Valentin Johann Knœll ometimes spelled Valentine; sometimes Knoell, Knoel or Knoll(May 8, 1826 - August 26, 1884) was an American farmer from

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

who served three one-year terms as a member of the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

between the 1850s and the 1870s.

Background

He was born in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

Grand Duchy of Hesse The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine (german: link=no, Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein) was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Grand Duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 ...

, on May 8, 1826, and came with his family to Wisconsin in 1837, settling in Franklin. He received a

common school A common school was a public school in the United States during the 19th century. Horace Mann (1796–1859) was a strong advocate for public education and the common school. In 1837, the state of Massachusetts appointed Mann as the first secretary o ...

education, and became a farmer.

Public office

He was first elected to the Assembly in 1851 for the 1852

5th Wisconsin Legislature The Fifth Wisconsin Legislature convened from January 14, 1852, to April 19, 1852, in regular session. Senators representing even-numbered districts were newly elected for this session and were serving the first year of a two-year term. Assembly ...

from the

Milwaukee County Milwaukee County is located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At the 2020 census, the population was 939,489, down from 947,735 in 2010. It is both the most populous and most densely populated county in Wisconsin, and the 45th most populous coun ...

district including Franklin and Oak Creek as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, with 274 votes to 180 for

James Riordan James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

(also a Democrat) He was again elected in 1866 for a one-year term in the 1867

20th Wisconsin Legislature The Twentieth Wisconsin Legislature convened from to in regular session. This was the first legislative session after the redistricting of the Senate and Assembly according to an act of the previous session. Senators representing odd-numbere ...

from the new 9th

district (the

Towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

of Franklin,

Greenfield Greenfield or Greenfields may refer to: Engineering and Business * Greenfield agreement, an employment agreement for a new organisation * Greenfield investment, the investment in a structure in an area where no previous facilities exist * Greenf ...

Lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

, and Oak Creek) after the 1866

redistricting Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral dist ...

, succeeding fellow Democrat John H. Deuster. He was assigned to the

standing committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

and

smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ch ...

. He was succeeded by fellow Democrat Patrick Walsh. His last term was in the

24th Wisconsin Legislature The Twenty-Fourth Wisconsin Legislature convened from to in regular session. Senators representing odd-numbered districts were newly elected for this session and were serving the first year of a two-year term. Assembly members were elected to ...

of 1871. He was elected in 1870 from the same district as before, with 1,032 votes to 403 for

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Henry Bauer, succeeding fellow Democrat

Enoch Chase Enoch Colby Chase (January 16, 1809August 23, 1892) was an American physician, businessman, and Milwaukee County pioneer. He served three years in the Wisconsin State Senate and five terms in the State Assembly, representing southern Milwaukee C ...

. He was assigned to the committee on town and

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

organization. By that time he had served as chairman of the

town board A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

for seven or eight years, and had thus been ''ex officio'' a member of the Milwaukee County

board of supervisors A board of supervisors is a governmental body that oversees the operation of county government in the U.S. states of Arizona, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as 16 counties in New York. There are equivalent agenc ...

. He was not a candidate for re-election, and was succeeded by Republican Adin P. Hobart.

After the Assembly

He was still an active Democrat at least through October 1878, attending a district meeting and being re-elected to the district's Democratic committee. He died August 26, 1884, in Franklin, and is buried there, in the cemetery of the Painesville Chapel.

Genealogy

Genealogical websites claim that he was actually born in Richen, then a ''dorf'' in

Dieburg Dieburg () is a small town in southern Hesse, Germany. It was formerly the seat of the district ("Kreis") of Dieburg, but is now part of the district of Darmstadt-Dieburg. History The town of Dieburg was first named in 1492 in the tax books of the ...

''kreis'' but now part of

Darmstadt-Dieburg Darmstadt-Dieburg is a Kreis (Districts of Germany, district) in the south of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Offenbach (district), Offenbach, Aschaffenburg (district), Aschaffenburg, Miltenberg (district), Miltenberg, Odenwaldkreis, Berg ...

''kreis'', just outside of Darmstadt proper., the son of Christoph Knœll and Anna Margaretha Mueller. He reportedly married Philippine "Bena" Zimmerman (1832–1917) on May 30, 1850, in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

, with whom he would have nine sons and three daughters between 1857 and 1872."Valentine (Johann Valentine) Knoell" ''Ancestry.com''
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knœll, Valentine 1826 births 1884 deaths Democratic Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly People from Franklin, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Hessian emigrants to the United States Politicians from Darmstadt Farmers from Wisconsin