“Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County,” published:  
Chicago;  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892.

THOMAS F. KING, a contractor for gravel and composition roofing, was born in 
the West of Ireland in 1847, the fourth of ten children born to Martin and Mary 
(Gibbons) King, natives of Ireland.  The parents left their native country in 1854 
and came to Kentucky, where the father was a brick and stone contractor.  
Thomas F. was about seven years of age when he came to this country, where 
he first worked a few years on the Mississippi river, commencing as deck 
sweeper, and later was promoted to mate.  In 1861 he enlisted in the Rodney 
Guards, and served in what was known as Bonham’s regiment and later 
numbered the Twenty-second Mississippi Infantry.  He was taken a prisoner at 
the battle of Champion Hill, but afterward escaped and returned to steamboating 
on the Mississippi river, where he again worked on the river some years; then 
went to Montana Territory, where he served as a Government scout until 1871.

Mr. King came to Dallas in 1887, where he bought a lot and built his present fine 
residence.  He contracts in all the towns of northern Texas, and has also done a 
great amount of roofing in the city of Dallas.

He was married in Kentucky, in 1874, to Mary Cone, a native of Ireland, and 
daughter of Peter Cone, a resident of Kentucky.  Mr. King takes an active interest 
in politics, voting with the Democratic party.  Socially, he is a member of the 
Coeur de Lion Lodge, No. 8, K of P., and religiously, both he and his wife are 
members of the Catholic Church.  Mr. King has witnessed the complete growth of 
Dallas from a small hamlet, is the second oldest roofer in the State, and has 
made all he possesses by his own industry.

Submitted by: L. Pingel