Introduction

Hello everyone,

My name is Valinn Joseph Vincent Ranelli and I am the first and only son of Jeanne Anne Knowlton. If you know of me from my other blogs or from any other source, this one is NOT about chasing down rare insects, jumping out of boats onto irate snapping turtles, hanging off frozen sea cliffs in -20 degree temperatures photographing ducks, pulling deadly snakes from tiny crevices on perilous ledges or wrenching huge and ferocious (but usually tasty) fish from the waterways of Connecticut. No, this blog is about my mother and I tracing the history of our branch of the Knowlton family across North America (and digging up plenty of info. about other Knowltons along the way). In case you don't already know, all Knowltons in North America are descended from Captain William Knowlton of England and his three sons who landed in Nova Scotia, Canada in 1633. Captain William himself actually died on the voyage and was buried in Nova Scotia upon landing. His wife, Ann Elizabeth Smith and sons William, Thomas and John survived and began life in North America. They eventually settled in Essex County, Massachusetts, and from there the Knowltons spread out across North America. It is William, through his son Timothy, from which our line descends. Over the past three years, our research has focused primarily on the family of the rather mysterious Benjamin Knowlton, my mother's great great great grandfather, born in 1773 in Rowe, Massachusetts, as it is they who traveled across the country from New England and settled in Michigan, where my mother was born. Information about this family is quite spotty and hard to come by but what follows is a summary of what we know at this point.

Benjamin and his wife Betsey Grant had a huge family of 13 children, most of whom are said to have been born in New York, but for only a few of whom a birth town or county is listed (St. Lawrence Cty., Franklin Cty. and the town of Constable in Franklin Cty. are listed). However, according to Charles Henry Wright Stocking's monumental work "The History and Genealogy of the Knowltons of England and America" Benjamin lived for many years in the town of Le Roy, Genesee Cty., NY where he was a hotellier. It is therefore likely that many of the children without a birth county or town recorded but listed as born in NY probably were born in Le Roy. Almost all of the children are listed as having died in Ottawa Cty., MI and several have extant graves there. In the summer of 2009, my mother and I visited Le Roy and were unable to locate Benjamin's hotel. The biggest mystery about this family, however, is what happened after their time in Le Roy and what route did they travel to Michigan. Benjamin himself, according to Stocking, is said to have "finally disappeared," with his relatives having no knowledges of his location, but numerous sources state that he died in Ashtabula, Ohio and Stocking even notes that he died in the home of a man named Robert McFalls. Interestingly, his son John R. is listed by Stocking as having married a woman by the surname of McFalls, so it is likely that at least he also spent time in the Ashtabula area.

On August 4, 2010 (2 days from now), my mother and I are setting out for Ashtabula County, Ohio in an effort to solve some of these mysteries. Preliminary research has revealed many Knowltons historically present in the area, particularly in the town of Morgan, and we have also confirmed that a Robert McFall lived in the town of Harpersfield in 1840, around the time Benjamin probably died (his wife remarried in that year).

You may ask how we know we are descended from this family, and I will explain. My mother's great great grandfather, Charles A. Knowlton, is known from his age in census records to have been born in 1816. Benjamin's son Charles is the ONLY Charles Knowlton born in all of North America in the year 1816. This, combined with the fact that most of Benjamin's family ended up in Michigan allowed us to confirm them as our ancestors.