Will County IL Archives Biographies.....King, Alvin J 1824 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 10, 2007, 12:35 am

Author: Portrait & Bio Album, 1890

ALVIN J. KING, an honored resident of Plainfield, was born in Collins, Erie 
County, N. Y., May 13, 1824. He came of sterling New England stock, his 
father, Allen King, having been a native of Rhode Island, and his grandfather, 
Nathan King, who was a soldier of the Revolutionary War, is also supposed to 
have been born in the same State. He removed from Rhode Island to Vermont, and 
was an early pioneer of the town of Danby, in Rutland County. He resided there 
until 1811, and again became a pioneer, moving with an ox team to Erie County, 
N. Y. He bought land of the Holland Purchase Company in the town of Holland, 
and spent the remainder of his days there. The father of the subject of this 
sketch was reared and married in Vermont and made the removal to Erie County, 
a few months before his father. He bought a tract of wild land in the primeval 
forests in the town of Collins, obtaining his patent from the Holland Purchase 
Company. His first work was to build a log house for the shelter of his 
family, and he then entered upon the hard task of clearing a farm from the 
wilderness. He felled the timber from quite a tract, and then sold it at an 
advance, and bought again, and he thus made three or four changes in the 
ensuing years, selling so as to make money each time, and was a resident of 
Erie County until his death. The maiden name of his wife was Virginia 
Thompson, and she was born in Westmoreland County, N. H. Her father, Joseph 
Thompson was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and two of his sons served 
with him in the battle of Saratoga. He was a farmer and spent his last years 
in Otsego County, N. Y. His wife spent her last years with a daughter in the 
town of Collins. The subject of this sketch was reared and educated in his 
native town, and resided there until 1855. He bought a farm and was actively 
engaged in its cultivation until the year mentioned, when he sold it, and 
coming to Illinois, located in McHenry County, buying a farm in Seneca 
Township. He carried on farming and stock-raising with good success until 
1882, when he sold his place there, and coming to Plainfield, bought where he 
now resides and is living in the enjoyment of the comfortable competence that 
his industry has brought him. Mr. King was married in 1849, to Susan A. 
Southworth. She was born in Chautauqua County, in the town of Sheridan, N. Y., 
a daughter of Epiphias and Hannah Southworth. Three children have blessed 
their marriage to them: George M., a resident of Woodstock; Mrs. Robert 
Graves, of Plainfield; and John M., who lives in Woodstock. Mr. and Mrs. King 
are members of the Universalist society and for their great personal worth are 
held in high esteem by the people among whom they have come to make their home 
in their declining years.

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page 
Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens 
of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890 

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/king583gbs.txt

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