Narratives regarding this ground breaking project can be found at the Google Knowlton Group.  There you will also gain a sense of the project’s chronology.  They also can be found at addextra’s WikiTree document, “Knowlton’s of the 1700s in New England“.  Our work corrects and disproves Stocking/Errata and uncovers many records not found in those volumes.  Continue reading here for summarized information with helpful links.

The challenge:  Errata did not correct much of History’s error and omission for William (3) grandchildren.  Timothy (41G) and his cousin, Jonathan (54), son of Samuel (13), left brothers and sisters behind in Ipswich moving inland.  Prior to now, researchers have been led astray by Stocking/Errata’s listing of their descendants. 

In 1716 Timothy Knowlton (41G) and his wife Hannah Storey sold their home and property in The Hamlet, Ipswich to his brother-in-law, Isaac Giddings, and moved the family to Sherborn, Massachusetts.  In 1721 he appears on a list of Sherborn taxpayers.  In 1722 his cousin and former neighbor in The Hamlet, Jonathan (54) Knowlton, did the same, selling out to his brother, Ebenezer, and moving with his wife, Elizabeth, and children.   In 1724 the western end of Sherborn was set off as the town of Holliston & starting 1727 Timothy appears in the town’s records on a number of occasions.  About 1738  the family group moved to a new settlement in New Hampshire originally called “New Hopkinton Plantation No. 5” and later called just Hopkinton.  The three Hopkintons in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York State have always tended to cause confusion for researchers. Stocking got caught in the confusion by giving Timothy’s residence as Hopkinton, New Hampshire on page 36 of the History and then amending it to Hopkinton, Massachusetts on page 20 of the Errata. In fact, Stocking was right the first time in the History. We can document that Timothy lived in Hopkinton, New Hampshire but not Hopkinton, Massachusetts.  Both families thrived in their new locations and had many descendants who came to reside throughout the 1700’s in (other towns). The number of people alive today who are descended from these two branches of the William (S3) tree is considerable.

New corrections must be made to History pp 22 & 27 and Errata p 10.  Transcription errors, giving 1600 dates for 1700 dates, accidentally created fictional children, Daniel (17), Daniel (67) and Jonathan (68), rendering the fictional births of Jonathan (183), John (184) and Rebecca (185).  The list on the left provides links to records of individuals who either don’t appear in Stocking/Errata or are not indexed there.  For purposes of this project they have been given “A#’s”; however, these numbers are random and do not suggest birth order or any other sequence in relationships.  At some point they will become mute and each will be identified by its WIKID #.  

One thing is curious about all of Timothy’s moves – he’s the first Knowlton there in each location and none of his family from The Hamlet follow him to any of these locations. Even he and his cousin Jonathan(54) never lived in the same town once they left The Hamlet. This is a little unusual for the time. It was much more common for a number of related individuals to settle together. Sometimes one family or individual would go ahead of the others but would then be quickly joined by the rest. This suggests that perhaps Timothy’s inlaws might have something to do with these moves. Time did not permit the study of the family of Hannah Storey but perhaps Hannah’s family connections had something to do with (their) move to Sherborn (Ma.). 

It was necessary to identify the above errors before the children of Timothy and Jonathan could be correctly listed.  Record discoveries show that Timothy (41G) and family moved from Ipswich to Sherborn, Ma. ( that part which became Holliston ) and then to Hopkinton, NH.  Also discovered – Jonathan (54) and family moved from Ipswich to Hopkinton, Ma. and then to Holliston, Ma.  This research around these two Knowltons points up how pivotal geographical determinations are to arriving at proven family relationships.  Census, birth/death, marriage, military and historical records all provide clues as to what persons were living in the same place at the same time.  Rev. Stocking and GHK did not have the luxury of internet archives to avoid the confusing effect of three Hopkintons.

The settlement of Hopkinton, New Hampshire in 1738 was made up, for the most part, by people from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, hence the name. On the very first list of prospective settlers was Jonathan (160B) Knowlton, Jonathan(54)’s son. Also on the list were a considerable number of in-laws of this branch of the Knowltons, mainly the Carril (Caryl) family. Two of Jonathan (160B)’s sisters had married into that family.  While Jonathan (160B) was on the list of prospective proprietors, Timothy (41G) was not. However, Jonathan never settled there and Timothy did.

And then he moved to Wrentham, Ma.

After the harrowing years in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, we find Timothy (41G) and his son Ephraim (A1) and his family in Wrentham. Timothy appears to have lived in Wrentham from 1749 until his marriage to Martha Shippee in 1760. From 1760 until his death in 1770 he is of Cumberland.