Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/277

This page needs to be proofread.

KING


KING


Presidency in 1816, in opposition to James ^Ion- roe, and he received thirtj-four electoral votes. While in the senate he opposed the establishment of a national bank, contributed largely to the passage of the navigation act of 1818 and intro- duced and carried a bill providing tliat the public lands should be sold for cash at a lower price tiian had been the custom. He was again elected to the U.S. senate in 1819, where he opposed the admission of Missouri as a slave state and ob- jected to any compromise as calculated to breed future trouble. Rerecorded a resolution in the senate stating tliat the proceeds of all sales of public lands, after payment of the public debt for which they were pledged, should be held as a fund to be used to aid in the emancipation of slaves and for their removal to any territory beyond the limits of the United States. He was appointed U.S. minister to Great Britain by President John Quincy Adams in 1825, bvit failing health caused his earlj- retirement in 1826. He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a corresponding member of the Massachusetts Historical society. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Dartmouth college in 1802, from Williams college in 1803, from Harvard college in 1806 and from the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania in 1815. He was survived by five sons : John Aslop, afterward governor of New York ; Charles, president of Columbia col- lege ; James Gore, representative in congress from New York ; Edward, and Frederick Gore. He died in New York city, April 29, 1827.

KING, Rufus, soldier, was born in New York city, Jan. 26, 1814 ; son of Charles and Eliza (Gracie) King, and grandson of Rufus and Mar\' (Alsop) King and of Arcliibald Gracie. lie was graduated from the U.S. Militarj- academj- and ap- pointed brevet 2d lieutenant of engin- eers, July 1, 1833, and served as assistant engineer in the con- struction of Fort Monroe, Va., 1833-34; on the survey of a boundary line be- tween Oiiio and Mich- igan, 1834-36, and on the improvement of the navigation of the Hudson river. New ork, in 1834. He re- gned from the ar- my, Sept. 30, 1836, to accept the position of assistant engineer of the New York and Erie railway. In 1839 he resigned to accept the appointment of adjutant-general of the state of New York, iu which capacity he



served, 1839-43. He was associate editor of the Albany Evening Journal and editor of the Al- bany Advertiser from 1841 until his removal to Milwaukee, Wis., in 1845, where he was editor of the Milwaukee Sentinel and Gazette, 1845-61, and. a member of the convention that framed the state constitution, 1847-48. He was a regent of the University of Wisconsin, 1848-61 ; a member of the board of visitors to tlie U.S. Military acad- emy in 1849 ; a colonel of Wisconsin militia. 1857- 61, and superintendent of public .schools in Mil- waukee, Wis., 1849-61. He was appointed U.S. minister to the Pontifical States, Italy, in 1861, and held the appointment from March 22 to Aug. 5, 1861, but did not enter upon the duties, having volunteered his services to the governor of Wis- consin in the civil war. He was commissioned brigadier-general of Wisconsin volunteers. May 7, and of U.S. volunteers, May 17, 1861. He served in the defence of Washington, D.C., Ma}-. 1801, to March, 1862; commanded the 1st division, 3d army corps, in the Department of the Rappahan- nock, March to August, 1862 ; was engaged in the advance on Fredericksburg, Va., April 19, 1863 ; was in command of Falmouth, Va., May, 1862 ; in the campaign of Northern Virginia, August to September, 1862 ; at the battles of Groveton, August 28, and Manassas, Aug. 29-30, 1862 ; and in the Maryland campaign, September, 1862. He was on sick leave of absence, Sept. 19 to Oct. 19, 1862, and served in the defences of Washington, Oct. 19 to Nov. 25, 1862. He was a member of the court-martial for the trial of Ma j. -Gen. Fitz John Porter, Nov. 25, 1862, to January, 1863 ; on wait- ing orders at Norfolk, Va., February to March, 1863; in command of Yorktown, Va., March to July, 1863, and in command of a division at Fair- fax Courthouse, Va., covering the approaches to Washington, D.C.. from July 15 to Oct. 20. 1863, when failing health compelled him to resign from the service. He was U.S. minister resident at Rome from October, 1863, to July, 1867 ; dep- uty collector of customs at the port of New York, 1867-69 ; and in 1869 retired from public life. He died in New York city, Oct. 13, 1876.

KING, Samuel, portrait painter, was born in Newport, R.I. , Jan. 24, 1749; son of Benjamin and Mary (Haggar) King : grandson of Samuel and Mehitable (ilarston) King, and a descendant of Daniel King, a large landholder who settled in Lynn. Mass., in 1647. His father removed to Ne\y- port from Boston, Mass., and engaged in making mathematical instruments. Samuel was a house painter in Boston, but soon returned to Newport and became a portrait painter, having been en- couraged to do so by Cosmo Alexander, a Scotch portrait artist. He engaged in painting portraits in oil and miniatures on ivorj'. and also in teach- ing the art, and had among his pupils Edward