Eliza A. King; Born abt 1863; Married a Strickland?

All the children’s names are listed in Ella’s family Bible with birthdates.  The only exception is Eliza King. Eliza’s name was found when we researched the Florida property sales of Samuel’s heirs and found Eliza A. Strickland listed as an heir.    

To the best of our knowledge, Eli and Samuel’s residences were in Jefferson County, Tennessee; Knox County, Tennessee; and Bradley County, Tennessee.  Samuel moved to Alachua County, FL in the 1860s. 

Chapter 2: Knox County

The Early Days

We can track the lives of Eli and Samuel King through public records.

Samuel’s first residence was probably in Jefferson County, Tennessee. Eli’s father’s will was executed in 1798 and recorded in Jefferson County.  We believe that Eli continued to live in Jefferson County until he moved to Knox County.

In 1810 Eli King sold a slave who was part of his inheritance from his father, and the document shows that Eli lived in Jefferson County, Tennessee.  Samuel was an infant at this time.

By 9 May 1814, Eli was living in Knox County, Tennessee as shown by a deed of purchase of 58 2/3 acres on the head waters of Robertson’s Creek on the south side of the Holston River.  He purchased the land for $300.00.  The witnesses were Adam M. Kennedy, brother of Eli’s wife, and John Steel. Samuel would have been about 5 years old.

On 22 Apr 1815, Eli King and Samuel John were witnesses to the will of Andrew Taylor which was recorded in Knox County, TN.  After Andrew’s death, the last will was given to the court for probate.  Eli and Samuel gave the required oaths and the will was recorded.  Andrew’s son, William Taylor, was one of the executors, and later William Taylor, Eli and Samuel King would be neighbors in Knox County, TN.

In Oct 1815 an inventory of the estate of William Carter, deceased, was made and recorded in Knox County, and among the notes on hand was one from Eli King.

On 22 Aug 1820 Eli of Knox county purchased 42 ¼ acres of land in Jefferson County, Tennessee for $169.00.  This property was located on the Holston River.  Although this deed does not prove that Samuel also lived in Knox County, there is a good probability.  Samuel would have been about 11 years old at the time.

 

In 1821 Eli was party to a Knox County deed transaction witnessed by William Taylor and Adam M. Kennedy, Eli’s brother-in-law.

Eli King and Samuel K. Walker were the witnesses to the transaction.  We are researching whether or not Samuel K. Walker was part of the family of Samuel King’s wife, Mary Walker.

On 5 Oct 1829, Samuel (as S. K.) King was either a bondsman or a witness to a marriage between Jno. M. A. Ramsey and Polly Robison.  Eli King, as Justice of the Peace, performed the ceremony.

 

In May 1830 Samuel married Mary Walker in Knox County.  The 1830 Knox County Federal Census listed Samuel as head of the household in the category of ages 20-30, and also listed one female in the 10-15 year category and one 20-30 year old female.  One of the women would have Samuel’s new bride, Mary Walker.

Other public records in Knox County:

On 18 Jul 1833, Eli, as Justice of the Peace in Knox County, performed the marriage ceremony for Moses Russell and Ann Ruth.

On 22 Aug 1833 Eli, as Justice of the Peace, took the statement of Samuel Sample, Sr. for his Revolutionary War Pension application.  Witnesses were Samuel Sample Jr., Eli’s son-in-law, and Samuel K. King.

The first deed involving Samuel King that we have to date was between Samuel King and William Taylor and was executed in Knox County, Tennessee on 29 Oct 1833.  Samuel sold to William Taylor a tract of land containing forty acres for $1.00 per acre.  The property was located on the south side of the Holston River on the head waters of Robertson’s, which are the same identifiers used in Eli’s purchase of 1814.

Also in 1833 the Taylors sold 100 acres of land which adjoined land of Eli King.

On 3 April, 1834 Samuel was living on a plantation adjacent to Samuel Sample in Knox County, Tennessee according to an Agreement filed in the public records.  Samuel Sample Sr. was very ill in 1833, so we assume that this transaction involved his son, Samuel Jr. who was Samuel King’s brother-in-law.

The Agreement provided the terms and conditions for the construction, use and maintenance of a sawmill located on a creek on Samuel Sample’s property. Both men were to share in the work and expense of building the mill and keeping it in repair.  The timber used would come from both their properties.

On 29 Dec 1836, Eli, as Justice of the Peace, performed a marriage in Knox County for Elizabeth McMillan and Philip Sherrod.

It is likely that both Samuel and Eli moved to Bradley County in 1837.  Eli was elected Trustee of the newly formed Bradley County in 1838.

