King
Family
King
genealogy
research has led back to 1350 in the
township of Dodebroke,
Devonshire, England with John King who
married Agnes Mortimer.
Captain John King, Francis King and
Michael King all came to
America from England in the late 1600s.
Michael King's
descendants migrated to the Lexington area
of Kentucky in the late
1700s.
Joseph King (1835 Virginia - ) married
Mary Polly
Bethell married in Virginia in
1788; their son, George King
(1789
Delaware - Texas) became a prosperous
merchant in Kentucky.
George and Jane Blackburn's only son,
James N. King (1820
Kentucky - ) and George and James
Masterson
were associates in Kentucky; their children
would later marry.
George migrated to Texas after
the death of his
wife, in
1846 and purchased three parcels of land
south of Collinsville, Grayson
County on January 18, 1858 from R.A. Lawler
(Vol. J, pg.429 Grayson
Co., Texas Deed Records), which became known
as the King farm.
After purchasing this land, George
King died sometime during
the
Civil War while his son, James N. King was
serving in the Confederate
Army. The King Ranch
was located south
of Collinsville off of today's Hwy 377 on
Hogtown Road in the Welch
community.
James
N. King married Mary Masterson on October
23, 1842 in Grant Co.,
Kentucky. Their children, all born in
Grant Co.,
Kentucky, were:
John M. King, born 1843
William "Will" King, born 1844
Thomas W. King, born 1856
Napoleon Bonaparte King, born 1847
Children born in Jonesboro, Kentucky
Benjamin King, born 1848
David King, born 1849
Nancy J. "Nannie" King, born 1851, married
John Ray
Mary C. "Kate" King, born 1852, married Sam
Williford
Children born in Louisville, Kentucky
Henry King, born 1853
Presilla King, born 1854, married George
Blackshier
Julius
"Brister" King, born 1855
Children born in Collinsville, Grayson Co.,
Texas
Virginia King, born 1859
Alice King, born 1861

Left Photo: James R. King, born 1864
James R. King married Julie Evelyn Coleman on
July 15, 1883 in
Collinsville.
James
died on September 8, 1908; the family story is
that one winter day
James had to dig a new outhouse and while
doing so, caught a cold,
which turned into pneumonia and then
tuberculosis, which eventually
took his life.
Julie lived 30 years longer and both are
buried in the King Cemetery.
Also buried in the cemetery is Eliza J.
Coleman, mother of
Julie.
After Mary Masterson King divorced James
N. King, he married
Eliza J. King, mother-in-law of his youngest
son.
The farm house
that James R. and Julie E. King lived in was
two-story with a fireplace
on the north end. The wood was shipped
from Arkansas and
stood
for 60 to 70 years before it was left to fall
apart. Also on
the
farm was a large tin barn to house the cattle.
Around 2000
the
only traces of the old home place remained,
remnants of what was a 100+
acre farming system.
James
N. King, Mary and 13 children were
living in Sherman,
Grayson
Co., Texas in July 1860. James N.
King's birthright was the
inheritance of his father, George's, farm in
the Welch community.
James also purchased a tract of land
from from W.H. Neeley,
agent for J. Naler (Vol. 26, pg. 40 Grayson
Co., Texas Deed Records).
The farm James inherited from his
father and the tract
purchased
from W.H. Neeley comprised the land owned by
James N. King at the time
of his death in February 1891.
In November 1870 James N. King, farmer, was
living with his wife and 10
of his children in the McComb
community, located about 8 miles
southeast of
Whitesboro, Grayson County.
On
June 2, 1880 Julius and wife Pollie A.
Ingram and son, John W., age 4,
and daughter, Julia, age 1, were living in
the Collinsville area.
Next door to him was his older
brother, Henry, his wife
Melinda
and son, Lewis, and mother-in-law, L.
Bullard.
Henry King, died after his father; his
surviving children were:
Eula King, sometimes referred to as Ulia
King
Maggie King
Charles King
Lewis King, sometimes referred to as Louie
King
By
June 1900 Melinda was deceased and John was
still living in Precinct #5
with his two daughters and three sons,
the youngest being
Gordon,
age 2 years. In 1910 Julius "Jule"
King had remarried and was
living with his wife, Clemmie, and
their four children in
Tillman
Co., Oklahoma.
Jim and Julia
King with children:
Grover, Addie, Joe and Ivah
Julia Coleman
King with children, Ivah & Dixie King;
boys unknown
James King
Jr.
& Julia King had the following
children:
Lee King,
born May
1884, Collinsville
Emi King,
born
October 1885, Collinsville
Maud
C. King, born February 1887,
Collinsville; married
William E.
