Note (5): Isaac Case Knowlton was the probable author of The Human Race (1863), a book that critiqued Charles Darwin’s theories on human origins as requiring more proof, while remaining receptive to the findings of science. Hosea M. Knowlton, son of Rev. Isaac Case Knowlton, was perhaps the most prominent member of the Universalist church in New Bedford during the 19th C., and is best known today as the prosecutor in the Lizzie Borden trial.
The following biographical sketch, from Our County and its People, a Descriptive and Biographical Record of Bristol County, Massachusetts, published by The Boston History Co., Boston (1899), covers Hosea but includes information about his father Isaac as well [paragraphing is editorial]:
Knowlton, Hosea Morrill, was born in Durham, Me., May 20, 1847, and is the eldest son of Rev. Isaac Case Knowlton, D.D. and Mary S. Wellington, his wife. He is a direct descendant of Capt. William Knowlton, who sailed from London to Nova Scotia in 1623-4, but died en route, his widow and three sons, John, William and Thomas, continuing the voyage and finally settling in Ipswich, Mass. Mr. Knowlton’s ancestor is William, who served in King Philip’s war.
Rev. Isaac Case Knowlton was born in Liberty, Me., September 6, 1819, and died at Acton, Mass., March 23, 1894. He was a self-educated man and spent fifty years in the ministry, receiving the degree of D.D. from Tufts College in 1889. Besides numerous articles published in magazines, etc., he was the author of a History of Calais, Maine, 1873, and Through the Shadows, 1885. His wife, Mary Smith Wellington, was descended from Kenelm Winslow, brother of Governor Winslow, and also from Thomas Smith, pastor of the First church in Portland, Me.
Hosea M. Knowlton’s early life was an itinerant one. He attended the High Schools of Oldtown and Bangor, Me., and Keene, N.H., and Powers Institute at Bernardston, Mass., and graduated from Tufts College in 1867. He studied one year in the Harvard Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1870. He shortly afterward opened an office in New Bedford, where he has practiced with eminent success. In 1872 he was appointed register in bankruptcy for the First District in Massachusetts, which office he held until it was abolished in 1878. He was a member of the New Bedford School Committee from 1874 to 1877, city solicitor in 1877, representative to the Legislature in 1876-77, state senator in 1878-79, and district attorney for the Southern District of Massachusetts from 1879 to January 1, 1894, when he resigned to take the office of attorney general of the State, to which position he was elected in the fall of 1893; he has been five times re-elected, an eloquent testimonial of his fitness for the trust, and is still in office. Mr. Knowlton was one of the incorporators and a member of he board of directors of the Edison Electric Light Co. of New Bedford until its consolidation with the New Bedford Gas Co. He has been a director of the Citizens’ National Bank of New Bedford since 1884; a trustee of Tufts College since 1878 and is now vice-president of its board; a trustee of St. Luke’s Hospital, New Bedford, since 1896; and has been a member of the Universalist Society since 1872, its treasurer since 1875, and the superintendent of its Sunday school since 1874. Mr. Knowlton is one of the ablest members of the Massachusetts bar, and as a citizen and public officer is universally respected and esteemed.
On May 22, 1873, he married Miss Sylvia Bassett Almy, daughter of Benjamin and Sophia Almy. Mrs. Knowlton possesses those elements of character which distinguish her as a woman of marked intelligence and ability. She is a graduate of the New Bedford High School and Bridgewater Normal School, and taught school for a year before her marriage. She has been a member of the New Bedford School Committee for five years; has been a director of the New Bedford Choral Association six years and was its vice-president; has been vice-president of the Woman’s Club since its organization, secretary of the New Bedford Volunteer Aid Association, and is a visitor to St. Luke’s Hospital.
Mr. And Mrs. Knowlton have seven children: John Wellington, Born February 28, 1874; Abby Almy, born March 30 1876; Frank Warren, born August 16, 1878; Edward Allen, born April 16, 1883; Helen Sophia, born August 1, 1885; Sylvia Prescott, born May 29, 1890; and Benjamin Almy, born June 13, 1892, all living.