Richard Knowles, mariner, of Eastham, Barnstable Co., (Cape Cod) Massachusetts is the ancestor for a very large Knowles family in the U.S.  The genealogy for the descendants of this Richard Knowles was well documented in 1973 by Virginia (Knowles) Hufbauer in the "Descendants of Richard Knowles, 1673-1973" and previously by Charles Thornton Libby, Esq. in the NEHGS Register, Vols. 79 & 80 in 1925 and 1926 as "The Knowles Family of Eastham, Massachusetts."  (Note: copies of both of these important Knowles references are housed in the R. B. Noles Library in Mandeville, Louisiana.) 

Richard Knowles of Plymouth and later of Eastham in the Plymouth Colony, shipmaster, first appears in the New England records at Plymouth, 2 January 1637/8, and he apparently died between 1670 and 1675.  Richard was one of the surveyors of highways at Eastham in 1670, but probably did not outlive either his son John, who was slain by Indians near Taunton 3 June 1675, or his son James, the inventory of whose estate was dated 10 October 1678 (Richard's name does not appear in connection with the estates of these two sons).

Richard was married 16 August 1639 to Ruth BOWER (b c 1620, in England), daughter of George and Barbara Bower of Plymouth and sister of Rev. John Bower ("Bowers" in the Harvard Quinquennial Catalogue), who died in 1687.

The first appearance of Richard Knowles in the Plymouth records, in January 1637/8, was when he was haled into court at Plymouth "for bringing a barke from Greenes Harbor (as the Winslow settlement in Marshfield was then called) on the Lord's day."  The record of the judgment is brief:  "Discharged."  There is nothing to prove that Richard considered Plymouth his home at that time.  As a single man and a shipmaster it is likely that he considered his home to be under his hat, aboard his ship.   However, nineteen months later he married a Plymouth girl, a recently come thither from Scituate; and before his marriage he had been granted, "a garden place next to John Barnes."  This was on the "Eele River side" of Plymouth, next to Duxbury.

On the removal of the Bower family to Cambridge, about 1643, Richard Knowles and family apparently went there also.  In the Cambridge records, under date of 4 November 1646, is the entry: "Goodman Knowles for his swine divers times going without keeper is fined 1s.6d."  Richard's son James was born 17 November 1648 at Cambridge, while the family was living in Cambridge.  Richard was back in Plymouth by 1649 for according to the Plymouth records of 1 December 1649 he was prosecuted "for denying passage of cattell in the hiehway."

While a navigator by occupation, Richard, evidently carried on business on land also.  His wife was prosecuted 7 October 1641 "for retailing of strong waters contrary to order" and "for selling strong waters for five or six shillings a bottle that cost but 35s., the case" and she was fined10s., to be bestowed on the town's poor.

Whether Richard Knowles made trans-Atlantic voyages or traded with the West Indies is not known, but it is more likely that his occupation was that of so many others, and that he went on trading voyages up and down the coast.  The probate papers of the Boston merchant - Joshua Foote, in 1655, show Richard Knowles as one of his customers for goods.  His election to minor town offices at Eastham prove his retirement from the sea in later life.  In 1667 he twice served on coroner's juries.  In 1669 Richard Knowles and William Walker were elected surveyors of highways, and in the next year Richard Knowles and Samuel Freeman were elected to the same office.

The records of the Eastham town meetings in 1657 contain several references to the land of Richard Knowles and his sons John and Samuel.

The children of Richard Knowles and Ruth Bower were:

1.  John, born at Plymouth, 1641  m  Apphia Bangs

2.  Mary (Mercye), born at Plymouth, c 1642  m  Ephraim Doane

3.  James, born in Cambridge, 17 November 1648

4.  Samuel, born at Plymouth 17 September 1651  m  Mercy Freeman

5.  Mehitable, b at Eastham, 20 May 1653  m  George Brown

6.  Barbara, born at Eastham, 28 September 1656  m  Thomas Mayo

7.  Ruth, born at Eastham, 3 November 1657  m  Joseph Collins

A number of the descendants of Richard Knowles and Ruth Bowers married descendants of the Pilgrim families.  For example, their son, Samuel Knowles (1651-1737), married Mercy Freeman (1659-1737).  Mercy was the granddaughter of Thomas Prence (c 1595-1673), Governor of Plymouth Colony and Patience Brewster (1605-1634).  Patience was the daughter of William Brewster (1559-1664), a Mayflower passenger.  Many descendants of the Richard Knowles line are members of the the various Pilgrim Heritage organizations.  See below for an accounting of the possible Knowles Mayflower ancestry.

