US Congressman, Lawyer. He was a United States Congressman from the State of New York. He was born one of two children as Charles Luman Knapp to Charles Martin Knapp (1810-1854), and his wife Alzada Shull Knapp (1815-1908), in Harrisburg, New York, on July 4, 1847. He was educated locally and attended the local common rural schools before attending the prestigious Lowville Academy in Lowville, New York, and the prestigious Irving Institute in Tarrytown, New York. He also attended and graduated from the distinguished Rutgers College in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1869. He then studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1873, and commenced his practice of law in Lowville, New York, shortly thereafter. He then took an interest in politics and was elected and served a term as a Member of the New York State Senate representing the 20th District in 1886 and 1887. He was preceded in that post by John Ingersoll Gilbert (1837-1904), a New York politician, who served as a Member of the New York State Assembly representing Franklin County, New York, in 1876, 1877, and again in 1878. and was succeeded in that post by George Zalmon Erwin (1840-1894), a New York politician, who served as a Member of the New York State Assembly representing St. Lawrence County, New York, 3rd District in 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886 and again in 1887. He was then personally appointed by then-President of the United States Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901), to serve a term as the United States Consul General in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from 1889 to 1893. He then returned to Lowville, New York, where he resumed his practice of law, and also engaged in banking pursuits. He then decided to run for a seat in the United States Congress and was elected to succeed the late United States Representative Albert Duane Shaw (1841-1901), who had passed away while still serving in office on February 10, 1901. Due to his death, the seat remained vacant through the Fifty-Sixth Congress from February 10, 1901, until it was redistricted to the Fifty-Seventh Congress on November 5, 1901. He then finished out the late United States Representative Albert Duane Shaw's (1841-1901), seat and was reelected to serve the 24th District (Fifty-Seventh Congress), on November 5, 1901. A Member of the Republican Party, he then served New York's 24th District (Fifty-Seventh Congress), in the United States House of Representatives from November 5, 1901, to March 3, 1903. Following his term in the United States Congress, he was succeeded in office by the incoming United States Representative George Joseph Smith (1859-1913), on March 4, 1903. After the 24th District was redistricted to the 28th District he was reelected to another term in 1902, succeeding the outgoing United States Representative Sereno Elisha Payne (1843-1914), on March 4, 1903. A Member of the Republican Party, he then served New York's 28th District (the Fifty-Eighth Congress, the Fifty-Ninth Congress, the Sixtieth Congress, and the Sixty-First Congress), in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1903, to March 3, 1911. While serving in the United States Congress, he was Chairman of the House Committee on Elections No. 1 representing the Sixty-First Congress. Following his final term in the United States Congress, he was succeeded in office by the incoming United States Representative Luther Wright Mott (1874-1923), on March 4, 1911. He declined renomination in 1910. After leaving the United States Congress, he retired from public service and resumed his practice of law until his death on January 3, 1929, at the age of 81. In total, he was elected to finish out the late United States Representative Albert Duane Shaw's (1841-1901), term which caused a vacant seat from February 10, 1901, to November 5, 1901, the 24th District was then redistricted to the 28th District, and he was reelected in 1902, reelected in 1904, reelected in 1906, reelected in 1908, declined renomination in 1910, and then retired to resume his practice of law. He passed away from heart disease at his home in Lowville, New York, on January 3, 1929, at the age of 81, Following his death, he was buried in Lowville Rural Cemetery in Lowville, New York. He was married to Sarah Dorrance Knapp (1856-1911), on June 26, 1886, the daughter of Daniel Gurdon Dorrance (1811-1896), a prominent banker and New York politician, who served as a Member of the New York State Assembly from Oneida County, New York, in 1846, and as a Member of New York State Senate representing the 19th District from 1854 to 1855. The couple had no children together. His wife Sarah predeceased him passing away on January 5, 1911, at the age of 54, and she is also buried in Lowville Rural Cemetery in Lowville, New York.