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Salem Pioneer Cemetery ~ Plutarch S. Knight ~ part of the Marion County Pioneer Cemeteries of Oregon
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Plutarch S. Knight
LAST NAME: Knight FIRST NAME: Plutarch MIDDLE NAME: S. NICKNAME: 
MAIDEN NAME:  AKA 1:  AKA 2:  AKA 3: 
TITLE: Rev. GENDER: M MILITARY: 
BORN: 21 Oct 1836 DIED: 2 Sep 1914 BURIED: 6 Sep 1914
ETHNICITY:   OCCUPATION:  Minister
BIRTH PLACE:  Boston, Massachusetts
DEATH PLACE: Salem, Marion Co., Oregon
NOTES: 
Photograph in Golden Wedding newspaper article.

BIOGRAPHICAL: Early preacher, state librarian 1869, Director of Oregon School for Deaf Mutes, served on the board of Capital City Railway Co., which was the first electric line in Salem; Knight Memorial Church named for him. P. S. Knight leaves for San Francisco tonight on a two weeks trip...
Capital Journal 14 July 1892, 3:5 

BIOGRAPHICAL: Hand Press Added - Rev. P. S. Knight has added a hand press to the printing office in the industrial department of the school for deaf mutes. The edition printed of "The Sign" is so large that it cannot be run off on the hand press conveniently, which is bought for the instruction and amusement of the novices in the "art preservative of all arts." 
Oregon Statesman 17 Nov 1888 3:2 

BIOGRAPHICAL: "Death at Vancouver - Mrs. Emille Knight, relict of Dr. Joel Knight and mother of Rev. P. S. Knight, superintendent of the state mute school, died at Vancouver, Washington, yesterday aged 81 years and 21 days. The deceased with her husband, crossed the plains to the Pacific coast in 1853 and they settled on a homestead tem miles from Vancouver, Washington. Dr. Knight was a member of the second legislature of Washington territory and became prominent in business circles. 
Seven children were born to them, five of which are living, namely: P. S. Knight, of Salem; Chatfield and Adam S. Knight, and Mrs. A. L. Patterson, of Vancouver; and Mrs. F. A. Pearcy, of Portland. The remains of the deceased will be buried on the old farm home tomorrow. Rev. Knight will leave for that place today. 
Weekly Oregon Statesman 28 Jan 1898 5:6. 

P. S. KNIGHT, Ph.D. -- P. S. Knight was born in Boston, Oct. 21st, 1836. He was removed with his parents to Iowa in 1837, and drove an ox team across the plains to Oregon in 1853. He served his time at the carpenter's trade, working for the government, the Hudson's Bay company and others at Vancouver, The Dalles, Portland and other points. He came to Salem in December of 1857. He attended Willamette university from 1857 to 1860. He was married to Eleanor Smith April 21st, 1861, in the old Methodist church building in Salem, that now serves as a laundry. He was reporter and editor of the Statesman from 1862 to 1864, being engaged in this work when the daily issue was commenced. He was also state librarian for 1862 to 1864 and was city recorder in 1863, when the fees of the office amounted to not more than $100 a year. He also read law, and was admitted to the bar in 1864. He was ordained a Congregational minister at Oregon City in 1866, and was pastor of the Congregational church of Salem from 1867 to 1883 sixteen years. He was superintendent of schools for Marion county from 1870 to 1872. He had charge of the Oregon school for deaf mutes from 1871 to 1892. His salary part of the time was nominal, part of the time nil. The degree of Doctor of Philosopy was conferred upon him by Willamette university in 1890, on account of actual work, illustrated by a course of lectures. 
He platted Knight's addition to Salem in 1888; bought Capital Park addition in 1889; Central addition and part of Capital Home addition in 1890; Simpson addition in 1891. Substantial improvements have been made in all of these and more than 500 lots in all sold. Mr. Knight has built about thirty houses in the two years past, which have been sold mostly on the "installment plan" to working people. Mr. Knight was the moving spirit and the largest original stockholder in the Capital City electric railway, started in 1890, which has grown into such an extensive and valuable property. As a minister, a writer, a public speaker, a public spirited and useful citizen, as a business man--Mr. Knight has kept the esteem, respect and confidence of the people among whom he has led such a busy, active and useful life. Let it be hoped that the future has more of usefulness for his untiring spirit than the past. 
[probably from a Statesman Annual issue. Includes photograph by Cherrington] pg. 17 (?) 

