The King Families of Portage County, Ohio

WILLIAM KING (deceased). Among the early settlers, and the first of this family who located in this county, was William King, a native of the town of Blandford, Mass., of Irish descent. He moved with his wife and two children, Robert and John B., and arrived in Charlestown, Portage Co., Ohio, in 1811, where he located, bought a farm and resided for several years. Subsequently he removed to Ravenna, and commenced keeping the Exchange Hotel on the south side of the Square, east of Court House (now used for business purposes). Afterward he kept hotel in another building, and remained in that line of business until he retired from active life. He died June 20, 1842, leaving a family of four children: Robert, John B., Eli P., Mary A., now the fife of Dr. A. B. Woodworth, of St. Louis, Mo. His widow, Betsey (Black) King, died in 1853. Mr. King was exceedingly energetic and pushing in business affairs, and left a comfortable property.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

GEN. JOHN B. KING (deceased), son of William King, whose sketch appears above, was born in Blandford, Mass., March 30, 1807, and was about four years of age when his father settled in this county. During his youth he attended the public schools of Ravenna and there laid the foundation of a good education. Subsequently he took a classical course in the Western Reserve College. He entertained a desire to become a lawyer, and for some time he was engaged in the study of that profession at Ravenna, though never admitted to the bar. When twenty-three years of age, February 7, 1830, Mr. King was married to Miss Caroline M. Selby, a native of Palmyra, N. Y., and a daughter of Judge Ira Selby, from that State. Judge Selby at this time kept the Globe Hotel at Raveuna, and as Gen. King and his young wife's parents were both hotel-keepers, it was that business our subject adopted, and he soon after became proprietor of the Exchange Hotel, which he carried on for six or seven years. He then purchased a farm adjoining the village of Ravenna and followed agricultural pursuits, buying and selling stock in connection the remainder of his life. Gen. King was a Democrat in politics, and he took an active part in all public affairs. He served the township in some local offices, and was always an earnest advocate and supporter of the educational interests of the county. In religious convictions he was a XJniversalist, and he assisted largely in the organization of the society in Ravenna, contributing liberally toward it, and furnishing most of the timber used in erecting the present church building at Ravenna. On the construction of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad he was one of the incorporators, a large stockholder and a Director. In his younger days he was an enthusiastic member of the State militia, serving in the ranks, and rose subsequently through every official grade to that of Major-General. During the civil war, at the time of Morgan's raid, he organized a company of volunteers called the " Squirrel Hunters," which went to Cincinnati, Ohio, but the emergency having passed over they were disbanded and returned home. This company was made up of men of over forty-five years of age, and each of them received a lithographed "Squirrel Hunter's" discharge, embellished with the portrait and characteristic autograph of His Excellency, Gov. Tod, one of which is now in possession of J. D. King. His first wife dying in 1852, Mr. King was married the second time, September.18, 1855, to Phebe Warner, daughter of Jiidge Jonathan Warner, of Jefferson, Ashtabula County, who bore him one child — Flora L. Gen. John B. King died April 2, 1864, leaving seven children in all: William L., Ira S., Joseph D., Henrietta L. (now Mrs. Clinton C. Canfield, of Cleveland, Ohio), Frances B., John B. and Flora L. The widow now resides in Cleveland.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

CAPT. JOSEPH D. KING, a son of Gen. John B. King, was born March 21, 1836, at Ravenna, this county, and passed his youth on his father's farm adjoining Ravenna, daring which period he attended the village schools, graduating at the Union Schools of that place. Subsequently he attended Tappan Seminary. He read law in the office of John L. Ranney, intending to teach school at intervals in order to obtain the money wherewithal to continue his studies, but his health having failed he was obliged to discontinue his legal studies, and shortly afterward made a visit South for his health, extending over a period of eighteen months. Returning from Texas in June, the following September he went to Vassal boro Township, Kennebec Co., Me., where, September 19, 1860, he was married to a former schoolmate at Tappan Seminary, Miss Lvicy L., daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth Homans, of that place, and returned with his bride to Portage County. Two children were the result of this union: Stephen G. O., born December 26, 1867, and Frederick B., bom March 5, 1872. He engaged in farming near Campbellsport. The war breaking out in 1861, our subject was among the first to offer his services in defense of the Union, and organized a company of artillery, which was afterward consolidated with Company I, First Regiment Ohio Volunteer Light Artillery, of which he was elected First Lieutenant. They reported soon afterward for service at Charleston, W. Va., on the Kanawha River. In June, 1862, while convalescent at hospital, and some eighty miles inside the Union lines, he and his cousin, William King, were taken prisoner by a detachment of Ashby's Rebel cavalry. They were kept prisoners at Lynchburg, Staunton,

