I think that the Know Nothings were some type of political party. They were popular in 1853 to 1856. They wanted to keep all political offices out of the hands of foreign born populace. They called them Know Nothings because they always denied knowing about all the illegal activities they were accused of, Hmm sounds like the present day KKK, or something. This must have been very regional, because some of my German ancestors lived in towns in Texas where German was the official language until pretty recent times. Karen Moore Kerr