Master Surname Index




Phil Knight

Ancestry of
Phil Knight

Co-Founder, Nike Inc.


    Melancthon W. Travis

    View famous kin of Melancthon W. Travis

    • 3rd Great-grandfather of Phil Knight — 6th Generation
    • Ahnentafel No:
    • 44 
    • Birth Date:
    • ABT 1798 
    • Birth Location:
    • New York 
    • Christening Date:
    •  
    • Christening Location:
    •  
    • Death Date:
    • Aug 1859 
    • Death Location:
    • Peru, Clinton, New York 
    • Burial Date:
    •  
    • Burial Location:
    •  
    • Marriage Date:
    • ABT 1822 
    • Marriage Location:
    •  
    • Children:

    • Harry M. Travis

      Jane Travis

      Washington A. Travis (Ahnentafel No:22 )

      Jehiel Travis

      Charles Henry Travis

      Asher B. Travis

      Maria Travis

    • Notes: 
    • War of 1812 veteran

      Melancthon Travis had a 1814 flintlock rifle (in possession of his granddaughter Etta (Travis) Hale in 1935) that had a silver plate on it that read, "By resolve of Congress presented to Melancthon W. Travis for his gallantry at the seige of Plattsburg." The gun was displayed in the window of Travis and Kumpf, a general store in New Albin, Iowa. The gun at that time was in the possession of his granddaughter Etta (Travis) Hale, daughter of his son Harry Travis. The store it was displayed in belonged to his grandson Charles Travis and Charles's brother-in-law George Kumpf, husband of Emma Travis. Charles and Emma were children of Melancthon's son Washington Travis.

      Melancthon Travis's given name is also seen as Melancton.

      He was a judge in Clinton County, New York.

      Melancthon Travis was only about 14 years old when he participated in the Battle of Plattsburgh as a member of Aiken's Volunteers.

      Aiken's Volunteers was a company of boys not old enough for military duty. When news was received of the advancing British, the boys assembled themselves and elected Martin Aiken as their captain. They then proceeded to harass the British forces from behind stumps, fences and trees. The boys also helped repel British troops that attempted to cross the bridge over the Saranac River near the old stone grist-mill. In May of 1826, Congress authorized the President to deliver to each member of Aiken's Volunteers a rifle, in accordance with the promise made them by General Macomb at the close of the battle, for their patriotic services during the siege of Plattsburgh.

Scroll down to see sources.

  • Sources for Melancthon W. Travis

    • 2 New York, U.S., U.S. Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1880, NY, Clinton County, 1860, Peru, p. 3, Image 1 of 1.
    • 3 Past and Present of Plattsburgh: Romantic History of a Prosperous Village . . ., Troy, New York: Troy Times Printing (1891), 5.
    • 4 The Postville Herald (Postville, Iowa), 21 NOV 1935, p. 2, Melancton's rifle on display.
    • 7 Beardsley, Isaac Haight, Genealogical History of the Beardsley-lee Family in America, Denver, Colorado: John Dove, Printer and Publisher (1902), 226.
    • 8 Holman, Winifred Lovering, Descendants of Andrew Everest of York, Maine, Concord, New Hampshire: The Rumford Press (1955), 126.
    • 9 Holt, Nellie Beardsley and Charles Eleazer Holt, Beardsley Genealogy: The Family of William Beardsley, One of the First Settlers of Connecticut, West Hartford, Connecticut: n. p. (1951), 105.

Phil Knight photo by Neon Tommy (CC BY-SA 1.0)