{{Short description|American lawyer and politician (1813–1879)}} {{infobox officeholder |honorific_prefix = |name = James H. Knowlton |image = James H. Knowlton.png |office = Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly |constituency = Rock 3rd district |term_start = January 1, 1858 |term_end = January 1, 1859 |predecessor = Ezra A. Foot |successor = William E. Wheeler |constituency1 = Lafayette 3rd district |term_start1 = January 1, 1856 |term_end1 = January 1, 1857 |predecessor1 = Joseph White |successor1 = James Earnest |constituency2 = Lafayette 2nd district |term_start2 = January 1, 1854 |term_end2 = January 1, 1855 |predecessor2 = Philemon Simpson |successor2 = A. A. Townsend |party = {{unbulleted list |Republican (after 1854) |Democratic (until 1854) }} |birth_date = {{birth date|1813|8|22}} |birth_place = Canandaigua, New York |death_date = {{death date and age|1879|1|29|1813|8|22}} |death_place = Chicago, Illinois |resting_place = Evergreen Hill Cemetery, Middleton, Wisconsin |spouse = Agnes Flanders {{nowrap|(died 1886)}} |children = |relatives = Wiram Knowlton (brother) |education = |alma_mater = |profession = lawyer, politician }} '''James H. Knowlton''' (August 22, 1813{{spaced ndash}}January 29, 1879) was an American politician and lawyer. He served three terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly. His brother, Wiram Knowlton, was a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
==Early life and career== Knowlton was born in Canandaigua, New York, in 1813.<ref name="berry">{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/historyofbenchba02berr |title= History of the Bench and Bar of Wisconsin |volume=2 |year= 1898 |last= Berryman |first= John R. |publisher= H. C. Cooper Jr. |location= Chicago |pages= 197–199 |accessdate= December 31, 2020 }}</ref> His brother and parents moved to the Wisconsin Territory in the 1830s, and he joined them at Janesville in 1838.<ref name="wihist">{{cite web|url= https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS9440|title= Knowlton, James H. 1813 - 1879 |website= Wisconsin Historical Society |accessdate= December 31, 2020}}</ref> He was there only briefly before moving to Mineral Point, and in 1847, he moved to Shullsburg, in Lafayette County.<ref name="berry"/> At Shullsburg he completed his legal studies, was admitted to the bar, and served as the first probate judge of the county.<ref name="berry"/>
==Political career==
He was a member of the legal team defending Judge Levi Hubbell during his 1853 impeachment, and later that year was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly as a Democrat. He was not reelected in 1854, but was returned to office again in 1856, this time as a Republican. Following the 1855 election, however, Knowlton became involved in Republican gubernatorial candidate Coles Bashford's legal challenge of the election results. Bashford ultimately prevailed and took office in March 1856.<ref name="berry"/>
After the 1856 legislative session, Knowlton moved back to Janesville, in Rock County, where he was elected to his third and final Assembly term in 1857.<ref name="berry"/>
Knowlton played a pivotal role in the construction of the old Wisconsin State Capitol, and in keeping the state's seat of government in Madison. In May 1858, the State Assembly debated whether to move the capital to Milwaukee or to construct a new building that would replace the existing capitol in Madison. The proposal to move the capital passed the Assembly, 41–38, with Knowlton's support. However, Knowlton asked that the bill be put to a second vote. The motion to reconsider was passed by one vote. Knowlton and two other members then changed their votes, causing the bill to be defeated.<ref>Durrie, Daniel Steele. [https://archive.org/details/historyofmadison00durr/page/262/mode/2up ''A history of Madison, the capital of Wisconsin; including the Four Lake country''], 1874, page 262.</ref><ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.78130313&seq=801 "No. 756 A, a bill for an act to provide for the temporary removal of the State Capitol to the city of Milwaukee"], ''Journal of the Assembly of Wisconsin'' 1858 volume 2, pages 2015–2018.</ref>
In 1862, he was a candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court but was not elected.<ref name="berry"/>
==Later years==
Knowlton moved to Chicago in 1865 and continued his law practice. He lost his entire library in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.<ref name="berry"/>
He died in 1879 after a long period of illness.<ref name="berry"/>
==Personal life and family== James H. Knowlton was the third of six children born to Ephraim Hiram Baker Knowlton and his wife Anna (''{{nee}}'' Lepper). The Knowltons were descendants of Captain William Knowlton, who owned a ship by which his family emigrated from England to the Plymouth Colony about 1632.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/historygenealogy01stoc |title =The History and Genealogy of the Knowltons of England and America |year= 1897 |first= Charles Henry Wright |last= Stocking |volume= 1 |publisher= Knickerbocker Press |accessdate= May 4, 2025 }}</ref>
James Knowlton's younger brother, Wiram Knowlton, was the first Wisconsin circuit court judge in Wisconsin's 6th circuit, and was an ''ex officio'' justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS9443 |title=Knowlton, Wiram 1816 - 1963|website= Wisconsin Historical Society |accessdate= December 31, 2020 }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knowlton, James}} Category:Politicians from Canandaigua, New York Category:Politicians from Janesville, Wisconsin Category:People from Shullsburg, Wisconsin Category:Wisconsin Whigs Category:Wisconsin lawyers Category:1813 births Category:1879 deaths Category:19th-century American lawyers Category:Republican Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Category:19th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature