Knapp
why
I was wondering if I'm related to this guy that gives the University
alot of money. I have no idea of where to begin. Can someone give me
a clue, please.
--
Jyaa-nee!!!
Blessed Be,
Karin Knapp
krk...@acad.drake.edu
MANY...@delphi.com
: Karin Knapp
: krk...@acad.drake.edu
I am researching KNAPP. Have you done any work on the line? If so, would
love to hear some of your KNAPP names. Maybe we can find a match.
Carol
(many...@delphi.com)
Barbara Allen Szabo
I have done 4 generations of Knoepps from the Pittsburgh area, stuck
finding the arrival from Germany around 1848 of John and Anna Marie
and their children. Don't know if this helps you.
Barbara
--
Barbara A. Szabo (s...@onlinex.net)
801-755-7649 / FAX & Voicemail: 801-755-6085
Szabo Software, Inc. / 1325 East 100 South Street / Logan, UT 84321
Martin Thornblad
MANY...@delphi.com wrote:
>
> : Karin Knapp
> : krk...@acad.drake.edu
>
> I am researching KNAPP. Have you done any work on the line? If so, would
> love to hear some of your KNAPP names. Maybe we can find a match.
>
> Carol
I don't have any KNAPP in my family history, but I've got one KNOPP. I
don't know the origin of your name, but from my point of view (Sweden) it
could very well be an old military name. My KNOPP were a soldier born in
1781. Is it maybe so that you origin from Sweden?
Regards.
Martin Tornblad
mart...@tripnet.se
Joyce R. Weaver
Have Hannah Knapp, dtr of Moses Knapp & ? Westcott, widow of Nathaniel
(?) Cross, marr. Samuel Palmer, 1715, Stamford, CT.
Joy
In <3223A4...@onlinex.net> Barbara Allen Szabo <s...@onlinex.net>
writes:
>
>MANY...@delphi.com wrote:
>>
>> : Karin Knapp
>> : krk...@acad.drake.edu
>>
>> I am researching KNAPP. Have you done any work on the line? If so,
would
>> love to hear some of your KNAPP names. Maybe we can find a match.
>>
>> Carol
>> (many...@delphi.com)
>
>I have done 4 generations of Knoepps from the Pittsburgh area, stuck
>finding the arrival from Germany around 1848 of John and Anna Marie
>and their children. Don't know if this helps you.
>
>Barbara
>--
>
>Barbara A. Szabo (s...@onlinex.net)
>801-755-7649 / FAX & Voicemail: 801-755-6085
>Szabo Software, Inc. / 1325 East 100 South Street / Logan, UT 84321
--
******
IF I KEEP A GREEN BOUGH IN MY HEART, THE SINGING BIRD WILL COME.
Chinese Proverb
MANY...@delphi.com
:I don't have any KNAPP in my family history, but I've got one KNOPP. I
:don't know the origin of your name, but from my point of view (Sweden)
:it could very well be an old military name. My KNOPP were a soldier
:born in 1781. Is it maybe so that you origin from Sweden?
:Regards.
:Martin Tornblad
Martin, could you send me what you have on the one KNOPP? My Knapps were in
England in ca. 1600, but it is said that they may have come from Germany.
If not Germany, then maybe Sweden. Who knows.
Thanks, Carol
many...@delphi.com
David Conover
On 27 Aug 1996 06:59:35 GMT, MANY...@delphi.com wrote:
>
> : Karin Knapp
> : krk...@acad.drake.edu
>
>I am researching KNAPP. Have you done any work on the line? If so, would
>love to hear some of your KNAPP names. Maybe we can find a match.
>
>Carol
>(many...@delphi.com)
>
The Knapps came from all over Europe. I recieved the following awhile
back and you all may find it imformative.
Taken from the
A HISTORY OF THE
CHIEF ENGLISH FAMILIES
BEARING THE NAME OF
KNAPP
compiled by
Oswald Greenwaye Knapp, MA.,
Author of An Artist's Love Story
PRIVATELY PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR BY
THE ST. CATHERINE PRESS
34, NORFOLK ST., STRAND. W.C.
1911
page. 1
General Instrduction
The Name
The Etymology
If, following a recent fashion, a list of "the hundred best names"
were to be compiled, let us say from the London Directory, with its
catalogue of some 25,000 distinct surnames, it is hardly probable that
a popular vote would include Knapp among the number. And yet, if
antiquity gave a claim to admission, it might well claim precedent of
many which are more imposing to the eye, more sonorous to the ear, or
better known to the world. For Ferguson, in his "Surnames as a
Science," unhesitatingly classes it amongst the oldest names belonging
to the Low-German branch of the Teutonic stock. It is true that it
has not been found, in anything like its present shape, before 1198,
but an older form of it occurs in the twelfth century as a personal
name among our Anglo Saxon forefathers, who evidently brought it with
them from the Continent, where another variation of it occurs as far
back as the sixth, or possibly, even the fifth century, as the name of
a petty king of the Old Saxon Shore.
