Some years ago I was sent an old and poor xerox of this above image. I found a photo of the original image here, which was far better, but found distracting the flash popping off in the middle of it. I removed the hot spot but, as you can see, I decided not to take great pains over it. My own quirk that I left it two tones as I simply like it that way.
The lodge is at Pine in Washington Parish, Louisiana, located on Louisiana Highway 62 North off Highway 10. At least that’s where it is now. The original lodge was torn down in the 1950s and was located “on Jim Steward Road, about a mile down the road on the left in the woods” according to the “the History of the Knight Family from Virginia to…Washington Parish, Louisiana” website, which is a great one. The masons met on the second floor, the first floor a school and Missionary Baptist Church meeting hall.
The lodge was organized in 1899, chartered Feb 13, 1900, and the photo was taken July 27, 1900.
Left to right: James “Jockey Jim” Knight, Plummer Knight, Dr. Warner, Ira Pope, Monroe Knight, D. E. Branch, P. E. “Rev. Pink” Toney, Rev. Tom Bennett, Marian Knight, Layton Schilling, Meredith Breland, James “Peg Jim” Knight, W. E. Alford, Archie Whittington, and Curtis “Boy” Miley.
Marion (Marian) Isaac Knight, the one in the hat, 9th from the left, is the ancestor pertinent to this website, b. 1866. Jockey Jim was his uncle, b. 1829, son of Charles and Susannah Knight. Ira Pope was married to Jane Knight, daughter of William Knight and Martha Nobles (these being the parents of Marion and so was his brother-in-law). Monroe Knight, b. circa 1865, was a brother of Marion Knight. Meredith Breland, b. 1860, was married to Selina Crain, daughter of John C. Crain and Melvina Knight. Melvina was an aunt of Marion. Plummer and “Peg Jim” appear to have both been sons of “Jockey Jim” unless I’m reading things wrong. The other individuals are likely related in some way as well.
Jockey Jim Knight, Marion’s uncle and the first Tyler of the lodge. The original image over at the Knights of Washington Parish website, showing some damage (I thought I’d try to add some depth and work on it just a little), is an interesting one as it shows the same kind of sketching in of details of the clothing that we find in the pictures of Frances Smith Simmons and Robert “Reuben” Simmons. It was Marion Isaac Knight’s daughter, Annie, who married Lucius Simmons, and these similarities lead me to wonder if old images of the Simmons were photographed and manipulated by the same photographer who did the Jockey Jim Knight photo.
The Washington Parish Knight website has also these wonderful images of the exterior and interior of the lodge, including another of the sign-in room. I’ve tried to straighten them up a little but didn’t spend but a few seconds on the images.
Leave a Reply