ALONG THE WAY...

We've been blessed with new friends, because of a house!  We've even been lucky enough to meet a few in person.  The following picture is of Betty and David Wallace and their daughter and son-in-law.  Betty is the daughter of Homer Knight.  Homer was one of John and Ella's nine children. 
Thanks to every Knight descendant who has shared stories and pictures!  You've made the house come alive for us.  We call each room by the names you associate with them, so when you see pictures of the inside of the house labeled with captions like "Addie Lou's room" or "the music room" or "the little red room", you'll know we were paying attention!!

Front: David, Betty, me, Becky

Back: Rick, Richard

south side of house

The Knight Family

John and Ella with 3 of their children are on the far right.

The house in the background belongs to Susan and John Knight, Sr.

Following is an excerpt from Cow Hill Bits and Pieces by Otha Spencer, so all can see how today's project actually began in the 1800's.

IN THE BEGINNING...

   

In 2009, after 30 years of marriage to a custom home builder and 8 brand new homes, we finally found "my" dream house!

Notice the "my"part!   ;o)

My wonderful husband finally gave in to restoring an old house - and what a lot of restoring this will be!!

The house was built in 1914 by John and Ella Knight, one of the earliest and most influential families in Commerce, TX.

One of the first things we did (after months of clearing the property of outbuildings, debris, trees and brush, and just plain old trash) was pick the house up off its bois d' arc blocks and move it further back on the property.  We put concrete piers and beams in place so the house would have a solid foundation.  This was amazing to watch!  There were many passers-by and neighbors who stopped to watch, too.  The Greenville Herald Banner featured the move in an article written by Brad Keller. 

....mobile home

After the concrete foundation was in place, the moving truck had to pull the house up an incline to put it in place.  Imagine watching your house tilting backward with nothing holding it but a truck with a wench on it!  I had to close my eyes a few times, especially when the truck's front wheels came off the ground!  When it was finally in place on its new foundation, it was beautifully straight and level.  Thanks to Northcutt House Movers for a job well done!

The only casualty was the mimosa tree we had been babying.  We moved it from behind the house to another area, being so careful not to break any limbs or shock it too much.  We had to water it with buckets of water from our neighbors house, since we had no water yet.  (thanks Gary and Carolyn)  During the entire move, the workers were very careful not to run over it with their equipment.  Alas, at the very end of the day, when they were loading their equipment up to leave, it happened.  The top of it was completely snapped off, but don't dismay!  It came back out the next spring and is thriving.

Our tree has had an uneventful year!  Nobody ran over it and it is thriving!

By the way, this is how I knew this was supposed to be our house.  Of course the "K" in the gable stood for Knight, but I like to think it stands for Kelley.