Valentin Johann Knœll [sometimes spelled Valentine; sometimes Knoell, Knoel or Knoll] (May 8, 1826 - August 26, 1884) was an American farmer from Franklin, Wisconsin who served three one-year terms as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly between the 1850s and the 1870s.
[1] He was born in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse, on May 8, 1826, and came with his family to Wisconsin in 1837, settling in Franklin.
He was first elected to the Assembly in 1851 for the 1852 5th Wisconsin Legislature from the Milwaukee County district including Franklin and Oak Creek as a Democrat, with 274 votes to 180 for James Riordan (also a Democrat)[2] He was again elected in 1866 for a one-year term in the 1867 20th Wisconsin Legislature from the new 9th Milwaukee County district (the Towns of Franklin, Greenfield, Lake, and Oak Creek) after the 1866 redistricting, succeeding fellow Democrat John H. Deuster.
He was elected in 1870 from the same district as before, with 1,032 votes to 403 for Republican Henry Bauer, succeeding fellow Democrat Enoch Chase.
He reportedly married Philippine "Bena" Zimmerman (1832–1917) on May 30, 1850, in Milwaukee, with whom he would have nine sons and three daughters between 1857 and 1872.