Eckert; who died 1934 and left no
surviving children
T. King, born October 31, 1888 and died
November 1, 1898
Dixie
Bonnie King,
born March 1889,
Collinsville; married J.G. Pigg
Grover
Cleveland
King, born August 1891, Collinsville
Adlai
Stevens
King, born June 1893, Collinsville
Joseph
"Joe"
Bailey King, born January 1895,
Collinsville
Ivah
Della King, born September 1897,
Collinsville
S. King, born March 1900; died April 1900
Grover King and
family
Grover
Cleveland King married Mary Elendor
Williams on Christmas Day 1911.
Grover had several jobs, including
painter and oilman doing
"wildcat" work in the oil field; these
jobs took him away from home for
long periods of time. Their children
were:
Edward
Milton
King, born November 1913, Collinsville
James
Thomas
"Uncle Pooch" King, born March 1914,
Collinsville
Sidney
Robert
King, born November 1915, Collinsville
Gladys
Louise
King, born January 1918, Collinsville
Billie
Jack King,
born December 1919
Dorothy
Jean King,
born November 1923
Prior
to his death, James N. King conveyed a tract
of land to his
son, Napoleon Bonaparte "N.B." King, who
accepted the tract of land as
his full claim of his father's estate.
James King, Jr. purchased the
two tracts of land belonging to his father
at the time of his death
from four of his surviving siblings,
acquitting one-half undivided
interest in the land. The other
one-half interest in the King
farm
belonged to the parties other than James
King, Jr. mentioned in a
Judgment entered October 18, 1893 in the
partition suit styled James
King, et al vs. Julius Brister "J.B." King.
Furthermore the
land
described in the Judgment of 1893 was sold
under the orders of the
District Court by special commissioner to
sell the land and James King,
Jr. bought the land at the sale, thereby
resting in him the title of
the land described in the Judgment.
Julie E. King on
her farm in
Welch community, Grayson Co., Texas
Julia
King and her children made a "friendly"
division of the real estate
owned by James King, Jr. at the time of
his death; 279.4 acres from Lee
King, et al to Julia King, widow, dated
November 26, 1919 (Vol. 271,
pg.328 Grayson Co., Texas Deed Records)
became the property of his
mother, Julia E. King. This land was
leased for oil and gas
at
various times but no oil nor gas had been
found or drilled on the land.
Family story is that daughters, Ivah and
Dixie fought over
parcels of land that had been divided by
Julia, abiding by her
husband's wish to give his children
parcels of his land. The
women was so anxious to obtain the money
for the land that they hired
an man to appraise the land. Being
told that the land was of
little value and wanting to get the money
it was worth, they sold the
land as fast as they could find a
buyer. Coincidentally the
man
who had told them the land wasn't worth
much purchased the land and
struck oil on the land one week after the
sale.
Julia E. King died
at her home in Grayson County on August 1,
1938 and left no will.
Her son, Emi, was appointed
Administrator of her estate.
A
suit filed in Grayson County District
Court styled Ivah King, et
al vs.Emi King; a judgment rendered
March 29, 1940 stated
that
the interest of each party in the suit was
correct and the disposition
of the land was satisfactory to all.
It was stated that the
279.4
acres of land had been "under fence" for
more than 50 years and that
the owners of the land had continued to
have peaceable ownership of the
land, cultivating the land and paying the
taxes
Billie
Jack King, youngest son of Grover Cleveland
King, didn't know his first
name until later in life; "Jack" may have had
a connection to his
great-grandmother, Eliza J. Coleman King,
whose maiden name was "Jack."
Not being of a mind to do farm work,
Jack joined the Army
prior
to World War II; he was discharged in the
winter of 1941 only to rejoin
two months later. Since all of the Texas Army
units were full, he
became a member of Oklahoma's 45th Infantry
Division, known as The
Thunderbirds, serving until the end of
conflict in 1945; his position
was in a POW camp in Germany.
After serving in the
Army, Jack and his wife, Marjorie Mary
Shaughnessy, moved to
California in search of work, where his
siblings were already living
Maud
King Eckert died in 1930 and is buried in
Collinsville Cemetery.
Edward King, oldest son of Grover
Cleveland King, took care
of
his uncle, William Eckert, during his old age.
Due to his
extreme
kindness, William Eckert gave Edward his
wife's portion of the King
farm, which became the last of the King farm
owned by the Kings in the
Collinsville area, which was finally sold
between 2010 and 2015.

Biography Index
Susan Hawkins
©2025
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