Sarah Kemble Knight kept a travel journal from October 2, 1704 to March 3, 1705 which provides insight into colonial America. She was born on April 19, 1666 in Boston, Massachusetts to Thomas and Elizabeth Trerice Kemble. Her father was a merchant who owned land in what later became Maine. According to rumor, he also sold prisoners of war on Oliver Cromwell's behalf. Sarah enjoyed a substantive education, and her journal is witty and full of literary allusions.

In early 1689, Sarah married Richard Knight, a shipmaster who served as an American company's representative in London. Their only child, Elizabeth, was born on May 8, 1689. Knight was often away on business, so Sarah occupied herself by teaching penmanship, hosting boarders, managing a shop, and working as a legal secretary. Some accounts claim she became a school teacher whose pupils included Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Mather.

In 1704, Sarah embarked upon a five-month business trip to settle her cousin Caleb Trowbridge's estate. Her diary recounts the journey from Boston to New Haven, Connecticut. Theodore Dwight Jr. later published this engaging manuscript under the title The Journals of Madam Knight.

Richard Knight died in 1706. A few years later, Sarah moved to Connecticut, where she opened an inn and another shop, and purchased land. When she died on September 25, 1727, she left behind an impressive estate.

Source: James, James and Boyer's Notable American Women 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary; Lina Mainiero, ed., American Women Writers; Dictionary of Literary Biography, 200, Carla Mulford, ed.