Paul Holland Knowlton (September 17, 1787 – August 28, 1863) was a businessman and political figure in

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

and

Canada East Canada East () was the northeastern portion of the Province of Canada. Lord Durham's Report investigating the causes of the Upper and Lower Canada Rebellions recommended merging those two colonies. The new colony, known as the Province of ...

. He was born in

Newfane, Vermont Newfane is the shire town (county seat) of Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,645 at the 2020 census. The town includes the villages of Newfane, Williamsville, and South Newfane. History One of the New Hampshire gra ...

in 1787, the son of Silas Knowlton (1764-1844) and Lucinda Holbrook, and the grandson of Luke Knowlton. He came to

in 1798 with his family. After his mother died two years later, he went back to Newfane to live with his grandparents and complete his schooling. In 1807, he moved back to Stukely Township in Lower Canada. Knowlton settled on

Brome Lake Brome Lake () is a freshwater lake in the town of Brome Lake, in the Brome-Missisquoi regional county municipality of the Montérégie region of Quebec, Canada. It is the source of the Yamaska River. The name Brome Lake comes from Brome Towns ...

in Brome Township where he established a farm, general store and

distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

. In 1830, he was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. The lower house consisted of e ...

for Shefford County. Knowlton voted against the

Ninety-Two Resolutions The Ninety-Two Resolutions were drafted by Louis-Joseph Papineau and other members of the '' Parti patriote'' of Lower Canada in 1834. The resolutions were a long series of demands for political reforms in the British-governed colony. Papineau ha ...

. He helped set up the Shefford County Agricultural Society and served as president. In 1834, he set up a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

in a new location and added a store and

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

; this was to become the site of a new settlement called Coldbrook, later known as Knowlton. Knowlton helped organize the local resistance against the

Lower Canada Rebellion The Lower Canada Rebellion (), commonly referred to as the Patriots' Rebellion () in French, is the name given to the armed conflict in 1837–38 between rebels and the colonial government of Lower Canada (now southern Quebec). Together wit ...

and was named lieutenant-colonel in the local militia. He was named to the Special Council that then administered the province by colonial administrator Sir

John Colborne Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal John Colborne, 1st Baron Seaton, (16 February 1778 – 17 April 1863) was a British Army officer and colonial governor. After taking part as a junior officer in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Hollan ...

. In 1841, he was named to the

Legislative Council of the Province of Canada The Legislative Council of the Province of Canada () was the upper house for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper Canada, then known ...

. He signed the 1849

Montreal Annexation Manifesto The Montreal Annexation Manifesto was a political document dated September 14, 1849, and signed in Montreal, Canada East, calling for the Province of Canada's annexation by the United States. The manifesto was published in two versions (October 11, ...

proposing union with the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, viewing this as the best way to ensure the future economic development of the region. He served as first warden for

Brome County Brome County, is a historical county of Quebec. It takes its name from the name of a manor in the parish of Barham in Kent, England that was named after the broom plant. It was named by English surveyors. The earliest settlers to this region wer ...

and was first president of the county agricultural society. He helped establish the ''Advertiser and Eastern Townships Sentinel'' with Lucius Seth Huntington in 1856. He died in Knowlton in 1863.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Knowlton, Paul Holland 1787 births 1863 deaths People from Newfane, Vermont Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada Members of the Special Council of Lower Canada Members of the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada