SAMUEL J. KING

& THE SANDERSON FAMILY

BIOGRAPHY

AS RECORDED IN:

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF
TOLLAND AND WINDHAM COUNTIES CONNECTICUT.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PROMINENT AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS AND OF MANY OF THE EARLY SETTLED FAMILIES
PUBLISHER: J.H.BEERS & CO., CHICAGO; 1903 P. 945-946

SAMUEL J. KING, of Moosup, Windham county, a notable horse breeder and popular hotel proprietor, has won his place in life entirely through his own efforts. Born in Sterling, Conn., March 21, 1845, he procured much of his early education in the State of Rhode Island, where his grandfather, Rhodes King, and his father, George Green King, had lived before him.

Rhodes King, a resident of Scituate, R.I., married Ann Young, a daughter of Annie and Jedediah (Foster) Young, whose people were residents of Rhode Island. Mrs. King died at the age of sixty-three, and is buried in Scituate, R.I. By this marriage there were four children: (1) Rhodes, who never married, died about 1859; (2) George G., mentioned below; (3) Elihu, a merchant, married Lavina Johnson, of Vermont, and moved to that State, where it is presumed he died. They had two children: Albert, who died in his second year, and Mary Eliza. (4) Lucinda (deceased) married John Edwards, of West Greenwich, R.I., and they had nine children: Rhodes, Turner, John, Solomon, Abbie (deceased), Amy (deceased), George, Amanda, and Mercy.

George Green King, born in Scituate, July 11, 1815, was reared from the age of two by an uncle of that place, Squire Elihu Fish, who was born Aug. 9, 1756. In 1783 Mr. Fish married Catherine Green, who was born March 2, 1758. After her death he married Amy Aldrich, the widow of Angell Aldrich, and later Fanny Whitten. Mr. Fish died Sept. 5, 1840. At an early age, after careful nurture in the Fish home, Mr. King married, March 8, 1835, Abbie Love, who was born Jan. 20, 1817, daughter of Leonard and Sarah (Johnson) Love. Mrs. King survived her husband, and in Aug. 1886, married Gideon Reynolds, of Coventry, R.I., (he died March 18, 1895). She was extremely bright and active and had a remarkable memory. She spent her last days at the Love homestead in Coventry, dying in February, 1902. Mr. And Mrs. King had seven children, two of whom lived in Butte, Montana: (1) George A., Dec. 16, 1836 - Nov. 26, 1897, who married Laura Waide and had two children: Rosell and George W.; (2) Silas F., born July 26, 1838. (3) Alva D., Nov. 4, 1840 - Sept. 17, 1867, married Lucy Gibson; (4) Lyman T.A., a resident of Coventry, R.I., born May 5, 1843, never married. (5) Samuel J. is mentioned below. (6) Leonard, born Sept. 13, 1850, died Jan. 24, 1864. (7) Sarah A., born June 25, 1854, married Feb. 4, 1873, Lafayette Blanchard and they had one child, Tully King, who was born Aug. 19, 1873. He married, Aug. 13, 1896, Maud Isabelle Shepard, and they have one child, Gladys, who was born Aug. 12, 1897.

By his mother, Samuel J. is descended from Gabriel Love, a native of Scotland, who married Elizabeth Gould and settled at Coventry, R.I. They had six children: Comfort and James both lived to maturity and married; the latter in Coventry. The other children were: Thomas; Leonard, who is mentioned below; Lydia, who married David Elliot, of Brooklyn, Conn.; and Nabby, who lived to maturity and married.

Leonard Love, the grandfather of Samuel J., born in Coventry, R.I., died Feb. 14, 1849, in his eighty-third year, and his wife passed away at the age of fifty-two. They were buried in Oneco, Conn. To Mr. And Mrs. Love were born eight children: (1) William, born Jan. 24, 1797, married Roxanna Youngs and lived on the Love place in Coventry. He died Nov. 23, 1825, at the age of twenty-nine. (2) Samuel, married Hulda Vaughn and they lived in Sterling, Conn. He died at the Love homestead, Aug. 21, 1874, at the age of seventy-six. Of this union there were two children, who now reside at Solon, Iowa; Cynthia, who married Henry Palmer and has one child, Charley; and Anis, who married Lyman Randall of Foster, R.I., and had one son, David Randall. (3) Josiah, born in 1800, married Martha Dorrence, after her death, Tabatha Tillinghast, and later the widow of Thomas James. Mr. Love resided in Coventry and died at the age of ninety-four. He had one daughter, Sarah, who married Isaac Tillinghast and lived in Killingly, Conn. They had three children: Ida, now a resident of Auburn, R.I., and Joseph and Aden A., of Killingly. (4) Leonard married Mahala Knox and lived on the Providence Pike, in Coventry. He died at the age of eighty-seven. Of this union there were seven children: Jane, who married John Congdon, lived in Norwood, R.I., and William in Bunkerhill, Ill. Henry (deceased), married Susan Babcock and lived in Sterling, Conn. Two married residents of Coventry, R.I.: Ellen, Albert Love; and Sarah, Darius Allen. Leonard married Jane Townsend, and resides in Coventry. John married Phoebe Reed, and they live on the Coventry homestead. (5) Johnson, born in 1807, married Esther Potter. He died Jan. 10, 1863, and is buried at Oneco, R.I. (6) Comfort, married Cynthia Case and lived in Coventry, R.I. He, too, is buried at Oneco. His son, Albert, married Ellen Love, daughter of Leonard Love. (7) Abbie is mentioned above. (8) Thomas G., born Dec. 6, 1818, married Sarah Case and resided in Coventry. He died Feb. 20, 1889, and is buried in Oneco, where his wife also is interred.

