Ebenezer Knowlton (December 6, 1815 – September 10, 1874) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

, and

Free Will Baptist Free Will Baptists are a group of General Baptist denominations of Christianity that teach free grace, free salvation and free will. The movement can be traced back to the 1600s with the development of General Baptism in England. Its formal est ...

minister.

Biography

Born in

Pittsfield, New Hampshire Pittsfield is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,075 at the 2020 census. The main village in town, where 1,570 people resided at the 2020 census, is defined as the Pittsfield census-designated place (C ...

, Knowlton moved with his parents to South Montville, Maine, in 1825. He attended the China and Waterville Academies in Maine. He studied theology and entered the ministry as a

Career

Knowlton served as a member of the Maine House of Representatives from 1844 to 1850, and served as speaker in 1846. Knowlton was elected as an

Opposition Party Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''t ...

(a party transitioning between the Whigs and Republicans) candidate to the Thirty-fourth Congress from March 4, 1855 to March 3, 1857. He became an early member of the Republican Party and was a lifelong supporter of abolitionism and the

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...

. Knowlton served as trustee of

Bates College Bates College () is a private liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian Houses as some of the dormitories. It maintains of nature p ...

Lewiston, Maine Lewiston (; ; officially the City of Lewiston, Maine) is the second largest city in Maine and the most central city in Androscoggin County. The city lies halfway between Augusta, the state's capital, and Portland, the state's most populous ci ...

. Knowlton also served as a trustee of

Colby College Colby College is a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine. It was founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, then renamed Waterville College after the city where it resides. The donations of Christian philant ...

and Maine Central Institute, and after the Civil War he worked for the Freedmen's Bureau in

Beaufort, South Carolina Beaufort ( , a different pronunciation from that used by the city with the same name in North Carolina) is a city in and the county seat of Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1711, it is the second-oldest city in South ...

. He was a corporator of the ''Morning Star'', a

newspaper, and was president of the Foreign Missions Board. Knowlton continued his ministerial duties until his death.

Death

Knowlton died in South Montville, Maine on September 10, 1874, and is interred in the South Montville City Cemetery.

References

External links

* *
Nathan Franklin Carter, The Native Ministry of New Hampshire, (1906)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knowlton, Ebenezer 1815 births 1874 deaths 19th-century American politicians 19th-century Baptist ministers from the United States Activists from New Hampshire American abolitionists American temperance activists Baptist abolitionists Bates College people Free Will Baptists Republican Party members of the Maine House of Representatives Opposition Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maine People from Montville, Maine People from Pittsfield, New Hampshire South Carolina Republicans Speakers of the Maine House of Representatives Members of the United States House of Representatives from Maine

Biography

Career

Death

See also

References

External links