The later forms of the name may be derived from two old English words,
(1) Cnaep, a hill-top, the modern knob, or (2) Cnapa, later Cnafa, a
boy, the modern knave. But Prof: Skeat traces both these words to the
Keltic Cnap, a knob, which occurs in place-names both in Ireland and
Scotland. From Cnap was formed a adjective Cnapach, lumpy, stout;
also used as a substantive to mean a stout boy; hence also came Cnapa,
a boy, which he suggests, was adopted by the Saxons because the boys
of the defeated Kelts became the servants of the Teutonic conquerors.
The later variants of (1), as given in Dr. Murray's Dictionary, are
Cnaepp, Cnepp, Knappe, Knape, Knapp, Nap, and Knopp; and of (2),
Cnape, Knape, Knaip, and Knap; all which forms, except the two first,
are also found among the numerous variations in the spelling of the
surname which may be in the Appendices.
It will be observed that these two seats of variants tend to coalesce,
and this fact, together with the unsettled character of medieval
orthography, renders it impossible to rely implicitly on the spelling
of the surname in any particular instance, in order to determine
whether it is derived from a original Cnaep or Cnapa.
ITS USE AS A PERSONAL APPELLATION
As a personal name Cnapa was in use in England early in the tenth
century, when it occurs in the case of one or more Moneyers or Mint
Masters to the Saxon Kings Aethelstan, Eadmund I, Eadwig, Edgar, and
Eadward II, ("Onomasticon Anglo-Saxon-cum,") while Knap is given as a
man's name in Nielsen's "Old Danske Personnavne," so that the Danes
may also have helped to introduce it into this Country. On the
continent another form of the name is preserved in the "Traveler's
song", dating from the sixth, or even the fifth century, one of the
two poems generally accepted as having been composed before the Angles
and a wandering Glee-man, tells of the countries he has seen, and the
courts he has visited, and among these long forgotten pagan kings and
chiefs, occurs the name of "Hnaf, who ruled the Hocings. "Here the
initial H represents a strong guttural aspirate, while the final F is
doubtless softened from an original P. A similar form seems to have
been brought over to England, as in shown by the place-name
Hnaefes-scylfe, which occurs in a charter of 976, relating to Crondal,
Hants, and probably preserves the name of an early Saxon settler, But
as both these forms are, philologically, later than Cnapa or Cnaep,
these later may have been in use as personal names long before.
Of course none of these early individuals can be claimed as the
ancestors of any existing families. Their names were merely personal,
and died with them, while, as a patronymic, Knapp has not been traced
higher than the thirteenth century, when the system of hereditary
surnames first became common.
DOUBTFUL ORIGINS
The eminent antiquary Stacey Grimaldi, F.S.A., who inclined to the
derivation from Cnapa, held that this term, like the later Child,
implied not servitude, but nobility, or even royalty; and in his
"Memorials, of the Knapp Family," suggests that such places as
Knapwell, Knapthorp, Knaptoft, etc., derived their names from some
Saxon Knab or Cnapa, their former owner, who if not a scion of a royal
house, was at least the son of some Earldorman or Thegn. But it is at
least equally possible that these names are compounded with Cnaep, a
hill, and so far no person of the name is known to have been connected
with any of then; while in any case no genealogical connection can be
traced, or even assumed, between such individuals, if they ever
existed, and the Knapps of to-day. It is possible that the name,
though not the descent, of the existing Knapps may be derived from
some original Cnapa, but until more evidence is forthcoming the gap is
too great to be bridged over, and the verdict on this derivation must
be," not proven."
The nearest approach to such an origin for the name occurs in the
"Testa de Nevill," (Cent. XIV) when the County of Oxon and Hundred of
Pyrton, we find Robert le Nap holding of our lord the King in
Pushulle, (Pishill,) land worth 40s., but the sergeanty of finding one
napkin, (napa,) yearly, against the coming of our lord the King, or
3s., in lieu of the said napkin. This entry suggests that Robert may
have been an officer of the King's table, who obtained a grant of land
from his master, the form of his tenure being a memorial of his old
office. On the other hand le Nap may be merely a nickname which
suggested the form of the rent. In either case the name might easily
become hereditary, being kept alive by the tenure, the Robert may have
been the progenitor of the later Knapps of Oxon and Berks; but of
this there is no evidence, though it may be noted that some of the
Whitchurch family (V. ped. 22,) were connected with Pyrton. But it
is quite possible that a mark of contraction has been overlooked in
transcribing from the original roll, and the name should really be
read le Napper, of which several instances occur in these early
records. In either case the name could not have an English origin,
being derived from the old French Nape, a Napkin, a word which was not
adopted in this country till the Middle English period. In any case
it is an isolated instance.
LOCAL ORIGINS
The other derivation, from Cnaep, a hill, which is adopted by Bardsley
in his work, on English Surnames, is, with the above possible
exception, the only one for which there is at present any documentary
evidence. Many small eminencies, particularly in the Southern
Counties, are still known as Knapps or Knaps, & as in the case of
Knapp Barrow, Knapp Farm, Knapp Mills, Knapdale, etc. there occur in
localities where no person of the name has been recorded, it is not
probable that they were called after a former owner. Any such Knapp
may have given a name to a family living on or near it, and in at lest
two instances, such a connection between the place and the family can
be demonstrated.
