MARINUS KING, b 21 Feb 1833

KING, MCCLARREN, MCCONNELL, SWEIZER, JENKINS, YENAN, PHILLIPS, LYDLE, HAIGHT, HOLDRIDGE, DAVIS

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 6/15/2004 at 08:00:37

Marinus King is the son of a pioneer of Jackson County, William King, who aided in the development of its agricultural resources, and was an early settler of Perry Township, with whose public affairs he was for many years prominently connected. Our subject is one of the leading, well-to-do farmers and stock-raisers of this part of the county, where he has a beautiful farm, comprising 200 acres of land of unsurpassed fertility, 120 acres, with the home and farm buildings being on section 20, and 80 acres on section 29. It is very pleasantly located in the valley of Cedar Creek, has exceedingly rich soil, and is accounted one of the best farms in this locality. Mr. King's hobby is raising horses, and he may well take pride in his fine Percherons, fourteen in number.

Our subject comes of good old Pennsylvania stock, originally of Scotch antecedents. His grandfather, Marinus King, was born in Westmoreland County, that State. He was bred to the life of a farmer, and later in life he became an early settler of Mercer County, Pa., and there improved a farm from the wilderness, which remained his home until his death. The father of our subject was born in Westmoreland County, in 1806. As he grew to manhood, he adopted the calling of his father, and also became a weaver. He bought a tract of land in the forest primeval of Mercer County, which he cleared and improved into a fine farm. In 1846 he disposed of it in order to come West, intending to settle in this State, and accompanied by his family, he embarked on the Ohio River, and three weeks later had ascended the Mississippi River, and landed at Bellevue. He bought land on section 30, Perry Township, and immediately entered upon the pioneer task of improving it, and in after years had the satisfaction of owning one of the most desirable farms in the neighborhood, which by hard labor he had redeemed from the wild prairies. He acquired a competence, and in 1863 retired to a more leisurely life, making his home with his children until his death in Linn County in April, 1880, at a ripe old age. He was a man of much importance in his community, was trusted and looked up to by his fellow-pioneers, and held various responsible local offices, was Justice of the Peace, Township Assessor, and Trustee of the Township. He was a Republican in his politics, and a Methodist in his religion, being a prominent member of the church of that denomination, in which he was Class-Leader.

The maiden name of the mother of our subject, was Margaret McClarren, and she was born in Mercer County, Pa., in 1805. Her father, Robert McClarren, was born in Ireland, and after his emigration to America, he located in Mercer County among its early settlers, and there engaged in farming. The mother of our subject, a most worthy woman, departed this life in Perry in 1863. There were ten children born of her marriage, of whom the following is recorded: Elizabeth married Capt. McConnell, of Lyons, Iowa, who was an officer in the 2d Iowa Cavalry during the late war; Robert M. died in 1854; Rebecca is a Mrs. Sweizer, and lives in Jones County; Marinus, our subject; Sarah E. married the Rev. G.W. Jenkins, pastor of a Methodist Church in Montana, who was a member of the 2d Iowa Cavalry, in the war; John H. lives in Oregon; Benjamin is in Washington; Nancy, (deceased) was the wife of W.F. Yenan, who served in the war as a member of the 2d Iowa Cavalry; Mary married Capt. A.M. Phillips, of Maquoketa, an officer in the 31st Iowa Infantry; Martha J. married L Lydle, a lumber merchant of Michigan; John was in a Minnesota regiment, and served three years as Sergeant; Benjamin also served in the war three years as Sergeant of the 2d Iowa Cavalry.

