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There is perhaps no name more closely associated with the history of Provo than the name of Jesse Knight; and no life has been more potent in promoting the welfare of that city than the active life of its greatest financier. His influence extended all over the state and into several other states, as well as to Canada. Mr. Knight was known in business circles as the president of the Knight Investment Company. The kind, personal feeling entertained for him was indicated in the fact that far and wide his friends knew him as "Uncle" Jesse Knight. He was born September 6, 1845, in Nauvoo, Illinois. His father, Newel Knight, was a pioneer settler of Nauvoo, and a son of Joseph Knight, the founder of the American branch of the family.
Newel Knight had charge of the first fifty teams to cross the Missouri river at the time of the great Mormon exodus, in the fall of 1846. His hope and that of his people was that somewhere in the far west they might find a home in which to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience, without interference. They expected to winter on the Platte River. Indians, however, reported that the grass was destroyed by fire in the direction they meant to go and invited them to go north one hundred and fifty miles to winter on the Indian reservation in Nebraska. This they did, but before the winter had spent its fury Newel Knight had found a resting place beneath its snow. He died January 11, 1847, leaving a widow with six small children. One boy was born in the following March.
Newel Knight was a man of forceful character, a devout Mormon and full of integrity. Jesse Knight's mother was Lydia Goldthwaite, and at the time of her marriage to Newel Knight she was a widow and he a widower with one son, Samuel. Their marriage took place November 23, 1835, at the home of Hyrum Smith and was the first marriage performed by the prophet Joseph Smith. After the ceremony the sacrament was administered to the little gathering and for the first time water was used in place of wine in accordance with a revelation given to the prophet.
After the death of Newel on the Niobrara prairie, it was impossible for the family to continue their journey westward. So in the spring they returned to winterquarters, remaining there until 1850, when they made the journey to Salt Lake City. Lydia G. Knight was a woman of remarkable moral and intellectual force and exerted a widely felt influence for good and for cultural development throughout the community in which she lived. She died in St. George at the age of seventy years.
As a child Jesse Knight herded cows for neighbors on the hillsides about Salt Lake City. At the age of eleven years he took oxen and hauled winter's wood on shares. Sometimes bigger boys would offer to help him load his wagon, but he worked very hard in order that he would not need assistance. Thus did he manifest early in life his desire to be a lifter rather than a leaner. In 1857 with his mother and the rest of the family he removed to Provo. Again he herded cows and sheep, gleaned potatoes and worked on their own small farms. His early education was gained principally driving oxen, although he attended briefly a neighborhood school which his mother conducted in her own home. His youth was a period of earnest toil, in which he faced many hardships and difficulties. But it is a well known fact that under the pressure of adversity and the stimulus of opposition, the best and strongest in man is brought out and developed. Often as he went to bed at night the picture of his mother working at her loom by the light of a greased rag filled his young heart with a burning desire to do something that he might relieve her of hardship.
At sixteen years of age Mr. Knight left the parental roof and took employment with Benjamin Roberts, who agreed to pay him thirty dollars per month. Being a strong lad with willing heart and ready hand, Jesses soon did the work of a man. His employer noted the boy and his diligence and so when he made settlement after six months, instead of paying him as originally agreed, he gave him a man's wage of fifty dollars per month from the beginning. It was this three hundred dollars which gave him his start in life. With the money he purchased a team of oxen and a wagon, while he purchased another team on credit. Thus he started out and from that time has steadily built uphis fortune. He has also been instrumental in the upbuilding of the fortunes of many others. The justice and generosity of his first employer had remained a pleasant incident and a noble example in his life.
For several years Mr. Knight bought and sold cattle. It was said of him by many in Utah county that often he paid widows and poor people more for their calves than they asked, sometimes making no profit for his trouble and risk, but as he had said, "Never losing in the long run for doing good to others."
At the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, January 18, 1869, Jesse Knight married Miss Amanda McEwan, who was born November 13, 1851, where now stands the Alta Club, Salt Lake City. In his wife he found a helpmate in very deed. She braved any needful hardship with cheerfulness. She prized honor and integrity far above any worldly comforts. She made the best of twenty years of life in a lonely spot miles from neighbors in order that she and her husband might produce something for themselves and others. To her hands came the labor of cooking for family and hired men, the making of butter and cheese, which found ready market because of its cleanly perfection. Her courage was not lacking as she tenderly cared for the family of growing children, although doctors, relatives, or neighbors were far from her. It was while living on this ranch at Payson that Mr. Knight prospected the hills of Tintic and located many valuable claims. His first claim, The Humbug, was so named in derision by miners in that locality. He and his boys worked between seasons with pick and shovel for seven years before they found the ore. As soon as the ore was discovered he had an offer of one hundred and ten thousand dollars for the property. But notwithstanding their years of hard work, neither he nor his wife were tempted to accept, for Mr. Knight's faith in the property was unbounded, and while he had no ready cash with which to build a road and get ore to market he did have credit.
