San Diego, California,
January 3rd, 1900
 

T. S. Knoles,

Brother:

Your favor of recent date, with a pamphlet purporting to give a historical address relating to our family, was duly received.

The KNOLES family had its origin away back in the dim mists of forgotten ages. The first indication of its emergence from their past history is when men were compelled by law to adopt a surname. Our fathers migrated from the plains of Saxony to the Island of Britain. Our ancestors first settled in North Hamptonshire and Kent. They were detailed to perform the clerical function of caring for and knolling the Curfew, a bell to be rung at night-fall, that the vile, evil-disposed and disorderly might retire and thereby make life and property more secure, established William the Conqueror.

Originally the name was Knoll or Knoler. They pursued the even tenor of their vocation, maintaining the supremacy of the law of the survival of the fittest, until Sir Richard Knolles with greater opportunities than most of men, in 1560, wrote the history of the Turks and several other literary works. (Cyclopedia Britanica.)

The effect of these efforts as an author immediately brought him to the front as a leading character in the literary constellation of the British Empire. At the time of his first efforts, he and his family were domiciled at North Hamptonshire. Afterwards he was employed as Master of an institution of learning at Sandwich in Kent.

His sons and immediate descendants are not definitely known, but among his descendants was Edward Knoles, said to be a great-grand-son of old Richard, who had a son by the name of Daniel Knoles, who came to America with Lord Delaware (De La War) with other colonists, and landed at the Port of Willmington, Delaware. Daniel Knoles and family afterwards located in Sussex County, Delaware.

I will give you a true genealogical history of the family, from old Grandfather David Knoles later on in this communication.

I presume I have given this subject much greater thought and intelligent research than any other member of the family, living or dead. I know I am correct, and from what I have read and heard from others, their so-called history preceding Richard Knoles, father of James, our great grand-father, is wholly conjecture, or founded upon a mythical desire to have their own way.

It must be remembered the greater portion of the family have sought to repudiate the simplicity of the original orthography of the name by our fathers, within my own memory. I am fortified in this position by the direct words of my grand-father, and I venture to say, not one of the entire family who ever knew Prettyman Knoles, will dare say that he would state anything but the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. He would have surrendered his life rather than state a falsehood. I have read with a great deal of interest the so-called historical address of Rev. Levin Wilson at a re-union of the Knoles family in Gibson County, Indiana, September 24th, 1896. Mr. Wilson is a cousin of our father, and ought to be fairly well posted as to the history of our family; but I observe inexcusable errors in his address, some of which are so patent as to excite wonder for a man of his profession, assuming the functions he assumed on the occasion in question. However, it is human to err. One of his mistakes is in giving the name of our grand-mother. Her name was Patsey Greer, and not Margaret Greer. She was born in Ireland, and came to this country when but three months of age, with her parents who settled in Georgia. Her brother, Martin Greer, was alive in 1864, and resided then in the State of Alabama. I discovered his whereabouts whilst a prisoner of war at Montgomery.

He, the Reverend Levin Wilson, surrounded by a large number of the family, apparently ashamed of the humble origin, and the Democratic simplicity of the orthography of the name, as originally written, and had borrowed the letter "w" and injected it into the center of their surname, undertook to give a meaning to the word "Knowles", and came to the conclusion that it meant the "Knowing ones." I should have liked to have been present and applied a clairvoyant and psychological test to each individual present, for the purpose of ascertaining the estimate placed upon that definition, especially those most interested under the spell of the magnificent and effulgent display of classical eloquence. The mental telepathic emissions of our good cousin, John W. Knoles, would have been most interesting. The mental flash would have probably read: "Cousin Levin, you have over-done it." Cast your mental psychometre over the two words of which the word "Knowles" is compounded, and as it originally was, it would be "know less"! I have got to learn that "know less" by dropping one "s" reverses the English meaning, and changes "know less" to "knowing ones". The absurdity of the proposition is so pronounced there can seem to be no excuse for it unless supplemented by a density of ignorance sufficient to obscure the mental vision and surprise even a fool.