The name of Knowles or Knollys was pretty well distributed over England by the time New England was settled in the 17th century.  The New England records identify six apparently (DNA testing may tell a different story) unconnected Knowles emigrants who, besides Richard Knowles, the subject of this sketch, multiplied the Knowles name in the 'New World.'  In addition to the six with identified descendants, there were several of the Knowles name in New England who are known only from passenger lists plus two clergymen, who soon went back to England, not to mention "Mr. Knowles", the Indian sagamore at South Berwick, Maine.   

Rev. John Knowles of Watertown and Rev. Hanserd Knollys of Dover, New Hampshire, who after their return to England, made great names for themselves and to their careers, pages are still devoted in the biographical dictionaries for 17th century New England.  The possible connections of Rev. Knowles and Rev. Knollys to the other Knowles families in Colonial New England is still subject to much scholarly debate. 

The five Knowles men who multiplied the name in Colonial New England (starting before 1700), besides Richard of Eastham, whose descendants largely outnumber the combined descendants of all the others, were Capt. Robert Knowles of Charlestown, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts, John Knowles, Sr. of Hampton, Rockingham Co., New Hampshire, Henry Knowles of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, Thomas Knowles of New Haven, New Haven Co., Connecticut, and Alexander Knowles of Fairfield, Fairfield Co., Connecticut.  Alexander was a councilor in the New Haven Colonial government.

Charles Thornton Libby referred to the Knowles family of Quarlton, County of Lancaster, England as the most likely ancestors for Richard Knowles of Eastham.  In Burke's "Peerage and Baronetage" as well as in his "Landed Gentry", the ancient lineage of this branch is given and shows a long line of Richards including a James and a John, both given names for Richard's sons.  The coat-of-arms pictured for this ancient Knowles family is the one bearing the Ram's head.  Apparently there is no evidence that the early family used any other spelling of the family surname other than Knowles or Knowls even before 1582, nor has anyone known to have used a different spelling during or after Richard's time.  In Burke's books on heraldry, the elephant head crest is more commonly credited to the descendants of Sir Robert Knollys whose descendants appear to have retained the Knollys spelling for many generations.

Libby further indicates that his research produced statements by various researchers of his time that indicated Richard Knowles of Eastham was the son of Rev. John Knowles from Lancashire, England, and that he came from County Kent, England, and that he emigrated in his own ship.  While none of these theories is impossible, none of them has been traced to an early enough source to be worthy of regard at this time.  However, Libby suggested that there was certainly enough worthy conjecture to encourage an investigation of the landed Knowles family of Quarlton, County Lancaster, England, in which the name of Richard prevailed.   

Recent investigations by John Watson (at the behest of the KKNFA) of the Quarlton Knowles, who are the ancestors for the Edmund "Old Silverhead" Knowles line, has not discovered any new evidence that Richard Knowles of Eastham and "Old Silverhead" had a common Knowles ancestor.  Although some evidence may eventually materialize, the proof of a connection for Richard to the Quarlton Knowles will fall to Y-DNA testing.  The DNA profile for the "Old Silverhead" Knowles line has been well established in 2004.  Volunteers (for DNA samples) from the Richard Knowles line are now required to establish a answer to this 100 year old mystery.  Stay Tuned!

R. B. Noles
December 29, 2004

Mayflower Ancestry of Richard Knowles of Eastham

Mayflower ancestry of certain branches of the Knowles families descended from Richard Knowles of Eastham, Massachusetts, may be traced to the following Mayflower passengers:  Elder William Brewster, Stephen Hopkins, Constance Hopkins, Thomas Rogers and Joseph Rogers; through marriage of a Knowles to:

Any HOPKINS descendant of Stephen, b 1583;

Any ROGERS descendant of Joseph, b 1607;

Any FREEMAN descendant of Major John Freeman, b 12 Feb. 1649 who married Mercy Prence, b 1631, died 1711, daughter of Gov. Thomas Prence who married Patience Brewster, daughter of Elder William Brewster;

Any HIGGINS descendant of Jonathan Higgins who married 9 January 1660, Elizabeth Rogers, born 1639, daughter of Joseph Rogers;

Any MAYO descendant of Nathaniel Mayo who married 13 February 1650, Hannah Prence, born 1627, daughter of Thomas Prence and Patience Brewster, daughter of Elder William Brewster;

Any PAINE descendant of Thomas Paine who married Mary Snow, daughter of Nicholas Snow and Constance Hopkins;

Any SNOW descendant of Nicholas Snow who married Constance Hopkins;

Any SPARROW descendant of Richard Sparrow, born 19 March 1669, died 1728 who married Mercy Cobb, born 1701.  Richard Sparrow was the son of Jonathan Sparrow who married 1662 Hannah Prence Mayo, b 1627, widow of Nathaniel Mayo and the daughter of Thomas Prence and Patience Brewster, daughter of Elder William Brewster;

Any WALKER descent of William Walker, born 1620 who married 1654 Sarah Snow, daughter of Nicholas Snow and Constance Hopkins.