In Knox County Eli and Samuel were close to family friends and relatives.  Samuel Sample Jr. was married to Eli’s daughter, Mary, and Samuel lived on the next plantation.  Eli lived nearby.  Also many of the Kennedy family members were close by.  These were Eli’s in-laws.  A Vance family also lived in Knox County.  Eli’s daughter, Margaret, married James Vance in Knox County.

Chapter 3: Ocoee District

Eli and Samuel heard about land that was available south of Knox County in the Cherokee Nation. This was prime land and both Eli and Samuel were among those who filed for land grants with the Ocoee District.

Col. R. M. Edwards wrote: “At the time the writer came to the Nation, the white were rapidly moving in. This was in October, 1835.  In 1836, quite a large population, having moved to the Nation, preparation was made to organize a county.”

“When the white folks came to the county in 1835-1836, the virgin forest was almost unbroken, save a few small patches the Indians had cleared in the richest spots.  The custom of the Indians was to annually burn the leaves, which kept down the young growth, the bushes being kept down, grass grew luxuriantly, and the entire country had more the appearance of a well-kept park than a forest.  Along its beautiful valleys a deer might have been seen a mile or more distant, and a person could ride or drive in all directions.  No wonder the Indians objected to the treaty which gave all those beautiful lands to the white race, and compelled them to seek a new home in the far off West.”

The new Ocoee District was formed in 1836 while Samuel and Eli were living in Knox County.  “That the public lands of this State ceded by the Cherokee Nation of Indians to the United States by treaty of the 23rd day of May, 1836, shall constitute a surveyors’ district, which shall be known by the name of ‘Ocoee District’…” In this treaty, called the Treaty of New Chota or Treaty of Removal, the Cherokee Nation ceded all lands that were owned, claimed or possessed by them, east of the Mississippi River. The treaty also provided for the removal of the Indians, two years after ratification.”

An Ocoee District entry-taker’s office was opened in October 1838.  Anyone could file a claim except members of the Cherokee nation.  According to Goodspeed’s History of Bradley County, “The lands were placed upon sale at prices ranging with the time in which it was entered.  For the first four months the price was $7.50 per acre: the next four months $5, after which it was reduced to $2 and $1, and finally the last was sold in 1841 at one cent an acre.”

During this time land went for as little as one-fourth cent per acre and as high as $105.00 an acre.  Eli and Samuel made land claims in the new Ocoee District.  Eli’s name was spelled “Ele.”  There was also an Adam King (unidentified) who made a claim, and a business named “King’s Point Town Co.”  This may have been a business name used by Eli and Samuel who were merchants in Bradley County.

The deeds that we have located under the Ocoee District land transfers were executed long after Eli and Samuel entered Bradley County, but they may have made application earlier.  Also, there may be earlier deeds we have not yet located.

18 November 1845       

To Eli and Samuel K. King           

From the State of Tennessee Entry Taker’s Office of the Ocoee District

From the State of Tennessee Entry Taker’s Office of the Ocoee District

“Eighty acres lying in the county of Bradley in the said District situate in the first Range West of the basis line first township and thirty second section being the east half of the northeast quarter of said section and being the same land relinquished to the State of Tennessee by __ Beard on the 7th day of May, 1844.  Quarter, with its appurtenances…”

We do not know where Eli and Samuel lived when they first moved to Bradley County.  At some point they lived in the Eureka community of Bradley County.

“The Eureka Community is located nine miles north of Cleveland.  It was one of the very earliest settlements in Bradley County as indicated by the organization of the Candies Creek Baptist Church in 1834.  The community included the Eureka Academy, three or four stores, two physicians, a wagon factory, and a small hat factory.  Among the early family names were McPherson, MaHan, Ross, Witt, King, Wattenbarger, Johnston, Geren, Hooper, Johnson, Duncan, Shiplet, Wilson, McDaris, Eads, Sharp, Baker, Grisham, Bryant, Lee, Gilbreath, Kirkpatrick, Taylor and Shelton.”

 

According to family lore, Eli had a trading post on his property.  On this property is the King Cemetery which is a very small cemetery.  The only family headstone we have identified as a family member is that of Pleasant Carroll Grayson, Sr., the father of Tennessee Jane Grayson who married Samuel’s son, William Walker King.

 

Chapter 4: Bradley County

On January 20, 1838, Cleveland was designated Bradley’s county seat.

Eli was elected Trustee of the newly formed Bradley County from 1838-1840.   This proves that Eli was a resident in 1838, and assumes that since he was “elected” to office, he would have been living in the Ocoee District/Bradley County area of sufficient length of time for the citizenry to know and trust him to serve in this position.