Our grand-father was about as well versed in the history of the family as any one, and from him I learned the true orthography of our surname is K-n-o-l-e-s. It had a meaning in the beginning. In the earlier history of England, after the Saxons had taken possession of that Country and laid the foundation, broad and deep, of that system of local self-government, so dear to the Anglo-Saxon race, and which is the substratum underlying the foundation of the British government, and which embraces the fundamental principles upon which our system of government rests, many devices were resorted to for the better security of the people in the possession of their civil liberties and the protection of their lives and property.

In the course of time, as a precautionary measure, for the protection of the people of the Empire, the Curfew bell was adopted by law, which bell should be knolled at night-fall. The persons employed were called knollers. In the course of time, when by decree, and as a means of identifying the citizen, the people were directed to chose a surname. Those failing to comply were given one, and generally one that had a meaning. Our ancestors chose a name which had a meaning. One that would reflect their standing in society, and indicate the profession to which they belonged. Their business was a clerical vocation. It was to knoll the curfew bell. The person performing the duties of this office was known as bell ringer or knoler. The name, as first selected was Knoll. It was afterwards pluralized and "es" added, making Knolles, as Sir Richard Knolles, the historian spelled it. In the course of time one "l" was dropped out. Or the word Knoles may have had the letter "s" substituted for the letter "r" in Knoler. In either case the omission or substitution gave the name of Knoles, which had a meaning so long as there was any utility in the meaning of a surname.

By reason of its origin and the great influence which the clerical training of our father has had psychologically upon their posterity, the name is sacred. The clerical gentleman himself is a professed minister of the gospel through the psychological impressions made upon him in veatre si mere. His mother was a Knoles, and she, in turn received this psychological predisposition, which is common to the whole family, from her uncle's ancestors. It is a notorious fact that the entire family has a peculiar quality of mind that drifts into theological or clerical channels. This can be accounted for upon no hypothesis other than the predisposition of their ancestors growing out of long ages in a single line of professional life. If he is a genuine Knoles, a psychometrical test will uncover his true qualities and show him a thoroughbred. It was large in our grand-father Prettyman Knoles. We find it in Fred and Tully. It cropped out in the late Rev. James Knoles; also in Wiley.

Now as for you and I, we are perfectly willing that our kindred would spell their names as they wish, but they must not lay sacrilegious hands upon a sacred name which we inherited from our ancestors and propose to transmit to our descendants down the ages to the end of time, or the extinction of the family; and extinction will not overtake our descendants if they continue to practice and adhere to the great virtues which we have inherited from our ancestors.

The Reverend Wilson should look to the orthography of his own name. If it were of any practical utility I would show that his name has been tampered with. It was "Willisson" before being simplified.

Now suppose the tradition of the origin of Knoles is not founded in fact, there still exists another potent reason why the fathers spelled their name K-n-o-l-e-s. They were, without question, of Saxon blood. Their general appearance and physical peculiarities demonstrate this beyond cavil. The Saxons spelled the name Knell, Knollen, Knollberg, Knollenberg, Knollmiller, Knollermiller, Knole, Knoley, all bearing a similar meaning, that of a hill. They never spelled it Knowles. That is the English and particularly belonged to the family of Sir Robert Knowles. James Sheridan Knowles was an Irishman. The Knowles of New England came over with the Mayflower. Our ancestors came over with Lord Delaware or De La War, and landed at Wilmington, Delaware. Edward Knoles had a son whose name was Daniel Knoles. He first landed with a colony of English immigrants at Wilmington, and finally settled in Sussex County, Delaware. Daniel Knoles had a son whose name was Edward Knoles, and was the father of James Knoles. James Knoles was the father of Richard Knoles; Richard Knoles was the father of James Knoles. James Knoles was the father of Prettyman Knoles; Prettyman Knoles was the father of Asa Knoles. Asa Knoles married Dorcas Stone, a daughter of Thomas Stone and Dorcas Montgomery Stone. Thomas Stone was a nephew of Thomas Stone in the Continental Congress from Maryland and was one of the signers of the Declaration of American Independence. Asa Knoles and Dorcas Stone Knoles were the parents of Samuel Stone Knoles, John Lowery Knoles, Jacob Jefferson Knoles, Martin Van Buren Knoles, Prettyman Marvel Knoles, Sarah Estill Knoles, Jane Knoles, Thomas Stone Knoles, Eli Asa Knoles, Louisa Knoles, now Stone, and Elizabeth Knoles.

