Joseph Knight Sr.
Joseph Knight Sr. was a farmer and miller in Colesville, New York. In 1826, he hired Joseph Smith to work for him as a day laborer. Knight became one of the young prophet’s friends and supporters. Knight was present at the Smith family farm when Joseph Smith retrieved the gold plates from the Hill Cumorah in 1827. When Joseph and Oliver Cowdery were translating the Book of Mormon, Knight brought supplies to help sustain the translation.
Knight was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on June 28, 1830. One early revelation and parts of another were directed to him (see Doctrine and Covenants 12; 23:6–7). He moved with the Saints to Ohio and then to Missouri in 1831. By 1840, he had moved with the Saints to Nauvoo, Illinois, where he was ordained a high priest.
His first wife, Polly Peck Knight, died in 1831, and he married Phebe Crosby Peck by October 1833. He was born at Oakham, Massachusetts, in November 1772. He died in February 1847 at Mount Pisgah, Iowa, while journeying west toward Utah. He remained loyal to Joseph Smith.
