Knowlson, John

MILITARY SERVICE Age: 26, credited to Poultney, VT Unit(s): 169th NY INF Service: comn SURG, 9/3/62, cred. Troy, NY, 169th NY INF, m/o 7/19/65, Raleigh, NC; See Legend for expansion of abbreviations VITALS Birth: 03/13/1836, Troy, NY Death: 11/27/1919 Burial: Sand Lake Union Cemetery, Sand Lake, NY Marker/Plot: Not recorded Gravestone researcher/photographer: Heidi McColgan Findagrave Memorial #: 88925046 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Alias?: None noted Pension?: Yes, date and location of death Portrait?: Poultney GAR Collection College?: Williams 55, CMS 57s Veterans Home?: Not Found (If there are state digraphs above, this soldier spent some time in a state or national soldiers' home in that state after the war) Remarks: Died in Cambridge, NY DESCENDANTS (Are you a descendant, but not listed? Register today)

BURIAL: Copyright notice Sand Lake Union Cemetery, Sand Lake, NY Check the cemetery for location/directions and other veterans who may be buried there.

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(Steve Smith)

Biography

Dr. J. Knowlson was born in Troy, N. Y., on the 31st of March, 1836. He received his medical education at the New York City College of Physicians and Surgeons, and at the Castleton Medical College, being graduated from the latter in 1857. He also became a graduate of Williams College in 1855. He practiced two years in Troy; in Omaha, Neb., as surgeon of the Union Pacific railroad three years, and was also in United States service as a surgeon; in 1871-75, in Granville, N. Y., whence he came to Poultney in 1875.

H. Y. Smith & W. S. Rann, History of Rutland County Vermont, (D. Mason & Co., Syracuse, NY, 1886), p. 793.

Obituary

JOHN KNOWLSON was born in Troy, New York, son of Col. Richard J. and Margaret Knowlson of Sand Lake, New York, and died November 27, 1919. Fitted for college at Kinderhook, New York, and entered Williams in 1851, took his A.B. with his class in 1855, A.M. in 1858. He studied medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of New York.

Dr. Knowlson was house surgeon of Marshall Infirmary, Troy, New York, for two years; then went to Jackson, Mississippi. During the Civil War he was arrested as a Northern spy, was released, and went back to Troy on July 4, 1861. In the United States service he was a surgeon with rank of major, and in November, 1865, was mustered out with rank of lieutenant colonel.

He was located in Castleton, Vermont, for two years; then in Omaha, Nebraska; he went back to Poultney, Vermont, in 1876, and in 1900 he went to New York, where, in 1912, both his wife and son died within thirteen days; August, 1912. He then went to Skaneateles, New York, with his old friend and classmate, C. E. Fitch, and remained until May, 1917; he then made his home in Chester and Middlebury, Vermont, but November 1, 1917, he went to Cambridge, New York.

Dr. Knowlson was twice married: to Sophia Nash of Troy, New York, October, 1860; she died eighteen months subsequent; he married Caroline Langdon of Castleton, Vermont, September, 1866. There were two children, Henry who died at five years, and Richard J., aged forty-three.

Dr. Knowlson became a Chi Psi member in 1851; Master Mason, 1857; Grand Army, 1866; Loyal Legion, 1903. He was grand marshal at the centennial of Williams College.

[This account furnished by a niece, Mrs. Margaret Knowlson Adams, Castleton, Vermont.]

Obituary Record of The Society of Alumni, Williams College, 1919-1920, April 1920, Williamstown, Mass.

Submitted by Steven Wiezbicki, Historian, 169th NY INF