SEPTUAGENARIAN PASTOR AND WIFE OBSERVE GOLDEN WEDDING ANNIVERSARY. 
Rev. and Mrs. P. S. Knight. Salem, Or., April 22 -- (Special) -- Without a celebration Rev. P. S. Knight and his wife today observed their 50th wedding anniversary, and were recipients of congratulations from scores of friends. Rev. Mr. Knight is one of the best-known pastors in the Willamette Valley. He came to Salem in 1857, and with the exception of two years spent in Oregon City, has been a resident continuously. For 17 years he was pastor of the First Congregational Church here, and, although now 74 years of age, he is still engaged actively in pastoral work in connection with the church at Macleay. He makes his home here, but every second Sunday he preaches at Macleay, where he organized a Sunday school recently. He attended Willamette University for four years in his younger days, and has had a varied career as pastor, lawyer and newspaper man. When Rev. Mr. Knight arrived in Salem there were between 400 and 500 people here and the only two religious organizations in the city were the First Methodist Church and the First Congregational Church. At that time there were but churches of the Congregational denomination in Oregon, Idaho and Washington. 
Besides his active career, he organized a church at Corvallis, at Eugene, at Corvallis, and in the Waldo Hills. He has married 563 couples and since the first of the year has officiated at 22 funeral services. Mrs. Knight is not in robust health, and as a consequence no celebration of the golden wedding anniversary was held. 
Chapman Scrapbook, pg. 135. [newspaper not named but probably a Portland one -- not dated]. 

SALEM MINISTER WEDS 600 COUPLES -- The Rev. P. S. Knight, Salem's pioneer Congregational minister, has a record of life work of which he may well be proud, and notable among the things that have made him famous is the long list of weddings he has solemnized during his pastorate in Oregon. Beginning his work in Oregon City in 1865, where he remained two years, the list is added to at Salem between the years of 1867 and 1884; Corvallis, 1885 to 1887; Eugene, 1887 to 1889; then to Corvallis again till 1903; then Salem during the intervening years, where he is still active, and in greater demand than ever to officiate at marriage services. At this writing he has reached almost the six-hundredth marriage. To be exact, he has married 589 couples, the first being that of Chauncey Bell to Margaret Edwards, on August 13, 1865, over forty-six years ago, and in more recent years he has united in marriage forty-one persons who were children of those for whom he had performed a like service, and one grandchild. Mr. Knight has kept a complete record of all the ceremonies he has performed, with the marginal notes and comment, that make them very interesting, and he has kept, also, a record of how far he has traveled in filling his appointments, which amounts to about 12,000 miles, or more than half around the globe, traveling 6000 miles in the three years he served at Corvallis, driving weekly from Salem. 
On one of these "wedding" trips he traveled 530 miles, 120 of it by stage coach, to perform a ceremony, and the writer is glad to chronicle, received a $50 fee. But $50 fees were not numerous, there being but few others recorded. Twenty-dollar fees were more plentiful, but the long list contains more $10 and $5 fees than others, and there was one couple made happy for $1. No license fee was required until November 2, 1870, since which time the price has been constantly increasing. Among the old pioneer families whose names are familiar throughout Oregon, are the following: William H. Vandervort to Miss Mary Wolfard, Jan. 5, 1867; Squire Farrar to Ellen H. Hatch, May 11, 1867; S. R. Jessup to Sophronia Coshow, Aug. 26, 1867; John W. Gilbert to Sarah R. McAlpine, April 2, 1870; William P. Massey to Luthara Ann Ruggles, Oct. 4, 1870; C. W. Hellenbrand to Alvina Short, Jan. 29, 1871; Squire Farrar to Martha Watt, March 6, 1871; F. J. Babcock to Ida M. Pratt, March 8, 1871; H. Stapleton to Josephine Allen, Sept. 25, 1871; T. W. Davenport to Nancy E. Wisner, Oct. 1, 1872; Edward Lamporte to Mary Campbell, Feb. 12, 1874; Perry H. Raymond to Edna Dickinson, June 16, 1874; G. W. Sturges to Emma Ramp, Oct. 29, 1874; J. L. Williams to Annette Casper, Dec. 24, 1874; Owen D. Hutton to Sarah E. Barker, Dec. 25, 1874; Wm. J. Minto to Minnie e. Byrne, Oct. 8, 1876; N. H. Looney to Harriet H. Clarke, Jan. 17, 1878; Wilbur F. Cornell to Frances Looney, July 2, 1878; Thomas Jennings to Mary Earnest, Feb. 26, 1879; Holly A. Cornell to Emily C. Parmenter, Apr. 2, 1879; I. N. Maxwell to Medora Haydon, May 15, 1879; J. D. McCully to Lillian E. Patton, May 31, 1880; F. C. Perine to Irene Cosper, 1882; Wm. J. Dyaer to Sarah J. Clarke, 1883; Wm. Brown to Elva Breyman, 1884; Isaac Manning to Alice Hatch, 1887; W. W. Morley to Jean Frasier, 1891; R. F. Pratt to Anna Breyman, 1894; Oswald West to Mabel Hutton, 1897. This is by no means the complete list, but the names were chosen at random from the early pages of the book of marriages around which so many associations cluster. Many of them have passed away, but others, with their constantly increasing tribe of descendants, still live and flourish throughout the country. Mr. Knight is 75 years of age, being born October 21, 1836, in Boston. For almost half a century he has labored in Oregon, coming when the ground was still moist with the blood of his predecessors along the Columbia River, where he assisted in building the first blockhouse near the Cascade locks for the protection of white women and children. Where roamed the Indian, he has lived to see the whirring automobile on paved streets, and where giant forests spread their broad branches, the steel-framed sky-scraper marks the hand of progress, and Salem has not within its bounds one whose life is more closely interwoven with the history of its people than the Rev. Mr. Knight, who has christened the infants, united in marriage the young people and said a last prayer over the aged for three generations. Weekly Oregon Statesman, Tuesday, Jan. 2, 1912, 3:2.