He of whom we write, was born in Newcastle, Mercer Co., Pa., Feb. 21, 1833. His early schooling was received in a log cabin school-house. He was thirteen years old when his parents removed from his native place to Iowa, so that he can recollect his old home and the aspect of the new one on the wild prairies of this then new and sparsely settled State, which he has seen develop into a powerful and wealthy commonwealth. Here amid pioneer scenes he grew to manhood, stalwart and self-reliant. He remained an inmate of the parental household until he was twenty-one, affording his father valuable assistance in the care of his farm, helping him clear the land and prepare it for culture, and there are fence-rails now on the place, that he made himself. When twenty-two years of age, he was engaged in breaking prairie soil in Jones County, and in the fall of 1855, he went to Minnesota and pre-empted 160 acres of land near Rochester, in Olmstead. And thus he, like his fore-fathers, became a pioneer of a new country, as he was one of the first settlers in that township, only two or three families having preceded him. He built a log-house to shelter him, and entered upon his work of improving a farm, which he carried on until 1861, when he returned to Perry Township. He rented land one year, and then went to Clinton County, and bought 120 acres of land. A year later he purchased land in Perry Township, which he farmed three years, and at the expiration of that time sold out and removed to Jackson Township, bought a 160-acre tract of land, which he cultivated assiduously until 1876. In that year he bought of Samuel Keendy the old homestead, on which he had been reared. He has made many valuable improvements, has the farm fenced, and there is a fine supply of running water. There is a neat and commodious set of farm buildings on the place, and everything about it is orderly and well-appointed. Mr. King is especially interested in raising stock, has fifty-eight sleek and well-kept graded Short-horns, and buys and feeds cattle, shipping two car-loads a year, and he also raises Poland-China hogs. He is a member of the Horse Breeders' Association, and has valuable Percheron horses, using three teams about his farm work.

Mr. King was married Nov. 2, 1858, in Olmstead County, Minn., to Miss Maria Haight, who has faithfully shared life's joys and sorrows with him, and has greatly assisted him in the upbuilding of their pleasant home. Mrs. King was born in Cortland County, N.Y., Oct. 11, 1839, to Norman and Lucia (Holdridge) Haight, natives of the same county. Her father, who was of German descent, was a farmer there, and was well-to-do. In 1841 he removed to Kane County, Ill., and located near Elgin, where he engaged in farming until his death. He was a man of considerable prominence in his community. He was local Justice of the Peace, was a Republican in politics, and a Baptist in religion. Mrs. King's mother died in Kane County, Ill., at the age of fifty-three years. She had had three children, as follows: Halina (deceased); Maria; Allen, a farmer in Manchester, Delaware County. Mrs. Haight, was a daughter of Jesse Holdridge, a native of Cortland County, N.Y., and a veteran of the War of 1812. He farmed in New York until 1841, when he removed to Illinois, and there died. He was of English descent. Mrs. King was a small child when her parents removed to Illinois, and cast in their lot with the pioneers of Kane County. She received her education in the graded schools of Dundee, and after the death of her parents, when she was a young girl, she went to live with her uncle Warren Haight, in Minnesota, and staid with him until her marriage. Her wedded life with our subject has been blessed to them by the birth of six children: William A., Elizabeth H., Harry E., Frank S. and Fred G. (twins); Charles W. William, is a jeweler in Sioux County; Elizabeth married Marshall Davis, a farmer and stock-raiser in Farmer Creek Township. Harry is running a creamery in Andrew. The other children are at home with their parents.

Mr. King is a citizen of commendable public spirit, and has always maintained his interest in the welfare of this township, where his youth was passed and so many years of his manhood have been spent in a substantial manner. As a member of the School Board, he has labored zealously for the good of its educational institutions; and as Supervisor of the Roads, he has worked faithfully to make the township highways among the best in the county. He has served on both the Grand and Petit Jury. Socially, the A.O.U.W., at Andrew, finds in him one of its leading members. Politically, he is a sound Republican; religiously, he is a Presbyterian, both he and his good wife being influential members of the United Presbyterian Church. He is a man of unblemished reputation, and carries himself in all the relations of life as a manly, high-minded man should.

("Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Iowa", originally published in 1889, by the Chapman Brothers, of Chicago, Illinois.)