On an eminence in Shipley, Surrey, stood an ancient fortress, known
from its position as Kneppe Castle, where K. John frequently held his
court; and here, about the reign of Edw. I John de la Kneppe or
Knappe, son of Payne de la Kneppe, and Emma his wife, daughter of
Philip Hoel, granted land to the priory of Sele. Again in N. Curry,
Somerset, in a Hamlet and Manor called Knapp, no doubt from its
situation, and here in 1318, John de la Knapp or de Knapp was
hundredman and King's Bailiff; while in 1327 Margaret atte Cnappe or
Knapp his wife was concerned in the restoration of the Chapel of
Curland, of which she was patron. Other instances are clearly
indicated by such forms of the name as those of William de la Cnapp,
one of the numerous persons joined in the frankpledge of Roger son of
Adam, of Southampton, 1207, and Stephen de la Cnappe, witness to a
lease of land to Northam, Devon, 1302. Whether one or more of these
places can be assigned as the original home of any of the existing
families, is a question which will be considered later; we will now
glance at he strictly hereditary use of the name.
ITS USE AS A PATRONYMIC
The earliest known occurrence of any form of Knapp as a surname is in
1198, when Peter Knape appeared to excuse one of the witnesses in a
suit respecting the advowson of the Church of Racheia, (Rackheath?)
Norfolk. Other early instances, besides those previously mentioned,
are Matilda, wife of Adam Knep of Dorset, who in 1272 gave half a mark
for the hearing of a suit before Henry de Montfore; William Knapp or
Kanep, tenant of the lord of Arundel, Sussex, 1279; Nicholas Cnape,
manucaptor of Wm, de Watevil of co. Surrey, and many others which may
be found in the Hundred Rolls, etc. about this period. But it is
quite possible that these may be merely personal names which died with
their bearers, for even in this century hereditary surnames were by no
means universal. The first undoubted instance of the name being
handed on from father to son are those of John de la Kneppe, son of
Payne de la Kneppe, about 1300, previously mentioned, and the father
and son bother named John de la Knappe or de Knapp, of Knapp, co.
Somerset, in 1306. Another early example is found in the grant of a
messuage it Newnham, Wilts, 1323, by John Knap, son of Adam Knap, who,
in a deed of two years later, is styled John, son of Adam Cnap, called
the Singer, (le Sangere.)
>From this period onward it is probable that the surname was regularly
transmitted from father to son, though no connected descent for more
than two generations has anywhere be made out before 1450.
ITS ORTHOGRAPHY
Though Knapp is the form which has now been adopted by nearly all
families of the name, it is by no means the earliest, nor, till a
comparatively recent period, the commonest mode of spelling it. Few
authentic instances are to be found before the sixteenth century,
(Knappe being the most usual form for a long time before and after
this period,) and it was not till another hundred years had passed
that it emerged victorious from the welter of some fifty different
forms which had, from the twelfth century, contended for the
pre-eminence. Many of these forms, (which are all given with their
localities and earliest known dates in the appendices,) are no doubt
due to mere personal eccentricity, and the unsystematic orthography of
mediaeval scribes and illiterate parish clerks, who spelt names as
they pleased, often using different form in the same document. But
some of them are fairly persistent in particular localities, and may
point to distinct derivations of the name, or independent origins in
the case of the families who bore them.
The most archaic looking group is that which retains the Saxon initial
C, (Cnappe, Cnoppe, etc.) and with shades off through atte Cnappe, and
de la Cnappe into the semiNorman group de la Knepp de Knapp etc., but
neither of these survived the Plantagenet period.
Knappe, the earliest known form, prevails chiefly in the Eastern
Counties, where it occurs continuously to within the last century, and
is possibly still extant; so it may be due to a peculiarity of the
local dialect.
There must have been a tendency to drop the initial K in pronouncing
the name at a very early period, as is shown by the phonetic spelling
Nap, (circa 1272) and Neep, 1352, both in Kent. The form le Nap has
been previously delt with. On the other hand it was still heard in
some localities, hence such forms as Kanep, 1279, and Kenep, 1364,
both in Sussex; and it would seem that one family at least retained
the old pronunciation almost down to the seventeenth century, unless
Martha Keneep of Mitcham, Surrey, is a mere eccentricity.
This Mitcham family shown a marked tendency to replace the usual A by
an E in the middle of the name. Early examples of this variation have
already been noticed.
Another change of the vowel to O, as in Cnoppe, Nopp, Knopp, etc., is
almost peculiar to the Eastern Counties, and particularly to Essex,
where the last form still persists.
A third change of the vowel to I, is certainly a variant of Nepp at
Blytheburgh, Suff., and apparently also in the case of Mrs. Knip or
Knepp, the Actress, mentioned in Pepys' Diary. In other cases it is
more probably related to Knipe, which appears to be quite a distinct
surname.
