Sources:

See Section B, Below

22.00--Isham Gwin m. Mary Ann Canterbury;

23.04--John Gwin m. Jane Walker;

24.09--Louisa J./A. Gwin , b. ca. 1832 (age 18 in the Nov 1850 census) in Dallas Co., AL; d. aft. 1860 in Cahawba, Dallas Co., AL; bd. in New Cem., Cahawba, Dallas Co., AL;
m1., allegedly, to Mr. Gaviness (Caviness/Cavines?) (b. unk.; d. unk.; bd. unk.); unk. ch. by Mr. Gaviness;
m2. 17 May 1849 to William J. McKnight (b. ca. 1819 in SC; d. aft. 1860; bd. in New Cem., Cahawba, Dallas Co., AL); one possible stepchild, Elizabeth, by (or younger sister of?) Mr. McKnight;

[25.01]--Elizabeth McKnight, b. ca. 1847; d. unk.; bd. unk.; m. unk.; unk. ch.;

I am trying to list these items chronologically.

A—Marriage Date
https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=60000&h=425155&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=wuI1&_phstart=successSource

William J. McKnight, male, m. on 17 May 1849 in Dallas Co., AL, to Louisa A. Gwinn 
—  FHL Film No. 1533429 IT 6-7

B—Marriage Date
https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid=61365&h=162750&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=60000


Wm G Mcknight, male, m. 17 May 1849 in Dallas Co., AL, to Louisa A Gwin — Film No. 1289627

C—Marriage Date from the diary of Rev. James L. Cotten, pastor of the Episcopal Church in Cahaba

First is my transcription of Linda Derry’s
transcription of Rev. Cotten’s 1849 diary entry:

[May 17, 1849]
THURSDAY 17th

This evening I married two couples a Mr. Turner to Mrs. Rowark and Bro. McKnight to Miss Louisa Guinn both the brides being daughter of bro Guinn [i.e., John Gwin] after which I went to the church and expounded the 15th Psalm.

Following are my comments on that diary entry:

Turner--This is Abel Turner who appears in the Dallas Co. Census of Nov. 1850 (see entry for 5-9 Nov 1850 below).
Rowark--This is Mary Gwin, daughter of John and Jane and widow of Drury Hampton Roark.  She appears with Abel Turner in the above-mentioned census with her son by Drury, Walter,who will die in 1863 at Gettysburg, and her daughter by Abel, Anna, who will marry her own first cousin (Rufus K. Gwin, son of Mary's brother William) ca. 1871.
McKnight--This is William J. McKnight (middle initial from the photo of his broken headstone at Cahaba's New Cem.), who appears in the Nov 1850 Census as Wm. J. McKnight, 31, a printer of SC, with his wife, L. A. McKnight, 18.
Guinn--This is Louisa J./A. Gwin, 16 or 17, daughter of John and Jane (Louisa's middle initial is "J." according to her gravestone and "A." according to the 1850 census.)
expounded--Given that this was on a Thursday, an evening when one would not expect a congregation to be meeting, I assumed that he meant that he'd be doing some personal study of the Psalm.  However, since the  first definition of expound is to proclaim, talk, or speak, I now believe the church must've had a Bible study service regularly scheduled for Thursday evenings.

D—6 Nov1850 Census of Cahawba Beat, Dallas Co., AL

L A McKnight, 18, f, b. in AL;  Home in 1850: Cahawba, Dallas, AL; living with Wm J McKnight, 31, Printer

[John M. Gwin Note--7 Apr 2023:  This L. A. McKnight is very likely William J.'s first wife.  But if the 13-year-old girl, Elizabeth McKnight, in the 1860 census (see Item G below) is indeed William's daughter by his first marriage, as I surmised in my note in Item G, then where is she (Elizabeth, then age three) here in the 1850 census?]



E—Advertisement in The Dallas Gazette, Cahaba, ALA., Vol. XV, No. 42, August 13, 1858, p. 3, col. 6:

If the jpg doesn't open, here is my transcription of its contents:

County Auctioneer. THE undersigned, having  been appointed County Auctioneer,  offers  his  services  to the  public.  Terms  liberal.  No infringement of his privileges as Auctioneer will be allowed.      July 16, 1858.          W. J. McKNIGHT.

