Through the constant efforts of Dean Collinwood, third great-grandson of Newel Knight, a marker honoring Newel Knight and his flouring mill in Nauvoo, Illinois, was permanently erected in early summer 2009.

It is located across the street from the entrance to the Community of Christ History Museum, close to the bank of the Mississippi River. Together with other Knight descendants, Barry and Vira Johnson, Dean dedicated the site over a year ago with a group of LDS missionaries and Saints from Japan attending.

Newel Knight once built a flouring mill at the request of Joseph Smith to provide the early Saints with precious flower for bread.

The site is owned by the Community of Christ who provided enthusiastic cooperation in making the marker placement a reality. At first, the Community of Christ directors said they generally deny such requests for family markers, but because the Knights were one of the three founding families of the Church and had such a close connection to the Prophet Joseph Smith, they felt it was appropriate to recognize the Knight family’s role in LDS Church history.

Dean is grateful to everyone who donated to the project, including significant contributions from the Palmers in Mesa, Arizona.

Congratulations to all who were involved. This shows the Knight Family spirit is alive and burning strong in Joseph’s and Polly’s descendants.