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Portrait and Biographical Album of Jefferson and Van Buren Counties, Iowa, Printed 1890 by Lake City Publishing Co., Chicago, Pages 228-229
Perry KING is a grocer of Fairfield, Iowa. He carries a general line of groceries, provisions and crockery, and since he established business in 1880, his trade has steadily increased until he has become one of the leading merchants of the place. Mr. KING was born on the 26th of May, 1844, in Highland County, Ohio, and is the twelfth in a family of thirteen children, whose parents were Morris and Susannah KING. His father, a native of New...
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Portrait and Biographical Album of Jefferson and Van Buren Counties, Iowa, Printed 1890 by Lake City Publishing Co., Chicago, Pages 228-229
Perry KING is a grocer of Fairfield, Iowa. He carries a general line of groceries, provisions and crockery, and since he established business in 1880, his trade has steadily increased until he has become one of the leading merchants of the place. Mr. KING was born on the 26th of May, 1844, in Highland County, Ohio, and is the twelfth in a family of thirteen children, whose parents were Morris and Susannah KING. His father, a native of New Jersey, died in 1851 when our subject was a lad of six years. He married Susannah LANDES, who was born in North Carolina in March, 1802. During her childhood she removed thence to Kentucky and when a maiden of twelve summers, accompanied her family to Ohio, where she is still living at the advanced age of eighty-eight years. She still enjoys a fair degree of health and, in 1889, made a visit from Ohio to Mr. KING in Fairfield. The family is worthy of special mention for various reasons. It consisted of six sons and seven daughters, all of whom lived to mature years and were married. None of the sons ever used whiskey or tobacco, three of the number wore the blue in the late war, one was killed in Missouri by deserters from the Union army during the war, one is a farmer in O'Brien County, Iowa, and the other was a teacher of prominence, and died in Fairfield while visiting friends in that place.
We now turn to the personal history of our subject which we feel will be received with intererst by many of our readers. As before stated, he is a native of Ohio and, in the common and select schools of the Buckeye State, he acquired his education. At the early age of sixteen years he began teaching and followed that profession continuously for a fifth of a century, or until his removal to Fairfield in 1880. It seems almost unnecessary to say that he met with success in this line as his long continued service plainly indicates that fact. Just prior to his removal to Iowa he was the principal of the Lynchburg schools of Highland County, Ohio, his native county. His labors as an instructor were only once interrupted, and that, when he was engaged in his country's service. He served for one month in the State Militia of Ohio, and then enlisted on the 2d day of May, 1864, in Company B, of the One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Ohio Infantry, in which he served until the 8th of September following. At Cynthiana, Ky., seven companies of the regiment were captured, but our subject succeeded in making his escape.
Mr. KING was married in Highland County, Ohio, May 4, 1865, to Miss Phœbe Ann BERRY, a native of that county and a daughter of John BERRY. Their union is blessed with five children, two sons and three daughters, all of whom were born in Highland County, Ohio. In the order of birth they are as follows: Emma Edna, Mary Ellen, Lina C., Wirt B. and Lee A. The three daughters are graduates of the Fairfield Union School, and Emma E. and Mary E. are now students in Parsons College of Fairfield. The mother died on the 4th of October, 1889. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and her loss was felt by many outside of her immediate family.
In politics, Mr. KING is a Republican and is a man well informed on all matters of general interest. both political and otherwise. He takes an active interest in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and belongs to Jefferson Lodge, No. 4, of Fairfield. He has twice been sent as representative to the Grand Lodge and is President of the Southeastern Association, I. O. O. F., comprising six counties. He takes a lively interest in educational affairs, has been President of the Fairfield School Board for three years, and for five years has been connected with the library, and is serving as President pro tem. of the same during the absence of Senator James F. Wilson.
