Tucker County, West Virginia Biography of ROBERT E. KING This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 561 Tucker ROBERT E. KING. A high minded and progressive edu- cator who has rendered splendid service to the schools of Tucker County both as teacher and administrator, Robert E. King has for several years been superintendent of the county system of schools. Since his connection with the schools of the county covers a period of twenty-two years it is doubtful if any individual has ever exercised a more beneficent influence on local education than Mr. King. He was born April 24, 1881, on Sam's Fork of Little Kanawha River in Wood County, West Virginia. His grand- father, Samuel King, was a native of Ireland, and was a boy when his parents brought him to the United States, the family landing at Baltimore and traveling over the old Northwestern Turnpike to Noble County, Ohio. Samuel King remained in that section of Ohio the rest of his life, his home being near Summerfield. Though of foreign birth he proved his Americanism by four years of service as a Union soldier in the Civil war. He married Elizabeth Sny- der, and they were the parents of a dozen children, and the nine to reach mature years were: John W., mentioned below; Martha, who married John King of Macksburg, Ohio; Robert, who lived in Nebraska; Lincoln, of Athens, Ohio; James, of the old King homestead at Summerfield; Josie, widow of Hiram Curtis, in Noble County; Laura, who married and lives in Noble County; Mrs. Lucy Davis, whose husband is in the oil business in Mexico City; and Ruth, wife of Aaron Wilson, of Salem, West Virginia. John W. King, father of the Tucker County educator, was a resident of that county almost thirty years, a farmer near St. George. He was born in Noble County, Ohio, in February, 1847, and died at Parsons, West Virginia, May 29, 1922. He was reared in a country district there, ac- quiring a rural education. He married Edith Haddix, who was born in Barbour County, West Virginia, April 16, 1862, daughter of David and Elizabeth (Stansbury) Haddix. She died September 5, 1921. The children of John W. King and wife were: Robert Edgar; Charles Blaine, who died at Kitzmiller, Maryland, leaving a wife and five chil- dren; Harry Clyde, a garage man in Paraons, who married Amy Nestor and has four children; Lillie R., mother of four children by her marriage to Hugh Calvert, of Croman- ton, Florida; Laura M., deceased, wife of Pat Owens, of St. George, West Virginia, and the mother of four children; and Lelia P., who married John Owens, brother of Pat, and they live on a farm near St. George and have two children. Robert E. King was an infant when his parents left West Virginia, and for two or three years lived at Macksburg, Ohio. They then returned to West Virginia and settled in Knottsville District, where Robert King began his school training. In 1894, when he was thirteen years of age, the family moved to Tucker County, and he came to manhood on the old farm near St. George. He completed the work of the common schools and at the age of seventeen was qual- ified to teach his first term. He taught for two terms and then enrolled as a student in the West Virginia Preparatory School at Keyser. For several years following he alter- nated between teaching and studying, and nearly com- pleted his course in the Preparatory School. For nine years Mr. King was principal of the St. George School, and he was also principal of the Williams School in Fairfax Dis- trict, and later had charge of a rural school in the Black Fork District. While at St. George he introduced the sub- ject of agriculture in the schools, and was also chairman of the first reading circle in that district, comprising both a reading circle and general institute work. In every way he proved himself a progressive school man, striving to make the schools an auxiliary to the needs of modern life. With his record of fifteen years' experience as a teacher Mr. King entered upon his duties as county superintendent, being elected on the republican ticket in 1918 as successor to C. R. Parsons. Since becoming county superintendent he has introduced into the schools physical drill, hot lunches, district school days, at which time all the children of the district are assembled at one point and engage in contests in educational and athletic work; the urging of teachers' attendance upon summer schools, which has been generally responded to, there being as a reward for such attendance an additional five dollars a month salary. While super- intendent Mr. King has had the pleasure of seeing five new school houses built over the county. That of the White School in Licking District is one of the best one-room school buildings in this part of the state. While a teacher Mr. King served as deputy county as- sessor for six years, for four years under S. C. Simpson and two years under J. T. Darkey. Mr. King was reared in a republican household and has always acknowledged that party allegiance. At Keyser, West Virginia, April 13, 1913, he married Miss Susan D. Dickson. She was born at Tuscaloosa, Ala- bama, in 1879, daughter of Flinn and Lee Dickson, of Sum- ter, South Carolina. Her mother was a first cousin of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Flinn Dickson was a Presbyterian minister and teacher, founded a colored school at Tuscaloosa, and was widely known over the South not only for his practical work in the educational and religious field, but also as au- thor of several religious books and several religious songs that were published. Rev. Mr. Dickson and wife had the following children: Katie D., who married Charles Beard, of Sumter County, South Carolina, where she is now teach- ing; Howard Dickson, who was a soldier in the Spanish- American war and subsequently went into old Mexico, but has not been heard from since; George Dickson, a major in the Bailey Military Institute at Greenwood, South Carolina; Mrs. Susan Dozier King; and A. Flinn, who was a soldier in the Spanish-American war and is now a member of a wholesale grocery firm at Fredericksburg, Virginia. Mrs. King was well educated, attending Presbyterian School at Fredericksburg and also the University of Vir- ginia and the University of Tennessee. As a practical edu- cator she did some splendid work as teacher of some mis- sionary schools in the mountain districts of Virginia, North and South Carolina. She also taught for several years at White Gate and Roanoke, Virginia, and during the year she was a teacher in the High School at Thomas, West Virginia, she made her acquaintance with Mr. King. She is a member of the Eastern Star and a member of the Na- tional Federation of Women's Clubs. Mr. and Mrs. King have two children, Eileen Lee and Robert Edgar, Jr. Mr. King is affiliated with the Fraternal Order of Eagles, is a past consul of the Woodmen of the World and a past councillor of the Junior Order United American Mechanics. He is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, of which Mrs. King is an active member.