¡Hola familia y amigos!
Welcome to the Knight family blog. I work in public health, so recent stories focus on family health and wellness. Here’s my public service announcement:
Washing hands saves lives.
Nature Walks are healthy for your body and mind.
Thank you for getting vaccinated!
We are fully vaccinated and staying healthy. I take daily nature walks to exercise and maintain my mental health. Plus, I work from home, read a lot, continue my family research, write stories and create beautiful artwork.
Quick overview of the Knight family
The Knights are creative and college educated professionals. Dr. Robert Knight, my father who immigrated from Mexico to America, became a well-known journalism professor at the University of Missouri (Mizzou). Rose Janda, my mum, was a journalist who raised a big family. At age 50, she returned to college to study fashion design – using her creative talents as director of the Stephens College Costume Museum. She now enjoys reading, crafts and coloring, while living with Alzheimer’s disease.
I developed writing and creative skills at an early age – while growing up in Columbia – then ventured out to the beautiful Pacific Northwest for college.
The Knight family blog features short stories about relatives from the UK, USA, Mexico, and Spain. A few adventurous cousins in Japan, India, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Kenya, and South Africa are also mentioned. Plus, interesting notes about my DNA research and indigenous roots are highlighted.
– Tim Knight, Seattle
Background Story
Linda and I have two children, Madelaine (WWU ’15) and Henry Knight (WWU ’21), who grew up in Seattle. Our home overlooks Lake Washington, with lush nature trails, relaxing public beaches, and wonderful views of the Cascade mountains. A panoramic view of Mt. Tahoma (Rainier) is steps away at Colman Park – only three blocks from home. This is where I enjoy running, birding, and taking dog walks.
painting by Cheri O’Brien 2000
My professional background is in biology and genetics. I spent many years conducting fieldwork, managing research labs, and developing science websites. As a prolific web pioneer, I created some the first websites featuring genetics, primates and wildlife biology.
For fun, I wrote 100+ animal fact sheets, with photos and maps, for elementary students. These richly illustrated animal profiles were translated into Spanish for the NatureMapping Program. The fact sheets provide distribution maps and reference information for the Burke Museum.
Now, I focus on health equity and science communications at the UW School of Public Health – one of the top schools in the world.
After a distinguished career in academia, I still enjoy learning new skills, including ancestry research, birdwatching, sketching and watercolor painting.
Lately, I have focused on giving back to the community as a volunteer, supporting the arts, and funding student scholarships.
Family Research
In 2015, I began researching the Knight family tree – posting stories and historical photos online. The Knight and Janda family tree on Ancestry.com features over 10,000 relatives. The archive includes census records, family notes, stories and hundreds of historic family photos.
of Veracruz, Mexico (photo c1913)
Meeting Distant Cousins
In 2018, we took a long journey to the UK and Spain to connect with distant cousins and share family stories. We visited my 3rd great-grandfather’s place in Brighton, on the coast, where we met Knight/Houghton relatives for a lovely dinner at the Walrus Pub. Next, we stopped by the historic city of Bath to find where Hope relatives lived in style in the Circus.
We discovered a jumper (pullover sweater) of cousin Pauline Baynes – knitted by her mum for the Silver Jubilee – displayed in the Bath Fashion Museum. Baynes was an award-winning illustrator of children’s book for authors C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.
We enjoyed coffee in London with cousins, then visited the archives of the National Gallery… viewing historical black-and-white photos of Knight/Boyle family. Finally, we traveled to Valencia, where we went on a city tour and enjoyed fine Spanish food with Uncle Johnny. It was a wonderful journey indeed.
Storytelling
This blog features my traditional genealogy research – plus genetic studies – focusing on the John Knight family of London. John Dare Knight, my great-grandfather, and his big family in Mexico have many interesting stories to tell.
Through family research and storytelling, I traced the Knight family tree from Seattle, Washington to Veracruz, Mexico and back to our origins in London, England in the 1800’s. Along the journey, I discovered a few fascinating family connections.
Finding Hope during the pandemic
One family branch includes the entrepreneurial Hopes of Liverpool (bankers, business owners and boat builders) with a connection to the Royal Family in England. A kind cousin recently shared the historic Hope photo and hand-written family tree. So, more stories will soon follow.
Find out why Knights continue the tradition of using ‘Hope’ as a middle name.
A little Czech history
Now, I am focusing on tracing my maternal Janda (Yahn-da) family line who came from Moravia in 1860, prior to the start of the Civil War. The Janda’s long ocean voyage to Galveston, Texas, by sailing ship, took 66 days. The Czechs were family farmers with a strong religious and community focus. They retained their native language and traditions – for over a century – while farming near La Grange, Texas.
In fact, my mom, Rose Janda grew up speaking Czech until she went to elementary school and learned english from strict Catholic nuns. Later, Rose served as president of the Czech Club at UT-Austin.
The Czech immigrants were strongly opposed to slavery, and some left the south before the Civil War began. They were hard working and raised lots of children to help out on the farms. In the early 1900s, many students had only a 7th grade education or less, but quickly learned the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. They were bright, and multilingual – speaking Czech, English, and some German. Sunday mass was available in their native language at the local Queen of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church. Polka music, group dancing, and traditional costumes were popular at community events.
In the mid 1900s, Czech American children attended high school (12th grade was added in 1944). A few top students, like my mum, were awarded scholarships to attend state colleges – especially after WWII. Later, they returned home to raise a family in the Czech tradition.
Some people think my daughter is from Eastern Europe.
Genetical Genealogy
A few blog posts include technical information about GEDmatch and DNA testing. I’ve helped friends find their biological parents – which is an intensive technical challenge. However, I tend to write to the 8th-grade level to make it easier to understand and translate family stories.
I hope you enjoy learning about the Knight family history.
¡Salud!
Tim
Watercolor artwork on Instagram
Revised: 9 April 2024
Knight Family of Seattle 