Knaps, Knapis, and Knapys, which look like plurals, but may be
possessive forms, meaning "son of Knap," belong to Norfolk, and
especially to a family at N. Creake. Were this a little nearer to
Shakespeare's country, one might be tempted to connect "Old John Naps
O'Greece," in the Taming of the Shrew, with this family. A more
modern form, Knapps, still exists in Somerset.
The substitution of B for P, (Knabb and Knobb,) appears to be peculiar
to Sussex; and yet another local variation is found in the
north-country forms Knaip and Knaype.
On the Continent the name is found in most of the Teutonic countries,
as Denmark, Holland, and Belgium, and particularly in Germany; the
prevailing forms being Knappe in Germany, and in the Low Countries
Knaep, which by literary men were frequently Latinised, as Knappius,
or else translated as in the case of "Jean Knaep, otherwise
Servilius." In a Slavonic dress the name appears as Cnapski.
II
THE FAMILIES OF THE NAME
THEIR NATIONALITY
Nearly all the printed accounts begin by stating that the Knapps are
of Saxon origin. This assertion seems to require some qualification,
the more so as it appears to be the result of a failure to
discriminate between the origin of the name and that of the families
who bear it. between which there is no necessary connection. The
name, as we have seen, is undoubtedly Saxon, but no conclusion can
safely be deduced from this fact as to the original nationality of its
present owners. Cnapa the moneyer in the tenth century may have been
of pure Saxon descent, but it is as unscientific to assume, as it is
impossible to prove, that he had any genealogical connection even with
Peter Knape in 1198, much less with the Knapps who first began to
transmit their name to their children, probably in the thirteenth
century. At this period English nomenclature was in a state of
fusion. A Norman landlord might be know by the Saxon name of his
manor, while his Saxon tenants might adopt partronymics derived from
Norman Christian or Occupation-names. Symptoms of this confusion may
be noticed in the case, previously quoted, of John de Knapp and
Margaret atte Cnappe his wife. Here both Christian names are Norman,
the connecting prepositions are Norman in the one case and Saxon in
the other, while the Saxon surname is just assuming its characteristic
English dress.
But though the name by itself proves nothing, the status of its first
recorded bears suggests that they belonged to the subject rather than
to the ruling race, for they nearly all occupy subordinate social
positions. The following names, taken from the Hundred Rolls of Edw.
I. with their holding and yearly rentals, are probably fair samples of
the rest.
John Knappe, Dryton, Bucks. Free Cottar, A cottage, for 5s, or
labour
John Nap, Hinton, Kent A Toft, for 12d
John Cnolp, Hinton Kent Tenant of our Lord the King
William Cnape, Lynton, Kent. A cottage for 1 hen, 20 eggs, and 4
days work
Philip Noppe, Aylington, Hunts. A villein, but held l virgate free.
Richard Noppe, Thorneye, Hunts. Cottar, a cottage and 1 rood of
land.
Ralph Noppe, Thorneye, Hunts A cottage
Richard Noppe, Folkesworth, Hunts. Cottar, 1 acre for 1d
Richard Noppe Jakeley, Hunts A messuage (by deed,) for 4d and
2
capons.
Richard Noppe, Thorneye, Hunts Tenant at will. A cott, and
curtilage
for 5s.
These have the appearance of men just emerging for villeinage, and
acquiring the status of free tenants at a fixed money-rent in lieu of
the old personal services. The earliest land owners on record are
John de la Kneppe, (t. Edw. I?) and John de Knapp, 1318, previously
mentioned, and Ralph Knape of Ressebroc, (Rushbrook?) co. Suffolk, who
by a deed undated, probably of cent XIII, or XIV, gave 3 roods of land
to the Hospital of S. John of Chippenham in pure alms for the souls of
his ancestors. But it is possible that the petty tenants of the
Hundred Rolls may, in some cases, have been cultivating the lands
owned by their forefathers before the Norman Conquest.
THEIR PLACES OF ORIGIN
Any attempt to fix the localities from which the existing families of
the name originally spring is, in the present state of the evidence, a
hopeless task. The only thing which seems fairly certain is that they
must have had more than one place of origin, and therefore cannot all
be related in blood; and this is the case whichever view may be
adopted as to the etymology of the name
Guppy, in his "Homes of Family Names," makes Whitshire the
mother-county of the Knapps, but this is the result of his peculiar
system of classification, which is based primarily on the lists of
Farmers, (whom he considers to be the most stable and characteristic
class of the community,) as he found them in the current County
Directories. This method may give satisfactory results in the case of
the commoner names, but when applied to the scarcer ones -- and he
places Knapp in the "peculiar" class, comprising the rarest names of
all -- it is liable to be somewhat misleading.. In this case Wilts is
assigned as the home of the Knapps because it still contains a few
Farmers of the name, (which however has not been found there before
century XIV) while Berkshire, where it was once much more widely
distributed, is barely mentioned, and Suffolk, where there was a very
early and important settlement, is not noticed at all.
