| Biography |
- WALTER WILLIAM KING, of Charlottesville, President of the King Lumber Company,
which is one of the most successful contracting concerns in the country, has
traveled far for a man of his age-for he is yet on the sunny side of forty-five
and began his business career absolutely without capital.
He was born at Wildwood, Virginia, on August 6, 1869, son of James Franklin
and Willie (McLane) King. His father was a farmer, of English descent-while his
mother, as indicated by her name, had Scotch ancestry.
Mr. King attended the local country schools in Fluvanna County for seven
years, and then began his working life as a carpenter. As the latent business
capacity within him began to develop, he embarked in the retail lumber
business-from which has grown the King Lumber Company; and in a comparatively
brief space of time, he has built up one of the large contracting enterprises of
the country. In these days of quick communication, an active man can cover much
territory, and it is really interesting to note the wide extent of the
operations of this man located in a little Virginia town. He has done a vast
amount of work for the United States Government, in the shape of public
buildings for Post Offices and Court uses, covering the country from east to
west, as illustrated by some of the places: Crawfordsville, Indiana; Florence,
South Carolina; Selma, Alabama; Gainesville, Florida; San Angelo, Texas;
Clarinda, Iowa; Corsicana, Texas; Holdrege, Nebraska; Canandaigua, New York;
Bristol, Connecticut; Chicago Heights, Illinois; Atlanta, Georgia. Outside of
his governmental work, of which he has several unfinished contracts on hand now
(1916), he has to his credit (in recent years) the Jefferson National Bank
Building, Charlottesville, Virginia; the Law Building, University of Virginia;
the Fraternity Buildings, University of Virginia; Recitation Hall, University of
South Carolina; Dormitory of Roanoke College, Salem, Virginia; Engineering
Building, University of Florida; National Valley Bank Building, Staunton,
Virginia; Farmers and Merchants National Bank Building, Winchester, Virginia;
Hospital Building, University of Virginia; Elks Office Building, Newbern, North
Carolina; Roanoke County Court House, Salem, Virginia; Union Passenger Station,
Goldsboro, North Carolina; Union Passenger Station, Tampa, Florida; Chronicle
Building, Augusta, Georgia; Y. M. C. A. Building, Atlanta, Georgia (one of the
finest in the United States); Municipal Building, Huntington, West Virginia, and
has numerous other buildings under way.
Mr. King has developed capacity of a high order. He is one of that small
number of men who are able to carry forward large enterprises widely scattered,
bringing them all to a successful issue, and meeting the requirements of his
customers in a satisfactory way. His reputation as a reliable contractor grows
apace. The fact that so large an amount of government work comes to him is the
very highest testimonial both as to fitness and reliability, for the Government
demands the highest class of work and is a most exacting taskmaster.
Mr. King is a strong fraternalist, holding membership in a number of orders,
such as the Masons, Elks, Eagles, Odd Fellows and Maccabees. Possibly, it is
this element in his character which enables him to make friends of the great
number of men whom he has to use in carrying on his work, and whose failures
would entail loss upon him.
He was married at Charlottesville, Virginia, on June 10, 1891, to Lethea
Morris, born August 21,1869, in Fluvanna County, Virginia, daughter of Frank and
Lillian Morris. Their children are: Claude Corbett King, who is a student at the
Eose Polytechnic Institute; Harry Hansford King, who is a student at the
Carnegie Institute of Technology; and Gladys Golden King, who is a student in
the Charlottesville High School. He evidently intends that his children shall be
given the benefit of every possible educational advantage, so that they may lack
nothing in the way of equipment when they come to enter upon the duties of life.
The Kings in Virginia date back certainly to 1620. The first record that we
have of the name is of Henry King, who came over on the ship "Jonathan," in
1620-he was then twenty-two years of age, and in 1624 was one of Sir George
Yeardley's Muster. Henry King settled in Elizabeth City County, prospered and
became the progenitor of a very numerous posterity. He died in 1669, leaving a
considerable estate, and by his will, leaving one hundred acres of land for the
establishment of a free school. This illustrates that, for a man of that period,
he had public spirit, and was one of the three founders of free schools in
Virginia of that day. His son, Henry, had large estates inherited from his
father, and a third Henry represented Elizabeth City County in the House of
Burgesses in 1772-76.
On the 31st of July, 1635, Allen King, aged nineteen, came over in the ship
"Merchants Hope." He was followed by Edward, on the 7th of August of the same
year, who came over in the ship "Globe." This Edward was twenty-one years old,
and was followed by a second Edward, twenty-five years old, on the 2nd of
September. He came over in the ship "William and John." The last one that year
to come was William King, aged twenty-one, who came over on October 24 on the
ship "Constance." In the next fifteen years, these early immigrants were
followed by a number of Kings. The Elizabeth City family, however, seems to have
held the priority, and it is probable that Edmund King, Sr., of Halifax, very
prominent in his day, was descended from the Elizabeth City family; and that to
this branch also belonged William Rufus King, Vice-President of the United
States, born in North Carolina of Virginia ancestry. One of the old mills in
Virginia was established in York or James City County, by one of the Kings. It
was known as King's Mill, and served the people of that section for a half
century or more. Benjamin Robinson, who lived in that section, and was a member
of the famous Robinson family, married into one of the King families. The
Armistead and Randolph families also married into the King families. In lG51-'2,
we come upon one John King, as a patentee of lands in Gloucester, and another as
patentee of lands in Isle of Wight County. Michael King, who settled in
Nansemond County, probably about 1680, divided with Henry King the honor of
being the ancestor of the largest number of King families in Virginia.
