John King (1731 - 1822)

Born 10 Feb 1731 in Marshfield, Plymouth, Massachusetts

Descendants

Died 6 Mar 1822 at age 91 in Arlington, Bennington, Vermont

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Joan King [send private message]

Biography

John King was born 10 February 1731 in Marshfield, Plymouth, Massachusetts, the son of John King and his wife Mary of Marshfield.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

John King was christened on 13 August 1732 in Scituate, Plymouth, Massachusetts.^[3][7]

John married Mary in about 1756 in Arlington or Sunderland, Bennington County, Vermont. Her last name at birth is unknown. They had at least two children.

1. John K King was born on 25 April 1765 in Ashfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts; served in the Revolutionary War as a fife and drummer. He married Sarah Hawkins and had thirteen childrn, all born in or near Williamstown, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. He married Sarah Sterns and had three more children, all born in Washington County, New York. John died at an age of ninety on April 25, 1855 in Dresden, Washington County, New York.
2. Enoch King was born on 22 January 1770 in Ashfield. He married Rhoda Phillips and had ten children, all born in Ashfield.

John live in Ashfield, Franklin County, Massachussets in 1790, 1800, and 1810.^[8][9][10]

John King died 6 March 1822 in Arlington, Bennington, Vermont due to Palsy.^[6][11] He was buried in the Saint James Episcopal Church Cemetery in Arlington, Bennington County, Vermont.^[12]

Research Notes

This John King is NOT the son of Mary Stowell.

C501321 -1850 0014791, 0496902 IT 1 Film documents Scituate, Plymouth, Massachusetts as birthplace, according to LDS site.

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In 1874, Elias Nason described the town of Ashfield as follows:

Ashfield is an uneven and hilly grazing-town, of 242 dwelling-houses and 1,180 inhabitants, in the south-western part of Franklin County, having Hawley and Buckland on the north, Conway on the east, Goshen on the south, and Plainfield on the west. It lies at an elevation of about 1,200 feet, on the highlands midway between Deerfield and Westfield Rivers, to the former of which it sends as tributaries Clesson's Brook, Bear and South Rivers; and to the latter, Stone's Brook and Swift River. Peter's Hill, Ridge Hill, Mill Hill, and Mount Owen, are prominent elevations; and Great Pond, covering 60 acres, near the centre of the town, is enclosed as a beautiful gem between them. Calcareous mica schist forms the geological structure. There are 225 farms, and 2,844 acres of woodland, from which large quantities of firewood, bark, and timber, are prepared for market. The town has 1,556 sheep, the largest number owned by any town in the county. Most of these are merinos. 1

Tobacco is raised extensively and with profit. The principal manufacture is wooden-ware, for which the ash, birch, and maple of the forests furnish ample material. The valuation of the town is 5,272; rate of taxation, .33 per 0. Ashfield, as a town, insures the property of its own citizens. The town has ten saw-mills, two postal centres (Ashford [i.e., Ashfield] and South Ashford [i.e., South Ashfield]), and three churches,--one Congregational, of which the Rev. James Dingwell is pastor; one Baptist, the Rev. David Pease, pastor; and one Episcopal, at the Centre, the Rev. S. Green, rector. The number of district schools is 14; for the support of which the town appropriated ,500 in 1871. 1

The place was granted to a company, or the heirs of a company, commanded by Capt. Ephraim Hunt of Weymouth, for services in an expedition to Canada in 1690; and, in honor to him, was called Huntstown. The first settler was an Irishman, named Richard Ellis, who came here about 1745. Thomas Phillips, his brother-in-law, soon followed him. The Baptist church was formed in July, 1761; the Congregational church, Feb. 22, 1763; and St. John's (Episcopal) church, in 1820. 1 town was incorporated under its present name June 21, 1765; and was probably so called from Lord Thurlow of Ashfield and of the king's council. It took an active part in the war of the Revolution; one vote being to give twenty calves, by way of encouragement, to any one that should enlist for three years, and to keep them at the town's expense until the time should expire. 1

(Source: Nason, Elias, 1811-1887. A gazetteer of the state of Massachusetts : with numerous illustrations on wood and steel / by Elias Nason. -- Boston : B.B. Russell, 1874. -- p. 63-64).

