- JOHN KING, one of Rock County's early and most honored pioneers,
became a reident of
- Janesville in the month of April, 1844. The family record
shows that the original ancestors were among the old Covenanters
of Scotland, some of whom fled to the county of Antrim, Ireland,
at the time of the persecution, and one of the great-grandmothers
of our subject was born in a cave in Scotland during those trying
days. It is not certainly known when the family was founded in
America, but it was prior to the Revolutionary War, as the grandfather
of our subject served the colonies during that struggle, and
his widow afterwards received a pension from the government for
his services.
- In the year 1770, James Matthew KING, the father of John
KING, was born, and in 1780 the
- birth of his wife, Nancy KING, occurred. They were married
in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1801, and in 1831, accompanied by some
of his children, he emigrated to this country and located in
Ohio, with the intention of having the remainder of the family
with him the following year, but in 1832, before starting for
the new home which her husband had prepared, Mrs. KING died.
She was a lady of great ability, and is said to have been a very
sweet singer. After coming to America, Mr. KING was a circuit
rider in the Methodist Church, traveling in Northeastern Ohio,
but previous to his emigration he had been a member of the Presbyterian
Church. Thinking that he could accomplish more good in the new
and unsettled country as a circuit rider, he joined the former
denomination, and was the instrument of much good in that community.
His death occurred in Trumbull County, Ohio, in 1865.
- The subject of this sketch, John KING, was born on the 3d
day of March, 1809, on the banks of
- the River Clyde, in Glasgow, Scotland, and in that city was
united in marriage with Margaret MCKAY, March 30, 1836. Mrs.
KING was also descended from some of the old and renowned families
of Scotland. She was a distant relative of the present Duke of
Argyle, and also of the poet Thomas CAMPBELL. Her father, Gilbert
MCKAY, was born in Argyleshire, in the Highlands of Scotland,
in 1783. He was a fine specimen of physical manhood, honest,
industrious and God-fearing. His work was that of combining chemicals
for printing fabrics of all kinds, but at last the use of the
different chemicals and the gases which he was forced to breathe
undermined his constitution and he died in 1830. His wife, the
mother of Mrs. KING, was Janette CAMPBELL, a granddaughter of
Colin CAMPBELL, of the Clan Campbell of Argyleshire, where she
was born in 1785. She was a woman of sterling worth and marked
individuality of character and moral courage. She brought up
her large family of children to be intelligent, useful members
of society, sending her only son, Douglas MCKAY, who died in
Janesville in 1849, to the University at Edinburgh, Scotland.
No sacrifice was too great for her children, who lived to honor
her name and memory.
- After the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. KING, they removed to
Manchester, England, where he was
- offered a better salary as overseer of a cotton-mill. While
there residing, two children were born to them---Jessie May,
who died in her first year, and Mrs. Margaret King HERN, who
was born Oct. 1, 1838, and to whom we are indebted for the main
facts in this sketch. Mr. and Mrs. KING remained in Manchester
for three years, when they returned to Glasgow, Scotland, making
that city their home until 1840, when they crossed the Atlantic
and became residents of Ohio. Mr. KING was a fine musician, especially
a vocalist, and gave lessons and concerts both in England and
Scotland, and also after going to Ohio. He owned a wagon and
carriage shop in Farmington, Ohio, which he operated until the
winter of 1843-4, which he spent in Racine, Wis., where he worked
in the carriage shop of his brother, Wallace KING.
- The month of April, 1844, found our subject, with his family,
in Janesville, which was then but a
- mere village. The hardships and difficulties of pioneer life
were all unknown to him, and many were the obstacles which he
encountered. No lumber could be purchased in the village, and
shortly after his arrival, accompanied by his hired man, Mr.
KING went into the woods north of town to cut lumber, but as
he had no experience in the art of chopping, the ax went through
his foot. Then it was that the characteristic energy and pluck
of the Scotch people was awakened in Mrs. KING. She not only
cared for her afflicted husband, but provided for the family,
then consisting of the parents and three small children. Ads
there was then no bakery in Janesville, and large numbers of
emigrants were constantly passing through the town, Mrs. KING
procured flour, making over one and a half barrels of flour per
week into good bread, which she sold to the travelers at a fair
profit. In addition to this work, she also kept borders, and
thus provided for her family and herself. It was not long after
when misfortune again visited the home. The father having recovered
had gone to Grant County for the purpose of getting lumber with
which to make wagons. This he hauled to Janesville overland,
several yoke of oxen being driven to each wagon. In his absence
serious trouble occurred. The house in which the family lived
stood on what was then called "the public square,"
and near the spot now occupied by the fountain in the Court House
park, on South Main street. This house was struck by lightning.