Va., Salisbury, and from Salisbury were moved to Libby Prison, at which place they were confined ten days, when they were fortunate in being paroled and thus escaped the horrors of that prison. Mr. Kinor was then ordered to Columbus, Ohio, and was put in command of the paroled prisoners' camp, where he remained until his resignation in November, 1862. He then returned home and embarked in the milling business at Campbellsport, this county, also in company with his brother built the Atlantic Mills at Ravenna, and was engaged in this industry two years, since when he has given his entire attention to farming. He owns 100 acres partly in and partly adjoining the village corporation, where he resides. In politics Capt. King is Democratic. He is a member of the Universalist Church.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

HENRY KING, farmer and iron manufacture!', P. O. Kent, was born in Franklin Township, this county, in June, 1883, son of Robert and Rhoda (Bishop) King, who had a family of three children: Henry, Charles and Helen A., wife of Henry Heyd. His paternal grandfather, William King, a native of Hampden County, Mass., settled in Ravenna, Portage Co., Ohio, in 1811. He was the owner of a large tract of land in Charlestown Township, which he had purchased of the Western Reserve Land Company, and lived there a year or more, disposing of the same in parcels. He returned to Ravenna in 1814, and engaged in hotel business up to 1839, and was one of the best known landlords in this part of the State at that time. He died in 1843, aged about sixty-five years. He had four children: Robert, deceased; John B., deceased; Eli P., deceased, and Mary, wife of Dr. A. Woodworth, now of St. Louis. Robert, his eldest son, resided in Ravenna nearly all his life. He was a prominent farmer and business man, and was at one time engaged in banking, dealing also in live stock on an extensive scale. His wife was a daughter of Deacon Bishop, of Blandford, Mass. Our subject was reared in Ravenna from five years of age, and there received a liberal education for his day, being principally educated by Mr. Calhoun, a Yale graduate and relative of John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina. In 1850 he was engaged in the Civil Engineer Corps of the C. & P. R. R., with whom he remained one year, and then was employed in the locomotive works at Cleveland for four years. He was married February 11, 1856, to Rebecca, daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Antrim) Sharp, of Salem, Ohio. In 1855 Mr. King went to Salem, Ohio, and embarked in the foundry and machine business there for fifteen years, and during that time, in connection with Pittsburgh parties, was also engaged in the manufacture of pig iron in Columbiana County, Ohio, and in Armstrong County, Penn., in which he is still interested. He was a resident of Pittsburgh for ten years, and in the fall of 1883 located in Brimfield Township, this county, on the farm where he now resides. In politics Mr. King is a Republican.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

PETER KING, grocer and provision dealer, Ravenna, was born June 29, 1813, in County Clare, Ireland, where his parents, Michael and Ellen King, resided until their death. Our subject there married, February 15, 1835, Ellen Reidy. In 1848 he came to America to make preparations for his family, then sent for them to join him fifteen months thereafter. After spending some time in Chittenden County, Vt., they came to Earlville, Ohio, in 1851, and finally located in Ravenna, November 9, 1854. Here Mr. King worked about seven years on the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad, and was about three years engaged in drawing. He then established his present business, which he has ever since carried on. Of the eleven children born to Mr. and Mrs. King, two died in the mother country, and four in America. Those now living are Mrs. Mary Carny, Mrs. Bridget Donahue, Mrs. Ellen Gallagher, Mrs. Maggie Hopper, and Elizabeth, a graduate of St. Mary's Academy, Notre Dame, Ind., and who has been for several years successfully engaged in teaching. Their son, Michael, was killed in an explosion on the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad, at Hanover, Ohio, March 11, 1862. He was an upright and promising young man, and left many friends. Mr. King and his entire family are members of the Catholic Church, of which he is one of the pillars, and was largely influential in establishing and building it up at Ravenna.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.