Mr. Stacey Grimaldi, in accordance with his hypothesis, previously
mentioned, that the earliest Knabs or Cnapas were scions of noble
Saxon houses, claimed all the places compounded with Knapp in Domesday
as original homes of families of the name. These are as follows;
three places called Cnapetone, (Knapton,) Yorks;, (Knapthorp,) Notts;
Cnapetot, (Knaptoft,) Leicester; Chenepeworde, (Knapworth,) Herts;
Chenepelei, (Knapley,) Gloucs; Chenepewille, (Knapwell,) Cambs; and
Chenep, (Knap,) in Hants. To these he added Kneppe Castle, Sussex,
and Knap or Knapp in Somerset; but these last, as we have seen,
originated the surname instead of being derived from it. From this
list he selected Chenep in Hants as the home of the chief family of
the name, mainly, as it would seem, because in the reign of Edward the
Confessor it was held by three allodial tenants, each with his own
Hall, whom he assumed to be the ancestors of the existing Knapps of
Hants, Wilts, and Berks. In making this suggestion he seems to have
been mislead by a statement of Camden, that surnames began to be used
under Edward the Confessor. But had he allowed himself to reflect he
would doubtless have realized that even if these men had more than one
name apiece, (of which there is no evidence,) it would be highly
improbable that the second appellation should be the same for all
three; that even if this were granted, such names, being purely
personal, would not descent to their children; while even supposing
them to have re-appeared from time to time amongst their posterity,
the odds against their being adopted, some centuries later, as a
common surname by three distinct lines of their descendants, would be
simply incalculable. And it is noteworthy that while neither this, or
any other of the places in "Domesday" above mentioned, is known to
have been the seat of a family named Knapp, even the counties in
which they are situated do not show any very early or extensive
settlements of the name.
THEIR LOCAL GROUPING
So far Kneppe in Sussex and Knap in Somerset are the only two places
where the name can be shown to have originated, but there is no reason
why it may not have been derived from any other of the numerous Knaps
or hills which are found scattered over England. The distribution of
the earliest individuals of the name, up to the fifteenth century,
suggests at least four groups of counties, corresponding to as many
different centres from which it may have spread, which will be treated
of in order. To these, for the sake of convenience, three other
conventional groups are added.
I. The midland Group; Bucks, (cent. XIII,) Berks, Oxon, and Wilts,
(cent. XIV.)
II The Eastern Group Norfolk, (Cent. XII) Suffolk, Cambridge and
Hunts, (Cent. XIII,) with later families in Essex and Lincoln
III The Southern Group Hants, Sussex, Surrey and Kent, (Cent. XIII,)
with later family in the Channel Islands.
IV The Western Group Dorset and Devon, (Cent. XIII,) and Somerset,
(Cent. XIV,) with later families in Cornwall, Glouchester, and
Hereford.
V The London Group including Southwark and Middlesex
IV. The Miscellaneous Group The Northern Counties, Wales, and
Ireland.
VII. The American Group descendants of three early settlers.
THERE PRESENT DISTRIBUTION
As the Knapps were not large landowners in the middle ages, and did
not intermarry with contemporary noble or knightly houses, non of the
existing families can trace their descent farther back than the period
when Wills and Parish Registers begin to be available. Of these
families the most important, numerically and socially, is that of
Berks, with its offshoots in Bucks, Oxon, Wilts, Worcester, London,
etc. Of the apparently indigenous Wilts families, only that of
Westwood has been thoroughly investigated. The Suffolk family, once
numerous and important, has been dispersed, and in its original home
appears to be extinct. In Hants, the Havant family, that of Andover,
and another in the Cannel Islands, with its probable descendants at
Portsea, etc. have been fully traced. There are a good many Knapps in
Gloucestershire whose history has not been investigated. Several
existing families are first met with in London, but they doubtless
came thither from the country at no very distant date.
As is usually the case with English families, many representatives are
now to be found in the Colonies, particularly in Australasia and S.
Africa, and in the United States. In the later the name is
comparatively common, but many of its bearers are probably of German
or Dutch extraction. Still three large families, at least, are known
to be descended from early settlers in New England, who probably
emigrated from the Eastern counties; of these, as being undoubtedly of
English origin, an account will be found in their proper place.
It is probably that some of the existing English families may have
come from the Continent in comparatively recent times. There is a
charter of Q Elizabeth, date. 8 Jun. 1570, directed to Adryan Knape
and 30 other "Douchmen," settled in Great Yarmouth. This Christian
name occurs again in a marr. lic. from the Vic. Gen. Off., date. 30
Jul. 1675, for Adrian K. of Hanworth, Midsex, to marry at Fulham,
Hester Davis of Hammersmith. Again John Noppe was naturalized by Act
of Parliament 10 Geo. II 1723-4. It is not known whether either of
these left issue. But it is noteworthy that the spelling of their
names is the one which is most characteristic of Norfolk and Essex.
