└PARA ╕PAR@ ` └TEXT ` ▓Knight, Sarah Kemble1666╨1727diaristBorn in Boston on April 19, 1666, Sarah Kemble was the daughter of a merchant and received a good education. Sometime before 1689 she married Richard Knight, of whom little certain is known. She is said to have taken over the family business after her father╒s death in 1689, and it may have been in that connection that she set out on horseback in October 1704 for New Haven and then New York. Her undertaking such a journey alone, and her successful completion of it, speak volumes for her energy, self-reliance, and courage. She returned to Boston in March, having kept along the way a detailed journal account of her travels and adventures, her food and lodgings, the people she met and their speech and customs. From about 1706 she was known as Widow Knight as well as Madam Knight. She is said to have been a scrivener in Boston and also, almost certainly without factual basis, to have been a schoolteacher and to have had young Benjamin Franklin for a pupil. About 1714 she followed her married daughter to New London, Connecticut. She prospered over the next several years as a shopkeeper and accumulated property in Norwich and New London. In 1718 she was fined for selling liquor to Native Americans. At her death in New London, Connecticut, on September 12, 1727, she left a sizable estate. Her diary passed into private hands and lay unknown until 1825, when it was published as The Journal of Madam Knight by Theodore Dwight, Jr. The graphic and often humorous account of her journey proved to be of enduring interest, and the Journal was frequently reprinted thereafter. It has remained a valuable historical source and a unique literary work. ╓styl `
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