Knott, Edward

BLONDEN, MOOREHOUSE, BESWICK, BOWMAN, EYSTER, RINKER

Posted By: BCGS
Date: 12/17/2009 at 15:17:49

Edward Knott, a prominent and prosperous citizen of Waverly, was appointed to the position of United States marshal under President Harrison in 1888 and has served in that capacity continuously since, with the exception of the period of Cleveland's second administration. For a number of years he was engaged in business, managing the firm of Edward Knott & Company, buying imported stallions. His birth occurred at Treyford, England, on the 4th of March, 1842, his parents being Alfred and Jane (Blonden) Knott, also natives of that place. The father, who was born in 1800, passed away in 1878, while the mother's birth occurred in 1810. In England, Alfred Knott worked as a miller. In 1854 he emigrated to the United States, settling at Belvidere, Boone county, Illinois, where he was engaged as a malster for three or four years. On the expiration of that period he removed to Rockford, Illinois, and there followed farming for a year, at the end of which time he took up his abode in Ringwood, McHenry county, Illinois. Subsequently he went to Richmond, Illinois, and in 1863 located at Cedar Falls, Blackhawk county, Iowa, coming thence to Waverly in 1867. Here he successfully conducted a feed store throughout the remainder of his life.

Edward Knott, the fourth in order of birth in a family of nine children, attended school in his native land until about ten years of age and did not enter an institution of learning after emigrating to the new world, but has become a well informed man through reading, experience and observation. After putting aside his text-books he secured employment in an apothecary's shop in the city of London and had worked for two weeks at a meager wage when he noticed a window sign which read: "Boy Wanted." He feared that in trying for the position, he might lose the one he had, but received his mother's consent to make application and was employed at a dollar and a quarter per week. At the end of eleven months in the latter position he was obliged to inform his employer that he intended to accompany his mother on her emigration to the United States in the fololowing week, his father having crossed the Atlantic previously, in 1854. The mother and nine children made the voyage in a sailing vessel. At Bevidere, Illinois, Edward Knott was hired to drive oxen at a wage of four dollars per month, being thus employed for about four years. On the expiration of that period he returned to the parental roof and worked on a farm with his father and mother. In the fall of 1861 he made his way to Iowa with a team of horses and, coming to Janesville, Bremer county, was there hired by Ransom Moorehouse for one year at a wage of thirteen dollars per month. Subsequently he purchased a J.I. Case threshing rig on time and operated the same for two years. He was then married and rented a farm a mile and a half south of Janesville, cultivating the same for six months and in the latter part of the year 1864 took up his abode in Janesville, the Illinois Central Railroad having recently been extended there. He engaged in buying wheat for T.P. Beswick, of Cedar Falls, on a commission basis.

In 1865 Mr. Knott came to Waverly and embarked in the livery business, also buyinjg horses for shipment to the Dakotas and eastern markets. Subsequently he erected a large barn at Buffalo as a distributing point for horses in the east. At that time, in 1888 or 1889, the importing firm of Edward Knott & Company was established and began buying stallions in Belgium, France, England and Germany. The members of the firm were J.H. and W.R. Bowman and Edward Knott, the last named acting as manager and foreign buyer and being now the only survivor of the trio. He remained in that business until 1896, when his duties as marshal became such that he was obliged to abandon all other interests. Mr. Knott is a director and stockholder in the State Bank of Waverly and also owns two farms embracing two hundred and twenty acres, all except eighty acres thereof being inside the corporation limits of Waverly. One of these farms is occupied by his son Alfred, while the other is leased. His record is an excellent illustration of the power of industry and perseverance in the attainment of success, for he has worked his way steadily upward from a humble and obscure position to a place among the prosperous and representative citizens of his community.

On the 31st of January, 1864, Mr. Knott was united in marriage to Miss Ann Eliza Eyster, who was born in Ogle county, Illinois, on the 13th of September 1845, her parents being William and Nancy (Rinker) Eyster, natives of Pennsylvania and Kentucky, respectively. The father, an agriculturist by occupation, removed to Illinois in early manhood and spent the remainder of his life in that state, meeting death by drowning in the Rock river. During the last twenty years of her life the mother resided at Janesville, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Knott became the parents of eight children, as follows: John, who is engaged in the livery business at Waverly; Edward, deceased; Carrie and Marion, at home; Alfred, who operates his father's farm; Grace, who has passed away; Josephine, who is a teacher in the public schools at Sioux City, Iowa; and one, who died in infancy.

Mr. Knott gives his political allegiance to the republican party,. As above stated, he was appointed United States marshal under President Harrison but resigned the position at the time of Cleveland's term. When William McKinley was chosen the chief executive of the nation he was again appointed marshal and has held the office from that time to the present, discharging its duties in a highly commendable and efficient manner. He has served as a member of the city council for seven years and was on the school board for five years, while for eleven years he acted as president of the Bremer County Fair Association. His religious faith is that of the Episcopal church, in which he holds membership, while fraternally he is identified with the Masons. The period of his residence in Bremer county covers more than a half century and he has long enjoyed an enviable reputation as one of its esteemed and respected citizens.

History of Bremer County, Iowa Vol. II 1914