III
THE ARMS
EARLY COATS
It must be confessed that in matters heraldic the Knapps have been,
for the most part, as great sinners as nine out of every ten families
who engrave a crest on their silver, or paint a coat of arms on their
carriages, It is true that three grants have been made by the only
competent authority, viz. the College of Arms, to as many different
families; but of the first no living representative has been traced,
the second is known to be extinct in the male line, while in the third
case the original grantees are still living, and are perhaps the only
person of the name who can prove any legal title to bear arms or to
write themselves d"Esquire."
The earliest instance of anything like a heraldic device is the fleur
de lys on the seal of "dJoanis Pain," i.e. John, son of Payne de la
Kneppe, previously mentioned. This seal, which is referred to the
reign of Edw. I, is figured in CArtwright's "Rape of Arundel,d" but as
no shield appears on it, the fleur de lys is probably a mere personal
device, and not a true coat of arms.
Thomas Knappe, merchant, mayor of Bristol 1391, seems to have borne a
coat which is given in Burke's "General Armory" as, Argent, a cross
gules between 4 roses proper. In Dalaway's "Antiquities of Bristow"
it is brazoned, Argent, a cross formee between 4 roses gules, but his
illustration (on p. 89) shows the cross plain, and couped at the ends.
No authority is given, but it may have occured in the stained glass of
S. Nicholas' Church, of which he was a benefactor, or in the chapel
which he founded on the Quay. (v. ped 86)
Another, and possibly early coat, is given in a Ms. believed to have
belonged to Edmondson the Herald, in which dKnapp is said to bear,
Argent, a chevron ermine between 3 Cornish choughs proper, breaked and
membered gules. No place is mentioned, but the choughs suggest the
West Country: possibly it belonged to John Knapp of London, Gold Wire
Drawer, who bought the manors of Gentongolen, in S. Michael Penkevell,
and of Bohortoe in Antonly, Corwall, 23 dMar. 1626-7.
AUTHENTIC GRANTS
The first known grant was made, (according to the Harl. and Add. Mss.
Brit. Mus.,) by Cooke, Clarenceux King at Arms, 25 Sep. or 10 Nov.
1576, to Henry K. of Hintlesham, Suff., but is not recorded at the
College of Arms. The same Arms and Crest were, however, confirmed to
George K. of Tuddenham and Robert K. of Needham, presumably his
descendants, by Bysshe, Clarenceus, at the Visitation of Suffolk 1664.
They were as follows; Or. 3 close helets in Chief, and a lion passant
in base sable. Crest, An arm embowed in armour proper, garnished or
the hand of the first grasping by the blade a broken sword argent,
hilt and pommel of the second, with a branch of laurel vert. There is
no evidence of any contemportary motto, but that used by the Berks
family who assumed this coat and crest was AVT BELLO AVT PACE, the
origin of which is unknown. The arms and crest appear on the brass of
John Knapp in St. Peter's Ipswich, 1604, (v. ped 66, II) and also on
the tomb of John Knapp in S. Mary at Hill London, 1708, (v. ped 71,
VI) The above appears to be the correct blazon, but several
variations are found. In a Rawlinson MS. in the Bodleian Library,
Oxford, the field is given an argent, and the laurel branch is omitted
from the crest. In two Tanner Mss. in the same Livrary the field is
also argent, and the lion is passant guardant. In the Harleian Ms.
1449, and in the Additional Ms. 5524, in the British Museum, the field
is again argent, and in the crest is a short sword, point upward, with
no laurel branch. Yet another variation makes the hand clothed with a
gauntlet. Burke"s "General Armory" also gives, for Napp or Naps of
Needham. Or, a lion passant between 3 esquires' helmets sable. It is
noteworthy that if the tinctures were reversed this last coat would be
almost identical with that of Compton, Marquess of Northampton, viz,
Sable, a lion passant guardant or, between 3 close helmets argent; but
it is not known that there was ever any kind of connection between the
Comptons and the Knapps of Suffolk. The Compton lion is said to have
been a horourable augmentation, granted from his own arms, by K. Henry
VIII to William de Compton 1512.
The second grant is fated by Burke, and in the records of the College
of Arms, 2 Sept. 1669, and was made by Bysshe,Clarenceus King of
Arms, to Henry Knappe of Woodcote in Southstoke, Oxon, (V. ped 22,
IV.) But his letters to Bysshe, (v. Appendices,) show that the grant
was only just made by 3 Nov. 1672, and that the date in the Registers
of the College was a faraud, connived at by the Heralds, to save the
amour propre of the grantee. The arms are simply the Suffolk coat
which the tinctures reserved, viz.; Sable 3 close helmets in chief,
and a lion passant in base, or. Crest, a demi lion rampant sable,
holding in his paws a close helmet proper. As originally designed,
the lion woud have been between the helmets, but this was probably
altered as bearing too close a resemblance to the arms of Compton.
The arms and crest may be seen in Henry Knappe's tomb at Checkendon,
Oxon, 1674. In this coat also 'argent' is given instead of 'or' in
some of the heraldic MSS.
