Representative Nehemiah Knight

Nehemiah Knight (March 23, 1746 – June 13, 1808) was a United States Representative from Rhode Island and a long-serving local official in Cranston during the early years of the American republic. He was born in Knightsville, a village within the town of Cranston in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The village, later named Knightsville in honor of the Knight family, reflected the longstanding presence and prominence of his family in the area. Growing up in colonial Rhode Island, Knight attended the common schools and was raised in an agrarian setting that would shape his lifelong engagement in agricultural pursuits.

Knight’s formal education was limited to the common schools typical of eighteenth-century New England, but he acquired practical experience and local standing through farming and community service. By the early 1770s he had become sufficiently established in Cranston to assume public responsibilities. In 1762 he married Eleanor Rice Hudson (1746–1823), with whom he would have several children. Their family remained rooted in Cranston, and their son, Nehemiah Rice Knight (1780–1854), would later rise to statewide prominence as Governor of Rhode Island and subsequently as a United States Senator, extending the Knight family’s influence into the next generation of Rhode Island politics.

Knight’s public career began at the town level, where he became a central figure in Cranston’s civic life. He served as town clerk from 1773 to 1800, a tenure of twenty-seven years that spanned the American Revolution and the formative period of the new nation. As town clerk, he was responsible for maintaining official records, documenting land transactions, and recording local ordinances and proceedings, making him a key custodian of Cranston’s legal and administrative continuity during a time of profound political change. Throughout these years he continued to engage in agricultural pursuits, reflecting the dual role of many early American officeholders as both farmers and public servants.

In addition to his municipal responsibilities, Knight participated in Rhode Island’s colonial and state governance. He was elected to the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1783 and again in 1787, representing his community in the state’s legislative body during the critical post-Revolutionary period when Rhode Island was debating issues of currency, commerce, and its relationship to the emerging federal union. In 1787 he also served as sheriff of Providence County, an office that placed him in charge of enforcing court orders, overseeing jails, and maintaining public order in one of the colony’s and later state’s most important counties. These roles underscored his reputation as a trusted local official and contributed to his standing as a candidate for higher office.

Knight’s accumulated experience in local and state government led to his election to the national legislature. He was chosen as a Democratic-Republican to represent Rhode Island in the United States House of Representatives and was elected to the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Congresses. He entered Congress on March 4, 1803, at a time when the Democratic-Republican Party, led nationally by President Thomas Jefferson, was consolidating its control over federal institutions. As a Democratic-Republican, Knight aligned with a political philosophy that emphasized limited federal government, support for agrarian interests, and skepticism of centralized financial power, positions that resonated with many of his Rhode Island constituents.

During his congressional service, Knight represented a small New England state whose economy combined agriculture, maritime trade, and emerging industry. While specific committee assignments and legislative initiatives associated with him are not extensively documented, his repeated reelection indicates that he retained the confidence of Rhode Island voters over multiple terms. He served continuously in the House from March 4, 1803, until his death in office on June 13, 1808, making him one of the members of the United States Congress who died while still serving during the nineteenth century.

Knight died in Cranston, Rhode Island, while still a sitting member of the Tenth Congress. He was interred in a small family cemetery that later came to be known as Cranston Historical Cemetery, number 21, located between 1757 and 1761 Cranston Street, south of Phenix Avenue, in the center of Knightsville. The location of his burial in the heart of the village named for his family symbolizes the close connection between Knight’s life, his public service, and the community in which he was born, lived, and died. His long tenure as town clerk, his service in the Rhode Island General Assembly and as sheriff of Providence County, and his representation of Rhode Island in the United States House of Representatives established the Knight family as a significant political lineage in the state, a legacy carried forward by his son’s later service as governor and United States senator.