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Arlington lies in the west central part of Bennington County... Arlington was chartered July 28, 1761 and settled in 1763. The town of Arlington includes the locales of Arlington, Chiselville, East Arlington, and West Arlington. 1

In 1853, Zadock Thompson described the town of Arlington as follows:

ARLINGTON, a post town in Bennington county, lies in lat. 43° 4' and long. 3° 54', and contains 39 square miles. It is bounded north by Sandgate, east by Sunderland, south by Shaftsbury, and west by Salem, New York, and is situated 40 miles from Troy, 40 miles from Saratoga springs, 40 from Whitehall and 40 from Rutland. It was chartered July 28, 1761, to a number of persons mostly belonging to Litchfield, Connecticut. The first settlement was made in the year 1763, by Dr. Simon Burton, William Searls and Ebenezer Wallis. In 1764, Jehiel Hawley, Josiah Hawley, Remember Baker and Thomas Peck, removed into this town. The former was a principal land owner, and has left in this place a numerous and respectable posterity. The early records of this town were lost or destroyed in the year 1777, by Isaac Bisco, then town clerk, who became a tory and fled to Canada. Hence the precise time the town was organized, is not known. It was about the year 1768, and Remember Baker, an active and distinguished leader in the controversy between the New Hampshire grants and New York, was the first town clerk. Thomas Chittenden was a resident in this town during the revolution, and was chosen to represent it in the first assembly after the adoption of the constitution, but, being elected governor the same year, was succeeded as representative by Ethan Allen. This town was originally settled by Episcopalians, and an Episcopal society was organized here some years before the revolution, which has existed ever since. The records of this church, which is called St. James' Church, go back to August 16, 1784. The first rector of this church was the Rev. James Nichols, settled in 1786. His salary was £20 a year, which was raised by an assessment upon "the grand list." His conduct proving irregular and unsatisfactory, he was dismissed about the year 1792, and the Rev. Russell Catlin, whose conduct proved still more exceptionable, succeeded him. In the beginning of 1803, the Rev. Abraham Bronson took charge of this church for half the time. This connexion, happy and much blessed, lasted till January, 1826. He was succeeded by the Rev. Joseph H. Coit. In 1828, Mr. C. was succeeded by the Rev. James Tappan, who, the next year, was succeeded by the Rev. Wm. S. Perkins, who resigned in 1833. Since that time the ministers have been the Rev. Luman Foote, the Rev. John Grigg and the Rev. Anson B. Hard, who is a native of the town and the present rector. The first church was erected in 1786, by a tax assessed on the grand list. In 1831 a new and elegant stone church was erected at a cost of ,000. Total baptisms 352; present communicants 80. Arlington, lying lower than the surrounding towns, has the principal streams in the county passing through it. Roaring branch enters the eastern part of the town from Sunderland, Mill brook the southeast part from Glastenbury, Warm brook the south part from Shaftsbury, and Green river the north part from Sandgate. These streams all fall into the Battenkill, which enters the town near the northeast corner, runs southwesterly about three miles, thence nearly west about six miles further, and crosses the west line of the town into Washington county, New York. These streams afford many very excellent mill privileges, and along their banks are considerable tracts of the finest intervale land. The principal elevations are West Mountain and Red Mountain, which extend from south to north through the west part of the town. These mountains are separated by the Battenkill, in its westerly course through the township. They are covered with a considerable variety of timber, consisting of white, red and black oak, white and black birch, chestnut, hickory, &c. The soil is rich and very productive of English grain. The soil in the eastern part of the town is chiefly loam, and the timber principally beech, maple, ash, birch, elm, bass and butternut. A glade of land, three miles in len[g]th, and one in breadth, extending from north to south, near the foot of West mountain, was formerly covered with an extraordinary growth of white pine. The soil of this tract is sandy. Several extensive quarries of granular limestone or white marble, have been opened here, from which large quantities are annually taken and wrought into tombstones and for other purposes. The value of the marble manufactured in 1840 was ,300. There is also an abundance of compact limestone from which lime, of a superior quality, is manufactured. Near Aylsworth's mills in the east part of the town, is a medicinal spring, which is resorted to by the inhabitants of the vicinity as a remedy for cutaneous diseases, ophthalmies, &c. The water is strongly impregnated with ferrugenous matter, and rather unpleasant to the taste. It contains a minute portion of hydrogen gas, but no carbonic acid. Its temperature is about the same as that of the springs in the neighborhood. Near the northeast corner of the town is a cavern which is much visited as a curiosity. Its entrance is on the east side of a steep hill, and of a capacity sufficient for one person only to enter at a time. From the entrance to the bottom it is about 20 feet, and the passage makes, with the horizon, an angle of about 45°. The cavern then extends westerly in a horizontal direction 13 rods. Its other dimensions are somewhat various in different parts of its course. Its medium width is about eight feet, and its height about the same. In some places, it contracts so as barely to admit a person to pass along, and in others expands into capacious rooms or vaults. Near the western extremity is a large room of a conical form, the sides of which are very regular. Its height from the base to the apex is more than fifty feet, and its sides are limerock incrusted with stelactites. The bottom of the cavern is mostly a fine white clay, and a stream of very pure water runs through its whole length. The road from Bennington to Rutland passes through this town. There are two houses for public worship, two grist and three sawmills, one woollen factory, one fulling mill and one tannery. Statistics of 1840.--Horses, 145; cattle, 830; sheep, 12,005; swine, 583; wheat, bu. 743; oats, 9,025; rye, 3,556; buck wheat, 1,092; Indian corn, 5,145; potatoes, 211,212; hay, tons, 4,631; sugar, lbs. 7,420; wool, 27,750. Pop. 1,035.

