People and communities
Gilbert Knight: the family behind a wartime payment
Documented history · Sources compared
A county relief list places Gilbert Knight’s household within a much larger wartime account.
Eighteen dollars on a crowded page
The surviving list includes Gilbert W. Knight, with “family” carried down the column and an $18 payment. Neighboring entries include assistance associated with mothers as well as families. The page records a distribution; it does not say what Knight’s household bought or whether the amount met its needs. Family-relief list.
The payer was New Jersey
The accompanying warrant, dated June 3, 1863, orders New Jersey’s treasurer to pay Burlington County $11,487.75 from funds appropriated for wartime purposes. The cover describes payments to volunteers’ families. This is state-to-county accounting, not evidence of the federal checks described in the society’s explanatory paragraph. The county total must not be assigned to Knight alone. Account cover; State warrant.
A blacksmith’s household
The society’s census research identifies Knight as a Shamong blacksmith before and after the war. That local occupation places the relief entry beside an ordinary working life. THS veteran research.
Sources and research limits
The three reproduced accounting pages were inspected. The full voucher and household expenditure records were not located. The meaning of every abbreviated numeric column is not assumed.