Mrs. Sewell Knowlton

KNOWLTON, HOUCK, PETIS, ADAMS, JOHNSON, PERRY

Posted By: Diana Diedrich (email)
Date: 10/27/2005 at 20:01:24

Mrs. Sewell Knowlton, mother of Mr. William Knowlton of Waukon, died at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. A. J. Houck of Decorah, Sept., 30th, in her 95th year.
Her maiden name was Deborah Tracy Petis and was born in Canterbury, Conn., Oct. 22d, 1805, and was educated in Smyrna, N.Y., where her parents moved when she was young. Her life was that of a pioneer. In 1830 she married; in 1838 moved to Illinois, and came to Iowa, locating in Bluffton in 1859 where for more than a quarter century she was "grandma Knowlton" to all who knew her.
When thirteen years of age she was converted, and although her life was seemingly one of privation she lived a happy contented life having an abiding faith in the Lord.
Her grandmother was a cousin of John Quincy Adams and her husband a soldier in the war of 1812, and after his death in 1855 she became a pensioner of that war.
She was the mother of eight children, four of whom survive her, vix- Mrs. A.M. Perry, Wm. Knowlton of Waukon, Mrs. A. J. Houck, and Mrs. Julia Johnson, of Belvidere, Ill. Funeral services were held and remains buried at Bluffton beside those of a daughter and several grandchildren. Until a week before her death her bodily vigor was unusual and her mind unclouded.

The Waukon Standard, October 11, 1899 page 5
Transcribed by Diana Diedrich