An American Family History

Mary Kimball Knowlton was born on December 10, 1658 in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Her parents were John Kimball and Mary Bradstreet.

When she was 25, she (Mary Kimbal) married the much older, Deacon Thomas Knowlton on May 17, 1683. Thomas was born in 1622 in Caterbury, Kent, England and was the son of Captain William Knowlton and Ann Elizabeth Smith. They left a beautiful manor hall in Kent and sailed on the ship that Captain Knowlton owned to New England. They settled in Ipswich.

Thomas had been married before to Susannah who died on November 20, 1680. Thomas did not have children with either wife, but provided for his brother, William Knowlton's, two sons and daughter. On November 19, 1678 Thomas wrote

"I gave a coat to brother William, and his two boys I keept to scool from the age of 5 to 8 years, and a girl from the age of one & a half years till she was married."

He was deacon from 1667-1668 of the First Church in Ipswich.

Mary died on November 20, 1680. Thomas died April 3, 1692 at age 70.

William Knowlton, son of Richard Knowlton, emigrated to America, as stated above. His wife was Elizabeth. Their children were:
John, born 1610;
Samuel, born 1611;
Robert, born 1613, remained in England, said to have died young;
William, born 1615; Mary, born 1617, died young;
Thomas, born 1620-22.

The manor hall in Kent is a beautiful structure with a history running back to the days of William, the Conqueror.

William Knowlton owned the ship in which he started for America and was known as Captain Knowlton. Of his children, John, William, Deacon Thomas and probably Samuel accompanied him, for a Samuel was found in Hingham soon after the others appeared at Ipswich, Massachusetts, and he died in 1655, leaving a will, proved September, 1655, in which his brother John is named as executor. As John, son of Captain William, was the only one answering the description, Samuel must have also been son of Captain William. John went to Ipswich in 1639, and William and Thomas followed in 1642. It is believed that Captain William was buried in Nova Scotia, whither he was bound and near the coast of which he died.

(II) William Knowlton, son of Captain William Knowlton (1), was born in Kent, England, 1615. He settled at Ipswich and was a brick mason by trade. He was a member of the First Church of Christ (Congregational). He was admitted a freeman in 1641-42. He was given commonage with pasturage for one cow and a share in Plum Island. He sold to Edward Bragg, of Ipswich, December 12, 1643, a house and lot he had bought of John Andrews. He died in 1655.

The account of the estate was presented in the Essex court by his brother, Thomas Knowlton, in 1678. Thomas stated that he had kept two boys from the age of five to eight and a girl from one year old till she married.

Children of William and Elizabeth Knowlton were:
Thomas, born 1640, married Hannah Green, November 24, 1668;
Nathaniel, born 1641, married Deborah Grant, May 3, 1662;
William, born 1642,

Were you to make inquiries among the people of New England generally concerning their ancestry, in nine cases out of ten they would tell you that they were descended from one of three brothers who came over from Old England about the year 16—; and in nine times out of ten they would be wrong.

But it so happens in the Knowlton family that three brothers did actually come to New England and settle in Ipswich; John1, William1, and Dea. Thomas;1 for both John1 and Thomas1 call William1 their brother; evidence of the most satisfactory character. . . .

The third brother, Dea. Thomas1 Knowlton, was born in 1622. He m. first, Susanna. His second wife was Mary Kimball, to whom he was m. May 17, 1682. It does not appear that he had children.

On the 19th of Nov. 1678, Dea. Thomas1 thus writes: "I gave a coat to brother William, and his two boys I keept to scool from the age of 5 to 8 years, and a girl from the age of one & a half years till she was married." He died April 3, 1692, aged 70 years.