Abram St.
Clair King
The first of this name to settle in Central Indiana was Jesse
R. King, who came from his native state of Kentucky early in the nineteenth century, and located in the county of Marion, before Indianapolis had long been established. His son, James, who was born in Kentucky in 1819, came with his parents to Indiana when nine years old and grew to manhood in Marion county. He married Mary, a sister of Henry
C. Smith, one of the best known and highly esteemed men of Moral township, whose sketch appears on another page of this volume.
After his marriage James King lived for eight years on the farm now owned by
Henry C. Ruschaupt, and then took possession of eighty acres which he had bought on Sugar creek. To this he afterward added forty acres, and on this one hundred and twenty acres he lived until his death, which occurred February 11, 1871, when he was nearly fifty-three years old. Thirty-two years later the remains of his wife were placed by his side in the Pleasant View cemetery, her death having occurred June 19, 1903, when she was over eighty years of age. To James King and wife ten children were born, namely: Hardin, deceased at the age of twenty-eight;
Nancy Amanda and Betsey Jane died in infancy; Abram St. Clair; Walter lives on the old homestead in Moral township;
Grafton J. also lives in Moral township; Mary
E., deceased wife of Marion Larrison; Margaret, deceased wife of James Freeman; Hannah, now Mrs. Yarber, resides in Moral township; Alice, wife
of William Russell, lives in the township.
Abram St. Clair King, the fourth of this large family,
was born in Moral township, Shelby county, Indiana, October 7, 1849. His boyhood experience was the same
as millions of western boys -- work on the farm, intermittent attendance at schools, with parents until manhood,
then marriage and life work for self. December 29, 1875, he married Nancy Jane,
daughter of Alexander and Julia
(Phemister) Means. Alexander, a son
of John Means, one of the pioneers of Shelby county, was born in Rockingham
county, North Carolina, and came to Shelby county with his parents in youth. After he grew up he became a farmer
and followed that calling to the end of his days. He married Julia, daughter
of Charles and Juliet
(Turney) Phemister, who came to Shelby
county from Kentucky when their daughter was but nine years old. They located at Pleasant View, where the father
ended his days, the mother dying in Missouri. The children of Alexander and Julia Means were: John L., of Shelbyville, and Nancy
Jane, wife of Mr. King. The
latter has been successful in his undertakings and has considerable to show as the result of his hard work and
good management. The King home farm, consisting of one hundred and twenty-seven acres, is under excellent
cultivation, with commodious residence, and well constructed outbuildings. He also owns eighty acres of land
in another part of the township, and is enjoying his full share of the prosperity that has come to the agricultural
classes. Mr. and Mrs. King have had five children: Raymond
and Ralph at home; Jesse married
Grace Snyder, lives in Moral township and has two* children, Dorothy Marie and Kenneth
Clifford; Alta is at home,
and Effie died in youth. Mr. King has been a life-long Democrat,
but cares nothing for office. Mrs. King’s Grandmother Means, wife of
John Means,
was a Miss Nancy Smith. On both sides of the house the families were of the
best pioneer stock.
Chadwick's History of Shelby County, Indiana,
by Edward H. Chadwick, B.A., assisted by well known local talent, B.F. Bowen & Co, Publishers: Indianapolis,
IN, 1909, Page 823.
Copied by Cindy
Jones
* Note from Amy M. Van:
My grandmother was the daughter of Jesse King and Grace
D. Snyder. Her name was Helen Louise. She was born in
1916 (after the above was published). Helen married
James Russell Wilkins and they had two children: Marilyn
Kay and James Thomas (my father).
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