KNIGHT, THOMAS A. (24 Feb. 1876-17 June 1946) was a journalist, real estate dealer, and auther. He was born in Toronto, Canada, where his parents had repaired following the Great Chicago Fire, but brought to Cleveland by them during his first year. At 12 he became a newsboy for the CLEVELAND LEADER, where he worked his way up to star reporter and covered the political campaigns of Wm. McKinley. During this period he wrote 2 short works, Beautiful Lakewood and Country Estates of Cleveland Men. He resigned from the Leader in 1914 to devote his time to writing, publishing Country Estates of the Blue Grass and The Kentucky Horse. In 1912 Knight entered the field of industrial real estate in Cleveland under the appellation of "Tom Knight, the Factory Man." He continued his interest in history, writing The Strange Disappearance of William Morgan and Tippecanoe. Knight was also active as a field secretary of the WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOC. and long-time secretary of the EARLY SETTLERS ASSOC. OF THE WESTERN RESERVE. Working with the latter group, he was instrumental in preserving the ERIE ST. CEMETERY from downtown encroachment and historic cannon on PUBLIC SQ. from being melted as scrap metal during WORLD WAR II. A resident of BRECKSVILLE, Knight served the suburb as councilman and published a newspaper called The West County Advocate. He died a year after his wife, the former Leora Squire, whom he had married in 1896. They were survived by 2 married daughters, Edith Dean and Dorothy Sykes.
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