One of Bradley County’s alternate commissioners appointed by the state legislature was George Real, father of Susan Real King, Samuel’s second wife.

Cherokee Nation Prominent in King Family Life

Samuel and Eli were part of a historic period of time in our nation – observing the removal of the Cherokee Indians to the West, a process later known as the Trail of Tears, and the formation of Bradley County and the county seat of Cleveland from the land the Cherokee Indians had used as their final Eastern council grounds.  All of this was in process at the time Samuel and Eli migrated to the area.

“Captain Miles Vernon enrolled his company at Decatur for service in the Cherokee Removal.  The first muster roll was signed at Athens, Tennessee, July 8, 1838, and the company was inspected and mustered into service as Captain Miles Vernon’s Company of the first Regiment, 2nd Brigade, Tennessee Mounted Volunteers.  This first rolls shows 68 names and the roll of August 31, 1836, made at new Echota, Ga., shows 71 names…”

Among the names on the muster roll were Samuel King and 2nd Lt. Elisah Sharp Ensign. This Samuel King may or may not have been Samuel Kennedy King, however the timing was right for Samuel’s participation.  2nd Lt. Elisha Sharp Ensign may have been the Elisha Sharp against whom Eli King later brought action in Court for having fraudently purchased slaves from his father’s estate.  The action was on behalf of John King Sr.’s heirs who prevailed in the action.  The court action will be discussed in the narrative of John King Sr.’s life.

The most significant time frame for the Trail of Tears was from January of 1837 to September 6, 1839.  Recommended reading is NPS Form 10-900-b (March 1992), OMB No. 1024-0018, United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Historic and Historical Archaeological Resources of the Cherokee Trail of Tears, Philip Thomason/Principal (Historical Overview by Dr. Sara Parker) prepared October 25, 2003 found online at http://www.irishbranch.com/documents/trail%20of%20tears.pdf

Prior to leaving East Tennessee, the Cherokee National Committee developed a resolution exhibiting the spirit of the people who were being moved to the West.  One of the council members who signed the resolution on August 1, 1938, was Richard Foreman.  The significance of this is that Samuel and his father, Eli, both signed a petition in 1845 by certain Bradley County citizens requesting the Tennessee State Legislature allow citizenship for Richard Foreman and his family, who had remained behind.

Richard Foreman was the brother of James Foreman who was arrested for the murder of Jack Walker in 1834 in an intra-tribal conflict over the terms of the treaty which ceded their Cherokee land to the government.  James was later released when the Tennessee court ruled that they had no jurisdiction in the matter.

Jack Walker, Jr., was the man murdered by James Foreman.  Walker was a leader within the Cherokee nation, and a large valley from Cleveland to Charleston was named after him.  Jack’s father, Major John Walker, was a famous military officer who fought under Andrew Jackson in the Creek Indian War at Horseshoe Bend.

The petition signed in 1845 read:

“October 18, 1845

To the honourable Legislature of Tennessee.  We the citizens of said County wish to represent to your honourable body the condition of a family of Cherokees, viz Richard B. Foreman and family who failed to emigrate to the west.  We the undersigned do petition your honourable body to Citizenise said family so that they may have equal rights and privaleges with us and by your Complyance we your petitioners in duty bound will every pray & etc.”

Eli signed as Eli King, and Samuel signed as Samuel K. King.  Other known family associates who signed include: B.F. Grigsby (Benjamin Franklin) who married Elizabeth King, Eli’s daughter; Samuel Sample who married Mary Polly King, Eli’s daughter; John E. Grigsby who was a securitor for the complaint brought in 1843 by Eli and other heirs of their father’s estate.  There were other Grigsbys who signed the petition, and one may have been the husband of Eli’s daughter, Eliza Anne. 

