King, Samuel A. (1825-1906)

KING

Posted By: Joyce Hickman (email)
Date: 9/3/2008 at 16:14:05

Samuel Ashby King
Apr 13, 1839 - Oct 15, 1906

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.136, Knox Twp.)
S. A. King, farmer, P. O. Avoca, born in Orange County, Vt., April 13, 1825, son of John King, who died in Indiana in August 1852; his mother died in Dover, N. H. Subject lived in Vermont until he was nine years old, when he was taken to Lowell, Mass., where he lived until he was thirteen years old, when he went to Huron, Ohio, remaining there until he was eighteen years old, when he rode on horseback to Galena, Ill., to try his fortunes in the lead mines. Living there about nine months, he got discouraged, having caught the ague. He started back to Ohio, but he could not stand the ride, he stopped at Rockford, moving from there to Ottawa about the time the canal was finished from Chicago to La Salle; lived in Ottawa three years, when he went to Lake County, Ind. His father, having moved there some time before, was very sick, and died from this sickness. He settled up the business and took his step-mother to Ohio. While at Rockford, he freighted to Chicago; would haul wheat the eighty miles for 20 cents per bushel, and, on reaching the city, would frequently have to sell for 37-1/2 cents per bushel, taking shelf goods in payment, not even getting groceries; he hauled pork for 30 cents per hundred, sold for $1.50 per hundred, and, on his return trip, would take emigrants who landed from the steamboat to any place they wished, taking him all over Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. This was before there were any railroads in this part of the country. While in Ohio, after taking his step-mother there, he married, in April, 1853, Miss Hannah Studwell, born in New York State. The same spring, he started West again, stopping at Lo Porte, Ind., staying nearly a year, when he strated to Iroquois County, Ill., February, 1854, staying there until August, 1855, moving to Tama County, Iowa, where he bought eighty acres of land, paying $5 per acre, building a cabin on it, the next year he sold out for $10 per acre, moving onto better land; he lived in Tama County for nearly thirteen years, when he moved to this township (Knox), in June, 1869, driving his stock across country, moving his goods and family in wagons. When they came here, there were no neighbors for about five miles north and twelve miles east, but south of them, around Lewin's Grove, there was quite a settlement. He paid $900 for his first eighty acres of land, and now has 240 acres, his principal business now being stock-raising. Politically, he is a Greenbacker, though until lately, was a Republican. Has six children - three boys and three girls, one girl and one son married and away from home, the others still living at home. After his arrival in Tama County, he had to go to Iowa City, sixty-two miles away, for everything they bought.