N. M. KING

KING

Posted By: Jake Tornholm (email)
Date: 4/22/2020 at 20:38:58

N. M. KING, a member of the Board of Supervisors of Adams county, Iowa, was born in Sandridge township, Menard county, Illinois, April 28, 1841. His father, N. M. King, Sr., was born in Virginia in 1802, and his great- grandfather, Daniel King, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. The King family came from England and were among the first settlers in Virginia. N. M. King, Sr., located in Illinois in 1821, at the age of nineteen. He and Abraham Lincoln worked by the day together, both enlisted in the same company in the Black Hawk war, and were warm friends all their lives. Mr. King married Jane Runnels, daughter of John Runnels, who was born in North Carolina and when eleven years of age was taken to Kentucky where she was reared. They lived in Illinois until 1865, when they moved to Madison county, Iowa, where Mr. King died February 15, 1883, in his eighty-first year. His wife was past eighty- one when she died. He was a farmer all his life; in politics a Whig and later a Republican; and in religion, a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Of their ten children, nine reached adult age.

The subject of our sketch was reared on his father's farm and educated in the common schools of his native county. When the war came on he was among the first to offer his services to his country. November 28, 1861, he enlisted in Company M, Second Illinois Cavalry, that regiment which so grandly distinguished itself. He participated in many important engagements, and at the close of the war was mustered out at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, being Quartermaster Sergeant at that time.

Returning to Illinois after the war, he remained in that State two months, thence to Madison county, Iowa, where he lived until December 13, 1870, when he settled on wild land in Adams county. He now owns 295 acres of rich land in section 21, Douglas township, this county, and forty acres in Madison county. The "King farm," as it is known, is one of the best in the township A good modern residence was built in 1891 and is surrounded by a grove and orchard. A substantial barn, 30 x 40 feet, and all the farm improvements, broad meadows and well cultivated fields, indicate the enterprise of the owner and the prosperity which has attended him. This farm is all bottom land except 120 acres located on the hill side. Mr. King has given much attention to stock-raising, and has been eminently successful in his various operations.

August 1, 1860, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary E. Close, who was born and reared in the same neighborhood with him, attending the same district school. She is a daughter of George and Rebecca (Beams) Close, the former born in Licking county, Kentucky, and the latter born in South Carolina and reared in Kentucky. They became early settlers of Menard county, Illinois. The father died in Madison county, Iowa, in March, 1871, aged seventy-five years; the mother is now a resident of Livingston county, Missouri, and is in her eighty-ninth year. To Mr. and Mrs. King eleven children have been born, viz.: Minerva Isabelle, wife of William Strait; Trinvilla, wife of Rufus Gooddle, of Lincoln township, this county; Mary A., wife of B. F. Myers, of Jasper township; Rebecca J., wife of A. A. Strait; Charles S., U. s. Grant, Fanny Frances, Guthrie N., John Leonard, Ada I., and Howard W.

Mr. King was elected to his present office, county Supervisor, in the fall of 1890, receiving a good majority of the votes cast. He is a man of good judgment and executive ability and is the right man in the right place. In his political relations he formerly affiliated with the Republican party, but is now an Independent. He is a member of the Meyerhoff Post, G. A. R., and both he and his wife are members of the United Brethren church.