James D. (James Davis) Knowles

Born in 1798 and dying in 1838, James Davis Knowles is associated with Baptist ministry and authorship in the United States. The sources I could confirm connect him most clearly with Memoir of Roger Williams; the Founder of the State of Rhode-Island, the work for which he is still most often identified.

Available records also point to his role in Baptist literary and religious circles, including connections to hymn and review publications. Because the surviving web sources I found were limited and not always detailed, I have kept this overview to the facts that could be confirmed with reasonable confidence.

For readers interested in early American religious biography, his work matters less for fame than for influence: it helped preserve the story of Roger Williams for later generations and kept Knowles's own name in circulation long after his early death.