The third grant was made 1897, to the issue of the late Matthew
Grenville Samwell Knapp of Little Linford Hall, co. Burks, (v.ped4
XII,) who thereby put an end, so far as their branch is concerned, to
the heraldic anarchy which has prevailed for more than two centuries
in the Berks family. The arms are, Per pale or and sable, a lion
passant counterchanged, holding in the dexter paw a broken sword in
bend sinister, blade downwards, proper, pommel and hilt or; on a chief
dancett`ee per pale of the 2nd and 1st, 3 esquires helmets of the
third, garnished of the 4th Crest, on a laurel branch vert an arm
embowed in armour proper, garnished or, grasping a broken sword as in
the arms, and charged with two frets, one above and the other below
the elbow, sable, Motto IN BELLO AVT IN PACE..
Here perhaps should be noticed a story related by some of the American
historians of the family, to the effect that the arms were originally
granted by K Henry VIII to a certain Roger de Knapp, who had unhorsed
three knights at a tournament in Suffolk. Moreover with the Suffork
coat they connect a motto variously given as SPES NOSTRA DEVS, and IN
GOD IS OVR TRUST. It seems somewhat ungracious to criticize this
romatic legend, for which however no authority is quoted, but truth
compels us to admit that the form de Knapp is not known to occur after
the Plantagenet period, and that no English genealogist has found a
Roger Knapp in Suffolk at all: indeed the only known bearer of these
names was living in Herefordshire about 1650.
UNAUTHORISED ARMS
Turning not to the arms assumed without leave or license, we find that
the earliest offenders in this respect have been the main Berks
family, descended from Thomas Knapp of Tylehurst, whose head quarters,
from the middle of cent. XVI, were at Chilton. Substantial yeoman for
at least three generations, they had bought or inherited the manors of
the older Chilton families, such as Latton and Coxe, with other
estates, and had begun, during the Commonwealth, to challenge a place
among the "gentlement of blood and coat armour" in the County. But
with the restoration of the Monarchy the old powers of the Heralds
were revived, and the Visitation of the County in 1664 gave a rude
shock to these pretensions. Among the numerous persons who failed,
when summoned by the Heralds, to justify their right to the title of
Esquire or Gentleman, or to use of arms, are found the names of John
Knapp of Swinford in Cumnor, and his brother (or cousin,) George Knapp
of Chilton, who accordinly had to make the usual public declaration of
their unauthorised assumptions (v. Appendices,) But this attempt on
the part of the Heralds to revive the old discipline aroused so much
opposition that the Visitations were discontinued, and so began the
anarchy from which English heraldry still suffers.
The Chilton family soon resumed the rank to which their property
seemed to entitle them. The three sons of JOhn K of Swinford are all
styled gentlemen in legal documents, and probably again made use of
the arms and crest, which appear on the seals of Richard K. of
Bleqbury, 1695, (v. ped. 9 VII,) of John K of Chaddleworth, 1699.
(v. ped. 14. VII,) of George K of Chilton, 1699, and his brother
Thomas K of Abingdon, 1704, (v. ped.7, VII.) The coat and crest thus
sasumed were those of the Suffork family, with which they had no known
connection. With one exception, all the other families of the name
who have borne arms at all have followed this evil example and copied
the Suffork grant, though with occasional variations.
The only known modification of the arms was made by the Shilton
branch, sprung from the eldest son of John K. of Swinford. They seem
at first to have adopted the Suffork coat, but their last known
representative, John-Coghill K., (v. ped. 3, IX,) appears from his
Book-plate to have born Sable, a lion passant argent, on a chief of
the second 3 esquires' helments proper, while the Crest has an
unbroken sword and no laurel branch. The Linford branch, derived from
the second son of the above John K., also omitted the laurel branch,
and sometimes placed the arms fesseways, with only the cubit arm
erect. The Eynsham branch, descended probably from the third son of
the same John K., are not known to have assumed the Suffork arms, but
after their migration to Worchester are found using the Oxfordshire
coat and crest, with a motto EN DIEV EST MA CONFIANCE, the origin of
which is unknown. Another branch, along connected with the
Haberdashers' Co., althered the position of the arms like the Linford
branch, but showed the point of the broken sword hanging down, and
adopted as a motto SANS DIEV SANS TOVT.
Nicholas K. of Ewell, Surrey, in Cent. XVII, perhaps a member of the
Mitcham family, is included among the Gentry of London and Surrey in
Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 5533, where he bears the Suffolk coat and crest,
as do the present representatives of the distinct families of
Westwood, Wilts, of Havant, Hants, and of Portsmouth, Hants, the later
with the motto NVNQVAM NON PARATVS . In or before 1724 the Irish
family of Cork and Killecloyne bore the same arms and crest, to which
however they may have been entitled by descent from the Suffolk
family.
