Digitized Content of the Knight Family Correspondence | Illinois History and Lincoln Collections

The digitized content of the Knight Family Correspondence consists of letters written between the Mack family of Bloomington-Normal, Illinois and the Knight family of Selma and Towanda, Illinois, dating from the 1850s to the 1880s. Most of the letters were written by Martha Mack to her sister, Isabella Knight. Martha and Isabella Gill were sisters and Irish immigrants. Isabella married Harvey J. Knight and they had two children, Martha (Mattie) and Anna Knight The Knight family lived in Selma, Illinois before moving to Towanda, Illinois, outside of Normal, so that Isabella and Martha could be closer to each other. Martha Gill married John T. Mack and the two lived in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois.

The digitized content contains letters written between Martha and Isabella about farm life and family updates. Harvey and John also wrote to each other about their farm work. Later letters are written by Mattie and Anna Knight to their mother and father; these letters are about their education in Normal, Illinois, where they were learning to be teachers.

The Knight Family Correspondence, 1853-1888 (MS 041) was completely digitized in 2020 and 2021. Items are available online at the University of Illinois Digital Library. A preservation copy of the items is available to IHLC and digital preservation staff at the Library Digital Repository:https://medusa.library.illinois.edu/collections/1680