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Don Knotts

Ancestry of
Don Knotts

TV and Movie Actor

    Benjamin South

    View famous kin of Benjamin South

    • 3rd Great-grandfather of Don Knotts — 6th Generation
    • Ahnentafel No:
    • 36 
    • Birth Date:
    • Feb 1758 
    • Birth Location:
    • prob. Middlesex County, New Jersey 
    • Christening Date:
    •  
    • Christening Location:
    •  
    • Death Date:
    • 2 May 1839 
    • Death Location:
    • Greene County, Pennsylvania 
    • Burial Date:
    •  
    • Burial Location:
    • South Cemetery, Greene County, Pennsylvania 
    • Marriage Date:
    • ABT 1778 
    • Marriage Location:
    •  
    • Notes: 

    • Revolutionary War veteran

      D.A.R. #A107282

      The South genealogy by Christine Gee discusses the possibility of Benjamin South being the son or brother of Joseph South Jr., husband of Sarah and son of Joseph South Sr. The book confuses this by listing Benjamin South, husband of Elizabeth Slack, as the brother of Joseph South Jr., husband of Sarah _____, on page 29. Further down the page, a Benjamin South is also listed as a son of Joseph and Sarah South stating "see descendants further on." Those descendants appear on page 38, but they are listed as being for Benjamin South and Elizabeth Slacker. So the book is inconsistent and gives the same Benjamin as both the brother and son of Joseph South Jr., husband of Sarah. The chronology of Benjamin and the two Joseph Souths would indicate that Benjamin is probably the son of Joseph and Sarah South, and the grandson of Joseph South Sr.. Also, the birth year given for Joseph South Sr. on page 29 is actually the birth year for his son Joseph South Jr. which further complicates matters. Thomas South's wife Dorothy would have had to given birth to their son Joseph when she was over the age of 50 in order for Joseph to have been born in 1735. Mayflower Families for Five Generations, Vol. 4, 3rd ed., Edward Fuller (p. 130) gives Joseph Sr.'s birth year as probably 1710 based on the birth dates of his siblings.

      Gary Boyd Roberts's The Mayflower 500 gives Benjamin as the son of Joseph South and Sarah Gilpin, and grandson of Thomas South and Dorothy Lippington citing the South genealogy by Gee as his main source. It would appear that he dealt with the inconsistencies of Gee's book by combining the two Joseph South's into one by taking the son of Thomas, making him the husband of his son's wife Sarah and giving her a maiden name of Gilpin which has no reliable source.

      So it would appear that Benjamin South (b.c. 1758) is probably the son of Joseph (b.c. 1735) and Sarah (___) South, grandson of Joseph (b.c. 1710) and wife unknown, and great-grandson of Thomas South and Dorothy Lippington. But the possibility still remains that he may be the brother of Joseph Jr. and not his son. More research is needed to help resolve these issues.

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