businessman, railroad promoter, politician, b. LeRoy, Genesee County, N.Y. He was the half brother of Moses Kneeland (q.v.). He moved west in 1837, and in 1841 settled in Milwaukee where he operated a general merchandise store. A Democrat, he was a member of the territorial council (1845-1846). In Milwaukee, Kneeland was prominently identified with the founding of the Milwaukee Gas Light Co. and the Milwaukee City Bank, and was an active promoter of several road and railroad companies, including the Milwaukee and Janesville Plank Road Co., the Milwaukee and Mississippi R.R. Co., and the Milwaukee and Fond du Lac R.R. Co. After the 1860's he devoted most of his time to developing his large real estate holdings. He served as Milwaukee tax commissioner from 1867 to 1868. S. F. Kneeland, 7 Centuries in the Kneeland Family (New York, 1897); H. L. Conard, ed., Hist. of Milwaukee (3 vols., Chicago [1896]); Milwaukee Sentinel, Sept. 7, 1899.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]