MR. JOSEPH KING
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.
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