Ebenezer Knowlton

Ebenezer Knowlton (December 6, 1815 – September 10, 1874) was a U.S. Representative from Maine, and Free Will Baptist minister.

Biography
Born in Pittsfield, New Hampshire, Knowlton moved with his parents to South Montville, Maine, in 1825. He attended the China and Waterville Academies in Maine. He studied theology and entered the ministry as a Free Will Baptist.

Career
Knowlton served as a member of the Maine House of Representatives from 1844 to 1850, and served as speaker in 1846. Knowlton was elected as an Opposition Party (a party transitioning between the Whigs and Republicans) candidate to the Thirty-fourth Congress from March 4, 1855 to March 3, 1857. He became an early member of the Republican Party and was a lifelong supporter of abolitionism and the temperance movement.

Knowlton served as trustee of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Knowlton also served as a trustee of Colby College and Maine Central Institute, and after the Civil War he worked for the Freedmen's Bureau in Beaufort, South Carolina.

He was a corporator of the Morning Star, a Free Will Baptist newspaper, and was president of the Foreign Missions Board. Knowlton continued his ministerial duties until his death.

Death
Knowlton died in South Montville, Maine on September 10, 1874, and is interred in the South Montville City Cemetery.