Middle Island
From: The Portrait and Biographical Record
JOSEPH N. KING, so well known for so many years in the social and business life of that part of Long Island included under the general name of Brookhaven, was born at Middle Island June 8, 1823. His father, Ezra King, who was born July 24,1784, was the son of Jeremiah King, who was born in 1739, and the grandson of Ephraim. The latter was the son of Samuel and the grandson of John King, who came from Plymouth, England, to America about 1650, and settled at Orient, which now bears the name of East Marion.
The grandfather of our subject was a man of the sea, and left a record behind him that a sailor might well be proud to bear. The father of our subject first married Lydia Youngs, who became the mother of two children, Thomas J. and Lydia, who is the widow of N. T. Swezey, and resides in New York City, in her eighty-second year. For his second wife he married Eliza Helm, who was a little younger than himself, having been born in August, 1793. They had six children: Caleb, who was born January 6, 1818, and lives at Stony Brook; Ezra; Joseph N.; Elisha E., who was born December 30, 1826; Hannah Y., who was born March 22, 1836, and is now the wife of Joseph Rowland; and Maria E., born January 22, 1833, now the widow of Benjamin Bailey, and a resident of Brooklyn.
The father of our subject moved to Middle Island from Brookhaven about the year 1810. He was a Presbyterian, and studied for the ministry under the direction of old Dr. Beecher at East Hampton. He took charge of the church on this island, kept a private school in his house, and had a parish at what was then called Fire Place, but is now known as South Haven. He preached at these churches on alternate Sundays, and was on this field of labor until 1836, when be came to Miller's Place after which he preached occasionally. ill health caused his retirement from the ministry, and he died February 7, 1867. His remains are interred in Middle Island, where his parish erected a monument to his memory. He was twice married, his first wife dying September 17, 1814, and his second wife December 21, 1833.
The subject of this sketch was thirteen when he was brought to Miller's Place. November 17, 1846, he married Miss Therina Hudson, daughter of Horace and Eliza (Davis) Hudson. Her father, who was a farmer, and a man of character, died at the age of eighty-one; her mother is still alive and is in her ninetieth year. They had two children, of whom the wife of our subject was the older, and was born February 15, 1828. Her sis-ter, Elizabeth R., born August 8, 1836, is the wife of H. Tyler, of Brooklyn. To our subject and his wife one child, Byron S., was born September 3, 1847, and died June 23, 1848,
The early education of Mr. King was good, and it has been supplemented and increased by extensive and varied study beyond the limits of the district school. He attended Miller's Academy, was for two terms at the Southampton Academy one term at Newburg, and then a student in Williams College, at Williamstown, Mass., for two years, completed his school attendance there, locating in New York City. In 1846 he was taken on the force of the post office in that city, a position that he held for two years. He left the postal service to take a place in the office of the Pacific
Express Company, which he retained for twenty-one years. When that long period of service had expired he returned to Miller's Place, and entered upon a farmer's life, which he finds very congenial. His postal training was utilized for the good of the community by his appointment as Postmaster, which he held for nine years, under the administrations of Hayes, Garfield and Arthur. He is a Republican, and a member the Congregational Church. He has been a member of the Eighth Regiment, National Guards and has done duty on occasion.