Many claims had he developed into paying properties in that locality and yet his interests were not confined to the wealth of the mine. When enterprises were projected that aimed to bring good to many people, it was always possible to interest "Uncle Jesse." When approached, he invariably asked, "How is it to affect us? What good will it do for other people?" It was this idea of helpfulness that led him to buy vast areas and build a sugar factory in Canada; it was this idea that prompted the taking over of the Woolen Mills of Provo, at a time when the mills were closed down because they were unprofitable to the owners; it was this that induced him to make the big ditch for irrigating the Farms of Blue Bench, and it was this which was the incentive for him to scatter the light of electric plants in remote corners, that rural communities might enjoy its beaming. "Uncle Jesse liked the pioneering projects, the developing of great resources. When his Canadian project was in course of development, he loaned a good deal of money to various settlers; he had also borrowed large amounts for the development of this same enterprise and at that time was hard pressed to meet his obligations. He wrote his boys who were in charge in Canada that he had been called upon to make large payments here and that while he had perhaps equal amounts due him on the Canadian loans he did not feel that it would be right to crowd the farmers for payment. He told his sons that it was his firm belief if they did not work a hardship upon those poor men struggling to make homes that Providence would open up a way whereby his obligations could be met.
To Mr. and Mrs. Knight were born six children. Lydia Minerva, the first born, died in Payson at the age of eighteen years. The others were Oscar Raymond, a successful business man of Canada and Salt Lake City; Jesse William, of Provo, also a man of large affairs and a member of the presidency of Utah Stake; Mrs. Inez K. Allen, president of Utah Stake Relief Society; Mrs. Jennie Mangum, and Mrs. Iona Jordan. Mr. Knight's children-in-law, as well as his own children, were interested in his enterprises. Mr. Allen was vice-president and cashier of the knight Trust & Savings bank, and Mr. Mangum was secretary and treasurer of the Knight Investment Company. In 1890 Mr. Knight removed his family to Provo, in order that children might attend the Brigham Young University. He was vice-president of the Brigham Young University board of trustees, and contributed generously of his means to that institution.
The religious faith of the family was that of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jesse Knight's membership was in the Fifth Ward of Provo. He was a high priest. He was unfaltering in his loyalty to the church. In politics he was a staunch democrat and while it was characteristic of him to be loyal to any cause he espoused, he held principle above mere party success. In 1909 the democratic convention, held at Logan, voted by acclamation to place Jesse Knight on the ticket for governor of state. So enthusiastic were those assembled that it was long before he was even permitted to explain his position. Because he lacked school education and because the party had not adopted a prohibition plank, he declined the honor. Later he did succeed in getting prohibition in the democratic platform, which was perhaps the biggest step toward the law.
He had continually stood for progress and improvement in community affairs and had given his earnest support to every plan and measure for the upbuilding of his state and the advancement of national interests. Far-seeing, broadminded and kind in heart, this man was an inspiration to others about him. Though advanced in years, he admitted no lessening of his power to do. When at an age when most men are retiring from active business life, Mr. Knight projected his famous Tintic Drain Tunnel Company, and had already completed one and one-half mile of the total six miles required to tap the heart of Tintic mining district at about a two thousand foot depth. He remained as the president of the Knight Investment Company, Knight Trust & Savings Bank, Springville-Mapleton Sugar Company, Spring Canyon Coal Company, Knight Woolen Mills, Eureka Hill Railroad, Ellison Ranching Company, Nevada, Knight Sugar Company in Canada, American-Colombian Corporation, South America, and about twenty mining companies. He had kept his hand constantly on the helm of business and his eye had been keen to its possibilities, but the attainment of financial success had been to him a means for making opportunities for others. All along life's journey he had extended a helping hand to those in need of assistance. He gave generously to the Red Cross and other charities, and his church and its institutions were objects on which he habitually bestowed large sums. Most of all, he put many people in position to help themselves. Uncle Jesse believed that money came to him to do good with and not to lavish on himself in personal comforts.
There is perhaps no life that more clearly exemplifies the truth of Emerson's philosophy that, "The way to win a friend is to be one" than did the life of Jesse Knight. A philosopher has said, "Not the good that comes to us, but the good that comes to the world through us, is the measure of our success." Judged by this standard the life of Jesse Knight had been most successful.
Records of the Knight Investment Co. include: tax papers (1904-1947), company correspondence (1909-1947), financial records (incoming statements), bank statements, (1914-1929), accumulative correspondence and financial papers for individual companies (1907-1953), mining bulletins (1926-1928), and over 200 maps and plans.
Correspondence McGaul Dinsomre
McCammon Farm
McCammon Bank
Hyrum Hardy
Hall Baker Co.
E.W. Harrop
Ogden Grain
Photograph of Calgary Stampede, includes horses and riders,
grandstand in background, about 5 feet long,
Ibex Mining Company's settlement papers (Garfield Smelting
Co.),
* Following an inventory of this portion of the collection (
a. Stock Certificates,
b. Stock Ledger,
a. Cash Book,
b. Journal,
a. Daybook,
b. Ledger,
a. Cash Book,
b. General and Stock Ledger,
c. Ledger "A",
d. Journal,
a. Cash Book,
b. Stock Ledger,
c. Stock Ledger,
Brooklyn Consolidated Mining Co.,
Mineral flat Mining Co.
West Park Mining Co.,
Levan Mining Co.,
Plutus Mining Co.,
Ely Amalgamate Copper Mining Co.,
McGill Mining Co.,
Privateer Mining Co.,
Luckyboy Consolidated Mining Co.,