Читать книгу History of Bridgeport and Vicinity, Volume 2: Biographical - George Curtis Waldo jr. - Страница 16

In a review of the lives of those who have been active as public officials of Bridgeport and of the state, there is perhaps no resident of the city whose official record covers a longer period than that of Colonel Julius W. Knowlton, and there is none who has been more faultless in honor, fearless in conduct and stainless in reputation. He has ever made the faithful and capable discharge of his duties his first interest, whether as postmaster, as member of the general assembly or in his present position as a member of the board of assessors. He dates his residence in Bridgeport since 1848, having been absent from the city for only a limited time during all the intervening years to the present. He is now approaching the seventy-ninth milestone on life's journey, his birth having occurred in Southbridge, Worcester county, Massachusetts, November 28, 1838, his parents being William S. and Miriam (Dresser) Knowlton, both of whom were natives of Massachusetts, the former born September 28, 1810, and the latter on the 6th day of May, 1817. The ancestral history of the family in America dates back to 1632, when the first representative of the line came from England to the new world. In 1847 Mrs. Miriam Knowlton was called to her final rest, her death occurring on the 4th of March, when her son Julius was a little lad of but eight years. The father survived for a third of a century, passing away March 22, 1880.

Mr. Knowlton obtained his education in public and private schools of Bridgeport, and in his studies specialized on mathematics and civil engineering. He started out in the business world on his own account in 1860 as a retail coal merchant, but following the outbreak of the Civil war, feeling that his duty to his country was paramount to all else, he sacrificed his business interests and enlisted on the 15th of June, 1862, becoming a private of Company A, Fourteenth Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. On the organization of the regiment, he was made commissary sergeant and subsequently he became acting brigade commissary of the brigade commanded by General Dwight Morris, colonel of the Fourteenth Regiment. He displayed remarkable executive ability, indicated the night of the battle of Antietam, when with the utmost dispatch he pushed his provision train to the front and was the first to provide his brigade with supplies. He was afterward commissioned second lieutenant of Company C, which he commanded at the battle of Gettysburg, and on the third day of the memorable engagement there he was wounded. For eleven days he lay in the field hospital and was then transferred to Baltimore, from which point he was sent home. He returned to the front the following January, but was still physically unqualified for arduous field service; and on the 29th of March, 1864, he was honorably discharged on account of physical disability. He continued to aid by doing service for his country, however, and when Lee surrendered was a clerk in the office of the provost marshal of Bridgeport.

When the war was over, Mr. Knowlton accepted a position in the Adams Express office at Bridgeport, there remaining until October, 1866, when he became the owner of a fourth interest in the Bridgeport Standard, and upon the organization of the business as a stock company in the following January he was appointed secretary, treasurer and business manager, occupying that position for seven years. He resigned, however, in March, 1873, to accept the superintendency of the Moore Car Wheel Company of Jersey City, New Jersey, a large concern which was conducting an extensive business until the memorable "Black Friday" of 1873, when it suffered financial disaster.

In the meantime, Mr. Knowlton had taken an active part in politics and public affairs, and while manager of the Bridgeport Standard, he served for two terms in the general assembly from Stratford. During the same period he was also appointed to a position on the staff of Governor Marshall Jewell, with the rank of colonel. Following the expiration of Governor Jewells second term as governor in 1873 he was appointed postmaster general in the cabinet of President Grant, and on the 15th of October of that year he called Mr. Knowlton to the position of superintendent of the dead letter office at Washington, D. C. Affairs there were in bad condition, the work of the office being fourteen months in arrears. Mr. Knowlton assumed charge and immediately worked out plans to care for the long overdue business of the office and placed the management upon a businesslike basis. This he accomplished in three months. He was then appointed by Postmaster General Jewell in the position of chief clerk of the post-office department at Washington and in the fall of 1875, President Grant appointed him postmaster of Bridgeport. He assumed his office on the 1st of November, 1875, and served continuously during the remainder of President Grant's term, and also during the administrations of Presidents Hayes, Garfield and Arthur. When Grover Cleveland took over the reins of government, Mr. Knowlton was supplanted by a democrat, but when Benjamin Harrison became president, he was recalled to the office, in which he continued to serve until December 31, 1893, so that his incumbency covered almost sixteen years in all, while over his record there fell no shadow of wrong nor suspicion of evil. On the 1st of June, 1898, he was called to office as a member of the city board of assessors, and with the exception of a few months, has served continuously in that position. Throughout the long period of his office holding, he has always been ready and willing to help others, which is one of the chief secrets of his popularity and success. He cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1860, and has never deviated in his loyalty to the republican party through all the intervening period.

On the 17th of December, 1866, Mr. Knowlton married Miss Jane Elizabeth Fairchild, of Newtown, Connecticut, and on the 17th of December, 1916, they celebrated their golden wedding. Mr. Knowlton is well-known in various fraternal and club relations. He is a Knight Templar Mason and Noble of the Mystic Shrine, and on the 19th of September, 1893, the honorary thirty -third degree was conferred upon him in recognition of the splendid service which he has done for the order. He has held many official positions, including that of grand commander of the Grand Commandery of Connecticut. He belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic, and has been assistant adjutant general of Connecticut, and member of the National Council of Administration. He is also a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. In 1907 he was for the forty-first consecutive year elected secretary of the Society of the Fourteenth Connecticut Regiment, and in 1893, 1894 and 1909 was president of this society. Through his labors this society has to-day a full set of printed reports of the annual meetings of the organization. He is also president of the Army and Navy Club of the State of Connecticut, of which, for a quarter of a century, he served as secretary. His religious belief is that of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. Colonel Knowlton deserves indeed high commendation for a life well spent, a life devoted to public service. His strong principles, and his upright course have brought him the merited regard of all with whom he has come in contact and today he is one of Bridgeport's most honored citizens.