The 1840’s

We believe that by 1840 Samuel had married Susan Real.  Susan was the daughter of a well-known physician and minister, Dr. George Real.  According to Goodspeed’s biography: “He was born in Virginia in 1794, and was, on the paternal side, of German origin and the maternal of English extraction.  In White county, Tenn., he married Esther Pilson, also a native of Virginia, born in 1800, and from that county they removed to the Sequatchie valley, residing on quite a number of different farms, including one on Brush creek, in what is now Sequatchie county.  He became quite an extensive dealer in real estate, and when a young man also commenced the practice of medicine and engaged in preaching, first in the Methodist church and later in the Missionary Baptist church.  As a physician he was highly successful, and remained in practice until nine years before his death, when he suffered a stroke of paralysis.  He was a soldier in the war of 1812; was a Democrat in politics, but not an extremist or in sympathy with secession, but after the war commenced favored the Confederacy.  As a minister he labored earnestly and long and was a great revivalist in his day.  After a long and useful life, free from every suspicion of evil, he passed to his reward in 1887.  His first wife, Mrs. Esther (Pilson) Real, had died in 1851, and he later married Jemima Smith, whose death occurred in 1888.  Of the nine children born of the first union, only four are now living:  Hannah, wife of Lawrence Pitts, of Hamilton county, Tenn.; Edward B., a minister in Texas; Nancy M., the mother of Mrs. [Anderson] Grayson [Josephine L. Barber); and George W., a farmer who went west before the war.  Those deceased are Susan, the eldest, who married Samuel King and died in Bradley county, E. Tenn.; Elisabeth, who married Benjamin F. Brown, moved to Texas and there died; William and Peggy, who died in childhood; D. Hardman; and Esther M. who died at the age of fifteen years.  By his second marriage Dr. Real had three children, of whom Mary M., wife of James Nelson, died at Dayton, and the others died when young.”

This would have been Eli, wife Rebecca, and probably Nancy Jane and Elizabeth. Nancy Jane was listed in the 1850 census and her birth date would have placed here in the 15-20 category. Elizabeth King did not marry until 1843, and she would have been  about 13 years old at the time of the census.

In 1843 Samuel king was listed as one of the securitors in the complaint filed in court by Eli on behalf of himself and the heirs of his father, John King, Sr.   This court case is discussed in the narrative of John King Sr.

We believe that Susan Real King died about 1847 at age 30.  By the date of the 1850 Census, Samuel had remarried.  His third marriage was to Delila, last name unknown.

We believe that Samuel’s mother died in the latter part of the 1840s. A woman who would have been Rebecca Kennedy King’s age was listed in Eli’s household in the 1840 Census.  In the 1850 Census she did not appear.  The only record of a Rebecca King’s death is one in Washington County, TN.  We do not know if this is the correct Rebecca.  The person listed was 73 years old as of the date of death which was June, 1850.  It listed her as married and born in Tennessee.  In the approximate year of her birth, 1777, Tennessee was not a state, so this may be an error.  We believe that Eli’s wife was born in Ireland.

Paul Webb, descendant of Benjamin F. Grigsby who married Elizabeth King, transcribed the following letter from Eli King to his daughter, Elizabeth, and her husband Benjamin, written 24 Jun 1849:

"Dear Children at last I write a few lines inform[ing] you that we are well for which we thank the wise disposer [?] of all good for his kindness to us and we hope these few lines will find you and the children well. I would have written long since to you but I could get but little or no satisfaction from the lawyers about your land it seems that they are either not able to give a correct opinion or unwilling and I am unable to say which they all agree that you are entitled to the rents and possessions of all the land at the end of this year but whether the commissioners are liable to those that leased or not they don’t dside they have given me little or no satisfaction about it. Farmer called and gave his note and said you allowed it To rest untile you come down I have not sold your waggon Sam and Tibbs [?] has done nothing about Beagles Land yet and I am of opinion that they will not as they are talking of taking saddles for the debt. Tell Mr. McElewee that I have done but little towards getting cotton for him as there is none of account in the country thread can be bought here at eighty cents pr Bale We have heard that the high watter has destroyed the factory but we hope it is not true write immediately and let us know about it and how you are all are I will be at Cleveland the first Monday of July I will expect to get a letter from you Farewell Eli & [????] King To B F & Elizabeth Grigsby"

The 1850’s

 

The 1850 U.S. Census for Bradley County listed the following information for the Samuel King household:

          
Family 1382

Saml King, head of household, age 44, farmer born in Tennessee

Property Value $1,000

Delila, wife, age 24

George, son, age 12 (Samuel and Susan’s son)

John, son, age 10 (Samuel and Susan’s son)

Franklin, son, age 8 (Samuel and Susan’s son)

William, son, age 7 (Samuel and Susan’s son)

James, son, age 4 (Samuel and Susan’s son)

Henry, son, age 2/12ths (Samuel and Delila’s son)

Mary J. Tibb, age 24 (unidentified)

Eli King was also listed on the census with property value of $1,200.  Eli’s widowed daughter, Mary Samples, lived close by with her children.       

As you can see from the census, Samuel’s new bride was only 24 years old, and she was the new stepmother of small sons from ages 4 through 12.  Delila also had a 2-month old son.  This was quite a responsibility and Mary J. Tibb may have been a live-in nanny.  It has been speculated that Mary may have been Delila’s sister.  Speculation aside, we do not know.

