Date: n.d.

Biography:

Sargeant Prentiss Knut 

Sargeant (Sergeant) Prentiss Nutt (later Knut or Knutt) was born in 1855, probably at Winter Quarters, the family plantation in St. Joseph, Tensas Parish, Louisiana. Nutt was the seventh child and third son of Haller and Julia Augusta Nutt of Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi. Haller Nutt, son of physician and inventor Dr. Rushworth Nutt, was a wealthy planter who owned several plantations in both Mississippi and Louisiana. Prior to the Civil War, Haller Nutt began construction on a home in Natchez that he named Longwood. Nutt lost most of his fortune in the war, despite receiving a written promise of protection from the Union Army. He petitioned Congress for restitution, but died (in 1864) before a resolution was reached. Julia Augusta Nutt continued her husband’s fight for compensation.

Sargeant Prentiss Nutt was educated at Ury House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He then completed a three-year program at the University of Virginia, graduating in 1876. Nutt briefly returned to Natchez to read law, then moved to Washington, D.C., to begin his practice. Initially, Nutt was employed as a tutor for the children of Rear Admiral John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren of the United States Navy. Nutt also served as Special Commissioner for the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition (also known as the World’s Fair) of 1884. Sargeant Prentiss Knut then began to practice law with James W. Denver, his father’s lawyer, in Washington. Nutt took up his mother’s fight to persuade Congress to reimburse the family for the damages caused by the Union Army. Nutt recouped only $123,556.25 of the one million dollars sought.

By January of 1890, Sargeant Prentiss had changed his last name from Nutt to Knut, to reflect his perceived decent from King Canute, the Danish King of England. Knut married Lily Barret of Owensboro, Kentucky, in December 1896. Eighteen months after their marriage, Lily Knut died giving birth to their daughter, also named Lily. After his wife’s death, Knut entered into a lengthy legal dispute with the Barret family concerning his interest in a farm left to him in his wife’s will. Knut sued to recover his investment, and the court set aside his wife’s will, reserved Knut’s interest in the farm for his daughter Lily, and granted Knut lifetime interest of one-third of the estate. At this time, Knut was also involved in a battle with his wife’s relatives over guardianship of his daughter. The deathbed wish of Lily Barret Knut was that her aunt and uncle, Theodore K. and Virginia Barret Gibbs of Newport, Rhode Island, raise her daughter. After another lengthy dispute, Sargeant Prentiss Knut voluntarily surrendered guardianship of his only child. During these conflicts, Knut tried to lease Longwood from his siblings for fifty dollars per month. Knut repeatedly failed to pay his sisters, and through a lawyer, they demanded that he pay the debt or vacate the house. In turn, Knut sued the Nutt family estate for $22,000 in fees for legal representation in the restitution suit before Congress. In 1905, the case of Nutt v. Knut reached the United States Supreme Court. On January 2, 1906, the court upheld the rulings of the lower courts; Knut was owed $22,143.30 for his legal services.

Knut was a published author. The Nutt Claim and Memorial document Knut’s work on the claim against the Federal government, while A Democratic Nomination for 1884: James W. Denver, of Ohio: His Life, His Services, and His Availability reflects his support for his family’s longtime friend.

Knowledge of the final years of Sargeant Prentiss Knut is in dispute: while local Natchez historian Alma Carpenter asserted that Knut fought in World War I and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, another source contends that he spent the remainder of his life practicing law in Washington, D.C.

 

Scope and Content Note:

This collection consists of an undated telegram written by S. P. Knut in Central City, Kentucky, to S. V. Stratton (possibly Sidney V. Stratton) in Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi. In the telegram, Knut requests that Stratton keep “John” until Knut arrives in Natchez.

 

Series Identification:

Series 1: Telegram. n.d. 1 folder.