Margaret, now Mrs. HERN, was then but five years old. Her mother
and sister did not awaken, but she saw the ball of fire pass
through the floor and go up through the roof. Her mother and
sister had been stunned. About noon the following day, a band
of Winnebago Indians passed, and a squaw coming to the window,
asked for bread. She saw the mother and little girl lying on
the bed, and prevailed on Margaret to open the door and let her
in. She worked over the mother until she was restored to consciousness,
when they both worked over the child, Mary, who at last regained
sensibility, but was and is now almost sightless, while she has
been more or less an invalid ever since.
- Mr. KING met with both successes and failures in his business,
but at last did a flourishing
- business as a carriage manufacturer, on the southeast corner
of East Milwaukee and Bluff streets, his successors being HODGE
& BUCHOLZ. His death occurred July 20, 1852, from cholera.
At that time caravans of Norwegians, oftentimes composed of
two or thee hundred, accompanied by an interpreter, would cross
the country from New york. One of these caravans arrived in
Janesville in July, 1852, having two very sick children with
them. The interpreter applied to all the different hotels in
town, but none would admit them. He was told that when Mr. KING
returned home he would help him if any one would. This proved
true. The new stone barn was emptied and cleaded, and the women
and sick children took possession. As long as they remained
(three or four days) Mr. KING at each meal took two plates, selected
the most tempting viands on the table and carried them to the
sick children. No one knew until afterward that their disease
was Asiatic cholera, but his pity and sympathy to foreigners
in a strange land led him to those acts of kindness which caused
his death a few days later. Mr. KING was a friend to the highest
and to the lowest, to the richest and to the poorest; a tender,
loving husband and father, he seemed to have a mind and heart
broad and free enough to find good in every one.
- The following lines in memory of her father were written
by Mrs. HERN, of Clark, Dak.:
-
- "While suffering intense Pain,
A voice came stealing o'er my brain,
Which seemed to say, in accents clear,
'Be calm, my child, thy Father's near;
He'll not suffer thee to be dismayed---
Have courage, for thou hast his aid.'
-
- "Dear father's voice has long been still,
He sleeps away out at Oak Hill;
For thirty-three long years and more
His voice sounds on the other shore,
Where, with the ransomed angel band,
He wakes the music of the Better Land."
-
- Thus one more of Rock County's pioneers passed away. None
knew him but to love him, and from all he received the highest
respect and esteem.
- After the death of her husband, in 1852, Mrs. KING continued
to keep the hotel, "The Janesville,"
- now called the "Highland House," until her second
marriage, when she became the wife of John HAMILTON, who died
in Libby prison, Sept. 4, 1861, he having been captured at the
first battle of Bull Run. By her former marriage, Mrs. KING
had five children, who are yet living - Margaret, Mary Agnes,
Angie Josephine, John Douglas and Robert Wallace; and by her
second marriage she had two sons - John C. F. and Robert B.
- After the death of her first husband, sorrow again came to
the grief-stricken widow. Within fifteen
- days she lost her husband and two children - Harriet Ellen,
the youngest daughter, aged three years, and Franklin Bruce,
aged fourteen months. The mother seemed broken-hearted and was
never again the bright and cheerful woman of previous years.
Unlike her husband, she was not naturally a friend to all, but
after her friendship was once gained she was a friend indeed.
She was a staunch believer in her Highland Scotch "blue
blood," and her friends were mostly among the Scotch people.
In her family she was an affectionate and tender wife and mother,
doing all in her power for their advancement and interest. She
bore her trails with the fortitude and faith of the Christian,
was strong in defense of what she deemed right, and gave her
whole mind and might to the duties which lay before her. She
was born in Carmile, a suburb of the city of Glasgow, Oct. 16,
1816, and her death occurred after a short illness, of pneumonia,
on the 6th of November, 1885.
-
- Taken from "The Portrait and Biographical Album of
Rock County, Wis." (c)1889, pp. 327-330.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
- Transcribed by Bill
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