Eli King died 26 Apr 1851.  His will was dated five days earlier on 21 Apr 1851.

"I Eli King do make and publish this as my last will and testament hereby revoking and  making void all other wills by me at any time made.

First, I direct that all my personal expenses and all my debts be paid as soon after my death as possible out of any moneys that I may die possessed of or that may come into the  hands of my Executor, for the sale of properties, that I will hereafter name.

2nd, I direct that sixty acres of land be sold on a twelve months ended and the money that it  may bring to be equally divided between six of my children or their heirs viz Mary Sample,  Samuel K. King, Margaret Vance, Rebeka K. Williams, Elizabeth W. Grigsby and Elizaanne N. Grigsby.  Said sixty acres being part of the farm that I now live on bounden as follows:  commencing at the north west corner of my land running north 20 degrees east and forty poles; thence east 20 degrees south two hundred and forty poles; thence south twenty west forty poles to Samuel K. Kings line; thence with said line to the beginning.

            Third, I give and bequeath to Nancy Jane King one hundred acres of land it being all that I have after my second bequest & which land together with its appurtenances or every name and description I give to Jane and to her heirs in fee simple also all of my farming tools of every name and description, also all my stock of every kind after a sufficient portion of it has been sold to pay all my final debts.  Also I give her said Nancy Jane one side saddle and all and singular of my household and kitchen furniture of every one sort or description together with anything that I may die legally possessed of or ratified (?) belonging to me except as above stated – my funeral expenses and all my debts now first be paid.  And the sixty acres of land that is to be sold for the use and benefit of my other six children.

And, lastly, I do hereby now make and appoint Robert K. Tompson my Executor

In witness I do to this my will set my hand and seal this 21 day of Apr 1851, signed, sealed and published in accordance and we have subscribed our names in the presence of the testates this 21 day of April 1851.

 

Signed and sealed by Eli King

James Athenson

E M [X - his mark] Atkinson

Sept. 1_ 1852

Signed by John H. Robertson Clerk"

 

In Eli’s will we learn that Samuel’s property bounded Eli's property.  Eli directed that the sixty acres be sold and that the money be divided among six of his children or their heirs and he named the children as Mary Sample, Samuel K. King, Margaret Vance, Rebeka K. Williams, Elizabeth W. Grigsby and Eliza Anne N. Grigsby.  Eli’s other daughter, Nancy Jane, was given a special inheritance.

The Athens Post published Eli’s obituary:

 

We do not know where Eli is buried.  We speculate that it may be in the King/Eureka Cemetery which is located on the property that Eli owned and from which he ran a store.  In this cemetery are some smooth rocks that may have been markers; however, the names are not on them.

At the time of Eli’s death, Cleveland was described in the diary of Miss Rosine Parmentier, a New York visitor to Cleveland, as a laid-back community of 1,000 people.  She writes, “It is really tiresome to see how leisurely they move about in these villages.  Everyone walks slowly with his hands in his pockets as if they had absolutely nothing to do.  Time is nothing to them and they will lose a whole day riding about to borrow an article which could be made in a few hours.  Coming from New York where everything is activity and bustle it puts one almost out of patience to see their apathy and laziness.”

Samuel, like his father, was a merchant.  On December 7, 1853, Petition Number 59 to the Committee on Ways and Means for the State of Tennessee was signed by the merchants in Cleveland.  The clerk’s note on the Petition read: “The committee on Ways and Means have had this petition under consideration and recommend that the prayer of the petition be granted.  W.J. Skyes.”

Signing the Petition:

J. M. Craigmiles & Co.

D. C. Kenner

R. M. Swan

Jonas Hoyl

W. H. & R. J. Grant

J. M. & E. F. Johnston

G. W. Parks

L. B. & V. Miller

C. H. Mills & Co.

C. L. Hardwick & Co.

Saml. K. King

B. W. Patty & Son

W. K. Pickens

Hudgins, Wells & Johnson.”

This document proves that Samuel had followed in his father’s footsteps.

In 1859 Samuel signed a note for $250 payable to Chamberlain & Miller of Charleston, SC.  Due to the fact that Samuel had only paid $80 against his debt, the firm filed suit against him for default.  The outcome is unknown.  Samuel was making plans to move to Florida at this time.

The 1860 Census

The Samuel K. King family was living in the Ninth District of Bradley County, Tennessee in 1860.  The census was enumerated on 18 Jul 1860.  The household included:

Samuel R. King, age 48 [incorrect initial]

Dellila King, age 33
Eli King, age 3