Asa Knoles and Nancy Montgomery Knoles (now Eldridge), were the parents of Martha Ellen Knoles, Margaret Dorcas Knoles, Arminda A. Knoles and Aroinda A. Knoles. Asa Knoles, our father, was a man six feet and two inches high, and of the average weight of 216 pounds. He had no surplus flesh, and was as straight as an arrow. He was, in fact, a perfect man physically. He depreciated the idea, as did his father, Prettyman Knoles, of some of their kindred desecrating the true orthography of the name.

Well do I remember when the late Rev. James Knoles (he wrote it Knowles), wrote the names of grand-father's children in a new Bible which he had recently purchased and injected the "w" into the names of all, how much grand-father was hurt over it. He said: "Jimmie had no right to write the name with a "w". That is not the proper way to spell the name. The correct way to spell the name is as I spell it, K-n-o-l-e-s."

Our father was of the same opinion; if I remember correctly, and I think I do, they claimed that old Doctor Eli, a brother of grand-father, was responsible for this attempted innovation.

Since they choose to spell their names with a "w", let them do so. But they must accord me and mine the same privilege. I have nothing to say about that branch of the family who spell the name N-o-l-e-s. That orthography diverts the name of any meaning, but is much more simple.

The family of Sir Francis Knollys of the household, and one of the lackeys of the Prince of Wales, and his daughter, one of the waiting-maids of Queen Victoria; the family of James Sheridan Knowles, and the Knowles family of New England are entirely different families to ours, and in no way related. The Knowles family of New England came over with the Mayflower. They have a genealogy. Frank Knowles, of Oceanside, this County, and Charles Knowles of this City came of the New England family. The family of Sir Robert Knowles is another distinct family. In England it is pronounced "Nowlz."

All you and I can hope for is that the name of Knoles shall continue to be an honored one in the land, in the future as in the past. I am satisfied with it. Not only so, but I am proud of it. I am proud that I can, with a clear conscience, write my name as my great-grand-father, my grand-father, and my father wrote it. I have never been ashamed of it, and on that account sought to inject into it a foreign letter that would make it look more aristocratic.

The entire system of American and British Criminal jurisprudence will be searched in vain for a Knoles who was charged with and convicted of a crime of the degree of a felony.

But observe the genealogy. Richard Knolles was the great-grand-father of Edward Knoles; Edward Knoles was the father of Daniel Knoles; Daniel Knoles was the father of Edmund Knoles. Edmund Knoles was the father of James Knoles; James Knoles was the father of Richard Knoles. You see the name Richard appears again after five generations. Richard was the father of James Knoles. James was the father of Prettyman Knoles. Prettyman is an innovation of a family Christian name, borrowed from a worthy and respected maternal ancestor.

Nearly all branches of the family have exhibited as great fecundity as ours. They have verified the supremacy of the law of the survival of the fittest in and through reproductive resurrection.

I shall some time in the future, prepare a true history of our family. In that history I shall accord our relations the right to spell their names as they may desire, and shall treat all branches much more generously and charitably that they have us; especially shall I give our great cousin, John W. Knowles a prominent position, since he has been the only member of our family, in Gibson County, Indiana, the land of my nativity, who has deigned to even notice us.

This want of recognition is, I believe, on account of the fact that we insist on adhering to the orthographical simplicity of our fathers in spelling our name. Observe the sneering reference to the Noles of Posey County. That branch of the family had the same honorable part in the processes of reproductive resurrection and perpetuation of the family existence that we and our cousins have had. Why not accord them that boon which they deserve, and to which they are entitled as much as ourselves?

When the final windup shall come, and the Arch Angel shall sound the trumpet of the last days, and the call shall be made for a general convocation of all kindreds and tongues, the Knoles; the Knowles; the Noles; the Knolles; the Knolls, and the Knollys will all come forth to receive their final reward, and have their ultimate destiny decreed, and what is now shrouded in a mist of uncertainty and almost impenetrable darkness, will appear as bright as the effulgent light of the mid-chamber of eternal day, thrice intensified by that crowning blessing "which is inexpressible and full of glory," and the true name shall be KNOLES.

Yours, &C.

S. S. KNOLES