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Wiram Knowlton (January 24, 1816 – June 27, 1863) was an American politician and jurist from Wisconsin. He was a Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge and ex officio Justice of the pre-1853 Wisconsin Supreme Court (the Wisconsin Supreme Court before 1853 was composed of the state's elected circuit court judges).

Biography

Born in Canandaigua, New York, Knowlton moved to Janesville, Wisconsin Territory, in 1837 and began to study law. He was admitted to the bar in 1840 and started a law practice in Prairie du Chien, where he was also elected to the Wisconsin Territorial Council (upper house of the Territorial Legislature) from 1845 to 1847.

During the Mexican–American War, he raised a company of men using the W.H.C. Folsom House. He was elected captain of the company and they were stationed at Fort Winnebago for frontier duty, freeing up the regular garrison to be redeployed to the south. In July 1850, he was elected Wisconsin Circuit Court judge for the newly created 6th circuit and sworn into office in August. Because of this office, he also served as a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which at the time was composed of Wisconsin's circuit court judges. This changed in 1853, when a separate supreme court was created by an act of the Wisconsin Legislature. Knowlton died in Menekaunee, Wisconsin.

Knowlton's brother, James H. Knowlton, was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.

Electoral history

Wisconsin Supreme Court (1852)

References

1. ^ Gray, Trina E.; de Nie, Karen Leone; Miller, Jennifer; Todd, Amanda K. (2003). "Portraits of Justice: The Wisconsin Supreme Court's First 150 Years" (PDF). Wisconsin Historical Society Press. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
2. Reed, Parker McCobb, ed. (1882). The Bench and Bar of Wisconsin. Milwaukee: P. M. Reed. p. 70. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
3. An Act to provide for the organization of a separate Supreme Court, and for the election of justices thereof (PDF) (Act 395). 5th Wisconsin Legislature. 1852. pp. 601–604. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
4. "Wisconsin Court System - Wiram Knowlton". Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2011-02-22.
5. ""Barstow and the Balance"". Archived from the original on 2008-08-24. Retrieved 2018-07-17.
6. ^ "Judge Wiram Knowlton Dead". Janesville Daily Gazette. July 11, 1863. p. 6. Retrieved March 4, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
7. ""Barstow and the Balance"". Archived from the original on 2008-08-24. Retrieved 2018-07-17.
8. "Judicial Election". Racine Advocate. October 13, 1852. p. 2. Retrieved April 7, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

• Politicians from Canandaigua, New York
• People from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
• American military personnel of the Mexican–American War
• Members of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature
• Wisconsin state court judges
• Justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
• 1816 births
• 1863 deaths
• 19th-century American judges