Tag Archives: King

Etta Lowe, the first wife of John Wm. King

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Before marrying my great-great grandmother, Lillie Ann Coder, my great-great grandfather John William King was married to Etta Jane Lowe (daughter of Rosa Atwood and George Lowe) just after his 17th birthday on October 17, 1907 in Ross County, Ohio.

In April 1910, the couple was living in Marion, Fayette, Ohio along with their son John King Jr. who was born May 15, 1908. John was working as a farm laborer to support his son and pregnant wife. On September 19, 1910 they became the parents to Bessie H. King. Sadly, a little over one year later on September 28, 1911 their little daughter died of enterocolitis (an infection of the digestive system caused by bacteria) the contributing cause was listed as “filth and lack of care”. *NOTE: The death certificate for Bessie INCORRECTLY states that the mother was “Anna Lowe”*

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Unfortunately, this would not be the last time tragedy touched the King’s lives: On February 28, 1913 the couple’s six month old son, Charles Albert King would die of broncho-pneumonia and pertussis (whooping cough). The marriage was dissolved about 10 months after Charles’ death.

On December 24, 1913 Etta married Isaac Wiles (the son of Anna Mullen and William Wiles) in Delaware County, Indiana. On the marriage certificate she claims her previous marriage to John King was dissolved that same month on December 13, 1913. (Working on getting the record for their divorce!)

On August 9, 1917 Etta married again to Randolph Grant Smullen (son of Milton Smullen and Anna Keglice) also in Delaware County. On that marriage record she claimed she had been married twice and that both marriages had been dissolved by divorce. The first divorce is incorrectly listed as occurring in 1910, ending the marriage with King. And the second divorce from Isaac Wiles taking place in 1916. Etta, her husband Randolph, her son John King, and her daughter Nannie Smullen lived in Muncie, Delaware, Indiana in 1920. 

By 1930, Etta was working as a dishwasher at a restaurant and had divorced Smullen who was now her neighbor, they also had become the parents to a son prior to divorcing. In 1940, he was also living next door with their daughter, Nannie Smullen Chesterman while Etta lived with their son Vernon Smullen.

John King Jr. married Dorothy M. Hundley who was the daughter of Harvey Hundley and Clara M. Shingledecker Hundley Baker sometime after 1930. I haven’t definitively located him on the 1930 US Census yet.

Thomas King’s Resting Place

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Thomas B. King (sometimes listed as Thomas Buchanan King, although I have yet to find a record proving his middle name) was the father of my great great grandfather, John William King. I knew his wife was buried in the Compton Cemetery, Fayette, Ohio after her death in 1911. But where was Thomas buried?

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Thomas B. King married Eliza Jane Starkey on November 12, 1880 in Gallia County, Ohio and I found them living in Fayette County, Ohio on the 1900 US Census, living in Union, Fayette, Ohio. Eliza Jane is the mother of eight children, with eight surviving and neither Thomas nor Eliza were literate.

I knew that John Wm. King and his family lived in Indiana and in Muncie during 1938 when my great grandmother, Mazie Mae King, married. While browsing Findagrave to see if any of my King family members were buried in Muncie, I found a Thomas B. King who died in 1912. Because King is a fairly common surname and Thomas is certainly an extremely common given name, I didn’t think much of it.

Later, I took to searching the digital archives on Muncie Public Library’s website for Kings. I found the burial record and the funeral home record for that Thomas King that died in 1912. I figured a peek couldn’t hurt!

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To explain the significance of this record, I have to first fill you in on some details on the family of John William King’s wife, Lillie Ann Coder. Lillie Coder was born to George Washington Coder and Mary Swift in Ohio. Mary Swift (born Feb 17, 1883) was the daughter of Elijah Swift and Sarah E. Mongold, she had a younger brother (born in 1885) named Grover Cleveland Swift.

So, when I saw Swift, my eyes just about popped out of my head. I looked more into the life of Grover Swift and found that he was married in 1904 to a girl named Anna King. Thomas B. King was his father-in-law, which is why he paid the funeral home expenses and burial fee at Beech Grove Cemetery.