Charles G. Knowlton died July 14, 1912

Charles Gilman Knowlton was born in Boscawen, Merrimack, New Hamphire on March 9, 1831, to John and Eliza (Burpee) Knowlton.  He married Jane Sholes in Pembroke, Plymouth, MA on March 1, 1860.

Charles' obituary found in the Springfield Daily Republican, Tuesday, July 16, 1912 on page 16, states that he was in the South during the Civil War and was taken prisoner in Brasser City, Louisiana on June 23, 1863 and released on October 21, 1864.  It further states that he was prohibited from returning to the North until five years had elapsed, and that he had spent time in Hempstead, Texas before returning to New England.  This is an interesting tale, and while I have been unable to verify all of the facts, I believe it may be true.

Charles and Jane were enumerated in Pembroke, MA in 1860.  Jane was living in Charlestown, MA with her mother and stepfather Rebecca and Albert Delano at the time of the 1865 Massachusetts Census.  Charles was not a member of that household nor did I find him in the Massachusetts State Census for that year.  I have been able to find birth records for sons Charles Dwight and George Philip Knowlton in Boscawen, New Hampshire in March 1867 and May 1868. These are the oldest known children of Charles and Jane and would indicate that seven years passed between their marriage and the birth of their first born.  Charles could have been in the South anytime between 1860 and 1866 based on my findings thus far.

Two other known children were Jennie, said to have been born in NH about 1872 [no record found] and Frank, who was born in West Brookfield in 1880 and died of Diphtheria in 1888.  The family had moved to West Brookfield between 1870 and 1879 when a local newspaper reported that Charles had launched the steamboat "Emma" on the river for the purpose of transporting picnickers to Brookfield or Podunk.  Mr. Knowlton was remembered as an engineer who was for many years the superintendent at the condensed milk factory in West Brookfield.

Jane (Sholes) Knowlton died in 1890, and Charles married Annie (Fowler) Martin in 1893.

Son Dwight drowned in Lake Wickaboag in 1885, while sailing with a friend. 

George Knowlton married Addie Dockham of Warren in 1890,  and Jennie Knowlton married Denny Livermore of West Brookfield in 1893.