Benjamin Knower, Jr.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Knower

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.

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 at his home.

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.

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From http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~knower/benjstem.htm

BENJAMIN KNOWER was born 1775 in Roxbury and died August 26, 1839, in Watervliet, N.Y. He was married twice. His first wife was SARAH VAN KLEEK, whom he married June 21, 1800, in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. The Rev. Mr. C. Brouwer of the Dutch Reformed Church officiated. Sally, the eldest daughter of LAWRENCE VAN KLEEK and CHARITY WARNER, was born December 30, 1779 in Albany and died there February 18, 1833. Benjamin married SOPHIA P. CASTLE June 23, 1836, in New York City. According to her death certificate, she was the daughter of William Castle, a native of England, and his wife Ann Saxon, who was born in France. In the last decades of her life, she made her home with the family of Marcena Dickerson, an attorney of Rockland, N.Y., but is otherwise not mentioned in surviving family papers. She died Sept. 27, 1886.
Benjamin apparently left Roxbury early in his manhood, and appears in the 1800 federal census as a resident of Dutchess County, N.Y., probably in Poughkeepsie. By 1810 he is residing in Albany, where he sold hats made by his brother Timothy in Guilderland. Local lore has it that the hats were made waterproof by immersion in the Bozenkill, a stream behind a mansion in Knowersville, a village of Guilderland now called Altamont. Benjamin is credited by Guilderland's historian with building the mansion, and Benjamin's daughter Cornelia is said to have married future New York governor William L. Marcy in the house. Photos Benjamin soon began to interest himself in politics and was appointed New York state treasurer June 29, 1821, undoubtedly through the influence of his notable son-in-law. Benjamin grew rich as a financier of the Erie Canal and as a director of the Mechanics and Farmers Bank of Albany.