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History of Jefferson County, Iowa -- A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, Vol II, Published 1912, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Pages 338-341
Perry KING, filling the position of department oil inspector of Iowa, by appointment of the governor, and making his home in Fairfield, was born in Highland county, Ohio, May 26, 1844, his parents being Morris and Susannah (LANDES) KING. The father was born in New Jersey, December 5, 1796. He was an only son but had a number of sisters, and with the family he removed to Ohio in this childhood days, spending the remainder of his life there on a farm. He died in Highland county, May 4, 1851, at the age of fifty-five years. In the meantime he had cleared and improved two farms but his unflagging industry and hard work so undermined his health that death came to him when he should have been but in the prime of his life. In early manhood he had wedded Susannah LANDES, who was born in North Carolina, April 19, 1802. She long survived her husband and passed away in Highland county, April 27, 1893, when in her ninety-second year. Her mother was a RUNNELLS, a native of North Carolina, and when thirteen years of age she accompanied her parents on their emigration to Kentucky and later removed to Ohio, where her death occurred. She survived an Indian massacre in her native state, managing to save herself by hiding in an old fashioned bake oven. Her daughter, Mrs. KING, was one of the oldest residents of Highland county, not only in years but also in the length of her stay in that county. She became the mother of fourteen children, of whom six sons and seven daughters lived to marry and have families of their own, and the six boys never used tobacco in any form -- a most creditable record. Jane, the first child of the family, died in infancy. The others were: Mary, the deceased wife of Solomon HOLDEN; Mrs. Rebecca MILLER, a widow, living in Des Moines; William, of O'Brien county, Iowa; Henry, who was shot down while working in a field on his farm in Missouri at the outbreak of the Civil war; Huldah REAMS, deceased; John, who was a teacher and surveyor in Highland county for thirty years and died in Fairfield, while on a visit; Mrs. Margaret STEVENS, a widow, of Highland county, Ohio, whose husband was in the Civil war; Allen, who served in Company G, Thirtieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry during the Civil war and is now deceased; Mrs. Eliza FERRIS, a widow, of Highland county, Ohio, whose husband also was in the struggle between the north and the south; Mrs. Sarah PERRY, of Marion, Indiana; Robert, who servedin the One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry and died in Columbus, Ohio; Perry, of this review; and Mrs. Gelina CUSTAR, of Marion, Indiana.
Perry KING, who was next to the youngest in this large family of fourteen children, resided in his native county until he came to Iowa in 1808. In the meantime he had acquired his education in the common and select schools and had early become familiar with the work of the farm. When fourteen years of age he began teaching and at the age of sixteen was employed as a teacher in the public schools. He followed that profession for twenty years and was principal of the schools at Lynchburg, just prior to coming to Iowa. Following his arrival in Fairfield in 1880, he embarked in the grocery business in partnership with his brother Allen, under the firm style of Allen KING & Brother, this connection being maintained for eight years. Perry KING was afterward in business alone until 1898, when he sold out. He then enjoyed a rest of two years, after which he went upon the road as a traveling representative for a year for the Iowa Independent Order of Odd Fellows, making collections and securing subscribers for their paper. Subsequently he was with the firm of Springer & Stubbs, of California, for whom he sold imported horses and afterward he sold stock food for a local company. For three years he was agent for the Grand Union Tea Company, of New York, continuing in that position until the 11th of February, 1901, since which time he has been deputy oil inspector of Iowa under appointment of the governor.
Mr. KING is well known in fraternal circles. On the 22d of June, 1872, he joined Lafayette Lodge, No. 25, I. O. O. F. at Hillsboro, Ohio, and after coming to this state was transferred to Jefferson Lodge, No. 4, at Fairfield, and when Fairfield Lodge, No. 625, I. O. O. F. was organized, he became one of its charter members. He is also connected with Rebekah Lodge, No. 386, and he belongs to George Strong Post, No. 19, G. A. R. His political support has ever been given to the republican party, which was the defender of the Union during the dark days of the Civil war and has ever been the party of reform and progress. His religious faith is evidenced in his attendance in the Congregational church.
Mr. KING has been married twice. On the 15th of May, 1865, he wedded Phoebe Ann BERRY, who was born in Highland county, Ohio, December 25, 1841 (sic. December 26, 1841 in other sources), and died in Fairfield, Iowa, October 4, 1889. She was a daughter of John BERRY, and by her marriage became the mother of five children: Emma E., the eldest, married Elmer E. MATTOX and they have been missionaries in Hang-chau, China, for the past seventeen years, under the auspices of the Presbyterian church. She is a graduate of Parsons College of Fairfield and also of a Chicago college. Mary E., the second daughter, is the wife of C. H. BUNDY, of Fathigarh, India. They, too, have been missionaries for the past sixteen years, being sent to a foreign field by the Presbyterian board. Mrs. BUNDY is likewise a graduate of Parsons College and of a Council Bluffs college. Gelina C. is the wife of F. D. KERRICK, of Fairfield, and is a graduate of the high school of this city; Wirt B., has for a number of years been a traveling salesman for the Carr Manufacturing Company, of Kansas City and lives in Fairfield. Lee A., a graduate of the Gem City Commercial College, of Quincy, Illinois, is now chief clerk and auditor of the National City Bank, of Chicago. On the 24th of December, 1890, Mr. KING was again married, his second union being with Miss Hadassah M. BLACK, who was born in Jefferson county, Iowa, June 22, 1845, and has always resided in this county. Her parents are Moses and Nancy (GLASGOW) BLACK, natives of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, respectively. They came to Jefferson county in 1844, entered land in Des Moines township, and were thereafter honored pioneer residents of this section until death. Mr. KING has become widely known during the thirty-one years of his residence in Fairfield and has the social qualities and sterling worth which have won for him the high regard and warm friendship of many with whom he has been brought in contact.
[Transcriber's note: The G.A.R. is the Grand Army of the Republic, the fore-runner of the American Legion.]
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Note: A brother of Perry King is also buried in Evergreen cemetery with his own family: Allen King . |
