About Walter Knott
Walter Marvin Knott (December 11, 1889 – December 3, 1981) was an American farmer and businessman who founded the Knott's Berry Farm amusement park in Buena Park, California, introduced and mass-marketed the boysenberry, and founded the Knott's Berry Farm food brand. == Early life == Knott was born on December 11, 1889, in San Bernardino, California. His parents were Rev. Elgin Charles Knott, a Southern Methodist minister originally from Tennessee, and Margaret Virginia Daugherty Knott. Knott's father was a preacher at a church in Santa Ana, California when he was born. When Elgin died of tuberculosis in 1896, Margaret moved Walter and his brother to Pomona, California. Walter Knott had aspirations of being a farmer from a very young age, and ended his formal schooling at age 16 (which was legal in California at the time) in order to start working. == Career == === Early efforts === Knott was adept at growing produce, and would rent vacant lots around Pomona to grow produce to contribute to his family's income. At the time he married Cordelia Hornaday in 1911, Knott was working for a cement contractor. In 1913, Knott homesteaded on 160 acres in the Mojave Desert near Newberry Springs and made his first effort at farming, which was unsuccessful.
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