Individual Details

Doherty in Settlers of the Beekman Patent suggests that Hannah's parents were probably John Knapp & Mary Whitney and she was a descendant of William Knapp of Watertown. The record of the marriage of John Knapp & Mary Whitney, 13 Jul 1715, in Watertown would suggest they might not be her parents.

Hannah married Moses, 25 Oct 1732 and the Newton town record shows that this was a Middlesex County record from East Cambridge. It is possible that John & Mary could have had a daughter soon after their marriage and she married at age 15 or so. However, online databases do not list a Hannah as daughter of John & Mary. I did find that John's father was also a John Knapp, born Watertown, 4 May 1661, died in Newton circa 1733 and he did possibly have a daughter Hannah who would have been a younger sister to the John that married Mary Whitney. The elder John Knapp married Sarah Park, 4 Aug 1686; her birth is given as 21 Jan 1665/6 - mathematically she could have been Hannah's mother. The elder John's grandfather was apparently William Knapp, early settler of Watertown.

After considerable research into the families of William Knopp & Nicholas Knapp of Watertown, I believe I did find the connection to Hannah. No kinship between William & Nicholas has ever been established. William was baptized at Bures St. Mary, Suffolk, England on 1 Jan 1580/1. He came with Sir Richard Saltonstall to New England in 1630, leaving one married daughter behind in England but bringing his other six children with him. William Knapp [or Knopp as found in England and in early days in Massachusetts] settled in Watertown where he died aged about 80, on 30 Aug 1658. One of his sons, John, baptized in England, 20 Jan 1622/3, married Sarah Young, 25 May 1660. John's will was proved 27 Apr 1696 and names his wife Sarah and children to include a son John.

John Knapp of the 3rd generation in America was born in Watertown, 4 May 1661, and married Sarah Park there 4 Aug 1686. They removed to Newton [Newtown] where he died in 1733. Sarah Park Knapp died 19 Dec 1727. There is a deed dated 14 Jun 1729 that names the children as John Jr, husbandman; Jonas, housewright; Daniel & Jonathan, husbandmen; and Sarah, Lydia, and Hannah - all "symsters", all of Newton; James, husbandman of Worcester; Ebenezer,weaver of Weston. [From The Knapp Family in America; a genealogy of the Descendants of William Knapp, by Arthur Mason Knapp, Boston, Mass. 1909. There is no specific source for the deed of 1729 but if says there are many items relating to transfer of property among members of the family in the Registry of Deeds, East Cambridge.]

The book has actual births for only the three oldest of the children - Sarah who never married, b. 1686, John b. 1688 who married Mary Whitney, and James b. 1690. Hannah falls as one of the younger children and is shown as marrying Moses Allen and that they lived in New Medfield, Worcester Co, Mass. Indeed New Medfield was the ancient name of Sturbridge which is where Moses & Hannah Knapp Allen are found. And Moses and Hannah were married in Newtown which was her home. Another plus for this connection is that her brother Ebenezer also lived in Sturbridge. All of the given names of Moses & Hannah Allen's children are found among her siblings except for the son named Moses for his father.

Spouse	MOSES ALLEN (1708 - 1778)
Child	Lydia Allen ( - )
Child	Hannah Allen (1733 - )
Child	Sarah Allen ( - 1745)
Child	MOSES ALLEN (1739 - 1796)
Child	Jonas Allen ( - )

Father	JOHN KNAPP II (1661 - 1733)
Mother	SARAH Parke (1666 - 1727)
Sibling	Sarah KNAPP (1686 - 1755)
Sibling	John KNAPP (1688 - 1730)
Sibling	James KNAPP (1690 - )
Sibling	Isaac KNAPP (1692 - )
Sibling	Jonas KNAPP ( - )
Sibling	Jonathan KNAPP ( - )
Sibling	Daniel KNAPP (1708 - 1772)
Sibling	Ebenezer KNAPP ( - )
Sibling	Lydia KNAPP ( - 1734)