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What is known about William W. King is brief and vague. He was born to Sophia and her husband in Georgia on 15 October 1824. According to his granddaughter, Myra King Martin, he was a full blooded Cherokee who married Tempie Hulsey, the daughter of a white settler. But the identity of the Hulsey father is unverified.
William was a farmer and a Georgia Mason, and the only member of the family who remained on the land where Sophia raised her children at least since 1830. The size of the King property Sophia maintained is not yet known, but Hall County’s Reverse Index to Deeds and Mortgages shows that William increased the size by at least 300 acres.
On 14 January 1863, during the Civil War, William purchased 100 acres in Lot 98 in District 9 from Matthew Mayne, and an adjoining 153 acres in Lot 97 from Young J. Harrington, a neighbor and friend of the deceased Jonathan Martin. On 1 August 1870, William purchased another 48 acres on Cain Creek from Harrington. This and the family headright probably made up the entire King’s Place property William owned when he died 11 March 1903.
On 18 October 1895 William agreed to sell Abraham G. Jennings of Brooklyn, New York, all of King’s Place which included parts of Lot 95, 96, 97 and 98 – and “my head right land” – for $5,000. The agreement gave Jennings two years to decide to buy the property and if not would forfeit the $50 he paid. The deed stated that King’s Place contained 500 acres more of less. When William died eight years later, his estate still included the 400-acre King’s Place. There is no recorded deed showing what might have happened to the other 100 acres.
Tempie, his wife of 40 years, died 12 years earlier on 2 April 1891. She was born 3 July 1831, and while her parents are not proved, it is believed they were Charles Hulsey and his wife Margaret Guthrie. Between 1852 and 1873, William and Tempie are known to have given birth to ten children – three did not live to marry. James died at 16, William died at four, and an infant known only as “Our Babe” died at birth.
The children of William W. and Tempie Hulsey King included:
James F. King: The cause is unknown, but James who was born 18 May 1852 in Georgia, died on 23 October 1868 at the age of 16.
Harriett S. King: Harriett was born in 1854 and married J.D. Jones, and nothing more is known about them. In 1900, Thomas J. and Sarah Jones live a few houses away from the widowed William, but while her age is the same, it may not be her. She is one of only three children not buried with William and Tempie at Bethlehem Baptist Church.
Isaac C. King: See the next section.
Lettie N. King: Lettie was born 18 December 1859 and gave birth to a son Homer in September 1881. The following year Lettie married Andrew J. Grier, Jr., the son of Andrew and Harriett Martin Grier. Harriett was the youngest daughter of Jonathan and Nancy Martin. Lettie died on 17 July 1919 and was buried with her family at Bethlehem, and while Andrew died six months later, he was buried elsewhere, probably in a Grier family cemetery. At Bethlehem there is a plot marked, The Grier Family, but it is not known if he is included.
Infant King: The infant known only as “Our Babe” was born and died on 23 June 1861.
Jasper C. King: Jasper was born in July 1862 in Hall County, and married Jane M. Whelchel around 1882. Shortly after 1890, Jasper moved to the town of Lee in Pope County, Arkansas. He died in Mill County, Arkansas, on 20 November 1918. He and Jane had nine children:
1. William “Willie” King (August 1883, Hall County, Georgia)
2. Maud King (May 1885, Hall County, Georgia)
3. Claud King (April 1887, Hall County, Georgia)
4. Tempie King (March 1889, Hall County, Georgia)
5. Erma King (July 1895, Arkansas)
6. Vada C. King (March 1898, Arkansas)
7. Isaac C. King (1901, Arkansas)
8. Mary King (1903, Arkansas)
9. Gordon King (1909, Arkansas)
William M. King: William was born on 11 March 1865 in Hall County and died there on 29 November 1869 at the age of four. Nothing more is known.
Mary A. King: Born on 18 March 1866, Mary wed John Henry Patterson, the brother of Isaac’s wife Eliza Ann Patterson, on 11 October 1881. In 1900 they lived in Dahlonega in Lumpkin County, Georgia, but they never had children. Mary died 22 July 1921 and John died 22 August 1925. Both are buried at Bethlehem.
Tempy Nevada King: Known throughout her life as Vada or Vadie, Tempy was born 29 March 1870 in Hall County, Georgia. On 16 January 1898, she married Walter “Buddy” Martin, who was born 25 March 1869. He was the son of Noah Martin and great grandson of Jonathan Martin. Noah was the pastor at Bethlehem for a number of years. Tempy and Buddy bought for $500 a third of King’s Place after William died and his property was auctioned off. Tempy died 20 December 1917 and was buried in the Martin family plot at Bethlehem. Buddy joined her on 30 December 1946. They had six children:
1. Emma Dell Martin (19 May 1895-14 February 1947)
2. Walter Carlton Martin (1897)
3. Tempy Ruth Martin (1900; married Claude C. Burden on 15 June 1924)
4. Murphy K. Martin (1902)
5. Hubert H. Martin (20 August 1905-9 March 1961)
6. Nevada L. Martin (1908)
Margaret E. King: She never lived too far from home. After being born on 24 August 1873, she married Richard A. Stephens on 6 December 1896. Their only son, Arthur Stephens, was born on 5 April 1903. Richard died on 8 June 1925, and Margaret died on 12 June 1947. Both are buried at Bethlehem in a separate plot next to Margaret’s sister, Tempy, and her Martin family.
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