In the Appendix D
ARMORIAL BEARINGS
The history of the Suffork grant is still somewhat obscure. Though
not registered at the College of Arms, there is little doubt that it
was made by Cooke 1576. Add. MS. Brit. Mus. 37148 gives the date as
Nov. 10, other MSS. quoted in Bacon's Annals of Ipswich give it as
Sept. 25. The Registrar of the College states that it was confirmed
1612, which is probable, but no evidence is forthcoming; and it was
certainly allowed 1664, Harl. MS. 1359, a collection of "Guiftes and
Confirmations of Coates and Crests," neatly tricked by John Withie,
who rode with Bysshe as his herald painteer at the Visitation in that
year, notes that the original grant was made to "Henry K. of
Hintlesham," a name not found in the pedigrees, but who may prove to
be a common ancestor of the Tuddenham and Needham Market families to
whom the arms were then allowed. His Sketch shows the arm lying
fessewise and direct, the hand in a gauntlet, and the sword Arg. Harl,
MS. 1085, another collection of Suffork arms, dated 1664, assigns them
to "George K. of Tudingham and Rob. K of Needham Market," but below
the shield is "per Cooke 1576." Here the arm is in the usual
position, the hand in a gauntlet, and the sword apparently ppr.
The extraordinary variation of this grant is contributed by Mr.
A.Jewers to "The Genealogist," vol. 20. This substitutes garbs for
the helmets in the coat, and an oak branch vert, fructed or, for the
sword and laurel branch of the crest. But as the authority quoted is
Har. MS. 1359 above mentioned, it is evidently a mere blunder on the
part of some one who could not understand the drawing, and took no
pains to verify the brazon from other sources.
Harl, MlS. 1105 gives a trick of the arms and crest of Henry K. of
Woodcote, as described on page 14, except that the helmet in the crest
is argent, which is probably correct. The official date of 2 Sept.
1669 is given for the grant, but the letters which follow show the
real facts of the case.
LETTERS OF HENRY KNAPP of WOODCOTE TO SIR EDW. BYSSHE
(Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 22,883. -- v. 22 IV)
A History of the Chief English Families bearing the name of Knapp
Title: "A History of The Family of Knapp" by Oswald Greenwaye Knapp .
M.A.
Privately Printed for the Author by
The St. Catherine Press
34. Norfolk St., Strand, W.C. 1911
page 121
The Eastern Group
INTRODUCTION
For our purpose this group may be taken to include the families found
in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Lincoln, Cambridge and Huntingdon, where
some of the earliest know instances of the name occur, though these do
not serve to fix with any certainty the original starting point of the
group. Arranged in order of time they appear as follows.
Cent. XII, Peter Knape, 1198, perhaps of Racheia (Rackheath?) or
Stalham, Norf. (Abbreviatio Placitorum).
Cent XIII. Richard Noppe of Folkesworth, Richard Knoppe of Yaxley,
Richard and Ralph Noppe of Thurning, and Philip Noppe of Aylington,
(all in Hunts.) John Cnape in Co. Camb., and William Cnoppe in
Suffolk. All these are found in the Hundred Rolls, c. 1272. After
this the name is hardly met with in Hunts and Cambs. save for a few
scattered individuals in Cent XVII
Cent. XIV yields John Knappe of Wells, Norf., 1318, and Adam Knape,
one of the many followers of Peter de Reppes of Great Yarmouth, who
shared the pardon granted to his leader 1344, for having ridden with
banner displayed, taking men and imprisoning them until they made
ransom at his will, and perpetrating homicides, arsons, etc. In 1351
Adam Cnape (perhaps the same individual,) and Joan his wife, of the
Diocese of Norwich, had a Papal indult to choose their own Confessors
to give them, being penitent, plenary absolution at the hour of death.
Cent. XV, John Knape the elder of Possewyk, (Postwick near Norwich,)
husbandman, had a pardon 1439 for non-appearance to answer a plea of
debt of %40, (v. ped 59.I) The same century yields Gregory Knappe of
Eye, Suff., and several wills from Norwich and Shuldham.
There was a small settlement in Lincoln in Cent. XVI, but the main
settlement at this period was in Norfolk and Suffolk, where they are
found well distributed over the two counties as follows.
-- here there are mentioned a number of regions of England in the
east, yet for the family of Nicholas Knapp of Plymouth colony -- the
following is of importance:
Norfolk
l. Norwich, 1462, 2 Shuldham. 1488, migrating apparently to Lynn
1561, with a branch at Wells 1565. 3. N. Creake, 1533-8, John Knape
held the advowson 1544, but no connected pedigree had been made out.
The usual spelling is Knapes or Knapys. 4 Walsoken, 1705-1807,
probably a branch from Lynn, usually spelt Knape. I
***************************************************************
David Kipp Conover, Annapolis, MD 21401
Researching
Billington, Blauvelt, Brinckerhoff, Buchanan, Conover,
Covenhoven, Ferdon, Gibbs, Iddings, Jackett,
Kingsley, Kipp, Knapp, Sabin, Swift, Thompson
Van Kouwenhoven, Vanderveer
e-mail <con...@radix.net>
Homepage: <http://www.radix.net/~conover>