“I replied 'If you know that I can, it shall be done' and then almost unconsciously I rebuked the devil, and commanded him in the name of Jesus Christ to depart from him; when immediately Newel spoke out and said that he saw the devil leave him and vanish from his sight.” — Joseph Smith¹

In the spring of 1830, Newel Knight was seized upon by a devil and asked Joseph Smith to cast it out.¹ Knight was baptized shortly afterward and eventually became the presiding elder in the Colesville branch in New York. In 1831, Knight presided over the Colesville Saints during their migration to Ohio.² Knight settled with the branch in Kirtland on land owned by Leman Copley, who later evicted the Saints from his land, displacing the Colesville branch once again.

1. History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834], p. 40, josephsmithpapers.org

2. Saints, Volume 1, Chapter 10, 110