SAMUEL S KING

Samuel S. King was born in Moorestown, New Jersey, May 16, 1856. His parents,. John and Violet (Stephenson) King, were both natives of England and in early life crossed the Atlantic to America, the former making the. voyage when twenty years of age and the latter when a little maiden of seven years. He was a shoemaker by trade. After their marriage they resided in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and in Moorestown, New Jersey, remaining in the latter place until 1857, when they removed with their family to Kansas, locating in Mount Pleasant township, Atchison county, where the father developed a new farm, carrying on agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred in 1880. His wife survived him until 1887. When about a year old Samuel S. King was brought to Atchison county and has spent almost his entire life here. He was reared in the usual manner of farmer lands, devoting the winter months to mastering the common English branches of learning in the district schools, while in the summer season he followed the plow and in the autumn aided in harvesting the crops. At the age of fifteen, however, he was accorded the better educational privileges afforded by the schools of Atchison. He entered upon his business career as an employee in the firm of McPike & Allen, wholesale druggists of Atchison, in 1871. He remained with the successors, McPike & Fox, and was connected with that house at various times as an accountant for twenty-six years. His service, however, was not continuous.

He left the store in order to attend high school and later he entered the United States mail service, in 1881. serving in that capacity for two and a half years. His run was between Atchison and California Point, mostly on the west end of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad in Arizona and New Mexico. On leaving the mail service, in 1883, he accepted a position as a bookkeeper in a general mercantile establishment in Flagstaff, Arizona, where he remained for three years and then again entered the employ of McPike & Fox, with which firm he was associated until the fall of 1897, when he was elected to his present political office, as county clerk of Atchison county, and was re-elected in 1899. At the time of his first election one of the local papers wrote as follows "S. S. King, the new county clerk, is to the manner born and is in every way equipped for the faithful and satisfactory discharge of the duties of his important office. No young man in Atchison county is better qualified to fill the place with honor to himself and credit to his party and to all of the people of Atchison county. He is an expert accountant, a rapid and clean penman and we predict that he will make not only one of the most efficient and accurate clerks in Kansas but that he will be universally and deservedly popular."

His wife, who serves as his deputy, was in her maidenhood Miss Sadie Hawks and was born and reared in Kansas. Two children grace their union, -- Grace and Victor.