. I bore the cost and downloaded many.  The internet now provides access to data from many sources and locations.

My database is over 3000 persons somehow related to me, my wife, or my children’s spouses. Some entries are just a name. Others have locations lived, occupations, and relationships to church and community. The joy in discovering a new ancestor is a treasure for one interested in his ancestors.

Does genealogy interest you? Do you have a family tree?