Nehemiah Knight

{{Short description|United States Representative from Rhode Island}} {{About||the U.S. senator, Nehemiah Rice Knight (1780–1854)|Nehemiah R. Knight}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Nehemiah Knight | honorific_suffix = | alt = | state = Rhode Island | district = at-large | term_start = March 4, 1803 | term_end = June 13, 1808 | predecessor = Thomas Tillinghast | successor = Richard Jackson, Jr. | pronunciation = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1746|03|23}} | birth_place = Cranston, Rhode Island Colony, British America | death_date = {{Death date and age|1808|06|13|1746|03|23}} | death_place = Cranston, Rhode Island, U.S. | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | citizenship = | party = Democratic-Republican | other_party =  | height =  | spouse = | partner =  | relations = | children = Nehemiah R. Knight | parents =  | mother =  | father =  | relatives = | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = | known_for = | salary = | net_worth =  | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | awards =  | blank1 = | data1 = | blank2 = | data2 = | blank3 = | data3 = | blank4 = | data4 = | blank5 = | data5 = | signature = | signature_alt = | website =  | nickname = | allegiance = | branch = | service_years = | rank = | unit = | commands = | battles = | mawards =  | military_blank1 = | military_data1 = | military_blank2 = | military_data2 = | military_blank3 = | military_data3 = | military_blank4 = | military_data4 = | military_blank5 = | military_data5 = }}

'''Nehemiah Knight''' (March 23, 1746{{spnd}}June 13, 1808) was a United States representative from Rhode Island. He was born in Knightsville (a village later named after him) within the town of Cranston in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He attended the common schools, engaged in agricultural pursuits, and was town clerk from 1773 to 1800. In 1783 and 1787 he was elected to the Rhode Island General Assembly, and was sheriff of Providence County in 1787.

Knight was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Congresses and served from March 4, 1803, until his death in Cranston in 1808; interment was in a small family cemetery now known as Cranston Historical Cemetery, number 21 in between 1757 and 1761 Cranston Street South of Phenix Avenue in the center of "Knightsville", Cranston, which is named for the family.

Nehemiah was married in 1762 to Eleanor Rice Hudson (1746–1823). Their son, Nehemiah Rice Knight (1780–1854), would later become the Governor of Rhode Island and even later a U.S. Senator.

==References== {{CongBio|K000286}}

{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{succession box | before=Thomas Tillinghast | title=Member of the U.S. House of Representatives<br>from Rhode Island's at-large district | years=1803–1808 | after=Richard Jackson, Jr.}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Nehemiah}} Category:Politicians from Cranston, Rhode Island Category:1746 births Category:1808 deaths Category:Farmers from Rhode Island Category:Members of the Rhode Island House of Representatives Category:Sheriffs in Rhode Island Category:Democratic-Republican Party United States representatives from Rhode Island Category:19th-century United States representatives Category:19th-century members of the Rhode Island General Assembly