Representative women of New England/Mary E. Knowles
MARY ELIZA KNOWLES, Past National Chaplain of the Woman's Relief Corps, was born in Boston, February 14, 1847. Daughter of Jacob and Emmeline (Reed) Clones and one of a large family of children, .she was brought up at the North End, in a locality rich in historic and patriotic associations, her home being in the vicinity of Christ Church and Copp's Hill, and was educated at the Hancock School. After her graduation she made a special study of elocution, of which she has been a successful teacher. She is also a popular public reader. The marriage of Mary E. Clones and Zoeth Rich Knowles took place June 14, 1866.
Mrs. Knowles's father was the third Jacob Clones in direct line residing in Boston. His grandfather Clones died in 1799. His father, Jacob Clones, 2d, who married Phebe Ann Low, daughter of William Low, died in 1815. William Low, great-grandfather of Mrs. Knowles, was a Revolutionary soldier, belonging to a company of militia that was called into service at the time of the Lexington alarm, April 19, 1775.
Mrs. Knowles is a charter member of Abraham Lincoln Corps, No. 39, auxiliary to Post No. 11, Charlestown. She was installed April 22, 1884, as its first Senior ^'ice-President, and in January, 1885, accepted the position of President, serving continually in office and on committees. Her first participation in a Department Convention was in 1886, when she was invited to present a banner procured by contribution from members. The pleasing manner in which she performed this duty made such a favorable impression that she was elected Department Chaplain, and re-elected in 1887. In her second annual report as Chaplain she recommended that a special service in honor of the unknown dead and of deceased army nurses be prepared for use on Memorial Day.
Mrs. Knowles was elected Department Junior Vice-President in 1888, and m this capacity attended the National Convention at Columbus, Ohio. In 1889 she was chosen Department Senior Vice-President, and in February, 1890, received the highest office in the Department of Massacliusetts, that of Department President. It was in August of this year that the National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic was held in Boston, and many extra duties devolved upon her. She was a vice-president of the general committee and a member of the executive committee of arrangements for the National Convention, also chairman of the reception committee and an active worker on the committee on finance, press, and invitation. In her general order to the corps some time previous she said: "This year promises to be the most important one in the history of this Department. This dear old State of ours will be honored above all others during the month of August. From all parts of the country the veterans of the G. A. R. and our sisters of the W. R. C. will come to us. Prove to them that the Mother Department of our order can be as royal in her hospitality as she is generous and tender in her care and protection of her country's defenders."
Mrs. Knowles, in her official visits to corps and at public meetings, earnestly referred to the plans for encampment week in Boston, and awakened great interest in the object. She had a prominent part in the festivities of the week, and assisted in welcoming to Boston the President of the United States and other dis- tinguished citizens. The liberal response of the corps and the able management of the committee enabled all bills to be paid, with a surplus of one thousand dollars on hand. Therefore the sum of three thousand dollars appropriated by the G. A. R. for the expenses of the Woman's Relief Corps during the week was returned to the Grand Army committee.
In presenting her annual address to the De- partment Convention of 1891, Mrs. Knowles thanked the members for their hearty interest, and said: "When the word was brought back to us from Milwaukee that the eighth National Convention would be held in Boston, every niembfT in the Department began to feel that she would do her part toward welcoming those who would come from all sections of our be- loved land, wearing the little bronze badge. The work of preparation for this memorable event occupied many months of careful and un- tiring labor, and the grand results accom- plished elicited words of prai.ie and gratitude from the visiting members of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Woman's Relief Corps."
Captain George L. Goodale, chairman of the executive committee of the G. A. R., when for- warding the official thanks of the committee, extended congratulations upon the grand suc- cess of the efforts of the AV. R. C, and added: "No feature of the week of duty and of pleas- ure was more enjoyable than the camp-fire at Tremont Temple on the evening of Friday, August 15." Three thousand people attended this Relief Corps gathering in Tremont Temple, and three thousand more were turned away, disappointed that they were unable to gain admittance. Governor Brackett, Mayor Hart, General W. T. Sherman, Commander-in-chief Wheelock G. Veazie, Mrs. Annie Wittenmeyer (National President), Miss Clara Barton, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, and other distinguished speakers were present. One of the attractive features of the programme was a rearling by Mrs. Knowles of a poem entitled "The Massa- chusetts AVoman," written for the occasion by Mrs. Kate B. Sherwood, of Canton, Ohio, a past National President.
