Hosea M. Knowlton- Cut Down in His Prime

The Borden Curse #7

Hosea M. Knowlton was a talented and accomplished man. Born May 20, 1847 in Durham, Maine, he excelled at Keene, New Hampshire High School, Tufts College, B.A. 1867, and Harvard Law School, class of 1870. He married an equally accomplished woman, Sylvia B. Almy and produced seven successful children:

John Wellington Knowlton

Abby Almy Knowlton

Frank Warren Knowlton

Edward Allen Knowlton

Helen Sophia Knowlton

August I. Knowlton

Sylvia Prescott Knowlton

Benjamin Almy Knowlton- one year old at the time of Lizzie’s trial

His portrait still hangs in the courtroom in New Bedford where Lizzie’s trial took place, and for all of the accomplishments including District Attorney, he is always remembered as the prosecutor in the Borden trial of 1893.

In 1902 Mr. Knowlton’s mother died in an horrific accident in Boston. In December of that same year, Hosea himself was struck down suddenly with apoplexy while at his summer home in Marion and died on the 19th, only 55 years old. He and Sylvia had just built a beautiful house there and he was finally enjoying the fruits of his hard labor. Eli Bence and Defense Attorney and former Massachusetts Gov. George D. Robinson would also suffer the same fate, apoplexy- in their prime. Knowlton’s youngest son, Ben, who was just a year old at the time of Lizzie’s trial would die of cerebral hemorrhage in 1960. Knowlton’s remains were cremated and ashes scattered over the harbor of his beloved Marion. His name is on a memorial stone in Rural Cemetery, New Bedford where many of his relatives are buried.