(Source: Thompson, Zadock, 1796-1856. History of Vermont : natural, civil, and statistical ... / by Zadock Thompson. -- Burlington : Z. Thompson, 1853. -- pt. 3, p. 4-5).

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http:/co.franklin.ma.usashfield.htm

More than 20 years before its incorporation on June 21, 1765, this hilly area known as Hunttown - named for a man who probably never saw the place. Captain Ephraim Hunt of Weymouth, like many others, was a company commander during King William's War and he was paid for his services by a grant of land. His heirs, some 46 years after the war, offered five pounds each to the first 10 settlers who would build a house and cultivate six acres.

Richard Ellis, a native of Dublin, Ireland, became the first settler, coming from Easton with his wife. Cutting trees himself, he built the first house about 1741 in the northeastern part of Ashfield. Soon after, his sister and her husband, Thomas Phillips, joined them, building a log house about a half-mile north. Then came Chileab Smith of South Hadley.

Other settlers came from time to time, several from southern Connecticut. By 1754, up to 15 families and 100 people were Ashfield residents.

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Check: Manning's Bennington, Shaftsbury and Arlington (Vermont) directory : containing general directory of citizens, classified business directory, street directory and house guide, a record of the town governments, societies, churches, etc., county, state and United States governments / compiled and published by H.A. Manning Company. -- Springfield, Mass. : H.A. Manning Co.,.

Holdings: LDS Family History Library (1930 in paper and on microfilm, LDS FHL microfilm number 1415263 item 9).

Sources

1. ↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FZ85-2XG : 15 January 2020), John, 1731.
2. ↑ History of Scituate, Massachusetts, by Deane, p. 14,Source Medium: Book. "John King, b. Feb. 10, 1731." "John King, Jr., b. Aug. 11, 1704, m. Mary Clift, January 30, 1730"
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Vital Records of Scituate Massachusetts to 1850, Book 1 Part 3 p 212 John, s. John and Mary of Marshfield, bp. Aug. 13, 1732. C.R.2.
4. ↑ Marshfield, Mass. Vital Records Second Volume (printed version), Source Medium: Book, page 167.
5. ↑ Vital records of Marshfield, Massachusetts to the year 1850, Robert M. Sherman and Ruth Wilder Sherman, Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Family Sheet: F 6593 pt 151 burial of John King, Sr. 974.42/A1 V2n p 67, 175, Source Medium: Book. Birth ABT 1732. of Ashfield, Franklin, MA.
7. ↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5NQ-V2D : 14 January 2020), John King, 1732.
8. ↑ 1790 Census Ashfield, MA.
9. ↑ 1800 Census Ashfield. MA (This record is on the same page as Enoch King).
10. ↑ 1810 Census Ashfield, MA, 266. (This record is on the same page as Enoch King, and includes a female of the age of Mary.)
11. ↑ "Vermont Vital Records, 1760-1954", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XFV5-FYM : 19 February 2021), John King, 1822.
12. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/224882043/john-king: accessed 22 March 2023), memorial page for John King (unknown–6 May 1822), Find a Grave Memorial ID Find A Grave: Memorial #224882043, citing Saint James Episcopal Church Cemetery, Arlington, Bennington County, Vermont, USA; Maintained by mary casey (contributor 47519632).