BENJAMIN KING
The history of the agricultural development of Wayne
county and of the business progress and advancement of
Humeston contains the record of the life of no more worthy,
upright and honorable man than Benjamin king, extensive
landowner, former farmer, president of the Humeston State
Bank, and for many years one of the most powerful forces in
the upbuilding of this section of the state. Through a childhood
hampered by poverty and limited educational advantages,
through early years of earnest labor against discouragement
and hard conditions he has made his way upward to prosperity,
working always with courage and steadfast determination until
success and happiness have crowned his old age. He was born in New
York, December 29, 1831, and is a son of Benjamin and
Elizabeth (Hanmore) King, natives of New York, who lived and
died in that state.
Benjamin King of this review grew to manhood in the
Empire state and for two years attended the common schools. This is all the
school training he ever received but it has been supplemented
by travel, by deep thinking, wide reading and varied
experiences and today Benjamin King is considered one of the
best informed men in this part of Iowa. Influenced by his
determination to conquer all obstacles and hew out for himself
an honorable destiny, he left New York in 1868 and pushed
westward to Chariton, Iowa, the terminus of the railroad at
that time. He
and his family settled on a farm in Richman township, one mile
east of Humeston, and with characteristic energy and
determination Mr. King began his agricultural career. Pioneer conditions
prevailed throughout the entire section, settlements were
sparse, Mr. King’s nearest neighbor being one mile away, and
discomforts were innumerable.
However, these were faced with resolute courage and
were little by little overcome.
Mr. King’s first farm consisted of eighty acres but he
has bought and disposed of several tracts of land since that
time and was the owner of one of the finest agricultural
properties in Wayne county.
However, he has disposed of all of his farming land in
order to give more time to his extensive business affairs.
Mr. King’s career indicates clearly what may be
accomplished when determination, ability and unfaltering
industry are strong characteristics of the individual. Throughout the
course of his active and well spent life he has by diligence,
application and the labor of his hands amassed a comfortable
fortune which has been honorably acquired and never unworthily
used. He has
moved into a beautiful home in Humeston and is to a great
extent concentrating his attention upon the affairs of the
Humeston State Bank, which he opened on the 9th of
February, 1893, and which now has a capital stock of sixty
thousand dollars. Mr.
King has been acting as its president since the organization
of the institution and under his able management it has grown
to be one of the strong, reliable and conservative banks of
the city.
In New York, on the 13th of April, 1859, Mr.
King was united in marriage to Miss Julia Elizabeth Deyo, who
was born in Coldwater, Michigan, April 3, 1839, a daughter of
Abram and Phoebe Deyo, natives of New York. The father died in
Nebraska in 1886 and the mother passed away in her native
state on the 31st of August, 1906. In their family
were four children: Mrs.
Rowena Hasbrouck, of New York; Mrs. King, of this sketch;
Martha H., who passed away in 1909; and Mrs. Adelia Hasbrouck,
also deceased. Mr.
and Mrs. King became the parents of two daughters, both of
whom were born in Poughkeepsie, New York; Mrs. Cora P.
Fletcher, whose birth occurred on the 7th of
February, 1860, and who died at Tingley, Iowa, December 19,
1908; and Phebe Deyo, born September 8, 1862, who for the past
fourteen years has been assistant cashier of the Humeston
State Bank. Both
daughters received an excellent public-school education and
Phebe is a graduate of the Iowa Business College at Des
Moines. Mrs.
King is a member of the Congregational church.
Mr. King gives his allegiance to the republican party
and has at all times been eminently progressive in his
citizenship. He
has served in various important local offices, having been
assessor of Richman township, mayor of Humeston, a member of
the town council and city treasurer, discharging his official
duties in a straightforward, progressive and conscientious
manner. Fraternally
he is affiliated with Fidelity Lodge, No. 228, F. & A. M.,
of Humeston, and Chappaqua Lodge, I. O. O. F., of which he is
a charter member. Mr.
King deserves great credit for what he has accomplished,
having worked his way steadily upward by determined and
straightforward effort.
He is today one of the most highly respected pioneer
citizens of southern Iowa and the progress of his career can
be readily traced through his youth of steadfast work, his
active, energetic and successful middle age to the evening of
his life, which is full of years and honor.