PoliticalGraveyard.com
The Political Graveyard: A Database of American History
Knowland family of Oakland, California

Note: This is just one of 1,325 family groupings listed on The Political Graveyard web site. These families each have three or more politician members, all linked together by blood, marriage or adoption.

These groupings — even the names of the groupings, and the areas of main activity — are the result of a computer algorithm working with the data I have, not the choices of any historian or genealogist.

  Joseph Russell Knowland (1873-1966) — also known as Joseph R. Knowland — of Alameda, Alameda County, Calif.; Oakland, Alameda County, Calif.; Piedmont, Alameda County, Calif. Born in Alameda, Alameda County, Calif., August 5, 1873. Republican. Newspaper publisher; member of California state assembly, 1899-1903; member of California state senate, 1903-04; U.S. Representative from California, 1904-15 (3rd District 1904-13, 6th District 1913-15); candidate for U.S. Senator from California, 1914; delegate to Republican National Convention from California, 1916 (alternate), 1920, 1928, 1932, 1944. Died of pneumonia in Piedmont, Alameda County, Calif., February 1, 1966 (age 92 years, 180 days). Cremated; ashes interred at Chapel of Memories, Oakland, Calif.
  Relatives: Son of Hannah Bailey (Russell) Knowland and Joseph Knowland; married, April 2, 1884, to Ella Johnson 'Ellie' Fife; married 1952 to Clarice Ella Cook; married 1909 to Emelyn West; father of William Fife Knowland (who married Helen Davis Herrick).
  Political family: Knowland family of Oakland, California.
  See also congressional biography — Govtrack.us page — Find-A-Grave memorial
  Emelyn West Knowland (1884-1950) — also known as Emelyn Knowland; Emelyn West; Mrs. Joseph R. Knowland — of Oakland, Alameda County, Calif. Born in Craddockville, Accomack County, Va., January 9, 1884. Republican. Alternate delegate to Republican National Convention from California, 1932. Female. Died in Oakland, Alameda County, Calif., July 14, 1950 (age 66 years, 186 days). Interment at Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, Calif.
  Relatives: Married 1909 to Joseph Russell Knowland; step-mother of William Fife Knowland.
  Political family: Knowland family of Oakland, California.
  See also Find-A-Grave memorial
  Helen Davis Whyte (1907-1981) — also known as Helen Davis Herrick; Helen Davis Knowland — of Piedmont, Alameda County, Calif. Born in Nevada, July 12, 1907. Republican. Honored guest, Republican National Convention, 1956. Female. Died in Alameda County, Calif., March 8, 1981 (age 73 years, 239 days). Cremated; ashes interred at Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, Calif.
  Relatives: Daughter of Henry Clay Herrick, Jr. and Estelle M. (Davis) Herrick; married to Charles Johnson Whyte; married, December 31, 1927, to William Fife Knowland (son of Joseph Russell Knowland).
  Political family: Knowland family of Oakland, California.
  See also Find-A-Grave memorial
William F. Knowland William Fife Knowland (1908-1974) — also known as William F. Knowland — of Oakland, Alameda County, Calif.; Piedmont, Alameda County, Calif. Born in Alameda, Alameda County, Calif., June 26, 1908. Republican. Newspaper publisher; member of California state assembly, 1933-35; member of California state senate, 1935-39; delegate to Republican National Convention from California, 1936 (alternate), 1940 (member, Arrangements Committee), 1948, 1952, 1956 (Temporary Chair; speaker), 1964 (delegation chair), 1968; member of Republican National Committee from California, 1938-42; served in the U.S. Army during World War II; U.S. Senator from California, 1945-59; candidate for Governor of California, 1958. Methodist. Member, Freemasons; Shriners; Eagles; Moose; Elks; Native Sons of the Golden West. Died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his summer home near Guerneville, Sonoma County, Calif., February 23, 1974 (age 65 years, 242 days). Cremated; ashes interred at Chapel of Memories, Oakland, Calif.; cenotaph at Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, Calif.
  Relatives: Step-son of Emelyn West Knowland; son of Joseph Russell Knowland and Ella Johnson (Fife) Knowland; married, December 31, 1927, to Helen Davis Herrick; married, April 29, 1972, to Ruth Ann Dickson.
  Political family: Knowland family of Oakland, California.
  Campaign slogan (1946): "We will not surrender."
  See also congressional biography — Govtrack.us page — Wikipedia article — NNDB dossier — Find-A-Grave memorial — OurCampaigns candidate detail
  Books about William F. Knowland: Gayle B. Montgomery & James W. Johnson, One Step from the White House: The Rise and Fall of Senator William F. Knowland
  Image source: Official Report of the 22nd Republican National Convention (1940)
"Enjoy the hospitable entertainment of a political graveyard."
Henry L. Clinton, Apollo Hall, New York City, February 3, 1872		 The Political Graveyard

The Political Graveyard is a web site about U.S. political history and cemeteries. Founded in 1996, it is the Internet's most comprehensive free source for American political biography, listing 338,260 politicians, living and dead.
 
  The coverage of this site includes (1) the President, Vice President, members of Congress, elected state and territorial officeholders in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories; and the chief elected official, typically the mayor, of qualifying municipalities; (2) candidates at election, including primaries, for any of the above; (3) all federal judges and all state appellate judges; (4) certain federal officials, including the federal cabinet, diplomatic chiefs of mission, consuls, U.S. district attorneys, collectors of customs and internal revenue, members of major federal commissions; and political appointee (pre-1969) postmasters of qualifying communities; (5) state and national political party officials, including delegates, alternate delegates, and other participants in national party nominating conventions; (6) Americans who served as "honorary" consuls for other nations before 1950. Note: municipalities or communities "qualify", for Political Graveyard purposes, if they have at least half a million person-years of history, inclusive of predecessor, successor, and merged entities.  
  The listings are incomplete; development of the database is a continually ongoing project.  
  Information on this page — and on all other pages of this site — is believed to be accurate, but is not guaranteed. Users are advised to check with other sources before relying on any information here.  
  The official URL for this page is: https://politicalgraveyard.com/families/10777.html.  
  Links to this or any other Political Graveyard page are welcome, but specific page addresses may sometimes change as the site develops.  
  If you are searching for a specific named individual, try the alphabetical index of politicians.  
Copyright notices: (1) Facts are not subject to copyright; see Feist v. Rural Telephone. (2) Politician portraits displayed on this site are 70-pixel-wide monochrome thumbnail images, which I believe to constitute fair use under applicable copyright law. Where possible, each image is linked to its online source. However, requests from owners of copyrighted images to delete them from this site are honored. (3) Original material, programming, selection and arrangement are © 1996-2025 Lawrence Kestenbaum. (4) This work is also licensed for free non-commercial re-use, with attribution, under a Creative Commons License.
What is a "political graveyard"? See Political Dictionary; Urban Dictionary.
Site information: The Political Graveyard is created and maintained by Lawrence Kestenbaum, who is solely responsible for its structure and content. — The mailing address is The Political Graveyard, P.O. Box 2563, Ann Arbor MI 48106. — This site is hosted by HDLmi.com. — The Political Graveyard opened on July 1, 1996; the last full revision was done on February 17, 2025.