Figure of the Week

Clarence Newman Knight (1878-1945) often appears in records as C. Newman Knight, C. N. Knight, or Newman Knight.  He was the son of Capt. John Wesley Knight (1846-1937) who ran sailing ships out of Coal Landing and operated a store there.  Newman owned the Knight Motor Car Company in Fredericksburg.  He also operated a Ford dealership by the same name on what’s now the lawn of the Stafford County administration building.  At this same location he had a gas station and auto repair shop.  Across U. S. Route 1 from this he operated another gas station.  In 1902 Newman Knight married Carrie I. Burton (1880-1953) of Hartwood, Stafford County and the couple resided upstairs above the gas station on the east side of Route 1.  In 1953 a car driven by a Quantico Marine ran off the road, hit one of Knight’s gas pumps, and the resulting explosion set fire to the service station.  Carrie was asleep upstairs and was so badly burned that she died.