Robert McKnight

{{About||the American businessman, writer, and politician|Robert W. McKnight|the ice hockey player|Bob McKnight}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Robert McKnight

| district = 22nd

| term_start1 = 1847

| office1 = Member of the Pittsburgh City Council

| successor = James K. Moorhead

| predecessor = Samuel A. Purviance

| term_end = 1863

| term_start = 1859

| state = Pennsylvania

| image = RobertMcKnight.jpg

| birth_date = January 20, 1820

| education = Princeton College (BA)

| party = Republican

| children = Denny McKnight

| resting_place = Allegheny Cemetery

| death_place = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| birth_place = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| death_date = October 25, 1885 (aged 65)

| term_end1 = 1849

}}

Robert McKnight (January 20, 1820 – October 25, 1885) was an American lawyer and politician who represented Pennsylvania's 22nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1859 to 1863.

Early life and education

Robert McKnight was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He attended the common schools and a private school at Xenia, Ohio. He graduated from Princeton College in 1839.{{cite web|title=McKnight, Robert (1820-1885)|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=M000531|work=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|accessdate=8 April 2013}}

Career

McKnight studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1842, and joined a law partnership with Henry S. Magraw in Pittsburgh. In 1846, he was hired to be a solicitor for the Bank of Pittsburgh.{{cite web|last=Justham|first=Kristin|title=Robert McKnight Diaries Finding Aid|url=http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=ascead;cc=ascead;q1=robert%20mcknight;rgn=main;view=text;didno=US-PPiU-dar194901|publisher=Archive Service Center, University of Pittsburgh|accessdate=8 April 2013}}

MnKnight served as a member of the Pittsburgh City Council from 1847 to 1849, and was subsequently elected as a Republican to the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses. He served his district during the American Civil War.

After his final term in 1863, he resumed the practice of law.

Personal life

McKnight died in Pittsburgh in 1885. He was interred at the Allegheny Cemetery.{{cite web|last=Kestenbaum|first=Lawrence|title=McKnight, Robert (1820-1885)|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/mckinnon-mclaud.html|work=The Political Graveyard|accessdate=8 April 2013}} Early Pittsburgh Pirates owner Denny McKnight was his son.