King, David

Born: 1794-05-20 Ireland, United Kingdom

Died: 1877-08-18 Morgan County, Illinois

Flourished: Sangamon County, Illinois

David King was a hardware (iron) merchant, farmer, and father of John N. King. King immigrated from Ireland to the United States prior to 1830. He settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he became a hardware (iron) merchant as a partner in the firm of King, Higby, and Anderson. The Panic of 1837 and its aftermath forced the business into bankruptcy in 1842, and a year later, King moved his family to Sangamon County, Illinois, buying a farm on Lick Creek, near Berlin. In 1850, he was farming in Sangamon County and owned real property valued at $4,000. In the 1850s, King retired and moved his family to Jacksonville, Illinois. In 1860, he listed his occupation as gentleman and owned real property valued at $12,000, with a personal estate of $300.

Walter B. Hendrickson, ed., "The Happy Soldier: The Mexican War Letters of John Nevin King," Part 1, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 46 (Spring 1953), 13-14; Gravestone, Diamond Grove Cemetery, Jacksonville, IL; U.S. Census Office, Fifth Census of the United States (1830), West Ward, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA, 63; U.S. Census Office, Sixth Census of the United States (1840), North Ward, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA, 333; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Sangamon County, IL, 170; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Jacksonville, Morgan County, IL, 43.