Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/280

 KING

KING

one of the incorporators and principal owner of the first cotton mill in Brunswick, Maine, erected in 1809. He was major-general of militia, and received the commission of colonel in the U.S. army as a recruiting officer in the district of Maine, during the war of 1813. He was a bene- factor and trustee of the Maine Literary and Theological institution, afterward Colby univer- sity, 1821-48. The state of Maine is represented in Statuary hall, Washington, D.C., by his statue. He died in Bath, Maine, June 17, 1852.

KING, William Fletcher, educator, was born near Zanesville, Ohio, Dec. 20, 1830; son of James Johnson and Mariam (Coffman) King; and grandson of Walter and Catharine King and of William and Elizabeth Coffman. Both his father and mother were of Virginia ancestry. William was graduated from the Oliio Wesleyan university in 1857, and was tutor in mathematics there, 1857-62. He joined the Upper Iowa con- fei'ence of the Metlio- dist Episcopal church in 1862, and accepted the chair of Latin and Greek languages in Cornell college, Mt. Vei-non, Iowa. Upon the death of President Samuel M. Fellows, in 1863, Pro- fessor King was made acting i^resident, and m 1865 he was elected president. In 1901 he was classed as one of the oldest college presi- dents in the United States, and the remark- able growth of the institution was largely the re- sult of his progressive administration. He was married in August, 1865, to Margaret McKell, of Chillicothe, Ohio. He was president of the State Teachers' association; a member of the educational council of the National Teachers' as- sociation, 1886-1900, and was appointed hj Presi- dent Harrison a member of the national commis- sion of the World's Columbian exposition in 1890. He was elected a member of various philanthropic and scientific societies of America and Europe; was three times elected to the general conference of the Methodist Episcopal church and i-eceived the honorary degree of D.D. from the Illinois Wesleyan university in 1870, and that of LL.D. from the Ohio Wesleyan and the Iowa State un- iversities in 1887.

KING, William Rufus, Vice-President of the United States, was born in Sampson county, N.C., April 6, 1786; son of William King. His father was a delegate to the North Carolina con-

U.S SENATE CHAMBER.

stitutional conventions of 1787, 1788 and 1789, to consider the constitution of the United States, and a delegate to the general assembly for sev- eral terms. William Rufus was a student at the University of North Carolina in 1801, was a stu- dent in the 3!^:^^;c:<^^^^^!^^,\^^\^^ili^Si''.i law office ^^ of William Duify at ^«\ Fay et t e- |^-t- ville, N.C.,. ,,.

and was ^Sk^^W^^l admitted to the bar ^\ in 1806. ^ He was a

representative in the state legislature, 1806- 10, and was appointed solicitor for Wilming- ton, N.C. He was a Democratic representa- tive from North Carolina in the 12th, 13th and 14th congresses, serving from Nov. 4, 1811, until 1816, when he resigned to accept the appointment of secretary of legation to accompany William Pinckney, who had been appointed special envoy to Naples and U.S. minister to St. Petersburg, Russia. He returned to the United States in 1818, and settled in Cahaba, Dallas county, Ala., removing in 1826 to Selma, Ala. He was a member of the convention which framed the state constitution, and one of the first U.S. sen- ators, serving, by continuous re-elections, 1819-44. While in the senate, he was chairman of the committees on public lands, commerce and other important committees, and served as president pro tempore of the senate in the 24th, 25th and 26th congresses, 1835-41. He resigned in 1844 to accept the position of U.S. minister to France under appointment of President Tyler, serving, 1844-46. While in France he secured the friend- ship of Louis Philippe, and prevented the inter- vention of European powers in the annexation of Texas. He returned to the United States in 1846, and in 1848 was appointed U.S. senator to fill the unexpired term of Arthur P. Bagley, who had resigned to become U.S. minister to Russia. In 1849 lie was elected U.S. senator for the full term, to expire in 1855. He was elected presi- dent jj?'0 tempore of the senate. May 6, 1850, and on the death of President Taylor and the acces- sion of Vice-President Fillmore to the Presidency, he became acting Vice-President of the United States, and served as such until Dec. 20, 1852. He was elected Vice-President of the United States by the Democratic party, with Franklin Pierce as President, in 1852, but did not live to enter upon the duties of his office. In January, 1853, by the advice of his physicians, he went to Cuba, and being unable to return for his inauguration, March 4, 1853, received the official oath at