Biography - JOHN W. KING
John W. King, of Newman, who has for several years been prominent in the
politics of the county, and at present is associated with the Newman bank,
was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, October 13, 1841. He is a son of David
A. and Jane Elizabeth (Mitchell) King, who were natives of Clark and
Montgomery counties, Kentucky, respectively. His father, who was born in
1818, followed the occupation of farming, removed from Kentucky to Champaign
county, Illinois, in 1855, and there his death occurred in 1896. His mother
died in 1882, aged fifty years. His paternal grandfather, Robert Cass King,
was a native of Virginia, and his maternal grandfather, John W. Mitchell,
was also born in Virginia, in Culpeper county.
John W. King was reared on his father's farm and attended the public schools
of the neighborhood. In 1862 he joined Company G, Seventy-second Illinois
Volunteers, as a private, and served three years and four months, part of
the time as a non-commissioned officer. After the war he entered the state
normal school, where he remained for three years. Leaving there he attended
Bryant & Stratton's Business College at Chicago, where he remained one year.
He then taught school for some years in Champaign county, when, in 1872, he
came to Newman, and for three years held the principalship of the Newman
schools. In 1875 he was elected to the office of county superintendent to
fill a vacancy, which he held up to the next general election in 1877, when
he was re-elected and served up till 1881. In April of the latter year he
resigned to accept the appointment of postmaster of Newman, which position
he held under the administrations of both Garfield and Arthur. At the
expiration of his term he accepted the position of bookkeeper in the Newman
Bank, which position he held up till 1890. In that year he was elected
county clerk, and was re-elected in 1894, serving in that office up until
1898, when he re-entered the Newman Bank. In 1872 Mr. King was united in
marriage to Miss Kate C. Fry, of near Champaign. They have five children:
Blanche, Earl G., Katie W., Roscoe W. and Harry T. Mr. King has been
collector of Newman township some four or five terms; is a member of nearly
all the secret societies, is trustee of the Methodist Episcopal church at
Newman, and a stanch Republican in politics. Both as a soldier, officer and
citizen Mr. King has been faithful in the discharge of his regular duties
and the performance of any special work assigned to him.
Extracted 03 Apr 2020 by Norma Hass from the Historical and Biographical Record of Douglas County, Illinois, published in 1900, pages 288-289.
