King, Joseph

Born: 1808-12-01 Virginia

Died: 1893-09-07 Decatur, Illinois

Joseph King was a physician. He remained in his native state until the age of sixteen, when he traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio to study medicine. After graduating, King came to Illinois, settling in Macon County in 1838. He began practicing medicine in Decatur and engaged in the drug business. In 1840, King served as president of the Board of Trustees for Macon County. In December 1842, he married Marietta Packard, with whom he would have five children. Between 1848 and 1854, King served on the Board of Trustees for Macon County, serving as president again in 1850. In 1850, King was practicing medicine and owned real estate worth $4,000. By 1860, he had amassed $25,000 worth of real estate and had a personal estate of $1,000. In 1861, King retired from his medical practice. Politically, he was a Whig and he was also a member of the Odd Fellows.

O. T. Banton, ed., History of Macon County (Macon County Historical Society, 1976), 50-51; John W. Smith, History of Macon County, Illinois, from its Organization to 1876 (Springfield: Rokker's, 1876), 186, 221, 222, 265; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Macon County, 8 December 1842, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Macon County, IL, 125; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 2, Decatur, Macon County, IL, 45; George W. Powers and Others to Abraham Lincoln and Edward D. Baker; Obituary, Decatur Daily Republican (IL), 7 September 1893, 4:3; Gravestone, Greenwood Cemetery, Decatur, IL.