BIOGRAPHICAL (From Statesman Journal 25 Jun 2007):
Church holds its final service
Members spend their last Sunday at century-old Knight Memorial
BY JILLIAN DALEY
Statesman Journal June 25, 2007
The voice of Knight Memorial Congregational's first minister, Plutarch S. Knight, reached loved ones one more time.
Knight Memorial Pastor Dana McBrien read aloud a Knight poem a final time as a homage to the church, which was established in 1894 and held its final service Sunday.
"Softly and silently, let them fall, the leaves of the fading rose," said McBrien, reading the first line of the century-old poem.
Dwindling membership prompted the church to sell its building at 219 19th St. SE to the Korean Church of Salem four years ago. But the church continued to hold services for its remaining members.
More than 60 people came for the worship service Sunday at Knight Memorial, singing and taking communion through tears.
"I've been coming (to this church) for 35 years," said Phyllis Hopkins, 81. "I've lived though five pastors. I will miss the fellowship, and I will miss the sanctuary."
Hopkins plans to check out several Salem churches before deciding where she will be spending future Sunday mornings.
At the ceremony's close, McBrien called official members to the front of the church, whispered a prayer in their ears, embraced them and handed them a certificate of membership and proof of baptism for their next churches.
Knight Memorial is a branch of the United Church of Christ, which has about 50 branches in the Northwest, said UCC Wilsonville branch member Dick White. 
Planned donations
$250,000 to Camp Adams, a United Church of Christ youth camp near Molalla
$100,000 to the Kroc Community Center, scheduled to open in northeast Salem next year
$25,000 to Union Gospel Mission, a Salem homeless shelter
$25,000 to Northwest House of Theological Studies, a Salem theological school
$25,000 to Medical Teams International, which provides humanitarian aid has its headquarters in Tigard
DEATH CERTIFICATE: 
OSBH DC (Marion Co. #2335: Rev. P. S. Knight, widower, minister, d. Willamette Sanitarium, Sept. 2, 1914, age 77 years, Lehman & Clough Co., burial in IOOF cemetery, Sept. 5, 1914.
Barrick records: P. S. Knight, d. Sept. 2, 1914, age 77, at Willamette Sanitarium; widowed; occupation minister; charge to his estate.
OBITUARY: 
REV. P. S. KNIGHT GOES TO REWARD
Career of Usefulness of Well Known Salem Minister Closed by Death. 
Served several Churches Here Where He Began Work in 1869
Pioneer Preacher Had Varied Experiences in Early Day Pastoral Toil. 
Peacefully closing his eyes after lying in a semi-conscious state for almost three weeks, Rev. P. S. Knight, pioneer minister and business man known throughout the county as "the marrying minister," died yesterday afternoon at 4:30 at the Willamette sanitorium where he had been confined. His grandchildren, little Claire and Helen Stringer of San Francisco were with him most of the afternoon, leaving the sanatorium a short time before he expired. Death came to the venerable minister, who would have celebrated his 78th birthday in November, from the effects of old age, hastened no doubt by an accident while driving recently. Coming as a reward for his untiring efforts preaching the gospel, the pioneer minister passed away from this life without the slightest pain, according to Dr. J. H. Fairchild, who attended him. Born 78 Years Ago. Rev. P. S. Knight was born in Boston, Mass., October 21, 1836, thus making him 78 years old. In coming to Oregon he stopped on the way to build the first blockhouse on the Columbia, near the Cascades for the