Rhode Island Historical Society

KNIGHT, Nehemiah Rice, (son of Nehemiah Knight [1746-1808]), a Senator from Rhode Island; born in Cranston, R.I., December 31, 1780; attended the common schools; member, State house of representatives 1802; moved to Providence and was clerk of the court of common pleas 1805-1811; clerk of the circuit court 1812-1817; collector of customs for the same period; Governor of Rhode Island 1817-1821; president of the Roger Williams Bank 1817-1854; elected in 1821 as a Democratic Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of James Burrill, Jr.; reelected in 1823 as a Crawford Republican, in 1829 as an Anti-Jacksonian, and again in 1835 as a Whig, the last time as a Whig, and served from January 9, 1821, to March 3, 1841; chairman, Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses (Twenty-second, Twenty-third and Twenty-sixth Congresses), Committee on Manufactures (Twenty-fourth Congress); retired from public life; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1843; died in Providence, R.I., April 18, 1854; interment in Grace Church Cemetery.