In an address at the Department Convention in Boston, February, 1891, she gave a sum- mary of the year's work, from which the fol- lowing extracts are taken: "The growth of our order in Massachusetts during the past year has been most encouraging. At the end of the official year of 1890 our roster bore one hundred and twenty-five corps with a membership of nine thousand and ten. To-day we have one hundred and thirty-seven corps, with a mem- bership of ten thousand six hundretl, a gain of one thousand five hundred and ninety. The sum of seventeen thousand one hundred and tliirty-four dollars and thirty-four cents repre- sents the value of relief expenditures and money turned over to posts.
"On the 7th of last June I was honored with an invitation from the Board of Trustees of the Soldiers' Home to participate in the dedi- cation of the new part of the home. The interesting exercises and incidents of the occasion will be remembered as long as life shall last. I have visited the home whenever it was possible for me to do so.
"The official correspondence of the year has required much time and thought. I have written more than a thousand letters, and have issued eight general orders and one circular letter. Many invitations to fairs, camp-fires, anniversaries of posts and corps, have been accepted and thoroughly enjoyed. I have always been received at these gatherings with much courtesy and cordiality. I have assisted at the opening of four fairs, attended four receptions, eleven anniversaries, instituted two corps, installed the officers of twenty-four corps, visited many other corps and delivered the Memorial Day address at Leominster. Have been present at headcjuarters every Tuesday, Thursday, and Satunlay, with but two exceptions."
Mrs. Iiiowles served as Department Counsellor in 1891, and continued her active interest, visiting corps, participating in camp-fires, and other patriotic gatherings. By invitation of Granil Army posts she has delivered Memorial Day adtlresses in many parts of the State and in New Hampshire, and has been an elo(iuent missionary for the order. She continues her active work in the Department W. R. C, and has great influence in the conventions.
Her portrait hangs upon the walls of the Department headquarters in Boston. It was presented by Abraham Lincoln Corps, of Charlestown, in which she is still an active and honored member. Colonel Allen Corps, of Gloucester, the first corps instituted by Mrs. Knowles, has placed in its room at the Soldiers' Home in Chelsea a beautiful banner bearing her name.
She was assistant secretary at the National Convention at Detroit in 1891, and at Washington, D.C., in 1892, was unanimously elected National Chaplain for the ensuing year. As a professional elocutionist, Mrs. Knowles has filled engagements in many halls and churches in Ma.ssachusetts and other New England States, and has thus aided financially many churches, posts, corps, and other societies. Mrs. Knowles is one of the vice-presidents of the Executive Committee of Arrangements for the National Convention in Boston in August, 1904. One of the most eloquent addresses ever given at a public gathering of the order was her presentation of a flag to the Girls' High School of Boston on behalf of the Department of Massachusetts at its anniversary observance in the People's Temple, Boston, February 10, 1904. She is sure of appreciative audiences whenever taking part, in any service.
She was a member of the Ladies' Aid Association of the Soldiers' Home, and now belongs to the New England Helping Hand Society. She is State treasurer of the Independent Order of Odd Ladies, and was for several years secretary of the relief fund of this order. Her reports to the insurance commissioner of Massachusetts were complimented by that official, who regarded them as the best reports received from any fraternal insurance organization.
Mrs. Knowles is actively interested in church and Sunday-school work. For many years connected with the Bulfinch Place Church (Unitarian) in Boston, she is now a member of the Winter Hill Universalist Church.
Mr. and Mrs. Zoeth Rich Knowles have lived in Somerville since 1894. They have no children. Mr. Knowles was in the signal service of the Union army during the Civil War. He is a Past Commander of Abraham Lincoln Post, No. 11, G. A. R., of Charlestown, where they formerly resided. Mr. Knowles was one of the comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic who early in its history advocated form- ing Relief Corps, auxiliary to posts.