protection of the women and children of the tomahawk of the savage tribes that then roamed the country. His ministry began in Oregon forty-nine years ago at Oregon City, and it was there, August 13, 1865, that he performed the first marriage ceremony, that which united Chauncey Bell to Margaret Edwards. Since that time he has united 1332 couples, the list having grown enormously during the past three years, at the beginning of which time his register showed 800 couples. Of these about fifty persons were children of those for whom he had performed a like service, and a few were grand children. Came to Salem '69 After two years service in Oregon City, Mr. Knight came to Salem serving a pastorate between 1867 and 1884, then at Corvallis from 1885 to 1887. The church at Eugne was served by hime from 1887 to 1889, when he was again called to Corvallis, where he remained until he returned to Salem in 1903, having lived here continuously since that time. For many years he served the First Congregational church and afterward the Central Congregation. Willard is a church built and served by him for a long period, and one of his recent philanthropies was the erection of Rural Chapel near the Fair Grounds, which he has served also. His wife, to whom he had been married fifty years, passed away at the Liberty street home about four years ago, which left him very much alone, his only close relatives being two little granddaughters, Claire and Helen Stringer of San Francisco, the children of his daughter Lena Knight Stringer, who died a few years ago in that city, after a popular girlhood spent in Salem. Another beautiful daughter passed away many years ago. He also leaves a sister, Mrs. Pearcy, in Portland and two brothers in Vancouver, Washington. Was Once Newspaper Man While known to his friends of later days as a minister only, Mrs. Knight was once a newspaper man, having been a reporter on The Statesman at one time, its first reporter, or one of its first, and he never forgot in all the years of his ministry, to get his copy in early, and to present it in legible form. He was also connected with one of the state institutions for a time, and by careful investment had acquired valuable property in the city, but it is always as a minister that his friends will think of him, and being a minister in the early days of Oregon was no small undertaking, for on one occasion he walked sixteen miles to fill an engagement, just as in the last few years he had faced blinding storms for an entire day's ride when answering a call, and one of the last acts fefore he was stricken was to preach the funeral sermon of George Pearmine, on Monday, August 3, after he had been thrown from his buggy and injured while driving near the fair grounds. During the winter and early spring, Mr. Knight suffered a severe attack of la grippe which weakened him considerably, but with the fine courage tha has characterized him through life, he resumed his work at the earliest possible moment. The funeral services will be announced later. 
Oregon Statesman, Sept. 3, 1914, 1:4 & 3:3
INSCRIPTION: 
Rev. P. S. Knight 

Also: 
1836 Father 1914
SOURCES: 
LR 
LD
J. Plant Register 
Barrick records 
Saucy Survey & Photographs
CJ 14 July 1892, 3:5
WOS 28 Jan 1898, 5:6
WOS Tue 2 Jan 1912, 3:2 
OS Sept. 3, 1914, 1:4 & 3:3 
Chapman Scrapbook pg 135. 
Chapman Scrapbook pg 194. [probably from a Statesman Annual issue] Includes photograph by Cherrington, pg 17 (?) See also: Hodgkin pg 78-79 Lang pg 809
CONTACTS: 
LOT: 873 SPACE: 3 NW LONGITUDE:  LATITUDE: 
IMAGES:
           
 
 

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