Benjamin Knower

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Benjamin Knower (1775 Roxbury, now a borough of Boston, Massachusetts – August 23, 1839 Watervliet, Albany County, New York) was an American merchant, banker and politician.

Life

By 1800 he had removed to Dutchess County, New York, and on June 21, 1800, he married Sarah Van Kleek (1779-1833) at the Dutch Reformed Church in Poughkeepsie, New York. Before 1810, he settled in Albany, New York where he sold hats made by his brother Timothy in Guilderland, New York. Local lore had it that the hats were made waterproof by immersion in the Bozenkill, a stream behind a mansion in Knowersville, a village of Guilderland.

Knower was a presidential elector in 1820, voting for James Monroe and Daniel D. Tompkins.

He was New York State Treasurer from 1821 to 1824, and was one of the leading members of the Albany Regency. On April 28, 1824, his daughter Cornelia (ca. 1801-1889) married State Comptroller William L. Marcy.

Knower became rich as a financier of the Erie Canal and as a director of the Mechanics and Farmers Bank of Albany. After the death of his first wife, on June 23, 1836, he married Sophia P. Castle (d. 1886) in New York City.

He was buried at the Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands, New York. His home at Guilderland, New York known as the Knower House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.^[1]

Sources

↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13.

Political offices
Preceded by Gerrit L. Dox	New York State Treasurer 1821 - 1824	Succeeded by Abraham Keyser, Jr.

v t e New York State Treasurers

Livingston Bancker McClellan A G Lansing Thomas A G Lansing Thomas Platt Dox Knower Keyser Barstow Keyser Barstow Haight Farrington Enos Farrington Hunt Cook Welch Spaulding Clark Vanderpoel Dorsheimer Lewis Schuyler Howland Bristol Raines A Lansing* Raines Ross Mackin Wendell Maxwell Fitzgerald Danforth Colvin Jaeckel Wickser Wallenmeier Hauser Dunn Kennedy Batten* Call Wells Marshall Shuler Pounds

*denotes acting treasurer

Authority control	VIAF: 2329547

Persondata
Name	Knower, Benjamin
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1775
Place of birth
Date of death	August 23, 1839
Place of death

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