Joseph S. Knight represents
a prominent Cherokee family and since getting his allotment he has
lived at Dewey and has made his land notable both for the production
of the staple agricultural crops and for its production of oil and
gas. Mr. Knight is an exceedingly capable business man, and is
thoroughly identified with the life and affairs of the Southwest, and
in the early days was a skillful cowboy.
He was born February
19, 1874, in the Grand River near Vinita, Indian Territory, a son of
Thomas R. and Rachel J. (Sixkiller) Knight. His father had a
sixteenth portion of Cherokee blood, while his mother was a half
blood Cherokee. Thomas Knight was a farmer, and died at Vinita in
1895. The mother is still living in that city.
The six children were: Victoria, deceased; Joseph S.; Morris of
Vinita; Thomas, who lives in Bartlesville where he is an abstractor;
Henry, of Vinita; and Fanny Marv, wife of Paul Clinton of Tulsa.
During his youthful
years Joseph S. Knight attended school at Vinita and Tahlequah, and
for two years was a student in the Indian school at Lawrence, Kansas,
the Haskell Institute. Returning home after this liberal education,
he found an outlet for his energies and spirit of adventure by riding
the range and cattle trails, not only in Texas but also in Wyoming,
Colorado and the Dakotas. He was engaged in the cattle industry until
coming to Dewey and taking his allotment of eighty acres. Mr. Knight
now owns 160 acres altogether and utilizes it for general farming
purposes. He is also an oil and gas producer, and on his land has
seven oil wells and three gas wells. About 1908 Mr. Knight built one
of the handsomest homes of Dewey, located on his farm.
In September, 1905,
he married Shirley Reeve, who was born in 1894, a daughter of T. H.
Reeve of Dewey. Mr. and Mrs. Knight have four children: Susan and
Rachel, twins, both now deceased; Joseph Reeve, born in December,
1906; and Lineth, born December 4. 1910. In politics Mr. Knight is a
democrat, while Mrs. Knight is a member of the Episcopal Church.