Frank Asa McKnight

Many times, while researching those that walked in the past, I attempt to envision the texture of the fabric of their time and place.  One voice to whisper in the wind is the McKnight family.  Imagine Niagara County, New York for a moment, pre-Civil war and late in the evening, a knock at your door. When you call out to who is there, the answer is, "A friend with a friend."  The door opens slightly and your father steps outside.  Muffled voices, footsteps tap gently off the porch landing.  Father, Andrew Jackson McKnight, has taken his friend to the apple cellar to rest briefly for the night.  Only three miles from Canada, tonight the friends spend their last night on United States soil--they, the slaves, are freedom bound.  It is their last stop on the "Underground Railroad."
In his youth, Franklin Asa McKnight, may have known of his father's intentions to help his fellow man.  In my imagination, he is keenly aware.
To most, Frank Asa McKnight is just another funeral card - but his card represents just how close and tangibly near his era of life is to our own lives.  According to Evelyn Jo Oldham's Oldham Family Tree, Frank Asa McKnight was born 7 Oct 1853 at Newfane, Niagara County, New York to parents Andrew J. and Ineta McKnight.  14 March 1915, he died.  His wife, Orcelia Eliza Perry McKnight lived until 1951.  For more years than their marriage, Orcelia kept the funeral card of her dear husband neatly tucked away in her dresser.  Today, they share a plot in Corwin cemetery located on the northeast corner of Lockport-Olcott Road and Hatter Road. Gone but not forgotten.