Bishop Meade, in his work on "Old Churches and Families of Virginia," says
that the Kings were among the leading families of the eastern section of the
State. They seem to have been very active churchmen in those earlier years.
Edmund King served as a vestryman of Antrim Parish after 1752. Henry King and
Charles King were vestrymen in Hampton Parish. Another Charles King was a
vestryman in Bath Parish. Eev. Dr. King, Bishop of London in 1616, most
courteously entertained Pocahontas on her visit to London. Bishop Meade speaks
with affection of Rev. Mr. King, of Staunton. He says that he was a man of great
piety, much humility of spirit and little learning. Seeing the low condition
into which the Church had fallen, he applied for orders, which notwithstanding
his advanced years and slender theological attainments, resulted in his being
ordained, and for eight years, from 1811 to 1819, he served the little church in
Staunton with the greatest fidelity, and left behind him the record of a most
sincere and devoted man. He gained the respect and affection of all with whom he
came in contact.
The Fluvanna family, to which Walter W. King belonged, had evidently settled
in that County prior to the Revolutionary War, for upon the records of 1782
appear the names of seven heads of families: Daniel, Hargis, Jackville, John,
Joseph. Margaret and William King. The records are very incomplete, and as to
some of these nothing is given beyond the name. Of Daniel, however, it is stated
that the family consisted of eight persons; Jackville's family consisted of
seven persons, besides five slaves; while Joseph had a family of five.
The King family of Virginia was represented in the Revolutionary War by
fifty soldiers, ranking from private to major. The probabilities are that the
Fluvanna family was descended from John King who, in partnership with Lawrence
Ward, patented a large tract of land in Henrico or Hanover County, in 164S,
which counties were then the extreme western frontier, Fluvanna not having been
settled until fifty years or more later.
The McLane family, to which Mr. King's mother belonged, was of Scotch
origin-there were two Clans, one known as MacLean of Duart, and the other as
MacLaine of Lochbuy. The American immigrants evidently belonged to the MacLean
Clan, for that is the original form of the name as it appears upon the records.
A few of the Americans have adhered to the old form of spelling, but a majority
have adopted the form of McLane, and the Maryland family of that name has
furnished two of the most distinguished statesmen in our history. In Virginia,
the McLanes furnished five soldiers to the Revolutionary Army-one of whom.
Allen, rose to the rank of major. One of the Virginia families, which adhered to
the old spelling of McLean, was represented in the early years of the last
century by Daniel and Anthony McLean, of Alexandria; and when in 1S13 the
Episcopal Church in that City was involved in debt, Daniel McLean opened his
pocket book and discharged the obligation, which (for a canny Scotchman) was
very liberal.
Virginia has been the richest of all the States in the quality of its
citizenship, and has contributed as largely to the making of our country as any
other two States. In this constructive work, the Kings and McLanes have done
their full share; and now. in his own generation, Walter W. King is showing
himself a true builder, and unlike many men who are successful in large
enterprises, does not find it necessary to move to a great city, but retains his
residence in the State of his nativity, and lets the profits of his business
flow out into the channels of trade among the people to whom he belongs.
Mr. King is unique in one thing at least-in one of the most rock-ribbed
Democratic States in the Union, he is a Republican in politics.
The Coat of Arms of the "Maclean" Clan, to which Mr. King's mother belonged,
is as follows:
"Maclean" (Chief of Duart and Brolas).
Arms (of Brolas): Quarterly. 1, Argent, a rock gules. 2, Argent, a dexter
hand couped fesswise gules, holding a cross cross-let fitchee in pale azure. 3,
Or, a lymphad, oars in action sable. 4, Argent, a salmon naiant proper, and in
chief two eagles' heads erased affrontee gules.
Crests-(for Duart): A tower embattled argent; (for Brolas): A Lochaber axe
between a laurel branch on the dexter, and cypress on the sinister, proper.
Supporters: Those of the present chief (of Brolas and Duart) are Two
ostriches, each holding a horse shoe in its beak; the Duart Supporters are Two
Seals.
Mottoes: below escutcheon. "Virtue mine honour" and above wreath, "Altera
Merces" (Reward is secondary).
The armorial bearings of the King family of Devon (1595-1651) are: Sable, on a
chevrou between three crosses-crosslet or. as many escallops of the field.
Crest: An escallop or.
Additional Comments:
Extracted from:
MAKERS OF AMERICA
BIOGRAPHIES OF LEADING MEN OF THOUGHT AND ACTION
THE MEN WHO CONSTITUTE THE BONE AND SINEW OF AMERICAN PROSPERITY AND LIFE
VOLUME II
By
LEONARD WILSON,
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ASSISTED BY PROMINENT HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WRITERS
Illustrated with many full page engravings
B. F. JOHNSON, INC.
CITY OF WASHINGTON, U. S. A.
1916
Copyright, 1916
by
B. F. Johnson, Inc.
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1869 - 1928 (58 years)