F—I transcribed the following article from the photocopy of a newspaper clipping from the 11 November 1859 edition of the Cahaba Gazette —  It shows that W. J. McKnight was elected to serve as 4th Sergeant in the volunteer company formed at Cahaba, Dallas County, Alabama and that he was alive at least as late as November 1859.  

--John M. Gwin

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13267548/cahaba_alabama_gazette_11_nov_1859/

NEW VOLUNTEER COMPANY     The citizens of Cahaba have organized a volunteer company and elected the following officers: Thomas H. Lewis,    Captain, H. I. F. Coleman,      1st Lieutenant, Henry Brooks,          2d            “ J. B. Joyner,             3d            “ Menzo Watson,        Quartermaster. H. Hudson,               O. S. Thomas Williams,     2d Sergeant Joseph Babcock,      3d       “ W. J. McKnight,    4th  “      There are fifty-two names on the list, and a good many more will probably join.  We have not heard whether it is to be a rifle or infantry company, but the former, we presume.       We think if they could procure rifled muskets with bayonets, and adopt the infantry drill, they would be more efficient, if the services should be required, and we know they would make a better show.  We have tried both and speak from experience.  If the Harper’s Ferry affair has reminded the Southern people (as it doubtless has) of the necesssity of forming volunteer companies in every town, we contend that the rifle would be almost useless in case of an emergency, while the plain musket and bayonet would be formidable weapons.      We hope that horse companies will be formed in the country, even if the members only enroll themselves, elect officers, and draw sabers and pistols from the State.  They can dispense with the uniform and only drill occasionally.

G—1860 Census

Louisa McKnight, 26, b. abt. 1834 in AL; lived in Cahaba, Dallas Co., AL, in 1860

W J McKnight, 42;
Louisa McKnight, 26;
Elizabeth McKnight, 13; 
Anna Turner, 10; 
Z Brown, 21;

[John M. Gwin Note--6 Apr 2023:  I believe this Elizabeth must be William's daughter by an earlier marriage and not by Louisa.  But it is possible that Louisa is his THIRD wife, not his second, which means that Elizabeth as a toddler of three could be living with his first wife in the 1850 census and that L.A. is his second wife.  This would explain Elizabeth's absence in the 1850 census in item D above.]

[John M. Gwin Note--7 Apr 2019: Surprise!  Annie Louisa Turner is living with the McKnights! 
Could Annie’s mom, Mary Gwin Roark Turner, have given Annie the middle name of Louisa for this little sister of Mary, Annie’s aunt?]

H—1867 Voter Registration, Madison Co., AL—

A William McKnight appears in the Voter Registration list for Madison County, AL--

I—1870 Census of Cahaba—

I was looking for the McKnights in Cahaba in 1870, but they were not there.  Perhaps they had both died.  However, the very last two families in that census WERE family! 

(1) Louisa (Gwin) Basset is the widow of (Joseph?) Basset, who was killed when a mill stone exploded, as I understand the story from my uncle James B. Gwin, Jr., and

(2) Mary (High Blann) Wilson is the widow of Joseph Jones Abernathy Wilson who was wounded in battle (in Georgia, I believe), taken as a prisoner of war by the yankees, and eventually imprisoned in Ohio where he died at war’s end from complications of his wound.  He was and is still buried in Ohio.  This discovery was shared with me by a cross-country trucker who belongs to a group that researches CSA soldiers buried in the cemetery where Joseph Jones Abernathy Wilson is buried.

J—1880 Census

I looked for Louisa and William J. McKnight anywhere in the US in the 1880 census and could find only one couple that came close, in Benson, Scott County, Arkansas.  But their ages didn't quite fit, and their places of birth, his middle initial, and her stepson didn't fit at all.

K—K


L—L

M—No dates of death are listed on their gravestones in the new cemetery in Cahawba, but the stones are clearly indicators that William's and Louisa's final resting places are there.  Louisa's stone is intact, located beside that of her mother's, where I assume she is buried.  I also assume that William's grave is beside Louisa's; however, legible but broken pieces of William's vandalized stone are located some yards across the yard inside the fenced area of another family's site.  I think this should be the last item listed in this clearinghouse.