Samuel J. King early evinced a self-reliant, forceful spirit which characterized him through life. In the summer of his thirteenth year he started out as a farm hand, receiving the encouraging salary of five dollars a month. After this he seldom asked odds of anyone. For two years he worked on the farm of Deacon Edgar Bissell in South Windsor, Conn.; then going to Moosup, he hired out in the large manufacturing establishment of Sampson Almy, remaining there another two years. He had made good use of his experience and was now enabled to engage as farm manager. In this capacity he worked one year for Mr. Allen Gibson, and another for George Sanderson. But Mr. King was a born horse trader, and with Mr. E.A. Card, of Oneco, Conn., he soon secured a position for which he was eminently fitted - the management of that gentleman's horse business. The buying and selling was entirely entrusted to Mr. King, and such keen judgement and shrewdness did he exercise that immense profits accrued to the owner. As a result he continued in this position for eight years. In 1874 he married Helen M. Sanderson, daughter of George and Maria (Gates) Sanderson, who are mentioned below. Mr. and Mrs. King have had four children: Alva G., born Feb. 20, 1875, senior partner of King Bros. Livery business, in Moosup, graduated from the Toronto Veterinary College in Canada and practiced his profession in his vicinity. Henry, born Sept. 22, 1876, well known as a horseman throughout southern New England, is in partnership with his father. Harry, born April 26, 1879, died Aug. 23, 1898. Samuel L., born Dec. 1, 1882, is a member of the King Bros. livery firm.

In 1877, deciding to go into business by himself, Mr. King went to Central Village, and on April 9, opened a hotel and sale stable. In working for himself he was even more successful than he had been for others. He purchased large numbers of horses in southern Canada and western New York, and always kept in his stable from fifteen to twenty. These he readily sold to local purchasers. For twelve prosperous years he continued his business in Central Village. Then he came to Moosup and rented the hotel near the station in connection with which he opened a livery stable. In this business, in July, 1892, he unfortunately incurred the loss of $4,000 by a fire, which destroyed the entire premises. Undismayed, however, he immediately rebuilt, and on Christmas day of the same year moved into his new home. Early in 1893 he opened to the public one of the biggest hotels in that vicinity. It is a three story modern building, with heat, light, and water supply, on the most highly improved plans. Indeed its metropolitan air would do credit to many a New England city, and the structure strikes an outsider as being a little too large for the small village of Moosup. Due, however, to Mr. King's wide popularity, it is extremely well patronized. After the fire Mr. King continued his horse business on even a larger scale than before. He opened a livery stable which he conducted with success till the fall of 1901, when he turned the business over to his two energetic sons, Alva G. and Samuel L. At present, with his son Henry, he has a private stable in which are kept about seven excellent race horses, which are yearly entered in the New England circuit. Besides speculating in horses Mr. King has throughout his career made a great success of breeding, training, and driving horses. He has owned some of the best bred horses in the State, and he has a reputation as a horse fancier throughout New England. Personally he impresses a stranger as being curt and independent, but to an acquaintance his manner assumes a genial air, which has won for him his wide and lasting popularity.

John Sanderson, grandfather of Mrs. King, born in Lancashire, England, married Ann Mills, and they came to America. After living for a while in Mexico and Canada they finally settled in the United States. Four children were born to this union, all of whom grew to maturity and married: Charles, who had three sons (he died in Canada); Ann; George, who is mentioned below; and James, at first a resident of New York State, later a sea voyager. He died in Philadelphia.

George Sanderson, father of Mrs. King, now a resident of the town of Plainfield, was at one time an extensive manufacturer. Born in England, Nov. 27, 1823, he received his early education in that country. At the age of sixteen he came to America, and after a varied career finally settled at North Adams, Mass. Here he married Maria L. Gates, who died in July, 1847, at the age of twenty-nine. Later, in Windsorville, Conn., he married Elizabeth Attwood, who was born in Mansfield, Conn.; she died June 3, 1891. By the first marriage there was one daughter, the present Mrs. Samuel J. King. By the second marriage there were two children: (1) George Henry, born Aug. 3, 1851, married, in 1875, Hattie H. Mills, and resided in Moosup, Conn. (He died there). They had one child, Gertrude E., who married Arthur M. Brown and lives in Jewett city, Conn. (2) Charles A., born April 13, 1855, married Freelove Hill, and they have two children, Ruth E., and George Henry. (The Hill family have a sketch elsewhere in this volume).

While living at North Adams Mr. Sanderson began working in a woolen mill. He later engaged in the same line in the old Frank Mill at Rockville, Conn., then for two and a half years in a factory at Worcester, Mass.; and finally from July, 1857 to 1862 in a mill at Uxbridge, Mass. He had now become thoroughly acquainted with the business, and on May 1, 1862, began as manager of a mill at Otter River, in the town of Templeton, Mass. After two years of successful management, on May 7, 1864, he came to Almyville, in the town of Plainfield, Conn., and engaged as superintendent of the Sampson Almy Co.'s Woolen Factory. Later this company failed; then Mr. Sanderson, in partnership with Messrs. Mitchell Crow and Luther Laraway, purchased the business, which they continued for three years. Mr. Crow then withdrew and Messrs. Sanderson and Laraway carried on the industry alone for three years longer. Though the business proved successful, Mr. Sanderson finally felt forced to discontinue it. He now lives in retirement with his son Charles, near Moosup.

Reproduced by:

Linda D. Pingel

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