William Knowles Sr (1645 - abt. 1727)

Born 1645 in Warwick, Kent County, Rhode Island

Husband of Alice (Fish) Knowles — married 1675 in Portsmouth, Newport, Rhode Island

Descendants

Died about 1727 at about age 82 in Kingston, Washington County, Rhode Island

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Biography

William Knowles, born in 1645 in Warwick, Rhode Island, was the son of Henry Knowles [b: ABT 1609 in Hull, YKS, ENG] and Susanna Potter. William Knowles passed away about 1727 at Kingston, Rhode Island.

From "History of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations: Biographical"^[1] "The Knowles family in Rhode Island has figured prominently in Colonial and State history since the second half of the seventeenth century. Henry Knowles, immigrant ancestor and progenitor of all of the family of ancient date in Rhode Island, came from London, England, to Portsmouth, R. I., arriving on April 15, 1635. Of his three sons only one, William Knowles, lived to perpetuate the line.

William Knowles, born in 1645, was a resident of Warwick, and of South Kingstown, where he was active in official life for several decades, serving as deputy to the General Assembly in 1706 and 1707. On 6 September 1687, he is cited on Gov. Andros' tax roll at Rochester (renamed later to Kingstown), Rhode Island owing a “pole” (poll) tax of 1s, and a property tax of 4s 11.5d, which places him as an adult resident and property landholder in Kingstown, RI on this date. ^[2] This tax roll identifies a sum total of 136 heads of house living in the roughly 22.5 square mile area associated with Kingstown, RI on this date in 1687; one consequence of this sparse population is that he would have been well acquainted with many, if not all, of the individuals identified on this list. The list is a defacto definition of the people who were available to be his friends, neighbors, and allies; it would be essential to cultivate strong working relationships with these neighbors in order to survive on this frontier landscape. This cross reference tool provides hot links to peruse most of the 136 Wikitree families identified in this tax roll; families who were very frequently interconnected, or became interconnected, by marriage, over the course of their lives and throughout the ensuing generations, further binding a network of neighbors into extended families. ^[3] His sons, with the exception of John, who removed to Richmond, were residents of South Kingstown. Through John Knowles descended the Knowles of Richmond and Hopkinton, of which the late Horace B. Knowles was a descendant."

William Knowles married ALICE FISH 1674 in Portsmouth, Newport Co., Rhode Island, daughter of THOMAS FISH and MARY SHERMAN ^[4]. She was born about 1655 in Portsmouth, Newport Co., Rhode Island, and died July 20, 1734 in South Kingstown, Washington Co., Rhode Island ^[5].

Children of WILLIAM KNOWLES and ALICE FISH were:

1. HENRY KNOWLES II, b. September 29, 1675, Kingstown, Washington Co., Rhode Island; d. May 01, 1740, South Kingstown, Washington Co., Rhode Island.
2. WILLIAM KNOWLES, b. c 1677, South Kingstown, Washington Co., Rhode Island; d. 1727, South Kingstown, Washington Co., Rhode Island.
3. MARGARET KNOWLES, b. c 1681, South Kingstown, Washington Co., Rhode Island; d. October 07, 1732, South Kingstown, Washington Co., Rhode Island.
4. ROSE KNOWLES, b. c 1683, South Kingstown, Washington Co., Rhode Island; d. Deceased.
5. MARY KNOWLES, b. c 1685, Warwick, Kent Co., Rhode Island; d. Aft. October 07, 1732, Swansea, Bristol Co., Massachusetts.
6. MARTHA KNOWLES, b. c 1685, South Kingstown, Washington Co., Rhode Island; d. Deceased; m. SAMUEL SHERMAN, March 07, 1711; b. January 12, 1687; d. Aft. 1717, Woodbury, Litchfield Co., Connecticut.
7. JOHN KNOWLES II, b. 1687, South Kingstown, Washington Co., Rhode Island; d. Bet. April 04, 1771 -November 13, 1772.
8. ROBERT KNOWLES, b. 1689, South Kingstown, Washington Co., Rhode Island; d. 1759, South Kingstown, Washington Co., Rhode Island.
9. ALICE KNOWLES, b. c 1693, Warwick or Kingstown, Washington Co., Rhode Island; d. Bet. October 06, 1721 - October 07, 1732.
10. DANIEL KNOWLES, b. 1697, South Kingstown, Washington Co., Rhode Island; d. August 1759, Providence, Providence Co., Rhode Island.+

An online memorial site contains data which vaguely resemble the information on this William Knowles ^[6], however before presuming that it does pertain, more robust sourcing from credible references should be sought to support this profile.

Sources

1. ↑ History of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, NY: The American Historical Society, Inc. 1920
2. ↑ Roberts, Gary Boyd; Genealogies of Rhode Island Families, Vol. II, Niles - Wilson; Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore 1989. RI Taxes under Gov. Andros pages 592- 594.
3. ↑ Randolph Beebe; Cross Reference: Gov. Andros 1687 Rochester RI Tax Register to Wikitree profile; Wikitree Free Space Profiles, 2024.
4. ↑ U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 Author: Yates Publishing Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
5. ↑ Fish, Lester Warren. The Fish family in England and America: genealogical and biographical records and sketches Rutland Vermont, USA. 1948; p. 81: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89067390757;view=1up;seq=123
6. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #95230018

• New England Historical & Genealogical Register, Page: 87:128, 364